“The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness, and knows… that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.”
400 Years Of Books Teaching You How To Draw Dragon
“Until the early 17th century, learning to draw meant entering an artist’s workshop — often as a child — copying the master’s sketches and drawing from plaster casts and live models. Students drew under the supervision and authority of the master. But all of that changed in 1608, when the Italian painter and printmaker Odoardo Fialetti published the first instructional drawing guide.” – Hyperallergic
Rupert Murdoch's Caribbean canoodle in the surf
The media billionaire has been spotted smooching in the swell in Barbados with his fourth wife, Jerry Hall.
A Kentucky Opioid Recovery Program Uses Traditional Stringed Instruments To Keep People Engaged (And Employed)
While some in recovery opt for yoga or prayer groups, the group that chooses to connect with Kentucky’s musical heritage is doing well. “The art of crafting an instrument by hand requires keen focus, attention to detail and commitment to a goal — qualities that can help during recovery, in concert with therapy, peer-support groups and other rehabilitation work, experts say.” – The New York Times
In 1504, a copper globe was built somewhere in Europe. It stood only 4.4 inches in diameter and 13.6 inches in circumference, so it was nothing terribly overwhelming. Tiny ships and monsters adorned its seas—also commonplace at the time. But there was a small inscription, near the eastern coast of Asia, that made this particular globe one of a kind: it became the only documented ancient map to quietly go on record saying, Hic sunt dracones.Here be dragons.
Like a siren, the promise and danger of that single phrase called out to Western storytellers. Yet the dragons found on that globe, and the dragons found in literature today, are enormously different creatures. We should know: we’re the ones who re-wrote this mythical beast time and again. So just where be Western dragons at the beginning of their story? And how did they grow into the icons we know now?
Just a quick note: as the title indicates, this article will only look at the Western literary and fantasy traditions. There is, of course, a very long and rich history of dragons running through the mythos and literature of Eastern cultures, as well—but that is a discussion saved for another day.
South Australian woman Rose Fletcher took the amazing photo (pictured) of the rising sun seemingly to re-creating the Aboriginal flag
Here be dragons …
T.S. Eliot’s Love Letters To A Woman Not His Wife Are Being Made Public — And He Left A Bitchy Note To Posterity To Go With Them
The poet fell in love with Emily Hale in 1912, while he was a graduate student at Harvard. She did not reciprocate at the time, though they corresponded until 1956, when she announced that she would be donating his letters to her to Princeton, to be opened 50 years after both were dead (i.e., Jan. 2, 2020). Eliot was more than a little irked at Hale’s decision (he had her letters to him destroyed), but, since he couldn’t stop her, he left a statement of his own that “is also revelatory in its own way.” – Slate
