I have a standing curiosity about ancient cultures. I have a gnawing suspicion that without technology, they mentally developed wisdom.
Learning to live without conveniences enhanced their naturally-endowed coping mechanisms, I think.
It has always interested me that ancient languages have been found to have very long words with many syllables with complex vowel and consonant arrangements. 
To my way of thinking, this is a sound indication that these ancients were highly intelligent.
By the same reasoning, I am very suspicious of what the outcome will be of texting with abbreviated words as so many do now. My granddaughter gave me a “Texting Dictionary.” All the vowels are missing.
When I lived in Kansas City twenty years ago, I took a turn at learning Hebrew. It is like texting: no vowels. I just wonder if mankind is going forward or backward, or perhaps just in a circle.
Having filled your mind with the above thoughts about language, let us transfer that thinking to cultural expression, specifically artwork.
In Joplin, Mo., the Spiva Center for the Arts currently has a show with the title, CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN ART. It is a very nice and informative show and I really was quite fascinated with the panel discussion that followed the next day. In fact, I took five pages of notes.
