John Rosenthal

Thoughts On Censorship

What is true for a person, in other words, is not true for a republic; from our private life we can, like a dictator, ban anything which offends us; but in our life as a citizen in a democracy not only can we not ban from the public realm that which offends us, but for our own protection we must fight for its right to exist.

Sharing History, With Rufus

The first time I saw Rufus was in 1967 when she was just a puppy. She was actually just a dark waggle on the end of a leash in the hands of my friend Jerry. He and his new girlfriend, Dolores, were walking Rufus, their new pal, around the quad at Wake Forest. I don’t remember how they acquired Rufus but it had something to do with getting stoned.

Cement Sculptures

The fine work that Andy Fleishman began in wood a few years ago now continues in cement. This seems almost impossible to imagine. Cement? Where would the fluidity come from, the delicacy of connection?

Stealing Souls

Thoughts On Photography

I never took quite the same kind of photograph again. From that moment on I regarded the taking of a photograph as a personal act, as personal as the writing of a poem — deep and perilous, intellectual and beautiful.

Photographs By John Rosenthal

The photographs from this selection are available as a PDF only. Click here to download.

Saying Goodbye To Warren

He was the only friend I had who would dive on the hood of a car. What does that mean? Look around you and you will see it meant a lot.

Carolina Basketball

For the past few weeks in Chapel Hill we have gathered in front of our television sets to watch the Carolina basketball team move steadily through the NCAA tournament, game by game, winning them all, never with any great ease but always looking like the team everyone of us wanted: disciplined but unpredictable, talented beyond legitimate expectation but not overly-talented like a “bought” team, as good at defense as offense, and most important of all (at least for the fan), a team which in its combined personality embodied all the complex and contradictory elements of our own personalities.

Teaching, And The Mood Of Relativity

Many years ago when I first taught college English, I made a discovery in the first or second week of teaching, namely, that the main obstacle to instruction, to one’s ability to teach someone something they don’t already know, is the mood and spirit of relativity.

To Mary

Wood Sculptures

My work is a universe complete with its own set of rules and regulations. My job is simply to follow the rules, which are unknowable, made of shadows, and are always changing.