Springtime fights over skin / Tax myths / Near-death experiences / Le Carre’s doubts / Anthony Weiner is back
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, photos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.The 5 Kinds of Flesh-Obsessed Articles You Read in the Spring By Katie J.M. Baker | Jezebel | April 11
“Every spring, concerned citizens spring up like so many tulips (or boners) to share their opinions on how women should and shouldn’t dress when it’s warm outside. Unfortunately, unlike pollen allergies, there’s no known antidote for these five most obnoxious types of seasonal ‘Ladies! Put your clothes on/take them off, plz!’ articles.”
2.Five myths about taxes By Steven R. Weisman | Five Myths :: The Washington Post | April 11
“Whether tax cuts generally spur economic growth and tax increases generally dampen it is debatable …”
3.Why a Near-Death Experience Isn’t Proof of Heaven By Michael Shermer | Scientific American | April 13
“The fact that mind and consciousness are not fully explained by natural forces, however, is not proof of the supernatural. In any case, there is a reason they are called near-death experiences: the people who have them are not actually dead.”
5.Army’s Disaster Prep Now Includes Tips From the Zombie Apocalypse By Spencer Ackerman | Danger Room :: Wired | April 12
“[W]hether you’re confronting extreme weather that shorts out a power grid or running from a marauding horde of the undead, preparation is the key to survival.”
6.Resort Of Last Resort By Aubrey Belford | The Global Mail | April 5
“Fear, corruption, boredom, smugglers, extortionists, Saudi sex tourists and temporary wives: such is life in the Indonesian resort town that has become limbo for asylum seekers.”
7.John le Carré: ‘I was a secret even to myself’ By John le Carre | The Guardian | April 12
“After a decade in the intelligence service, John le Carré’s political disgust and personal confusion ‘exploded’ in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Fifty years later he asks how much has changed”
8.Roman ruins found in the heart of London By Erin McLaughlin | CNN International | April 10
“Archeologists uncover thousands of ancient Roman artifacts in London.”
9.Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin’s Post-Scandal Playbook By Jonathan Van Meter | New York Times Magazine | April 10
“They seem to be functioning again as a couple, even unselfconsciously bickering in front of the waiter. But what they do not yet have a handle on is their public life.”
10.Obama’s former speechwriter on the secrets he learned from his boss By Sarah Muller | MSNBC | April 12
“Jon Favreau told MSNBC.com he misses his former job as President Obama’s chief speechwriter, though not the late hours. He began the job in 2005, becoming the second youngest head speechwriter in the White House’s history.”
Alec Baldwin’s new NBC show? / The Met gets a $1 billion gift / The quirks of the DSM 5 / Remembering Thatcher and Firestone / Renaissance art reborn
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Alec Baldwin Said to Be in Talks to Join NBC’s Late-Night Lineup By Bill Carter | Media Decoder :: The New York Times | April 9
“The most likely landing place for a show hosted by Mr. Baldwin would be in the latest of NBC’s entries, the show now called ‘Last Call.’ That half-hour interview program currently stars Carson Daly.”
2.The D.S.M and the Nature of Disease By Gary Greenberg | Elements :: The New Yorker | April 9
“[T]here is little reason to think that a new D.S.M. will increase the prevalence of mental-disorder diagnoses, and less to think that we will ever really know how many people are sick.”
3.The Man Who Pierced the Sky By William Langewiesche | Vanity Fair | May 2013
“When Felix Baumgartner set out to make a living by stunt jumping … the young Austrian had no idea where it would take him: to a pressurized capsule nearly 24 miles above New Mexico, last October 14, preparing to free-fall farther than any man in history, and at supersonic speed.”
4.The 21 Books from the 21st Century Every Man Should Read GQ | April 8
“These are GQ‘s hands-down, most emphatically favorite works of fiction from the new millennium, plus all the books from the past thirteen years the authors want you to read”
5.The lady who changed the world The Economist | April 8
“The essence of Thatcherism was to oppose the status quo and bet on freedom. … She thought nations could become great only if individuals were set free. Her struggles had a theme: the right of individuals to run their own lives, as free as possible from the micromanagement of the state.”
7.Death of a Revolutionary By Susan Faludi | The New Yorker | April 15
“When Shulamith Firestone’s body was found late last August … she had been dead for some days. … Such a solitary demise would have been unimaginable to anyone who knew Firestone in the late nineteen-sixties, when she was at the epicenter of the radical-feminist movement …”
8.Prize-Writing By Amanda Foreman | The New York Times Book Review | April 5
“Literary prizes have become so numerous and pervasive that just like the invention of the computer, it makes you wonder how writers ever survived without them.”
