Between 1821 and 1823, Beethoven wrote his last major work for the piano, the Diabelli Variations. He took a simple theme furnished by his publisher, and added 33 variations. A few months ago, in the middle of my life, and perhaps overly sensitive to my mortality, I challenged myself to learn this piece. I set…… Continue reading Writing About The Pengyang Memorial Inscription With Emotion (or ‘Triumph’)
Associated Press announced recently that 2,975 people died in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria. At first, The New York Times web site placed a modest link beneath a flurry of headlines about a so called NAFTA deal, the passing of a statesman and the profile of an actor. Belatedly, it added an editorial. Most media…… Continue reading Opinion: The Lost Ones (or The Other 9/11)
About the time Li Shangyin and I were meeting in Shenzhen, the drug wars in Central America had intensified. The United States was still a country that drew the oppressed, huddled masses. However, there was a growing sentiment in the country that change was coming too rapidly. America was turning brown and many were afraid.…… Continue reading Westwards From Jingmen (or When Beethoven Met The Migrant Kids)
Fu[1] To The Moon That Illuminates The Frozen Pond 赋得月照冰池 “Often,” Beethoven leaned back in the armchair of the hotel café, “the urge to write is a drug. My passion justifies me… Even though I often tear up what I have written. ” Shangyin and Beethoven were at the Shangri La Hotel in downtown Shenzhen.…… Continue reading Frozen Pond
Great rivers flow through China, a vast life giving system, from the Yellow river in Henan to the Lijiang of Yunnan province. Like the moon, or like the yin and yang of the Book of Changes 1, they form an interactive circle, a vast mirror, where the past and present, the near and the distant…… Continue reading Poem Without a Title 3
A Tang Poet From Nairobi 