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fauxkloreCelebrity Death Watch: Bill Rice was a country music singer and songwriter. Robert Brustein was a theatre critic. Ado Ibrahim was the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, which is some sort of Nigerian traditional ruler. Frank “Hondo” Howard played outfield and first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Senators (who became the Texas Rangers). Tyler Christopher was a soap opera actor. Linda Horseman wrote books about law, women, and social issues, including one about Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ken Mattingly was an astronaut, who flew on Apollo 16 and a couple of space shuttle missions. Oleg Protopopov was a champion pairs skater. Dick Drago was a relief pitcher, who played for several teams including the Red Sox.
Betty Reardon was a leader in peace education. Gord Smith was a sculptor. Simon Sze invented the floating=gate MOSFET. Bob Knight was a basketball coach. Don Walsh was an oceanographer. Michael Bishop was a science fiction writer. Maryanne Trump Barry was a judge and the sister of a famous grifter. Betty Rollin wrote memoirs about cancer. Radcliffe Bailey was a prominent mixed-media artist. George “Funky” Brown played drums for Kool & the Gang. Suzanne Shepherd was an actress, known largely for playing older women. Herbert Gold was a novelist who was considered adjacent to the beat poets. Mars Williams played saxophone for the Psychedelic Furs among other bands. Ann Rachlin wrote stories about classical music, among other things. Linda Salzman Sagan drew the illustration for the plaque on the Pioneer spacecraft. Jean Knight sang “Mr. Big Stuff.” Charles Peters was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly. Steve Jurczyk was a NASA administrator. Elliot Silverstein was a film director. Ron Hodges was a catcher for the New York Mets. Les Maguire performed with Gerry and the Pacemakers. Tim Dorsey wrote a series of novels about a vigilante anti-hero. Frances Sternhagen was an actress, primarily in theatre. Mary L. Cleave was a shuttle astronaut. Charlie Munger was the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Julius W. Becton, Jr. directed FEMA from 1985 to 1989.
Matthew Perry was an actor, best known for playing Chandler on Friends.
Frank Borman was an astronaut. He commanded Apollo-8, which was the first mission to orbit the moon. Later on, he became an executive for Eastern Airlines.
A. S. Byatt was a novelist, most famous for Possession. I hadn’t realized until looking at her obituary that she was Margaret Drabble’s sister. Her death also finally got me to stop confusing her with V. S. Naipaul, which whom she had pretty much nothing in common other than the use of two initials.
You cannot possibly need me to tell you who Rosalynn Carter was. In addition to marrying Jimmy Carter, she put a lot of effort into activism relating to mental health. And, of course, both of the Carters were active in charities, including the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. I don’t expect Jimmy to last long without her.
Marty Krofft was a puppeteer who, along with his brother, Sid, was responsible for such TV series as H. R. Pufnstuff.
John Nichols was a novelist, known for The Sterile Cuckoo and The Milagro Beanfield War.
Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State and national security advisor under Nixon and Ford. He was known for “shuttle diplomacy,” during the Yom Kippur War. On the plus side, he fostered U.S. relations with China and detente with Russia. But he was also responsible for the bombing of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War. as well as supporting right wing dictators in South America. He should never have been given the Nobel Peace Prize, but that’s true of the majority of those who have won it.
Shane MacGowan was the lead singer of The Pogues. He was also a songwriter, best known for "Fairytale of New York."
Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time of her appointment in 1981, there was no women’s restroom near the Courtroom. She was generally conservative (by the standards of the time), usually siding with William Rehnquist, but tended to make narrow decisions on issues like aborton and the role of religion in public life. By the standards of certain current justices, she would appear very liberal due to her respect for precedent. She was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 8 points.
Non-celebrity Death Watch: Anne Giotta was my friend, Kathleen’s, mother. She was a lively woman, who continued to be active and engaged in her nineties.
Clint Weathers was known as ZenRhino to pople on TinyTIM, a MUD I hung out on from time to time. I was privileged to meet him (and eat his cooking). I particularly remember a recipe of his that started with telling you to turn off the smoke detector. I recommend reading his obituary, which includes a lovely poem he wrote.
