Stillness of Heart is taking some time off to fully enjoy the last few weeks of summer.
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
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.”
The ultimate quake predictor … Be smart — be bilingual … The Moche culture … The busy Jessica Chastain … A guide to quarterbacks.
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. Nancy Wake, saboteur and special agent, died on August 7th, aged 98
The Economist | Aug. 13
“Of the 39 SOE women infiltrated into France, 11 of whom would die in concentration camps, she was perhaps the most redoubtable.”
2. Pursuing the Grail of an Earthquake Predictor, but Facing Skeptics
By John Upton | The New York Times | Aug. 13
“The project, called QuakeFinder, involves installing some 200 five-foot-tall sensors near fault lines to measure changes in underground magnetic fields and detect electrically charged particles in the air. The theory behind it is that changes in electromagnetic fields can foretell quakes.”
3. Why It’s Smart to Be Bilingual
By Casey Schwartz | Newsweek | Aug. 7
“The brain’s real super-food may be learning new languages.”
4. Can We Make Jurassic Park Yet?
By Natalie Wolchover | Life’s Little Mysteries | Aug. 11
“Even if we do someday find ancient dinosaur DNA, it will be in shambles — snippets of code just a few base pairs long. We’ll have no idea how to stitch the snippets together. Thus, sequencing the dinosaur genome from fossilized tissues or blood may never be a viable route to their revival.”
5. The Moche Culture – Some Historical Background
By Jaime Briceno | Arqueologia del Peru | Aug. 13
“Studies of Moche iconography have contributed substantially to our understanding, offering insight into Moche ideology and ritual.”
6. Jessica Chastain’s Busy 2011 Launches Her Star
Huff Post Entertainment | Aug 13
“Attention, moviegoers: Here is the preemptive answer to the question each one of you will, inevitably, ask at some point over the next six months: Her name is Jessica Chastain, and she’s here to stay.”
7. The Longform.org Guide to Quarterbacks
By Max Linsky | Slate.com | Aug. 13
“From pre-draft jitters to post-retirement bliss, five glimpses into the minds of NFL QB’s.”
8. London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew
By Robert Douglas-Fairhurst | The Guardian | Oct. 16, 2010
“Henry Mayhew’s dazzling ‘Cyclopoedia’ of London street life gave voice to the city’s poor and has influenced writers from Kingsley to Larkin.”
9. The Guy Battling a Sunburn and His Girlfriend’s HPV
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | June 6
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Guy Battling a Sunburn and His Girlfriend’s HPV: male, writer/editor, 24, Bushwick, straight, in a relationship.”
10. Attack on the Osirak reactor
Witness :: BBC News | June 8
“It is 30 years since Israeli war planes destroyed a nuclear reactor in Iraq.”
Modern movie star power … More details from the Bay of Pigs … Castro turns 85 … A civil war within Libya’s civil war … Overcoming insecurity.
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. Uncommon Knowledge
By Ken Lewis | The Boston Globe | Aug. 14
“Think your way to confidence. In case of fire, call an insecure person. In politics, networks matter.”
2. The Pentagon’s new China war plan
By Stephen Glain | Salon.com | Aug. 13
“Despite budget woes, the military is preparing for a conflict with our biggest rival — and we should be worried.”
3. Tribal Rifts Threaten to Undermine Libya Uprising
By David D. Kirkpatrick and C.J. Chivers | The New York Times | Aug. 13
“Saddled with infighting and undermined by the occasionally ruthless and undisciplined behavior of its fighters, the six-month-old rebel uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is showing signs of sliding from a struggle to overthrow an autocrat into a murkier contest between factions and tribes.”
4. Why not Bloomy?
By Steve Kornacki | New York Post | Aug. 13
“Conditions mayor wanted in ’08 are happening in this election.”
5. Cuba’s Fidel Castro, US foe and hero of Latin American left, turns 85
Associated Press | Aug. 13
“Revolutionary icon Fidel Castro marked his 85th birthday behind closed doors … as the aging leader famous for railing against Washington increasingly fades from the spotlight — even if his outsize persona continues to cast a long shadow over Cuban society and U.S. relations.”
6. Untold Story of the Bay of Pigs
By Robert Dallek | Newsweek | Aug. 14
“Newly declassified CIA documents reveal new blunders and how close America came to war during the failed invasion of Cuba.”
7. Why aren’t these actors famous?
Salon.com | Aug. 12
“Slide show: These 10 underrated film and TV stars deserve to be household names”
8. The Good, the Bad, Not the Ugly
By Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott | The New York Times | Aug. 11
“Stardom can look cheap in the age of Snooki, but movie stars do still matter at the box office, and a system of sorts exists, even if it doesn’t work like the one that turned Lucille Fay LeSueur into Joan Crawford.”
9. Sorority Girl With Implants Making the Most of Open Relationship
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | June 13
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Sorority Girl With Breast Implants Making the Most of Her Open Relationship: female, college student/”sorority princess,” Morningside Heights, 22, straight, in an open relationship.”
