Last week, on the SF Bay Area's KGO radio, Ray Taliaferro asked callers to discuss the "purpose of lfe". A caller mentioned one purpose -- to create enriching art. And not just the visual arts, but also the art of writing something beautiful. The caller mentioned Johnny Mercer, lyricist, who would have been 100 on 11/18.

It's interesting the number of ways the creative mind can bring beauty into the world. And it's fantastic when they share it with the rest of us. Done right, the artwork can be transformative. Mr. Mercer wrote some 1500 tunes, and many of them very popular. He received four Academy Awards.

It's just too bad that all this beauty can't overtake the ugly in the world.

Well-said, Channel! Unfortunately, beauty is positive and it just doesn't sell as well as ugliness and negativity, even when things are economically good. I wonder why that is....

I think the "conservative arts" can be akin to the "dark arts" as practiced by Lord Voldemort.