It so happened: a group of us were having dinner in Miami last night, sitting on a dock on one of the islands in the shallows of Biscayne Bay. We had wine and a cool breeze and we were doing... Continue reading

It's 76 degrees in Miami and the sun is in that last burst of brightness going down. I got off the plane in sunglasses listening to my new obsession, the great blind sax man Roland Kirk, master of circular breathing... Continue reading

Before I pushed the pause button on this blog yesterday—to share a Veterans Day sign of peace—you may remember I was fantasizing about hustling Johannes Vermeer, the Sphinx of Delft, into the small elevator at the back of the Metropolitan... Continue reading

Armistice Day. The day the fighting ended. The day the weapons were put down. The day people turned, again, toward imagining what peace would be. Eisenhower warned us how hard it would be. Imagine any President—even this President—sounding the alarm... Continue reading

The protagonist in David Markson’s staggeringly brilliant novel, “Wittgenstein’s Mistress” believes she is the last person on Earth. Fortunately for us, that gives her plenty of time to ruminate on art and philosophy. She spends much of it rattling around... Continue reading

I left Washington for New York in a cinematic 3-D dust storm this morning. Actually, the storm is pretty much confined to one dark room just off the escalator on the third floor of the Hirrshorn Museum. It’s a huge,... Continue reading

“Uncle Tommy, What’s the difference between asking a question and wondering?” Hmm. How about a cookie? When you don’t have children of your own, you can forget that kids can be philosophy on-demand. A friend of mine was late for... Continue reading