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Tag Archives: The New Yorker

Roger Angell: Thank You

21 Saturday May 2022

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

baseball, Baseball Writer, Best Balls Best Writer, Joe Blogs, Joe Posnanaski, Roger Angell, The New Yorker

Angell has helped us appreciate baseball by reaching deep into our chests and saying what we feel but cannot quite convey why we care so much about this odd and wonderful game. Joe Posnanski (Joe Blogs Baseball)

Over the past several days, many, many baseball writers have written about Roger Angell, one of baseballs best chroniclers, who died at Friday at the age of 101.

I’ve chosen to link to Posnanski’s post today as it captures why Angell stands in the very top tier of baseball’s best writers.

See: Roger Angell, and Succeeding Utterly.

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Recent Articles of Interest

13 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Escapes and Pleasures

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"In MY MInd's Eye", "My Father's Body at Rest and in Motion", "The Machine Stops", "White Darkness", Alexander McCall Smith, Ann Morgan, Cal Newport, David Grann, Jan Morris, Kate Kelley, New York Times, Oliver Sacks, Robert Caro, Sidhartha Mukerjee, TED Talk, The New Yorker

Here are links to a few articles that I’ve seen recently that I found of interest and suspect various readers of MillersTime might enjoy also.

You’re Using Your iPhone Wrong, by Cal Newport, NYT, 1/27/19 – wherein columnist writes that Steve Jobs never wanted smartphones to be our constant companions.

‘In the Feb. 11, 2019 issue of The New Yorker, there is an Oliver Sacks’ piece that he must have written shortly before his death as I have not seen it anywhere else: The Machine Stops, wherein he writes, among other things, about smart phones and fearing the future. I can’t link to it, but see if you can find it. I liked it (but then I like everything he has written).

The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives: On a Presidential Paper Trail by Robert Caro, New Yorker, 1/28/19. Caro takes some time out while working on his final LBJ book to give some insights into how he works. Caro is a national treasure imho.

Two Book Reviews of In My Mind’s Eye: A Thought Diary by Jan Morris – wherein she writes about being 91 and looks back on her earlier years:

In My Mind’s Eye, reviewed by Kate Kelleway, The Guardian, 9/9/18

In My Mind’s Eye, reviewed by Alexander McCall Smith, NYTimes, 1/24/19

And a couple from last year that struck me:

My Father’s Body, At Rest and in Motion by Siddhartha Mukherjee, New Yorker, 1/8/18. An author, doctor and son writes about his dealings and thoughts about end of life issues relating to his father.

The White Darkness: A Solitary Journey Across Antarctica by David Grann, New Yorker, Feb. 12 & 19, 2018. Another favorite writer of mine, this engaging story is now out in book form, but you can read it here.

Plus, one TED talk about how changing her reading focus opened up the world to her, a suggestion by a MillersTime reader Tiffany Lopez.:

My Year Reading a Book from Every Country in the World (https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan_my_year_reading_a_book_from_every_country_in_the_world?language=en by Ann Morgan.

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“Extreme” Challenges: One Film, One Book

10 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

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"Alone on the Wall", "Free Solo", "Killers of the Flower Moon", "Meru", "The Lost City of Z", "The White Darkness", Alex Honnold, David Grann, El Capitan, Elizabeth Chai Vasashelyi, Ernest Shackelton, Henry Worsley, Jimmy Chinn, National Geographic Documentary, The New Yorker, Yosemite National Park

Let me be perfectly clear at the outset of this post: I have no personal interest whatsoever in “extreme” challenges, that is, testing myself against the elements, physical, psychological, or whatever one might come up with. Heck, I can’t even get up the courage to watch or listen to 13 out of 14 Red Sox postseason playoff games (see previous post, An Admission). But the two accounts I discuss below (one a film, one a book) of meeting physical and psychological challenges are mesmerizing, well told, and thought provoking. However, even though I have no personal interest in under going such challenges, I am fascinated by what these true stories reveal about human behavior — and attempting to understand human behavior has long been one of my own passions.

There are no spoilers in the two short reviews below as one part of Ellen’s and my enjoyment of these two adventures came about without us knowing the results of either of these “extreme” challenges.)

Free Solo *****

This National Geographic documentary is an account of Alex Honnold’s (age 33) attempts to free solo climb (i.e., no ropes) the 3,000 foot high El Capitan Wall in Yosemite Park, arguably the most difficult solo climb in the world.

