For Today, Sunday: America

The beloved Tigres del Norte with a rap from Calle 13. Perfect to get it shaking today. Rock out!

Walt Whitman Remembered

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Just in case we might have forgotten:

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,
Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then;
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass;
I find letters from God dropt in the street—and every one is sign’d by God’s name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoe’er I go,
Others will punctually come forever and ever.

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Verse 48)

I too find letters from God dropped in the street. I find them everywhere. But sometimes I forget what they are. Then they look to me like leaves. Just leaves. Cast off, abandoned, blowing in the breeze. But then after a while of forgetfulness, something always reminds me. There's always something there to remind me. These reminders punctually come forever and ever.

For this reminder, I thank "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest."

Tamayo's America

America by Ruffino Tamayo

The NY Times reports:

A mural by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo -- one of five exhibited in the United States still in private hands -- was sold Tuesday for nearly $7 million at an auction of Latin American art.

''America,'' measuring 13 feet by 15 feet, fetched $6.8 million, just below its pre-sale estimate of $7 million to $9 million, a spokeswoman for Sotheby's auction house said. The buyer's identity wasn't released.

The lower-than-expected price echoed the slowdown in the art auction market in recent weeks. The buying habits of wealthy collectors have been shifting as they confront the global financial crisis.

In May, Tamayo's ''Troubadour'' sold for $7.2 million at Christie's, setting an auction record for the artist and Latin American artwork. Frida Khalo's ''Roots'' previously held the Latin American record when it sold for $5.6 million at Sotheby's in 2006.