From the Alwinac: From Ballenstedt to Berlin: Life of Alwin, Part 2

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the Alwinac’s home page]

[The Alwinac blog is part of the schroeder170 project, honoring the life and musical career of cellist Alwin Schroeder (1855-1928) and exploring the history of cello playing in the US.]

Part 2 of my biographical sketch of Alwin Schroeder is titled “Ballenstedt and Berlin.” It deals mainly with the years 1868-1874, when the teenaged Alwin was playing viola with his older brothers in a professional string quartet, and is now live on the schroeder170.org website. Read Part 2 here, or start from Part 1, here.

Copyright © 2023 by Geoffrey Dean

From “The Scratching Post”: Entertain me, dammit!

By Ken Marks

[Opening from the original on The Scratching Post, February 25, 2023, published here by permission of the author.]

It seems likely that entertainment and religion were once inextricably linked. Furthermore, the priest, the poet, and the chanter were likely one and the same person. Chanters would in time become what we recognize as singers. They added a musical accompaniment, at first only percussion. Then ritual dance joined in. These enhancements made the bond between entertainment and religion even stronger.
    At some point, we realized that worship must engage eyes as well as ears. The visual arts were needed to give shape and color to shrines and representations of the divine. This was yet another form of entertainment. It had the mark of all that we call entertaining: the power to command our notice, evoke emotion, and give us an inexplicable sense of enrichment.
    It was comedy that first made us think of entertainment as an independent phenomenon. There is nothing funny about religion. To laugh, someone’s dignity has to be punctured. It’s a minimum requirement. We can’t have gods tripping on banana peels, but if a proud hunter catches a spear in his ass, that might be hilarious. We noticed as well the artistic similarity between a heroic narrative and a comedic narrative. The droll story became an art form unto itself.

    Entertainment evolved further when we realized how much in love we were with ourselves. Our flaws had given birth to tragedy and comedy. Might our opposite qualities, excellence of the mind and body, also be entertaining? Yes, in fact. Watching a savant compute the cube root of 53,582,633 or recall the box score of a baseball game on a given date makes us gasp at the magic of the mind. Watching jugglers and acrobats at work or a running back breaking tackle after tackle has a similar awe-inspiring effect. We love being amazed by ourselves….

[Read the whole thing on The Scratching Post.]

Copyright © 2023 by Ken Marks Ken Marks was a contributing editor with Paul Clark & Tom Lowe when “Moristotle” became “Moristotle & Co.” A brilliant photographer, witty conversationalist, and elegant writer, Ken contributed photographs, essays, and commentaries from mid-2008 through 2012. Late in 2013, Ken birthed the blog The Scratching Post. He also posts albums of his photos on Flickr.

All Over the Place: Train Tracks (short story)

By Michael H. Brownstein

The shortcut to Steven’s house was about two blocks from the train station. Every day he walked on one of two train tracks. He could smell the home-cooked meal his sister had bragged about two hours earlier. When he saw the train coming towards him, he took a step to the left and easily reached the other track. He did not know of the second train until it was too late, and that was that.

Acting Citizen: A Comedy in Production

By James Knudsen

I am directing a play that’s a trainwreck, on purpose.
    If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to the “Goes Wrong Show” franchise, available on YouTube. Created by Henry Shields, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Lewis, it follows the acting triumphs, but mostly tragedies, of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as its players present their interpretations of various theatrical genres.

My Ghosts Exposed (a poem)

Larry Bailie helping a friend put
up some fence in the Everglades

By Larry Bailie

The bells of Saint Martin
resonate deep inside your chest.
Food for your soul,
Ever Ringing.

The dust of the Sahara blows across the world,

Splashing the sunset sky here with extra wows.

Burning memories for our eyes,
To be stored away in our minds.

Goines On: A fundamental flaw of logic

Click image for more vignettes

Goines was about to start reading a book he had borrowed from Duke University Library for Mrs. Goines. He knew that Apple’s iBooks probably had the book and he could download a free sample to start reading more easily on his iPad.

    Goines was amazed to find that the sample included the entire first three chapters of the book. Chapter 3 of the printed book ended on p. 30, and the last page of the electronic sample was also numbered 30. As a double check, Goines also quickly noted the book’s and the sample’s final word: they were the same. Goines valued such confirmations, because he was becoming more and more prone to error, and double checks helped him catch his mistakes.

Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: The Stories We Tell

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Maik Strosahl


About a week ago, I received an odd email of a future posting on Moristotle & Co. It made me question the way I do my posts.
    The post looked like one of Michael Brownstein’s offerings. The title was “Template” and it was followed by only 4 lines:

[preamble…]
[…preamble]

[repeat title]

xxx

Goines On: Procrastination

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An abundantly talented writer friend of Goines had shared several impressive story beginnings with him, but so far the man had given up on the stories before they could develop and come to their own conclusion. He confessed to being a procrastinator – if “confessed” was the right word, for he seemed almost proud of it – and seemed unable to buckle down and finish a story.
    Was his friend taking nocebos rather than placebos? To Goines, the metaphor was clear. Patients on a medication whose beneficial properties are emphasized often experience those benefits, even when fake pills (“placebos”) are substituted for actual medications, and patients on a medication whose potential negative side effects are emphasized often experience those negatives even when fake pills (“nocebos”) are substituted. Medical researchers had verified both placebo and nocebo effects through controlled experiments, and attributed them to the power of people’s beliefs and emotions to produce outcomes.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 25

Detail of “Visiting Birds,”
by Geneva Metzler

Geneva Metzler’s
“Visiting Birds”

By Mary Alice Condley
(1925-2007)

Editor’s Note: In the notes on “Autumn Hues,” Mary Alice’s daughter, Karen Abbey, told us that she has a painting by her mother’s painting teacher, Geneva Metzler. Karen bought it at a showing of Geneva’s, in Sanger, California. “When I saw the picture I knew I had to have it! I think it cost $75.”

All Over the Place: The Gift (short story)

By Michael H. Brownstein

He sat in the third car of the subway, his large bag in the seat beside him heavy with grief, bad choices, and terrible memories. He thought how hard it would be to kill himself on a train, but maybe not—he could walk from one car to the next just as the train swayed and fall out, or he could stand up and confront a group of gangbangers.

Tan Line (a sonnet)

By Eric Meub

The surf accepts perfection wading in,

But coming out, you’ve let your swimsuit slip

An inch below one equatorial hip

To bare an ivory strip of unbaked skin.

That patch, before the shimmering marine,

Gleams from your silhouette as bright as bone,

Admitting to my map a tropic zone

That scarce another eye has ever seen.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 24

Detail of “Mother Red Bird”

Mother Red Bird

By Mary Alice Condley
(1925-2007)

Editor’s Note: Here is the second of Mary Alice’s two paintings that her niece Dawn Stella Burke found the day after discovering “Morning by the Sea.” The first of the two was “Flowers in Glass.”

Surviving the Winter

Arkansas Primary Source Sets
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Center for Arkansas History and Culture

14 Years Ago Today

By Moristotle

[Original publication on February 13, 2009.]

My niece Karen recently sent me a short account written by her father (Elbert O. Condley, January 31, 1918 – June 7, 2008) about a hard time in Arkansas during the Depression:

Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: Cursive

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Maik Strosahl

Bob Boldt recently shared a painting of his that took me back to the 5th grade at McKinley Elementary in Moline, Illinois.

“Crazy Rhythm,”
by Bob Boldt, 2003

Valentine’s Day (a poem)

By Roger Owens





The worst ever Valentine’s Day
No matter how you spend it
Is to have yourself a Valentine
But have nowhere to send it

Copyright © 2023 by Roger Owens

All Over the Place: My Valentine

By Michael H. Brownstein

She crossed the concrete fields of the city,

shadows of darkness thickening,

every light dimming in brightness,

and entered the great room of celebration

unsure of what to expect—expecting nothing—

as was I, standing near her on the perimeter,

Destressing (a poem)

Click board to better
see its wrinkles

An ekphrastic homage

By Moristotle

Did it sternly proclaim,
or did it utter softly?
Did it warn, or reassure?
Its wrinkles tell the answers.

Whatever weighed and tightened
humans’ minds and muscles
has dried and stretched the wood,
its wrinkles attesting it is so.

Father’s Art: Works of Billy Charles Duvall [9]

His Only
Self-Portrait

By André Duvall

After a long hiatus, I am excited to resume sharing more artwork of my father, Billy Charles Duvall. If you enjoy this post and his artwork, I invite you to visit any of my eight earlier Father’s Art posts on Moristotle & Co. In the first installment, on September 25, 2019, you can read some background on Dad’s hobby, and about my inspiration for this project.

Kyle J. Simpson (a poem)

Larry Bailie helping a friend put
up some fence in the Everglades

By Larry Bailie

[Note: Contributing Editor Roger Owens discovered fellow Floridian Larry Bailie and invited him to submit his work to Moristotle & Co. We welcome Larry and thank Roger for serving as Larry’s editor here.]

