When I started exploring Italy and the cities we might be interested in visiting Florence made our initial list. After a bit of reading about Italian history it seems that Florence was connected to the Renaissance, but after spending time in Florence with guides that were able to explain to me how art reflected some of the changes that were taking place, I grew to have a fonder appreciation for Firenze or Florence.
Our first evening in Florence we found the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which is a marvel of white, green, and red marble. They started building this cathedral in 1296 and it wasn’t finished until 1436. One of the charms of this breath-taking building is that when they started building it, they had no idea how to make a dome that would cover the top.
Bell Tower on the left and Cathedral on the right. Horrible photograph.The Bell Tower of Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore
Filippo Brunelleschi won the competition to design the dome and it was constructed between 1420 and 1461. The dome has an inner dome which supports the outer dome, which protects the whole dome from weather. The dome was the largest in the world at that time, and many subsequent domes, like the US Capitol are modeled after this building. Brunelleschi didn’t leave any drawing or plans behind to show how he came up with this brilliant plan.
The front of the CathedralThe Dome of Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore
How did people build such magnificent structures in the thirteenth and fourteenth century? Just amazing. Think about what that does for your sense of history to grow up around buildings that were built six hundred years ago…
Last night I finished reading Erasure by Percival Everett and it was one of the best books I have read in quite a while.
As someone who aspires to be a writer, I am alway puzzled by what about a story makes it a worthy read. In the case of Erasure I found several intersections with the book. First I was challenged by Theolonius Ellison and his explorations of story telling. In one portion of the book he reads from his writing, “Placing the Experimental Novel” and I haven’t been that challenged as a reader since University of Minnesota professor Tim Lensmire gave us a Russian author who wrote about “intersections” with the text. That sent me for a loop and so did Ellison’s thoughts on the experimental novel.
Interesting that the main character is named, “Ellison” – the surname of Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man who wrote about a black man who felt invisible in society. (Ed. note: I read Invisible Man when I was nineteen, almost fifty years ago so my understanding of that text should be framed in that context.) Theolonius Ellison is a writer, a serious writer who is struggling to find an intersection between his story telling and commercial success.
Walking out on thin ice one step further, “Theolonius” brings to mind Theolonius Monk, especially when we learn that Ellison’s nickname is “Monksie”. Thelonolius Monk was a genius of jazz and piano composition, but also a thorny person, especially later in his life. While the main character in Erasure is not a difficult person, he does struggle to have relationships with his family, other authors, or to develop friendships.
As I circle around what I liked about this story I am thinking that it centers around the irony of the story. Ellison’s professional success comes at a cost to his own self-esteem and sense of self worth.
Other intersections with the text were the paragraphs about fly fishing and woodworking, both of which enriched the story for me.
The lede story continues to be the horror of the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel is preparing to invade, but no one I have heard or read feels like that will “get rid” of Hamas. This is a horrible story because of the depth of suffering that has occurred and is about to occur. I chose this image because it reminds me of my grandchildren and how terrified I would be if they were with me and I had to find food, water, and shelter for them. And there are two million plus people in Gaza who are in this situation. There are also thousands of people in Israel who are living in fear of more attacks, missile or otherwise.
Baseball bat with holes in it. October 2023
The baseball season ended with a called third strike; a fitting conclusion for the hometown nine – the Minnesota Twins – who swung and missed at a record pace this year. There are several reasons that contributed to our loss, but the number one factor was that we didn’t put the ball in play very often. Granted the pitching in the playoffs is better, but we struck out 14 times yesterday and that is way, way too many to be successful.
Derek Falvey and Thad Levine deserve tremendous credit for assembling the best pitching staff we have had in a very long time. I am tempted to say that this is the best pitching staff we have had since I moved to Minnesota in 1983. (I am being lazy – a horrible sin as a writer, and I am not offering supporting factual detail to support that claim.) Pedro Lopez, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, and Bailey Ober were great starting pitchers and now that Chris Paddack is healthy our pitching future continues to look bright.
The relief corps was also very impressive. Jhoan Duran was our closer, and he is very impressive. There are a number of other outstanding arms that helped make this group very strong. Caleb Thielbar, Griffin Jax, Brock Stewart, and Emilio Pagán all did very well at providing us quality innings.
Our Achilles heel was hitting the baseball. After trading Luis Arraez, the 2022 American League batting champ, for Pedro Lopez it was to be expected that our hitting would dip a bit, but the addition of Joey Gallo, the injury to Byron Buxton, which forced him to DH all year – a job he struggled with mightily, by his own admission were two sources of endless strikeouts. To be sure, other hitters, Carlos Correa, and almost everyone else struggled to make regular contact with the baseball. Donovan Solano and rookie, Edouard Julien were two bright spots on the offensive side.
I think our pitching situation is strong, but we need to develop better hitters. We need to help Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, and Alex Kirilloff are three young men who seem to be floundering too often at the plate. We need to get some help.
If Byron Buxton actually heals and can play in center field, then that is a huge left. Michael A. Taylor did very well, hitting 21 home runs and playing great defense, but batting .154 in the playoffs is just not enough.
I was so mad when Rocco Baldelli pulled Joe Ryan after two innings. The strategy worked, but if we needed to go into extra innings, Emilio Pagan was our only arm left. Not a great strategy IMHO.
It will be interesting to see what the Twins say and do between now and next March. It was a fun year. We won a playoff game, and a playoff series. We showed that we have some of the pieces, but we need more of them.
This afternoon, 26 July 2023, we learned that Sinéad O’Connor has died –– at the age of 56. This saddens me, especially when I go back and listen to her voice – such a herald.
ANDREW CHIN/GETTY IMAGES
I don’t know much about Ms. O’Connor other than she got a ton of shit for tearing up a picture of the pope on SNL way back when. Turns out she was right about the Catholic Church and the legions of abuse that were taking place at that time (and for countless years before). She was the canary in the coal mine, and we didn’t see it.
As I read more about her troubled life, being an abused child, having her son die in 2019 – it seems like a pretty painful trip for Ms. O’Connor. And still that voice – it just cuts through to the soul.
Sinéad – please rest in peace. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts. We walk with you today.
Flatlands Ink 