Art at the Mall?

This afternoon I had to take my son to the mall. He said it was for his Art class, and that at the mall they had this Art Gallery he needed to attend. Fine, I said. So we got on the car and drove to one of the priciest malls in the DFW area: Galleria Dallas.


We parked, got out and walked into the mall, past all those overpriced stores full of clothes, shoes, candies, electronics, toys, chocolates, and many more things that I do not need at all, but that I would love to have, regardless.


But we arrived to the Art Gallery with my wallet still safely tucked in my back pocket. This gallery is a tiny little set-up sticking out of the third floor of the Sacks Fifth Avenue store.
My son went in, and I sat on a bench to do some homework on my Human Anatomy workbook. After a few pages of long lists of terminology and fill-in-the-blank translations, I started getting bored.
I got up, and glanced at the display windows of the gallery without much interest, thinking that I didn't know the artist featured in their marquee, anyway. Who the heck is Robert Deyber?, I asked to no one in particular.


"Wow, they have some really nice posters…" I thought absently.


I was about to stick my head in and ask my child if he was ready to go when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that all the "posters" in the windows were pieces by Picasso, Miró, Erté… For goodness sake, I thought, they even have Salvador Dalí "posters."


They were very nice pieces. So I took a closer look. "These are not posters, you dunce!" the more snobbish part of my brain piped up.


Sure enough, I went in there and asked the Gallery person, "Are these all… originals? Are they part of a personal collection?"


"Yes! They are really real; and, nope! These are all for sale," she smiled proudly.


"What, no fanfares, no big event? Those are Picassos over there! And that one on the window is a Miró!!" I protested glibly.


She smiled some more, and pointed me to another Miró, "Well, you might like this one, then: He created this one inspired by Gaudi, you know?"


"Erm… Before he was run over by the tram, right?" glib, I shall remain forever, apparently.


Her smile remained bright and polite, but she did not speak to me anymore.


Well, the reason I write this is to inform you that, if you enjoy Art, you may want to drop by to this Gallery, or one of their other locations, and come see really real pieces by Andy Warhol, Phillipe Bertho, and even Marc Chagall! It's exciting just to see them…


But beware: after only half an hour of wide-eyed drooling, my credit card started itching in my back pocket. You may also come to experience that strange conviction that you must own one of these works of art, no matter what…




Visit the Martin Lawrence Galleries




D

The New "New Stoicism"

The New "New Stoicism"


Introduction

In some extreme cases, there's always the risk of ridicule whenever one confesses beliefs or personal opinions to the general public, and this might be why I hesitate writing the following.

The probability that we might agree on everything is almost zero; regardless, it is always exciting to learn new points of view, even when those might seem repulsive or contrary to yours. "Keep the good; discard the bad," counsels the old saw.

But before I begin, I want to mention a couple of things.

First: One can expect that the first impulse of any rational person will be that "reflex reaction" about doubting the sincerity of any type of deist, mystic or moral statements. In this particular case, I ask that this does not become the focus while reading this essay. To this end, I accept without debate the accusation that any belief in the numinous goes beyond rationalism. I also declare that I believe in the existence of an Omni-everything Entity, beyond any understanding. The main difference between the classical Stoicism and the new New Stoicism (the term is derived from novi stoici, which was blamed on Justus Lipsius by Jean Calvin) is this substitution of the preeminence given to a vague belief, what the ancients knew as "natural law" (and, which today we call "science") for that unfathomable belief in a Power beyond any limit (which some of us recognize as God).

Second: It has been rumored that the Jesuits' invention to deal with the appearance of renegades, especially to confront them in speech, was the argumentum ad hominem, in any of its three varieties. If possible, I would ask to avoid this type of arguments here. Even so, I welcome every point of view of whoever wishes to comment on this essay, however they wish to do it.