9.The Invincible Mrs. Thatcher By Charles Moore | Vanity Fair | December 2011
“Twenty years after Thatcher’s retirement, her biographer Charles Moore re-assesses the most powerful British prime minister since Churchill, one who forged a legacy that will long survive her.”
10.Cubism, Which Changed Art, Now Changes the Met By Carol Vogel | The New York Times | April 9
“In one of the most significant gifts in the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the philanthropist and cosmetics tycoon Leonard A. Lauder has promised the institution his collection of 78 Cubist paintings, drawings and sculptures.”
“Morning-after” pill / Clinton’s 2016 challenges / Shakespeare the businessman / King of nerds may reign again / Friday blues
Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1.Judge strikes restrictions on ‘morning-after’ pill By Jessica Dye | Reuters | April 5
“A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make ‘morning-after’ emergency contraception pills available without a prescription to all girls of reproductive age, while blasting top Obama administration officials for interfering with the process.”
2.Hillary Clinton Would Not ‘Clear the Field’ for 2016 By Tod Lindberg | The New Republic | April 5
“When Colin Powell stepped down as secretary of state, he had a 77 percent job approval rating. But by 2005, Powell was yesterday’s man, content to amble downhill from the peak of his career. Clinton isn’t at all about nostalgia and gratitude; her best years may lie ahead of her.”
3.British class system alive and growing, survey finds Reuters | April 3
“British people can now aspire to and despise four new levels of social classes, according to a new survey conducted by researchers in partnership with public broadcaster the BBC.”
6.Hobbit ring that may have inspired Tolkien put on show By Maev Kennedy | The Guardian | April 1
“Lord of the Rings author was researching the story of the curse of a Roman ring for two years before starting Bilbo Baggins tale”
7.Three days that saved the world financial system By Neil Irwin | The Washington Post | March 29
“How the world’s top central bankers hopscotched across Europe, wining and dining, to save the global economy.”
8.Study shows Shakespeare as ruthless businessman By Jill Lawless | Associated Press | March 31
“Researchers from Aberystwyth University in Wales argue that we can’t fully understand Shakespeare unless we study his often-overlooked business savvy.”
9.Secret Service Prostitution Scandal: One Year Later By Shane Harris | Washingtonian | March 25
“That wild night in Cartagena rocked the elite secret service and embarrassed the White House. Was it a one-time incident or part of a pattern of agents behaving badly?”
10.The Cash-Strapped King of the Nerds Plots a Comeback By Hal Espen and Borys Kit | The Hollywood Reporter | March 28
“[Harry Knowles, the] founder of the once-renegade movie site [Ain’t It Cool], who earned the admiration of Peter Jackson and Steve Jobs, is struggling for money and relevance in the wild media landscape he helped to create.”
******************
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. Electrofied — Bad Case Of The Blues 2. Dr. John — Cold Shot 3. Robert Earl Kean — Throwin’ Rocks 4. Will Tang — Love Bites 5. Nasty Ned and the Famous Chili Dogs — Out On The Town 6. Matt Schofield — Siftin’ Thru the Ashes 7. Andrew Strong — To Many Cooks 8. The Vaughan Brothers — Good Texan 9. Lady Antebellum — Love Don’t Live Here Anymore 10. John Campbell — Epiphony 11. Bonnie Raitt — Pride And Joy 12. Micheal Burks — Fire And Water 13. Three-legged Fox — Soul Thief 14. Paul Thorn — Long Way From Tupelo *Instrumental out by Nick Moss & The Flip Tops — The Rump Bump
It’s interesting to trace Stone’s mention of certain now-historic events like Antietam, comparing when she records them to when the events actually took place.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Exchanged Confederate prisoners of war ready to fight again. A young recruit worried the war will be over before he can see combat. A barrel of flour priced at $50. These were some of the defining features of Stone’s wartime reality. The 1862 summer was washed away in a chilling, rainy introduction to fall, turning the roads into mud and darkening Stone’s mood. News of the Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg, in Maryland reached Brokenburn two weeks later, bringing relieving news that Stone’s brother had been only slightly wounded.
