This juggling of crazy balloons, or

Is the Earth more like a Brain, or a Heart?

Oh what delirious fun this is,
this juggling of crazy balloons!
Up with the crimson one,
down comes the blue;
up with the copper one,
down comes the gold;
up with the cinnamon—
up with them, each of them, all of them here:
The evening star and Venus and Mars,
the morning star and the whole milky way!

Though troubadour–poet Alfred Kreymborg penned “In a Dream” in 1916, it wasn’t until August 1920, while Kreymborg was touring his mandolute–accompanied puppet plays across America, that Edward Weston’s photographic alchemy posed him in the chiaroscuro Balloon Fantasy above.

At 3 AM this morning, I was out again under the night sky to watch the planetary balloon parade, and by some celestial serendipity just moments later, I stumbled upon the discovery that exactly 100 years ago today, Alexander Calder took the 1 train uptown from Greenwich Village to witness the total eclipse of the Sun from the steps of Columbia University’s Low Library.

And then, thinking that the planetary balloon parade, Weston’s photograph, and Calder’s pastel might make a passable threefold welcome to the recent cascade of Starlight–directed Masquerade subscribers, I went to the Substack Dashboard, only to find out that those same steps were the setting for my last post. Having begun that little jeremiad with a loaded question, I carry my current question here to lay before your star–dappled feet:

Is the Earth more like a Brain, or a Heart?

Swept up in the momentary mania for marionettes and puppet plays, Calder and Kreymborg both were making whimsical, soulful animated magic with miniature performers a century ago, in 1925. I find them inspiring as I tinker with Elon Musk’s Rorschach – the working title for an Apocalyptic Puppet Picture Show, Animated by Magic Lantern, that asks that Rorschach–esque question above.

Ponder it, dear friends, and I’ll look forward to hearing your answer when Dr. Dann’s shadowy Lilliputian ensemble arrives on your doorstep this summer.