It's worthwhile to mention that efforts, whether by professionals or amateurs, to reconcile the stoic ideals with Christianism are almost as old as Christianism itself. Now, the difficulty in adopting a philosophical attitude stems from the fact that very few people are willing to accept that their peculiarities in daily life can be considered their "philosophy," and they confuse the term with some sort of esoteric and mysterious practice that requires special equipment and many hours of spare time. But, in reality, the analysis of whatever is good and useful, and also what is not, in the personal life of each individual is in fact a philosophical exercise in itself. In this manner, the ideas of all those old stoics can be pondered during most regular hours of the day without any additional effort. The true difficulty in using these stoic ideas nowdays rests in the fact that, originally, these ideas were adapted to more Pantheistic, Materialistic and Deterministic lifestyles. It would seem that, in the ethical aspect of it, a Christian could benefit from stoic ideas. But, when it comes to the physical plane, Stoicism should be repudiated. As a matter of fact, a "Stoic Christianism" is a contradiction in terms. However, it's still possible to make it work by keeping at it, like St. Augustine, who seemed the only Father of the Church to be simultaneously in favor and against stoic concepts. Ideas like the "apatheia," for instance.

Next, I will try to explain what this New Stoicism concept means to me, and how I apply it to my daily life.

Two Initial Statements

There are two phrases that help describe what a Stoic lifestyle should be, but are difficult to accept at first instance:

“Live congruently with nature,” in which nature is defined as the expression of God's will upon the material world.

Only by putting aside passion, unjust thoughts, and self-indulgence, and by performing his duty with the correct disposition can the individual find true freedom.

The Four Virtues

Assuming that a person accepts the previous two statements, the manner in which he will proceed in every situation, every day, requires a sustained and earnest effort in perceiving any and all events through four basic approaches, and channeling his response through them. These are:

• Wisdom— It addresses itself mainly at the accumulation of knowledge for oneself, and the ability to discern or value what is true, correct, or durable.
  
• Prudence (or Temperance)— It means to demonstrate foresight, precaution and discretion in the actions taken; it means to abstain from acting carelessly or recklessly. It is closely related to the concept of Temperance (moderation) and gives rise to virtuous attitudes of abstinence, chastity and modesty.
  
• Courage (or Fortitude)— It is the mental strength that allows a person to endure pain or adversity resolutely.
  
• Justice— It is the defense of any one thing that agrees with what is morally correct, especially unbiased interactions and fair recompense according to honor, to discretion, or to the law.
  

The Four Passions

These virtues, which are mainly the expression of will over instinct, stand in counterpoint to the four passions:

• Affliction— It is the apprehension of an irrational idea that something bad is present, for which one believes it is proper to feel depressed.
  
• Fear— It is an aversion or irrational avoidance of an anticipated danger.
  
• Greed— It is the irrational wanting or yearning of an anticipated good.
  
• Vanity— It is the irrational boastfulness that something good is present, for which one believes it is right to assume vainglory.
  

Erroneous Concepts

In modern times, the term "stoic" is ill-defined as an adjective for someone who is unruffled by tragedy. But the term actually refers to a person who maintains this calm attitude through the passions of daily life, which are not entirely unavoidable, but could be directed to beneficial, or even moral, attitudes by the use of reason. It is a matter of identifying one's own feelings and redirect them in the best possible manner, recognizing that even so one might fail.

Another useful term for those who wish to practice this New Stoicism is "apathy." This is not the modern definition of it, which is a synonym for slovenliness, or abandoning care for oneself and one's property out of sloth. Instead, "apathy" is the indifference to what is external and out of reach. The only things for which anyone can be held accountable are his representations and criteria. Therefore, anything that is out of reach of one's own reason or personal abilities should be indifferent to him.

Also, the actual usage of the term "happiness" is inappropriate to describe the kind of happiness that comes from the four virtues. It is not a gladness of orgasmic paroxysm proportions, but instead it is a sensation of being contented with what actually "is," instead of stressing for "what could be." It means to be satisfied; it is to reconcile what one truly needs with what one actually has; it means to be "content."

