Author: Fernando Ortiz Jr.

Editor / Writer / Civil War historian

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Cooking a steak … Ending the Cuban embargo … An asteroid flyby … Texas Democrats win … Voyager 2’s second wind.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Voyager 2 to Switch to Backup Thruster Set
NASA | Nov. 5
“The change will allow the 34-year-old spacecraft to reduce the amount of power it requires to operate and use previously unused thrusters as it continues its journey toward interstellar space, beyond our solar system.”

2. Day After Day, Her Voice Takes Listeners to the Stars
By Sonia Smith | Texas Monthly and the New York Times | Oct. 29
“On a clear, cool night in the early 1960s, a father drove his young, pajama-clad daughter to one of the T-head piers on Corpus Christi Bay to marvel at an object in the sky. The girl who peered up at the sky was Sandy Wood, and this year marked her 20th anniversary as the voice of the nationally syndicated radio program ‘StarDate.’ ”

3. Texas Democrats Win Redistricting Battle
By Jessica Taylor | Hotline On Call :: National Journal | Nov. 8
“A Washington, D.C. federal court blocked the Republican-drawn Texas redistricting maps in a ruling, clearing the path for a three-judge panel to draw new congressional lines expected to benefit Democrats.”

4. Big asteroid has close encounter with Earth
By Irene Klotz | Reuters | Nov. 8
“With a diameter estimated at 400 meters, or about a quarter of a mile, Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the biggest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth since 1976.”

5. Madness marches on
By Peter Brookes | The New York Post | Nov. 6
“With Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Khadafy swept into the dustbin of history and the full US withdrawal from Iraq in the works, there’s a prevailing sense that, for us, all’s reasonably right with the world. Pity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

6. 10 More Stubborn Food Myths That Just Won’t Die, Debunked by Science
Lifehacker | Nov. 7
“We asked our nutritionists back to debunk some more common misconceptions about food, health, and nutrition that are still widely believed, even though there’s overwhelming evidence to the contrary. We also asked them some of your questions. Here’s what they said.”

7. Commando-Style DEA Squads Fight Cartels Abroad
By Evann Gastaldo | Newser | Nov. 7
“Squads train local authorities, but sometimes things get ugly”

8. Why the U.S. Should Drop the Embargo and Prop Up Cuban Homeowners
By Tim Padgett | Global Spin :: Time | Nov. 5
“It may not lead to a Caribbean Spring in Cuba – but then, neither has five wasted decades of embargo. The bottom line is that Washington needs to conjure the common sense to engage alternatives when Castro himself provides them.”

9. How to pan fry steak
BBC Food | June 2009
“Chef Barney Desmazery runs through the best way to cook Sirloin Steak medium rare.”

10. Turkish students bond over earthquake experiences
By Victoria Garten | The Oklahoma Daily | Nov. 7
“Oklahoma’s recent earthquakes have not fazed Turkish exchange student Mehmet Ali Nerse because he’s been there before.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

An appraisal of Joe Frazier … Corruption in Africa … Magic Johnson’s HIV announcement … Herman Cain’s insurgency … The Pentagon’s most powerful woman.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. A revolution for all seasons
Empire :: Al Jazeera English | Nov. 5
“The winds of change have swept the Arab world, with uneven results. Progress in places like Tunisia and Egypt, repression in Syria, bloody stalemate in Yemen, and unfinished business in Libya: the Arab Spring is at a crucial stage.”

2. Michele Flournoy, Pentagon’s highest-ranking woman, is making her mark on foreign policy
By Emily Wax | The Washington Post | Nov. 6
“Today, she holds the title of undersecretary of defense for policy. Like her father, she avoids boasting about her accomplishments, although she’s navigating some of the most vexing foreign policy challenges in the history of the Pentagon. And she’s something of a mystery to outsiders.”

