Southern Cross Review

Sofia Loren

Sofia Loren , (born Sofia Villani Scicolone, 20 September 1934) is an Italian film actress. She began her career at age 14 after entering a beauty pageant in 1949. It was not until her performance as Cesira in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women that her talents as an actress were recognized. Loren's performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1962 and made her the first artist to win an Oscar for a foreign-language performance. Aside from the Academy Award, she has won a Grammy Award, five special Golden Globes, a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award as well as the Honorary Academy Award in 1991. In 1995, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements, one of many such awards.

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Editor's Page The Fuming Salamander (True Takes) by Frank Thomas Smith   A salamander, besides being an interesting amphibious creature, in Spanish, at least in Argentine Spanish, is a squat, cast-iron, wood-burning stove used for heating, called a salamandra. Not much more to say about this primitive stove...now, so let's start with the creature. What I learned about salamanders was that it is an amphibian of the order urodela which was often in olden times credited with fantastic and sometimes occult qualities such as an affinity with elemental fire, as in the allegorical descriptions of animals in medieval bestiaries... Continue reading Fiction Toto the Fourth by Frank Thomas Smith After slipping away from a relatively successful business career just as the re-engineering and downsizing craze began, I shuffled with my eyes half-closed into retirement blues and hit bottom when my wife died. An old friend, sympathizing, invited me to spend a week or two at his home in a retirement village in Florida. The idea appealed to me about as much as taking home leftovers in a doggy-bag, but he was well-meaning and I wanted preserve our friendship, so I accepted. On the third day in Boca Raton I decided to go to the beach. My host excused himself, saying that the ocean was dangerous and there were no lifeguards on duty on weekdays and anyway there were several perfectly good pools in the Village. Continue reading Toto Cuarto (traducido por Mar�a Teresa Guti�rrez) Habiendo dejado atr�s una carrera profesional relativamente exitosa, justo cuando la reestructuraci�n y los recortes empezaban a hacer furor, fui cayendo de a poco, casi sin darme cuenta, en la melanc�lica post-jubilaci�n y toqu� fondo al morir mi esposa. Un viejo amigo, apiad�ndose de m�, me invit� a pasar un par de semanas en un complejo residencial para jubilados en Florida. La idea me atra�a tanto como una cena en MacDonald's, pero la invitaci�n hab�a sido hecha de coraz�n y yo quer�a preservar nuestra amistad, as� que acept�. Durante mi tercer d�a en Boca Rat�n,decid� ir a la playa. Mi amigo se excus� diciendo que el mar era peligroso y que no hab�a servicio de guardavidas los d�as de semana, y que, de todas formas, el Complejo ten�a muy buenas piscinas... Continuar The Photograph - or - Cappuccino at Five in Caff� Greco by Gaither Stewart Damiano ignores the tourists standing four and five deep at the coffee and pastry counter up front, nods amicably at the cashier, and strides purposefully down the red- carpeted corridor that by now he knows centimeter by centimeter. At the end of the hall he greets a passing waiter carrying a tray of espressos and slender glasses of Campari, turns right and again right, weaves among the tiny tables in the rear section of the 250-year old caff� and finally stops to examine the photograph as if he hadn't done the same thing yesterday, the day-before-yesterday, the day before that, and as long as the waiting trio of aged waiters dressed in formal black could recall. Continue reading Un puño de tierra by Michael McGuire La gobernadora was known for keeping her peace. She sat soundlessly throughout the fiesta for her visiting sisters until the visiting mariachis from el Recreo, reputed to be one of the best in Mexico, reached the climax of their interlocked and uninterrupted pieces, when she released a roof rattling bramido from deep inside, one that seemed to bring a giant thump from the tarps stretched overhead for the occasion. But it was only the boom of the wind which had, at last, heard the call to party. Nevertheless, it was the sign for one of the young nieces, daughter of a wife of a man who was married to one of the sisters, to put down the bottle of tequila she had been insisting everyone knock back a trago from and drag unwilling dancers onto the floor. The last she ventured to grab was la gobernadora herself. Continue reading Children's