tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33416520644564309952024-03-17T19:59:38.692-07:00Andrew Lee FieldingMisc. writings, observations,
and citations. Please see primary blog:
www.andrewleefielding.blogspot.comAndrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comBlogger448125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-86791682228152522972024-02-24T22:24:00.000-08:002024-02-25T17:38:58.922-08:00Aleksei Navalny, and Ukraine<p class="MsoNormal">Today is the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of
Ukraine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has also been eight days
since the death of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Today, too, Mr. Navalny's spokeswoman announced, in an online
statement, that Mr. Navalny's body had--finally--been released to the custody
of his mother.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yesterday, President Biden announced some 500 sanctions against
Russia, as a result of Mr. Navalny's death, and Russia's continuing war against
Ukraine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those sanctioned, <i>The Washington
Post </i>noted,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> included Russian individuals, companies, "and firms in other countries that supply Russia's military and
industrial production, according to a Treasury Department spokeswoman." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said there will
also be sanctions concerning Russia's human rights abuses, within the country,
and without. One hopes the sanctions will have an effect.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And yet:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the
United States, the Republican-led House continues to delay--recklessly--sending
crucial aid to Ukraine. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gamesmanship is not leadership. Fealty to Donald
Trump--who is besotted with Putin--is not leadership. The stakes, concerning Ukraine,
are incalculably high, worldwide, and many in the House GOP don't seem to care.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The world--teetering on its axis, while House Republicans are dormant.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Putin is strengthened by this; America's moral leadership is
deeply diminished. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And, to speak of Mr. Navalny:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>he was an immensely brave man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The day before his February 16th death, he made a court
appearance, video from which has aired on television, and can be seen online.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the courtroom--or, in the enclosure within the courtroom--he was smiling,
laughing, making jokes to the judge. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The judge had imposed "a stream of fines" against
Mr. Navalny, an online Russia-oriented independent news site noted (a site
blocked in Russia; the <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/02/16/alexei-navalnys-last-weeks-in-an-arctic-prison-a84120">publication</a>
is now based outside of the country).
Mr. Navalny said the following, at the court hearing (I am using the
translation not from the above publication, but from the CBS News video,
below):</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Your honor, I am waiting. I will send you my personal account number,
so that you can use your huge federal judge's salary to fuel my personal account."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He added: "Because I am
running out of money, and thanks to your decisions, it will run out even faster.
So send it over." </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUwOYeei5MU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUwOYeei5MU</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Navalny's cheerful-appearing demeanor, the day before he
died, was, on its own, evidence of his tremendous fortitude, and his heroism. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He had not, his manner proclaimed, been defeated--either
from the terrible (and freezing) conditions of the Russian Arctic penal colony to
which he had been sent in December, or from the punishing circumstances at the prison
where he had been previously held since 2021. During his imprisonment, he spent hundreds
of days in solitary confinement.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Navalny's death--whether due to the harsh conditions of
his incarceration (conditions imposed, certainly, by Vladimir Putin), or because of a Putin-ordered assassination--is a tragedy of great magnitude: for
the citizens of Russia, for his many supporters, and, of course, for Mr.
