This week the Associated Press ran a list from the National Trust for Historic Preservation naming this year’s endangered sites. Seventh on the list was the Civil War’s Fort Gaines in Alabama.
This week the Associated Press ran a list from the National Trust for Historic Preservation naming this year’s endangered sites.
Seventh on the list: “Fort Gaines, Dauphin Island, Ala. This fortress that played a pivotal role in the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay is threatened as the shoreline erodes as much as 50 feet a year.”
Read the entire list here, and then learn more about Fort Gaines here.
Opening a door for a woman … Learning how to be a Marine … Lessons from Cosmo … Peru’s new president … A poem from Rimbaud
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. Mass Arrest: Jupiter’s Early Migration Could Explain Mars’s Small Size
By John Matson | Scientific American | June 6
“The wandering orbit of Jupiter at the dawn of the solar system may have had wide-ranging effects”
2. Orgasm Guaranteed
By Katherine Goldstein | Slate | June 6
“What I learned while freelancing at Cosmopolitan.”
3. Through the Ranks: Private First Class
By Colby Brown | Marines Blog | May 23
“On an average day, [Pfc. Clark Kirkley] wakes up between 4 to 6 a.m. He has an hour to eat, shave, shower and prepare his gear before standing post. After being relieved of his post, he has the afternoon to himself, which is usually comprised of a nap and food. After dinner, he has another post duty, after which he sleeps. Kirkley wakes a few hours later to start the process over again.”
4. Why Are There No Female Political Sex Scandals?
Guanabee | June 6
“The obvious answer here is that we live in a society with a double standard against women.”
5. The Adventures of Aladdin
The Brothers Grimm | The EServer Connection
“‘One day, as he was looking for wild figs in a grove some way from the town, Aladdin met a mysterious stranger. This smartly dressed dark-eyed man with a trim black beard and a splendid sapphire in his turban, asked Aladdin an unusual question: ‘Come here, boy,’ he ordered. ‘How would you like to earn a silver penny?’ ”
6. Humala won’t be a Chàvez — for now
By Andres Oppenheimer | Miami Herald | June 11
“There are many similarities between the two men, but also many differences. Let’s start with the resemblances: in addition to their personal histories, both started out sounding conciliatory and promising to serve just one term. … But there are also big differences in the circumstances that surrounded the two men’s climb to the presidency.”
7. After the Flood
By Arthur Rimbaud, translated by John Ashbery | The New York Review of Books | June 2011
“No sooner had the notion of the Flood regained its composure / Than a hare paused amid the gorse and trembling bellflowers and said its prayer to the rainbow through the spider’s web.”
8. The Ins And Outs Of Opening A Door For A Woman
By Brett and Kate McKay | Art Of Manliness | June 8
“Most men grasp basic etiquette but how do you cope with those tricky situations – revolving doors or doors that push in rather than pull out? Should you hold the door open for others after your date has exited?”
9. Probes Suggest Magnetic Bubbles at Solar System Edge
Jet Propulsion Laboratory | June 9
“Observations from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, humanity’s farthest deep space sentinels, suggest the edge of our solar system may not be smooth, but filled with a turbulent sea of magnetic bubbles.”
10. ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ and its 25 contributions to pop culture lore
By Jen Chaney | Celebritology | June 10
“[A] writer for the Atlantic has suggested that we all need to ‘get over’ our Bueller obsession because, really, the beloved John Hughes comedy is just the story of an entitled kid who was nothing like any of us were in high school. … But this John Hughes movie — perhaps the best one the filmmaker ever made — has endured, rightfully, for a number of reasons.”
Watching last evening’s sunset reminded me of some not-so-deep yet from-the-heart thoughts from 2008 on how much I love the serene, soft colors of a day’s end.
Watching last evening’s sunset reminded me of some not-so-deep yet from-the-heart thoughts from 2008 on how much I love the serene, soft colors of a day’s end.
