Commonplacing

It’s time for the what-becomes-public-domain-in-2024 advent calendar!

I have been reading the transcribed words of Joan of Arc, and marveling at her wit, conviction, and belief in herself. So I had to revisit the 1928 film The Passion of Jeanne d’Arc, and I was again completely blown away by its power. It’s an incredible feat of unexpected angles, close-ups, and pure emotion on film. If you haven’t seen it, it is definitely worth your time, even if you think silent films are boring—trust me on this one.

Women were the primary brewers of beer—and other markets—until the 13th-century plague decimated the population, and men took up the profession.

As a migraineur (what a strange identity to label), I too have ‘collected’ artists and writers who also suffered from migraines—and wondered about the connection of pain and creativity.

This is an older article, but the fascinating and still tragic possibilities had The Lord of Misrule succeeded in his utopic vision of America.

Loved to read about the recovery and translation of many masterful Chinese women poets.

And a poem by the 9th-century woman poet Yu Xuanji:

An Allegory

Red peaches everywhere the colour of spring;
jade willows by every house gleam in the moonlight.
A freshly made-up woman waits upstairs for nightfall;
another sits lonely in her room, filled with love.
Beneath the moon, fish are playing among the lotuses;
from a distant rainbow, the sound of sparrows chirping.
Human life—a dream of joy and sorrow mingled;
why is it that, gaining one, the other also comes?
 
                  —Yu Xuanji (844-868), trans. by Leonard Ng

As above, so below. Aerial shot, or close-up of an iced, road-sized puddle?