Sex and the garden
byGardens and gardening remain lush, moist, sticky, tangled metaphors for hot, sometimes illicit sex, don’t they?
” Alexander the Great
Masking our problems
byThe latest trend in masks – double masking.
The need to lead
byGreat civilizations rest on the shoulders of great leaders, but in the end, that leadership may not stem the tide of history. And yet without real leadership, nations have little chance to survive – and thrive.
The “A” word
by“Amazon” – as in the river that snakes through South America and the idea of bold women – is having a moment in our area, spotlighting a word and a concept, powerful females, that have been fraught for Western civilization.
Leisure, the ancient Greek way
byLeisure, Aristotle wrote, affords the greatest opportunity for personal fulfillment and happiness. And so I set out to test this on Arrangements Abroad’s “Legacy of Alexander the Great: Northern Greece & Athens” tour.
Horse and rider in history
byIn the Russian nesting doll of narratives that is art history, “Secret Departure of Ivan the Terrible” is not merely a Nazi-looted work. It is also part of a genre – the man on horseback – that sweeps us from the ancient world to our own time, in which it has become a symbol of the controversy over Confederate monuments as well as a metaphor for dystopia.
The twisting tale of ‘Turandot’
by“Turandot” (1926) – Giacomo Puccini’s last opera – offers what Copland House director Michael Boriskin calls “the fascinating question of legacy.”
Gem of a guy
byIn the graceful pages James Sherwood’s new “Jewelry for Gentlemen” (Thames & Hudson), the gentlemen vie in beauty with the objects of their desire.
Guests of the conqueror
byAlthough he was short of money, Alexander did not want to leave his men without financial resources. He enquired very carefully into their circumstances,…
The Byzantine connection
byWhen we think of Greece, we think of Greco-Roman ruins. But the country also has a rich Byzantine tradition – courtesy of St. Paul…
Alex and Athena take Manhattan
byIn WAG’s June “Celebrating the Globe” issue, I wrote http://www.wagmag.com/greek-to-me/ about my passion – OK, some would say my obsession – with all things…
Greek to me
byI have been in love with the ancient Greeks since I was a child. It began with a Scholastic book on the Greek gods…
Met opens “Pergamon,” unprecedented Hellenistic show
by“So,” a publicist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art asked teasingly, “are there enough Alexanders for you?” She knows me only too well. Lover…
Last call for the grandeur that was Rome
byThis coming week is your last chance to see “Bulgari & Rome: Eternal Inspiration” at the Italian jeweler’s Fifth Avenue flagship. The small, show-stopping…
The (Persian) Empire strikes back
byPersia, conquered by Alexander the Great on Oct. 1 331 B.C. at the Battle of Gaugamela on the plains of what is now northern…
Alexander the pretty great
byAlexander the Great’s consolidation of an empire that stretched 22,000 miles from the Balkans to northern India some 300 years before Christ still resonates…
Hanging in history
byThey are the stuff of myth, legend and romance, beloved by artists and writers, irresistible even to historians, who should know better than to…
Boy George
byPlease, no jokes about “What’s in a name?” We all know the answer is always “plenty.” A name is an identity, so much so…
Connecting the dots
byThe last time I talked with Baz Luhrmann, he was presenting his take on “La Bohème” on Broadway, and the two of us had…
Are We There Yet?
byWhat is it about the road that beckons, that stretches out – teasingly, tantalizingly — before us?