From fields to cities
The purple walls first pulled me in, but the imaginings of children made me linger. The young@art gallery in Scottsdale is filled by works by youth from several countries challenged to share ways...
View ArticleFull “steam” ahead!
As schools around the nation embrace various iterations of science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) education, I see evidence all around me the arts are just as vital to fostering critical...
View ArticleMuslim journeys
Though doctoral study in the philosophy of religion is more than two decades behind me, I’ve never lost my curiosity for exploring world religions. Hence I was delighted to learn a while back about...
View ArticleExploring Holocaust education
More than 100 Arizona teachers gathered recently at Scottsdale Community College for a full-day of training on Holocaust education and genocide prevention. They began the day seated at large circular...
View ArticleFilm follows “rock stars” of atheism
Before yesterday’s world premiere of “The Unbelievers” at Hot Docs, an international documentary film festival held in Canada, filmmakers presented a test screening at ASU Gammage in Tempe as part of...
View ArticleLight my fire
Just as I’d resigned myself to buying pre-ground coffee beans off the grocery store shelf, a chap who calls himself “Barista Bill” delivered a searing indictment of such things — explaining the proper...
View ArticleSins of the father
With rare exceptions, we’ve all been taught to hate Nazis. But what of their children? It’s a moral dilemma faced by those who watch a film called “Lore” — which imagines the journey of five siblings...
View ArticleAntarctica in Arizona?
It’s been nearly 100 years since Sir Ernest Shackleton’s harrowing trans-Antarctic expedition, now brought to life in a tableaux vivants filled with puppetry, photography, film, music and theatrical...
View ArticleBeyond the blockbuster
Eager to explore film fare a bit beyond the ordinary? Watch for diverse film offerings from museums, performing arts venues, libraries, colleges and movie theaters off the beaten path. A few options…...
View ArticleWestern civilization?
A collaborative arts exhibition exploring “the implications, dynamics and social impact of guns and children” opens Friday, May 10 at the Sedona Public Library – where folks can enjoy an opening...
View ArticleNo art is an island
No man is an island. So wrote English poet and essayist John Donne (1572-1631), whose work is at the heart of an interactive art project that unites earth, image, language and technology. It’s “Project...
View ArticleMaking history in Brooklyn
New York City is abuzz with news that street artist Banksy, who keeps his true identity hidden, has decided to do a month-long artist-in-residence gig throughout the city filled with some of the...
View ArticleArt meets incarceration
Sitting in the wings just offstage at Phoenix Center for the Arts last night, rehearsals by two distinct groups felt strangely connected somehow. Over and over again, members of the Phoenix Children’s...
View ArticleAn identity tale
Tribes. We’ve all got them. Some we’re born to. Others we’re thrust into suddenly, or absorbed into over time. Tribes are groups of people sharing common characteristics — language, customs,...
View ArticleA whale of a tale
An online tutor sits atop the couch that doubles as office, dining room and bed. He’s poised in front of the laptop used to communicate with students who only hear his voice, but never see his face....
View ArticleTaming of the shrews
Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” has been much maligned through the years for its so-called misogynist musings—often by those who view the play as a tale of one woman’s taming by the man she...
View ArticleOnce upon a river
Few novels have garnered more attention than Mark Twain’s late 19th century “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” which imagines a trip down the Mississippi River for a young man named Huck and an escaped...
View ArticleI Never Saw Another Butterfly
Hundreds of shoes sit strewn around the border of an outdoor stage at Scottsdale Community College. Atop the stage sit just a few simple set pieces — a pair of panels draped with strands that look like...
View ArticleBeyond the blockbuster
“Three friends with Down syndrome who love movies leave the care home where they grew up to search for their dreams.” It’s the sort of synopsis rarely found in mainstream movies. If you’re fond of film...
View ArticleIf books were people
If books were people, we could ask them questions. And they could answer back. Most days, those who converse with books are simply exercising their imagination. There’s no real dialogue involved. But...
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