Quote for Today: Jennifer Donnelly
I have done this—made the sad prince laugh. Made his grieving parents smile. None but me. Think you only kings have power? Stand on a stage and hold the hearts …
Quote for Today: Neil Gaiman
We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to …
Familiar and Strange: Experiencing Kabuki with Heisei Nakamura-za
Art from other cultures can be difficult to understand, but sometimes reveals similarities to our own that we don’t expect. While in New York City to perform in Houston Grand Opera’s …
From Weapons to Stories: Repurposing the Park Avenue Armory
Can historic military landmarks find new purpose? Once crumbling, the Park Avenue Armory has reinvented itself by embracing the arts. The Seventh Regiment, or Park Avenue, Armory in New York City is impressive from …
Quote for Today: John Updike
A narrative is like a room on whose walls a number of false doors have been painted; while within the narrative, we have many apparent choices of exit, but when …
Images of Humanity: Storytelling and the Doll
Dolls are frequently dismissed as children’s toys. Might there be deeper significance behind them than we are willing to entertain? When I was a kid, my father traveled several times …
Quote for Today: Dan Chaon
I’ve been talking to myself a lot lately. I don’t know what that’s about, but my mother was the same way. She hated to make small talk with other people, …
On Enlightenment: The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato’s Allegory In Clay by Michael Ramsey and John Grigsby
The philosopher Plato speaks of his understanding of human nature in Book VII of The Republic, in a short allegory known as the Allegory of the Cave, which you can …
Tale of the Dreamtime: Waatji Pulyeri, The Blue Wren
The Aboriginal people of Australia have their own word for Creation. They call it the Dreamtime, a place where souls and dream animals move in the light and shadow of …
Creating New Worlds: Frank Herbert’s Dune
The power in sci-fi and fantasy lies in the creation of new worlds. Why do these worlds capture the imagination? Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It …