Corner The Shadow by Hans Christian Andersen In very hot climates, where the heat of the sun has great power, people are usually as brown as mahogany; and in the hottest countries they are negroes, with black skins. A learned man once travelled into one of these warm climates, from the cold regions of the north, and thought he would roam about as he did at home; but he soon had to change his opinion. He found that, like all sensible people, he must remain in the house during the whole day, with every window and door closed, so that it looked as if all in the house were asleep or absent. The houses of the narrow street in which he lived were so lofty that the sun shone upon them from morning till evening, and it became quite unbearable. This learned man from the cold regions was young as well as clever; but it seemed to him as if he were sitting in an oven, and he became quite exhausted and weak, and grew so thin that his shadow shrivelled up, and became much smaller than it had been at home... Continue reading Features Akasha Think by Ervin L�szl� There is something new on the horizon -- a new kind of thinking. One that could solve the problem -- the entire complex conglomeration of challenges that makes our world unsustainable, intolerant, and prone to violence. This is not thinking out of the blue: It is thinking that has been around for thousands of years. What is new is that it's rediscovered -- of all things, at the cutting edge of the sciences. It is "Akasha think." In this column with my Akashic "A-team" I will review for you the principal dimensions of Akasha think -- the rediscovered revolutionary concept of life and universe, and freedom, wholeness, and wellbeing. New answers to questions we have all been asking since the beginnings of time. Continue reading Current Events Europe's Attack on Greek Democracy by Joseph E. Stiglitz The rising crescendo of bickering and acrimony within Europe might seem to outsiders to be the inevitable result of the bitter endgame playing out between Greece and its creditors. In fact, European leaders are finally beginning to reveal the true nature of the ongoing debt dispute, and the answer is not pleasant: it is about power and democracy much more than money and economics. Of course, the economics behind the program that the "troika" (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) foisted on Greece five years ago has been abysmal, resulting in a 25% decline in the country’s GDP. I can think of no depression, ever, that has been so deliberate and had such catastrophic consequences: Greece's rate of youth unemployment, for example, now exceeds 60%. Continue reading Anthroposophy Evolution - The Hidden Thread - part 2 by John Davy The previous article was devoted mostly to a discussion of modern 'neo-Darwinian' ideas about evolution and their relationship to the picture of evolution which emerges from the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. I tried to indicate how some of the apparent contradictions may be resolved, and to sketch briefly the kinds of evolutionary concepts which then emerge. This article is intended as a sequel to the first, although it is written from a quite different point of view. Rudolf Steiner's account of the evolution of the earth and man includes many detailed descriptions of changing conditions of consciousness, of the activities of various spiritual beings, of the different relationships of the spiritual and physical members of man to each other during evolution, and so on. But he gives only the briefest indications of what the physical aspect of development was like, and only the sketchiest clues as to how the modern animals and the vast panorama of extinct fossil forms fit into the picture. To pursue this theme a little further is the purpose of the present article. Continue reading Evolución - El hilo oculto (segunda parte) por John Davy El art�culo anterior estaba principalmente dedicado al an�lisis de las actuales ideas "neo-Darwinistas" sobre la evoluci�n y a su relaci�n con la imagen de la evoluci�n que surge de las ense�anzas de Rudolf Steiner. Trat� de se�alar c�mo se pueden resolver algunas de las aparentes contradicciones, y de bosquejar los tipos de conceptos evolutivos que surgen entonces. Este art�culo est� pensado como una secuela del primero, aunque est� escrito desde un punto de vista muy diferente. La explicaci�n que da Rudolf Steiner sobre la evoluci�n de la tierra y del hombre incluye muchas descripciones detalladas de cambiantes condiciones de la conciencia, de las actividades de diversos seres espirituales, de las diferentes interrelaciones entre los componentes espirituales y fisicos del hombre durante la evoluci�n, etc. Pero da solamente muy escuetos indicios