I am a native New Yorker, but it took my wife, a small town girl from rural Ohio to introduce me to the New York landmark 25 years ago that quickly became my favorite bar. And, as an homage to the Broome Street Bar, its stained glass portrait of the enigmatic youth that hangs over its bar, adorns my title page.
For a person with not one artistic bone in his body, I am a huge enthusiast of art in any form - literature, painting, sculpture, music. I am fascinated by what a talented artist can do mostly because I can't. And, like most things in life, one never truly appreciates an artist until you walk around in their shoes for a while. So, a few years ago I tried on a pair of writing shoes; surely writing was an art that even I could do. I had spent decades working at a job that required a reasonable amount of writing and as I tell my kids, if you want to write well, read good writing, which I've been doing all my life thanks to The New York Times. Now, I could write for fun, so I pecked away at the keyboard. It didn't take long to realize that writing, quality writing, is extraordinarily difficult and it would take years and probably a good deal of coaching if I was ever to turn out anything that could be called readable.
Today, everyone can be a writer, poet or historian through the magic - or evil - of the internet. For all us uncle Walt wannabes, our time has come. We can write and actually publish ourselves. Sure, no one ever reads any of it, but that's negative thinking. Let's stay positive. You have an idea, you bang out a few paragraphs, edit it a few dozen times and even though you hate what you've written you put it on your blog and a million people - well, a few anyway - can read your masterpiece.
As I've said, I appreciate the arts and love a spirited debate about provocative ideas (some friends call that arguing). And, if you look around at what passes for quality in books, movies and television today, it seems that a blog about thought provoking ideas in art, literature, music, politics and such is sorely needed. So, in the spirit of Pfaff's Vault, I am making my feeble attempt to share some stimulating and sometimes controversial thoughts on books, events of the day, history, art, music and ideas of every shape and stripe. Drink up!
For a person with not one artistic bone in his body, I am a huge enthusiast of art in any form - literature, painting, sculpture, music. I am fascinated by what a talented artist can do mostly because I can't. And, like most things in life, one never truly appreciates an artist until you walk around in their shoes for a while. So, a few years ago I tried on a pair of writing shoes; surely writing was an art that even I could do. I had spent decades working at a job that required a reasonable amount of writing and as I tell my kids, if you want to write well, read good writing, which I've been doing all my life thanks to The New York Times. Now, I could write for fun, so I pecked away at the keyboard. It didn't take long to realize that writing, quality writing, is extraordinarily difficult and it would take years and probably a good deal of coaching if I was ever to turn out anything that could be called readable.
Today, everyone can be a writer, poet or historian through the magic - or evil - of the internet. For all us uncle Walt wannabes, our time has come. We can write and actually publish ourselves. Sure, no one ever reads any of it, but that's negative thinking. Let's stay positive. You have an idea, you bang out a few paragraphs, edit it a few dozen times and even though you hate what you've written you put it on your blog and a million people - well, a few anyway - can read your masterpiece.
As I've said, I appreciate the arts and love a spirited debate about provocative ideas (some friends call that arguing). And, if you look around at what passes for quality in books, movies and television today, it seems that a blog about thought provoking ideas in art, literature, music, politics and such is sorely needed. So, in the spirit of Pfaff's Vault, I am making my feeble attempt to share some stimulating and sometimes controversial thoughts on books, events of the day, history, art, music and ideas of every shape and stripe. Drink up!
