Elodie Quetant urges us to serve those around us. “We cheapen life by playing a peeping Tom to its events. Our gadgets have trained us for constant voyeurism, but we’re missing the bigger picture by not engaging friends, coworkers, and our children about monumental shifts in society. Avoiding the uncomfortable conversations is the perfect way for society to remain ignorant and biased.”

David Herman writes about seeing the more personal work of his father, the Polish painter Josef Herman. “He belonged to a great tradition of European artists who from the mid-19th century depicted the dignity of labour: from Courbet, Millet and Van Gogh to the Flemish Expressionists and the German artist, Käthe Kollwitz in the early 20th century,” he states, describing the way critics and admirers have known him.

But then sketches and paintings of a different nature were discovered.

“Everyone in these newly discovered drawings and paintings was recognizably Jewish. The palette was completely different: dark blue skies, a white crescent moon, pale faces with dark, haunted eyes.”

“Satire can be dangerous and harmful. It can breed a dehumanizing cynicism which becomes an end in itself,” writes Carl Truman, but it is also “vital to healthy democracy. Where it exists, it is a sign that power is being resisted. Where it is permitted, it is a sign of freedom and a gauge of the ability of those in charge to allow criticism.”

And from our political desk, we’re hearing reports that the administration who said the world doesn’t respect the United States enough to stand with us did not respect the world enough to stand with them during yesterday’s solidarity march in Paris. The secretary of state said, essentially, “Just because I couldn’t attend your ball games or birthday parties doesn’t mean I don’t love you, son. Why does this always have to be about you?”