Free Solo is directed and filmed by the award winning duo of Jimmy Chinn, photographer and mountaineer, and Elizabeth Chai Vasashelyi, documentarian. Their previous film, Meru, told the story of three climbers attempting to scale Mt. Meru in the Himalayas. It won the Sundance Audience Award in 2015.

You don’t have to care about or have particular interest in rock climbing to be mesmerized by this film. It is both an intimate portrait of the climber and of the film making of this adventure. It’s  a thriller told cinemagraphically in a way that will stay with you long after you leave the theater.

Free Solo is in the theaters in the DC metro area now and in other theaters around the country. See it while it’s available on the big screen. I suspect, unfortunately, it will not be there very long.

The White Darkness *****

This true story of adventure and obsession was originally a two part story in The New Yorker (Feb. 12 & 19, 2018) by writer and author David Grann (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, The Old Man & the Gun, and The Devil & Sherlock Holmes).

It tells the story of Henry Worsley, a British special forces officer who idolized Ernest Shackleton and sought to repeat two of Shackleton’s famous polar explorations (attempts to reach the South Pole, 1902-4, and to cross the Antarctic on foot, 1914). Worsley’s journeys took place in 2008 and 2015, roughly 100 years after Shackleton’s.

The printed book is short, 146 pages, including wonderful photos of both Shackleton’s and Worsley’s adventures. It is also a detailed narrative of adventure and a spell- binding story about an individual who pushes himself to extreme limits.

I listened to the Audible edition of The White Darkness, read, ‘dramatized,’ by Will Patton, in (an all too short) two hour and 28 minutes. Consider doing the same yourself. It’s simply superb.

For me these two somewhat short accounts of “extreme” challenges are also stories of obsession, courage, and compulsion. They both go beyond the physical and psychological challenges of each journey. They both discuss the individual, where he came from, what seems to make up who and what he is, and equally of interest, the affect these accounts had on those around the two individuals, in one case a girl friend and a mother, in the other a wife and children.

(Editor’s Note.1: If there is interest, Ellen and I will host one of our ‘pop up’ Sunday night suppers where we not only enjoy Ellen’s good cooking but also exchange thoughts and reflections about these two narratives.

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“The White Darkness: A Journey Across Antarctica”

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

"Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage", "Killers of the Flower Moon", "The Devil and Sherlock Holmes", "The Lost City of Z", "The Worst Journey in the World", Alfred Lansing, Amundsen, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, David Grann, Scott, Shackelton, The New Yorker

If you’re a fan of David Grann (writer for The New Yorker and author of Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and Birth of the FBI; The Lost City of Z; and The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, among other writings by this journalist), go out and buy the current Anniversary Issue of The New Yorker (Feb 12 & 19, 2018, which is on the newsstands now).

Or, go to this link: The White Darkness: Alone in Antarctica, by David Grann, The New Yorker.

                                                  Photograph courtesy Shackleton Foundation

I don’t want to tell you too much about it other than it’s a long article about Henry Wosely, someone you may never have heard about (unless you follow current day explorers).

Think Shackelton, Scott, and Amundsen. And while Grann’s article doesn’t match Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s superb The Worst Journey in the World or Alfred Lansing’s wonderful Endurance: Shackelton’s Incredible Voyage, you won’t be sorry you spent the time on Grann’s article.

 

 

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Is Identity Politics the Problem?

06 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 8 Comments

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"The Once and Future Liberal, David Remnick, Mark Lilla, President Donald Trump, The New Yorker

It’s hard not to focus simply on the latest tweet, appearance, or action by President Trump, especially if you are opposed to what he is doing. He is a master at grabbing attention and getting into one’s head.

At least that is true for me, a liberal, who I have to admit, is often annoyed by and occasionally disagree with some of the liberal and progressive responses to what President Trump and many Republicans are saying and doing.

So I try to stay in touch with some more conservative types, listening to what they say or write.

Occasionally on this website I post or link to something I’ve read that I think goes beyond just knee-jerk reactions or the ‘party line.’

Recently, David Remnick, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker since 1998, posted an interview he had with Mark Lilla on the issue of identity politics. Lilla is a self-described liberal and a professor, currently in residence at Columbia University.