3. Cat’s eye irises don’t need brain to adapt to the dark
New Scientist | Nov. 7
“Mammals were thought to rely on signalling between the eye and brain to resize the pupil and control the amount of light reaching the retina, but [researchers] discovered that eyeballs isolated from animals that are active at night or at dusk and dawn … continued to respond to light”

4. The Ironic Populist
By Michael Signer | The New Republic | Nov. 7
“How Herman Cain’s Insurgency Marks the Beginning of a New Political Era”

5. Magic Johnson looks back on HIV announcement 20 years later
By Matt Brooks | The Early Lead :: The Washington Post | Nov. 7
“On that difficult day in 1991, Johnson made a conscious decision to become the face of HIV — a choice that has helped raise awareness worldwide and continues to resonate with the work of the Magic Johnson Foundation.”

6. ‘Carlos the Jackal’ on trial for 1980s bombings in France
CNN.com | Nov. 7
“The 62-year-old, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was once among the world’s most wanted fugitives. He is on trial for his alleged role in the attacks on two trains, a train station and a newspaper office in France in 1982 and 1983. The bombings killed 11 and injured more than 100.”

7. A Champion Who Won Inside the Ring and Out
By Dave Anderson | The New York Times | Nov. 7
“Some people mean more together than they do apart, whatever the stage. Churchill and Hitler. Bogart and Bacall. Ali and Frazier. And for all the deserved accolades for Muhammad Ali, I’ve always believed that each at his best, Joe Frazier, who died Monday night at age 67, was the better fighter. And the better man.”

8. 49th Anniversary of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Death
In Roosevelt History | Nov. 7
The famed and controversial first lady died in New York City in 1962.

9. It is four o’clock in the morning …
By Ron McCullagh | Al Jazeera English | Nov. 6
“Exposing the real hurdles stunting development in much of Africa: corruption, cronyism and the politics of fear.”

10. Attack at Lod Airport
Witness :: BBC News | May 31
“It is almost 40 years since an attack at the airport outside Tel Aviv – more than 20 people were killed.”

‘Arch of rosy clouds’

Part 10 of this special series focuses on John Ruskin, an English writer, academic and critic who, like so many others presented in the Morgan Library exhibit, turned to a diary to assuage the pain of depression and anxiety.

This special Stillness of Heart series explores the Morgan Library & Museum’s fascinating exhibit, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives.”

Part 10 focuses on John Ruskin, an English writer, academic, and critic who, like so many others presented in the Morgan Library exhibit, turned to a diary to assuage the pain of depression and anxiety. Ruskin, however, went a step further and used his diary as a primary resource in the study and analysis of his own disorder. As the introductory essay points out, Ruskin “was determined to study his own patterns and learn enough about himself to remain sane. … He re-read his earlier entries, searching for signs leading up to his breakdown, underlining key words and phrases, compiling an index of his experience, and putting down on paper all he could remember of his psychotic visions.”

“No getting things done in this house. Lost all yesterday calling on Marshalls in morning. Fine afternoon, throwing down stones in the wood with Diddie and Maggie. Exquisitest purple I ever saw on hills, in afternoon, and arch of rosy clouds all over old man [a nearby mountain] and opalescent green-blue and rose over blue Helvellyn, divine, but my evening spoiled by finding the poor chaffinch’s nest in ruins, and nestlings dying. A hawk, I fancy, pouncing on the mother;– not able to return for the brood. “

Examine images of his diary and listen to the museum’s audio guide here.

Entries in this series:
Part 1: Introduction to the exhibit and Charlotte Brontë
Part 2: Frances Eliza Grenfell
Part 3: Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Part 4: Paul Horgan
Part 5: John Newton
Part 6: Mary Ann and Septimus Palairet
Part 7: Walter Scott
Part 8: Bartholomew Sharpe
Part 9: Tennessee Williams
Part 10: John Ruskin

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Black holes … Differences among the GOP presidential candidates … Mummies in the house … Beating winter blues … Running the right way

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. What’s that strange disk around that black hole?
By Nicole Gugliucci | Discovery News | Nov. 5
“Recently, using the Hubble Space Telescope, the light from the accretion disk around a black hole has been measured for the first time.”

2. Excavating key differences among GOP candidates
By Calvin Woodward | Associated Press | Nov. 7
“The Republican presidential candidates sound much alike in their zeal to shrink government, cut taxes and replace President Barack Obama’s big health care law with, well, something entirely different. It takes some digging to see the distinctions.”