Navalny's courageous family. It is also a considerable tragedy for those seeking
freedom across the world.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On February 16th, the day his death was reported, Anne
Applebaum wrote the following in <i>The</i> <i>Atlantic</i>, online:</p>
<p class="articleparagraphroot4mszw"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The enormous contrast between Navalny’s civic courage and the
corruption of Putin’s regime will remain. Putin is fighting a bloody, lawless,
unnecessary war, in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary Russians have been
killed or wounded, for no reason other than to serve his own egotistical
vision. He is running a cowardly, micromanaged reelection campaign, one in
which all real opponents are eliminated and the only candidate who gets airtime
is himself. Instead of facing real questions or challenges, he meets tame
propagandists such as Tucker Carlson, to whom he offers nothing more than
lengthy, circular, and completely false versions of history.</span></i></span></p>
<p class="articleparagraphroot4mszw" data-flatplan-paragraph="true"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even behind bars Navalny was a
real threat to Putin, because he was living proof that courage is possible,
that truth exists, that Russia could be a different kind of country. For a
dictator who survives thanks to lies and violence, that kind of challenge was
intolerable. Now Putin will be forced to fight against Navalny’s memory, and
that is a battle he will never win.</span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/navalny-death-russia-prison/677485/?gift=Tcay7nmVziC9n3Jf9QllmzHT97CTYmgyJxhyNuNZ0fM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/navalny-death-russia-prison/677485/?gift=Tcay7nmVziC9n3Jf9QllmzHT97CTYmgyJxhyNuNZ0fM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share</a></p>
<p class="css-1tx0lhj">
</p><p class="css-1tx0lhj">
</p><p class="css-1tx0lhj"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On February 20th,
Nadya Tolokonnikova--</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">one of the founders of the Russian music/protest/performance art
group Pussy Riot, and who was a friend of Mr. Navalny's--</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">published an op-ed essay in <i>The New York Times. </i>She wrote the
following:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>People say Mr. Putin feared Aleksei. But I think the reason
he wanted to get rid of Aleksei was another emotion — a darker, more sinister
one. It was envy. People loved Aleksei. With his jokes, irony, superhero-like
fearlessness and love for life, he led with charisma. People followed Aleksei
because he was the kind of person you wanted to be friends with. People follow
Mr. Putin because they fear him, but people followed Aleksei because they loved
him. Mr. Putin clearly envied this appeal. No amount of money in the world can
buy love; no amount of missiles and tanks can conquer people’s hearts.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/navalny-death-putin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YE0.37GO.CriK-ATjG56m&smid=url-share">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/navalny-death-putin.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YE0.37GO.CriK-ATjG56m&smid=url-share</a> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-53055210896134400692024-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:002024-02-05T20:57:40.336-08:00Trump, and the 2024 election<p>It is not only profoundly alarming, the possibility that Trump could be returned to office, in November.</p><p>It is also alarming, in the extreme, to think of what he might do--to think of what lengths he might go to--if he loses again.<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-51285569778523650252024-01-05T14:41:00.000-08:002024-01-05T15:52:00.463-08:00An extraordinary role in D-Day<p>On Tuesday, <i>The New York Times</i> published an obituary of
Maureen Flavin Sweeney, who died on December 17th at a nursing home in
Belmullet, Ireland. She was 100 years old.</p><p>I had not known of Ms. Sweeney, or of the remarkable role she played during World War Two.</p><p>In 1942, as the<i> Times</i>
reported, she took a job at the post office of Blacksod Point, an Irish
coastal village. Her name, at the time--she was not yet married--was
Maureen Flavin.<br /></p><p>The <i>Times</i> wrote that the "remote post
office also served as a weather station. Her duties included recording
and transmitting weather data. She did that work diligently, though she
did not even know where her weather reports were going.</p><p>"In fact," <i>Times</i> reporter Alex Traub noted, "they were part of the Allied war effort."</p><p>Then,
in June of 1944, days before the D-Day invasion--originally planned for June 5th--her weather data
altered history. "On her 21st birthday, June 3, she had a late-night
shift: 12 a.m. to 4
a.m. Checking her barometer, she saw that it registered a rapid drop in
pressure, indicating a likelihood of approaching rain or stormy
weather."</p><p>The <i>Times </i>story continued: <br /></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>The report went from Dublin to Dunstable, the town that housed England’s meteorological headquarters.</i></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>Ms.
