Tolkien & “The Silmarillion”: cultural influences & mythopoeia in the shaping of an epic by Pauline Park “The Silmarillion” is J.R.R. Tolkien’s longest work and arguably his most complex; it is the work that took Tolkien the longest to write and remained unfinished at the time of his death, to be put together as a […]
Paris: rue Rambuteau (4ème) France 2015: Paris & Versailles I lived in Paris from January through June 1992 but did not have the opportunity to return to the City of Light until May 2015; my week in Paris was a trip down memory lane, bringing back a flood of memories from the six months I […]
Korea 2015: return to the motherlandby Pauline Park In June 2015, I returned to Korea for the first time since I left at the age of seven and-a-half months old; it was a momentous trip. These are some photos from the month I spent in the Land of the Morning Calm. Monday, June 15 I […]
“Would You Still Love Me If…” thoughts on a transgender-themed play by Pauline Park As an openly transgendered woman and a transgender activist, I was delighted to hear that a transgender-themed play had come to an ‘Off Broadway’ theater in New York. But after seeing “Would You Still Love Me If…” with a friend, I’m tempted to […]
10 books that helped shape my life I’ve had two different friends ask me to post to Facebook a list of 10 books that have ‘stayed with me over the years.’ So for those friends, here’s my list: 1) The King James Bible 2) Dream Power (Ann Faraday) 3) Walden (Henry David Thoreau) 4) The […]
The unprecedented assault on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military this week brought to mind a hymn whose text was written by Johann Heermann in 1636, “Zion klagt mit Angst und Schmerzen” (Zion mourns with anxiety and pain); all one needs to do is substitute ‘Gaza’ for ‘Zion’ and the hymn could be sung […]
Rogier Van der Weyden’s only surviving miniature depicts Duke Philip the Good & his son Charles (the future ‘Charles the Bold’) receiving the homage of the author of the Chronicles of Hainault (Le duc de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et son fils Charles (futur Téméraire) reçoivent l’hommage de l’auteur des Chroniques du Hainault). From 1364-1477, the […]
“‘Gauguin: Metamorphoses,’ which opens on Friday at MoMA in New York, recasts the artist as an altogether darker figure, closer to Edvard Munch and the dark pre-Freudians of Northern Europe than the post-impressionist confraternity of Van Gogh, Seurat and Cézanne,” Jason Farago wrote in his review (“Gauguin: Metamorphoses review – ‘Forceful, disturbing, obscene’,” Guardian, 6 […]
Norsk II (Norwegian II) – Våren 2018 (Spring 2018) 1 Fjerde leksjon Session Four God kveld og velkommen til fjerde time! Good evening and welcome to the fourth lesson! • Spørsmål om leksa og prøva: Oppgave 1, 3-13, 15-17 side 91-98 i arbeidsboka. Vi går over det som var vanskelig! Questions about the homework: Assignment […]
15 Favorite Operas and 15 More: Reflections on the Love of a Lifetime By Pauline Park I have been listening to opera and attending opera performances since 1979, when I discovered this ‘exotic and irrational entertainment’ through an album of Mozart arias by Margaret Price and Joseph Losey’s film of “Don Giovanni.” Since then, I […]
Henry VII & the Tudors on TV I just discovered “The Shadow of the Tower,” the 1972 ‘prequel’ to “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” with Keith Michell (1971), which in turn was followed by “Elizabeth R” with Glenda Jackson (1971). “‘The Shadow of the Tower’ is the third installment of the BBC’s series that […]
Conchita Supervía & the Golden Age of Opera Conchita Supervía (December 8-9, 1895-March 30, 1936) was one of the great opera singers of all time and one of my favorites. Supervía’s life was tragically cut short in childbirth. It’s only too bad that so few of today’s opera lovers know of her, because Supervía’s vibrato — unlike […]