this is siena, a wonderfully preserved medieval city in central italy. at its heyday around 1300, it was one of the most civilized and prosperous places in europe. siena and other italian city-states can stand as a new beginning in our story of western art. hitherto, the old medieval world view had, put simply, divided the classes of society into the aristocracy at the top, the church, and the laboring peasantry at the bottom. in places like this, we see for the first time a new class, conscious of its own identity the merchants. these cities were no longer controlled by feudal lords. they were republics. here in siena, several thousand citizens were eligible for election to the governing bodies which met down there in the palazzo publica. and in the palazzo, there is a fresco painted in the 1340s which encapsulates their faith in the secular arts of government, in the moderating power of reason in human society. it s called the effects of good government. this marvous fresc
this is siena, a wonderfully preserved medieval city in central italy. at its heyday around 1300, it was one of the most civilized and prosperous places in europe. siena and other italian city-states can stand as a new beginning in our story of western art. hitherto, the old medieval world view had, put simply, divided the classes of society into the aristocracy at the top, the church, and the laboring peasantry at the bottom. in places like this, we see for the first time a new class, conscious of its own identity the merchants. these cities were no longer controlled by feudal lords. they were republics. here in siena, several thousand citizens were eligible for election to the governing bodies which met down there in the palazzo publica. and in the palazzo, there is a fresco painted in the 1340s which encapsulates their faith in the secular arts of government, in the moderating power of reason in human society. it s called the effects of good government. this marvous fresc
There are, I regret to say, a few sad souls out there who have sought to weaponize the relatively high rate of suicide in Utah against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.