The best part of April is its explosion of color after winter’s black-and-white hegemony: reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, yellows, and greens. So many greens. This year, with hateful extremists running—ahem, ruining—the show, the metaphor offered by spring’s rainbow feels especially resonant. I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating with the new season: As a psychic, color is the most important part of every day. I often know the color before I know the story, and hue is the most important element of any outfit or space. Truly, I am so grateful for all the color each person radiates, for it is integral to our greatest gift: that we are each part of everything.
Pic: Brooklyn Botanical Garden
Born January 28, 1900, the painter Alice Neel grew up with the twentieth century, though significant success eluded her until the sixties. A true Aquarian, she was built for that decade of upheaval. Today, her hard gems of truth and beauty continue to find new audiences. I believe this is because her work, like Neel herself, was not just a product of its time but a harbinger of times to come.
But they resonate as few twentieth-century portraits do because they are so vibrant and cock-sure – so defiantly gripping.
Anne Lamott may be one of the most high-profile progressive Christians in America today, but she’s better known as the author of such bestselling books of fiction and nonfiction as Imperfect Birds and Some Assembly Required, not to mention the beloved writing guide Bird by Bird. This may change with her newest book, Hallelujah Anyway. Though all her essay collections have centered on themes of faith and compassion, this one is her most explicitly Christian. In it, she wrangles with biblical stories, and not just the ones that make everyone comfortable. Ruth, Mary, Martha, Jesus, and controversial Paul dance through this book about mercy and self-reckoning. It’s wonderful, and not just because her combination of leftist politics and Christian beliefs bridges a looming gap in our country.