Meeting Bowls in NYC encourage conversation

One part of my summer work has involved working with colleagues to select furnishings for Old Main, where we will move in a few months.  We've tried out office chairs, discussed bookshelves, and thought hard about the benefits and draw-backs of various configurations of seating and writing surface for the classrooms.  We've also delighted that we'll have several areas designed specifically to encourage students and us to be conversation with each other: comfy chairs, nice view, etc.

All that is in the background of my enjoyment of this story about urban furnishings.  Look at those two, inside the bowl.  Try not to think of the spinning teacups at Disney Land although the bowls do rock a bit when people enter.  Imagine the conversation they are having as they face each other inside that bowl in the midst of Time Square. 

No, we will not install these in the lawn, outside the east entrance of Old Main.  Perhaps we will have some inviting chairs on the porch.

Animating history . . . Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson, is not one of my favorite books despite my fascination with the 1893 World's Fair.  (This the legacy of those years in Hyde Park where the Midway marks one region of its location and recalls the Ferris Wheel and other wonders.)  His recounting of two intertwined stories--the White City at the Colombian Exposition and a murderer who exploited the transient presence of fair-goers--are compelling, but perhaps too much so.  It was frightening.  Not long after I read the book I stayed at Chicago's Congress Hotel; that was about the creepiest room I've ever rented.

In his Chautauqua talk about his new book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, he says that his goal as an author is to "animate history."  He also claimed that in some way this is different from what historians intend to do.  His goal is more to transport his readers to the time he writes about.  Based on the lingering fear the earlier book imparted to me, he succeeds.

He also described his path into the topic of his new book, that is his research.  That also was interesting and worth remembering when we come to the "Day in a Life" assignment at the end of 201.  To hear the talk we'll have to go through MPR's Mid-day site which seems not to allow a direct link to the talk.  He began with the biggest picture provided by reputable scholars and worked his way toward the personal stories and minute details of his characters' lives. 

After hearing Larson talk, I also wonder if I should re-read the earlier book and look for a section we could read along with the relevant chapter in Gilbert's Perfect Cities.

Don't be that guy

Don't Be That Guy is "a refreshing and new approach to tackling sexual violence among youth aged 16 to 25. Instead of placing responsibility for preventing sexual assault in the hands of victims, the posters appeal to potential offenders—speaking directly to them in their language. The posters can be displayed in bars as well as other places where young people gather."  


You can see the posters on their FACEBOOK PAGE or on the WEB-PAGE

Here is a notable instance of the importance of freedom of speech being linked to responsibility to listen and a reminder that freedom of speech also is a form of self-determination.  Not only are we in favor of individuals (including young women) having the right to speak, but also of their right to autonomy about their lives and bodies.

Coalhouse: Context for Ragtime

As we prepare to read Ragtime together and to pay attention to various social matters the new Martin Luther King memorial is being dedicated on the mall in Washington, D. C.  King's "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered a dozen years before Doctorow's novel was published in 1975.  Malcolm X was assassinated a decade before the book.  Three years later, King was assassinated. These three events remind us of the context in which Doctorow was writing and of the pressing concerns that informed him as he represented an earlier era of American life. 

As I listened this morning to an American Icon episode on Malcolm X Coalhouse, both the man and the group around him, echoed.  I was struck as much by the testimony of people who had been effected by his autobiography as much as by the portrayal of Malcolm X.  A white journalist spoke of recognizing the truth of the book's portrayal of "white devils."  A black man recalled trying to join the Black Panthers when he was about 15 years old: when he declared his desire to be armed, he was given a stack of books that included The Autobiography of Malcolm X. 

Riverwalk Marketplace: Saturdays in Northfield

Our little town has revived market day.  The seasonal, weekly event makes great use of our riverfront. 

It is not yet quite what we loved in Madison, Wisconsin walking around Capital Square on a Saturday to stock up on the week's supply of veggies, to enjoy fresh pastries, to look at the people.  But. . .  there are veggies, and delicious pastries, and people to see as well as ceramics, and jewelry, and other crafts by artisans who reside within 25 miles.