tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15187747406750517742024-03-13T11:16:55.237-04:00blog.samseidel.orgSam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comBlogger547125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-88891821129867272232023-09-06T18:13:00.003-04:002023-09-06T18:32:07.785-04:004 Bananas<p>Walking home from work</p><p>she held four yellow bananas </p><p>up to her ear</p><p>like some kind of old-fashioned telephone.</p><p>Strange.</p><p><br /></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-43291180191209388862023-07-26T09:41:00.005-04:002023-07-26T09:43:54.675-04:00To Wait This Long To Read A Book<p>To wait this long to read a book is both sad and the luxury of living a longer life. In my case, <i>The Catcher in the Rye</i> I refer to, J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel that has sat on every American high schooler's reading list probably since the day it was published. It certainly sat there in the early 1980s, when I was in high school. Never read it. Until just now.</p><p>What a beautiful book. Well worth the wait, well worth the read. I can't help but feel that Holden Caulfield and Tom Sawyer are in essence the same character, the quintessential American cut-up, half mongrel rabbit, half avian shaman. That they are both white boys is hard to avoid in this day and age. I wonder if that archetype has disappeared in our multi-racial, multicultural world. In Holden's case too, there's a post WWII American depression about it all. A boy who's lost. Gets himself kicked out of Pencey, his private boarding school in Pennsylvania. Because of this, he returns to New York City a few days early for his Christmas break and wants to hide out before he shows up at his parents' apartment to break them the bad news. </p><p>He's a boy of 16 or 17, wandering the streets of New York by himself sometime in 1945 or '46, staying in cheap hotels, drinking his face off in bars as he desperately hits on women, thinking of his dead brother Allie often, smoking storms of cigarettes, procuring a whore via the hotel's elevator man which only ends up costing him too much and getting him beat up by the elevator man pimp, no sex. Then getting hit on by a gay teacher whom he confides in. And eventually sneaking back into his parents' apartment to find his baby sister Phoebe before he skips town. The two of them head to the Central Park Zoo where Phoebe convinces him not to go, through her wiles and guile. </p><p>They find the carrousel instead. It was a favorite of hers. </p><p>This is how he describes the end of that scene:</p><blockquote><p>Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In <i>buckets</i>, I swear to God. All the parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under the roof of the carrousel, so they wouldn't get soaked to the skin or anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty soaking wet especially my neck and pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn't care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn <i>nice</i>, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could've been there.</p></blockquote><p>I was going to say I wish I could've been there too, but actually I felt as though I was there. In the rain, in Central Park, in 1946 or whenever. </p><p>I also can't help but remember this 2011 article in The Paris Review by Blair Fuller regarding Salinger: </p><p><a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/02/07/an-evening-with-j-d-salinger/">https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/02/07/an-evening-with-j-d-salinger/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Coming Through the Rye by Robert Burns</p><div>O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body, <br />Jenny's seldom dry: <br />She draigl't a' her petticoatie, <br />Comin thro' the rye!</div><div><br />Chorus<br />
Comin thro' the rye, poor body,<br />
Comin thro' the rye,<br />
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,<br />
Comin thro' the rye!<br />Gin a body meet a body<br />
Comin thro' the rye,<br />
Gin a body kiss a body,<br />
Need a body cry?</div><div><br />Chorus<br />Gin a body meet a body<br />
Comin thro' the glen<br />
Gin a body kiss a body,<br />
Need the warl' ken?</div><div><br />Chorus<br />Gin a body meet a body<br />
Comin thro' the grain;<br />
Gin a body kiss a body,<br />
The thing's a body's ain.</div>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-966631282829008762023-06-14T09:59:00.002-04:002023-06-14T10:03:07.038-04:00IMHO<p>Seen in a recent text exchange about the best stance for an individual to take when confronting the pressing environmental imperatives staring us in the face ...</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote>Well, neither hope nor cynicism will get us to a better place. Mostly it takes hard work, an open mind and a willingness and ability to try to understand how another person sees the world that allows actual change to happen. The system is designed to prevent any one group from overpowering another group by sheer strength alone. That said, the rich and powerful always start with a huge advantage in any discussion. Protest alone is unlikely to sway them IMHO.</blockquote><p></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-307229216499472102023-04-28T12:03:00.001-04:002023-04-28T12:03:14.902-04:00To Kill A Mockingbird<p> Right out of the pages of that novel, predating it by five years only ...