March 22nd

Stephen Sondheim is 80 today. Sondheim has an Oscar, Tonys, Grammys and a Pulitzer. I’d be happy having written just one of his lyrics, “Send in the Clowns” for example, but there are “I Feel Pretty,” “Maria,” and “Tonight” just to name three from West Side Story.

William Shatner is 79.

Edith Grossman is 74. Grossman is the translator of Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, Spaniard Julián Ríos, Cuban-Puerto Rican Mayra Montero, and all of Colombian Gabriel García Márquez’s books. She has also translated Don Quixote, still considered by many the greatest novel ever.

Then a Latin American writer whom she translated, Julián Ríos, told her: “Don’t be afraid. Translate it the way you translate everybody else because he’s the most modern writer we have.” And besides, she realized, “Don Quixote is not essentially a puzzle for academics, a repository of Renaissance usage, a historical monument, or a text for the classroom. It is a work of literature.” And so she went to work on it.

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is 62. Webber has an Oscar, Tonys, Grammys and a knighthood. Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera. Webber composed the music; Sir Tim Rice was the lyricist.

Wolf Blitzer is 62.

Bob Costas is 58.

Reese Witherspoon is 34.

The Gospel of Awesome

At The Book Bench at The New Yorker Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn lists some of her favorite awesome moments from The Book of Awesome:

-When cashiers open up new checkout lanes at the grocery store.
-Hitting a bunch of green lights in a row.
-Bakery air.
-Waking up before your alarm clock and realizing you’ve got lots of sleep time left.
-The smell of crayons.
-Finally remembering a word that’s been on the tip of your tongue for so long.
-Putting potato chips on a sandwich.
-When you nudge the person snoring next to you and it makes them stop.
-The shampoo head massage you sometimes get at the hairdresser.
-Moving up a shoe size when you’re a kid.
-The smell of books.

What would you add?

Best line of the day, so far

“Now that the bill has passed, repealing it (which I presume is what Republicans campaigning in the fall will call for) will mean, literally, voting for allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, voting to permit rescissions, and voting to make it much harder for people who lose their jobs to stay insured. I have a hard time believing that advocating these things will be a political winner.”

James Surowiecki : The New Yorker

Republicans voted 178-0 against the bill.

Best line of the day

Have you seen their latest TV spot? The one in which some dedicated shopper with pageant hair reassures us that prices at Stein Mart are so low we won’t have to (and I quote) HIDE OUR PURCHASES FROM OUR HUSBANDS?

No, seriously!!! We can show them the tacky crap we’ve bought without fear of, I don’t know, a stern talking-to!!! Or, um, being grounded!!! Or something equally inappropriate and infantile!!!

Because, apparently, it’s 1954, and we’re all Lucy fucking Ricardo.

SinPantalones in a post titled Since I’ve never cared for be-sequinned holiday sweatshirts and ugly shoes, I’ve never been a big fan of Stein Mart.

The Right to Counsel

The New York Times has a fascinating read about a woman and her public defender.

The story of this one defendant and her public defender, assembled through interviews and court records, is about a woman who was barely making it before the legal system helped shove her off track.

And it is also about a small-town lawyer and part-time public servant sinking in personal and professional quicksand that few people knew about when he showed up to represent Kimberly Hurell-Harring. Least of all her.

March 21st

Ferris and Rosie each turn 48 today. That’s Matthew Broderick and Rosie O’Donnell.

Ronaldinho is 30.

Adrian Peterson is 25.

Benito Pablo Juárez García was born on this date in 1806. Juárez was five times President of Mexico, the first indigenous national to serve. He was a reformer, resisted the French occupation in 1865 and is considered one of Mexico’s great political leaders.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on this date in 1685. “Music…should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamor and ranting.”

Release me, let me go



No Kiley hasn’t been released from jail and forced to wear an ankle bracelet. She’s just ready to run a mile.

And she did, finishing fifth among 32 women ages 7-8. Aidan finished third among boys ages 6 and under. Mack was third among boys ages 9-10 and sixth overall out of 120 male runners through age 13. Mack ran the mile in 6:58, great for his first race of the season.

Stewart Udall

Stewart Udall has died at age 90.