10. OJ Simpson car chase
Witness :: BBC News | June 13
“In June 1994, America watched in disbelief as the police chased the retired sports star OJ Simpson, along the freeways of Los Angeles.”
Part 8 of this series focuses on Bartholomew Sharpe, an incredibly daring English pirate and excellent navigator who preyed on Spanish sailors along the western coast of South America.
This special Stillness of Heart series explores the Morgan Library & Museum’s fascinating exhibit, “The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives.”
Part 8 focuses on Bartholomew Sharpe, an incredibly daring English pirate and excellent navigator who preyed on Spanish sailors along the western coast of South America. Sharpe was sent back to England to be tried for murder in 1682, but he carried a secret gift for the king that he knew guaranteed his acquittal.
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
Sometimes beautiful words, colorful maps and heartwrenching diary entries are simply not enough to fully appreciate the day-to-day nightmare of civil war. Sometimes a frayed, black and white photograph is all you need to tell the story, complicate one’s understanding, or upend shallow assumptions.
Sometimes beautiful words, colorful maps and heartwrenching diary entries are simply not enough to fully appreciate the day-to-day nightmare of civil war. Sometimes a frayed, black and white photograph is all you need to tell the story, complicate one’s understanding, or upend shallow assumptions.
The frightening desolation of a field littered with swollen bodies, the angry eyes of a proud Union soldier, the smoking wreckage of a derailed train — these are images that dare us to try to understand what we see in them. They are terrible and beautiful moments frozen in time until our eyes rest upon them, our imaginations re-energizing them into movement, injecting scents, sounds and emotions, hoping somehow that we understand them a little better. Sometimes, that’s enough.
This afternoon I discovered Shorpy.com and its wonderful collection of Civil War photos. Take a moment to stroll through the gallery. The beauty and sadness is mesmerizing.
Thanks to my friend, the attorney Jim Dedman, one of the authors of the legal blog Abnormal Use, for sending this piece my way.
TUNES
My soundtrack for today included:
1. RUSHING Moby
2. CANTAR AL AMOR Marc Antoine
3. BLINDFOLD Morcheeba
4. FOREVER Goldfrapp
5. GRACE U2
6. HURRY ON NOW Alice Russell
7. NEVER ON SUNDAY Pink Martini
8. IT’S NOT MY CROSS TO BEAR The Allman Brothers Band
9. JA VIDI Christophe Goze
10. NOVEMBER RAIN Guns N’ Roses
Rereading Capote … The best way to enjoy an open relationship … The greatest dinosaurs ever … The fascinating octopus … The reality of al Qaeda.
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. Where’s the Octopus?
Science Friday :: NPR | August 2011
“When marine biologist Roger Hanlon captured the first scene in this video he started screaming.”
2. University to uncover cistern below campus
By Tuba Parlak | Hurriyet Daily News | Aug. 3
“Kadir Has University is waiting for municipal consent to start restoration and conservation of the Cibali Cistern under its campus by the Golden Horn. University Rector Mustafa Aydın says the historical structure will serve as another story for the Rezan Has Museum that sits on its upper floor.”
3. Afghanistan: Does the uniform make the soldier?
By Ben Brody | Dispatches :: GlobalPost | Aug. 4
“U.S. soldiers regularly get into trouble for the state of their uniforms.”
4. Where Are Chile Miners Now?
Associated Press | Aug. 4
“Nearly half the men have been unemployed since their mine collapsed one year ago tomorrow, and just one, the flamboyant Mario Sepulveda, has managed to live well off the fame.”
5. Move It! How to Exercise When You’re Depressed
By Suzanne Phillips | Live Science | Aug. 4
“Forget comparing yourself with the neighbor who jogs – start with a simple plan of moving, do it on your time and tie it to something you love.”
6. 10 Greatest Dinosaurs of All Time
By Jennifer Horton | Curiosity.com | August 2011
“From the doorknob-turning, toe-tapping velociraptors in ‘Jurassic Park’ to the menacing Sharptooth and stubborn Cera in the ‘The Land Before Time,’ never before has a species inspired such imagination as the dinosaur. But there’s much more to these creatures than what you’ll find in the movies.”
7. The Truth About al Qaeda
By John Muellar | Foreign Affairs | Aug. 2
“Whatever al Qaeda’s threatening rhetoric and occasional nuclear fantasies, its potential as a menace, particularly as an atomic one, has been much inflated.”
8. Rereading: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood
By Rupert Thomson | The Guardian | Aug. 5
“Truman Capote’s forensic account of real-life murder in Kansas remains as unsettling as ever. It almost killed the author and he never wrote anything to compete thereafter.”
9. The Consultant in an Open Relationship Who Has Sex Nearly Twice a Day
Daily Intel :: New York Magazine | July 18
“Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek behind doors left slightly ajar. This week, the Consultant in an Open Relationship Who Has Sex Nearly Twice a Day: male, consultant, Williamsburg, 40-something, heteroflexible, in a nonmonogamous relationship.”
