A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, the power of protest and the legacy of George Floyd; (11:07) life in great cities after the pandemic; (17:55) and the lessons from one hundred Bartleby columns on work and management.
Monthly Archives: June 2020
Top Artist Profiles: Jennifer McChristian – “Nostalgia And Harmony”
Award winning artist, Jennifer McChristian, was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be an artist. Upon completing high school, McChristian began her art education at Dawson’s College in Montreal, Canada. In 1986, she and her family took permanent residency in California, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree with Honors from Otis Art Institute in 1990.
Her inspirations consist of notable artists such as John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Nicolai Fechin and Cecilia Beaux. McChristian primarily paints in oils and occasionally watercolors and gouache. She has an affinity for painting ‘en plein air’ and also enjoys creating studio works using her outdoor sketches as inspiration. “Painting is somewhat of a spiritual experience for me. Although challenging at times, the end result evokes within me a sense of elation, nostalgia and harmony”.
Travel: “MyBusHotel” Converts School Buses Into Luxury Campers
Our expertise in converting buses started with a 39’ school bus named Natasha. Converting a school bus into a home on wheels was part of an ambitious project : the road trip of our life. We converted our bus with the help of some of the best craftsmen in South California.
Once completed, we drove off to South America and traveled around 16 countries, for what was going to be the best road trip ever ! Before we drove a single mile, we had to build Natasha and after doing all the cabinet-making, welding, dovetailing and decking, we became specialist ! The art and craft of building the best home on wheels is now our job ! Every square inch of the skoolies we build is up to convenience, comfort, functionality and aestheticism. We only build skoolies we would live in, and we are pretty demanding. Working with wood and metal experts, we put our heart and passion in every project we have, eager to create something meaningful for our adventure-seeking clients.
Hi-Tech Mobile Housing: “The Space By IO House” – Self-Contained, Off-Grid
The SPACE by IO House is a modern living solution requiring absolutely nothing from the “grid.” All the utilities you need are integrated and completely autonomous, including water, electricity, heating and wifi. A smart device is all that is required to monitor and manage your living experience.
The SPACE comes fully equipped with furniture, appliances, and the necessary gadgets to control them.
This includes a built-in kitchen, bathroom, heating and cooling systems, as well as a smart air ventilation with oxygen level control. Incredibly, all this can be managed at your fingertips through your smartphone. All aspects of the smart home technology have been carefully thought through and the SPACE provides all necessities required for a comfortable, stress free living.
Social Media Video: What’s Behind “The Rise Of TikTok”
TikTok is the most downloaded app of 2020, as quarantines have spurred more and more users to hop onboard and learn about the latest dance trends and memes. But the app also faces a slew of regulatory hurdles, privacy concerns, and allegations of censorship, issues experts say will be new CEO Kevin Mayer’s top priority.
Future Of Medicine: “The Rise Of Teledermatology”
From AMA.org (June 12, 2020):
“There’s an aging population, and there’s a lot of skin out there,” said Dr. Isaacs. “One in five people in the country develop skin cancer, but there is a plethora of benign skin conditions that also require the expertise of the dermatologist. So, you have increasing demand and a limited supply of dermatologists.”
A basic example of how the TPMG teledermatology program works involves a patient who is concerned about a suspicious lesion or mole on their body. The patient can take a picture of the location in question and send it to their primary care physician for review. The physician can request the patient come in for a more thorough evaluation, or if the physician determines that a dermatologist should be involved, they can send the photo to an on-call dermatologist to review.
If the patient does an in-person evaluation, the physician can also take a higher-quality image and forward that to a dermatologist. The dermatologist can then decide whether there is a problem, if a prescription is needed, or if there should be an in-person evaluation and potential biopsy.
A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2019 found that when TPMG dermatologists had the chance to look at well-photographed skin lesions, they were able to identify nearly 10% more cancers with almost 40% fewer referrals to the dermatology department.
New Art Books: “Vincent’s Books – Van Gogh And The Writers Who Inspired Him”
From Hyperallergic (June 13, 2020):
In his paintings we see books on their own, or books in the company of people or other objects; small, lonely ziggurats of books, or a book beside a candle. That last juxtaposition is telling in the extreme. Vincent had a reverence for books. They were sacred ground. They have a kind of inner glow about them.
He reverenced books for their intellectual and emotional content.
He read Dickens, Carlyle, Flaubert, Balzac, Maupassant, and Zola in the original. Dickens and Carlyle were never very easy to read, then or now, but this Dutchman did so. He even read English poetry – John Keats, for example.
About the Author
Mariella Guzzoni is an independent scholar and translator living in Bergamo. She has been collecting editions of the books that Vincent van Gogh read and loved for many years, and curated the exhibition ‘Van Gogh’s Passion for Books’ at the Sormani Library, Milan, in 2015.
Asian Art: The “Exquisite Stylisation” Of Japanese Woodblock Prints”
From Christie’s Magazine (June 4, 2020):
The Tokugawa dynasty would rule until 1868, and the era became known as the Edo period…It was a time of peace and prosperity, and the arts flourished. Particularly splendid were the ukiyo-e (‘woodblock prints’) — works known for their unusual viewpoints, abrupt cropping, exquisite stylisation, and patches of vivid, unshaded colour.
‘Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806), Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) belong in the pantheon of all-time great artists,’ says Anastasia von Seibold, senior specialist in Japanese Art at Christie’s.
The introduction of colour: nishiki-e
Printing in more than one colour was tricky: it wasn’t until the 1740s that green and pink were tentatively introduced. A huge breakthrough came in 1765, when Suzuki Harunobu (1724-1770) mastered a process that accommodated an array of colours.
Travel & Arts Video: “The Getty Villa”, Malibu (2020)
The Getty Villa is devoted to the study and display of art from the ancient world. Housed in a spectacular recreation of an ancient Roman villa, its collection celebrates the culture and artistry of ancient peoples and draws connections to our world today.
Located near the Pacific shore in Malibu, California, the Getty Villa serves a varied audience through exhibitions, conservation, scholarship, research, and public programs. The Villa houses approximately 44,000 works of art from the Museum’s extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, of which over 1,200 are on view.
Political News: “Shields & Brooks” On Widespread Protests (PBS Video)
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the latest news, including the impact of widespread protests on American society and politics, what makes members of Generation-Z different from their predecessors and how the movement for racial equity is affecting President Trump’s reelection campaign strategy.
Boomers Daily 