</p><p><br /></p><div class="source inline-placeholder" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/source/instances/source-h_20ffa60eccbfab7571f00863f7894056@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; float: left; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; z-index: 1;"><cite class="source__cite" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: flex; flex-direction: row; font-style: normal; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span class="source__text" data-editable="source" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-flex; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">CNN</span> — </cite></div><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_817B7FDC-7192-63D9-87FC-C444D6A00E43@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;">Carolyn Bryant Donham, the White woman whose accusation led to the 1955 lynching of Black teen</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/us/emmett-till-landmark-trnd/index.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--theme-paragraph__link-color); font-size: var(--theme-paragraph__font-size--from-small); letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); text-decoration-color: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration-color); text-decoration-line: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration); text-decoration-skip: var(--theme-underline-skip-ink); text-decoration-thickness: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration-thickness); text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-underline-offset: var(--theme-paragraph__hover-link-offset);" target="_blank">Emmett Till</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;">in Mississippi – and whose role in the brutal death was reconsidered by a grand jury as recently as last year – has died in Louisiana, the Calcasieu Parish coroner’s office confirmed to CNN.</span></p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_817B7FDC-7192-63D9-87FC-C444D6A00E43@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">...</p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_817B7FDC-7192-63D9-87FC-C444D6A00E43@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">In August 1955, 14-year-old Emmett was beaten and shot to death after he allegedly whistled at Bryant – now Donham – in Money.</p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_27B6D1C1-18B9-76D8-CB23-C392A2757053@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Later, her husband, Roy Bryant, and J.W. Milam, took Emmett from his bed and ordered him into the back of a pickup truck and beat him before shooting him in the head and tossing his body into the Tallahatchie River. They were both acquitted of murder by an all-White jury following a trial in which Carolyn Bryant testified that Emmett grabbed and verbally threatened her. </p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_C8B010AA-2C73-4959-9086-C3A419ACDB00@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Milam, who died in 1980, and Bryant, who died in 1994, admitted to the killing in a 1956 interview with Look magazine.</p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_999F223E-CDF0-F41B-EF3D-C391AC1036D6@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">In 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict Donham on any charges.</p><p class="paragraph inline-placeholder" data-analytics-observe="off" data-component-name="paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_54639B43-1CB2-4402-A310-C3A6668AABC4@published" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: cnnsans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4px; line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); margin: 0px 0px 16px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Donham testified in 1955 that Emmett grabbed her hand and waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with “White women before.” But years later, when <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/us/emmett-till-memoir-accuser-new-questions-reaj/index.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; color: var(--theme-paragraph__link-color); font-size: var(--theme-paragraph__font-size--from-small); line-height: var(--theme-paragraph__line-height--from-small); text-decoration-color: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration-color); text-decoration-line: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration); text-decoration-skip: var(--theme-underline-skip-ink); text-decoration-thickness: var(--theme-paragraph__link-decoration-thickness); text-rendering: optimizelegibility; text-underline-offset: var(--theme-paragraph__hover-link-offset);" target="_blank">professor Timothy Tyson raised that trial testimony</a> in a 2008 interview with Donham, he claimed she told him, “That part’s not true.”</p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-7444785502354150132023-04-15T08:10:00.001-04:002023-04-15T08:10:13.495-04:00A Slightly Different ColorIt's a noteworthy moment when a person finds themself writing something like this:<div><br /></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Thank you for these wise words. After a certain age, life takes on a slightly different color. The future is more limited, the past heavier. Certain joys in life decrease, and if they are not replaced by others, this leads to a feeling of sadness. At least it has in my case.</div></blockquote>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-78354424649801516212023-03-14T14:10:00.007-04:002023-03-16T09:19:39.501-04:00Remembering Blair Fox<p>One of the truly consequential people in my life will depart the living earth today or perhaps tomorrow or maybe even the next day. But there is no reason to expect it will be longer than that.</p><p>Blair Fairchild Fox, son of Jill and Joe Fox, brother of Logan, Jeff (himself too deceased) and Michael Fox</p><p>Child of Guard Hill Road, Bedford NY, he grew up in a house down the hill from his grandmother's larger Georgian mansion. He came into his teenage years in the early 1970s. </p><p>Speaking of his teenage years, he lived in a tenement on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with a buddy when he was probably 16. Those were different times.