How about grants to pursue your artistic dream?

The Poor Poet (1839), by Carl Spitzweg.
The White House might disagree that there’s a need for a second stimulus, but at least the Oracle of Omaha agrees with me (and his statement came out a day after my blog entry).
Another thing that occurred to me while considering how a second stimulus would work is something [...]

What Bach’s job benefits tell us

In the middle of my current Bach mini-0bsession, I’ve come across a couple interesting things.
The first, and not hard to find, was that I can see the entire documentary of the John Eliot Gardiner/Monteverdi Choir cantata pilgrimage of 1999-2000 on YouTube, and it’s a beautiful thing. This is one of the last major cultural documents [...]

Gottschalk, Lincoln and history

Concert at Washington. The President of the United States and his lady are to be there. I have reserved seats for them in the first row. The Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, accompanies them. Mrs. Lincoln has a very ordinary countenance. Lincoln is remarkably ugly, but has an intelligent air, and his eyes have a [...]

Remembering World War I

I have never understood why World War I broke out, and the more I read about it and study it, the more I listen to the speeches, the more I read the contemporary coverage of it, the more mysterious it becomes.
The best conclusion I can draw about the origins of the war is that it [...]

Obama inspires us older guys, too

Among all the many millions of words spilled in the wake of the election of Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office, a good many dilate on the idea of inspiration, specifically, that young African-Americans can now fully participate in the world remade for them by the civil rights acts of the 1960s and aspire [...]

A long pre-opening line at our polling place

For what it’s worth, when Sharon and I arrived at the polls today at about 6:45 a.m., there already were at least 60 to 70 people in line at my polling place just outside Delray Beach. People in line seemed chatty, eager to vote, and energized; much of the discussion I heard had to do [...]

Used bookstores: A joy forever

My California columnist friend Dave Allen recently wrote a nice little piece about used bookstores, which both he and I consider a joy forever.
Here’s Dave’s piece.
I’ve got two favorite used-bookstores down here: Hittlel’s, in Fort Lauderdale, where I found interesting rarities such as the theater impresario Billy Rose’s autobiography, and the third volume of John [...]

The way we visit now

Count this among the ways technology has changed our lives, and in a way I hadn’t noticed before.

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law recently paid us a week’s visit, and there was something different about this get-together that distinguished it from ones in the past, and I don’t know a better way to put it than there [...]

Housekeeping: Reviews done, and to come

I’ve yet to write anything much about upcoming events in the local classical season, but will do so in the next couple days. There are some not-to-be-missed concerts on the way, and in the next week or so I’ll start doing regular Friday previews of what’s coming for the weekend.
For the time being, my friend [...]

A call for Publius to speak once more

 

I love to go back and  read some of the sacred founding texts of our government on important commemorative days, which is why over the past couple days I’ve been reading The Federalist Papers.
Today is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the day in 1787 when the Constitution was approved and submitted to the states for [...]