10. Montserrat volcano
Witness :: BBC News | June 24
“Fourteen years ago the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Much of the south of the island was covered with ash and 19 people died.”
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. Wes Jeans — Don’t Be Hip
2. Tommy Castro — This Soul Is Mine
3. Rollin Phattys — Black Bear River
4. The Bois D’ Arcs — The Day
5. Van Wilks — Steletto Blues
6. Clay McClinton — One Of Those Guys
7. Los Lonely Boys — Sisco Kid
8. Buck 69 — Sweet Spot
9. Tishamingo — Whisky State Of Mind
10. Rob Darien — Rebel Ass
11. Paul Thorn — Ain’t Gonna Beg
12. Sean Castello — Same Old Game
13. The Midnight Flyers — Down Low
14. Creed Williams — Finally Down
What crying accomplishes … The debt ceiling negotiations … The new Turkey … The ‘stayover’ relationship … The Santorini explosion.
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. There never was a surplus
Democracy in America :: The Economist | July 27
“[T]he White House published a chart that explains how we got from the Clinton administration projection that the government would pay off its entire debt and then build up $2.3 trillion in savings by 2011, to the $10.4 trillion in debt we actually wound up with.”
2. The Volcanic Explosion at Santorini and the Destruction of Minoan Crete
By Mike Anderson | Ancient History Blog | May 13
“The fall of Minoan Crete, and for that matter Mycenae, are a mystery. There is evidence of fire at both locations as if they were attacked and burned. Was this the so called Dorian invasion or something else?”
3. The Reading List: August ’11
By Jason Kehe | Los Angeles Magazine | July 19
“Every month LAmag.com compiles titles of local interest that are hitting the bookshelves. Here, arranged by genre, are some highlights.”
4. The ‘stayover’ relationship is a new dating trend
By Jeff Mills | Nerve.com | Aug. 1
“This entails couples spending three or more nights together each week, while opting to spend the remaining nights in their own homes.”
5. Ultimate logic: To infinity and beyond
Richard Elwes | New Scientist | Aug. 1
“The mysteries of infinity could lead us to a fantastic structure above and beyond mathematics as we know it.”
6. The end of an era in Turkish politics
By Behlul Ozkan | Al Jazeera | Aug. 1
“Recent resignations by Turkish military generals may mark a change in the military’s historic role in politics.”
7. Triumphant Turkey?
By Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books | August 2011
“Politically Turkey has changed more in the last ten years than it did in the previous eighty.”
8. Study: Crying Won’t Make You Feel Better
By Meredith Melnick | Healthland :: Time | Aug. 1
“[The study’s lead author] suspects that crying isn’t the physically cleansing act that many have assumed it is, and instead suggests that those who felt better after a waterworks session may not have benefited from the actual tears so much as the social support and showings of affection they elicited.”
9. Nuts and bolts
Free Exchange :: The Economist | Aug. 1
“If it really took this long for the leaders to get serious, then it’s hard not to conclude that the preceding months of partisan rhetoric, competing proposals and brinkmanship were an elaborate kabuki to appease the parties’ respective bases …”
10. Operation Barbarossa
Witness :: BBC News | June 22
“A frontline Soviet officer tells of what he saw the night that Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa – Germany’s invasion of the USSR.”
There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore. Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.
“I resisted creating a personal, standalone blog like this for a long time.”
That’s how I began this blog, one year ago today. I’m so happy the resistance crumbled, the hesitation eased, and the words flowed.
I’ve used dozens of posts to write about the Civil War and mojitos, Yuri Gagarin and Eva Longoria, Michelangelo and Theodore Roosevelt.
I’ve written about Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream. “Mad Men” and earthquakes. Papa Hemingway and Papa Ortiz. Writing and writers. I’ve recommended great reads and remembered great places.
There’s still so much left to do, so much still to explore.
Thanks for joining the party. I’m just getting warmed up.
F.
TUNES
My soundtrack for today included:
1. MISS YOU The Rolling Stones
2. COLOMBIA Jan Hammer
3. CRY Godley & Creme
4. TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT Genesis
5. RICO’S BLUES Jan Hammer
6. CARRY ME Chris DeBurgh
7. FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME Foreigner
8. CROCKETT’S THEME Jan Hammer
9. NOTORIOUS Duran Duran
10. ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE Don Henley
Tabletop Games
#CallingAllJournalists Initiative | Reporter | Media Watchdog | Mentor | Latinas in Journalism
Words, images & collages tossed from a window.
Gayle Brennan Spencer - sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Irreverent travelogues, good drinks, and the cultural stories they tell.
Talking about some of the best publications from the Federal Government, past and present.
Cadillac News, Forums, Rumors, Reviews
Real News That Matters
bringing joy to family meals
Bloggen Øl, Mad og Folk
fun, delicious food for everyone
Modern Comfort Food
Art is a gift we give ourselves
low waste living drawn from food lore through the ages
MUSINGS : CRITICISM : HISTORY : NEWS
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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