</p><p>He joined the Navy, was sent to Australia, broke his neck in an auto accident while on base and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The year was 1976. He was 18. </p><p>Our lives intersected many times over the decades to follow.</p><p>I remember visiting him with my dad and Jill at the VA hospital in Roxbury, Mass. when he returned stateside shortly thereafter.</p><p>He lived for a while in an apartment building on West End Avenue that also housed folk singer Judy Collins.</p><p>He spent much time in Vermont, and lived for many years on Benvenue Avenue in Berkeley, California. I had many a good glass of wine over there in the late 1980s. </p><p>He then moved himself to Austin, Texas. It was warmer in Texas. Too cold in the Bay Area, that chilly kind of cold that gets into your bones.</p><p>Blair's body has finally given out on him. He dodged many a bullet over the years. By some measures, he lived decades longer than anyone predicted he might, but none of us lives forever and Blair did not find a way to be exempted from that rule. </p><p>You won't find much about him on paper. He wasn't that kind of person. But for anyone lucky enough to interact with him, he was nothing short of amazing. An amazing life lived by an amazing human being. </p><p>This past weekend, I walked boots-deep into a streamlet in central Massachusetts and poured out some Prosecco and scattered some sheep poop. It was the only way I could think to honor the man. Sheep poop is a wonderful fertilizer. Ashes to ashes kind of thing. Then yesterday, I asked a guitarist to play the Grateful Dead song Ripple to remember him by. The final line of the song is thus</p><p>If I knew the way, I would take you home.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Hx3ZI8i6sNatC6WtzQ2KyU-3oUf-DlOdmd2Q0d_uMY4ZjMqk99pP1vREby59_hMFT0FqzeynbhdcQc6n5yPHtbW4jBR_C56InzgLFcb-WkLJXFogWu9gBDc51_OfOBrT-_d_RwWDG_jGQt6kB6bKo67BbrsVy0h9K2dgxDWldwfSD8fMwbKlpBPYAA/s640/DSC06596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Hx3ZI8i6sNatC6WtzQ2KyU-3oUf-DlOdmd2Q0d_uMY4ZjMqk99pP1vREby59_hMFT0FqzeynbhdcQc6n5yPHtbW4jBR_C56InzgLFcb-WkLJXFogWu9gBDc51_OfOBrT-_d_RwWDG_jGQt6kB6bKo67BbrsVy0h9K2dgxDWldwfSD8fMwbKlpBPYAA/w400-h268/DSC06596.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Blair Fox</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-57482577891721113002022-09-12T13:21:00.000-04:002022-09-12T13:21:13.578-04:00It was really all about this ...<p><span style="font-family: times;"> It occurs to me, the underlined words are what the entire American Revolution was about, full stop ...</span></p><p><br /></p><p><i style="font-family: times;">CREATING AN ENGLISH KING</i></p><p><i style="font-family: times;">Here are the words of the proclamation announcing that Prince Charles had become King Charles the III on September 10, 2022 (quoted from a CBS News report):</i></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #101010; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The proclamation, as read out to the world by the Garter King of Arms, saw the assembled Privy Counsellors and other members of the Accession Council formally declare that they "do now hereby with one voice and Consent of Tongue and Heart, publish and proclaim that the Prince Charles Philip Arthur George is now, <u>by the death of our late Sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege lord, Charles the III</u>, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of all His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, <u>to whom we do acknowledge all Faith and Obedience with humble Affection</u>, beseeching God by whom Kings and Queens do reign, to bless his majesty with long and happy Years to reign over us."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><i>CREATING A U.S. PRESIDENT</i></span></p><p><i style="font-family: times;">Here is the oath that Joe Biden swore on January 20, 2021: </i></p><p><i style="font-family: times;"><br /></i></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); color: #202124;"><span style="font-family: arial;">"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, <u>preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States</u>."</span></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(32, 33, 36); color: #202124;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">246 years later, really nothing has changed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">One becomes "Liege Lord" of a nation (or really nations) upon the death of the prior sovereign and that nation's subjects then pledge "all faith and obedience" to that individual as long as they shall reign. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">The other goes before the people, asks for support in an election and upon receiving a sufficient amount of that support, pledges to "preserve, protect and defend" principles and practices regarding the conduct of their government and the rules by which decisions shall be made, subject to review every four years. </span></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-64314274384697394022021-10-19T09:37:00.004-04:002021-10-19T09:38:25.571-04:00Why We Build The Wall<p> A beautiful, painfully relevant, song by Anais Mitchell (Thanks to WUMB for this one.)</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hFyNCmDIABM" width="320" youtube-src-id="hFyNCmDIABM"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-14192011317540893972021-10-14T10:09:00.003-04:002021-10-14T10:12:52.171-04:00You Can't Buy a Newspaper in Harvard Square Anymore!<p>How about this shocking news -- you can't find a newspaper in Harvard Square anymore. It's true. Any my goodness, how is that for a strange turn of events? The newsstands are all gone, and the bookstores don't carry them anymore. Magazines either. </p><p>What does this mean? Feel free to comment below to share your thoughts.