Basic Precepts

• One ought to live in sync with Nature, since it is only an expression of God's will.
  
• Everyone should be united: No schism.
  
• The external world is maintained through the natural interchange of opposing forces (poioun (active), yin / paskhon (pasive), yang).
  
• Each person can have a personal connection with Everything.
  
• Each soul has the free will for independent acts, and the soul's acts are the opinions.
  
• One ought to live simply, by means of moderation and frugality.
  
• Spiritual growth stems from the active search of good.
  
• Virtue is the only good, Vice is the only evil; everything else is indifferent.
  
• The Cardinal Virtues are Prudence (or Temperance), Justice, Fortitude (or Courage), and Wisdom.
  
• The path to personal happiness and interior peace is through the extintion of any desire to have or affect things beyond one's control, and through living in the present for the present, without hope or fear of the future, beyond the power of any opinion.
  
• God is better worshiped in the altar of the heart, by the desire to know him and obey him.
  
• Materialism and Determinism should be considered with skepticism.
  

Conclusion

It might seem anachronistic or even antiquated to try living in this modern Twenty First Century following precepts that were a fad three hundred years before Christ, and which somehow or other have trickled down in different guises to the present. My perspective on these concepts feels more appropriate when compared to the resurgence they had in the movement known as the New Stoicism, which happened during the Renaissance, because I doubt very much that there could be another person who professes the same things. (I ought to mention that none of the people that have been designated as part of such discipline considered themselves followers of anything in particular. They did not even have a name for the ideas they professed. It was only an historical designation given to them.) Perhaps there are some whose have ideas similar to mine, I just don't know.

Maybe all these postmodernist ideas are more influenced by the humanism we inherited from the Renaissance than by the classics. But, for a reason that I cannot explain, they echo in me strongly.

I hope that my lack of empathy (which I mention every chance I have, but that has never been formally diagnosed) is not what pushes me to adopt this ideology and repudiate others more redolent of mysticism. However, I cannot think of a more effective way to cope with a world such as ours, full of uncertainty and flooded with trivia. This is how I live my life, and this is how I have taught my children to face any situation. I have nothing left but to pray to God that I am not completely wrong. "Do your duty first," I always insist. However, I could err.

"If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you were bound to give it back immediately; if you hold to this, expecting nothing, but satisfied to live now according to nature, speaking heroic truth in every word which you utter, you will live happy. And there is no man able to prevent this." —Marcus Aurelius

DNAZ Franco

Coworker tribute: To Cynthia Ramos: "A Dispatchtress' Sass"

To Cynthia Ramos:
"A Dispatchtress' Sass"

Regardless of how many and varied times
This interpreter chimes
-in with his whining,

For being sent to the seventh admission
In a row, while still famished for nutrition

Shining through with unending vim and vigor
You go beyond the droll and the "de rigueur"

And with great aplomb and grace
You tell me to shut my face,

And do what I'm told,
And, "you're smelly and old."

DNAZ Franco

How My Job Inspires Me 1

HOW MY JOB INSPIRES ME

This job has taught me how poorly I have loved my mother tongue. And how aloof I had behaved towards my adopted language. And that it is quite a miracle I have been able to communicate with anyone at all with such poor language skills. So I have been inspired to learn a better love for Spanish and English.

I love them well, now. It remains to be seen if I have learned to communicate better, though…

D

Coworker tributes: Ode to Belén

"Ode to Belén"

You might be overworked, listless, and sleepy
But still reply to me, though often weepy,

"Why me? Can't you find someone else to cover
your stupid night-shift?," and wish I were sober,

So that I'd be more appreciative
every time you say "I'll cover it".