3. Report: Ames Jones to Challenge Wentworth
By Ross Ramsey | Texas Tribune | Nov. 7
“Elizabeth Ames Jones, who left the Legislature for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission, will reportedly get out of the U.S. Senate race to run instead for the Texas Senate against incumbent Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio.”

4. Kay Bailey Hutchison says Rick Perry ‘was very brutal’ to her two years ago
By Richard Dunham | PerryPresidential | Nov. 6
“Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison may have forgiven Rick Perry for the things he said during their bitter 2010 primary battle for governor, but she surely hasn’t forgotten.”

5. Russia: Mummified Bodies Found At Historian’s Home
Associated Press | Nov. 7
“Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin said Monday that the suspect from the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod dug up the bodies at several cemeteries in the region. The man, whose identity was withheld, dressed them in clothes dug up from the graves.”

6. 8 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues
By Maia Szalavitz | Healthland :: Time | Nov. 4
“As the days get shorter and winter closes in, many people feel like hibernating. We start sleeping more, eating more, avoiding social contact. The effects can be particularly oppressive for people with depression. …”

7. The Once and Future Way to Run
By Christopher McDougall | The New York Times Magazine | Nov. 2
“Left, right, repeat; that’s all running really is, a movement so natural that babies learn it the first time they rise to their feet. Yet sometime between childhood and adulthood — and between the dawn of our species and today — most of us lose the knack.”

8. Polls: Ortega likely to win 3rd term in Nicaragua
By Samantha Lugo | CNN.com | Nov. 7
“He was first elected as president in 1985, and ran unsuccessfully in 1990, 1996 and 2001 before being elected again in 2006.”

9. Brazilian Au Pair Enjoying Nameless Men, Her First Multiple Orgasm
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | April 4
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Brazilian Au Pair Enjoying Nameless Men and Her First Multiple Orgasm: Female, au pair, 26, Manhattan, ‘happily single ever after,’ straight.”

10. The Horny Suburban Mom on a Field Trip to the Big City
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | Jan. 3
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Horny Suburban Mom on a Field Trip to the Big City: female, freelance copywriter, 44, suburban Philadelphia/NYC, ‘sexual libertine,’ single.”

Relaxing

Stillness of Heart is taking some time off to fully enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Stillness of Heart is taking some time off to fully enjoy the last few weeks of summer.

Stay in touch. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

See you in the fall.

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

A world failure in Haiti … Alien destruction … 2012 election rhetoric … Pre-bed drinks … What would President Hillary Clinton have done?

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. How the World Failed Haiti
By Janet Reitman | Rolling Stone | August 2011
“A year and a half after the island was reduced to rubble by an earthquake, the world’s unprecedented effort to rebuild it has turned into a disaster of good intentions.”

2. Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists
By Ian Sample | The Guardian | The Guardian
“Rising greenhouse emissions may tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report for NASA”

3. Archaeologists comb newly-found Civil War POW camp
By Russ Bynum | Associated Press | Aug. 18
“Archaeologists are still discovering unusual, and sometimes stunningly personal, artifacts a year after state officials revealed that a graduate student had pinpointed the location of the massive but short-lived Civil War camp in southeast Georgia.”

4. The rhetoric of the 2012 election will be about race
By Joseph P.A. Villescas | NewsTaco | Aug. 18
“In this racially charged election, previous and future representatives will be judged according to their influence on regional Latino issues related to education, healthcare and job creation as well as their dedication to improving the quality of life for residents in Austin, Kyle, Lockhart, Maxwell, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Seguín and San Antonio.”

5. What a Rick Perry Presidency Would Look Like for Women
MeanRachel :: Huffington Post | Aug. 17
“With a governor who has a women’s health record that’s a bumpy country mile long possibly becoming our next President, what would it mean for women across America? Allow me.”