</p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-4741938991309054592021-01-08T11:22:00.006-05:002021-01-08T12:59:11.646-05:00Thoughts on January 6, 2021The attack on the U.S. Capitol brings these thoughts to mind:<div><br /></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Conservatives spend so much time genuflecting before the shrine of Winston Churchill. Paradoxical that they've spent the last four years appeasing a fascist.</li><li>Does anyone remember the Republican outrage over the storming of the U.S. compound in Benghazi? 10 hearings. A House Select Committee created solely for the purpose of investigations. The endless disparagement of Hillary Clinton. Well, we now wait for the remorseless Republican outrage over a Republican president who, along with his two Senate accomplices (see below), fomented an insurrection and the storming of the U.S. Capitol and the killing of a U.S. Capitol police officer.</li></ol></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>****</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's my best go at a headline:</div><div><br /></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><b>This is the face of American Fascism</b></h1><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qv_MF2VbzBM/X_iEeUHxNMI/AAAAAAAAHM8/9N_YJOsz-yw1c2APxrHgSXk00P8WsCVlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/donald-trump-twitter-deletes-photo-copyright-infringement.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qv_MF2VbzBM/X_iEeUHxNMI/AAAAAAAAHM8/9N_YJOsz-yw1c2APxrHgSXk00P8WsCVlwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/donald-trump-twitter-deletes-photo-copyright-infringement.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BefATt8WGNw/X_iEdp_iGEI/AAAAAAAAHM4/xJQXqFjbbuMGPuiFS2qt4Iw1qcwGQCj1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s425/Ted%2BCruz%2Bphoto.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="425" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BefATt8WGNw/X_iEdp_iGEI/AAAAAAAAHM4/xJQXqFjbbuMGPuiFS2qt4Iw1qcwGQCj1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Ted%2BCruz%2Bphoto.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZK2U3t8vts/X_iEuCUIUvI/AAAAAAAAHNI/ftlQ6pzJEPk7I2jTkBTDw2xYPhSZIqgkwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1140/Josh%2BHawley%2B1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1140" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xZK2U3t8vts/X_iEuCUIUvI/AAAAAAAAHNI/ftlQ6pzJEPk7I2jTkBTDw2xYPhSZIqgkwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Josh%2BHawley%2B1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>****</div><div><br /></div><div>And here's my best perversion of T.S. Eliot ...</div><div><br /></div><div><i>This is how America ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.</i></div><div><br /></div>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-92175736221057949632020-11-03T13:43:00.002-05:002020-11-03T13:43:38.551-05:00Meet John Doe in today's election<p>I didn't have a line at my local polling place this morning. The voting was easy, organized and painless. Hard to imagine who I might have voted for, but I'll give you a hint. His name was Joe Biden.</p><p>The other evening, ambling on YouTube as I often do, I ran into the film Meet John Doe, a 1941 Frank Capra gem of Americana starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. </p><p>She's a wild, wise-talking journalist who upon getting fired from her newspaper pens one last column creating a character so distraught at the neglect of the little people, he's going to kill himself on Christmas Eve by jumping off of City Hall. His name is John Doe. It turns out, her story has struck a nerve. John Doe is popular, and newspapers are selling. So her paper decides to keep her around and get a real John Doe to play the role. In walks Gary Cooper.</p><p>In the ensuing twists and turns, themes emerge -- the admiration of the little guy, the miseries of Depression-era men, the rapacious newspaper owner looking to turn a feel good story into political power, corruption in all its guises. And watching it, it didn't feel very far from today. Especially the love of the little guy, the downtrodden, forgotten soldier of decency in the American system. Get to know your neighbor, what's so hard about that?</p><p>As if to heighten the point, Capra culminates the film with a scene redolent with Christian crucifixion imagery. Determined to actually kill himself after he learns that he's been a pawn in a much larger scheme by newspaper owner Edward Arnold to take over the American political system, Cooper climbs City Hall tower on Christmas Eve. His persecutors and his supporters deduce that he may try to jump, so they climb the tower to meet him there. Stanwyck climbs the tower too, and in the snowy drifts of a cold night, she talks him down. John Doe does not have to die so that others might live.</p><p>Meet John Doe, thematically reminiscent of today.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l42UGzIzGUI/X6GhusJByTI/AAAAAAAAHF0/70maVMMrE08U_8Cke9281C6-0Lcti7BiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s254/Meet%2BJohn%2BDoe%2Bimage.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="254" height="313" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l42UGzIzGUI/X6GhusJByTI/AAAAAAAAHF0/70maVMMrE08U_8Cke9281C6-0Lcti7BiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h313/Meet%2BJohn%2BDoe%2Bimage.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-44060998786679571822020-09-07T11:08:00.005-04:002020-09-08T22:39:45.633-04:00Remembering Roz Springer<p>Roz Springer was a force of nature. Her laugh collapsed buildings and walls and her endless inquisitiveness made her a Socratic discussant. She was a Buddhist. She was beautiful and wore her hair up almost always. I can't remember not seeing it that way. </p><p>Roz died this morning. </p><p>I lost touch with her a few years ago. Hadn't seen her and couldn't find her. I worried what had happened to her. Asking around, I didn't find out much. </p><p>Then finally I tracked her down through a friend a few months ago, only to find out she was in the final stages of her life. Thankfully, I got to spend some time with her this week and that meant that we caught up on things. What a gift.