Sweeping #1: I tried
to engage this summer in what the Dutch call Niksen, the translation for which is “doing nothing.” The Dutch consider the concept of Niksen an
art form, as a way of combating stress. According to The New York Times, a psychologist Doreen Dodgen Magee, whose specialty
is boredom, likens Niksen to “a car whose engine is running but not going
anywhere.” Gazing at the mountains or
the sea during visits to Colorado and Maine this summer was good for my Niksen aspirations.
Sweeping #2: I was struck
by a line in a report last spring on the political demise of UK Prime Minister
Theresa May. A colleague of hers said: “She is very hard working. She can’t
construct a song, or write poetry. And if you’re driving big change you must
infuse that either with drama or with lyricism.” This criticism evokes unfavorable comparisons
to Winston Churchill, John F, Kennedy, Dr. King and Barack Obama who had those qualities.
At the same time, we are daily reminded that our current president clearly does
not.
Sweeping #3: I just discovered a profession that, should it
be espoused widely, might help leaders with expression deficit. In a New York Times wedding announcement August
18, the groom’s job at a solar-energy equipment installer in Rhinebeck NY was
listed as “a creative content producer and story teller.” I wish I had that job description during my
career as I did just that frequently and I guess I still am trying with this
blog. At my 50th prep school
class reunion dinner, after I told the story of having to deal with a guest orchestra conductor with bad BO, the prep school master who tried to teach me
Greek declared: “I always knew you’d be a raconteur “– a great compliment.
In the same wedding announcement the bride was named as a great-great-great-great granddaughter of a 19th century publisher whose importance I’m sure can be found somewhere in the mists of time. Maybe it’s the influence of Ancestry.com but shouldn’t there be a limit to how far back you go to impress the reader in such announcements?
Sweeping#4: An
update. I have been writing about the opioid epidemic, the Sackler family , and the family’s connection
to museums - http://geoffreyplattconsulting.blogspot.com/2019/04/ . In July the art world was surprised by the
announcement that The Louvre had decided to strip the Sackler name from the
famed facility in Paris, namely the Sackler Wing of Oriental Antiquities. The
advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), which was
active in demanding similar action in the USA, was part of a demonstration outside the Louvre
Pyramid on July 1. The Louvre announced its decision July 17, later claiming it
was done in concordance with a policy that limited naming rights to 20 years.
The Sackler donation was made in 1993. As the prestigious Louvre is the most
visited museum in the world, look for other institutions that thus far have declined
to scrub the Sackler name, to think again.
Sweeping #5: On a cheerier museum note, and one very much in
tune with disappearing summer, let’s applaud the decision by the Museum of Ice
Cream to build a permanent space in New York City’s SoHo. The museum has previously
been very popular with pop-up installations in New York, as well as San
Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles. The 25,000 square foot building will feature a
“Hall of Giant Scoops” and a “Sprinkle Pool.”
Yippee!! If they are smart they won’t get into the
naming game.
Sweeping #6: According to Agence France-Presse (via The
Week magazine) two professors from the University of California, Berkeley, have installed what they call the “Teetertotter
Wall” –three pink seesaws across the U.S. Mexico border wall between Sunland
Park, N.M. and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, that enables children on both sides of
the border to play together. Professor
Ronald Rael, one of the designers, said the seesaws clearly illustrate that
“actions that take place on one side have direct consequences on the other
side.”
To which I add - “As well as having fun,” which I hope you
will be having these remaining days of summer.
I welcome comments on
this post, and any of the others seen in the archive to the left, at:
gplatt63@gmail.com
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