Cay Denise

Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, I started creating zines for every two-month period to reflect the articles, analyses, photos, and videos, etc. about issues arising with the new administration. So far, I've completed six zines (through December) for this year.  These are photos of the last two. As you can see, they look pretty busy and chaotic.  Each one has the primary topics of the respective period added with labels.  Can you guess how many there are across all six?  Here is the list of more than 85 of them selected for inclusion: Mayoral coercion;  Government payment systems;  Ukraine; USAID;  SSA; Tariffs; Immigrants; Musk, DOGE, Data Capture, Data Impacts; Pardons; NATO; Project 2025; GAZA; Protests; Lock-outs; The Gulf of What?; Prices; Nuclear Stockpile; Bird Flu; Quid pro quo; Measles; FAA; Cartel family sanctuary; Purging history; ICE Raids; Corruption; FEMA/Disaster Unprepare...

This post is about a recent article from Colossal, an online art and visual culture magazine.  In its December 6, 2025 newsletter, there was a short article highlighting a new video from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum.  That video includes multiple V&A curators unboxing a collection of 19th-century objects common in Victorian mourning traditions that include garments, ephemera and photos.  These were part of elaborate rituals and rites that people once practiced to honor the dead.  I'm aware this may seem a strange time of year to speak of death--at least in a way.  But this video is really interesting.   The question raised by the old practices no longer observed is how do we, as a culture, process grief and loss now?  Colossal writes that "our contemporary culture of grief and loss has turned inward and is something managed privately rather than shared with a community."  Does that ring true from your experience?  Is there a t...

In my early junior college days, I was part of musical theater productions in the pit orchestras.  The productions were not done in a theater but at various sites related to the story.  For example, Oklahoma! was done on a farm, and 1776 was done in one of the State of Michigan government chambers.  It was remarkably fun to do because the real-life setting made each story more memorable. That said, this post is about scaling on-site productions up to an unimaginable level.  Today, I read an article in the September (2025) issue of Tatler about a new musical titled 'Anne Boleyn: The Musical'.  The origin of this musical was the brainchild of Princess Eliane de Merode and her brother, Prince Simon, of Belgium.  In the early 2000s, they came up with an idea of creating a theater company in Belgium and would call it Historalia.  The company, now the second largest in that country, stages immersive muscials based on historical figures at stately homes. Prin...

The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco posted this very interesting video interview with artist and engineer, Miguel Arzabe, earlier this year.  What is intriguing is his use of the inspiration he notes -- to create woven paintings that are actually two of his own abstract paintings woven together.   Here is that interview: To see more of Miguel's work, this is the link to his website: https://www.miguelarzabe.net/ What do you think of his work?

Louise Fletcher's 13-week art/painting course is about to conclude.  It has been a great class!   As part of our final week's assignments, we share photos of the course work we've done.  This is a collage of my efforts.  Woohoo!

  This book presents a completely different facet of Leonardo da Vinci's work.  As a polymath and genius in mathematics and engineering (as well as other disciplines), da Vinci was fascinated with knots!   Have you seen his Mona Lisa?  If you did, did you see the ornamentation (embroidery-like pattern) on the bodice of her dress?  In reality, that section is only 1" x 4" of the painting.  But he spent years (almost a decade) plus many sketchbook pages developing the knot pattern now known as the Mona Lisa Knot.  For the actual painting, da Vinci may have spent a year painting just that area.   Based on the book, a place that would have been impressive to see in da Vinci's time -- was the Sala delle Asse: The Room of Knots at the Sforza Castle in Milan.  He painted a floor to ceiling design in a circular ballroom of the north-eastern tower with thousands of mulberry leaves, hundreds of branches intertwining with a single gold cord meandering t...

Have you had the experience of going into a used bookstore that you've never been to before and finding something that peaks your interest--eventually delighting you?  Isn't it downright fun when that happens? Finding this book was from one such chance happening.  It's an easy read that contains lots of sketches and art by Jim Henson.  The sketches would be his first steps toward the creation of what would become the broad assemblage of Muppet characters.  The book summarizes Henson's life and provides a timeline of how he got into puppetry, television, and business.  Then there are the personal qualities:  his values, imagination, sense of humor, plus the opportunities that presented themselves and that birthed what so many of us have enjoyed over the decades.  This is beside the brilliant team that helped him realize his vision. I found this book had just the right amount of information without becoming boring or being a slog to read through, and I e...