I’ve posted the following before, but it seems a fitting tribute to a man who led an active life.

Just this last year [Stewart Udall] rafted down the Colorado River from Lees Ferry — named for Udall’s grandfather — and, with a grandson, trekked from the floor of the Grand Canyon up Bright Angel Trail some 7,000 feet to the South Rim. His family had cautioned against it, and he rejected a Park Service offer of a mule. “They wouldn’t have liked it if I hadn’t made it,” he recounted, “but what a way to go.” Once at the South Rim, Udall marched straight to the bar at the Tovar Lodge and ordered a martini.

Udall was 84 when the above took place.

Stewart Udall was U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. During his eight years at Interior he made lasting and important contributions to the environment and the American landscape.

He was the father of New Mexico’s U.S. Senator Tom Udall and uncle to Colorado’s U.S. Senator Mark Udall.

Excerpt from a 2005 Los Angeles Times profile of Udall.

March 20th

Today is the birthday

… of Carl Reiner. He’s 88. From the Encyclopedia of Television:

Carl Reiner is one of the few true Renaissance persons of 20th-century mass media. Known primarily for his work as creator, writer and producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show–one of a handful of classic sitcoms by which others are measured–Reiner has also made his mark as a comedian, actor, novelist, and film director.

… of Barney Miller, who’s 79. That’s Hal Linden.

… of Hockey hall-of-famer Bobby Orr, 62.

… of four-time Oscar nominee William Hurt, 60. He won best actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Jimmie Vaughan (Stevie Ray’s brother) is 59.

Two-time Oscar nominee Shelton Lee is 53. His mother called him Spike.

Holly Hunter is 52. Miss Hunter has been nominated for an Academy Award four times, twice for best actress and twice for supporting actress. She won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Piano in 1993. She has also won Emmys for Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom and Roe vs. Wade.

Kathy Ireland is 47.

Oh, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Fred McFeely Rogers was born 82 years ago today.

Fred had many opportunities to cash in on his fame and success. He never took them; he never allowed his work to be exploited commercially in ways that might be hurtful to the children.

This bedrock honesty ran throughout the man’s life. He treated everyone with the same respect and sensitivity that he knew had helped him as a child. And his strong moral code informed every aspect of his life, from how he lived to the community he chose for his family and work, even to what he ate. Fred was a vegetarian who told people, “I don’t want to eat anything that has a mother.” He was able to integrate all his interests and aptitudes – his music, his writing, his creativity, his faith, his sense of family and community, and his sense of service – all into a coherent whole that gave a special power to his life and his influence. Fred was careful not to use that influence carelessly or too often. He did not often endorse viewpoints or tell others how to live. Instead he led – as the best leaders do – through example.

Fred Rogers Center

Almost 40 years ago NewMexiKen (I was just Ken then) wrote Mr. Rogers a letter. I thought the way two elderly characters were portrayed on the show was silly, especially the old messenger Mr. McFeely (McFeely you will note was Rogers’s middle name).

I received back this five paragraph letter, apparently from Fred Rogers himself (and oddly not dated). The man took the time to respond to my criticism in a thoughtful way that — at least it seems to me — showed the type of class he evidenced in everything he ever did. Read for yourself his reply. Click each image for larger version.

Rogers Letter Page 1 Rogers Letter Page 2

Mr. Rogers died in 2003.

[I’ve grown less protective of my name since I scanned the above, but I’m not going to bother rescanning the letter. I’ve mostly kept my surname private to protect certain Sweeties.]

The best rule of the day

Farhad Manjoo at Slate Magazine asked readers to propose “a concise, easy-to-remember rule that we could all consult when deciding whether to reach for our phones.”

And his readers responded.

If you’re in a situation where you’d excuse yourself to go to the bathroom, you should also excuse yourself before reaching for your phone. Otherwise, go ahead without asking. Either way, don’t play with your phone longer than you’d stay in the bathroom.

Follow the link above to read all about it. And to discover the “one area where readers were in absolute agreement.”

Thanks to Nora for sending the link.

Nora knows an individual who is confused. That individual uses the cell phone IN THE BATHROOM.