Word: circa
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...servants were forever sweeping, swabbing, scouring and polishing, re-enacting through drudgery the holiness of Martha in the house of Mary. Practices of hygiene got raised to the level of devotional acts. A marvelous example in De Hooch is A Mother and Child with Its Head in Her Lap, circa 1658-60. The child kneels submissively with her face down. The mother, absorbed in her task, is picking lice from her hair. From this ordinary domestic event, De Hooch creates an extraordinarily tender image of care and even sanctity...
Ragtime conforms nicely to these standards, while still making a strong statement about the so-called "American Dream," circa 1900. The then-taboo issues of racism, xenophobia, unwed mothers and exploitation of the lower classes, to name just a few of the topics sung about onstage, are brought up with a bit of cliche, but are tackled with honest zeal nonetheless. The plot revolves around three families--one upper-class WASP, one black and one immigrant Jewish--who are striving for success and happiness in turn-of-the-century America, which is offering them as much adversity...
...songs to emerge from the murk are lifted directly from the 1980's. Holiday's "In My Car" is reminiscent of New Wave bands like Yaz, and "Sad Little Moon" contains beats and a background taken from pop radio of the aforementioned decade. Additionally, a strong Men Without Hats (circa 1986) influence can be discerned on Tomorrow's "Technical...
Thus we still don't know, and perhaps never will, what is going on in Dosso's Allegory with Pan, circa 1529-32. Maybe the lascivious goat god (if it really is Pan, and not just an ordinary faun) is lusting after the beautiful Titianesque nymph asleep on the ground--who has been variously argued to be Antiope, Pomona, Echo, Canens and Syrinx, among other nymphs with literary pedigrees. But who is the old woman, and what is she doing? If her outstretched palms are protecting the girl, she's facing the wrong direction--away from...
...contrast, the voting was festive. Villagers chatted and schoolchildren played. Above them, paper bunting hanging on a string bore a hortatory slogan: EXERCISE YOUR SACRED RIGHT TO CAST YOUR BALLOT! Loudspeakers blared circa-1970s revolutionary songs as people marked the ballots on their lap. Not all residents were enthused. "These officials are all the same," a wiry farmer sniffed. "I'm not even voting." He complained angrily about the depressed price of pork and lambasted the "Zhu Ba" (Pork Despot), a local entrepreneur who has monopolized the buying and selling of pigs...