Author: Jim Garrett
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Was It Wander… Lust? — The Longing Beneath the Map
Painter of the Boston Polyphemos, Greek (Athens), Archaic period, about 550 BC. Drinking cup (kylix) with Circe transforming Odysseus’s men. Ceramic, black-figure technique. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accession 99.518. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. Book 11 stopped me.…
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My Trip to 1885
On a cool spring day in May, I found myself in one of my favorite places to be in Boston when not in a coffee shop or Fenway Park. I found myself in a gallery in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. This day in a small gallery off to the side, centered in front…
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Longing for Home When Everything Else Looks Easier
Aison, Greek (Athens), Classical period, about 420 BC. Cosmetics container (pyxis) depicting the meeting of Odysseus and Nausikaa. Ceramic, red-figure technique. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accession 04.18a-b. Personal photography. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. In my last post, we sat…
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Journey as Transformation
Personal photography. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gallery 215A — Homer and the Epic Tradition. This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. The saying goes, “You can never go home again.” I’ve been thinking that’s only half the trouble. You don’t have to…
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A Cello Walks Out on a Country Music Stage
I recently attended a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, the newer venue built on the former Opryland park site and opened on March 16, 1974. That date marked the first Grand Ole Opry show held outside the Ryman Auditorium; the final Opry performance at the Ryman had taken place just…
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A Return to Homer: On with The Odyssey
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. The Literary Spine brought me first to The Iliad — and having finished it ahead of schedule, I arrived at The Odyssey right on time, returning to the windswept shores, the restless seas, and the long…
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May I Comment on No Comments
This is one of those “From the Table” type post I’ve been wanting to do for the last few days. This new blog of mine has been up for a few weeks now and I thought it might be a good time to communicate with you my thoughts on a particular “feature” of the site…
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The Iliad – A Fresh Retrospective
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. It reaches across 2,700 years and finds you where you live. If you’re just joining this journey, I’d invite you to visit the Table of Contents linked at the top of this post.. If you have…
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Looking Down Monet’s Road
In my retirement as I have continued to allow the horizons of my interest to expand, the opportunity to visit an exhibit of Impressionist art is always welcomed and if possible pursued. Recently an Impressionist exhibit from the Dallas Museum of Art was showing at the Frist Art Museum here in Nashville. TN. So, with…
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Rage, Honor, and the Long Ships Home: My Introduction to Homer
This is part of a series. To find the Table of Contents for this series start by clicking here. My 2026 journey along the spine of Western literature — what I’m calling The Literary Spine — got off to an exhilarating start earlier this year. Immediately, Homer’s epic, The Iliad, drew me into its ancient…
The Curious Table 