Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Two New York existentialists: Mean Streets (1973) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).

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Hannah and Her Sisters and Mean Streets

At first sight, Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen have little in common other than being two great New York filmmakers. Beyond that, there seems to be little else in common. Their genres, styles, and films are almost opposed.

However, two films seem to connect them philosophically: Mean Streets (1973) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Both protagonists, Charlie in Mean Streets and Mickey in Hannah, are textbook existentialists, though there are as many approaches to existentialism as there are people; these two exemplify polar-opposite existential crises, united by a shared search for the self.

The very first scene in Mean Streets has Scorsese’s voice in off, saying: “You don’t make up for your sins in church, you do it in the streets.” The scene then opens with Charlie Cappa (Harvey Keitel) waking up as light filters through the blinds, making him seem as if he is behind bars. He gets up and walks by a very well-lit crucifix to a mirror where he touches his face. Here are the basic clues we need to understand Charlie’s situation: He feels trapped, the weight of morality, of guilt, of the church on his shoulders, and the touching gives a very “doubting Thomas” feeling: I will believe it when I touch it. Throughout the film, Charlie will test the pain a flame causes whenever he sees one (candles, kitchen stoves), a motif shared by Lawrence of Arabia. Charlie struggles to decide between the mafia lifestyle of his capo uncle and a more honest life with his girlfriend in the style of his hero, St. Francis of Assisi, protecting the less fortunate, in this case, Robert De Niro’s Johnny Boy.

Woody Allen’s Mickey, on the other hand, has a very different kind of existential crisis as he looks for the meaning of life. Although Allen always seems to play the same neurotic New Yorker, in Hannah, he channels the existential issues of love and life in Manhattan.

In conclusion, Scorsese in Mean Streets and Allen in Hannah and Her Sisters, respectively, portray the two sides of the same existentialist coin: Scorsese in the tragic frame of Soren Kierkegaard, and Allen’s Hanna in the absurdist style of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

“You know, I’ll dye Easter eggs if it works.”

Sting, 35 years later

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Attending high school in London in the early 80s, it was difficult not to be a fan of The Police (and hundreds of other great and influential bands), although I did not see Sting perform until 1988, when I was living in New York City after college.

So, when you are a Sting fan who has not seen him since 1991, and a colleague and friend invites you to his Miami concert, you jump for joy.

The story is that John was going with another colleague, but at the last minute, Sting had to cancel due to illness. Gentleman that he is, he rescheduled. Unfortunately, that other colleague could not make it, so I was invited instead!

The concert was at Miami’s Seminole Hard Rock Casino, which has a huge theater with crystal-clear sound.

Sting performed with his trusty sidekick, guitarist Dominic Miller, and the amazing drummer Chris Maas (who also played with Mumford & Sons)

The concert was a review of all his classic hits, with some lesser-known songs:

  1. Message in a Bottle
  2. I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)
  3. If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
  4. Englishman in New York
  5. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
  6. Fields of Gold
  7. Never Coming Home
  8. Mad About You
  9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
  10. Driven to Tears
  11. When We Dance
  12. A Thousand Years
  13. Can’t Stand Losing You
  14. Shape of My Heart
  15. Walking on the Moon
  16. So Lonely
  17. Desert Rose
  18. King of Pain
  19. Every Breath You Take
  20. Roxanne
  21. Fragile

Readers of this blog know that I now listen more to classical music than to pop, with the occasional exception of Van Morrison. So when the band played “Driven to Tears” as an instrumental (which was amazing), I mistook it for “When the World is Running Down (You Make the Most of What’s Still Around).” My bad. Am I ashamed? Yes, a little, but then again, I have not listened to these songs in decades!!

So, if you get a chance to see Sting on this tour, go for it; he will not disappoint. You are welcome.

A new soccer field; plant a (metaphorical) seed and watch it grow. And the game to celebrate it

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COVID was raging when I arrived at this school, so there was no soccer. When I finally went out to the field to start coaching, it was horrible. It was not really a field, just a bare plot of land about the size of a soccer field, covered in weeds and sandy patches. The goalposts tilted at angles that made the Tower of Pisa look ramrod straight.

Every year, we slowly invested in small improvements: one year we got corner flags, another year we got game balls, and one year we had a professional line painter come in to paint the field lines with a robot. We had great lines on a horrible field!

After a couple of injuries last year, the rector and the dean finally took the step of building a real soccer field. The landscapers removed a layer of soil, installed irrigation, and planted Bermuda grass. It is not a perfect field; it is not entirely level, and weeds are sprouting, but it is light-years better than what we had before.

The cherry on top was buying new goalposts—from England —bleachers, and team benches.

To inaugurate the new field, we hosted the Jesus Youth team from the Amoris Christi campus in Delray Beach, the town next to ours.

The game was great; we had a military color guard and a blessing before the game. The bleachers were put to good use, oh, and we won 5-1.