TUNES
My soundtrack for today included:
1. FAMILY AFFAIR Mary J. Blige
2. NO DIGGITY (Capricorn 2 Mix) Morcheeba & Blackstreet
3. HEAD DOCTOR Snoop Dogg
4. AYO Bossman
5. SALT SHAKER Ying Yang Twins
6. YOU KNOW HOW WE DO IT Ice Cube
7. IN THE CLUB 50 Cent & Beyonce
8. VATO Snoop Dogg
9. AROUND THE WAY GIRL LL Cool J
10. YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS T.I. & Wyclef Jean
Lessons from a Turkish grandmother … the Churchill we thought we knew … the release of all Pentagon Papers … Anna Nicole Smith and her doomed life … what not to say to the editor that fired you …
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. My ‘Confession’
By Fang Lizhi | The New York Review of Books | June 2011
“From reading Henry Kissinger’s new book On China,1 I have learned that Mr. Kissinger met with Deng Xiaoping at least eleven times—more than with any other Chinese leader—and that the topic of one of their chats was whether Fang Lizhi would confess and repent.”
2. Jessi Arrington: Wearing nothing new
By Jessi Arrington | TED Talks | June 2011
“Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TED but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. It’s a meditation on conscious consumption — wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity.”
3. Chile’s Puyehue Volcano: A slideshow
Time | June 6
“After laying dormant for nearly half a century, the Puyehue volcano in southern Chile erupted on Saturday, shooting a column of ash and gas six miles into the sky and prompting the evacuation of more than 3,500 residents. … Here’s some of the best images photographers captured in the past 24 hours.”
4. “I Would Have Loved To Piss on Your Shoes”
By Jack Shafer | Slate | June 6
“In honor of every journalist who flipped the boss off on the way out the door, I’ve collected a few of their best kiss-off notes and gestures from the recent past. If, after reading, you don’t turn in your badge and burn every bridge and causeway behind you and fill with sewage every tunnel and viaduct that connects you to your former place of employment, I’ve failed in my mission.”
5. After 40 Years, the Complete Pentagon Papers
By Michael Cooper and Sam Roberts | The New York Times | June 7
“It may be a first in the annals of government secrecy: Declassifying documents to mark the anniversary of their leak to the press. But that is what will happen Monday, when the federal government plans to finally release the secret government study of the Vietnam War known as the Pentagon Papers 40 years after it was first published by The New York Times.”
6. Paw Paw & Lady Love
By Dan. P. Lee | New York Magazine | June 5
“Has the Supreme Court ever heard such a peculiarly American story as that of Anna Nicole Smith? And they didn’t know the half of it.”
7. Film directors are embracing TV
By Nicole Sperling and Melissa Maerz | Los Angeles Times | June 5
“Let the major movie studios have their superheroes and pirates. Cable TV has become more innovative, and top moviemakers such as Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Gus Van Sant are taking advantage.”
8. The Forgotten Churchill
By George Watson | The American Scholar | June 6
“The man who stared down Hitler also helped create the modern welfare state.”
9. Marriage Lessons from My Turkish Grandmother
By Sevil Delin | Granta | June 7
“The stories my grandmother, my anneanne, told me when I was a child are anything but children’s stories. They are folktales that have a common theme – the triumph of wily wives over evil husbands (jealous, repressive skinflints) through crafty subterfuge.”
10. Clever Girl
By Tessa Hadley | The New Yorker: Fiction | June 6
“My stepfather wasn’t a big man, not much taller than my mother. He was lithe and light on his feet, handsome, with velvety dark brows, a sensual mouth, and jet-black hair in a crewcut as thick and soft as the pelt of an animal (not that I ever touched it, though sometimes, out of curiosity, I wanted to).”
TUNES
My soundtrack for today included:
1. MANDINGA (Live) Buena Vista Social Club
2. A LA LOMA DE BELEN El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico
3. LA NOCHE DE LA IGUANA Lucrecia
4. DOS GARDENIAS Ibrahim Ferrer
5. PATRIA QUERIDA Los Guaracheros De Oriente
6. SON FO Africando All Stars
7. LA LIBELULA Mariana Montalvo
8. GUAJIRA LINDA Celina Gonzalez
9. BOOM BOOM BOOM The Iguanas
10. LA ULTIMA COPA Felipe Rodriguez
Recommended reading / viewing / listening, Part 1: China’s naval power … ‘Weinergate’ cartoons … the perfect Father’s Day present …Peru’s new president … what disasters can teach us.
