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Celebrity Death Watch: Thomas Cahill wrote several books about history, including How the Irish Saved Civilization. Charles Duncan, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of Energy from 1979 to 1981. Robert Gordon was a rockabilly singer. John Jay Osborne wrote The Paper Chase. Charley Trippi was a Hall of Fame football player. Ron Masak was an actor, best known for playing Sheriff Metzler on Murder, She Wrote. Leslie Jordan was an actor and writer. Mike Davis wrote about urban life, with City of Quartz (about Los Angeles) a notable example. Julie Powell wrote Julie & Julia. Gael Greene was the food critic for New York Magazine for over 30 years. Geraldine Hunt was an R&B singer. D. H. Peligro played drums for the Dead Kennedys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Mike Fanning played football for the L.A. Rams for seven seasons. Samuel Katz was one of the developers of the measles vaccine. George Booth was a cartoonist, whose work often appeared in The New Yorker. Ray Guy was the first punter to be inducted into the football Hall of Fame. Bill Sheffield was the governor of Alaska from 1982 to 1986. Aaron Carter was a teen idol in the 1990’s. Jeff Cook was one of the founders of Alabama (the country band, not the state). Lee Bontecou was a sculptor. Gallagher was a comedian, best known for a shtick involving smashing watermelons.
Both of Carly Simon’s sisters died within a day of one another. Joanna Simon was an opera singer, while Lucy Simon was a folk singer who went on to write the lovely score for the Broadway musical The Secret Garden.
Ash Carter was the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2015-2017. He had been the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics for two years before that and was, effectively, my customer great-great-grandboss in that role. I vaguely remember that he sent out fewer memos and definitely had fewer all-hands meetings than his successors did. At ay rate, he was a smart man and a devoted public servant.
Jerry Lee Lewis was a singer and pianist, who stirred up controversy by marrying his 13-year-old cousin. His songs, like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” were high energy and defined an era.
Friends Death Watch: Josephine Quinones died on November 5th at the age of 95. She was a mainstay of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and Lollapuzzoola, along with her daughter, Christine, and her son, Ric. She was a warm and lovely person and I am glad I had the opportunity to know her.
Beisbol: Once the Source of All Evil in the Universe was defeated, I didn’t really care much about the postseason. I am okay with the Astros having won the World Series, despite the 2017 cheating scandal. My logic is that the most important players to their win (e.g. Yordan Alvarez) were not part of the team then. And, of course, Dusty Baker was not managing the team then.
Liana Finck: I went to a (virtual) talk by graphic novelist Liana Finck last Wednesday. I had really enjoyed her book, based on A Bintel Brief (A Bundle of Letters), which was an advice column in the Yiddish newspaper, the Jewish Daily Forward. Her new book is Let There Be Light and is based on the biblical book of Genesis. The twist is that she imagines G-d as a young girl. I particularly liked her take on the Garden of Eden, where she imagines Eve being tempted not by a snake but by Lilith. (In Jewish tradition, Lilith was Adam’s first wife.) Anyway, it sounds like a book I’d like to get. I also found her discussion of her influences, which include Roz Chast and Sol Sternberg, to be interesting.
Cox Farms Fall Festival: Last Thursday my friend, Frances, and I went to Cox Farms in Centerville for their Fall Festival. I had originally texted a few friends to ask about going on the weekend, but Frances pointed out it was half-price on Thursday and, therefore, twice as much fun. We started out with going on a hayride - something I hadn’t done since I was about 10 years old. It gave us a pretty good tour of the sprawling property, which has a number of silly features, like dinosaurs and ghosts and pumpkins. And aliens.
The main reason I wanted to go to Cox Farms in the first place was Foamhenge. This model of Stonehenge is made out of styrofoam and used to be out near Natural Bridge in the Shenandoah Valley, but was moved to Cox Farms some time ago. It’s about what you’d expect. As silly henge models go, I think Carhenge in Nebraska is better, but this was worth a look.
We tasted some apple cider, then went to The Forest. There are sculptures that have to do with a lot of different classic children’s stories. You can help Little Bo Peep find her sheep, for example, and go to the house of the Three Bears. The three little pigs were safely inside a sturdy house, but the Big Bad Wolf lurked outside.
There is also a unicorn.
There were real farm animals (including cows, sheep, and pigs). And the Cornundrum, which had various rooms (like the Pharaoh’s tomb), a place where you were supposed to count aliens, a room full of (artificial) bugs, etc. I would have preferred an actual corn maze. There are various slides, but those are entirely for children. And there is plenty of junk food, as well as a farm market, which had cider and donuts. Your admission included a pumpkin to take home, which I passed on, since I am lazy enough to prefer my pumpkins to come nicely ready to use in a can. Anyway, it was entertaining enough for a couple of hours.
Leading Jewish Minds: MIT Hillel has a regular series of talks by Jewish professors. This one (last Friday) was by Paul Osterman o Free Agents or Company People: What Will Work Look Like?. While he discussed long-term changes in how work is organized (including increased inequality, declines in union membership, and automation), he mostly focused on the changes in the relationship between employers and employees. He didn’t really talk about remote work, but was focused on three categories of workers - standard employees, freelancers, and contractors, The latter range from the low end (cleaning services and security guards) to the high end (computer programmers and professionals like adjunct faculty). Gig workers make up very small numbers. Overall, he said that freelancers are satisfied, but contractors are often treated poorly. What he discussed was pretty much entirely within the private sector, however, and he didn’t discuss government contractors, who (in my experience) rarely want to be actual government employees. He also mentioned the need for policies to address standards and training. Overall, it was an interesting talk, but decidedly a work in progress.
