I was in a Starbucks this afternoon having a cappuccino with Adele, my mother.

The topic of taking a stand came up and the importance of right action. This sparked a memory that took me back to when I was a senior in high school.

“Here’s a story about a bully I never told you,” I said.

She perked up.

Here it is:

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The other night on the History Channel, yet another documentary about how the lives of Gauguin and Van Gogh crossed paths in the south of France. Vincent is portrayed as the needy and unbalanced artist. Paul is the egoist who portrays himself as Christ in some of his works.

Ultimately, their temperaments separate them.

Both men loved art first. Then, they taught themselves to be what they loved. And, as artists, they remained steadfast to their vision. Their lives are lessons—an open book for those who see the inner workings of the true artist. Take the best of what they had to offer and reconstitute it within your self.

The price fixing scheme between Christie’s and Sotheby’s of a couple of years ago has flaked off the public’s memory like cheap old paint.

In a previous post, Going Once, I wrote about a New York Times article that reported on a tighter market among the rich players. As it turns out, not all that tight after all, as Christie’s New York recent sale of Impressionist and modern art did turn a profit.

Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn payed $17,367,500 (est. $15,000,000-$20,000,000) for a rare ca. 1895 self-portrait at age 55 by Paul Cézanne. Wynn also bought Renoir’s Among the Roses (1882) for $23.5 million. The large canvas (39 3/8 x 31 7/8 in.) captures Madame Clapisson in the garden of the couple’s mansion in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Among the Roses was rejected by Monsieur Clapisson who insisted Renoir repaint his wife’s portrait in a more formal manner, which the painter did.

The art marketers are keen on convincing artists that the art public demands to see a lengthy scroll of exhibits, solo shows, awards, and collectors. The art marketers are also keen on convincing the art buying public that this is what “they” want of the artist as well.

The premise is that others who are presumably more astute than you have already “validated” the artist in question. Makes sense? Right?

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It is essential that we remember the veterans who fought on our behalf. If we forget them, we deserve the consequences.

While freedom may be an inalienable right under the law in the United States, it must be won and earned daily. Do not take what freedoms you do have for granted as they can disappear as quickly as the Berlin Wall fell down.

Let the government focus on providing services and let the people monitor their own morality—which cannot be legislated. The more laws a society has means that the government trusts the people all that much less. Soldiers did not give their lives or lose their limbs and health so that you and I should squander their legacy and gift.