A Left-over Photograph: I never posted this picture of a car I saw in the parking lot at McKay’s Used Books earlier in November. It amused and scared me in equal measures.
Grimm Keepers: Our most recent discussion was of “The Mouse, The Bird, and the Sausage.” I am, apparently, the only person in the group who has collections of songs from Broadside Magazine, since that’s where I originally knew this story from. We had an interesting discussion of other related stories, most of which are the ones where husband and wife exchange responsibilities. The weird part of the Grimm version is that the three creatures (if you can call a sausage a creature) all have fixed roles, instead of taking turns at doing the various jobs. At any rate, it’s always an interesting discussion.
Thanksgiving: I had a very low-key Thanksgiving this year. I cooked a mildly restive meal (salmon with wild rice and succotash) and curled up in bed with a Dick Francis novel for most of the evening.
Library of Congress:mallorys_camera was in town and we managed to get together to go to the Library of Congress on Friday, after a little confusion on my part as to which day we were talking about getting together. Fortunately, my friend, Teri, who works there was in town and offered to meet us there and show us around. I’ve been there a bunch of times but I still learned some new things. And I got my reader’s card, which is something I’ve intended to do for ages but hadn’t gotten around to. We visited the Gershwin room (George’s piano!), the Whittall Pavilion (where the Stradivari live, when not being played), the Grand Hall (whence the painting of Minerva in this photo) and the overlook of the Main Reading Room. Afterwards we went to a nearby Starbucks for hot beverages and more conversation. It was a very nice afternoon, with lots of lively conversation.
The Medicare Saga Concludes: The person I talked to at Social Security who told me she was messaging the local office was successful in moving things along and I finally, after two months, got the approval and, a few days later, my benefits verification letter with my Medicare ID number. It;s amazing how much stress one incompetent employee can cause.
There was a minor kerfuffle regarding my 2024 retiree medical benefits because the people who write our open enrollment brochure could not have been more confusing about some changes, creating a minor panic, but the info from the the organization they outsource some of that to was much clearer and all is good.
Along those lines, I can now catch up on some medical things. I was able to refill some prescriptions before my upcoming trip. And I got my COVID booster and flu shot. I’ll get the RSV vaccine and the updated pneumonia vaccine when I’m back from vacation, as well as scheduling a mammogram and bone density test. I also need to start the process of arranging cataract surgery and do a routine appointment with my doctor, but that will all be in January.
YIVO Talk: YIVO had a zoom talk about the new podcast (well, actually, season 3 of a series, but with a different focus) from the Fortunoff Archive called Remembering Vilna. The previous two seasons of the series had been focused on individual people, while this was focused on the city of Vilna (i.e. Vilnius, Lithuania, which was my grandfather’s birthplace) via interviews with several people who survived the Shoah there. The most interesting part was when they played excerpts from the interviews. I’m going to have to find time to listen to the podcast, but it may be a while.
Virginia Quilt Museum: I drove out to Harrisonburg to go to the Virginia Quilt Museum on Tuesday. I’m not particularly fond of driving on I-=81, which tends to have too many large trucks, but the traffic wasn’t bad. However, it was quite windy, which is annoying when you drive a little car like mine.
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to go was because they had advertised an exhibit connecting historical quilts to Beatles’ songs. The connections proved to be very tenuous. For example, the colors of one quilt were supposed to remind you of “Yellow Submarine,” while another was titled “Strawberry Fields.” Fortunately, the other exhibits were better. I was particularly taken with one titled “Bearing Witness: Civil War Story Quilts by Lesley Riley.” This consisted of a series of quilts using digitally enhanced 160+ year old photographs. There are several of Civil War nurses, including Clara Barton, as well as some of soldiers. It’s all very impressive.
Another excellent collection was titled “Rock, Paper, and Stone” and has quilts made by local women capturing the textures of stones in a stormy sea, bands of malachite, ammonite geodes, and petroglyphs. There are also things like a quilt capturing New Year’s resolutions by members of the local community, another one including messages from people who served in the military during Operation Desert Storm, and lots of sewing machines and notions.
