Since the President’s Weekly was released on Thanksgiving, I thought I’d give the space to one of my favorite photo journalists, Bill Cunningham and his “On the Street” column covering NYC’s street fashion scene during the Thanksgiving week. Granted Bill’s coverage is a lot less humble or sober, but we have plenty of time for [...]
Yesterday evening – My first visit to Madame Tussauds in Washington, DC. Why is Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the room with the Founding Fathers (Jefferson, Washington , Ben Franklin)? There’s a gray costume you can wear to take a picture. Where’s Ulysses S. Grant (who did become President) or Sherman? I’ve got Confederates [...]
Two exhibits I’m definitely going to catch this month at the Smithsonian Institution museums: IndiVISIBLE: AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN LIVES IN THE AMERICAS Opens November 10. I got the heads up about this one a few weeks ago from Phoebe Farris who has an essay in the exhibition catalog. Click on the title or here to see [...]
This is the one pilgrimage I planned during my stay in Boston in June – a visit to Concord, Massachusetts. Concord is the site of the first battle of the Revolutionary War. I’m so used to “Freedom Trails” meaning Underground Railroad stops around the Mason Dixon line and the mid-west. In New England, we’re talking [...]
Several years ago, I produced 3 video shorts for the Humanities Council of Washington, DC as part of their “We the People” project, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The shorts focused on three key historic American documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. These shorts [...]
HEALTH CARE WATCH by the Numbers with Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com As I lamented yesterday, health care is one of those areas where both popular opinion and sound public policy seem to take a backseat to protecting those stakeholders who benefit from the status quo. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, the numbers cruncher whose stats predicted [...]
Two weeks ago I was in Boston, MA not quite by choice, but by my sister’s persuasive and persistent argument that it was time I took a break from 24/7 work. She was in the city on business. In other words, the price was right for everyone to get out of town including my mother. [...]
A predominant characteristic of the behavior that I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection. M. Scott Peck, M.D. People of the Lie There was a time I feared looking [...]
“In Washington, we are trying to come back to the table, where we gather friends and family, where we want to eat together because the food is nourishing and tasty.” Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse in Berkley, CA I like this quote for more reasons than just food. Chez Panisse chef Alice Waters will [...]
Yesterday I decided to go offline and visit the Historical Society of Washington, DC (801 K Street, NW) to see the opening of “Quilts for Obama: Celebrating the Inauguration of Our 44th President.” The exhibit is curated by photographer and quilt collector/artist Roland Freeman. Roland Freeman is one of those community activists who uses art [...]
