Alexander Knaifel

I blogged about Alexander Knaifel a few weeks ago, and his piece Svete Tikhiy, or O Gladsome Light.  The music is so simple, in a manner of speaking, yet I never tire of listening to it. I listen to it on my way to work, if I’m travelling alone. I listen to it in bed. [...]

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The Executioner (II)

From a notebook in which I am exploring a character in a work of fiction.
How does one live with an executioner? How does one learn not to question what this person does? They must fight off doubt and a troubled conscience more vigilantly, more aggressively, because their non-involvement leaves them weaker, because they have less [...]

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Blind Spot

K., a friend of mine, was a chemical engineer before taking an early retirement. A few weekends ago we sat around and talked about beer and he told us all about how it’s made, how it goes off, how it’s preserved and transported. (He used to work for Heineken.) It was all fascinating.
He’s very intelligent [...]

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Meteora

I’ve been to Meteora several times over the years, but I wanted to take N. this summer because she’d never been. Before we stopped to get a room in Kalabaka, we drove up and took a look around. N. later said that this was the most impressive part of the trip.

If you look close enough [...]

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