Day: December 23, 2008

‘Engines of Survival’ by Larissa Kelly

Larissa Kelly on Jeopardy!

Jeopardy! fan-favorite Larissa Kelly will return for the Tournament of Champions, airing March 11-24. Meanwhile, here’s a surprise from Larissa. A piece of speculative fiction she has written, called “Engines of Survival,” that you will find at Strange Horizons Fiction:

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20081222/engines-f.shtml

Now that Sarah Palin’s star has faded (although I doubt permanently), Larissa is once again the #1 reason — ahead of Alizée! — why people find this blog, so take note that she has included an e-mail address. There’s no reason to assume this isn’t really Larissa, and you have to promise me that if you write to Larissa you will be civil, respectful and well-behaved! And remember, boys, she’s married. “For all of you youngsters,” as Ed Sullivan used to say, I should explain that “Sorry Boys, She’s Married” is a play on a famous moment in Beatles history.

Sorry Girls, He's Married

Art Smart

Starting my sophomore year of college, I took one art history course per semester. They were taught by a brilliant and talented woman named Barbara Harris, who worked with the previously mentioned Arno Maris. I was fortunate to have had Ms. Harris as an instructor, because she left Westfield State College the semester that I graduated.

Barbara Harris, art historian

I never considered a career in art history, but I loved art and I enjoyed the contrast it offered to regular history classes, which are mostly about politics and war. Everybody automatically thinks of Italy when they hear the word “Renaissance,” but my favorite course was about Flemish Renaissance art. (Flemish as in Flanders, as in Belgium.) Today’s Boston Globe has a story about an Italian Renaissance painting undergoing restoration at the Museum of Fine Arts.