by Karen Veazey  – In 2012, I visited a large cat rescue where I participated in “cub interaction time,” a controversial but effective method of fundraising. For a small donation, you play with a tiger cub. I entered the playpen, a pale green cement and cinderblock room with one glass

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: Returning to Reverence with the Amur Leopard

by Catherine D’Andrea – According to Leonardo Da Vinci, force is “a spiritual power, incorporeal and invisible, which with brief life is produced”1. Though just a partial sketch, “Figures to Represent Labor” demonstrates the artist’s understanding of force and anatomy, mass and gravity, vectors and torque. It is not complete and

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: Science and Soul in Sketched Figures

by Rob McMahon – Lauren Rusk’s poem “Sight Unseen” tells the respective stories of Juan de Oñate and his deeds following the battle at Acoma and the small band of American Indians who sought justice for Oñate’s acts. In January 1998, on the fourth centennial of the Acoma Pueblo massacre,

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: The History Behind a Statue’s Desecration

by Katie Schnuck – Within the quaint town of Staffordshire, in the middle of England, lies a tradition that has nothing to do with eclectic music, fancy dress, or accents that slip off the tongue. The tradition has to do with a piece of food served at mealtime when people gather.

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: TJ’s Oatcakes Keeps Tradition Alive in Staffordshire, England

by Jeanette Ronson – Edith Rimmington (1902-1988), an obscure painter, poet, and photographer, projects her commitment to the Surrealist movement of the early twentieth century in her painting “The Decoy” (1948).  A decoy’s purpose is to lure a victim into a trap. Here, we have a human hand infused with

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: The Power to Transcend Logic is in the Hand of the Surrealist

by James Purtle – The Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, CT, is home to a remarkable collection of early American tools and artifacts uniquely curated to showcase their beauty and utility. Donated and created by artist and author Eric Sloane in 1969, the exhibit is like a personal invitation into

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: A Tribute to Early America and to Artist Eric Sloane

by Rob McMahon – Rob Magnuson Smith’s piece, “The Headhunter’s Trumpet,” offers a glimpse into the world of New Guinean tribal practices. The piece focuses on a Papuan headhunter’s trumpet, an instrument created, carried, and played to display a tribe’s ferocity and brutality before a headhunting. A headhunter’s trumpet, carved

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: The Headhunter’s Chilling Blast

by Annmarie Savarese – A medieval storehouse was a sanctuary as well as a desolate prison for the girl who survived Europe’s bubonic plague.  Jen Mehan’s poem “The Girl in the Staveloftet” was inspired by a Norwegian legend dating back to the 1300s. According to legend, the owner of the

Continue readingRediscovered Stories: The History Behind the Legend