I’ve been sick, on top of everything else, which is why I’ve not posted in the past two weeks. I’ll make up from it this week, by blogging daily from Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, stop by Jina‘s shop: you’ll be hooked. She’s doing important, groundbreaking work in Rwanda, documenting a country’s recovery from a very darkContinue reading “international development mit schlag”
Category Archives: history
…..the more they stay the same
Now we know for sure: military doublespeak has always sounded just like that. First, as the War of 1812 began and rumors surged through the military town of New-York that young men stationed at Staten Island would be deployed in the invasion of Canada, a pro-government newspaper scoffed: “We are authorized to state that no troops stationed on Governor’s Island have proceeded or are ordered to proceed to the North. The rumour that such an order is to be given is false and groundless.” Read that carefully for what it doesn’t say.
the things we stumble on looking for something else
From Peter Doyle, a train conductor who came across a New York poet named Walt Whitman one evening: “He was the only passenger; it was a lonely night, so I thought I would go in and talk with him. Something in me made me do it and something in him drew me that way. HeContinue reading “the things we stumble on looking for something else”
500 words
Everything old is new again. When did I first hear that Graham Greene wrote 500 words a day? Long before I thought I might try to emulate his multifaceted career: Graham Greene had a reputation for prophecy; as early as 1955 he published “The Quiet American,” a book about the perils of American meddling inContinue reading “500 words”
what writers block?
Last night we were hanging out with our neighbors Mike and Betsy Fitelson (a somewhat unprecedented event, despite the fact that he’s a fellow journo and they live in the apartment next to ours). Midway through, Mike said something I’ve often tossed off just as easily: “I don’t know what writers’ block means.” Given aContinue reading “what writers block?”
the glass slipper of Bryant Park
Turns out that given the site, near the park that 30 years ago had a seedy rep (so much so that we thought this movie was set there), the architects reached back much further: to the 1853 World’s Fair, when New York decided to best London and build a Crystal Palace.
As I said to a colleague, “That’s all a history slut like me needed to hear.” I spent far too much time reading about the building, designed by architect George Carstensen. It filled what is now Bryant Park with nearly 40,000 square feet of glass, 1,250 tons of iron and 70-foot columns supporting its central dome…
I Ain't Marching Anymore 