By Amy Cohen Banker
A culture lived is one that draws for continuous, indispensable sustenance on the great works of the past, on the truths and beauties achieved in the tradition. It does not reckon against them the personal suffering, which so often have made possible or generated the symphony, the fresco, the metaphysic.
The writer or thinker means the words of the poem.the personae of the drama,to outlast his or her own life, to take on the mystery of autonomous presence and
presentness. Art and mind,
Changes of idiom between generations are a normal part of social history.
The works of Tolstoy, Patti Smith, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Schubert, Goethe, Cezanne possess "Esemplastic" powers. (Coleridge)
that many branched coherence of design which builds a great house of
language for memory and conjecture to habitat.
But despite anarchic. pastoral critiques such as those put by Tolstoy and Thoreau
there is little fundamental doubt that science and technology and economic progress
are still desired, an immense hunger for comfort and material diversity. But intellectual and cultural and mental inquiry and advancement are still questioned
and pursued. There will always be artists ,musicians, poets, who
reflect and are sustained by Tolstoy and his legacy. The world
can still be inspired and balanced by his example and influence.
That is part of the heritage motivated and maintained vie.
The artist's life in downtown New York has always been a dream. Like the
Great Gatsby, we positioned ourselves between excess and sacrifice.
Feast or famine. The green light beckons for havoc ,mayhem, success. Free
falling from history to current events....The more things change the more they
remain the same. Tolstoy revealed the same truths in "War and Peace" that Patti Smith, U2 and F. Scott Fitzgerald have identified.
examination and expression. My plan is to do the same through their example.
Spirituality, forgiveness, love, creation, expression through music and art and words,
sound and light and sights for all nations and all peoples i
Emerson said and Tolstoy quoted: Music helps people to find the greatness in their
souls. The same can be said about any form of art.
"In a true creation of art there is not only no border between the work of art and the
artist, but also between the work and the other people who experience it. The major attraction of real art lies in its unification. A new work of art should bring a new emotion in our life." Tolstoy.
Poesis is descernible.
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The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), founded in 1974, is an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups. United by a conviction that freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression is a fundamental human right and essential to a healthy democracy, we work to educate our own members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose them. NCAC:
- educates the public and policy makers about threats to free expression,
- mobilizes them to take action to oppose censorship, and assist in those efforts,
- facilitates communications between local activists and national organizations,
- devises new educational, advocacy, and media strategies to create a more hospitable environment for free speech and artistic freedom.
We collaborate with coalition partners to produce educational materials and events to meet the needs of their members. We promote grass roots activism by providing assistance, advice, and information to individuals and community groups around the country.
NCAC'S NEWS: Check their website for much much more! www.ncac.org
NCAC Defends Student Film at Boston University NCAC recently fielded a plea for help from a Boston University student filmmaker, at the College of Communication, whose film Wake Up had been removed from regular class consideration and critique for reasons which depended very much on point of view. The student thought it was art. The faculty called it pornography.
Censorship News #112: Summer 2010 In this issue of Censorship News, an Indiana community ponders the value of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, and we discuss the recent controversies over textbooks in Tennessee and Texas.
Living in Interesting Times Kids today have less time on their own to play, run around outside, ride their bikes aimlessly, or simply do nothing. Their lives are heavily programmed and supervised. This state of affairs makes it all the more important that children’s imagination, curiosity, and intellectual development is not similarly programmed and supervised to limit their world to one that offers no unexpected challenge
National Coalition Against Censorship | 275 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1504, New York, NY 10001 | tel: (212) 807-6222 | fax: (212) 807-6245 | e-mail: ncac@ncac.org
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