Flavin then received an unusual series of calls about her work. A woman
with an English accent asked her: “Please check. Please repeat!”</i></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>Ms. Flavin asked the postmistress’s son and Blacksod’s lighthouse keeper, Ted Sweeney </i>[whom she would marry in 1946],<i> if she was making a mistake.</i></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>“We
checked and rechecked, and the figures were the same both times, so we
were happy enough,” she later told Ireland’s Eye magazine.</i></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The <i>Times </i>wrote: <i><br /></i></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>That
same day, [General] Eisenhower and his advisers were meeting at their base in
England. James Stagg, a British military meteorologist, reported that,
based on Ms. Flavin’s readings, bad weather was expected. He advised
Eisenhower to postpone the invasion by a day.</i></p><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside><div><div class="css-8atqhb"></div></div><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"></p><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside><div><div class="css-8atqhb"></div></div><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"><i>The
general agreed. June 5 saw rough seas, high winds and thick cloud
cover.</i> </p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">D-Day took place on June 6th. "Some commentators," <i>Times </i>reporter Traub wrote, "...have argued that the invasion could well have failed if it had occurred [on June 5th].</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The obituary notes that Ms. Sweeney only learned of the importance of her weather reporting years later, in 1956.<br /></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Here is the link to the June 2nd story about her, from the <i>Times</i>: <br /></p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/world/europe/maureen-sweeney-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K00.0hPk.RIrpOUcYte3D&smid=url-share">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/world/europe/maureen-sweeney-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K00.0hPk.RIrpOUcYte3D&smid=url-share</a> <br />Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-63578616617970267102023-12-03T16:53:00.000-08:002023-12-03T16:56:36.437-08:00Sandra Day O'Connor<p>While having not (admittedly) been a great fan of Ronald Reagan and
his presidency, I think Mr. Reagan deserves much credit for having
nominated Sandra Day O'Connor--who died on Friday, at 93--to a seat on
the U.S. Supreme Court. </p><p>The legacy of Justice O'Connor--the first woman to serve on the Court--is an honorable and admirable one.<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-44315509472372983772023-11-28T22:51:00.000-08:002023-11-28T22:51:40.086-08:00Rosalynn Carter<p>Tuesday's memorial service for Rosalynn Carter--carried on television--was very moving.</p><p>Mrs.
Carter was an extraordinary American--and an exceptional citizen of the
world. She led a life of great service, and great purpose.<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-44399632321076235682023-11-13T22:43:00.000-08:002023-11-13T22:43:06.575-08:00From "The Atlantic"<p>The following link is to an excellent piece from the website of <i>The Atlantic</i>,
by staff writer Tom Nichols, titled "The Juvenile Viciousness of Campus
Anti-Semitism." Its subtitle is: "Some of America's students are
embracing an ancient evil."</p><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/11/campus-anti-semitism-hamas-war/675991/">https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/11/campus-anti-semitism-hamas-war/675991/</a></p><p>Mr. Nichols writes, for example, that at George Washington University, </p><p><i>activists projected pro-Hamas slogans on the sides of buildings,
including “Free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a call for the
eradication of Israel. Spare me the sophistry—most recently plumped by <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/us/politics/rashida-tlaib-palestine-israel.html">Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan</a>—that
“From the river to the sea” is merely an anodyne call for freedom and
equal rights, or that it somehow can be detached from Hamas’s genocidal
meaning... </i></p><p>Mr. Nichols writes:</p><p><i>Good for Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, for denouncing this slogan (despite immediate <a data-event-element="inline link" href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/11/10/gay-antisemitism-education-email/">campus backlash</a>
for doing so); better late than never. Some protesters insist—and many
with undeniable honesty—that they are objecting only to Israeli policy.
But even the sincerest among them often resort to the backbreaking
mental gymnastics required to dismiss the obvious anti-Semitism that is
woven into so many of these protests.</i> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-89742773674819530172023-10-12T19:58:00.002-07:002023-10-12T21:09:21.060-07:00Hamas, on Osama bin Laden<p>Over the past days, contemplating Hamas's murderous, sadistic,
gruesome attacks in Israel, I have thought of the group's reaction, in
May of 2011, to the death of the mass murderer Osama bin Laden.</p><p>News
reports at the time cited Ismail Haniyeh, who today is head of the
Hamas Political Bureau; he has held this position since 2017.</p><p>One 2011 report said this: <br /></p><span></span><i><span>Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip,
told reporters that the group regards bin Laden's death "as a
continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding
of Muslim and Arab blood."</span></i><span>
<p><i>Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al Qaeda
and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing
of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true
believers and the martyrs." </i></p><p><a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063407,00.html">https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4063407,00.html</a> <br /></p></span>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-38756624344447968192023-10-08T21:20:00.005-07:002023-10-09T13:33:05.282-07:00Solidarity with Israel<p>I've long been weary of hearing those who are imbued with a deep
(and often obsessive) animus toward Israel--the hatred, for example,
from conspiratorial sectors on the right (including neo-Nazis, and their
like), and hatred from certain sectors on the left (often today,
notably, coming from repugnant anti-Israel student groups on college
campuses). I've been hearing versions of these anti-Israel voices, with profound
dismay, for decades.<br /></p><p>And so, one must make note of one's
support--one's wholehearted support--for the people of Israel, during
this terrible and perilous time.<br /></p><p></p><p>On Saturday, one also
must note, President Biden spoke (importantly, forcefully) in support of
Israel's right of self-defense--following the thousands of rocket
attacks, that day, from Hamas (and, evidently, from Islamic Jihad as
well), and following the hundreds of murders (and the kidnappings) committed by
Hamas gunmen during the group's invasion.</p><p>Mr. Biden said, in part:</p><p><i>Hamas terrorists crossing into Israel killing not only Israeli
soldiers, but Israeli civilians in the street, in their homes. Innocent
people murdered, wounded, entire families taken hostage by Hamas just
days after Israel marked the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar.