They allow you to take photos but tell you not to post them on social media, due to copyright concerns. So you’ll have to go see for yourself. But I can show you a picture of this small piece that I bought in the gift shop.
Betty Reardon was a leader in peace education. Gord Smith was a sculptor. Simon Sze invented the floating=gate MOSFET. Bob Knight was a basketball coach. Don Walsh was an oceanographer. Michael Bishop was a science fiction writer. Maryanne Trump Barry was a judge and the sister of a famous grifter. Betty Rollin wrote memoirs about cancer. Radcliffe Bailey was a prominent mixed-media artist. George “Funky” Brown played drums for Kool & the Gang. Suzanne Shepherd was an actress, known largely for playing older women. Herbert Gold was a novelist who was considered adjacent to the beat poets. Mars Williams played saxophone for the Psychedelic Furs among other bands. Ann Rachlin wrote stories about classical music, among other things. Linda Salzman Sagan drew the illustration for the plaque on the Pioneer spacecraft. Jean Knight sang “Mr. Big Stuff.” Charles Peters was the founder and editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly. Steve Jurczyk was a NASA administrator. Elliot Silverstein was a film director. Ron Hodges was a catcher for the New York Mets. Les Maguire performed with Gerry and the Pacemakers. Tim Dorsey wrote a series of novels about a vigilante anti-hero. Frances Sternhagen was an actress, primarily in theatre. Mary L. Cleave was a shuttle astronaut. Charlie Munger was the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Julius W. Becton, Jr. directed FEMA from 1985 to 1989.
Matthew Perry was an actor, best known for playing Chandler on Friends.
Frank Borman was an astronaut. He commanded Apollo-8, which was the first mission to orbit the moon. Later on, he became an executive for Eastern Airlines.
A. S. Byatt was a novelist, most famous for Possession. I hadn’t realized until looking at her obituary that she was Margaret Drabble’s sister. Her death also finally got me to stop confusing her with V. S. Naipaul, which whom she had pretty much nothing in common other than the use of two initials.
You cannot possibly need me to tell you who Rosalynn Carter was. In addition to marrying Jimmy Carter, she put a lot of effort into activism relating to mental health. And, of course, both of the Carters were active in charities, including the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity. I don’t expect Jimmy to last long without her.
Marty Krofft was a puppeteer who, along with his brother, Sid, was responsible for such TV series as H. R. Pufnstuff.
John Nichols was a novelist, known for The Sterile Cuckoo and The Milagro Beanfield War.
Henry Kissinger was Secretary of State and national security advisor under Nixon and Ford. He was known for “shuttle diplomacy,” during the Yom Kippur War. On the plus side, he fostered U.S. relations with China and detente with Russia. But he was also responsible for the bombing of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War. as well as supporting right wing dictators in South America. He should never have been given the Nobel Peace Prize, but that’s true of the majority of those who have won it.
Shane MacGowan was the lead singer of The Pogues. He was also a songwriter, best known for "Fairytale of New York."
Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. At the time of her appointment in 1981, there was no women’s restroom near the Courtroom. She was generally conservative (by the standards of the time), usually siding with William Rehnquist, but tended to make narrow decisions on issues like aborton and the role of religion in public life. By the standards of certain current justices, she would appear very liberal due to her respect for precedent. She was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 8 points.
Non-celebrity Death Watch: Anne Giotta was my friend, Kathleen’s, mother. She was a lively woman, who continued to be active and engaged in her nineties.
Clint Weathers was known as ZenRhino to pople on TinyTIM, a MUD I hung out on from time to time. I was privileged to meet him (and eat his cooking). I particularly remember a recipe of his that started with telling you to turn off the smoke detector. I recommend reading his obituary, which includes a lovely poem he wrote.
A Left-over Photograph: I never posted this picture of a car I saw in the parking lot at McKay’s Used Books earlier in November. It amused and scared me in equal measures.