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. Apocalypse: What Disasters Reveal
By Junot Diaz | Boston Review | May/June 2011
“Apocalyptic catastrophes don’t just raze cities and drown coastlines; these events, in David Brooks’s words, “wash away the surface of society, the settled way things have been done. They expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities.” And, equally important, they allow us insight into the conditions that led to the catastrophe, whether we are talking about Haiti or Japan. ”
2. Damon Horowitz calls for a ‘moral operating system’
By Damon Horowitz | TED Talks | May 2011
“At TEDxSiliconValley, Damon Horowitz reviews the enormous new powers that technology gives us: to know more — and more about each other — than ever before. … Where’s the moral operating system that allows us to make sense of it?”
3. Book review: ‘State of Wonder’
By Carolyn Kellogg | Los Angeles Times | June 5
“In her new novel, Ann Patchett’s gives readers almost a feminized version of ‘Heart of Darkness,’ but without the savagery.”
4. What kind of leftist president for Peru?
By Frank Bajak | Associated Press | June 6
“In his first, failed run to be Peru’s president, Ollanta Humala projected the image of a radical leftist in Hugo Chavez’s mold. This time, he called the Venezuelan leader’s socialist-oriented economic model flawed, and sought moderate allies and courted Washington. Yet many Peruvians wonder if this 48-year-old political novice … is really a market-friendly populist. Many skeptics fear he will renege on his promises and spring revolutionary change on an unsuspecting nation.”
5. The Only Father’s Day Gift You Need: A Letter of Appreciation
By Andrew Snavely | Primer | June 6
“Man to man, especially with a dad can be impossible. Some fathers are gruff and won’t tolerate the awkwardness or the sentiment. Others put up walls to shield their emotions from others. These guys are from a different generation. A letter allows you to say everything you need to, just the way you want to.”
6. Death and Drugs in Colombia
By Daniel Wilkinson | The New York Review of Books | June 2011
“In February 2003, the mayor of a small town on Colombia’s Caribbean coast stood up at a nationally televised meeting with then President Álvaro Uribe and announced his own murder.”
7. Stargazer: A story
By Eliot Treichel | Narrative | June 6
“As the pickup truck approached, Walters raised his free hand and motioned for the vehicle to stop. In his other hand he clutched the stock of a lever-action Winchester, the gun barrel angled over his shoulder.”
8. Why China’s Growing Naval Presence Is To Be Expected
By Wesley Clark | Big Think | June 6
“We don’t know exactly what the aim of the Chinese shipbuilding program is, but they are building a Navy. And they do have commerce and it’s a very natural thing.”
9. The most eye-catching ‘Weinergate’ cartoons so far …
By Michael Cavna | Comic Riffs | The Washington Post | June 6
“Sure, the target might be like shooting kingfish in a barrel, but some satirists are hitting their marks with especial flair.”
10. Critics’ Picks Video: ‘Lawrence of Arabia’
Arts Beat | The New York Times | June 6
” ‘Revolution in the Arab world is inspiring, dramatic and confusing,’ says A.O. Scott, the co-chief film critic for the New York Times. ‘The Arab Spring of 2011 is not the first time that political upheaval in the Middle East has captured the imagination of the West. Mr. Scott is referring to the events that inspired the 1962 Academy Award-winning film, “Lawrence of Arabia,” a movie he calls “a remarkably sophisticated investigation into revolution itself.’ “
The other day a certain someone slipped this recipe to me, perhaps hinting that I should make more than a few servings for her and her friends. It certainly looks like someone I’d whip up for the poolside party.
The other day a certain someone slipped this recipe to me. It certainly looks like someone I’d whip up for the poolside party.