</p><p>Roz was from the Bronx, NY. That much I knew. As a young child, she lived on the Grand Concourse there. A relative (father, uncle, aunt?) owned an apartment building there. That much I think I knew. She lived in Cambridge at least 30 years. That much I think I knew. She told me once that she had a house and a life, and then she got an illness and had a house fire, and poof, like that, her life went up in smoke. That much I think I knew.</p><p>For the whole time I knew her, she lived in public housing here in Cambridge, at Newtowne Court. She was a tenant organizer there. I think I know that. She had a longstanding affiliation with the Margaret Fuller House.</p><p>Roz had a great idea for a book. Maybe it was just a book title. I tried from time to time to prompt her to write it. She would have called it <i>The Poor Business</i> and it would have been about all the ways in which the multibillion dollar human service industry -- including public housing and Social Security and all the different apparatuses of the state to help the poor -- are deeply entrenched systems that require poor people to continue to exist so that the system can continue to exist. Her point was that it all is so dehumanizing, to have to beg for housing, or income or healthcare. </p><p>Roz was a force of a nature. She was loved. And she is missed. Already.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIS542_-Ucg/X1ZLLcagoEI/AAAAAAAAG-s/R9j6IBrd-joqUYp_LUUNohURHAx_-gRWACLcBGAsYHQ/s3888/Roz_3.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="3888" height="333" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WIS542_-Ucg/X1ZLLcagoEI/AAAAAAAAG-s/R9j6IBrd-joqUYp_LUUNohURHAx_-gRWACLcBGAsYHQ/w500-h333/Roz_3.jpeg" width="500" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-5359666038333060512020-04-23T10:02:00.003-04:002020-04-23T10:02:48.940-04:00Happy Birthday, William ShakespeareAlways a harbinger of warmer weather and birds and bees and flowers and trees, Shakespeare's birthday also prompts the thought, what sense would the great playwright make of today?<br />
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Here's but a brief quote from <i>Julius Caesar</i> [II.i.] about power ... to whet the reader's appetite and wish the Bard a Happy Birthday,<br />
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Th’ abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.</h4>
Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-59941232201204392572020-04-22T14:38:00.000-04:002020-04-22T14:39:19.451-04:00The Earth is 50 years old today. At least the Day.It's been 50 years since the first Earth Day. We should pause to reflect and pause to learn in these most wicked of times.<br />
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A virus ravages our globe. Our urban centers are fully stressed, and it seems only a matter of time before our rural ones are too. The virus has put a stop to most human economic activity.<br />
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And yet, or because of, carbon in the atmosphere has fallen dramatically. The skies above some of the worlds smoggiest cities have cleared. The air even tastes better. Animals roam streets that belonged only to humans weeks ago.<br />
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What if there was no more, "business as usual." What if the usual became very unusual indeed?<br />
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We sit at that moment. We should figure out how to derive the good from this bad. To see our systems for what they truly are, a mixed bag of benefits and impacts.<br />
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Generalities only go so far. Specifics will be needed. For the moment though, let's remember the earth. She is bigger and more complex than us. Was. Is. Will be.Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-3772754008429900692020-04-20T12:28:00.001-04:002020-04-20T12:28:19.982-04:00Angus McQuilken talks economic recovery in the 6th DistrictAngus McQuilken -- a health care executive and a friend of mine -- is challenging Seth Moulton in this fall's Democratic primary for the 6th Congressional District in Massachusetts. Last week, I talked with Angus via Zoom about his ideas for economic recovery in the district once we make it through the Covid era. <div>
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Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-47632051968374828822020-04-08T17:46:00.002-04:002020-04-08T17:46:46.864-04:00There is nothing inevitable about New YorkI have this phrase floating in my head and I'm not sure why. It doesn't really make any sense and yet I keep repeating it. I keep saying, there is nothing inevitable about New York.<br />
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I don't mean that there is nothing inevitable about COVID-19 having the destructive effect it is having in NYC right now. That's not what I mean.<br />
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What I mean is, there is nothing inevitable about the city itself.<br />