It’s unconscionable.</i></p>
<p><i>You know, when I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning, I
told him the United States stands with the people of Israel in the face
of these terrorist assaults. Israel has the right to defend itself and
its people. Full stop.</i></p>
<p><i>There is never justification for terrorist attacks.</i></p>
<p><i>And my administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.</i> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-36992396245944908512023-10-03T18:56:00.001-07:002023-10-03T18:56:15.515-07:00The Nobel Prize<p>I am hopeful that the supremely talented (and extremely courageous)
writer Salman Rushdie might be given this year's Nobel Prize in
Literature.</p>The prize will be awarded on Thursday.<br />Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-81679744356534103582023-09-18T18:19:00.002-07:002023-09-19T07:15:47.349-07:00"60 Minutes," Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Scott Pelley <p>On Sunday's premiere of the new season of CBS's <i>60 Minutes</i>,
correspondent Scott Pelley spoke with Ukraine President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy. The interview (or, more precisely, interviews) took place in
Ukraine, in advance of Mr. Zelenskyy's visit, this week, to the United
States.</p><p>Mr. Zelenskyy remains a remarkable world figure. He is impressively determined, unusually smart, focused, eloquent, human.</p><p>Here is the link to the <i>60 Minutes</i> segment:</p><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zelenskyy-putin-world-war-iii-ukraine-russia-60-minutes/">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zelenskyy-putin-world-war-iii-ukraine-russia-60-minutes/</a></p><p>Scott
Pelley, one notes, is one of the great reporters and interviewers in
CBS News's distinguished history. His piece on Sunday about President
Zelenskyy was in keeping with his longtime commitment to presenting
meaningful, intelligent, superb journalism.<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-63194115893752974402023-09-15T16:33:00.003-07:002023-09-15T16:56:37.467-07:00Rosh Hashanah<p>Happy New Year, and good wishes, to all who are observing the holiday... <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-45686631120134134452023-09-11T11:37:00.001-07:002023-09-11T11:37:09.068-07:00September 11th<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7AuDZUATXggTi7LEg8tmazo6yDSwdxZR-QbbxITNfDXAZvJ0-jqhV9wrZSV0x-y4dzQ1YCny5CRA5dPypMBeydNz1DJCpL-kqj0PA-Hn-ujWXn1SeimAtuoQv06CJlYBm56PvMHcg7AsSbuhk7YvtTdpCruKIxgXtrTmsnVgRGgBngm6Y-AICLYVyFhk/s320/World%20Trade%20Center%20Jenny%20Lynn%20Photo%20Circa%201978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="320" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP7AuDZUATXggTi7LEg8tmazo6yDSwdxZR-QbbxITNfDXAZvJ0-jqhV9wrZSV0x-y4dzQ1YCny5CRA5dPypMBeydNz1DJCpL-kqj0PA-Hn-ujWXn1SeimAtuoQv06CJlYBm56PvMHcg7AsSbuhk7YvtTdpCruKIxgXtrTmsnVgRGgBngm6Y-AICLYVyFhk/s1600/World%20Trade%20Center%20Jenny%20Lynn%20Photo%20Circa%201978.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">(Photograph <span style="line-height: 115%;">©</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Jenny Lynn, circa 1978)</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-246695783872832052023-07-20T20:42:00.001-07:002023-07-20T20:47:57.546-07:00Ann Beattie's "Onlookers"<p>On my list of books to read: novelist and short story writer Ann Beattie's new work, <i>Onlookers</i>.</p><p>It
is described as being a book of linked short stories, which take place
in Charlottesville, VA. The book, published by Scribner, was released on
July 18th.</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Onlookers-Stories-Ann-Beattie/dp/1668013657/">https://www.amazon.com/Onlookers-Stories-Ann-Beattie/dp/1668013657/</a></p>As