6. Pre-Bed Booze May Bust Rest
By Katherine Harmon | 60-Second Health :: Scientific American | August 2011
“A nightcap may force the body to work harder at repair during sleep, making for a less restful night”

7. What Would Hillary Clinton Have Done?
By Rebecca Traister | The New York Times Magazine | Aug. 17
“[I]n a period of liberal disillusionment, some on the left are engaging in an inverse fantasy. Almost unbelievably, they are now daydreaming of how much better a Hillary Clinton administration might have represented them. ”

8. Dimming the Red Lights in Turkey
By Anna Louie Sussman | The New York Times | Aug. 19
“Since the 1870s, prostitution has thrived in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district, which houses Kadem and its sister street, Zurafa.”

9. When Looking for Love, Women Spurn Science
By Jennifer Welsh | LiveScience | Aug. 18
“Finding romantic love can be a distracting goal for anyone, but for women thoughts of romantic goals are particularly distracting from science, technology, engineering and math, new research suggests.”

10. Economic Myths: We Separate Fact From Fiction
By Michael Grabell | ProPublica | Aug. 18
“1. Taxes have been going up and are high compared to levels in other countries. 2. The stimulus failed./The stimulus rescued the economy. 3. The stimulus should have been bigger.”

TUNES

My soundtrack for today included:
1. I’M LIFE The Fixx
2. ANGELINA FLASHBACK Jan Hammer
3. LOMBARD TRIAL Jan Hammer
4. POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME Def Leppard
5. TURNING POINT Jan Hammer
6. WHO ARE YOU John Murphy
7. DESIRE U2
8. WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE Bon Jovi
9. I WISH SOMEONE WOULD CARE Irma Thomas
10. NIGHTTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME Ray Charles

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

China’s navy … Women in Mexico’s drug war … Young Americans no dreamers … Brazil’s girl power … Studying the storm surge.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.

1. Mexico’s Drug War, Feminized
By Damien Cave | The New York Times | Aug. 13
“The number of women incarcerated for federal crimes has grown by 400 percent since 2007, pushing the total female prison population past 10,000.”

2. Troubled Waters: Why China’s Navy Makes Asia Nervous
By Austin Ramzy | Time | Aug. 10
“China’s armed forces are modernizing — military spending has grown by an annual average of 15% since 2000 — and after a decade-long charm offensive in East and Southeast Asia, Beijing has begun taking a more aggressive stand on territorial disputes.”

3. New hurricane scale puts more focus on storm surge
By Mary Wozniak | The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press | Aug. 14
“A newly patented hurricane scale better predicts the potential destruction from both wind and storm surge, but the National Hurricane Center won’t say whether it will be endorsed or used.”

4. Bachmann and Perry — a beautiful 2012 rivalry
By John Whitesides | Reuters | Aug. 14
“It was Michele Bachmann’s big moment in the political spotlight and Rick Perry stomped all over it.”

5. Generation Vexed: Young Americans rein in their dreams
By Tiffany Hsu and Shan Li | The Los Angeles Times | Aug. 14
“Amid so much economic uncertainty, many are rethinking career plans, putting off marriage and avoiding the stock market like the plague.”

6. Brazil’s Girl Power
By Cynthia Gorney | National Geographic | September 2011
“How a mix of female empowerment and steamy soap operas helped bring down Brazil’s fertility rate and stoke its vibrant economy.”

7. The Hope That Flows From History
By Christina D. Romer | The New York Times | Aug. 13
“Adding to the despair is the oft-repeated notion that it took World War II to end the economic nightmare of the ’30s: If a global war was needed to return the economy to full employment then, what is going to save us today? Look more closely at history and you’ll see that the truth is much more complicated — and less gloomy.”

8. The Female Eunuch, 40 years on
By Rachel Cusk | The Guardian | Nov. 20, 2010
“Funny, angry, clever and hopeful – The Female Eunuch set out to transform women’s lives. Does Germaine Greer’s seminal tract still speak to feminists?”

9. The Single Guy Getting Over His On-Again, Off-Again Girlfriend
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | May 23
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Single Guy Getting Over His On-Again, Off-Again Girlfriend: Male, high school teacher, 39, Astoria, straight, single.”