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Take this image. It's a classic view of Manhattan island, taken from the air out in New York Harbor. The year is 1933. Look at all the piers traveling up the West Side, where goods, cargo and passengers all disembarked. Notice the rectangle in the middle of the island, the living lung of New York, Central Park. Though the shape of Manhattan is deeply ingrained in our minds, nothing in this image was preordained, no matter how familiar it is to us.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lt0c0zCWKYc/Xo4tFgrp-3I/AAAAAAAAGvE/8m5i98Mkbk02u8OW2Y7On1A6WG4m9XpLgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBMFwsUO9fc1pBEafv2fX3cXmV0CKTyyeFdjUsyEJXayg9Y517Tt4ue0jV8WNBPiiK1tg3wB7Hxsv-9FytZhF52iQEhQv07_QCbG5nJAnVjfD5XA_-LtblwzcWZBquQ0G2o73aVvZbthHitzA-hvbXt86FXvuoQsca0Qjg8o6mBGjHto43Miv47DtYUl3k6vzJ273jgBwjpk1gkbBDR-poH5LluDJH-ruJc4_SgImCt0gRgWvTo3unCNdji2Vih4B93x3a80OLk5U82gOJXoaqx1aCUwYCnhKqoqeuPtgo1CbyGP_A3JyMop04y_VYMb5woleCvbJWyEGAPn8LRy64OnulgWT8Q6ljgWobojB8BmZoamhoF99bhH1BOlJDpgroZs4XX7VgOpTDXuo2-Vxr5cO9SHdOVjoApgT7U2tq1lDortAj2EpeCL_L1piduF7oGxj_4UFfIoSKfsTLpgKiw3u7whmEPwDmCsCzd54hUZDJry5JekH80hJpeKxzazkdajIMNxTWPF9ZpKMv1CsYSMDqta3GIMbQwwdyhPEXMWykVwxgGy4wKmRnsxePqh1j4aC2HeXdY3JpKjyKjx07ZvE4Q9SV49J4RMJ2PufQF/s1600/Manhattan%2BIsland-100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1000" height="544" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lt0c0zCWKYc/Xo4tFgrp-3I/AAAAAAAAGvE/8m5i98Mkbk02u8OW2Y7On1A6WG4m9XpLgCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoBMFwsUO9fc1pBEafv2fX3cXmV0CKTyyeFdjUsyEJXayg9Y517Tt4ue0jV8WNBPiiK1tg3wB7Hxsv-9FytZhF52iQEhQv07_QCbG5nJAnVjfD5XA_-LtblwzcWZBquQ0G2o73aVvZbthHitzA-hvbXt86FXvuoQsca0Qjg8o6mBGjHto43Miv47DtYUl3k6vzJ273jgBwjpk1gkbBDR-poH5LluDJH-ruJc4_SgImCt0gRgWvTo3unCNdji2Vih4B93x3a80OLk5U82gOJXoaqx1aCUwYCnhKqoqeuPtgo1CbyGP_A3JyMop04y_VYMb5woleCvbJWyEGAPn8LRy64OnulgWT8Q6ljgWobojB8BmZoamhoF99bhH1BOlJDpgroZs4XX7VgOpTDXuo2-Vxr5cO9SHdOVjoApgT7U2tq1lDortAj2EpeCL_L1piduF7oGxj_4UFfIoSKfsTLpgKiw3u7whmEPwDmCsCzd54hUZDJry5JekH80hJpeKxzazkdajIMNxTWPF9ZpKMv1CsYSMDqta3GIMbQwwdyhPEXMWykVwxgGy4wKmRnsxePqh1j4aC2HeXdY3JpKjyKjx07ZvE4Q9SV49J4RMJ2PufQF/s640/Manhattan%2BIsland-100.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Some might say, "Incorrect! Geology along with geography account for it all." That as soon as the trading Dutch arrived in the New World, this argument would go, the island's destiny was determined. A deep water port, a navigable river with access inland, broad channels and plenty of shore. Perhaps. Salem, Massachusetts was a gem 200 years ago too.<br />
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The photograph, romantic in its black-and-white perspective, is emblazoned on most Americans. The history is so rich, the cultural lore so ever-pervasive. New York has always been this way. But nothing that made it so.Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-14835233447933593372020-04-02T10:57:00.001-04:002020-04-02T10:57:06.216-04:00At 8pm in my neighborhood, we saluteEvery evening at 8pm, my neighbors and I go out on our porches, front steps, onto the sidewalk, to clap for frontline workers in this global pandemic. We clap our hands. We hoot. Someone has brought out a harmonica. Next, I'm certain someone will bring a drum.<br />
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Mostly, we are thinking of those who go to work in a hospital every day: The doctors and the nurses and the orderlies and the food service people and the cleaning crews, the security guards and the EMTs and the maintenance people. But it doesn't just stop with the health care profession. Of course we think of the police and fire as well. But what about the garbage collectors, and the mail man and the Amazon delivery drivers, and all the public transit employees? And what about all the people, young and old, who work in grocery stores every day, stocking the shelves and especially the cashiers? They are truly on the front line. Risking their lives.<br />
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The ritual first started in Italy I believe, as they became inundated with dead and sick, they thought it important to say thank you.<br />
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Someone down the street from me in Cambridge picked up the tradition, emailed some friends and instigated it among us. 8pm. Sharp. Outside. To clap. To say thank you.<br />
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It's nice. Some might say it's trite or misses the point. For one, I'm not sure any front line workers live near enough to hear us.<br />
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But in some ways that's not the point either. The days are long, and sometimes lonely. The internet helps, but only in the way that a mediated communication helps -- screens are good but not quite the same. There's nothing like being in a room with another person, and now, that's no longer possible.<br />
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The clapping in the end may be as much for us as for anyone else. It may be our little moment of solidarity, to say to ourselves, we will get through this, somehow, with our dignity and our humanity intact. Our communities not destroyed. Our sense of purpose reexamined but still undimmed. Perhaps its our way of saying to each other, we're still here. Don't worry, we're still here.<br />
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Anyway, if you've got a neighborhood that might support something like this, I recommend it. It's oddly confirming in a time when so much of our assumptions of safety are being torn apart.<br />
