today and tomorrow/May 5

Most Distant View from Hubble Space Telescope

Quarantine Stew

Thanks Carole for this recipe!  I'm emailing it today.

 Chicago Humanities Festival

A cultural favorite hasn't disappeared.  I'm sending their latest efforts.

Telephone Topics

If you haven't zoomed yet, or are tired of it, Mather has a lineup of presentations you can get to with your phone.  I'm sending this week's program.

Perspective

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by events or my own thinking, the space pictures help me out.   

today and tomorrow/May 4

What They Didn’t Teach in High School

One of the most rewarding classes I’ve taken was reading with others A Peoples History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.  It opened up a narrative of the American story that was new, exciting and important.

Someone once told me that if you want to learn something new a good place to start would be with a high school text.  

The Nation magazine is offering a remote learning experience based on 155 year of Nation archives.  It’s aimed at middle and high schoolers.  I’m emailing the information for the youngsters among us — and maybe an oldster or two.

Gerry’b blog

He’s writing about masks and you know he’s not just talking about the ones we’re all wearing now.  Look for it in your email.

Comment on Gerry’s Blog about Masks

I was so touched by this poem.

She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through.

Then passed right by–

And never knew.

Shel Silverstein

today and tomorrow/May 3

Films and More Films

Quarantine Film List

Barry Jenkins, the Oscar-winning director best known for Moonlight, was wrapping an upcoming television project when the stay-at-home orders arrived. Jenkins told Atlantic staff writer David Sims. “It’s just been one continuous Monday.”

To reclaim that Friday-at-the-movies feeling, try one of these Jenkins-approved picks:

MID-AUGUST LUNCH (2008)

The film: This light Italian comedy-drama follows a man who starts caring for his neighbors’ elderly relatives during the busy holiday season as a way to pay off his debts.

Jenkins’s notes: “I’ve been [thinking] about Italy during this crisis, and this was a tiny film I’d seen years ago. It’s the most amazing little film, the directorial debut of the writer of the Italian film Gomorrah. It’s 75 minutes, it’s on Amazon Prime, and it’s just delightful.”

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016)

The film: A zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in South Korea, ensnaring the passengers of a train on the way to the city of Busan.

Jenkins’s notes: “This was [Jenkins’s partner, the writer and the director Lulu Wang’s] recommendation. I hadn’t seen it, but it’s really awesome—I was in the back room where we watched, screaming and shouting. It transported us, in a way! We turned the lights off, enjoyed the jump scares.”

Watch it on: Netflix

STALKER (1979)

The film: Andrei Tarkovsky’s sci-fi masterwork sees a strange figure called the “Stalker” leading a writer and a professor into the forbidden and desolate “zone,” where a room supposedly exists that can fulfill any desire.

Jenkins’s notes: “It’s the kind of movie that sits in the back of your head.”

Watch it on: Criterion Channel

Cannes and Sundance will Stream its Films for Free on You Tube

Thanks Carole for this good news.

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/cannes-sundace-film-festival-stream/

today and tomorrow/May 2

Leadership

Steve Kerr is one of my favorite people.  I loved him as a Bull.  I don’t know when I learned about his father’s murder by Lebanese terrorists, but it made his success very poignant.   What an admirable life he has fashioned as an athlete and coach.

Realizing how starved we are for leadership now, Sally Jenkins, writing in the Washington Post, decided to interview three great coaches for their ideas and guidance.  Steve Kerr is one of them.

Kerr says: “The greatest outside shooters in the NBA make less than 50 percent.  Failure for a coach is “inevitable.”  The coach who finds the right word is the one who searches for a way to persuade others of the great value in going for it and putting yourself in the moment and not fearing the repercussion of the miss or the loss.”

Jenkins says: “Think about the lack of blame or credit in that statement.” 

2020 Olympic Games

Lori sent this video of a rehearsal for ceremony at the games that will never be.  Amazing energy. I'm emailing it.

today and tomorrow/May 1

May Day

Today is a perfect day to acknowledge that the “essential” workers who are keeping us going now, are just as “essential” in the future.  

Elsa told me about May Day in Cuba.  John posted  a Jamaican Reggie version of The Internationale that you can find on YouTube.  His organization, Peoples World, posted on Facebook:

“Given the global health emergency it's important now more than ever to honor working families, especially on May Day, an international day for working class solidarity . . .”

You may want to stay from Amazon today in solidarity with the warehouse workers who are on a May Day strike.

Margaret posted:  "Imbleach Trump."

Trudy's Budget:  Gas: 0   Clothes:  0  Food: $200,000

Today and tomorrow/April 30

A Golden Coffin

It is especially cruel for the seniors who sold their homes and moved into the luxurious living facilities in and around Chicago.  These are places with every amenity: spacious dining rooms, exercise facilities, lectures, games, movies, gardens. Now, when I talk to Ruth, she is deeply sad.  Confined to her apartment, food brought to her door.  No visitors.  It’s a little better for Lori.  She is allowed to leave her complex and come back. 

Love in the Time of Corona

My friend Lail and her companion Dick found a happier solution.  He broke out of the confinement of his senior home and moved in with Lail.  I’m sure it was an adjustment for them both, but if love finds a way, isn’t that worth everything?

Julia’s idea for face mask company name:  “Let’s Face It”.

Goat Wars

I got some blowback from Jim supporting his home town "bad boys."  My Detroit sports loyalty goes only to the Tigers -- my childhood friends.  I reminded my nephew that Chicago forgives Michael for everything.

today and tomorrow/April 29

It Ain’t Over Till . . .

In the absence of anything “live” in sports, a zombie feud refuses to die:  the G.O.A.T. and the “Goat” —  Michael Jordan vs. Isiah Thomas.

Isiah has been whining all over cable since The Last Dance showed his cowardly exit from the 1991 Eastern Conference finals.  Sorry, this home town boy will always “live in infamy” in Chicago.  

Wanna Buy a Mask?

Everyone’s selling them:  Northwestern has a purple one; Bonnie’s favorite non-profits —Project Onward and Glessner House — have them; a lady in my building is selling some colorful ones for $6.  I will add to the pile with a reference to this article on where to buy masks.   It seems to be well informed.

Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/where-to-buy-face-masks-for-coronavirus_l_5ea2f833c5b669fd8923b316?utm_campaign=share_email&ncid=other_email_o63gt2jcad4