I've mentioned previously, in this space, I lived in Charlottesville--a
city for which I continue to feel great affection--from the spring of
1995 until the start of 2001. <br />Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-53986984900166000342023-06-19T22:00:00.002-07:002023-06-19T22:46:30.418-07:00June 19, 1865/June 19, 2023 <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqo76HCwNqvL2vGjztC69bb15yCNhL6AwfYnllpS18PDSjZRKv6H48EXTdIFfxk27r_a-vHTBEkrBZXafp2Bp7mk-IuvxQ02MyaRVTbDv5khByKBg95AbCY1vuAR8KM1fUbauaWf_vsm2KLeWh6jFvLhZK_0qVH54uJRfrBTeLq8jCtedPhDE0UD262WOH/s244/On%20Juneteenth%20by%20Annette%20Gordon%20Reed.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="171" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqo76HCwNqvL2vGjztC69bb15yCNhL6AwfYnllpS18PDSjZRKv6H48EXTdIFfxk27r_a-vHTBEkrBZXafp2Bp7mk-IuvxQ02MyaRVTbDv5khByKBg95AbCY1vuAR8KM1fUbauaWf_vsm2KLeWh6jFvLhZK_0qVH54uJRfrBTeLq8jCtedPhDE0UD262WOH/s1600/On%20Juneteenth%20by%20Annette%20Gordon%20Reed.png" width="171" /></a></div>I've begun reading <i>On Juneteenth</i>, a book
of essays by the prominent historian Annette Gordon-Reed. The book was
published in May of 2021, the month before Juneteenth was designated a
federal holiday.<br /><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Juneteenth-Annette-Gordon-Reed/dp/1631498835/">https://www.amazon.com/Juneteenth-Annette-Gordon-Reed/dp/1631498835/</a></p><p>Ms. Gordon-Reed is perhaps best known for her 2008 book, <i>The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. </i>The book received the 2008 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and, in 2009, the Pulitzer Prize for History. <br /></p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hemingses-Monticello-American-Family-ebook/dp/B001FA0ONM/">https://www.amazon.com/Hemingses-Monticello-American-Family-ebook/dp/B001FA0ONM/<br /></a> <br />Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-88901937583119095812023-04-16T15:07:00.011-07:002023-04-17T15:25:59.972-07:00Ten years later<p>Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the 2013 Boston Marathon terror attacks. </p><p>The
devastation was enormous, the attacks hideously cruel. There were three
deaths, and hundreds of injuries. Seventeen of those injured lost
limbs. </p><p>Those killed in the bombings were Martin Richard, age 8,
from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston; Krystle Campbell, 29, of
Medford; and Lu Lingzi, 23, of China, a graduate student at Boston
University. (Lu Lingzi has often been referred to as Lingzi Lu, in news
stories.)<br /></p><p>There was, too, the terrible related violence which took place days later. </p><p>There was the April 18th shooting death of M.I.T. police officer Sean Collier, 27. </p><p>And:
the severe injury suffered by Boston officer Dennis Simmonds--from an
explosive device thrown by one of the Tsarnaev brothers,
during the April 19th firefight in nearby Watertown. He died a year
later, at 28, as a result of the injury. </p><p>A Boston transit
officer, Richard Donohue, was shot, near-fatally, during the Watertown
battle. In 2015, local officials said that his injury, in the midst of
the chaos that night, was likely from friendly fire. Officer
Donohue returned to work in 2015, yet in 2016, at age 36, he
retired, due to the continuing effects of his injury.<br /></p><p>Here are two moving stories, from yesterday's <i>Boston Globe,</i> about two survivors of the bombings. </p><p>The
first is about Jeff Bauman, who was 27 in 2013. He was grievously wounded by the first of the two explosions on Boylston Street. <br /></p><p>The
second story is about Jane Richard, 7 years old in 2013, who was
injured terribly by the second bomb. Her brother Martin was killed.
