Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” is a lightning rod for climate activists. But why?

Environmental outrage -- whose art is it anyway?

February 6, 2024

On Jan. 28, activists from the environmental group Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) tossed soup at Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” to protest the state of the French agricultural system.

The painting 1503-06, poplar on panel), which hangs behind bulletproof glass in the Musée du Louvre, was unharmed and guards soon restored order.

This isn’t the first time the painting has been attacked nor is it alone in its appeal to climate activists looking to make a statement. Their point seems to be we care more about art than the environment. But is that a valid point?

Nikki Haley, seen on the campaign trail in Iowa, has vowed to fight on for the Republican presidential nomination, even after losing the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary to former President Donald J. Trump. *Photograph by Gage Skidmore.*

The Republicans fail to move on

January 23, 2024

As I returned a purchase in a shopping center on a particularly cold Sunday, an extraordinary thing occurred: A flock of pigeons came running up to me in the parking lot as if it were 1964, I were the Beatles and they were a gaggle of teenage girls. One “fan” even aggressively perched on my car roof.

For a moment I was reminded of Tippi Hedren in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” but only for a moment. Extricating myself and securing the car, I returned the merchandise, wandering around the store a bit. Poor things, I thought of the birds. They were probably only looking for some crumbs. But with several eateries in the center, I was sure they wouldn’t go hungry.

When I returned to the parking lot, the birds were gathered around another car and driver, with a lot more of them perched on his roof. (Adulation is so fickle.) That’s when I realized in Sherlock Holmesian fashion that they were not looking just for food. They had figured out that each new car that arrived offered momentary warmth against a cold, mostly open space.

Nature is so smart. Human nature, not so much. Witness, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Exhibit A — the Republican caucuses and primaries.

A day to celebrate the transcendent nature of the arts in Westchester

April 20, 2023

ArtsWestchester’s Arts Award Celebration – held Wednesday, April 19, at Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase, New York – was a moving affair and not just because I was lucky enough to be chosen for its President’s Award for my 43 years in covering the arts.

What made it moving was to see how the 10 honorees, some 300 attendees and nine vendors continue to find the arts a transformative experience in their lives and how the White Plains-based ArtsWestchester, perhaps the flagship arts council in New York state, continues to act locally but think globally.

Diana, Princess of Wales in Russia in 1995. Photograph by Nick Parfjonov.

Diana and the body politic -- 'Spencer'

November 9, 2021

In “Spencer” — the third leg in a November Diana trilogy that includes Season Four of “The Crown,” now on DVD, and “Diana: The Musical,” now on Broadway — director Pablo Larrain does for the late Princess of Wales what he did for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in “Jackie” (2016) : He imagines a goddess at a tipping point.

The uses of enchantment: A garden ornament at Caramoor. Photograph by Georgette Gouveia. — The uses of enchantment: A garden ornament at Caramoor. *Photograph by Georgette Gouveia.*

A memorable, magical, musical Marsalis Juneteenth

June 22, 2021

What is a holiday if not the meaning we ascribe to it beyond beaches and barbecues, retail and relaxation?

The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah marked the first official Juneteenth — and the opening of its acclaimed international summer music festival — with a concert of works by a composer, Duke Ellington, who understood emotionally and musically that we are one race, the human one.

Women athletes as the main event

March 26, 2021

Self-professed feminist that I am, I must confess that I do not follow women’s sports.

I don’t know why. I support Title IX, which equalized sports opportunities in schools, the fruits of which have included higher medal counts for the United States at the Olympics, thanks to golden performances by our female athletes. I’m all for any civil rights initiative and am absolutely sick with worry about the Georgia Legislature’s most recent effort to restrict voting rights, especially for Black voters.

Still, I prefer to watch men….

A half-baked Supreme Court decision

June 5, 2018

In a 7-2 ruling, the United States Supreme Court has decided that Colorado baker Jack Phillips’ civil rights were violated when the Colorado Civil Rights Commission apparently “ridiculed” his religious beliefs for refusing to bake a gay couple’s wedding cake. It may seem that Phillips’ religious objections to gay marriage trumped David Mullins and Charlie Craig’s civil rights as a gay couple. But had the commission not gotten “hostile,” it might’ve gone the other way.

Here, however, is what the “offending” commissioner actually said …