Professor Carol
Whenever possible, we wait to put up our tree on the morning of Christmas Eve. This year, December 24th falls on the fourth Sunday of Advent, entailing morning services and two Christmas Eve masses for those singing in the choir. Clearly, that won’t be the … Read more
By the time we send next week’s digest, St. Nicholas Day will have come and gone. Consequently, I’ll say a word about it today, and then tell you about an idea that came to me. First, we’re approaching the date (December 6th) for the commemoration … Read more
A shower of sounds comes from under the door of Studio 610, the space where my ten-year old granddaughter has her classes on Wednesdays. Focused on the laptop while waiting, I do occasionally rise to peek through the high, narrow window of the door, trying … Read more
We are embarking on the last stretch of this voyage through the Great European Rivers (Danube, Main, Rhine). As I write, sailors are pulling away the ropes that tied us to Dock 9 in downtown Cologne. Our next port? Amsterdam. By the time this essay … Read more
My phone has thousands of pictures on it. By way of justification, a goodly percentage of the shots were taken in museums. These I made to help me recall images of art works and capture their explanatory labels. Before cell phones changed our lives, I … Read more
I try to imagine growing up in Vienna. In fact, I’m penning these words perched on a bench in Marie Theresien Platz, a glorious square that unites Vienna’s huge Natural History Museum with its equally large Old-Masters’ Art Museum. Both of these buildings stand directly … Read more
I am the homework-enforcer in our family, partly by default, but largely because homework is a topic I get worked up about. Don’t get me wrong: I am not an advocate of homework, especially for younger children who are exhausted by a full school day. … Read more
My desktop is a mess. “Desktop” once meant the top of one’s writing table. Surprisingly, that surface in my office isn’t messy. My laptop’s desktop is the problem. (It’s hard to say those two words together.) Whenever I am at a conference or setting up … Read more
Today, waking up in Zagreb, Croatia, I thought about the people arriving tomorrow for a tour through Croatia and Slovenia. Most of them are embarking on the same trek I made yesterday, gathering last-minute items, tugging suitcases closed, and getting to the airport to fly … Read more