Kyle J. Simpson

Kyle J.Simpson was a man
born in west Texas.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 23

Detail of “Flowers in Glass”

Flowers in Glass

By Mary Alice Condley
(1925-2007)

Editor’s Note: The day after Mary Alice’s niece Dawn Stella Burke found “Morning by the Sea,” while searching for a 1949 photograph of her parents, Don & Flo Elowee Story, Dawn Stella found two more of Mary Alice’s paintings, the first of which we’re sharing with you today.

Goines On: Got your number(flash fiction)

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“Hello, Goines?”
    “This is Goines. Who are you?”
    Goines hadn’t recognized the voice, and the telephone number wasn’t in his contacts.
    “It’s Barry. I had an accident—”
    “‘Barry’? But Barry who?”
    Barry mumbled something.
    “I’m sorry, please repeat that, clearly.”
    “I can’t talk. Gauze in my nose...for the bleeding. I need—”
    “That was clear, please say your name like that.”

Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: The Pieta

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Maik Strosahl

By my count, this is the 108^th post I have made toward the Moristotle & Co. collection. Most of them I have been very proud of, and yet there is one that I always wanted to take back and redeem the pieces that were highlighted within during their infancy.
    The piece was an exercise in jump-starting my creative mind by playing with several photographic prompts (“Waiting for a Trailer,” April 7, 2021). By no means did I consider those pieces fine poetry, but I always wanted to go back and do something with them if I could.

What Next? (flash fiction)

Dateline
Silicion Valley

By Moristotle

911 calls are out of control, emergency services taxed beyond expectations, chaos has exploded throughout America and too many incidents are now ignored by police and fire communication centers.
    You may not know, but I’m now on Apple’s team developing algorithms in its watches to detect wrist movements caused by crashes and falls. I even succeeded in being assigned to help test the software and write up the findings, but I think they’re on to me.
    I’m going to need extraction soon. Then another assignment. Google maybe, Comrade Yang?

Copyright © 2023 by Moristotle Moristotle is working on the craft introduced by Michael H. Brownstein.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 22

Detail from “Morning by the Sea”

Morning by the Sea

By Mary Alice Condley
(1925-2007)

Editor’s Note: After Mary Alice’s niece Dawn Stella Burke found the three paintings recently shown in this column – “The Barn,” “Autumn Hues,” and “Flowers in Bronze” – she was overjoyed to find a fourth, which we are pleased to share with you today. Says Dawn Stella:

All Over the Place: The Philosophy of What(and three others)

Micro Flash Fiction

By Michael H. Brownstein

Below are four examples of micro flash fiction. Very limited word counts. Simple rules: some have to be ten words or less while others—per guidelines—give you more leeway: up to fifty words.

The Philosophy of What

Why is why, Sarah asked, when where is who?

Goines On: In therapy

Click image for more vignettes

A colleague and friend of Goines from years ago had recently revealed he’d been in therapy. Goines had been in therapy too, at first in the early ’70s, during the time he and Kramer had worked in the same IBM department, so he was curious about Kramer’s therapy, wanted to share notes, exchange revelations. 

    But over the course of three or four emails, Kramer offered only brief, cryptic responses, concluding with a belligerently explicit refusal to tell Goines anything.

    Goines’ initial impulse, after reading Kramer’s final email, was to reply, “Fuck you too,” but he restrained himself and went to bed in silence, asking for some counseling from Artesia.

Mary’s Voice: Posthumously Speaking 21

Detail from “Flowers in Bronze”

Flowers in Bronze

By Mary Alice Condley
(1925-2007)

Editor’s Note: Today we present the second of the two of Mary Alice’s still lifes that were brought out of storage in January by her niece Dawn Stella Burke, along with “The Barn.” The other still life was “Autumn Hues.”

Fiction: Our Destination(a short story)

By Pat Hamilton

“So we agree,” Billy clarified, “to think about finding a second home, for the purpose of spending times of fair weather in one, foul weather in the other. Are we, so far, of one mind?”
    “Yes,” Paula agreed.
    “Then it seems to me our next step is to narrow down possible locations.”

Hobnobbing with the Philosophers: Two Waxwings

Detail from “The School of Athens”
a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520)
[Click image to call up
all published instalments]

By Maik Strosahl

A photo and a short story are going around the internet that focuses on the deaths of two cedar waxwings outside the photographer’s window.
    For me, the point of the post was that even within nature we can see examples of wildlife experiencing grief.
    This week, my family have experienced the loss of an uncle on both my father’s and my mother’s sides of the family. Those losses had me looking again at that post, at today’s poem, and at a wonderful comment Roger Owens made on my January 4 post, “The Old Folks Place.” Roger quoted C.S. Lewis as saying of our loss, “The sadness now is part of our happiness then, the happiness then is part of the sadness now.”