This interview and Lilla’s views (what he believes liberals need to hear and understand) sent me to his very short book, The Once and Future Liberal.

I found the interview and the 160-page book intriguing and reflective of those with whom I talk who are not surprised by Trump’s victory nor by the loss of Democratic majorities in Congress, in state governor-ships, and in statehouses. Over and over I hear that the Democrats are too focused on identity issues, i.e., woman’s issues, minority issues, gender issues, etc. and fail to understand what has happened economically and personally to many others in this country (many who are not members of these identity groups).

While I am not entirely convinced of everything Lilla believes, some of what he says resonates with me. For example, Lilla urges that rather than call names or accuse others of being racists. etc., we need to “frame (issues) in terms of basic values and principles that we share in order to establish sympathy and empathy and identification with someone else.” And I also agree that we (Democrats) have been too focused on simply winning the White House and have given an open field to Republicans on the state level.

If you can divert for a bit from whatever the current noise is on the political scene, check out the interview: A Conversation with Mark Lilla on His Critique of Identify Politics, by David Remnick, The New Yorker, Aug. 25, 2017.

If you have a couple of hours and want to get Lilla directly, check out his book, The Once and Future Liberal.

If you read either, I would very much like to hear from you and what you think about what Lilla is saying. I urge you to consider responding in the Comment section of this post so that there can be a conversation about the issues Lilla raises.

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Understanding Others: Tone More Than Policies?

20 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

"China's Lost Cities", "Oracle Bones", "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze", Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip", Peter Hessler, President Trump, Rural America, The New Yorker

In the past eight months, I have never heard anybody express regret for voting for Donald Trump. If anything, investigations into the Trump campaign’s connections with Russia have made supporters only more faithful. “I’m loving it—I hope they keep going down the Russia rabbit hole,” Matt Patterson told me, in June. He believes that Democrats are banking on an impeachment instead of doing the hard work of trying to connect with voters. “They didn’t even get rid of their leadership after the election,” he said.

and

We were at a coffee shop, and Patterson wore his goth look: silver jewelry, painted nails. “I’ve never been this emotionally invested in a political leader in my life,” he said. “The more they hate him, the more I want him to succeed. Because what they hate about him is what they hate about me.

— from Peter Hessler’s New Yorker article, Follow the Leader: How residents of a rural area started copying the President.

I suspect some readers of this blog site mirror, to some degree, my difficulty in understanding the continuing appeal of President Trump to those “Outside the Beltway” — the title of this particular category of MillersTime’s posts.

Peter Hessler, the author of the article above, is someone I have read for years. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer who wrote one of the best Peace Corps books/memoirs I’ve ever read, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. He followed that up with Oracle Bones, then China’s Lost Cities, and Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 2000 reporting from China and Egypt. In 2007 he moved to rural south west Colorado.

If the two quotes above have interest for you, check out the article from which they are quoted. Hessler has spent at least eight months listening to people in rural Colorado (and elsewhere?) and currently lives Ridgeway, CO,

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“Now Is the Time…It Does Not Have to Be Like This”

04 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 6 Comments

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"Americanah", Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, MacArthur Genius Grantee, The New Yorker

Sometimes it takes someone from outside our society to capture what our own reporters, columnists, and citizens are not saying so clearly.

Thus, a short piece in the New Yorker by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie*, Nigerian author of the wonderful novel Americanah, one of the NYTimes 10 best books of 2013 and also one highly touted by MillersTime readers.

I’ve hesitated to post something such as this, but I think it is time to do so.

Now Is the Time to Talk About What We Are Actually Talking About, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The New Yorker, Dec. 2.

(*Thirty-nine year old female novelist who divides her time between Nigeria and the US.)

Respectful Comments welcomed.

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John Hersey’s “Hiroshima”

13 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Atomic Bomb, Hiroshima, John Hersey, The New Yorker

Last week, The New Yorker made available online the John Hersey Hiroshima article he wrote for the one-year anniversary of the August 6, 1945 atomic blast on Hiroshima.

I may have read it years ago, but I don’t recall having done so. And I can’t imagine forgetting what he wrote. Having just been in Hiroshima last month, I was drawn to the re-release of Hiroshima and read its 31,000 words in one sitting.

It’s a masterpiece.

Continue reading »

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Return to My Lai, Seymour Hersh cont.