Black & Blue Mojito
Ingredients
— 3 blackberries, plus additional for garnish
— 10 blueberries, plus additional for garnish
— Pinch of mint, plus a sprig for garnish
— 1 ounce lime juice
— 1 ounce simple syrup
— 2 ounces 10 Cane Rum
— Splash of soda water
Directions
— In a mixing glass, muddle the berries and mint with the lime juice and simple syrup.
— Add rum.
— Top with crushed ice.
— Add a splash of soda water and stir.
— Garnish with mint sprig and additional berries.
Also see: When you’re done, consider serving alongside the drinks some homemade ice cream with a recipe courtesy of … guess who. 🙂
The Fade Out, the blog edited by culture critic David D. Robbins Jr. (to which I periodically contribute), recently published my musings on Oliver Stone’s film “JFK.”
The Fade Out, the blog edited by culture critic David D. Robbins Jr. (to which I periodically contribute), recently published my musings on Oliver Stone’s film “JFK.” It’s part of an ongoing series focused on three of his presidential films, “JFK,” “Nixon,” and “W.” As the intro to the series explains, David and I “talk about the three movies and what they show us about ourselves, American politics and its inevitable effect on the rest of the world.”
David’s eloquent response to my bloviating should be coming soon. Enjoy.
Also, PBS recently re-broadcast one of the best episodes of one of my favorite shows, “Secrets of the Dead,” which took a closer look at Pharaoh Psusennes I, whose Egyptian tomb supposedly rivals (if not exceeds) the treasures and historical significance of Tutankhamun. He’s one of the most important rulers you’ve never heard of.
As I write throughout the mornings and afternoons, I still find myself pausing in mid-sentence without realizing it, daydreaming of dark Mediterranean waves, sun-kissed Roman ruins covered in red poppies, and the cool Bosphorus breezes cruelly reminding me that I was merely a visitor.
My body came home from my wonderful vacation to Istanbul and southern Turkey, but only part of my mind and imagination accompanied it. As I write throughout the mornings and afternoons, I still find myself pausing in mid-sentence without realizing it, daydreaming of dark Mediterranean waves, sun-kissed Roman ruins covered in red poppies, and the cool Bosphorus breezes cruelly reminding me that I was merely a visitor.
Here are my tweets from throughout the trip (follow me here):
May 13
Caddebostan, Istanbul, 4:45 a.m.: Incredibly chatty seagulls, a car alarm and the call to prayer. Good morning.
May 14
I’m the only one awake, sitting in the dark, watching the moon soar over Istanbul. In a few hours, I’ll be in Antalya, on the Med Sea.
May 15
Toured Greek/Roman/Byzantine ruins at Perge. Still tingling with excitement. Now at Belek resort. Long Island Iced Tea or mojito? Both.
May 16
Few things better than breakfast with a beautiful woman, sunshine, a cool seabreeze, all overlooking a gorgeous blue sea.
May 16
I’m on fire. In a good way.
May 16
Soft sunrise over the Taurus Mountains.
May 18
Tucked away in a tiny resort in near Olympos. Rose bushes, orange trees heavy with ripe fruit, mountains towering over a stellar beach.
May 19
Day began on a gorgeous pebble beach and crystal clear water. It ends in Caddebostan, under fireworks and Turkish flags celebrating Ataturk.
May 20
Why can’t I stop time? Still have sailing tour, Bosphorus cruise, a visit to refurbished Hagia Sophia, so much more. Four days will fly by.
May 20
Ending another long, wondrous day in Istanbul. Bedtime reading: Sherman’s Civil War memoirs. Hey, it doesn’t always have to be Turkey 24/7.
May 21
Deep dark waters, beautiful eyes, a burning sun, crashing waves, legacies lost, a freefall through time, a long soft kiss. More. More. More.
May 22
Unbelievable cheers in Caddebostan after Fenerbahce’s 4-3 win for the league title. Flares, car horns, fireworks. Turks know how to PARTY.
May 23
Final full day in Nova Roma. First, a tour of the city’s secret past with an eminent historian and diplomat, then a grand farewell dinner.
