These paintings from a tomb in what is now Luxor, Egypt, were painted to help the man for whom the tomb was built survive in the afterlife. These paintings were understood to stand in for real breads. What we do not know is how closely the paintings keep to actual practice. Was any artistic license…
Perspective in Egyptian Bread Paintings
This painting, in tomb TT69, may offer us a way to understand the perspective the artist used in depicting breads on offering tables. What you see here is a common concept in tomb and temple art. The depiction of foodstuffs, often with bread on the bottom layer, displayed on an offering table. The offering tables…
Detail from an Egyptian Pharaonic era tomb painting. Can this image help us read the perspective? Are the breads depicted standing upright, on one edge?
Ezekiel Bread, Book of Ezekiel, Torah
Ezekiel’s Vision, William Blake, (1803-05) There are many interpretation of “Ezekiel Bread” online, in cookbooks, and even in commercial products. While the most vocal interpretation is that it is a sprouted grain bread, all of the interpretations are for breads presented as being wonderful, good tasting breads. Reading the text taking into account period culture,…
Egyptian Bread from Temple of Edfu
Edfu is a Ptolemaic Temple located in Edfu, Egypt. Edfu lies between Luxor and Aswan. It is most commonly visited by tourists arriving by boat on the Nile. For the bread obsessed, this temple is important for the variety of bread forms depicted in bas relief that are often very different from the styles found…
The “Shape of a Stories” a talk brillant talk by author Kurt Vonnegut
What makes for an interesting story? A first answer is, something “interesting” happens. Something good happens to a character. Something bad happens to a character. Something has to happen for a story to be engaging. That is the bare minimum. Vonnogut helps us see that when a story opens the main character can be thought…
Sense of Place : Using your powers of observation.
This is an excerise in creating a setting in which your story will take place. Good luck! You may post what you make in the comments to share with others. Further research. Sense of place explained in the Wikipedia. This is a complex entry. More approriate for advanced students and teachers.
2 Subway. A New York Day, 1992.
Earlier, in the afternoon, another thin man, this one white, much older, wrinkled, missing front teeth, asked for money on the lower level of a subway station. He was unkept. He looked at me. And he said something. But I. I shook my head and he moved on, waddling, his legs far apart with crotch…
4 Donut Shop. New York City, 1992
Donut Shop 28th Avenue at 7th New York City, 1992 This donut shop has two U shaped counters, a shape that encourages conversation between customers and customers and staff. Midnight. Several of us are sitting at the U closest to the door. There is also a steady stream of people coming in off the street…
Historic American Rye and Cornmeal Bread, 19th Century New England
RYE AND INDIAN BREAD from Miss Leslie’s Directions for Cookery, 1840 This is a fabulous bread of a type that few of us have made. By volume, it is a 50/50 mix of rye and cornmeal. As with many 19th century American breads, it is mixed with milk. In this case, milk that has been…
William Rubel 