By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — The famed 19th century naturalist/philosopher, Henry David Thoreau filled his voluminous journals with his observations of nature and his thoughts on how nature benefits and teaches human beings. In one entry, he wrote: “Must be out-of-doors to get experience of wholesome reality as a ballast to thought and sentiment. Health requires this relaxation, this aimless …
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — For 25 years, Mexico’s beloved Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan had visited San Antonio in the fall to perform for their fans and tutor mariachi students during a week-long event known as the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza.  But this year everything is different. Though many performing arts events have been cancelled due to COVID-19, the annual mariachi …
We are delighted to bring to you this new poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, easily the best known San Antonio poet, who is also considered one of the leading poets in America today. And the image that’s appearing here with her eloquent poem is by her husband, the prominent photographer, Michael Nye. It’s part of his City Spaces series and …
The annual Artpace event known as Chalk it Up will take place this year again but in a modified format to fit our new pandemic-shaped reality. There will be no massive gathering of eager chalk artists downtown, creating murals along Houston Street and Main Avenue. Instead, both teams and individual artists will be spread around the city, all working in …
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — When Barbara Minarro received an invitation from Artpace to participate in this year’s Chalk It Up event, she eagerly accepted. “I love it! I had such a great time the first time I took part in it,” said the fabric artist who has had ties to Artpace for a number of years as an intern …
Today’s poem is by Alan Berecka, a poet and librarian at the Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. And its companion piece is the Angel of Death, a 1890 painting by English painter Evelyn De Morgan. The painting is now housed at the De Morgan Centre in Guildford, Surrey, England. Irony in the Time of COVID By Alan Berecka Irony …
When The Phantom of the Alamo premiered at the Magik Theater in 1996, it was a regular live stage show that live audiences enjoyed in the theater. The 2020 version, however, is a virtual theater experience. The Magik’s founder and longtime former director, Richard Rosen, decided to revive his original musical for streaming with a group of his former collaborators, …
We don’t get many opportunities to see Shakespearean plays these days but the Classic Theater of San Antonio has something truly special for us: a new production of Macbethto be performed outdoors in park settings. It opens tomorrow, Oct.2, at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, where it will run Friday-Sunday through Oct. 11, and then continue for six more shows …
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor — The highly respected literary critic, Harold Bloom, wrote in his analysis of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that the relationship between Macbeth and his Lady Macbeth is “the best marriage in Shakespeare.” Though that may surprise a lot of theatergoers who seldom think of those two as a loving couple, actor John Stillwaggon who portrays Macbeth in the …
Natalia Trevino’s powerful poem is from a series “responding to the Seven Sorrows of Mary,” Mary being the mother of Jesus. “This sorrow poem is about her ache over the loss of her child, but also a response to the repeated loss of children due to the global pandemic and the loss of children due racism,” wrote Trevino in a …