By Myles Ludwig I was busy searching for the plane this week. I looked in the clouds of Google and Microsoft, but they were obscured by bad weather and massive hacker attacks. Nearly lost my identity. I sifted through the wreckage of the Washington state mudslide, pushed aside the giant snowballs of the Mt. Everest avalanche hoping for a sign, and stalked the rubble of the … [Read more...]
Sundays: Being and un-being
By Myles Ludwig The untimely passing of Peaches Geldof was the big news in Britain this week. It was the top-trending topic on the staid BBC and banner fodder for the tabloid-obsessed country in which Murdochian journalism has ensnared its own perpetrator in a messy matrimonial scandal. You may be forgiven for not knowing that Ms. Geldof was one of the three whimsically named … [Read more...]
Sundays: Age appropriate
By Myles Ludwig I’m on the verge of slinking past 70. And puzzled. I know life is different for me, but aside from the residual effects of certain old wounds I feel when I get out of bed in the morning, I’m not really sure how. Or even if I’m supposed to be sure. I know I passed one big speed bump a couple of years ago and now I’m driving cautiously through a leafy … [Read more...]
Sundays: Looking for answers
By Myles Ludwig We seem to be sloshing through a media debris field. The globalization of media, the diversity of delivery platforms and their consequent overarching narratives of mystery, fear and grief involve us all within reach in news stories that seem so close, yet are so far. Those of us not directly affected by catastrophic events are nevertheless drawn into the … [Read more...]
Sundays: Grow some foot of your own
By Myles Ludwig A chameleon can re-grow a lost arm, so why can’t you? Maybe you can. That’s the premise and the promise of regenerative medicine being explored with academic enthusiasm in the Wake Forest University’s Medical School lab in North Carolina by the pioneering surgeon and researcher Dr. Antony Atala. Rhode-Island based artist Kelly Milukas was commissioned to … [Read more...]
Sundays: Ghost ship
By Myles Ludwig I have to tread lightly here. I do not want to add to the anguish. Or the hysteria. But I feel as though I have been assaulted by TV news this week, CNN in particular. On the one hand, the geopolitical issue of Crimea has been positioned as a scary game of brinkmanship reminiscent of the post-WWII confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in Berlin which led … [Read more...]
Sundays: Vlad the Impaler
By Myles Ludwig Vlad the Impaler has struck once again. This time, however, instead of lining the roads of his rule with the corpses of his enemies, he’s impaled the foreign policy of America and that of our European friends – and possibly even himself – on the horns of a dilemma. What should be done about the Russian bear hug of Crimea? What can be done, without tiptoeing up … [Read more...]
Sundays: Magic carpet ride
By Myles Ludwig The red carpet has been a trope since the 5th century B.C., when the coy Clytemnestra welcomed home the wings beneath her feet from his travails in Troy. The not-always-humble monarch Agamemnon wisely demurred, according to Aeschylus. He was nervous about stepping onto the path reserved for the gods. Hey, he might have said, "I am a mortal, a man; I cannot … [Read more...]
Sundays: It’s always Media Time somewhere
By Myles Ludwig Consider time. Time, as in “Hey kids, what time is it?” If you are part of my generation, you most certainly know the answer to that question. It was lodged in our collective frontal lobes. Why, its Howdy Doody time, of course: 5:30 p.m. on Monday-Friday everywhere in our East Coast world. Glowing twilight, descending darkness, time to dismount and park our … [Read more...]
Sundays: The normalizing power of the Xtreme
By Myles Ludwig These are the Xtreme Olympics. Xtreme in every way. The Xtremes of joy, passion and inspiration. The Xtremes of disappointment, but also of dignity. I think that spirit has been brought to the Winter Games by the young men and women who’ve made their mark in what has come to be called — and not only in the United States — as Xtreme sports. These eccentric … [Read more...]