Elaine Fine on the airwaves

Hurrah for Elaine: Music of Our Mothers, a weekly radio show devoted to classical music written by women, will air a recording of Elaine’s More Greek Myths by Susan Nigro (contrabassoon) and Mark Lindeblad (piano). The show airs on WCFC-FM, Wednesday, May 10, 1-3 p.m. Eastern, with an online live stream. An archived broadcast will be available a few days later.

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May 16: It’s in the archives, in this downloadable file. Elaine’s piece is introduced at 12:44.

“The narrow aperture of national interest”

In a 1939 lecture, Stefan Zweig describes his reaction to looking into his old high-school history textbook:

And instantly it dawned on me — that here history had been artfully prepared, deformed, coloured, falsified, and all with clear, deliberate intention. It was obvious that this book, printed in Austria and destined for Austrian schools, must have rooted in the minds of young men the idea that the spirit of the world and its thousand outpourings had only one objective in mind: the greatness of Austria and its empire. But twelve hours by rail from Vienna — a couple of hours today by plane — in France or Italy, the school textbooks were prepared with the directly opposing scenario: God or the spirit of history laboured solely for the Italian or French motherland. Already, before our eyes had barely opened, we were forced to don different-coloured spectacles, according to the country, to prevent us during our entry into the world from seeing with free and humane eyes, ensuring we viewed everything through the narrow aperture of national interest.

“The Historiography of Tomorrow,” in Messages from a Lost World: Europe on the Brink, trans. Will Stone (London: Pushkin Press, 2016).

Related reading
All OCA Stefan Zweig posts (Pinboard)

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Le Steak de Paris A vanished Manhattan restaurant, now with photographs.

New York v. Los Angeles

Susanna Wolff, “No, I’m from New York”:

“Welcome to Los Angeles”? Thanks, but no, thanks — I’m from New York. I don’t need to engage in cordial small talk with strangers. In New York, we greet newcomers by giving them incorrect directions to Times Square and criticizing the way they spread their cream cheese.

This short piece hits the right notes, coast to coast.

Thanks to my daughter Rachel, who points out that “No, I’m from New York” dates from September 2016. But she discovered the New Yorker linking to it today and sent the link on to the fambly.

Steven Heller on humility

From the podcast Design Matters. Steven Heller, graphic designer, has said that when he was a twenty-four-year-old art director at The New York Times, he was “a dismisser.” Debbie Millman asks him to explain:

SH: Old guys would come to my office who had had a history, and I would just ignore them.

DM: Why?

SH: Because I had — I was arrogant. I was shortsighted. I was arrogant. I had a sense of myself that was disproportionate to all reality. And I was ignorant. . . . When you start out, there are all sorts of things you have to learn, and humility is one of them.

This episode is not yet available at the Design Matters website. But it’s available at iTunes.

John Shimkus at work and play

Mike Viqueira, a reporter from NBC News, asked some Republican members of Congress if they had read the bill that they were about to vote on to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Some said they had. Some walked on by. And then there was our representative, John Shimkus (R, Illinois-15):

“Good morning, Mr. Shimkus, have you had a chance to read this bill?”

“Uh, I just got back from baseball practice.”

When I heard about it, I thought someone was kidding. But it’s no joke. It’s on tape.

There are no words. (It’s before 10 p.m.)

Related reading
All OCA Shimkus posts

Folk facade

[Panel Division Study for Facade, Museum of American Folk Art, New York City, early 1998. Designed by Tod Williams and Matthew Baird. Pen and black and red ink, brush and white gouache, graphite on tracing paper. 25 1/4 x 12 inches. Click for a larger view.]

This drawing is a Cooper Hewitt Object of the Day. The Museum of American Folk Art opened in 2001 and was torn down in 2014 at the behest of a next-door neighbor and new owner, the Museum of Modern Art. I spent most of a day at the Museum of American Folk Art in March 2002, visiting a Henry Darger exhibit and attending a poetry reading by John Ashbery. Still gotta tell that story someday.

A related post
Farewell, 45 West 53rd

The real reason for “no town halls”

I know that speaking to a member of Congress is unlikely to change that member’s mind. I know that speaking to the district director for a member of Congress is even less likely to change that member’s mind. I read The New Yorker.

But I went this morning to the office hours of Representative John Shimkus’s (R, Illinois-15) district director, as did fifty or so other voters, and we made our concerns about yesterday’s vote on the Affordable Care Act — and much else — heard. The director had no explanation of why Shimkus voted to repeal the ACA: he was on a plane; she was busy organizing a dinner for him.

In the aftermath of this meeting, I think I figured out the real reason why a member of Congress might choose not to hold town halls. When you meet with people only in ones and twos, they have much less opportunity to see themselves as members of a polis, as participants in a political community. Likeminded citizens have less opportunity to identify one another and find common cause. Citizens at odds on matters of policy have less opportunity to listen to each another and perhaps rethink their allegiances. (Imagine, for instance, hearing an argument for gun legislation from a firearms owner and hunter in your own community. It happened this morning.) Talking to constituents in ones and two means that there are, in effect, no witnesses, no one else listening and thinking and making up or changing her or his mind. No reporters either.

Related reading
All OCA Shimkus posts

[“He was on a plane; she was busy organizing a dinner for him.” I know: what?!]

Bear, a writing app

Bear is a writing app of great simplicity, shown here in its plainest macOS view. The basic Bear is free. Bear Pro (by subscription) adds exporting, syncing, and themes. What can I say? I love the no-title-bar look.

Bean lives!

I discovered the free word-processing app Bean in 2007, not long after switching from Windows to a Mac. James Hoover stopped developing the app a few years ago. I’m not sure what made me check the Bean website, but lo: a new version for macOS Sierra appeared in November of last year.

As I wrote in 2008, “Bean is small and fast, like this sentence.” It still is. The screenshot shows Bean as I’ve configured it. You might prefer a toolbar with colorful icons. And you can have one, just by downloading and installing the app.

Thanks to James Hoover for continuing to work on Bean.