Monthly Archives: April 2013

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Jason Collins. Fine man. Nice article in SI. Big props!

“…That’s My Home”

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Boston did not suddenly shed all its problems forever, but it did put on a mantle of unity and resolve when it really mattered. The Charles River flows through Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and beyond. All the towns where people were told to “shelter in place” on Friday, while frightening, heartbreaking, and heroic events took place. 

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Today, I have to agree with our friend, Kayo Burmon, and the local anthem: “Love that dirty water!”
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Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

I am delighted that my name comes up in this beta project.

  • Provider
  • Digital Commonwealth
  • Owning Institution
  • Digital Commonwealth
Description

Marcus Jones reports on an exhibit at the Boston Athenaeum celebrating Black History Month. Jones notes that the exhibit features photographs of prominent people in Boston’s African American community. Jones interviews Marie Cosindas (photographer) about the photographs. Jones’ report includes shots of the photographs. Jones reports that the exhibit also includes documents, books and artworks representing the African American artistic, cultural and political traditions. Jones interviews Marilyn Richardson (exhibit advisor) about the exhibit. Richardson talks about a display of census documents and artworks by Edmonia Lewis (sculptor) and Allan Crite (artist). Jones’ report includes footage of artworks in the exhibit.   less 

Many Dots Left To Connect

BIUVFffCcAE438T.jpg-largeMassachusetts State Police infrared helicopter photo of fugitive hiding in boat

By necessity, the earliest reports and assessments of a complex series of major events such as happened not 24 hours ago, cannot be “the first drafts of history.” There simply is not enough time to gather adequate information — and I hope we all agree that there are many dots that we just cannot connect to show the shape of the larger story.

David Remnick’s piece in The New Yorker gathers some of what is known at the moment and offers his initial opinions. It’s fine work in record time, but far from what he will have to say as we read his further explorations into this story.

Any first year law student learns that we only think we know much of what we see. And that is a really far cry from understanding it. Where does that leave us with the even less reliable information we hear?

I have lived here in Watertown, MA, for decades, but my home is  at least a mile from the scene of the action. I heard from friends hunkered down in their basements as bullets flew, and watched, on TV, things unfolding in familiar streets.

However, the only thing I know first hand is that armored vehicles and police cars closed off the end of our one block long street. That at least a dozen military men in camo, with dogs,  and carrying machine guns at the ready, came door to door to each house. We answered their questions, thanked them, and they thoroughly searched out yards. And then moved on to the next street.

We need all the early accounts — for our safety, our peace of mind, to quell rumors, to share our experiences. The range and the depth of the articles, essays, books that come later are what we will learn from.

The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned…

Martin Richard, age 8. His father had just crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and Martin ran over to hug him. He then returned to the sidewalk where his mother and his sister stood. The bombs went off. Martin was killed. His mother and sister are seriously injured.

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       THE SECOND COMING

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.

    The darkness drops again but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

With God and Our Side-Arm

Liberty-University 

At Liberty U, students can’t dance or see R-rated movies – but they can bring loaded guns to class http://on.msnbc.com/10HuEeP 

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Liberty University, founded as a socially conservative learning institution by the late Rev. Jerry Fallwell, restricts certain interaction between male and female students.

According to the handbook that outlines expected behaviors by Liberty students, “The Liberty Way,” students can be fined for entering the bedroom of a student of the opposite gender and are subject to disciplinary action if they are caught watching R-rated films.

Just knowing a film’s rating may not be enough to avoid punishment. Many “PG-13” and some “PG” movies, although not prohibited, may also be inappropriate.

Liberty has strict guidelines for the hairstyles of their students. For men:

Hair and clothing styles related to a counterculture (as determined by the Student Affairs Deans’ Review Committee) are not acceptable. Hair should be cut in such a way that it will not come over the ears, collar or eyebrows at any time. Ponytails for men are unacceptable

For Women:

Hair and clothing styles related to counterculture (as determined by the Deans’ Review Committee) are not acceptable. Dresses and skirts should be no shorter than the top of the knee (sitting or standing). Skirt slits should be modest; open slits should be no higher than the top of the knee, closed slits should be no higher than two inches from the top of the knee. Shoulder straps should be no less than two inches wide. Anything tight, scant, backless, see-through, low in the neckline or revealing the midriff (in any position) is immodest and unacceptable. Slips should be worn under thin material. Earrings and plugs are permitted in ears only. No other facial piercings or plugs are allowed, including tongue.

In 2004, Andrew Garib outlined many practices at the university that some find objectionable with portions taken directly from the handbook. For example, Liberty has had, since 1988, a system of mandatory, random drug testing:

To participate in this drug-testing program, which permits the University to test any student (hair, urine or blood as specified by the administration), irrespective of the method by which that student was selected. Student selection will be accomplished both on a random basis and on the basis of suspected use and/or drug possession as defined in the “The Liberty Way.”
NOTE: Students who test positive for drug use will be responsible for covering the cost of the drug test.

Students are also expected to observe a strict curfew – midnight on weekends (except Thursday, when the curfew is at 10 p.m.) and 12:30 a.m. on weekends.

 

All That And Entertainment, Too

Came upon this researching some way-back-when stuff about my father, Ben Richardson, online. I LOVE that he was on a program with Dorothy Parker.
As someone said recently about a political figure from that day: “pink as an Indian River grapefruit.”RALLY

It’s All Fake

This is about Newtown. The interview will break your heart, as it should. The final minutes of it will leave you speechless. I will admit I have heard there are people promoting this  — well what, I can’t call it an idea.

http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/tmm/2013/04/20130410_tmm_01.mp3

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