Her mother lost her vision in one eye; her father was wounded as well. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/sports/jeff-bauman-boston-marathon-bombing/">https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/sports/jeff-bauman-boston-marathon-bombing/</a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/metro/ten-years-later-jane-richard-her-family-reflect-their-trials-since-marathon-bombing/">https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/13/metro/ten-years-later-jane-richard-her-family-reflect-their-trials-since-marathon-bombing/</a></p><p>Here, too, is the first part of a lengthy<i> Boston Globe</i> article about the Richard family, published in April of 2014; there is a
link, at the end, to the second part of the article: </p><p><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/12/loss-and-love/a19pcWz6WF5nNozPPItwYI/story.html"> https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/12/loss-and-love/a19pcWz6WF5nNozPPItwYI/story.html</a> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-39598247101029203262023-04-12T21:49:00.008-07:002023-04-14T21:41:30.881-07:00Writers and Math<p>I was recently putting together a post about the
subject of writing, and mathematics.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Last Friday (April 7th), before I was able to finish the
post, <i>The New York Times</i> published an essay about the subject, by British
mathematician Sarah Hart. (Dr.
Hart's book, <i>Once Upon a Prime</i>, was published this week by Flatiron Books;
its subtitle--<i>The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature</i>--was also the title of the recent <i>Times</i> essay.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/opinion/the-wondrous-connections-between-mathematics-and-literature.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/opinion/the-wondrous-connections-between-mathematics-and-literature.html</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Prime-Connections-Mathematics/dp/1250850886/ref">https://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Prime-Connections-Mathematics/dp/1250850886/ref</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My interest in writing about the subject was rooted in a couple
of things I had recently read. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The first was an obituary, from <i>The New York
Times </i>online archive, of the novelist James M. Cain--who wrote such works as <i>The Postman Always Rings Twice </i>(1934),
<i>Double Indemnity</i> (1936), and<i> Mildred Pierce</i> (1941). Mr. Cain died in 1977, at age 85.<br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The obituary was by the book critic John Leonard, and included
the following, about Mr. Cain's writing style: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In his last years, Mr.
Cain explained that it was "my algebra...moves...progressions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suspense comes from making sure your algebra
is right."</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A few days after seeing this, I was looking at the Wikipedia
page about the novelist Thomas Pynchon. The page included an excerpt of a <i>New
Yorker</i> review of Mr. Pynchon's 1973 novel <i>Gravity's Rainbow</i>; the review was by the
poet, and essayist, L.E. Sissman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr.
Sissman wrote, of Mr. Pynchon:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"He
is almost a mathematician of prose, who calculates the least and the greatest
stress each word and line, each pun and ambiguity, can bear, and applies his
knowledge accordingly and virtually without lapses, though he takes many scary,
bracing linguistic risks."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">(I will note that I have not yet read <i>Gravity's Rainbow</i>--have wanted, though, to do so for years--yet its opening words ["A screaming
comes across the sky."] constitute, I think--I am certainly not alone in believing
this--one of fiction's great introductory sentences.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After stumbling upon these references to math and writing. I
looked online to see what else I might locate about the subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I landed on a 2012 essay from <i>The New Yorker</i>,
by writer Alexander Nazaryan, "Why Writers Should Learn Math."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Nazaryan wrote, in the piece:</p>
<p class="paywall"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Poets have been more conversant with mathematics than
fiction writers, probably because they have to pay attention to the numerical
qualities of words when working in meter, forced to consider the form and even
physical shape of what they write, not just its meaning. Wordsworth praised
“poetry and geometric truth” for “their high privilege of lasting life,” while
Edna St. Vincent Millay remarked that “Euclid alone has looked on beauty bare.”</span></i></p>
<p class="paywall"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fiction writers have rarely expressed such earnest
appreciation for mathematical aesthetics. That’s a shame, because mathematical
precision and imagination can be a salve to a literature that is drowning in
vagueness of language and theme. “The laws of prose writing are as immutable as
those of flight, of mathematics, of physics,” Ernest Hemingway wrote to Maxwell
Perkins, in 1945. Even if Papa never had much formal training in mathematics,
he understood it as a discipline in which problems are solved through a sort of
plodding ingenuity. The very best passages of Hemingway have the mathematical
