March | 2015 | ZETEO

Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, Pearl Theater

Better pleased with madness

March 12, 2015 by William Eaton

A favorite short speech from Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale. A young prince, in love with a lovely, seeming shepherd girl (see photo above), is warned by his father’s right-hand man to take heed, “be advised.” The young man’s response echoes the human response to life in general. I am advised, he says— by my fancy: if my reason Will thereto be obedient, I have reason; If not, my senses, better pleased with madness, Do bid it welcome. The most unfortunate […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiLL • Tags: A Winter's Tale, cultural criticism, flowers, Internet, Shakespeare, theater

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Go Medieval on Your Verse

March 10, 2015 by Ana Maria Caballero

One of my favorite blogs is called “Interesting Literature.” It is just that, a site with interesting, often very random, facts about literature and literary history. A few weeks ago they published a piece called “10 Short Medieval Poems Everyone Should Read.” Fear not. The poems included are only a few lines long and translation is provided, so they are very easy to read. Sure, the poems’ subject matter may seem simplistic, almost pre-adolescently romantic. But it is nevertheless fascinating to have […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: art, books, culture, History, medieval poetry, poetry, reading, writing

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Pushing for more engineers and scientists through film

March 9, 2015 by Alexia Raynal

In recent years, the US has strongly favored education programs that focus on creating more engineers and scientists. Education advocates have opened up debates on how to get children more interested in STEM fields, an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. They are also interested in learning how to integrate these subjects into children’s everyday lives. I was recently reminded of this national drive while watching the Walt Disney Animated Studios movie “Big Hero 6” (released in fall 2014). The film tells […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: Big Hero 6, children, education, film, STEM

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International Women’s Day

March 9, 2015 by fritztucker

It’s popular for leftists this time of year to point out the (debatable) fact that International Women’s Day was originally known as International Working Women’s Day. I’m all for intersectional studies, and believe that the world would benefit from examining a different intersection of oppression every day. Insofar as there is going to be a Labor Day, a Black History Month, and an International Day of Persons with Disabilities, however, I’m glad that there’s no “Working” qualifier in International Women’s Day anymore. Women of […]

Categories: Fritz Tucker, ZiLL • Tags: capitalism, civil rights, gender, History, politics, pornography, rape, sexual assault, sexuality, technology, women

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I want to be a dog, not a human

March 6, 2015 by William Eaton

For DJ’s, reviewing and preparing music is a regular occurrence. In this process old songs find ways to creep into rotation in the most unsuspected of ways. This happened to me last week when preparing for “Backayard Sessions.” While I did not spin the song at the event, “Dog Better Than Man” (by the Trinidadian calypso singer Viper) brings me the same laughter faintly heard in the background of the 1962 recording. Stronger than laughter are my feelings of agreement […]

Categories: Jeremy Syrop, ZiLL • Tags: Dog better than man, music, sound, Viper

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Martyrdom (Part III)

March 5, 2015 by William Eaton

I have written elsewhere about Martin Luther King’s call to martyrdom, his exhorting a crowd of black citizens in Montgomery, Alabama: “You must say, somehow, ‘I don’t have much money—I don’t have much education—I may not be able to read or write—but I have the capacity to die!” These days when we think of calls to martyrdom, we think of Muslims, suicide bombers. And we may note stark differences: King’s martyrs were not to kill but only to be killed, […]

Categories: William Eaton, ZiR • Tags: Boris Nemtsov, courage, Martin Luther King, martyrdom, N. Scott Momaday, Plenty Horses, suicide bombers, Wounded Knee

Goya, Still Life with Golden Bream, 1808-12. Oil on canvas, 17 5/8 x 24 5/8”. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Looking at Goya’s Still Lifes

March 5, 2015 by William Eaton

One of the many surprises at the recent extraordinary exhibition, Goya: Order & Disorder, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston were his still-life paintings. They are remarkable for their departure from traditional still lifes of memento mori sentiments that usually include only a trace of the reminder of death. In Goya’s still lifes, the subject is death—recently killed animals or already butchered. Goya painted twelve still lifes, without commission, between 1808-1812, the years of Spain’s war with Napoleon […]

Categories: Gayle Rodda Kurtz, ZiLL • Tags: art, Goya, Order and Disorder, Still Lifes

Young Adult, in Verse

March 3, 2015 by William Eaton

I recently visited the main branch of the Miami Public Library System and was strongly impressed by what I found. Although the entire library was elegant, spacious, well-stocked and easy to decipher, the teen’s section was truly remarkable. There were large signs indicating that only 12-19 year-olds were allowed to use the area, which was equipped with computers, lounge chairs and large arched windows. One of the section’s featured books caught my eye, so I picked it up. It is […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, free verse, literature, poetry, reading, writing, young adult

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The sky wasn’t blue until just recently

March 2, 2015 by Alexia Raynal

Last week, the Business Insider published an article about the way we see colors, arguing that until recently in human history, people did not “see” or notice blue. In The Odyssey, it explains, “Homer famously describes the ‘wine-dark sea.’ But why ‘wine-dark’ and not deep blue or green?” The suggested answer is not a mere matter of preference or poetic choice. Kevin Loria, the author of the article, refers to findings from a Radiolab episode titled “Colors,” which claims that ancient languages like […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: Business Insider, colors, History, literature, sky

ZETEO

Zeteo (ζητέω): to challenge, question, dispute, explore the forgotten and ignored

Monthly Archives: March 2015

Better pleased with madness

Go Medieval on Your Verse

Pushing for more engineers and scientists through film

International Women’s Day

I want to be a dog, not a human

Martyrdom (Part III)

Looking at Goya’s Still Lifes

Young Adult, in Verse

The sky wasn’t blue until just recently