Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, July 25, 2021
through
Saturday, July 31, 2021
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It’s Saturday, July 31, 2021
Welcome to the 1,175th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Howard’s Marmite de Mer, served here with baguette toasts, smothered with rouille (his recipe, not Dom’s). ©2021, Howard Dinin. All rights reserved.
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2.0 Commentary
The stampede to require vaccination is on in both yhe private and public sectors joining in. Hopefully, it will soon become irresistible.
I worked on Sections 1 and 2 of Part One, completing all the edits. What’s left in these sections is to trace the Storyline and the Characterizations. Hopefully on Friday.
Biden yesterday advanced his infrastructure package. Today he expanded the reach of vaccinations. And the economy grew stronger. Not a bad day and a half.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“...although the absurdity of the demagogue’s rhetoric was blatantly obvious, the laughter it elicited did not for a minute diminish its menace. Cade and his followers will not slink away because the traditional political elite and the entirety of the educated populace regard him as a jackass.”
~Stephen Greenblatt,
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Today’s mail comes from Howard D and it’s too long for this section so we kicked it up to the Lead Picture and the Thumbnail. Find it there.
Blog meister responds: Whatever Howard writes is very interesting.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night I made a Veal Cacciatore, adding eggplant to the traditional mix.
A simple saute of the veal then the peppers, onions, and mushrooms with
the eggplant roasted, scooped, and chunked, and added to the saute.
It was delicious.
I bought a baguette from Tatte and ate a piece with dinner.
I drank an excellent Rioja.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
One of my favorite French restaurants: Ma Maison
Here is Sam Boyuk in action at one of the many jobs the owner-manager
of an independent restaurant must do. In an era when so many restaurants are run by large corporations, her presence sets Ma Maison apart.
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Chowder
From the desk of Howard Dinin
Couple of things, meant as usual to add some luster to the fundamental matter-of-factness you assume as a POV when talking about food.
For one, you omit any mention of a significant thing in your repeated references to clam chowder – which clearly chiefly exists as a raison d'être for touting your original concoction you call Italian Clam Chowder (and seems, in fact, to be a not unreasonable variant on the various Portuguese native seafood stews, which you allude to, or possibly, though you don't mention it because, original sin (as in a sin of origination), the Italian variants, my favorite of which is cioppino, are not actually and entirely Italian). Rather cioppino is, as you would style it, an Italo-American dish, originating famously in San Francisco, which has, if anything, but please let's not mention it, even longer lived and deeper roots as an emigré enclave in this country for Italians seeking fortune and refuge—and who made a great deal more of their seafaring skills than remains apparent in the history of the Italo community in Boston would attest.
In any event, there's a great deal of what I'll call consanguinity in your Italian Clam Chowder, which, and I'll put it to you with the thought in mind of what I have to say coming up, would also work quite nicely as a fish chowder (which, of course, cioppino was originally and still remains). I have neither the interest nor the energy to look further into it, but my intuition tells me that similar influences were determinants of the origins of the so-called Manhattan version of clam chowder, which is always alleged to be differentiated on the grounds of the addition of tomatoes, and the absence of dairy. But who knows? Not me. Not at the present time.
But back to the significant thing with which I began this soliloquy. I mean the most famous literary allusion to chowder in the canon (or outside of it). I mean, of course, the famous Try Pots chapter near the beginning of Moby Dick, wherein Ishmael and Queequeg, out for a night of it, visit the famous Nantucket dining establishment with only two items on the menu. Clam or Fish.
It's chowder of course, and they eat a surfeit of it, by Ishmael's account. So good, they have both.
The recipe is so simple, and, thanks to Melville’s rhetorical genius, so alluring, even in the briefest of accounts, I’ll repeat it here (and notice the ingredient list):
However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh! sweet friends, hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuits, and salted pork cut up into little flakes! the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.