complexity of a <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">fractal</span>: a seemingly
simple formula that, in its recurrence, causes slight but crucial changes over
time. Take, for example, the famous retreat from Caporetto in “A Farewell to
Arms”:</span></i></p>
<p><i><span face=""Calibri", "sans-serif""><span style="font-size: small;"><b>When daylight came the storm was still
blowing but the snow had stopped. It had melted as it fell on the wet ground
and now it was raining again. There was another attack just after daylight but
it was unsuccessful. We expected an attack all day but it did not come until
the sun was going down. The bombardment started to the south below the long
wooded ridge where the Austrian guns were concentrated. We expected a
bombardment but it did not come. Guns were firing from the field behind the
village and the shells, going away, had a comfortable sound.</b></span></span></i></p>
<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mr.<i> </i>Nazaryan continued:</span></span><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></p>
<p class="paywall"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The procession here has an algebraic deliberateness,
but that simplicity gives way to a complexity of meaning. Hemingway starts with
the material (snow, wet, daylight, sun) only to end with the unexpected and
intimate “comfortable sound” of the receding Austrian guns... Everything in
this passage is intentional, from the plain imagery to the heightening of
narrative urgency that comes with the repetition of “we expected.”</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In last week's <i>New York Times </i>essay, referred to above, mathematician
Sarah Hart wrote this:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Good mathematics, like
good writing, involves an inherent appreciation of structure, rhythm and
pattern. That feeling we get when we read a great novel or a perfect sonnet —
that here is a beautiful thing, with all the component parts fitting together
perfectly in a harmonious whole — is the same feeling a mathematician
experiences when reading a beautiful proof.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Hart also wrote:</p>
<p><i style="font-family: inherit;">Great literature and
great mathematics satisfy the same deep yearning in us: for beauty, for truth,
for understanding. As the pioneering Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya
wrote: "It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in [one's] soul
… the poet must see what others do not see, must see more deeply …. And the
mathematician must do the same.”</i> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-70070920981901333342023-03-16T10:00:00.002-07:002023-03-16T10:00:54.947-07:00Short Story, by Rivka Galchen<p>The short work of fiction, at the link below, is by the writer Rivka
Galchen. The story, "How I Became a Vet" (about a veterinarian), is
from the March 13, 2023 issue of <i>The New Yorker</i>; it appeared on the magazine's website on March 6th. <br /></p><p>I think it is beautifully written, and beautifully conceived. </p><p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/how-i-became-a-vet">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/13/how-i-became-a-vet</a></p><p>Here, too, is an interview with Ms. Galchen, about the story:</p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/rivka-galchen-03-13-23">https://www.newyorker.com/books/this-week-in-fiction/rivka-galchen-03-13-23</a> <br />Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-54127948988545115072023-03-08T19:24:00.001-08:002023-03-08T19:24:42.016-08:00CNN interview<p>A good interview, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky--conducted by Wolf Blitzer--aired on CNN this evening. </p><p>The
interview was broadcast during the network's 9-10 p.m. (ET) program.
The program has been without a permanent host since the December, 2021
departure of Chris Cuomo.</p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-32637042149134150302023-02-24T16:02:00.003-08:002023-02-25T19:18:45.504-08:00February 24th<p>Vladimir Putin's murderous, catastrophic war against Ukraine
has now lasted one year.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Putin, of course, did not get what he expected, in response
to his merciless invasion. </p><p>What he got (in addition to solidarity with Ukraine, from much of the world) was the valiant, indefatigable leadership
of Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's President--and the courage and resolve
of the citizens Mr. Zelensky leads.<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-24627913872110581752023-01-01T19:19:00.001-08:002023-01-01T19:19:27.589-08:002023<p>Good wishes for the New Year...</p><p>(One must note: the years, with age, do feel as though they pass by with greater speed.)<br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-27090704270074428142022-12-20T16:19:00.003-08:002022-12-20T22:04:25.613-08:00Dino Danelli<p>Dino Danelli was a tremendous drummer, playing with one of rock and
roll's best bands, The Rascals (known earlier in their career as The
Young Rascals). He died on Thursday, at age 78. </p><p>The Rascals, as a group, had a full, rich, soulful sound.</p><p>The
following is a video I enjoy very much; it is a live performance by the
group of one of their many hits, 1968's "A Beautiful Morning."</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zewzkHBCcVM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zewzkHBCcVM</a></p><p>Felix
Cavaliere--an extraordinary singer and organist--sings the lead vocal
in the above performance; Eddie Brigati sings, and plays the conga; Gene
Cornish plays the guitar and sings; and Mr. Danelli is at the drums.
