Author: Henry Barnard

I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up.

The Odyssey

People miss the main point and genius of Homer’s epic tale.  They get distracted by the amazing predicaments — a Cyclops, Sirens, etc. — Ulysses (Odysseus) faces on his dauntless journey homeward, which predicaments are no doubt very dramatic and therefore entertaining, but they are not the main point of the story.

The deeper meaning of this marvelous tale is that it is a perfect metaphor for what one goes through in dealing with life’s many challenges.   You find yourself in some kind of predicament and then have to figure out a solution.  If you don’t, life runs you over, but if you do, you continue on your merry way — until the next inevitable challenge.  

The dramatic challenges Ulysses faced were only different in scale, but not in kind, to those of ordinary life.  Yet the end result is the same in both cases: figure out the predicaments and you survive, even thrive; don’t figure them out and you are overwhelmed.  That’s the real takeaway from The Odyssey.

An interesting note: most scholars are of the opinion that Homer was blind.

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Salad Bowls

I’m exploring Boston for a week.  I’ve been coming across these eateries where you pick the ingredients for a large and interesting salad — a place called Sprouts on Huntington Avenue, another called energize (lc “e”) on Massachusetts Avenue, a third called sweetgreen (lc “s” and first “e” inverted) on Boylston Street, and a fourth called honeygrow (lc “h”) also on Boylston but further out, near Fenway Park.  (I guess the culinary world in Boston is fascinated by e.e. cummings!)

All four salad bowls were spectacular…and off the chart as far as nutrition goes.  Verde in Charleston, S.C., was another eatery with this kind of approach to wonderful salad bowls and powerful nutrition.

The ironic thing about these places is that for 12 bucks or so you get a very original and imaginative hearty salad that’s packed with a crazy level of nutrients (leafy greens being the all stars compared to other foods in general), but you could go to a pricey restaurant — I call them the “cloth napkin” type restaurants — and pay through the nose for the meal, but end up with a fraction of the nutrition and way more calories.

And then there was the salad bar in the Whole Foods in Atlanta, Ga., which was in a class by itself.  Some of the plant-based ingredients and combinations completely original, at least to me.  Droves of people showed up there every day at lunch and make themselves wonderful salads.  While the WF salad bar in Atlanta was at a different level, the WF salad bar in Boston was rather pathetic in comparison.  Go figure.

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Bean Town

Spending a week in Boston exploring the city.  Lots of new buildings and breathtaking architecture.  The contrast between the old and historic and the modern couldn’t be more stark.   Contrast, say, the wonderful and rambling Gothic monstrosity of the Old South Church with these recent glass and steel monoliths that seem to challenge the sky itself.

Boston also creates some very interesting open spaces for pedestrians. Space itself is a kind of luxury in any city — you feel the openness in some of these pedestrian areas and small parks, not to mention the welcome touches of nature.

Northeastern University has expanded immensely.  Shocking how much real estate they have taken over and developed.

Boston Commons putting on a show with the blossoming of spring.  Showing off really, and not modest about it.  Listened to this barker in the park dressed up like a 17th century pilgrim relate the story of a Quaker woman who was found guilty of heresy. Apparently the Puritans were not fond of Quakers.  The penalty was banishment from the city.  She came back to Boston twice to appeal the decision, but the second time was a big mistake, for the Boston authorities ran out of patience.  They decided to hang her instead, which they did from a tree on the Commons.  Quaint.  The dressed up Puritan pointed out the location where her hanging tree had been.  The smallish audience ogled the spot.

A small army of the homeless and helpless await the opening of the Boston Public Library at 9 am, as the professional class scurries past to get to their offices on time.

Lautrec exhibit at Fine Arts.  Learned that he came from a wealthy family and didn’t need income.  He wasn’t actually a midget, but had a congenital disease that stunted the growth of his legs when he was an adolescent.

Only 36 when he died.

I like his work because of how penetrating he was at capturing expressions on the face, sometimes warts and all.  There’s a super realism at work there.  Grosz was like that too. Super realism, and often not at all complimentary.

The Boston School of Art of the 1890s was clearly enamored of Vermeer.  The museum doesn’t boast a single Vermeer, but has many American knock offs, some of which are quite exquisite and in no way inferior to the master.  I think the high point of my 3-hour museum stint was this discovery, although I’m always impressed by the realism of Roman heads.

The Green Monster

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Alcohol

Had a rather large cup of red wine a week ago, and it was like a wrecking ball to my system.  I hadn’t had any alcohol in over 2 years.  Startling how devastating a single cup of wine can be for your system.

I suppose people who drink on a regular or daily basis get a bit removed from how much of a shock alcohol is to their system.  That doesn’t mean that it is less devastating to their health (and liver), only that they are desensitized to the impact, which in a way is kind of sinister, in that they don’t fully realize how malevolent alcohol is when they are using it.

I remember smoking cigarettes was the same way.  When you first smoke cigarettes, you choke on the smoke, and it makes you feel ill and woozy, but after you get used to smoking cigarettes, the smoke doesn’t bother you, and you don’t feel sick from it, but the smoking  is still undermining your health.

Interesting that in both cases — booze and smoking — the body is trying to tell you something with its initial repulsion.  But do you listen?

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Ignore Insults on Social Media

Those people who get riled by insults on social media have fragile egos.  And then they engage in some kind of rant as a response.  And if they “win” the angry exchange, what exactly have they won?

It’s an exhibition of pointless anger when anger is a very corrosive emotion for the person experiencing it.  So why play such a self-destructive game?

Best way to deal with insults on social media is not to respond to the bating, but do reflect on the substance of the criticism to see if there is any real merit to it, so that one might improve oneself if there is any merit by altering one’s ways.  Otherwise, let it go — just words on a screen from someone anonymous who doesn’t have a clue about you, doesn’t know you at all, and will never meet you.

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Police

It’s the police who keep Americans from turning into savages, particularly in large cities. A society without police would turn into a primal and deadly environment.  Police are really the vanguards of orderly society.  In many ways, they are the heroes.  That there are a small number of corrupt and/or unnecessarily vicious cops changes none of that.

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