D

LASer News 3

Idioms, phrasal verbs and slang.
Ah, how I hate them, idioms. Phrasal verbs, I loathe. And I positively despise colloquialisms (slang).
They are so very difficult to interpret!
Especially since they are phrases that are so common that the English speaker says them fairly quickly, leaving the interpreter in the dust with a big question mark hanging rather visibly on his face.
The main difficulty resides in the fact that most of idioms, phrasal verbs and slang are made up of regular words, but used figuratively. And, for the most part, these phrases are said in Spanish with completely different words. They are called "ready-made phrases" (or "frases hechas," in Spanish.)

Here are a few examples:

For idioms, how about, "it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other"? In Spanish, the idiom goes, "una de cal por una de arena." Yeah, go figure…

And don't get me started on phrasal verbs: "look up, look into, look down on, look around, look in, look ahead, look away, look after"… Need I keep going on?

Slang, I don't even want to tell you, but I will, anyway: "He's not all there" in Spanish would be, "está como ido."

As with many aspects of interpretation, these particular issues require the brute-force approach: Rote memorization of very long lists of vocabulary, and many years of practice.

Go ahead. Good luck.

DNAZ Franco

Traducción literaria

Yo soy muy afecto a escuchar canciones antiguas y a veces medio esotéricas y eclécticas. He decidido que algunas de ellas podrían traducirse al español como relatos cortos, capturando de esa manera el tono que el autor quiso impartirles originalmente.
Por lo general, las traducciones de letras de canciones nunca vienen al caso porque las rimas se pierden y el contexto no encaja en el idioma traducido.

A ver qué sale… Los relatos que están basados en canciones aparecen con la etiqueta "Traducción literaria".

D

El microx

En un foro donde he participado bastante en fechas recientes, comencé a escribir varios micro-relatos. Uno de los comentarios que recibí me indicó que mis textos reproducen la sensación de estar leyendo tiras cómicas, o "comics".
Tomando ese comentario como crítica constructiva, decidí inventar un nuevo género en la Literatura Española:

micros + comics = microx

Sí, ya lo sé: suena tonto, pero parece "pegador".
Más al rato subo unos cuantos de esos microx a este blog.

Descripción de un microx

• Número uno: evitar descripciones detalladas
• Número dos: una buena dosis de humor
• Número tres: coloquialismos
• Número cuatro: uso frecuente de figuras retóricas de ironía, como la litotes, la hipérbole, el sarcasmo y otras hierbas aromáticas
• Número cinco: cambios súbitos de enfoque narrativo
• Número seis: léxico idiosincrásico (o poco convencional), o hasta palabros varios
• Número siete: enfoque surrealista o absurdista
• Número ocho: cada autor redefine el género.

¡Oh, cielos! Ahí vienen los vampiros

A pesar de antes haberlo evitado a como diera lugar, me veo con la penosa necesidad de caer en las garras de uno de los temas más manidos y trillados en la dizque "literatura" amateur: Los vampiros.

Resulta que apenas anoche tuve otra de esas pesadillas lúcidas, donde estoy al tanto de estar soñando, pero sigo dormido. Y en esta pesadilla incluí a mis hijos y a mi esposa. Era una pesadilla sobre vampiros. Voy a escribir, entonces, una pequeña serie en capítulos para relatar toda esta pesadilla, que fue muy coherente y con mucho lujo de detalle. Se llamará "Saciedad", o algo así igual de cursi.

A ver que sale, pero este relato tendrá relación con el vampiro Benjamín, que aparecerá en el cuento que estoy planeando escribir sobre el universo alterno de Harry Potter. En ese cuento, Benjamín será de los personajes principales, pero en este ahora sólo se mencionará un poco.

Para los amables lectores que no estén enterados, Benjamín es el "Homo Eternus" del que hablo en uno de mis relatos en este mismo blog. El será el último hombre (por llamarlo algo) vivo en este planeta en el futuro. Mientras tanto, aparecerá en mis cuentos de vez en cuando.

Sale y vale, a ver qué pasa…

D