26 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

"Return to Mylai", Katie Orlinsky, Mylai massacre, Symour M. Hersch, The New Yorker, Vietnam War

 Pham Thanh Cong, the director of the My Lai Museum, was eleven at the time of the massacre. His mother and four siblings died. “We forgive, but we do not forget,” he said.Credit Photograph by Katie Orlinsky  - The New Yorker

Pham Thanh Cong, the director of the My Lai Museum, was eleven at the time of the massacre. His mother and four siblings died. “We forgive, but we do not forget,” he said. Credit Photograph by Katie Orlinsky – The New Yorker

Having recently returned from a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia and being continually disturbed, and sometimes mystified, about the US role and legacy in that part of the world, I was attracted to the current issue of the New Yorker and Seymour M. Hersh’s article Return to My Lai: The Scene of the Crime – A reporter’s journey to My Lai and the secrets of the past.

Hersh, as you may remember, particularly if you ‘came of age’ during the Vietnam War, broke the story about the My Lai massacre, which, in part, led to a reexamination of our role in that war and in that part of the world.

Now, 47 years later, Hersh returns to Vietnam and specifically to My Lai and discovers things he did not know when he uncovered and wrote about the My Lai massacre.

Check out: Return to My Lai

Also, in a companion ‘article’, there are photographs by New Yorker photojournalist Katie Orlinsky, who accompanied Hersh on this trip. Check out: The Memory of My Lai.

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A Terrific “New Yorker” Article: “Schooled”

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest

≈ 4 Comments

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Cory Booker, Education, Mark Zuckerberg, Philanthropy, Politics, The New Yorker

Politics. Education. Philanthropy.

As in Cory Booker, Newark Schools, Mark Zuckerberg.

If you’re on the MillersTime mailing list, you no doubt have interest in at least one of these topics (unless you got on the list solely because you’re family or you’re interested baseball).

And you may remember a few years ago that then Newark Mayor Cory Booker (now NJ Senator) announced that Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was investing $100 million in what was to be an effort to revamp the Newark public schools.

In this week’s New Yorker Magazine, Dale Russakoff has a fascinating article about what has happened as a result of mixing politics, education, and philanthropy. It’s a long article, but once I started it, I stayed up until I had finished it.

You can read the article, Schooled, on line or get a copy of this week’s magazine. You won’t be disappointed.

Once you’ve finished it, I encourage you to leave a Comment on this site as to what is your ‘takeaway’ from Russakoff’s article and what has happened in Newark.

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The Best Article on Parenting Ever

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Family and Friends

≈ 2 Comments

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The Atlantic Magazine, The New Yorker

No.

I’m not referring to either of the recent Atlantic Monthly articles that seem to have opposite conclusions: Hanna Rosen’s Hey! Parents, Leave Those Kids Alone or Alfie Kohn’s The Over-Protected Kid.

I’m referring to a short New Yorker article entitled New Parenting Study Released with this opening paragraph:

A recent study has shown that if American parents read one more long-form think piece about parenting they will go fucking ape shit.

 Read it through yourself, being sure to get to the last couple of paragraphs.

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Lance Armstrong – “An American Myth”?

18 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Go Sox

≈ 3 Comments

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Lance Armstrong, Michael Specter, The New Yorker

Now that Lance Armstrong has mostly admitted (to Oprah) what he has done, is forgiveness to follow? (Click on the red ‘link’ above to see for yourself three minutes of highlights of Armstrong’s Oprah interview).

Check out this article — What Lance Armstrong Did — in The New Yorker, written by Michael Specter, Jan. 15th.

I agree completely.

Enough of Lance Armstrong.

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“Transaction Man” – A Fair Portrayal of Mitt Romney

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ Leave a Comment

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Mitt Romney, Nichoals Lemann, The Mind of Mitt Romney, The New Yorker, Transaction Man

The current issue of The New Yorker, Oct. 1, has an interesting article on the strengths and weaknesses of the mind and the career of Mitt Romney.

I recommend Transaction Man: The Mind of Mitt Romney* to all, whether you are for or against him, whether you like or dislike him, whether you support Barack Obama, etc.

The author, Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia and also a writer for The New Yorker, has written what seems to me one of the better profiles of Mitt Romney that I‘ve read this campaign season.

(*The NYer article is behind a pay wall, and I’m not sure the link will get the whole article to you. In the link provided, you will at least get a summary of the article.)

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