10. Italian internees
Witness :: BBC News | June 10
“When Italy joined World War II in June 1940, British-Italian men were rounded up and interned.”

TUNES

Tonight I’m spending some time with the blues, specifically with the Texas Blues Café. Check out the line-up and then listen here.

1. Mike Zito — 39 Days
2. Chris Rea — Lone Star Boogie
3. The Terry Quiett Band — Long Saturday Night
4. Lady Antebellum — Lookin’ for a Good Time
5. The Insomniacs — Angry Surfer
6. Anna Popovic — Get Back Home to You
7. Stevie Ray Vaughan — The Sky is Crying
8. Douglas Acres — Grand Theft Mojo
9. Tommy Crain & The Cross Town All Stars — For the Music
10. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals — Some Kind of Ride
11. Los Lonely Boys — Texican Style
12. Beau Hall — Hell & Ecstasy
13. Preacher Stone — Mother To Bed

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Memory crystals … Obama’s anger … Latino population growth … Tsunami in Antarctica … A woman’s erotic brain.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. Superman’s Memory Crystals Inch Closer to Reality
By Matt Cantor | Newser | Aug. 15
“Hard drives could soon be made from glass.”

2. His Anger Is a Start
The New York Times | Aug. 16
“[President Obama’s] anger is long overdue. But it would be much more effective if he combined it with strong ideas of his own for how to fix the economy, rather than the thin agenda he is now promoting. ”

3. Growing Latino population should not be a shock
By Marc Rodriguez | NewsTaco | Aug. 15
“The U.S. Census Report, or at least the documents from the past four decades, should officially be considered the government’s equivalent of the television broadcast version of the Spanish-language telenovela.”

4. America, the Dysfunctional
By Leslie Bennetts | The Daily Beast | Aug. 15
“As pundits bemoan the broken political system, historians tell Leslie Bennetts that even as far back as Jefferson and Hamilton, acrimony is just the American way.”

5. Can Rick Perry Govern?
By Dave Mann | Texas Observer | Aug. 15
“Texas governor is a terrific campaigner but has accomplished little in office.”

6. Tohoku Tsunami Created Icebergs In Antarctica
NASA | Aug. 8
“A NASA scientist and her colleagues were able to observe for the first time the power of an earthquake and tsunami to break off large icebergs a hemisphere away.”

7. Mikhail Gorbachev: I should have abandoned the Communist party earlier
By Jonathan Steele | The Guardian | Aug. 16
“The former president looks back on his role in the fall of the Soviet Union 20 years ago in an exclusive Guardian interview”

8. Vintage box camera portrays Mayan women
By Jack Chang | Associated Press | Aug. 16
“Associated Press photographer Rodrigo Abd made his way to the Guatemalan mountain city of Coban in July to photograph these women vying to become this year’s National Indigenous Queen of Guatemala, who is honored for helping keep alive the country’s rich Mayan history.”

9. Vaccines are important to everyone’s health
By Jeff Kreisberg | NewsTaco | Aug. 16
“You never outgrow your need to be vaccinated. No matter what your age, there are recommended vaccines to help keep you, your family, and your community safe.”

10. The Female Erotic Brain, Mapped
By Maia Szalavitz | Healthland :: Time | Aug. 16
“Not surprisingly, the brain region associated with sensation from the clitoris was distinct from those that respond to stimulation of the cervix or vagina. Each area of the genitals showed up in its own spot, clustered in one region of the brain — the same region associated with genital stimulation in men — overlapping but separate.”

Recommended reading / viewing / listening

Singing to John Brown … President Matt Damon? … Perry’s perks … Life fades in scorched Texas … History of women’s protests.

Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism. Read past recommendations from this series here.

1. As Texas Dries Out, Life Falters and Fades
By Richard Parker | The New York Times | Aug. 13
“Up in Austin, Gov. Rick Perry is moving toward a run for the presidency. But he has had precious little to say about the drought that is devastating his state. He did organize a prayer for rain back in April. Looking at that blazing hot, clear blue sky up there, it seems heaven isn’t listening.”

