I am listening to a fantastic audio book that is much better than I thought it would be. It is from the "The Great Courses" series, available on Audible. Who can resist a 24 hour long course by Bob Brier on Ancient Egypt? I haven't "gone deep" with Egyptology in a long time -- just hearing the first few chapters brought back the wonder of it all. Saqqara. Giza. Memphis. Abydos. Luxor. Karnak. Aswan. Abu Simbel. Cairo. The Nile. How I'd love to go back and see it all again before I leave this earth. Seeing Egyptian things and hearing about he history speaks to my soul like hearing about old family members. Weird but true. To think I was only about 18 when I went there and saw all these places...sigh. Bob Brier is an excellent teacher and storyteller with wonderful analogies and metaphors that bring the history to life. I'm only on Chapter 10 of 48 and already don't want it to end. Hapi and Cairo agree.
On a sad note, the "coup" in Turkey was stamped out and the resulting violence is ugly. Erdogan must go. This image is from a Turkish friend's Facebook feed. Sorry it is a violent, ugly image, but this is the world we are living in. Today Turkey. Tomorrow here? I certainly hope not, but one never knows.
On a brighter note, happy that tomorrow night I gets a few hours of world-violence escapism in the form of Amanda Palmer. She and her father are playing a little church in Lexington. The album was released yesterday, and I haven't had time to digest it yet. The record is all cover songs. I hope Amanda pulls out some of her own work, too, as that is what I like best about her art. Although, any AFP will do!
What else can someone do when the Big Bad World gets badder and badder than escape it through anything that affords that option? Music? Art? Drugs? Drink? Consumerism? Television? Kardashians, even. It doesn't change a thing, but there is no way to really help change happen as an individual. Individual psychotic people will perform extreme acts of cruelty and hide behind a religious excuse, and politicians will remain disconnected from the people who gave them license to lead. All we can do as individuals is stay the course and hope that rationality will win, at least in our own lives.
For an art link today I can only supply a link to Amanda Palmer's new album, available free for streaming. Viva the End of Times, cocktail in hand. Cheers.