Intergenerational Storytelling: To follow up on my previous post, my storytelling event last Friday night went well. I was pleased to see several people I knew among the attendees. I thought everyone told well and I got positive feedback. I should also note that I was particularly delighted by Laura’s twist on a selkie story, transported from the Irish tradition to Florida.
Still to Come: I have several other things still to write about, including:
Both of Carly Simon’s sisters died within a day of one another. Joanna Simon was an opera singer, while Lucy Simon was a folk singer who went on to write the lovely score for the Broadway musical The Secret Garden.
Ash Carter was the U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2015-2017. He had been the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics for two years before that and was, effectively, my customer great-great-grandboss in that role. I vaguely remember that he sent out fewer memos and definitely had fewer all-hands meetings than his successors did. At ay rate, he was a smart man and a devoted public servant.
Jerry Lee Lewis was a singer and pianist, who stirred up controversy by marrying his 13-year-old cousin. His songs, like “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On” were high energy and defined an era.
Friends Death Watch: Josephine Quinones died on November 5th at the age of 95. She was a mainstay of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and Lollapuzzoola, along with her daughter, Christine, and her son, Ric. She was a warm and lovely person and I am glad I had the opportunity to know her.
Beisbol: Once the Source of All Evil in the Universe was defeated, I didn’t really care much about the postseason. I am okay with the Astros having won the World Series, despite the 2017 cheating scandal. My logic is that the most important players to their win (e.g. Yordan Alvarez) were not part of the team then. And, of course, Dusty Baker was not managing the team then.
Liana Finck: I went to a (virtual) talk by graphic novelist Liana Finck last Wednesday. I had really enjoyed her book, based on A Bintel Brief (A Bundle of Letters), which was an advice column in the Yiddish newspaper, the Jewish Daily Forward. Her new book is Let There Be Light and is based on the biblical book of Genesis. The twist is that she imagines G-d as a young girl. I particularly liked her take on the Garden of Eden, where she imagines Eve being tempted not by a snake but by Lilith. (In Jewish tradition, Lilith was Adam’s first wife.) Anyway, it sounds like a book I’d like to get. I also found her discussion of her influences, which include Roz Chast and Sol Sternberg, to be interesting.
Cox Farms Fall Festival: Last Thursday my friend, Frances, and I went to Cox Farms in Centerville for their Fall Festival. I had originally texted a few friends to ask about going on the weekend, but Frances pointed out it was half-price on Thursday and, therefore, twice as much fun. We started out with going on a hayride - something I hadn’t done since I was about 10 years old. It gave us a pretty good tour of the sprawling property, which has a number of silly features, like dinosaurs and ghosts and pumpkins. And aliens.
The main reason I wanted to go to Cox Farms in the first place was Foamhenge. This model of Stonehenge is made out of styrofoam and used to be out near Natural Bridge in the Shenandoah Valley, but was moved to Cox Farms some time ago. It’s about what you’d expect. As silly henge models go, I think Carhenge in Nebraska is better, but this was worth a look.
We tasted some apple cider, then went to The Forest. There are sculptures that have to do with a lot of different classic children’s stories. You can help Little Bo Peep find her sheep, for example, and go to the house of the Three Bears. The three little pigs were safely inside a sturdy house, but the Big Bad Wolf lurked outside.
There is also a unicorn.
There were real farm animals (including cows, sheep, and pigs). And the Cornundrum, which had various rooms (like the Pharaoh’s tomb), a place where you were supposed to count aliens, a room full of (artificial) bugs, etc. I would have preferred an actual corn maze. There are various slides, but those are entirely for children. And there is plenty of junk food, as well as a farm market, which had cider and donuts. Your admission included a pumpkin to take home, which I passed on, since I am lazy enough to prefer my pumpkins to come nicely ready to use in a can. Anyway, it was entertaining enough for a couple of hours.
Leading Jewish Minds: MIT Hillel has a regular series of talks by Jewish professors. This one (last Friday) was by Paul Osterman o Free Agents or Company People: What Will Work Look Like?. While he discussed long-term changes in how work is organized (including increased inequality, declines in union membership, and automation), he mostly focused on the changes in the relationship between employers and employees. He didn’t really talk about remote work, but was focused on three categories of workers - standard employees, freelancers, and contractors, The latter range from the low end (cleaning services and security guards) to the high end (computer programmers and professionals like adjunct faculty). Gig workers make up very small numbers. Overall, he said that freelancers are satisfied, but contractors are often treated poorly. What he discussed was pretty much entirely within the private sector, however, and he didn’t discuss government contractors, who (in my experience) rarely want to be actual government employees. He also mentioned the need for policies to address standards and training. Overall, it was an interesting talk, but decidedly a work in progress.
Intergenerational Storytelling: To follow up on my previous post, my storytelling event last Friday night went well. I was pleased to see several people I knew among the attendees. I thought everyone told well and I got positive feedback. I should also note that I was particularly delighted by Laura’s twist on a selkie story, transported from the Irish tradition to Florida.
Still to Come: I have several other things still to write about, including:
- Genealogy stuff, including IAJGS presentations and a surprising record that I am skeptical about
- Last weekend, which I spent in the Shenandoah Valley
- Politics
- Concert going
- Language learning
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