The Dioscuri

The myth begins with Zeus in disguise. He comes to Leda, queen of Sparta, in the form of a swan. Later poets make it salacious. The earlier versions make it necessity. Their union yields eggs. From them Castor and Polydeuces emerge, and in many traditions Helen and Clytemnestra as well. Only the brothers are calledContinue reading “The Dioscuri”

Diomedes and Aeneas

In Calydon, Oeneus made his offerings to the gods, and in the counting of names he forgot Artemis (Ov. Met. 8). The first fruits rise in smoke to Zeus, Hera, the household powers, the immortals who tolerate men so long as men remember them. It is the old economy of reciprocity, the one James FrazerContinue reading “Diomedes and Aeneas”

KI-MUSUBI

Linguistically, Japanese sounds exotic, which (like most things in life) is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because a Japanese phrase like ki-musubi forces non-Japanese speakers to pause mentally and to question seriously whether or not we understand the concept. Translated, ki-musubi is ‘to tie ki.’ Now the curse of aContinue reading “KI-MUSUBI”