It’s interesting to trace Stone’s mention of certain now-historic events like Antietam, comparing when she records them to when the events actually took place. As the war moved into Louisiana — down from Memphis and up from New Orleans — news took longer and longer to reach Brokenburn. Access to magazines, fresh books, and newspapers was disrupted and then severed. Letters took longer to reach Stone’s family. Wild rumors from every direction swept across Stone’s imagination, testing her belief in the Cause and forming a bedrock of self-reliance that she would desperately need in the coming years.
Sept. 23, 1862
Three weeks of silence spent mostly in Vicksburg, a dull profitless visit. Nothing going on there and I was glad to get home as quiet as it now is and will be, I suppose, until the close of the war. So many friends are gone, but judging from our many recent victories the close may be near. We will conquer a peace.
The victories of Manassas and Richmond, Ky., were both won on the same day. Harper’s Ferry, Frederick [Md.], Kanawha Valley, and luka [Miss.], and various small successes, all within thirty days, make us very hopeful. … Most of our acquaintances are still out of town, and though the streets were crowded with soldiers I knew none of them. The old familiar faces are away fighting in Virginia and Tennessee and strangers are defending their city.
Our exchanged prisoners to the number of 1,500 arrived while I was there, and the place was crowded with them. There were no adequate preparations to provide for them, and many of them had to beg the citizens for something to eat. So happy as they all looked, as merry and free as uncaged birds, and all eager to begin the fight again. The ladies of Memphis gave them a heartfelt and enthusiastic welcome, kisses as plentiful as blackberries, but there was nothing of that kind in Vicksburg. Met a Lt. Polk of Tennessee, who gave an interesting and anecdotal account of his imprisonment. …
Sept. 24
The first of the fall rains. How I dread this winter. I shudder in anticipation: The long rains, the impassable roads, no books, no papers, few letters, our friends nearly all away, and most of our loved ones in the army. Awful prospect. But thinking of it will make it no better. …
Brother Walter goes on Monday to join Dr. Buckner’s company in Bolivar County [Miss.] and all are busy preparing him for the start. The house will be desolate indeed when he is really gone, following in the perilous paths his brothers are treading before him. … There are so many victories he fears even now peace may be proclaimed before he is enrolled as a soldier fighting with his brothers. …
Mamma is suffering much with her arm but is busy knitting socks for Brother Walter and Coley. I am knitting gloves as I can do it well and rapidly now. Nothing like sticking to a thing to learn it. We are again in suspense about My Brother. Had just had a letter written after Manassas just before they crossed the Potomac into Maryland. Now there is news of a hard-won victory at Frederick and his division hotly engaged, and that is all.
I heard while in Vicksburg of the death of a cousin, Ruby Davis. She died on the plantation on the Yazoo, leaving a baby a few days old. Only her mother was with her. Her husband, who is in the army, arrived just as they were lowering her body in the grave. They had been married only a year or so. Her people are in New Orleans. Another cousin too is dead. Elam Ragan is dead on the field of battle, falling shot through the heart just as he mounted one of the enemy’s batteries shouting, “Hurrah! Come on, boys, it is ours.” Peaceful be the rest of the gallant boyish heart that knew no fear. …
A letter from Mrs. Rossman tells of the death of her young brother, Eugene Selser, another boyish soldier offering up his life, a sacrifice to his country. Mrs. Rossman says she hears regularly from My Brother. I hope Eugenia does not.
Sept. 30
A telegram from My Brother to Mamma says he is slightly wounded in the leg, wounded in the battle of Sharpsburg, Md., one of the most hotly contested battles of the campaign. Tom Manlove was also slightly wounded in the arm in the same fight. If we do not hear soon again, Brother Walter will go to Vicksburg for further news. Maybe now My Brother can come home to recuperate for a little while. He has been marching and fighting almost constantly since the first of July. Letters from Uncle Bo. He is in excellent health and spirits, and his regiment has not been in any of the late battles. Brother Walter will not go to his company until we hear further from My Brother.
Sister has been quite sick for several days. Mrs. Carson, Anna, Miss Bettie, and the girls took dinner. Had a talkative, pleasant time. Mrs. Savage is back home again. She says now she will stay till driven off by Yankees or overflow.
Our usual round of visiting and visitors, now that Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Savage are back. We went to Mrs. Curry’s to call on Mrs. Frank Blunt from Hinds County. She told us Aunt Rebeckah Jones, Ruby’s mother, died on the plantation a few days after Ruby with only the servants and the doctor with her. All her life she had been so lapped around with love and care. Tragedy after tragedy.
Today we actually had cake, a most rare occurrence, due to Mrs. Hardison’s sending us a little homemade flour. But for them, we might forget the taste of wheaten bread, and Aunt Laura is using it lavishly at $50 a barrel.
