Seeing Ourselves in Others

07 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Richard in Articles of Interest, Go Sox

Tags

"The Game From Where I Stand", Adam Jones, Baseball Analyst, Baseball Writer, Boston Red Sox, Cubs, Doug Glanville, ESPN, Fenway Park, NPR, NYTimes, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Sports Writer

For those of you who have read some of my baseball related posts on MillersTime, you know that I’m not only obsessed with the game but also believe that there are many life lessons to be learned from baseball. Unfortunately, it has become a cliche to say that the game imitates life (or is it that life imitates the game?), used mostly by baseball fans trying to justify to nonbelievers the importance and value of this wonderful sport.

I was reminded of the intersection of baseball and life the other day when an alert reader (Harry Siler) sent me a link to an article by Doug Glanville**, a former baseball player. Since 2008 Glanville has been a guest columnist for the NYTimes and, until a few weeks ago, was a baseball analyst for ESPN for seven years. (He was laid off with several hundred other ESPN employees in a major company staff reduction.)

In a May 5 NYTimes article, Red Sox, Racism and Adam Jones, Glanville writes about his own fears of possibly being traded to the Red Sox, but it is his way of looking at the recent racial incident(s) at Fenway Park in Boston that most interested me. In his usual common sense way, Glanville concludes:

Baseball gives us a chance to see ourselves in everyone, at times reflecting the image of some complex and difficult shadows in our society. That is a big step toward mutual understanding. As hard as it is, we need to see ourselves in the fans who were ejected. Having biases is human, our flawed yet efficient way to create shortcuts in our lives. But we need to check them more honestly if we are to really understand how to move forward.

And if you want to learn more about him, check out Doug Glanville, From Ivy League to Center Field, NPR, including an excerpt from his book, The Game From Where I Stand.

**(Glanville played 15 seasons in professional baseball, nine of them in the Majors, with the Phillies, Cubs, and Rangers before he retired in 2004. He was outstanding center fielder, going his last 293 games without making an error. He hit .325 one year and had a lifetime BA of .277. He also graduated from U of Penn with a degree in systems engineering.)

Post Election Reading

22 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by Richard in Articles of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

"Hillbilly Elegy", "New Republic", "Talking Points Memo", "The Atlantic", J.D. Vance, Koch Brothers' Agenda, Mark Lillanov, Matt Stoller, NYTimes, Sarah Jones

In previous posts, I indicated it was time to “listen” to what the election was telling us. Mostly, I have stopped spending so much time on social media (particularly Twitter and Facebook) and also have largely been staying away from some of the more mainstream media which was so inaccurate leading up to election.

I am posting below links to a number of articles of varying lengths and on various topics that have caught my attention and interest.

The End of Identity Liberalism, by Mark Lillanov, NYTimes, Nov. 18, 2016. A short article that speaks to one area the Democrats need to consider. Bernie Sanders said something similar to this yesterday.

How Democrats Killed Their Populist Soul, Matt Stoller, The Atlantic, Oct. 24, 2016. A lengthy article that I think Democrats need to read and discuss as they/we consider how to rebuild a party that has lost what it once stood for. (Stoller once worked with Ellen at the Sunlight Foundation, and I invariably find his thinking and writing thoughtful and valuable.)

Behind the “Make America Great” the Koch Agenda Returns with a Vengence, By Theda Skocpol, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Caroline Tervo, Talking Points Memo, Nov. 21, 2016. Not as lengthy as the article above but useful in understanding that money did influence this election and that what is ahead is worrisome for those who have concerns about the Koch agendas.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and a Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance, 272 pages, Harper, June 28, 2016. This memoir has received a lot of attention as Vance writes from the “inside” about a part of our country that only now is getting significant attention. Vance grew up in the Middletown OH (the Rust Belt) and in Johnston, KY (an Appalachian town) and writes with intimate knowledge of one portion of America that has deservedly gained much attention in this election. Both Ellen and I found the book valuable.

J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America, by Sarah Jones, New Republic, Nov. 17, 2016. A very short article calling into question some of the conclusions Vance draws in the book mentioned above.

100 Notable Books of 2015

27 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

100 Notable Books of 2015, Books Most Enjoyed in 2015, MillersTime Favorite Reads, NYTimes

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João Fazenda, NYTimes

And the season of (best/worst) lists has begun.

While we await the best (?) list of all — MillersTime Readers Favorite Reads of 2015 — hint, hint, reminder, reminder), here’s an early look at the Times 100 Notable Reads of 2015.

