Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
It does feel a bit like Washington has been snowed in for awhile. Or snowed under.
ReplyDeleteBut I love this photo anyway.
Great photo. All those white limestone and marble buildings look even better in the snow.
ReplyDeleteYes, isn't it beautiful. There's also one with the Washington monument that really makes the capital look grand.
ReplyDeleteGosh - you sure could fool me! This is such a lovely photo that I thought it was a painting!!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, we have lots of snow here in St Paul as well. Winter is, indeed, a beautiful time of year. Yes, there are many hazards. But we love the snow and the Winter!
By the way, when I lived in Brooklyn, NY nothing pleased me more than to take a long walk in snowy Prospect Park. Ah, what a time it was.
That photo is beautiful, but when it snows down here in the deep south we usually lose power, sometimes for days at a time. As a result, I'm glad to have the snow stay well north of us.
ReplyDeleteOn a history note, I'm reading Daniel J. Boorstin's "The Creaters: A History of Heroes of the Imagination," which is a campanion to "The Discoverers." These books, if you've never considered reading either one, are well worth a look.
Creators
ReplyDeleteDC can't handle the snow either, and it's far enough north that you'd think they'd learn to expect it once in awhile.
ReplyDeleteI once worked for extended periods in DC and remember walking to work in the snow -- the city seemed paralyzed.
I have read the Discoverers, but not the Creators. Interesting idea for a book.
I'm not a football fan but am still watching the opening of the game (with the sound off) so I can cheer for the Saints. Not looking good so far, but I'm an optimist.
ReplyDeleteEvery so often the NYTimes has a great front page photo and that was it today.I see it's a Reuters photographer who shot it.Avrds it was quite a game.44 years of being a sad sack and now the Saints are champs.Have you read any Charles Portis? I watched True Grit for the first time the other night and was surprise I had never seen it.Now I want to find a copy of Norwood.It seems Portis has a cult following.
ReplyDeleteI read "True Grit" and was taken most with the peculiar locutions of the girl's. I may have known how/why Portis wrote it that way but have forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to read True Grit also down the road but I love reading a book before I see the film.Darby and Campbell also starred in Norwood which was made a year after True Grit.They were the only two films Campbell ever made.I liked the crack by the host on TCM after True Grit in which Campbell said before True Grit he had never acted and after seeing it for the first time still hadn't.
ReplyDeleteRe the photo, my husband remarked it would be great if more denizens of the place were as pure as the driven...
ReplyDeleteCoen bros. are doing a remake.
ReplyDelete"Coen bros. are doing a remake."
ReplyDeleteOh, and that was such a nice series of posts to start the day with...."
Re the book and the _original_ movie, yes, it is a classic. I vaguely recall reading that Portis had been working on it for a long time, but couldn't get the voice right. Then he read something by a 19th century preacher and the book sort of wrote itself after that.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure some of the details aren't quite right -- it's been a long time and my memory is like a sieve these days -- but that's sort of how the story went.
And yes, what a game! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteMy DVR remote is broken so had to also watch the ads. Couldn't figure out why all the ads had men without pants on and in the rest people kept slapping each other. I think I'm badly out of the cultural loop up here.
Just checked the TCM programming in case I could see True Grit later.
ReplyDeleteBut it's 31 days of Oscars. Lots of movies there I would like to watch or see again. Julia is on tonight which I remember really liking. So is A Thousand Clowns, which I've always loved, although it does seem to wear thin as I've gotten older.
But that halftime show was pathetic. Guys in their sixties singing about teenage angst is beyond ironic.
ReplyDeletePathetic, I think is the word.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, av, I really enjoyed "A Serious Man," and I don't think you have to be a Coen Bros. fan to enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteAvrds if you have the magic cable box TCM has movies for free on the On Demand icon but of about the twenty on it right now True Grit is not one of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bo. I have to have all of my satellite equipment replaced. Mine is from the previous owner and it's less than reliable and now the remote doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteI'll put in an email notice at TCM so I can catch it next time. I'd like to see it again.
Coming again March 13 if anyone else is interested.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting if very disturbing cover article in the Feb 14th,NYTimes mag.Founding Father? by Russell Shorto.
ReplyDeleteBeen away for a few days. Will catch up on the Madison posts.
ReplyDelete