2. Flannery O’Connor reads ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’
Manasto Jones | May 18, 2009
“This is a recording from 1959 of Flannery O’Connor … Vanderbilt University.”

3. Perry offers perks to donors who raise generous funds
The Fix :: The Washington Post | Aug. 13
“According to a strategy document obtained by The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty, there are four levels in the Perry donor universe.”

4. A Brief History of Women’s Protests
By Megan Gibson | Time | Aug. 12
“Timing is everything, especially when it comes to a rally.”

5. A first look at the National September 11 Memorial
By Blair Kamin | Cityscapes :: The Chicago Tribune | Aug. 14
“A tough work of abstract minimalism, softened by waterfalls and oak trees, seeks to meld remembrance and regeneration”

6. Oldest survivor of Bataan Death March dies at 105
By Jim Suhr | Associated Press | Aug. 15
“‘Doc’ Brown was nearly 40 in 1942 when he endured the Bataan Death March, a harrowing 65-mile trek in which 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to walk from Bataan province near Manila to a Japanese POW camp. As many as 11,000 died along the way. ”

7. Matt Damon for president? In US politics, they have seen crazier scripts
By Paul Harris | The Guardian | Aug. 14
“The line between Hollywood fame and political power is often blurred, so suggestions that the liberal actor might run can’t be dismissed”

8. Why they sang about John Brown
By R. Blakeslee Gilpin | The Boston Globe | Aug. 14
“How a violent revolutionary inspired the Union’s great marching song – right here in Boston”

9. Rereading: Love on the Dole by Walter Greenwood
By John Harris | The Guardian | Aug. 7, 2010
“An evocative portrayal of life in depression-era Britain, Love on the Dole sold thousands when it was first published in the 1930s. John Harris visits the Salford streets where it was set and finds some grim resonances”

10. Mixed race marriage victory in US
Witness :: BBC News | June 9
“In 1958, a mixed-race couple were banished from the US state of Virginia for breaking its laws against inter-racial marriage.”

‘A child of love’

Part 9 of this special series focuses on Tennessee Williams, the famed playwright, who embraced his diary as shelter from the depressive snowstorms that ravaged his life

This special Stillness of Heart series explores the Morgan Library & Museum’s fascinating exhibit, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives.”

Part 9 focuses on Tennessee Williams, the famed playwright, who embraced his diary as shelter from the depressive snowstorms that ravaged his life. Success, drugs, sensual companionship, even public accolades like a Pulitzer Prize (for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) all failed to calm his suffocating anxiety, loneliness, and despair.

“A child of love — dined on the terrace with the cathedral spires lit up and a mass choir singing Catalonian folks songs on the Square below. Then love — came twice, both ways, and divinely responsive as if a benign Providence, or shall we be frank and say God, had suddenly taken cognizance and pity of my long misery this summer and given me this night as a token of forgiveness.”

Examine images of his amazing diary and listen to the museum’s audio guide here.

Entries in this series:
Part 1: Introduction to the exhibit and Charlotte Brontë
Part 2: Frances Eliza Grenfell
Part 3: Sophia and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Part 4: Paul Horgan
Part 5: John Newton
Part 6: Mary Ann and Septimus Palairet
Part 7: Walter Scott
Part 8: Bartholomew Sharpe
Part 9: Tennessee Williams
Part 10: John Ruskin

Behind The Wall

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Rebecca Aguilar

#CallingAllJournalists Initiative | Reporter | Media Watchdog | Mentor | Latinas in Journalism

Anna Fonte's Paper Planes

Words, images & collages tossed from a window.

Postcards from Barton Springs

Gayle Brennan Spencer - sending random thoughts to and from South Austin

The Flask Half Full

Irreverent travelogues, good drinks, and the cultural stories they tell.

Government Book Talk

Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.

Fighting Irish Wire

Cadillac Society

Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews

Ob360media

Real News That Matters

Talking Pictures Audio Description

Pintar Discover

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Mealtime Joy

bringing joy to family meals

Øl, Mad og Folk

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fun, delicious food for everyone

A Perfect Feast

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Art is a gift we give ourselves

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low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages

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North River Notes

Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.