May 24
Rest easier, America. F has returned.
May 25
Mini-NYC shopping spree begins now. First stop: Dean & Deluca.
May 26
Began the beautiful morning with Henry Wager Halleck at Greenwood Cemetery. Now headed home to Texas to begin another long, sweet summer.
May 26
Home at last.
Sometimes the best part of returning home is the huge, rich pile of mail, articles, newsletters, books, journals, newspapers, magazines and packages that await me. I dive in like a little kid jumping into a pile of fall leaves.
I’ve returned from vacation in southern Turkey, Istanbul and New York City. Now I really need some time to rest.
Sometimes the best part of returning home is the huge, rich pile of mail, articles, newsletters, books, journals, newspapers, magazines and packages that await me. I dive in like a little kid jumping into a pile of fall leaves.
One of the most interesting pieces in that pile was an article recently posted on The Millions website.
Paul Vidich explored why it seems the number of people reading short stories has dropped. The reasons have nothing to do with an overall diminished quality of short stories. Far from it. “The answer,” he writes, “is related to how readers are given the opportunity to read — distribution, in commercial terms.” The decline of mass market magazine readership has dragged down short story readership right along with it.
But technology, he says, offers a great opportunity. “Technology gave rise to the flowering of the short story, contributed to its decline, and technology will, in my opinion, again solve the problem of connecting readers and stories. Like the song, the short story is perfectly suited for mobile consumption.”
Interesting article. Check it out.
The cost of youthful idealism, the history of Iraq, some useful writing tips, notable books and journals I’ve recently received, and the soundtrack for a Beautiful Blues Friday.
Deadly idealism
The New York Times recently reminded me of an aspect of story of African and Middle Eastern uprising I hadn’t thought about before: how this revolutionary and reformatory fervor must appear to Iraqi youth politically suffocated by the limping government.
Supplementing their article, the At War news blog offered quotes from Iraqis collected during the reporting, “a sampling of their comments on three topics vital to the country’s future: democracy, faith and the future of the young generation.” Sherzad Omar Rafeq, a Kirkuk attorney: “The youth is the weapon of the next change in Iraq, and especially in the Kurdistan region, through demonstrations and sit-ins that are forcing change and overthrowing corrupted people.”
Youthful idealism has always frightened me, if only because history has showed me so many dreams of change end up in the gutters of geo-political reality, especially after U.S. force is utilized to take down those “corrupted people.” I used to condemn my own cynicism. I don’t anymore. I just remind myself to check particular numbers on a particular list to see the price of idealism. I don’t want to ever see any more lists like that one, especially if they’re the consequence of anyone’s youthful idealism, conceived on the streets of Baghdad or behind the desk in the Oval Office.
Speaking of Iraq, take a moment to listen to PRI’s stunning three-part series on the history of Iraq, the torturous British legacy and its bloody history with the United States.
Beautiful Blue Friday
My soundtrack for today included:
1. WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN U2 and B.B. King
2. BLOOD AND SNOW The Melissa Ludwig Band
3. TAKE ME Mable John
4. HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN Muddy Waters
5. LAST NIGHT Little Walter
6. THE THRILL IS GONE B.B. King
7. I’M A MAN Bo Diddley
8. THAT’S ALL RIGHT Mighty Joe Young
9. MY LOVE WILL NEVER DIE Otis Rush
10. DEATH LETTER Cassandra Wilson
Writing tips
Over at the Guardian’s Punctuated Equilibrium blog, Henry Gee contributed his 10 tips for good writing. I feel better, knowing I already follow “the first six.” Check it out here.
Journals and books recently received
1. “The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power” by Sean McMeekin. Belknap Harvard. $29.95
2. The Journal of Military History. April 2011, Vol. 75, No. 2
3. “The Union War” by Gary W. Gallagher. Harvard.
4. The Journal of the Civil War Era. March 2011. Vol. 1, No. 1
5. Civil War History. March 2011. Vol. 57. No. 1
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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.
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