It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Stone mourns the loss of a dear friend to marriage, “Beast” Butler’s proclamations from conquered New Orleans outrage her, the weakened levee nearby worries her, and a bear frightens and exhilarates everyone. It’s been a year since her beloved brother and uncle left for the front, and her sadness casts a shadow over Brokenburn’s springtime blooms.
May 23
Have heard of my darling Katie’s marriage. Who would have thought after our long close intimacy that I would hear of her wedding only by accident. I know she has written me everything but no letters come now. So have passed our dreams of sisterhood. I hope, oh how I hope, she has been able to forget the old love and is content with the new. May my dear girl be happy. God bless her and hers. I shall miss her out of my life, my dearest girl friend. How it will affect My Brother I can hardly say, but I have thought of late he had given up his love dream and was willing to take the dismissal he forced upon her. …
The gunboats have been at Vicksburg for a week and have secured their answer to the demand to surrender some days ago, but there has been no bombardment. What we heard was the artillery men trying their guns.
In the Whig is Butler’s last infamous proclamation. It seems that the openly expressed scorn and hatred of the New Orleans women for Butler’s vandal hordes has so exasperated him that he issues this proclamation: That henceforth if any female by word, look, or gesture, shall insult any of his soldiers, the soldier shall have perfect liberty to do with her as he pleases. Could any order be more infamous? It is but carrying out the battle cry ‘Bounty and Beauty’ with which they started for New Orleans. May he not long pollute the soil of Louisiana.
The levee is still very insecure with the river rising and the rains bad on it. Many plantation hands are at work on it all the time, and the owners [are] watching it anxiously. We are almost overflowed from rain water as the ditches had to be stopped to keep out backwater. …
May 25
Everything shines out bright and fair in the spring sunshine after the gloom of the last few days. The flowers wave and glisten most invitingly across the grass beyond the shadows of the great oaks, but it is too wet to venture over Nature’s carpeting of soft, green grass. This evening we may plan what we please. The levees having stood so far we think will stand faithfully to the end. They have certainly been found faithful among few. …
May 26
Old Mr. Valentine is very despondent, foretelling the most abject poverty and starvation for the whole country. He came over to try and induce Mamma to have all the cotton plowed up in order to plant corn and to beg her not to let Brother Walter go to Vicksburg. … He has made himself very unpopular by his bitter opposition to the cotton burning and by not allowing his son to join the army. There is no doubt he should go at once. Some actually think Mr. Valentine is in favor of our enemies and advocate hanging him by mob law. A most unjust report and utterly without foundation. I suppose his being of Northern birth increases the prejudice. …
In the afternoon there was a cry raised that there was a bear in the cane. The boys with their dogs and guns turned out in force, assisted by Mr. McRae, Ben Clarkson, as did all the Negroes who could get mules, while the others armed themselves with axes and sticks and cautiously approached the outskirts. The excitement ran high and we at the house had full benefit as it was in the canebrake just back of the yard. We could hear the barking of the dogs, the reports of the guns, and the cries and shouts of the whole party. It was very exhilirating. They returned in the highest state of excitement but without the bear. They went out next morning but with no better success. …
May 28
Yesterday evening and far into the night we heard the roar of cannonading more distinct and rapid than ever heard before. It must be at Vicksburg. Today all is quiet. One understands after hearing the long rolling booms how deafening it must be on a battlefield. …
The river is falling all the way down.nd we are saved from overflow this year.
Papers and letters this evening, a month old.
May 30
We have a paper of the twenty-seventh. It brings the good news of a battle or surprise by Stonewall Jackson at Winchester and Front Royal and the capture of all the stores at the former place and many prisoners. All the news is rather encouraging. We are holding our own at Fort Pillow. At Corinth the enemy are reported in retreat to their gunboats which, now that the Tennessee River is falling, they are compelled to get out at once. All is well in Virginia. And nearer home at Vicksburg there is nothing to discourage us. The slight shelling did no harm, and the soldiers are full of hope and anxious for the Yankees to land to give them the “worst beating they ever had in their lives. …”
My Brother and Uncle Bo have been gone just a year and what a year of changes. Nature smiles as bright and fair now as under the May sun of a year ago, but where are all “the loved ones who filled our home with glee?” Four of the dear familiar faces are absent. One sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. For him we have no more fear or trouble, for we know he has passed from Death into Life that. … But oh, the weary days of waiting and watching for the other three.
