So much interesting stuff going on in the USA, right? Gun-control discussions, the "live on TV" man-hunt in California, too much politics. Whew! I'm tired of all that.
Still, I have started listening to a book on tape (29 CD's no less) called "The Great Upheaval: A History of the Modern World from 1788 - 1800. I found it at the library two days ago, and I just can't stop listening to it.
The author writes a lively account of the world from 1788 - 1800, mainly focusing on and contrasting the societies of France, Russia and the newly formed United States, but also Western Europe and some of the Islamic World. The introduction says that you really can't understand the changes that spurred the growth of the modern world without knowing the context in which the seeds of the modern world were sown.
He weaves a seamless tapestry of the life and times and how decisions and actions in each country effected not only the country and its people but had far reaching circumstanceweek for the others. The lively and intersting style of writing is brought to life by a wonderful reader. I just can't image reading 26 CD's worth of text outloud.
Acutally, I can. I read to my children everyday and evening, and continued reading to my grandchildren, and also in Ohio schools with kids for about two years.
And then there was the culmination of the largest man-hunt in LAPD history, live on CNN. Go figure. The gunman wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and he did, sadly taking yet one more officer with him before either killing himself or burning to death in his hideout cabin in California.
I feel that at each press conference the questions get more and more rediculous as 24 hour news downgrades news into entertainment. I was pleased to see an X-Navy SEAL say that unless you were there at the time, you have no right to question how things were done.
Gun control, I would like to see it happen, because when those that are paranoid with large arsenals decide to storm the US government, I don't want to be around for that.
But, I have to say that most intersting thing that I have heard in a long time was the story of the discovery of the skeleton on Richard III in Leister, England car park! Now really, how cool is that? I first heard it on NPR.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882
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About Me
- Sri Debi
- Permanent Collections : Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Historical Society, Central Ohio Diabetes Association, Open Heart Recovery Unit, University Hospital, Baltimore, MD, Richmond Art Museum, IN; Private collections in the US, England, France and New Zealand "Debra Joyce Dawson paints colorful, evocative outdoor landscapes. She travels extensively, and her paintings can serve as a painterly travelogue to India, Bhutan, England, Ireland, as well as to her more local surroundings. Her medium of choice is oil, with preparatory sketches in graphite, charcoal, pen or watercolor. Some works are small and completed en plein air; other works are larger and more complex renderings done in her studio. Her energy and delight in color, light, and shape are dazzling. But she never surrenders her subject, and each building, boat, hillside, or human figure is carefully pinned to the picture plane in the context of its surroundings. This places her in the best context of American Impressionism, whether one considers John Singer Sargent or Ohio’s own Alice Schille or Edward Henry Potthast." - Susan Talbot-Stanoway, Director Zanesville Museum of Art
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