Rambling Around New England
Beginning Wednesday, I’ll be wandering around New England with my mom for three weeks. We have a tentative itinerary, most of it gleaned from AAA books or The Rough Guide to New England.
Suggestions on what to do, or more importantly, what to avoid if it is on our list, are most welcome. (Please keep in mind that one of us is 75, walks with a cane, and does not do boats.)
I hope to blog about our experiences at the end of each day, á la Nina Camic, but will probably end up posting about as often when we traveled to England last year. ;-)
What’s the Matter With Cultural Studies?
Writing for the Chronicle Review, Michael Bérubé asks the question, What’s the Matter With Cultural Studies?
Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order (1978), the Birmingham collection that predicted the British Labour Party’s epochal demise, is now more than 30 years old. In that time, has cultural studies transformed the disciplines of the human sciences? Has cultural studies changed the means of transmission of knowledge? Has cultural studies made the American university a more egalitarian or progressive institution? Those seem to me to be useful questions to ask, and one useful way of answering them is to say, sadly, no. Cultural studies hasn’t had much of an impact at all.
Will Angry Populism Save GOP?
Thomas B. Edsall recently penned a provocative post about the future of the GOP.
Republicans hope – and Democrats fear – that a politically significant percentage of voters will come to see the federal government under Democratic control as redistributing tax dollars to “elites” and to the very poor, as the broad middle class is left on its own to face high unemployment, sharply reduced home values, and gutted retirement savings.
This would be very good news for a Republican party that is otherwise facing potentially devastating demographic trends.
Any thoughts?
Duetto Buffo Di Fue Gatti
On a much lighter note, sit back and enjoy this Rossini duet .
(Via Eclecticity)
Parting Words
[He’s sitting by the bed as she wakes up]
Are you leaving?
Yes. It’s time for me to go.
I want to go, too.
I’ll pack you a bag.
[smiles] You know what I mean.
Yes, I do.
[silence]
You need to eat more.
I can’t.
Can’t or won’t?
I want to throw up when I do.
You should tell M. [her son]
Why bother?
I’m afraid I already told him.
Oh, well…
If you don’t eat, you’ll get weaker.
I hope so.
I thought so. [places his hand on hers]
Are you sure?
Yes, I’m sure. It’s OK.
[silence]
Like Father Like Son
Charlie & Daddy (a.k.a Danny Miller) enjoying their afternoon nap at home.
Photo by Mommy (a.k.a Kendall Miller)
Click HERE for the further adventures of Charles Oliver Thomas Miller.
Memorial Concert
More selections from this 1964 performance in Sydney, Australia below the fold:
Birds on Wire
Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn’t the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.
I sent the music to the photographer, Paulo Pinto, who I Googled on the internet. He told his editor, who told a reporter and the story ended up as an interview in the very same newspaper.
Here I’ve posted a short video made with the photo, the music and the score (composed by the birds).
(Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.)
(Via A Welsh View)
Equality Before the Law
Andrew Sullivan was busted for possession of pot at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Normally, Sullivan would have to pay a $125 fine like everyone else. But Sullivan has an application for change in his immigration status pending and such a conviction would probably result in his automatic disqualification.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office refused to explain to Robert B. Collings, the judge handling the case, why they sought to dismiss the charges. The many other defendants in court facing the same charges that day were not so “lucky.”
Moral: It pays to have friends in high places.
Ambiance 