Robert Emmett Murphy, Jr.

  “Breaking Blue” (non-fiction by Timothy Eagan, 1992)   This short volume is one of the most compelling True-Crime tales you will ever read. It is set in two eras: 1935, when a Cop is Murdered, but his killing is not adequately Investigated because of Police Coverup. Then in 1989, when the inadequate files regarding this unsolved Murder are discovered by a Sheriff and he re-opens the Cold Case. But it is about a great deal more than that, it examines our Society’s changing view of what Law Enforcement Professionals are supposed to be; the power of Fraternal Loyalties, even when the players have no skin-in-the-game; and how Justice always comes at a cost, and is always inadequate.   The first section, the events leading up to, the night of, and immediately following, the Murder of Marshall George Conniff, vividly evoke the landscape of Rural Washington State, a place of magnificent forests, mountains, rivers, and struggling industrial towns, as well as the crippli...

  Monet in Venice (exhibit at Brooklyn Museum 2025)   Claude Monet was a cornerstone of the Impressionist movement, perhaps the most Romantic Painters of the late-19 th -early-20 th -centururies. They created new techniques to keep painting relevant in that context of emerging photography and to find new ways of representation to complete with the conventional illustrations of the abundant mass-market magazines.   Impressionism explored color in new ways, going many steps beyond Leonardo DaVinci’s rebellion against strong contours of centuries before, as they attempted to capture the essence of light on canvas. They were representational, but not satisfied with realistic similes of reflected light that create all our recognized images so, not surprisingly, Impressionist were drawn to water, where varying humidities radically alter the colors we perceived. They famously worked outdoors more than in their studios, trying to capture what a specific moment of a day ...