Category Archives: Culture

Art in Afghanistan.

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Steve Mumford, a New York artist, writes about the National Gallery of Afghanistan and provides a window into a different world.  Interesting read. Thanks to Major Paul Smyth of UK Forces Afghanistan.

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Afghan oil paintings…

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

The world’s first oil paintings were in caves near two destroyed giant statues of Buddha at Bamiyan. For a fascinating story, read the National Geographic’s “Oldest Oil Paintings Found in Caves”.

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Radio Azadi and Afghanistan.

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

I shall be visiting Afghanistan for the first time in my life in the next few days.  What best describes my mood?  Excitement and trepidatious anticipation. Sometimes, the news that is reported is not that encouraging.  But sometimes, one reads … Continue reading →

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Rabia Balkhi, the first and only Afghan queen and Persian poetess.

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

She lived in the 10th century.  She fell in love with her brother’s slave.  She was imprisoned by her brother and committed suicide after writing her last poem, Love, on her prison wall with her own blood.  I am caught in Love’s … Continue reading →

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…”when the beauty of the Earth and the human race rises up and takes your heart with it”…

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

So says Gerard Van der Leun, and I agree:

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Hunting with eagles…

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

…in Kazakhstan. The BBC has a fascinating video of what today is a sport. made me think of this beautiful and captivating photo by Andy Hall:

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“How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Father James Martin charmingly explains: Who hasn’t wanted to ask in the face of a life-altering change, “How can this be?” Holy confusion is a natural part of the life of any believer—indeed, any person. Ironically, earlier in Luke’s Gospel, … Continue reading →

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Vaclav Havel.

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

A great 2003 article by Matt Welch:   Velvet President – Why Vaclav Havel is our era’s George Orwell and more.

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Christmas music.

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

I remember how delighted I was to discover Czech and Polish Christmas Carols.  Enjoy.

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Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl.

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

For my nephews:  here is a children’s fairy tale story that I grew up reading in mesmerized wonder… The Little Match Girl Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening– the last evening of … Continue reading →

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Phyllis Dillon’s Perfidia.

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Enjoy a beautiful song, “Perfidia” by Phyllis Dillon (perfidy:   treachery):

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Men and women and friendship…

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

When I was growing up, I always heard women thought they could be friends with men, but not vice versa:  Video: Can Men and Women Be Just Friends?

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Rent-a-read in Ethiopia.

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Some consumers in Ethiopia are too poor to buy newspapers. Instead, they rent them from paper landlords: Major cities elsewhere in the country receive newspapers a day or two later and for readers there the cliché of journalism as the … Continue reading →

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Lamb castration, peripeteia and anagnorisis, and the war on work.

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

So I found a fascinating title reading Instapundit this morning, and checked it out at the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog:  CDC:  Castrating Lambs With Your Teeth May Make You Sick. I had heard that, sometimes, lambs have been castrated … Continue reading →

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The dignity of death ~ how doctors die.

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Barbara Dillon Hillas

Doctors die “gently”: They want to be sure, when the time comes, that no heroic measures will happen—that they will never experience, during their last moments on earth, someone breaking their ribs in an attempt to resuscitate them with CPR … Continue reading →

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