But what always catches my attention, in the case of Moby Dick for sure, where it's not so important, and certainly in the case of your extended references to the dish, its provenance, and to how it's made in its significant variants (the so-called New England, the Manhattan, the pallid Rhode Island), is the lack of any conjecture, mention, reference or allusion to the most important part of the name of the dish. That is, the type of stew (for that is all it is) it consists of. I mean, of course, chowder. And like so many culinary objects of desire, it has its etymological derivation (apparently) and its roots in lore of the cuisine in one of the usual places to look, I mean, in France and the language and the batterie de cuisine of that fair coun-try.
I refer you to the notes in the OED:
Apparently of French origin, <chaudière> pot. In the fishing villages of Brittany (according to a writer in Notes & Queries 4th Ser. VII. 85) faire la chaudière means to supply a cauldron in which is cooked a mess of fish and biscuit with some savoury condiments, a hodge-podge contributed by the fishermen themselves, each of whom in return receives his share of the prepared dish. The Breton fishermen probably carried the custom to Newfoundland, long famous for its chowder, whence it has spread to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and New England.
Another writer in Notes & Queries (1870) 4th Ser. V. 261, says ‘I have frequently heard some of the old inhabitants of Newfoundland speak of Commodore John Elliot's chowder picnic in 1786, which was given in honour of H.R.H. Prince William Henry William IV in command of H.M.S. Pegasus upon the Newfoundland station’.
The word finds usage in English only back as far as 1750, around the time the Brits whupped the ass of the French in Canada, and hence the dish we all revere is actually named for a French article of cookware, and the recipe is as concocted by the Brits in a trail down the Maritimes and into New England.
Myself, I like the thick porridge-like consistency of Legal Seafoods' version. Or at least as it used to be, and – doubtless with the exchange of mucho filthy lucre into the party coffers from the Berkowitz exchequer – lest anyone get mistaken about where the corporate interests lay politically, this is a reminder that the famous service of Legal Seafood chowder at every presidential Inauguration dinner began with the dinner for one Ronald Reagan in his first term. Note as well it wasn't clam, but fish chowder that was served, to represent the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And, indeed, politics aside, it's the fish chowder I prefer.
I like my clams in linguine con vongole, or deep fried and battered, whole belly style, preferably from the North Shore.
I wonder how many people think "chowder" means a fish or clam stew that's been thickened with flour or biscuit crumbs. I've met a few.
And just to remind, the last time we got on this topic, that is, the broad topic of seafood based soups and stews, it led to my publishing my seafood stew (what I called a “marmite de mer,” again, à la français, naming it for the cooking vessel) was four years ago, when I adverted then, as well, to cioppino, not to mention cacciucco (from Tuscany), both of which are tomato-based, as opposed to fish-based, where the preponderant liquid is fish stock. Though I hasten to add, I do call for fresh plum tomatoes to be thrown into the pot for color and flavor and a little spark of acid. https://dinin-g.com/2017/10/06/seafood-stew-on-a-desert-is-land/(Desert Island Seafood Stew)
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It’s Friday, July 30, 2021
Welcome to the 1,174th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Jack Cade
Lord Saye and Sele brought before Jack Cade 4th July 1450
Charles Lucy - engraving
depiction of the English rebel Jack Cade,
as represented in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2.
Painting by Charles Lucy, entitled "Lord Saye and Sele brought before Jack Cade 4th July 1450"
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2.0 Commentary
How exciting is this?
Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, announced it'll pay 100% of employees' college tuition and books at a group of schools, as part of a $1 billion, five-year investment in career-driven training, per USA Today.
Couple this with Amazon’s progress in the treatment of heir employees and we may have a trend: escalating efforts by employers to stand out by increasing wages and benefits amid a shortage of workers, particularly in retail and restaurants, Reuters notes.
Now is not the time to let up in our social makeover fueled by a shortage of workers for exploitative wages. Pass the Biden infrastructure plan and let’s create even more jobs with higher wages. Put more money in the hands of those who will spend it and create more American jobs, taxes, and profits.
