Our Back Yard: Then & Now, by Stephen Poleskie
Taking Another Fall by Stephen Poleskie Columnist t the end of my previous column I had implied that I might write about some of my other falls in the next issue. At the time I did not know that...
Then and Now/Steve Poleskie
Photo by photo-nic.co.uk nic on Unsplash *** Our Falls by Stephen Poleskie here are few among us who can say that they have never fallen in some way or another at least once in their lives. When...
Steve Poleskie/Then & Now
How many innocent civilians have been killed by our military drone strikes? Many of these MQ-9 Reaper drones, on combat and surveillance missions over Afghanistan, are remotely piloted by members of the 174th Attack Wing based at Hancock Field, just a short drive up Route 81 in Syracuse, New York. How must it feel to go home to your wife and kids in Mattydale after just having destroyed, by mistaking them for a group of Taliban, a wedding party of innocent Afghan civilians?
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Me, Mom, and Meritocracy Stephen Poleskie Columnist here has been a lot of coverage in the media recently about parents who will do anything it takes, legal or not, to get their child into a top ranked...
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Calais View Lighthouse Church Belfry Eating Peas in Calais by Stephen Poleskie Columnist y friend and I were talking about our travels. I don’t go anywhere anymore, for reasons I have...
Then and Now/Steve Poleskie
The word “boy” stings. I realize he has purposely chosen the word to convey the feeling of how it must have sounded to generations of black men. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything, really. I was visiting a friend in the Peace Corps and now I’m going home.” I have said the wrong thing again. After two weeks in the country I am aware that most people here are not too fond of Peace Corps Volunteers. Most Sierra Leonese think of them as American spies.
Stephen Poleskie/Then & Now
Lorry passengers unloading in downtown Bo, Sierra Leone, Stephen Poleskie photo, 1973 Talking of Travels by Stephen Poleskie few weeks ago a good friend of mine, who I hadn’t seen in some time,...
Then & Now, Stephen Poleskie
ur turn came and we shuffled our bikes up to the starting line. My eyes should have been on my own set of lights, but I couldn’t help looking over at the Hustler’s “Christmas tree.” He got the green and took off. My eyes flashed over at my own set and, after what seemed like a long time, I got green. I took off. Glancing up I could see the Hustler, which appeared to be half way down the ¼ mile track. But I was gaining on him. I ran my tach to red line in each gear. I was right on the Hustler’s tail. I risked a glance up at the finish line. And then I was passing him. I held on and crossed the line first.
Stephen Poleskie/Then and Now
Leaving Moscow? By Stephen Poleskie Contributing Columnist “Just fill out this form and you can go. . . .” Jenya said, sliding a paper in front of me. “But it’s in Russian, I can’t read Russia,” I replied. “We know you can read it,” Jenya...
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
I took the drawing off the wall and laid it on the floor. I could stand there looking down at the huge work and get an idea of what I wanted to do, but had to bend over and get on my knees to draw on it or paste the collage pieces onto the surface. I tried this for a time, until my back began to hurt. I had cracked my spine in a motorcycle racing accident many years ago and it still bothered me. It’s hard to be creative when one is in pain. I stopped work on the collage and considered abandoning the project. Then I got an idea—the conference room upstairs.
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Citadelle Laferriere, built between 1805 and 1820 to protect Haiti from invasion. Photo by Stephen Poleskie Almost Shot Out of the Sky While Flying Over a “Shithole” Country By Stephen Poleskie [dropcap style="font-size: 46px;...
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
I don’t suppose that I am the only person who goes to sleep at night wondering if they will wake up to find the world at war. Or perhaps the war will have started by the time you read this article. I will not comment on the quality of the world leaders leading the world during these times…
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Jeanne Mackin photo Steve Poleskie and his screen prints at the American Center in Belgrade, June 1981 *** A Cold War Warrior by Stephen Poleskie here has been a lot of comment in the news lately...
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
When I mentioned that I was writing an article about teaching myself to fly, my friend asked: “Who do you think you are, Leonardo da Vinci?” So I know a clever person, who must have read Leonardo’s notebooks. In case you haven’t read these texts, when he wasn’t working on paintings, murals, or designing war machines, Leonard often made drawings for devices to get himself into the sky.
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Such was the technology of the 1960s, perhaps carried over from the 1860s when the structure was first built. It wasn’t all that bad though. The building, 76 Jefferson, became so popular as a residence for artists that in 1972 the Museum of Modern Art mounted a show of all the people of note that had had studios there. I was included as well as many of the screen prints we had created and the Paris Review poster series which we also printed.
Steve Poleskie/Then and Now
Elaine de Kooning and Steve Poleskie, photo by Eddie Johnson Remembering Elaine de Kooning at Chiron Press by Steve Poleskie Contributing Columnist The Denver Art Museum is currently holding an exhibition titled “Women of Abstract Expressionism.” It will be up...
Then and Now/Stephen Poleskie
The art expert and the customs inspector moved to a corner and had a brief conversation, tentatively looking my way from time to time. Then the customs inspector came back to me and announced, “The professore will look at your work now. . . .” His use of the word professore was reverent, not sarcastic.
Then and Now/Steve Poleskie
The photo above is of me talking on a telephone when telephones were for talking on, not typing out messages to one’s friends with your thumb, or playing games, or getting directions that get you lost anyway. We still use a land line in our house, although my wife and I both have cell phones; or mobiles as they are called in the rest of the world…