The moral of this story is to be patient, positive, and persistent. Make sure your needs are known to the higher-ups. They will hopefully notice and, little by little, make the necessary changes and investments. I am a firm believer in planting the seed and nourishing it until you get results, rather than resorting to more dramatic approaches to get things done. That is just my way. Hope it helps. You are welcome.

Divine Mercy Radio, an interview

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Ready for my interview

Back in a previous life, when I was an entrepreneur and had my own company, I was interviewed a few times on Spanish radio, but it had been a couple of decades since my last interview. A few weeks ago, Divine Mercy Radio in Florida asked about the Language Program at a bilingual seminary, so Carolyn Dean, a real pro, interviewed me; it was a lot of fun!

The prompt (below) was a bit ambiguous, but you can listen to the interview yourself here.

“Dr. Balson: from the perspective of the director of the Language department in the only Bilingual Theologate in the US. How does your own love for the Spanish language and culture influence your teaching style and sharing a love for that world? What do you think the important impact of that work has on the Church in the regions we serve? Love for the soccer team and coaching the team?”

Note: We are not the only bilingual seminary in the US but enjoy the interview anyway!

https://divinemercyradio.com/living-catholic-2026

Reading Unamuno’s San Manuel Bueno, mártir in a seminary (no spoilers)

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Discussing San Manuel in our favorite coffee shop

Miguel de Unamuno was a professor of Greek and Latin in Salamanca and eventually became the rector. More importantly, he was a leading existentialist philosopher, though he did not achieve the prominence of other early 20th-century philosophers, especially the German philosophers.

Unamuno’s San Manuel Bueno, Mártir is a book I have taught many times. It is the story of a priest in a fictional village in northwestern Spain. As you can imagine by now, the story raises deep existential and theological questions, which my students have engaged with in ways I did not expect. Without giving away any spoilers (I hope), the leitmotif of the novel is “Hay que vivir,” which translates as “one must live,” or more bluntly, “get on with it” or “carry on.”

At St. Vincent’s, this has been my first time teaching it, and it has been the most rewarding work I have done in my six years here. You see, I teach the future Catholic priests of the US, and at this level, they all have a bachelor’s or master’s in philosophy, so these discussions were lively, and the students wrestled with the text in ways that—obviously—high school students could not. To say that these men are passionate about their future jobs is an understatement. We got so into the reading that we went to discuss the book at our favorite coffee shop, Common Grounds!

I could go on and on, but I am afraid of spoilers…

There you have it. If you are teaching upper-level or Spanish literature at a Catholic seminary, go ahead and teach San Manuel Bueno, mártir. You are welcome.

Modern art in Boca Raton

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Modernism, like all good artistic and cultural movements, spans many years and decades and has many branches and sub-branches. Folks who say “I don’t like Modern art” are making a very, very big sweeping statement, a massive generalization, brushing away almost two centuries of art.

Most scholars point to the Impressionists of the mid- to late 1800s as the vanguard of Modern Art. If you go to the Prado Museum with me, I will prove this theory wrong. Let me know when you are in Madrid!

But back to this blog post. The Boca Raton Museum of Art is hosting a small but powerful exhibit: Modernisms, Art from the Manes Collection. It is very well curated, starting with Renoir and making its way to Robert Mapplethorpe, with wonderful works by Picasso, Chagall, Dali, and, possibly, my favorite in this exhibit, Jasper Johns’ 1980 American Flag.

Jasper Johns is considered one of the founders of Pop Art, and his flags, which paradoxically resemble the flag of the United States, are truly works of art; one must look closely, then step back, and repeat as necessary until one gets it. At the same time, Johns is a gateway into minimalism (which I talked about here). Can you tell I love the double entendre? The visual game?

So, if you are going to be in South Florida anytime before October 11, go see this exhibition. You are welcome.

Daphnis and Chloé: The Triumph of Impressionism.

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If Dante had lived in the 21st century, Miami traffic would be a circle of hell. Miami traffic is undeniably a nightmare, the perfect storm of older, retired folks who drive very slowly, tourists, snowbirds, illegal immigrants who drive very slowly to not get into any trouble, and local youths who drive like a bat out of hell. So I avoid driving to Miami. My motivation to go to Miami must be fairly high. One such instance is when my dear friend, old student, and Film Club founder, Bill, invites me to a New World Symphony concert, even though he has recently moved out of Miami.

Although I have been to the New World Center many times, this concert was held in the much larger Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami proper (The New World Center is in Miami Beach, technically a different city from “mainland” Miami)

The first piece of this concert was Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, five Neruda Sonnets put to song (VIII, XXIV, XLV, LXXXI, and XCII). Grammy-winning mezzo soprano Kelley O’Connor did an amazing job singing these sonnets. But putting music to Neruda is not easy and not that original. My dear old student, Jorge, who left us way too early, did it as a project for one of my classes!

