As I near the end of the first draft of my new novel, working as hard as I ever have in my life, I sometimes have to take a pause and recharge.

NBA playoffs. Constant music (Keith Jarrett solo, this Friday! Fifth row, keyboard side!) Constant politics (NYT, LAT, WSJ, MSNBC, CNN, Fox, Drudge, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Real Clear Politics, etc.) Intermittent Howard Stern.

And I go back to my masters to help me find explanations for current phenomena.

On today's Republican party --

"Nothing is more dangerous than active ignorance." – Goethe

On today's America --

"Any idiot can face a crisis; it's the day-to-day living that wears you out." – Chekhov

On violence in the Middle East --

"The hardest thing to see is what is right in front of your eyes." – Goethe 

On the legacy of Bush and Cheney --

"Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it." – Flannery O'Connor 

On writing a novel --

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." – Emerson

On living every day --

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." – Plato

Some good things:

The Heptones -- BOOK OF RULES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z9h2nO5SIo

The beginning of THE CHERRY ORCHARD – the great 1962 production with Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Dorothy Tutin, and very young Judi Dench
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeFMWSbincc

THE SEAGULL (1975) – with Frank Langella, Blythe Danner, Kevin McCarthy, and Lee Grant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiPfPzt8azc

A slice of my favorite Chekhov – the legendary Chichester Festival production of UNCLE VANYA with Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Rosemary Harris, and Joan Plowright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvEz94mQPWQ

A short course on Plato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDiyQub6vpw

An animation explaining Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" – from Book VII of The Republic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RWOpQXTltA

A short course on Goethe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNEpojtXotE

A short course on Goethe's FAUST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ulWiK6g-hk

Anna Netrebko sings The Jewel Song from Gounod's FAUST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_cqYA5M_xU

A short documentary on Ralph Waldo Emerson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZyKyegedYM

LOVE – an essay by Emerson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_dQzPPQaqs

Flannery O'Connor reads "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" (1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQT7y4L5aKU

Estelle Parsons reads Flannery O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83HEGMU_N68

"Teaching Flannery O'Connor" – a very interesting seminar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE5dGGJSuQE

and for good measure –

Kristen Chenoweth – "My New Philosophy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRa7WNmRakY

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