Jimmy brought us two recent letters from My Brother. He encloses some violets gathered from the old trenches around Yorktown, dug there by Washington’s army. His tent stands just where Cornwallis gave up his sword. What supreme satisfaction if McClellan could be induced to do the same thing at the same place. They say history repeats itself. My Brother takes a most elderly brother tone regarding Tom Manlove’s love affairs. Four months ago Tom was desperate about Miss Eva, and now Miss Flora reigns sole empress of his heart for the next month. But My Brother need not be critical, as he is not so constant himself. He so regrets leaving Uncle Bo. They are now in different commands. He is anxious to get his clothes and speaks confidently of coming home. …
Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
Stone offers a fascinating portrait of how war changed even the smallest elements of daily life.
May 22
All yesterday and today we have heard cannonading at Vicksburg, sometimes so faint that it is more a vibration than a noise and again quite a loud, clear report. Oh, if we could only know just what is going on there. But it may be days before we get any authentic accounts. We do not know the importance of holding Vicksburg. We know nothing of the plans. Some say the resistance there is only a feint to give Beauregard more time at Corinth, Miss., but we hope it is a desperate attempt to hold the city against all odds. We are sick of hearing of these prudent, cautious retreats without firing a gun. Our only hope is in desperate fighting. We are so outnumbered. We think Dr. Buckner’s company is in Vicksburg, but being cavalry they may not be engaged.
Evening. Brother Walter rode out on the dangerous levee and he thinks it will hold. Heard that the attack on Vicksburg will be made this evening at 3 o’clock, the enemy landing at Warrenton and coming in the rear of the city. Brother Walter is almost wild to take part in the battle there. He has been in tears about it for the last week. … He says he must and will be in that fight, but we are not very anxious about him. We are sure all skiffs leaving Pecan Grove will have gotten away long before he reaches there, as it was two when he left. Mamma gave him some money but he took no clothes. He will be compelled to return soon. But Mamma feels that before many days she will be called on to give up this her third son to fight for his country. …
All the boats stopped running three weeks ago on the fall of New Orleans and we have not had a mail since. There is no communication with anywhere except by skiff as the levees are broken between here and Vicksburg.
All the boys are out on the river, and we expect them to bring Anna Dobbs back with them to stay a few days. It seems odd to be expecting company and no flour or any “boughten” delicacy to regale them on, but we have been on a strict “war footing” for some time cornbread and home-raised meal, milk and butter, tea once a day, and coffee never. A year ago we would have considered it impossible to get on for a day without the things that we have been doing without for months. Fortunately we have sugar and molasses, and after all it is not such hard living. Common cornbread admits of many variations in the hands of a good cook eggbread (we have lots of eggs), muffins, cakes, and so on. Fat meat will be unmitigated fat meat, but one need not eat it. And there are chickens, occasional partridges, and other birds, and often venison, vegetables of all kinds minus potatoes; and last but not least, knowing there is no help for it makes one content. …
Clothes have become a secondary consideration. Fashion is an obsolete word and just to be decently clad is all we expect. The change in dress, habits, and customs is nowhere more striking than in the towns. A year ago a gentleman never thought of carrying a bundle, even a small one, through the streets. Broadcloth was de rigueur. Ceremony and fashion ruled in the land. Presto-change. Now the highest in rank may be seen doing any kind of work that their hands find to do. The men have become “hewers of wood and drawers of water” and pack bundles of all sorts and sizes. It may be a pile of blankets, a stack of buckets, or a dozen bundles. One gentleman I saw walking down the street in Jackson, and a splendid-looking fellow he was, had a piece of fish in one hand, a cavalry saddle on his back, bridle, blankets, newspapers, and a small parcel in the other hand; and over his shoulder swung an immense pair of cavalry boots. And nobody thought he looked odd. Their willingness to fetch and carry is only limited by their strength. All the soldiers one sees when traveling are loaded down with canteen, knapsack, haversack, and blankets.
Broadcloth is worn only by the drones and fireside braves. Dyed linsey is now the fashionable material for coats and pants. Vests are done away with, colored flannel, merino, or silk overshirts taking the place. A gentleman thinks nothing of calling on half a dozen young ladies dressed in home-dyed Negro cloth and blue checked shirt. If there is a button or stripe to show that he is one of his country’s defenders, he is sure of warmest welcome. Another stops to talk to a bevy of ladies. He is laden down with a package of socks and tin plates that he is carrying out to camp, and he shifts the bundles from side to side as he grows interested and his arms get tired. In proportion as we have been a race of haughty, indolent, and waited-on people, so now are we ready to do away with all forms and work and wait on ourselves.
