Monthly Archives: July 2018

Los Meros Meros

Posted on July 27, 2018 by JMN

Check out this video on YouTube: I love this video. It makes me grin and tap my foot. Current Stats for Future Reference (2018) Decline in city’s median age last 7 years: 36.4 to 35.8. Hispanic population of county: 47% … Continue reading →

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The Road of Paint: Zadie Smith, “Henry Taylor’s Promiscuous Painting,” New Yorker, July 30, 2018 issue

Posted on July 26, 2018 by JMN

[Henry Taylor’s paintings are transfixing for me. I’m infinity shy of his league as a painter, but I was touched by the “road of chaos… road of paint” phrase that Zadie Smith uses to name the path that Taylor has … Continue reading →

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Overheard in the Teachers’ Lounge

Posted on July 25, 2018 by JMN

One of our football coaches, a vet in his forties, recounted how his wife ribbed him about being a neat freak. “Your underwear drawer is relentlessly organized, your t-shirts are folded, your Levis are on hangers!” she would exclaim. His … Continue reading →

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Dear Mother… I also finished

Posted on July 25, 2018 by JMN

I also finished the “Teacher in America” book and loaned it to Charles last night. Herbert, Charles and I had lunch last week and I mentioned the book to them. Herbert knew of Barzun, said he had read several of … Continue reading →

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Finger Hut Follies

Posted on July 25, 2018 by JMN

Mimsy and Chance Lafarge went to Cloudburst for the weekend to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Drove up in two cars with Dandi and Mitch Oddbocker and Shay and Rafe Bickford. Planned to split up on Saturday so Mimsy, Dandi, and … Continue reading →

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Dear Mother… I visited

Posted on July 25, 2018 by JMN

I visited with *** last night and we went over my translation, reading it against his published rendering. He was pleased to see no great errors, but saw places where he would like to change his version to match the … Continue reading →

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Botticelli Deconstructed

Posted on July 24, 2018 by JMN

youtube.com/embed/m4j4RwzE6j4 Hannah Gadsby on the “Birth of Venus.”

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“Vassar Pembroke Confronts the Spanish Language Teacher”

Posted on July 23, 2018 by JMN

Vassar Pembroke Confronts the Spanish Language Teacher Vassar Pembroke busts his chops, Spits her mind with no preamble, Says his teaching method flops According to her daughter Campbell. “Campbell says she’s not inspired. You do not motivate her much. Your … Continue reading →

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“Shed Down By the River” Continued

Posted on July 23, 2018 by JMN

Two other things that impressed me: (2) Among my peers at the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras in Barcelona, the “pandilla” was the organizing social unit — congenial, urbane, catholic, benign, excluding neither the ill-favored nor the studious nor the … Continue reading →

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Jonathan Gold

Posted on July 23, 2018 by JMN

“I’m not a cultural anthropologist,” he once said. “I write about taco stands and fancy French restaurants to try to get people less afraid of their neighbors and to live in their entire city instead of sticking to their one … Continue reading →

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