A journal seeking light and beauty in people, places, arts, and culture
Surprising as it may seem, poetic political protest is a longstanding tradition in China, going back to the classic Book of Poetry (or Book of Odes) and other ancient texts. (See, e.g., Odes 191, 193, 195, 197.) Below is a famous fragment from the classic Book of Rites. In passing by the side of mount… Continue reading Fiercer than a Tiger
by Jonathan English [As the new Bond film No Time to Die showcases a character who has deepened, growing more mature, emotionally honest, and even sacrificial, the following groundbreaking article looks back nearly 60 years to explore overlooked depths in the 1962 Ian Fleming short story "The Living Daylights." Further, as illuminated here, the dark… Continue reading James Bond: The Spy Who Nearly Came in from the Cold
by Jonathan English Twenty years ago now, Baz Luhrmann’s brilliant cinematic marvel, Moulin Rouge!, blazed across the silver screen. It would go on to receive eight Oscar nominations. Still, many critics seem to overlook its depths, bedazzled and almost blinded to deeper meaning by the film’s surface splendor, fast-paced brilliance, and abundant musical allusion.[1] For… Continue reading Awakening Love: Christian’s Descent into the Underworld in Moulin Rouge!
by Ruirui Kuang We landed in Sweden, my mother and I, and got ready to meet my father at the airport. It was just the two of us that day; my grandmother was not with us. The lone figure of the shriveled old woman waving goodbye in Beijing had been as firmly rooted to the land as… Continue reading My Grandmother
"The ticket booth complex huddled below the lofty red brick walls of the Kremlin under an azure August sky. A sleek, modern construction of metal and glass, the ticket office formed a jarring juxtaposition beneath . . ." (Narrative nonfiction by Jonathan English)
by Sumit Dua In the summer after my first year of medical school, I decided to travel to India to visit family. At the same time, I wanted to really learn photography and had purchased a Canon film camera during that first year. So I took the camera with me to craft images of India as… Continue reading Portraits of India
Quietly I walked through the streets full of people, full of people honoring and celebrating in different ways their loved ones who passed away. . . . (Photography by David Cea)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said, “the line separating good and evil passes . . . right through every human heart.” Humanity has always struggled internally, in the space between our better angels and our darker thoughts. As division and hate blight our body politic, the compelling moral power of Gandhi’s satyagraha remains a vibrant and ever-relevant resource. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others in the Civil Rights Movement were deeply inspired by . . . (An essay by Jonathan English)
Memory sometimes eludes us, smirks, plays tricks. Now, as I write and peer back into the golden haze of early childhood memories . . . (A photo essay by Jonathan English)
Said to be an admirable children's story but not more, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader contains depths calling for reflection. Yet some have missed these depths. Indeed, one weakness of the film is its compressed, edited storytelling, leaving little time for reflection or anticipation. Largely episodic in nature, the movie should point to the arc . . . (A flash review by Jonathan English)
ENCOMIA 