The Southerners are a noble race, let them be reviled as they may, and I thank God that He has given my birthplace in this fair land among these gallant people and in a time when I can show my devotion to my Country.
Hauling a rock into orbit / A comatose Senate / Fiction to understand Iraq War / Navy SEALS fighting Jabba the Hutt / John Kerry and Cuba
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.Senatus Decadens By George Packer | The Daily Comment :: The New Yorker | Jan. 4
“The Senate is in a prolonged, self-induced coma. It does not produce creative legislation. It does not inspire important debate. It is not responsive to key national problems. Its pretense of institutional dignity is so battered that junior senators openly mock it.”
3.Be Cautious With Free Software By J.D. Biersdorfer | Gadgetwise :: The New York Times | August 2012
“Is it safe to install freeware and shareware on my computer?”
4.Can Kerry make friends with Cuba? By Nick Miroff | GlobalPost :: Salon | Jan. 2
“While the ex-senator’s been a harsh critic of U.S. policy toward Havana, he’ll have a hard time changing anything”
5.Louis C. K.’s Symphony Of Comedy By Chris Duffy | WBUR | Jan. 3
“In a field notorious for compromise, where comedians routinely change personas and water down material to get sitcom deals, C.K. has managed to maintain his voice.”
6.High schooler suspended for poem on understanding Adam Lanza By Natasha Lennard | Salon | Jan. 2
“A 17-year-old high school student in San Francisco has been suspended indefinitely after she wrote a poem in her personal notebook which included the lines, ‘I understand the killings in Connecticut; I understand why he pulled the trigger.’ ”
7.Good and Bad, the Little Things Add Up in Fitness By Gretchen Reynolds | Well :: The New York Times | Jan. 2
“I was delighted to report … that the ‘sweet sport’ for health benefits seems to come from jogging or moderately working out for only a brief period a few times a week.”
8.How Real Navy SEALs Would Handle Famous Movie Missions By Shane Snow | Underwire :: Wired | December 2012
“[W]e asked 17-year SEAL veteran Don Mann … how the SEALs would handle a few epic missions of our own devising. And by ‘our,’ we mean Hollywood’s.”
9.Dissatisfaction City By Jesse Elias Spafford | The New Inquiry | Jan. 2
“The Las Vegas casino is a machine for social control that works not through repression, but disinhibition”
10.NASA mulls plan to drag asteroid into moon’s orbit By Jeff Hecht | New Scientist | Jan. 2
“The mission would cost about $2.6 billion — slightly more than NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover — and could be completed by the 2020s.”
It’s been my best year ever. Thank you all for your interest.
WordPress.com prepared a 2012 annual report for Stillness of Heart.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.
Outraged legislators / Hunting a serial killer / Flight attendants’ secrets / A general’s PTSD / Loving libraries of the lost
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.The hunt for the perfect serial killer By Maureen Callahan | The New York Post | Dec. 30
“His biggest unsolved mystery: How many people did he murder?”
5.Syria Civil War: Gravediggers Have No Time To Wait For The Dead Reuters | Dec. 30
“Marble gravestones are now squeezed barely a few centimeters apart as workers try to fit as many bodies as possible into the cemetary, near a block of single storey homes. When space runs out, they may be forced to find a new location, says Abu Sulaiman, the gravedigger.”
6.General’s battle with PTSD leads him to the brink By Kristen Gelineau | Associated Press | Dec. 29
“Maj. Gen. Cantwell would become two people: a competent warrior on the outside. A cowering wreck on the inside.”
7.Sex secrets of NYC’s men By Susannah Cahalan | The New York Post | Dec. 30
“It’s a cliche … that dating for women in New York City is rough. That men cheat and are immature. That finding the right guy is nearly impossible. But according to sex therapist Dr. Brandy Engler, it’s much, much worse.”
8.Handled With Care By Andrew D. Scrimheour | The New York Times Book Review | Dec. 28
“Each was the domain of a scholar. Each was the accumulation of a lifetime of intellectual achievement. Each reflected a well-defined precinct of specialization. But what they also had in common was that each of their owners had died.”
9.2012: The Year in Graphics The New York Times | Dec. 30
“Graphics and interactives from a year that included an election, the Olympics and a devastating hurricane. A selection of the graphics presented here include information about how they were created.”