acerca del aspecto f�sico del desarrollo, y pistas apenas esbozadas sobre c�mo se encuadran dentro del esquema los animales actuales y el vasto espectro de formas f�siles extintas. El prop�sito del presente art�culo es desarrollar este tema un poco m�s. Continuar Educar la Voluntad en la Educaci�n del Ni�o (rese�o) por Michael Howard Uno de los postulados de la pedagog�a Waldorf es la necesidad de desarrollar arm�nicamente el pensar, el sentir y la voluntad. En nuestra cultura actual, no hay dudas acerca del desarrollo del pensar, y existen muchas ideas sobre el desarrollo del sentir. La voluntad, en cambio, permanece mayormente ignorada. En el pr�logo a este libro, Michael Howard alude a esta falencia y a la necesidad de enmendarla: "Cu�nto m�s investigaba la naturaleza de la voluntad, m�s me daba cuenta de que hab�a incursionado en aguas desconocidas. Empec� a ver que el conocimiento predominante de la voluntad es m�s bien simplista y superficial. Y la tarea de desarrollar la voluntad en los ni�os que nos son confiados parece recibir s�lo una minima atenci�n..." Continuar Sophia Between Light and Darkness by Anne Stockton Rudolf Steiner tells us about the new rulership of Michael which started in 1879. Then came the end of Kali-Yuga in 1889, the dark age of three thousand years of falling away from the spirit, a spiritual dying away. Now comes the heralding of the new age of light. What more triumphant trumpet call to announce its coming could we have than the wave of impressionism, the Fauves and the impressionists, turning the world into pure color, us upside-down and outside in. As also Freud, Jung and the others were doing. The new century Ð then Ð took a giant step inward. He points to the evolution of manÕs consciousness, and how this can be read through art history among other texts. He alerts us to the state of our spiritual development as we approach the threshold of the spiritual world anew in this, our new age. Our thinking, feeling and willing are in confusion, but beginning to separate in us, going their separate ways, often without our control, all creating great confusion and messing up our karma! Continue "Apologia" concerning the publication of the the First Class Lessons: Apologia Nine Lectures on Bees - Lecture One by Rudolf Steiner Good morning, gentlemen, Since our last meeting have you thought of any question you would like to ask me? (A question was asked about the difference between bees and wasps.) Dr. Steiner: In asking his question the gentleman in the audience, as an expert bee-master, draws attention to the differences between the life of the bees and that of the wasps. There is much that is similar here, and I have recently described the life of the wasps to you. The life of the bees much resembles it, but, on the other hand, in the bee-hive there is a very special and remarkable life. How can we account for this? Continue reading Karmic Relations, Volume III, Lecture Four by Rudolf Steiner Today I would like to insert certain things which will afterwards make it possible for us to understand more closely the karmic connections of the Anthroposophical Movement itself. What I wish to say today will take its start from the fact that there are two groups of human beings in the Anthroposophical Movement. In general terms I have already described how the Anthroposophical Movement is composed of the individuals within it. What I shall say today must of course be taken in broad outline and as a whole; but there are the two groups of human beings in the Anthroposophical Movement. The things which I shall characterise do not lie so obviously spread out ‘on the palm of the hand,’ as we say. They are by no means such that crude and simple observation would enable us to say: in the case of this or that member, it is so or so... Continue reading Poetry Faust in his Chamber by J. W. von Goethe With hot devotion have I studied The law, medicine, philosophy. Unfortunately I've been worried As well by grim theology. Now here I sit like any bore No wiser than I was before. Master, Doctor I am called, But ten years later I'm appalled To find that all my learning knows Is to lead my students by the nose. Continue reading. Death by Emily Dickinson Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility.    Continue reading    Letters to the Editor You can find us under the Southern Cross constellation in the Traslasierra Valley, Province of Córdoba, Argentina. Visitors always welcome. Just follow the sign that reads: La Cruz del Sur. Frank Thomas Smith, Editor JoAnn Schwarz, Associate Editor Contact Authors' Guidelines so we can advise you when the next issue is ready. Many people are switching to Gmail. 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