The song was co-written by Mr. Cavaliere and Mr. Brigati; the two
co-wrote many of the group's best-known songs, in addition to "A
Beautiful Morning"--including "Groovin'," "I've Been Lonely Too Long,"
"A Girl Like You," "People Got to Be Free," and "How Can I Be Sure."
Mr. Brigati sang a beautiful lead vocal on the latter recording.<br /></p><p>Mr.
Danelli had great style as a drummer. He was, for example, known for
twirling, deftly, his drumsticks (sometimes one stick, as in the video
above; sometimes both) during performances. </p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal">I also like the following detail, in the above
video: within the first several seconds of the song, Mr. Danelli, in
pauses between left-handed beats, drops his left arm
abruptly, a few times, his hand out of sight. I'm not sure I've seen
another
drummer do this, and while this is not, certainly, a matter of enormous
significance,
it is nonetheless eye-catching, stylistically. </p>
<p></p><p></p><p>His drumming, all told, was vibrant, skilled, electric.</p><p>Here
is an earlier Rascals video--from 1966--of the group performing "Good
Lovin'" on Ed Sullivan's program (a song the group did not write). The
odd outfits (perhaps schoolboy-like?) the group wears in the video, and which they wore on other occasions in the earlier part of their career
(outfits <i>The New York</i> <i>Times</i>, in its obituary of Mr.
Danelli, refers to as "foppish"), may, unfortunately, distract from the
terrific performance of the song--which includes, incidentally,
multiple enjoyable instances of Mr. Danelli twirling both drumsticks,
simultaneously. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNJbVFW5Pw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUNJbVFW5Pw</a></p><p>Here is the <i>Times</i>'s obituary of Mr. Danelli:</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/arts/music/dino-danelli-dead.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/arts/music/dino-danelli-dead.html</a> <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-16887738091714474662022-12-08T20:52:00.002-08:002022-12-08T22:17:37.527-08:00Brittney Griner<p></p><p>It is very good news that America secured the release of Brittney
Griner, held prisoner for ten months by Vladimir Putin's Russia.</p>One
hopes that Paul Whelan, still imprisoned there--as well as other
Americans held in Russia and elsewhere--will also return to the U.S.,
sooner rather than later.Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-90415530310325934942022-12-02T15:40:00.004-08:002023-02-24T16:08:07.447-08:00Kanye West<p>Am too nauseated by Kanye 'Ye' West's latest burst of Jew-hatred,
yesterday (including his repeated praising of Hitler and Nazism, and his
Holocaust denial), to write, at the moment, at any length about it.
I'll be posting further about the subject at another time.<br /></p><p>As
of this writing, a day after West's appearance on conspiracist Alex
Jones' program (along with West's virulently bigoted friend Nicholas
Fuentes), Donald Trump (not surprisingly) has said nothing publicly about his friend West's
sickening comments.</p><p>West, Fuentes, and Trump: all three are dangerous, revolting, and morally depraved.</p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><i>(This post was edited, slightly, in February of 2023.)</i></span></p><p></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-67571926677994449662022-11-29T16:44:00.002-08:002022-11-29T18:04:19.277-08:00Brief thoughts, after the Mar-a-Lago dinner <p>Donald Trump's mind (the infinite self-obsession; the endless
need for flattery and adulation--regardless of the repugnant sectors
from which the flattery or adulation might emanate; the unrelenting
lies, the cruelties, hatreds, bigotries--and
the routine fanning of them) is profoundly disturbed. Yet really,
though--it seems far too
constricting, regarding Mr. Trump, to simply speak of a disturbed mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also, in the end, a deep sickness of the
soul. </p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3341652064456430995.post-74642973108233400922022-11-07T22:52:00.002-08:002022-11-07T23:11:08.493-08:00The election<p>It is one of the most significant, and perilous, moments in American
history: the country either turns in the direction of democracy, or Trumpism. <br /></p>Andrew Lee Fieldinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09251193818294226253noreply@blogger.com