10.Senate Outraged at Having to Work Weekend to Save Nation By Andy Borowitz | The Borowitz Report :: The New Yorker | Dec. 30
“Senator McConnell said that when President Obama called the Senate back to work on a budget deal this weekend, ‘At first I thought he was kidding. Not only have I never worked on a weekend, I’ve never met anyone who’s done such a damn fool thing.’ “
Stone’s diary recorded a fascinating variety of situations that governed which men went off to war and which ones stayed home.
From 2012 to 2015, Stillness of Heart will share interesting excerpts from the extraordinary diary of Kate Stone, who chronicled her Louisiana family’s turbulent experiences throughout the Civil War era.
Learn more about Stone’s amazing life in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and beyond. Click on each year to read more about her experiences. You can read the entire journal online here.
(Photo edited by Bob Rowen)
A fresh March 1862 fever for war spread throughout the community surrounding Brokenburn, and Stone’s diary recorded a fascinating variety of situations that governed which men went off to war and which ones stayed home.
March 1
February has been a month of defeats — Roanoke Island, Forts Henry and Donelson, and now proud old Nashville. All have fallen. A bitter month for us. A grand battle is looked for today or tomorrow at Columbus [Ky.].
Another soldier is leaving our fireside. Brother Coley has joined Dr. Buckner’s cavalry company, and long before the month is over he will be on the field fighting to repel the invader. The first March winds find him safe in the haven of home. April will find him marching and counter-marching, weary and worn, and perhaps dead on the field of battle. He is full of life and hope, so interested in his company, and eager to be off. He says chains could not hold him at home. He has been riding ever since his return Wednesday trying to get the horses, subscriptions, and recruits for his company. Robert Norris goes with a sad foreboding heart to perform a dreaded duty. Brother Coley goes as a bridegroom to his wedding with high hopes and gay anticipations. Robert’s is really the highest type of courage. He sees the danger but presses on. Brother Coley does not even think of it — just a glorious fight for fame and honor.
Wonder of wonders. Mr. Valentine is at last alive to the issue. He is much excited and interested and is getting up a subscription of corn for the families of men who are volunteering back on the Macon. He is trying to raise a company and is getting an office in it. He will go as soon as possible. He and Mr. Catlin were here yesterday. Mamma subscribed 100 barrels of corn. When the two Mr. Valentines become enthusiastic warriors, times are growing warm. I did not see them — it was a business visit, and I had a rising on my face. Nothing but war talked of and companies are forming all through the country.
Mr. Davies, L’adorable, who is on a visit to Dr. Carson, and Mr. NcNeely spent the morning with us … Mr. Davies looks just as he did a year ago, except for his ravishing black mustache, and is as delightful as ever. He is wild to join the army but has his mother and four grown sisters absolutely dependent on him, and it seems impossible for him to get off. He says it is much harder to stay at home than to go.
Joe Carson is crazy to join the army. He cannot study, cannot think of anything else, but his parents will not consent. He is most wretched. The overseers and that class of men are abusing him roundly among themselves — a rich man’s son too good to fight the battles of the rich. Let the rich men go who are most interested. [The overseers] will stay at home. Such craven spirits. So few overseers have gone. …
Thursday we made two blue shirts for Brother Coley. Nearly all we can do for him. Made a comfort bag for him, one for Mr. Valentine, and will now make one for Robert.
March 2
Mr. Stenckrath is making himself wretched these last few days. He feels that he should join the army and he has not the requisite courage. He says, “It is a dreadful thing, Mees Kate, to go and be shoot at.” He is always harping on the dangers and trials of a soldier’s life, and his funny ways amuse us all. He says ill health will keep him here, and he is the picture of manly strength but is imagining himself into becoming a confirmed invalid. He says,”Mees Kate is driving me to the war. She talk so much about men going, and I so sensitive it move me silent for half an hour.” He says, ” I brave man but I no want to be shoot.” To look at it dispassionately, there does seem to be no reason why a foreigner, only here to teach and most probably opposed to all our institutions, should be expected to fight for our independence. And I really do not think it Mr. Stenckrath’s duty to go, but he will take all we say about other men who are shirking their duty as personal to him. And when we are all on fire with the subject, we cannot bridle our tongues all the time.
Well, Columbus [Ky.] is abandoned and with it Tennessee. Our Columbus army, without a shot or shell on either side, has retired to Island No. 10, and the Nashville army has fallen back to Decatur, Ala. They say the Island is much better adapted for defense than Columbus. Then how much time and money has been wasted at Columbus? How we would like to have a letter from Cousin Titia. I suppose she leads the retreat.
