Biblical Proportions

by Steven H. Cullinane on August 7, 1997
(the date of Garth Brooks' Central Park Concert)

Preface of March 9, 2001:
Garth Brooks' 1997 concert on August 7 had the number 7 as a theme. I find the number eight more interesting. In the Changewar stories of Fritz Leiber, it signifies the eight-rayed asterisk of the Spiders, soldiers in a war to change history. To Leiber, it also symbolized Shiva and Kali united in love. For other numbers describing Kali, The Dark Lady, see the following note.

1. "Shee by whose linesproportion should bee
Examin'd, measure of all symmetree...."
-- John Donne
2. The proportions of Kali (or Durga), The Dark Lady, now on exhibit at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., appear in The New York Times of July 27, 1997. See also the final scene of the film "New York Nights" (1984), in which Corinne Alphen unveils a dance.
3. "The kid stays in the picture."
--Motto of First Baptist Church of Salome (as suggested by the recent film "Tin Cup")
4. "I could've missed the pain
But I'd have had to miss The Dance."
-- Garth Brooks
5. "37 - 23 - 36"
-- Penthouse magazine, November 1982, describing Corinne Alphen, Pet of the Year
6. "Is Beauty the Beast?"
-- Warren Times Observer, July 21, 1997
7. "Tickle her under the chin and she'll stay with you forever."
-- People Weekly's "Hero Pets!" 1997 Bastille Day issue
"Shiva and Kali united...."
-- "No Great Magic," p. 177 in Changewar, by Fritz Leiber, Ace, New York, 1983

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