Grimm Keepers: Our most recent discussion was of “The Mouse, The Bird, and the Sausage.” I am, apparently, the only person in the group who has collections of songs from Broadside Magazine, since that’s where I originally knew this story from. We had an interesting discussion of other related stories, most of which are the ones where husband and wife exchange responsibilities. The weird part of the Grimm version is that the three creatures (if you can call a sausage a creature) all have fixed roles, instead of taking turns at doing the various jobs. At any rate, it’s always an interesting discussion.
Thanksgiving: I had a very low-key Thanksgiving this year. I cooked a mildly restive meal (salmon with wild rice and succotash) and curled up in bed with a Dick Francis novel for most of the evening.
Library of Congress:
mallorys_camera was in town and we managed to get together to go to the Library of Congress on Friday, after a little confusion on my part as to which day we were talking about getting together. Fortunately, my friend, Teri, who works there was in town and offered to meet us there and show us around. I’ve been there a bunch of times but I still learned some new things. And I got my reader’s card, which is something I’ve intended to do for ages but hadn’t gotten around to. We visited the Gershwin room (George’s piano!), the Whittall Pavilion (where the Stradivari live, when not being played), the Grand Hall (whence the painting of Minerva in this photo) and the overlook of the Main Reading Room. Afterwards we went to a nearby Starbucks for hot beverages and more conversation. It was a very nice afternoon, with lots of lively conversation.The Medicare Saga Concludes: The person I talked to at Social Security who told me she was messaging the local office was successful in moving things along and I finally, after two months, got the approval and, a few days later, my benefits verification letter with my Medicare ID number. It;s amazing how much stress one incompetent employee can cause.
There was a minor kerfuffle regarding my 2024 retiree medical benefits because the people who write our open enrollment brochure could not have been more confusing about some changes, creating a minor panic, but the info from the the organization they outsource some of that to was much clearer and all is good.
Along those lines, I can now catch up on some medical things. I was able to refill some prescriptions before my upcoming trip. And I got my COVID booster and flu shot. I’ll get the RSV vaccine and the updated pneumonia vaccine when I’m back from vacation, as well as scheduling a mammogram and bone density test. I also need to start the process of arranging cataract surgery and do a routine appointment with my doctor, but that will all be in January.
YIVO Talk: YIVO had a zoom talk about the new podcast (well, actually, season 3 of a series, but with a different focus) from the Fortunoff Archive called Remembering Vilna. The previous two seasons of the series had been focused on individual people, while this was focused on the city of Vilna (i.e. Vilnius, Lithuania, which was my grandfather’s birthplace) via interviews with several people who survived the Shoah there. The most interesting part was when they played excerpts from the interviews. I’m going to have to find time to listen to the podcast, but it may be a while.
Virginia Quilt Museum: I drove out to Harrisonburg to go to the Virginia Quilt Museum on Tuesday. I’m not particularly fond of driving on I-=81, which tends to have too many large trucks, but the traffic wasn’t bad. However, it was quite windy, which is annoying when you drive a little car like mine.
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to go was because they had advertised an exhibit connecting historical quilts to Beatles’ songs. The connections proved to be very tenuous. For example, the colors of one quilt were supposed to remind you of “Yellow Submarine,” while another was titled “Strawberry Fields.” Fortunately, the other exhibits were better. I was particularly taken with one titled “Bearing Witness: Civil War Story Quilts by Lesley Riley.” This consisted of a series of quilts using digitally enhanced 160+ year old photographs. There are several of Civil War nurses, including Clara Barton, as well as some of soldiers. It’s all very impressive.
Another excellent collection was titled “Rock, Paper, and Stone” and has quilts made by local women capturing the textures of stones in a stormy sea, bands of malachite, ammonite geodes, and petroglyphs. There are also things like a quilt capturing New Year’s resolutions by members of the local community, another one including messages from people who served in the military during Operation Desert Storm, and lots of sewing machines and notions.
They allow you to take photos but tell you not to post them on social media, due to copyright concerns. So you’ll have to go see for yourself. But I can show you a picture of this small piece that I bought in the gift shop.