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I was even thinking of putting a little blue light in my window, as a way of saying, here's a light of recognition.Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-83705752246252799232020-03-31T12:45:00.000-04:002020-03-31T12:45:19.237-04:00A simple way to help during COVID19I was talking with a friend this morning, and we were bemoaning the self-isolation imposed on us all by COVID19, and regretting that there weren't easier ways to help out. For many people, we acknowledged, the best therapy is to go outside and help someone else. That's not possible now. Still, we came up with this idea. I'm sure it's in operation elsewhere, but I'm not aware of it here. It's simple, it's meaningful, and it fosters a connection between both the giver and the receiver. It goes like this ...<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What if we started organizing "virtual check ins" for:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seniors -- to check on their health, to check on their needs (food, etc.) and to provide some companionship during this lonely time of isolation. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Young parents -- to check on school/home/life/work balance and offer the opportunity to chat.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition, we find a licensed therapist/social worker who would be available to talk to a parent/resident/elderly person on an appointment basis, to discuss issues like stress, anxiety or other worries they may have.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a perfect opportunity for someone to be a volunteer, and it will be meaningful for the people being called. It makes connections and combats some of the isolation, and, best of all, it's all virtual -- there is no danger of spreading COVID. (It could be a phone call or a video chat.)</span></div>
Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-56815811030107507752020-03-30T12:14:00.000-04:002020-03-30T12:14:00.573-04:00The Viral ParadoxWe are faced with the viral paradox. It's a public health scourge, both terrifying and deadly. And yet its capacity to teach us much is huge, even as the death toll mounts.<br />
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In health and public health. In leadership and political expediency. In organization management and supply chain vulnerabilities. In employment economics and the list goes on. On these, I have little to no knowledge.<br />
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But on the urban front, I have an inkling of an idea: the corona virus is allowing us to run the urban planning experiment no one thought possible. What if we shut down an entire city for a day? For a week? For a month?<br />
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That question is being asked here in this country and around the globe. What can we learn from this?<br />
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Quite a lot, I suspect.<br />
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As always, when in doubt, begin with a list.<br />
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Air pollution/Greenhouse gas emissions.</b> They are greatly reduced worldwide. What can we learn from this? </span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Transportation.</b> Single car occupancy is again the rule and public transit suffers, but roads are emptier at all times of day and travel times reduced.</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Working from home.</b> Everybody's doing it. By force. Is it working? Who knows. The distractions are greater, but the focused times are probably more focused. What lessons are employers learning from this?</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Internet bandwidth.</b> The virus is causing a huge strain on internet bandwidth. Europe asked Netflix to stop streaming in HD, to relieve some of the. pressure. What is our capacity?</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Digital divide.</b> If you have access to the internet, you can continue to go to school. If you don't you can't.</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Distance learning.</b> This is a BIG ONE for the Boston area. With so many colleges and universities, what does it mean to go to the virtual campus? How does an MIT differentiate itself from a Bunker Hill Community College if all classes are available to all people online?</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Density.</b> Is density our friend or our enemy?</span></li>
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<span style="color: #222222;">And that is where I begin. And end this blog post. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Over time, this space will look at each of these areas with greater depth.</span></div>
Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-63744489508760790102020-03-29T21:34:00.000-04:002020-03-29T21:34:07.950-04:00The unimaginable (re)visits us ... againAs to its size and scale, the corona virus experience mimics 9/11. The notable phrase from 2001 was, if you'd written it as a Hollywood screenplay, it would have been rejected as too outlandish, too preposterous.<br />
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Covid-19 gives off that same general vibe. Imagine this plot: a strange new virus emerges in the Far East, and makes its way to America via a trans-Pacific air carrier. It starts to infect and then kill people here. We don't understand it, but we see it spreads quickly. We self-quarantine. We are told "don't go out." The economy starts to shut down and governors begin to ban interstate travel. Meanwhile the president dithers ineffectually in Washington as the situation grows more dire with each news cycle. People are left on their own as doctors struggle to care for the rising wave of new arrivals at the emergency room door.<br />
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I mean, that wouldn't, couldn't happen here. We would never run out of essential goods. It's too preposterous a script. Thank the screen writers, and express our gratitude, but tell them it's being rejected as too unrealistic.<br />
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And tell them, we'd never have to ask China for help to solve this problem.<br />
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And yet here we are. Those who sought this outcome should rejoice. We have arrived.<br />
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America is clearly no longer the indispensable nation.<br />
