| The Commons
A tour guide in an Australian art museum always ends her tour with a certain piece of art. She says to the group, “And here, ladies and gentlemen, we conclude our tour with one of the finest pieces of sculpture in the entire museum. Notice the nobility of the...
| The Commons
Who are the worst general in US history? My votes would go to Horatio Gates, Ambrose Burnside, George Custer, George McClellan, to name only the first tier. But we don’t have a monopoly on ill-chosen military leaders. Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna ranks...
| The Commons
There are some things greater than “success.” In 1944 Stravinsky was commissioned by Billy Rose to write a short ballet for inclusion in a Broadway revue entitled “The Seven Lively Arts.” The choreographer, Anton Dolin, wired the composer in Hollywood after the first...
| The Commons
Sometimes our problems can overwhelm our progress. A second grade teacher had to deal with the first snowy day of the season. All the second-graders had worn their overshoes, and it was now time for their departure for home. Each little kid wanted help putting on his...
| The Commons
A monk living in a monastery one day went out for a little walk in the woods. As he walked, he paused because he heard a bird singing. When the bird was finished he returned to the monastery, but nobody knew him and he didn’t know any of the persons… To access...