Ravel is best known for his Bolero, especially if you are of a certain age and saw Blake Edwards’ film 10 in 1979. If his Bolero is the victory of minimalism, Daphnis and Chloé is the triumph of Impressionism

This ballet, technically a symphonie chorégraphique (choreographic symphony), is nowadays done more as a concert than as a ballet.

I confess to having disparaged the impressionists before, as a movement more so than individually, but this is musical impressionism, and I had never experienced it like this! The concert included the full Master Chorale of South Florida, together with the full New World Symphony Orchestra—what an immersive experience! Every note is a brushstroke, you are transported into an imaginary painting of Daphnis and Chloé, you are transfixed, I loved it! I returned to the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, to the Monet exhibition at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and I returned to every impressionistic painting I have ever stood in front of.

So, if you ever get a chance to listen to Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, go! You will not regret it, you are welcome.

Stop, collaborate, and listen: a conference on the future of education

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The Florida Council of Theological Schools is a group of schools in South Florida. They recently had their first kick-off meeting, and I was invited with a couple of colleagues from school!

I had to get up early on a Saturday and drive down to Knox Theological Seminary in beautiful (not) Fort Lauderdale, but it was worthwhile to connect with folks who share a similar mission to ours. By bringing us together, the conference underscored John Donne’s line (1572–1631) that no man is an island. I also used the opportunity to proselytize folks to play soccer with (against) us.

 The Lilly Endowment Grant, funded as part of its Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, is designed to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the pressing challenges they face in preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations now and into the future. Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Being able to meet folks and discuss common issues was very enriching, and the fact that we have established the framework to continue this conversation was the cherry on top, and if I get some soccer games out of it, even better.

So yes, you might be swamped with work, and our Saturdays are cherished, but if you get the opportunity to collaborate with people in your field, I recommend you go for it! You are welcome.

The Taft Museum of Art, a hidden treasure.

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As I mentioned last week, while I was in Cincinnati, I had planned to visit the Taft Museum of Art upon arrival, but since I landed late on Thursday, I had to skip the conference on Saturday to go to the museum (Shhh, don’t tell anyone). I particularly wanted to see Goya’s Queen Maria Luisa, but I was pleasantly surprised to see many other jewels: a Turner, a Fortuny, and many other pieces. Unfortunately, two portraits by Madrazo were out on loan.  On the other hand, they were hosting a phenomenal exhibit of Rembrandt’s prints. I was deeply moved by The Return of the Prodigal Son and by Abraham and Jacob. A nice exhibit included all the tools and elements used to make prints, which helped me to understand the process of printmaking.

The Goya did not disappoint. The queen is radiant in her jewels and outfit. There is something about her gaze, is it mischief? Is it arrogance? One wonders… Unfortunately, the piece is hanging at the end of a corridor, not the best placement for arguably the best piece in the collection; maybe that is where Taft put her, but that is still no excuse. Lesser paintings are better positioned within the museum.

The museum is housed in Taft’s beautiful ancestral mansion, which has lovely grounds, a courtyard, a nice little gift shop, and a coffee shop, where I enjoyed a perfect cup of coffee.

If you are in Cincinnati and need a brief escape, a respite from the city, this is your place. You are welcome.

Oh, and if you want to see the process of printmaking, here is a cinematic version from the great film, Goya’s Ghosts. Enjoy.

Cincinatti, an underrated city and a great university

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One of the blessings of being an academic (even a bad one like me) is being able to present at academic conferences. I have spent the last few months working on an academic project, and it was time to present it to the world, so I chose the oldest graduate student-run conference on Romance languages and literatures: the Cincinnati Conference on Romance and Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Cincinnati.

My first surprise? Hills! (South Florida is lacking in that department.) I walked and walked. After dropping off my bag at the hotel, across the street from campus, I arrived at the colorful and pretty Over the Rhine neighborhood. The first big group of immigrants to arrive in Cincinnati was German—the Ohio River reminded them of the Rhine…, so there is a distinct German feel to the city, including many breweries. I stopped at Rheingeist, which was amazing, after seeing Findlay Market, the squares, the Music Hall, and the Ohio River with its great bridges, especially the Roebling Bridge. I ended my evening at a dive bar, my favorite place to get a sense of a place. Everyone I met was super friendly—a characteristic of medium and smaller cities, especially in the Midwest

The conference was fantastic. My panel had the best turnout I have ever had! The campus is beautiful, and the building housing the Romance and Arabic Language Department is a great, unique place. I was really impressed with the level of the university, the department, and the presenters!

The keynote speakers were the cherry on top! Ana Davila Cardinal is a hilarious Hispanic novelist, and Kaouther Adimi is a brilliant Algerian author. The reception after, in a hip bar, was fun and social.

On Saturday, I played hooky and walked to the Taft Museum of Art, but that’s for a separate blog post.