It is the late 60s or early 70s perhaps; I can’t remember exactly. I am seated at one of two grand pianos in the salon of my piano teacher, Professor William Avera, on the second floor of the Fine Arts Building at Belhaven College. I am struggling mightily with one of Chopin’s compositions. At some … Continue reading Warsaw: Muzeum Chopina →

Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw. Does knowing how something ends, a book, a movie, a life, for instance, affect our experience of the thing? The answer seems obvious. Of course, it does. Ought it to affect our experience? The answer to this question is not as apparent. “Ought” is a tricky … Continue reading Poland: POLIN – Ought and Can →