Category Archives: New Post

Arts and culture as economic profit centers

Posted on December 5, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Some might have doubted whether the economic value of the creative arts could ever be quantified. Many others probably preferred that they wouldn’t be. Arts and culture are ethereal; economics are the opposite of that. There was never supposed to … Continue reading →

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Happy birthday Marina Abramović (you scare the hell out of me)

Posted on November 30, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

My take on performance art is…complicated. My better self has the same respect, the same esteem, for this art and these artists as I do for any art, any artist. My kneejerk self, though, tends to look at performance artists … Continue reading →

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I culture you: Hop aboard

Posted on November 9, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Humulus lupulus: the hop flower. Fruit of a herbaceous perennial vine, cultivated mainly in northern temperate regions, used extensively as an antibacterial herbal additive. Which is nice. But for my money, hops have one beautiful, noble purpose: they’re what turns … Continue reading →

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No honor in piling-on (it’s just fun, is all)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

@SenRandPaul Please don’t plagiarize these words! (aw hell, he probably will) — Pat Worden (@WordsmithWorden) November 5, 2013 (for context, see here, here, and here.)

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One Blog, One Tree

Posted on November 4, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

It’s a dilemma, isn’t it? You recognize a problem, you want to help…but the enormity of the thing stops you in your tracks. There are problems confronting us that require massive shifts and unprecedented collective action to solve. When there … Continue reading →

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Bent rules and blurred lines

Posted on October 24, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

If you can’t ad-lib your art, then why bother? Just ask this tiny dancer who turns a structured preschool recital into her own interpretive debut. And after that, just for good measure, we’ve got Postmodern Jukebox‘s unexpected take on Robin Thicke’s … Continue reading →

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Saving art by shutting it away

Posted on October 19, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

At some point, if we’re smart enough and responsible enough to make the sacrifice, we have to stop being consumers of art and start being conservators. And it is indeed a sacrifice. The art that demands our protection is not … Continue reading →

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Banksy in Manhattan

Posted on October 13, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Sometimes the artist becomes a brand, a profit center. Usually when that happens the results are regrettable. But sometimes the artist hangs on to his or her integrity. Sometimes the lure of fame and success aren’t enough to dilute the … Continue reading →

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Happy birthday, Matt Damon

Posted on October 8, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

It was a great day to be born, Mister Hunting!

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Kill your Buddha

Posted on October 1, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

I try not to too often use this soapbox as a dispensary for artistic advice (my good friend Robin K. has that all sewn up for writers over at More Ink and for visual artists at Ink and Alchemy). But … Continue reading →

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Good grief, here we go

Posted on October 1, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Proud #Independent here w/no great luv for the Dems. But the GOP sure as hell doesn't win me over with their nihilistic tantrums. #WhatAMess — Pat Worden (@WordsmithWorden) October 1, 2013

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Inside the Whitney’s I-You-We exhibition

Posted on September 25, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

It’s not often that a storied art collection like that of New York’s Whitney Museum gets up and changes address. But that’s exactly what’s going to happen in 2015, when the museum’s new downtown building is complete, and the Whitney … Continue reading →

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Voyager 1: Earning its name

Posted on September 13, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Voyager 1 is the ultimate Gen-X spacecraft. It grew up with us—launched in 1977, coming into its adolescence in the Eighties with storied fly-bys of the outer planets, then moving out, as it were, in the years and decades that … Continue reading →

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To glimpse a Van Gogh

Posted on September 8, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Funny thing about Vincent Van Gogh‘s series of sunflower paintings. As a subject, they’re as synonymous with the artist as any could be. His self-portraits and his visions of starry nights are iconic, of course; when it comes to still-life, … Continue reading →

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Happy Labor Day 2013

Posted on September 2, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Happy Labor Day. If you labor, thank you. Thank you especially if you labor anything like my dad did, or his dad, or any of the thousands of rubber workers, steel workers, machinists, ditch-diggers and floor washers I’ve been honored … Continue reading →

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