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<br />Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-18660500427456162592020-03-24T11:47:00.001-04:002020-03-24T13:44:19.006-04:00And in other news, Tom Brady leaves on the midnight busIt occurred to me this morning that Tom Brady, the New England Patriots star quarterback over these past two decades, picked the perfect time to slip out of town. Whether this was by choice or by chance (it was by chance, to be sure), he couldn't have found a more opportune time to exit out the back door while people were looking elsewhere. It's fair to say that most Boston people will be focused on other things over the next six months.Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-91066902943410391722020-03-21T18:35:00.003-04:002020-03-21T18:35:44.175-04:00Visual City photosI have finally started loading up some of my photographs on my website, <a href="http://visualcity.net/">visualcity.net</a>.Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-58620001047825158652019-12-19T12:39:00.000-05:002019-12-19T16:29:56.817-05:00The NY Times missteps onlineThis combination of headlines/images is jarring. Too jarring.<br />
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Like most Americans these days, I have a deeply ingrained bias towards my favored news sources. I have confidence in their reporting and in their judgment. I trust what they say and how they say it. High(est) on that list is <i>The New York Times</i>, the paper of record.<br />
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But here, the Times online editor got it wrong. This combination is wrong. <i>(From early December 2019, NY Times online.)</i><br />
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<br />Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-18907626953713554202019-10-09T10:41:00.003-04:002019-10-10T12:47:34.179-04:00Beans and Izzy drove across countryMy doggy friends Beans and Izzy left Cambridge, Massachusetts earlier this summer and drove to Palo Alto, California with their two owners DiDi and Spencer.<br />
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This is what they saw ...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beans in Badlands, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beans at Niagara Falls, New York</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beans in Half Moon Bay, California</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beans and Izzy in Oregon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Izzy at Crater Lake, Oregon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beans and Izzy and bison in Yellowstone, Wyoming</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdL5rOJPRbQ/XZ3wU15cTGI/AAAAAAAAGQg/3aMuBq5N7TYEO6SoiLeOWtEvEzfiRG3SACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="937" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kdL5rOJPRbQ/XZ3wU15cTGI/AAAAAAAAGQg/3aMuBq5N7TYEO6SoiLeOWtEvEzfiRG3SACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/image.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Izzy at Grizzly Bear rescue, Montana</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DOStk4e1lgI/XZ3wSkWNKCI/AAAAAAAAGQI/36AzNPdtq-MMvl2Et1f_O49-qyIRn83lQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/image-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="933" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DOStk4e1lgI/XZ3wSkWNKCI/AAAAAAAAGQI/36AzNPdtq-MMvl2Et1f_O49-qyIRn83lQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/image-2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Izzy and Beans at Grand Tetons, Wyoming</td></tr>
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<i>[all photos courtesy of DiDi and Spencer]</i>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1518774740675051774.post-80966989840847717982019-10-08T09:42:00.001-04:002019-10-08T09:43:11.221-04:00Hezekiah Usher on the Common<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9iw7Q47UQ0/XZuiOYnbsAI/AAAAAAAAGP0/ocPl1RDNJDMZiWkRSyY7M1SJPbWyvX2hwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9iw7Q47UQ0/XZuiOYnbsAI/AAAAAAAAGP0/ocPl1RDNJDMZiWkRSyY7M1SJPbWyvX2hwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/IMG_2012.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On Monday, I received this email from a woman named Dawn regarding the above photo ...</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a descendent of Robert Usher, Hezekiah’s brother. I couldn’t tell why you had posted the image, so I thought I would just ping you and ask if you are a descendent and, if so, did you help with installing the plaque?</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span>So I wrote her back ...<br />
<blockquote style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;">
<span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am not related to the Ushers at all. I just thought it was such a Boston thing — among the many historic markers in this town, here was also the first publisher. And he is commemorated by a small plaque on the Boston Common. It was very touching memorial to person most of us have never heard of, who lived hundreds of years ago.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br class="" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, the name Hezekiah Usher is pretty wonderful all on its own.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br class="" /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition, in this time of constant assault on freedom of the press, one of the most fundamental bedrocks of our liberty, it’s nice to remember a man who did so much to make sure that this country had a free press, by first making sure we had a printing press! Who knew that a little old printer could be so important?!!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"></span></span>Sam Seidelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02380751237032169588noreply@blogger.com