Despite my love of reading and my freedom to read at will, I’ve only read six of them (A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, The Meursault Investigation, Karnel Daoud, The Sympathizer, Viet Tanh Nguyen, Between the World & Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ghettoside, Jill Leovy, and On the Move, Oliver Sacks).

Just one of these six is likely to make it to my favorites for 2015.

Plus, I’ve only even heard about three others (Purity, Franzen, Fates & Furies, Groff, and Jonas Salk, Jacobs). At least one of these I already know will show up on a MillersTime reader’s list.

Anyway, except for the wonderful nine of you who have already sent in your favorite reads this year, take this as a not-so-subtle reminder to make up your list and send it to me before Dec. 15th.

Thanks.

“Who Turned My Blue State Red?”

23 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Alec MacGillis, Cutting the Safety Net, NYTimes, Red State/Blue State

Only occasionally do I post something about political issues.

Generally I find most of my ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’ are pretty set in their views about what is going on in our country, and the purpose of MillersTime is not to add to the disharmony that seems so present these day.

But when I do come across something that I find ‘of interest’ and think it may be equally so to others in both the categories mentioned above, I do post it in The Outer Loop and/or Articles of Interest sections of MillersTime.

And so today’s post of an article by Alec MacGillis from the NY Times, Nov. 20, 2015. It seems to me to explain something about what is presently happening in our country .

See what you think about his: Who Turned My Blue State Red ? – Why Poor Areas Vote for Politicians Who Want to Slash the Safety Net.

Respectful Comments are welcomed.

“He Wanted the Moon”

26 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"An Unquiet Mind", "Darkness Visible", "He Wanted the Moon", bipolar disease, Dr. Abigail Zuger, Dr. Perry Baird, Eve Claxton, Kay Redfield Jamison, Mimi Baird, NYTimes, William Styron

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He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter’s Quest to Know Him. By Mimi Baird, with Eve Claxton. Crown. 272 pages.

The book is autobiography, biography, science, history and literature all in one, as instructive as any textbook and utterly impossible to put down.

from NYTimes review by Abigail Zuger, M.D.

If you’ve read William Styron’s small masterpiece Darkness Visible, you’ve ‘heard’ from a wonderful writer what “madness” is and what it feels like.

If you’ve read Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, you know, from both a personal and a scientific perspective, what it is to experience bipolar disease today (manic depression).

Now comes a just released book, He Wanted the Moon, to add to those two wonderful insights into what it is like to experience mental illness. Or in the case of this book, what it was like to experience bipolar disease before we understood it or had any treatment for it.

This one has many of the strengths of the two previous books, and more. I indeed agree with the review quoted above that it is “autobiography, biography, science, history and literature all in one, as instructive as any textbook and utterly impossible to put down.” And, I would add, it is told in such a manner that you haven’t read anything quite like it before.

At least I haven’t.

Not True That the Rich Are Getting Richer While the Poor Are Getting Poorer

18 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

David Leonhardt, Income Inequality, Matt Stoller, NYTimes

I was quite surprised when I was led to a NY Times article yesterday by a particularly astute (and younger) former colleague of Ellen’s (thanx Matt Stoller) that basically said what most people think is the case about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is not the case.

At least not since 2007.

The article tells us that even though income inequality is high historically, “The income of the top 1 percent – both the level and the share of overall income – still hasn’t returned to its 2007 peak. Their average income is about 20 per cent below that peak.”

While this may be more of a statement about who lost more in the period between 2007 – 2010, there is much in this article that is worthy of consideration.

Take a look at the article for yourselves:

Inequality Has Actually Not Risen Since the Financial Crisis, by David Leonhardt, NY Times, Feb. 17, 2014, p.3.

Why You Need to Read the MillersTime/GoSox Blog

01 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"Sluggers' Slump: What's Going on Here", baseball, Batters, GoSox Blog, John Branch, MLB, NYTimes, Pitchers

Why?

Beyond the obvious — you think you can win one of the MillersTime Baseball Contests, you’re going to see me in a few days and don’t want to be embarrassed when I refer to something I wrote, you’re looking for free tickets to a Nats’ game, you’re a member of my family and want to humor me — there is the possibility that once or twice a year I might have something useful to say about baseball.

I was reminded of this last reason this morning (Wed.) when I saw on the front page of the NYTimes the headline, “Many Strikeouts, Fewer Runs/As Pitchers Gain Upper Hand.” Having written a post on this very topic, Sluggers’ Slump: What’s Going on Here? I was curious to see if the author of the Times’ piece, John Branch, had anything new to say (or anything I didn’t say).