Russia With Love

I learned about two different things at different ends of the spectrum this morning. Almost every Sunday I like to watch a news show simply titled, Sunday Morning. It covers a range of topics from news headlines around the world as well as entertainment. It has many fine qualities the first being it's tone. It's hosted by radio personality Charles Osgood whose voice is both informative and soothing.

Two things struck a cord with me this Sunday Morning. For the first time ever, an exhibit displaying Russian art is making the rounds; it’s currently at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The collection spans 800 years and includes such names as Kandinsky, Kramstoy and Repin. Sunday Morning talked with a few curators involved with the exhibit and provided a slide show of some of the most beautiful and moving work I've ever seen. I was touched by the fact I wasn't the only one seeing these works for the first time. I was also moved to gratitude for Sunday Morning sharing this piece of beauty I'd never get a chance to see otherwise. Here is the CBS news piece on it although unfortunately there are no photos.

I mentioned there was a second end of the spectrum; Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot previous interviewed decades earlier about his experience during the Vietnam war. He passed away at the age of 62 so they replayed the earlier interviews. It wasn't so much his passing I found sad but his history. I've heard bits and pieces about the war and have seen the movies but I never heard of My Lai and the Vietnamese massacre. The amount of inhumanity (whatever that means) always amazes me. You can read about Hugh and how he put himself between fleeing refugees and the comrade U.S. solders firing upon them at CBS News.

I have mixed feelings about the rest of the day...

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Topic Links

* Visit the New York Guggenheim Museum

Portrait of an Unknown Woman, 1883 Ivan Kramskoy Buy From Art.com