Robert came home with Brother Coley tonight. They must go to Vicksburg tomorrow. Robert is in much better spirits, and Brother Coley is jubliant.
March 8
Brother Coley and Robert got off just at sunrise. It was cold but they were well wrapped up. Robert returned the next day but Brother Coley is still there expecting to leave every day. Dr. Carson gave five bales of cotton to Dr. Buckner’s company and a horse, which Robert rode down, but he will not allow Joe to join, and the boy is nearly distracted with mortification and chagrin.
Mamma finished her silk quilt, I helped three days and then begged off. Quilting is a fearsome job. Have finished making the three “friends.”
Mr. Valentine failed to get an office in the company, and we fear he will not go, and that will make him fearfully unpopular with all classes. If we could see him, I am sure we could influence him. For his own sake he must join. Mr. Catlin’s last feint is that he will join a gunboat now in the docks. Robert has joined Sweet’s Artillery of Vicksburg and will get off Thursday.
Mamma and I went out by special invitation merely to call on the bride and Miss Lily and then to dine at Mrs. Carson’s, but Mrs. Savage would not hear of our leaving. She made us spend the day and a long, dull day it was, and so cold. We were the only invited guests for the day, but there are still sixteen grown people and numbers of children staying in the house. The dinner table was set on the back gallery. The bride had on a lovely dress of light blue silk with a silvery sheen, trimmed with dark blue velvet, black lace, and steel buckles. She looked as usual, sour and disagreeable, and was very silent, as was the groom. His powers of interrogation have not failed him. Talking alone with him, his first query was did I think his wife was handsome? With my opinion of Mrs. Lily’s looks it was “rather a staggerer” as I have a due regard for truth. I evaded the question, and he then wanted to know did I think her as good looking as he is? I could truthfully answer yes as Dr. Lily is not to say pretty. Still he was not satisfied but I cut the conversation short, tired of such a personal catechism.
Miss Lily is distinctly commonplace, rather a “muggins” and wears the oddest hairdress. Miss Bettie’s coiffure is mild compared to it. Rose attacked me for having said I thought Dr. Lily should go to the army. No doubt I have said so, for I certainly think it and am still of the same opinion, but I had not been rude enough to tell him so. With all of our relations going out to fight, I am not apt to think other men should sit comfortably at home.
Dr. Meagher was on hand, the handsomest, nicest looking of the lot. I told Anna I approved of her taste and if I had the opportunity might set my cap for him, a rival of hers. She declared there is nothing between them but there surely will be if they see much more of each other. All Mrs. Savage’s visitors leave today. The bride and groom go to Baton Rouge to visit his people. …
Mr. Stenckrath does not improve on acquaintance. He is very high tempered and irritable and so sensitive on the subject of the war. He says he cannot bear to hear us talk of it, which is too absurd, as if we could help talking in our own home circle of the most important and stirring facts in the world to us. He wants us to ignore the existence of any war and prattle on of the commonplaces of life as though victory and defeat, suffering and death, had never been heard of. He came back from Goodrich’s this evening wrought up to the highest pitch of rage and excitement. He had to drill with the militia and came back anathematizing on the militia, the officers, and everything connected with it. The greatest egotist applies everything said to himself — a hypochondriac. He complains all the time, often of an agonizing pain in his toe. But enough of this tiresome man!
We hear of a victory for us at Boston Mountain, Ark. No particulars. No news for days. The boats are all detained at Columbus removing government stores. The papers are making most stirring appeals to the people to give and to enlist. The Whig is most eloquent. A busy week for all of us. With morn comes toil but night brings rest.
March 9
Brother Coley came this evening. He will join his company Tuesday and they will leave for Jackson, Miss., Thursday and shortly after go to Jackson, Tenn. …
All of us but Mamma went out to the Lodge to hear Mr. Rutherford preach. He is a pleasant talker, and there was a large congregation. Better than all there were three soldiers in their uniforms, the two Mr. Buckners, one a captain and the other some officer, and a perfect love of a lieutenant in blue uniform and brass buttons galore. Six feet of soldier with brass buttons is irresistible, and all the girls capitulated at once. Did not hear his name, and my prophetic soul tells me he is married. Oh me!. He is one of the escaped heroes of Fort Donelson. He aroused my liveliest sympathy by being compelled to balance himself on a backless bench during the entire service. Is that the way to make our heroes love church?
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.
Stillness of Heart 
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