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3.0 Reading and Writing
Today I continue editing Part 1, Section 2 of my manuscript.
When done with that (today, perchance?) I will flesh out my tracks of the Storylines and Characters, and then submit it to my beta readers and then to my editor.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“In ordinary times, when a public figure is caught in a lie or simply reveals blatant ignorance of the truth, his standing is diminished.
But these are not ordinary times.
If a dispassionate bystander were to point out all of Cade’s grotesque distortions, mistakes, and downright lies, the crowd’s anger would light on the skeptic and not on Cade.”
~Stephen Greenblatt
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from good friend Howard D:
Before you go too far, even in jest, casting aspersions on nerds, allow me to delineate just four data points:
Mark Zuckerberg
William Gates
Jeffrey Bezos
Elon Musk
For better or worse, and probably the latter, nerds rule my friend.
I have always been a nerd. It was my destiny. Doesn’t bother me now, and never did.
For one thing, nerds, contrary to common wisdom, do get the girl.
xo
h
Blog meister responds: Truth is I am very attractive to nerds, female.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
After a few days of full dinners I was ready for a break. I went to Salumeria Italiana on Richmond St. in the North End and bought a cold cut sandwich. It was delicious and I really enjoyed the break.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
The statue of George Washington located in the most prominent place in the Public Garden is surrounded by lovely lawns and plantings unblemished by bare spots or other damage that usage often brings to such public installations. But here in Boston has grown up a tradition of respect for these areas. All that tells visitors why this is so are several small signs saying, Keep off. That’s all. It’s lovely.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Jack Cade's Rebellion was a popular revolt in 1450 against the government of England, which took place in the south-east of the country between the months of April and July. It stemmed from local grievances regarding the corruption, maladministration and abuse of power of the king's closest advisors and local officials, as well as recent military losses in France during the Hundred Years' War. Leading an army of men from south-eastern England, the rebellion's namesake and leader Jack Cade marched on London in order to force the government to reform the administration and remove from power the "traitors" deemed responsible for bad governance. It was the largest popular uprising to take place in England during the 15th century.
Despite Cade's attempt to keep his men under control, once the rebel forces had entered London they began to loot. The citizens of London turned on the rebels and forced them out of the city in a bloody battle on London Bridge. To end the bloodshed the rebels were issued pardons by the king and told to return home.[2] Cade fled but was later caught on 12 July 1450 by Alexander Iden, a future High Sheriff of Kent. As a result of the skirmish with Iden, the mortally wounded Cade died before reaching London for trial.[3] The Jack Cade Rebellion has been perceived as a reflection of the social, political, and economic issues of the time period and as a precursor to the Wars of the Roses which saw the decline of the Lancaster dynasty and the rise of the House of York.
The story of Jack Cade's Rebellion was later dramatized by William Shakespeare in his play, Henry VI, Part 2. The novel London Bridge Is Falling (1934) by Philip Lindsay focuses on Jack Cade's revolt. Jack Cade is a prominent character in the historical novel Wars of the Roses, by Conn Iggulden.
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It’s Thursday, July 29, 2021
Welcome to the 1,173rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
A US marine moves forward towards the viewer, pointing his gun ahead. He is backed by two other marines and two aloft helicopters, with trees and hills in the background. The words "Call of Duty Modern Warfare Remastered" are positioned in the centre across the first marine's midriff.
Source
This is the cover art for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the game or the publisher, Activision or the developers, Raven Software.
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2.0 Commentary
The Department of Veterans Affairs has mandated complete vaccinations for its frontline employees in the next eight weeks or face penalties, including job loss. The mandate affects all 115,000 of its frontline health care workers.
What took so long? And where are the other federal agencies in this mandated approach, obvious by now to be the only viable way to prod a significant number of the American citizenry?
And California, state of, has joined in, pressuring 246,000 workers to get vaccinated or face regular testing. Bravo!
And now, so have NYC and the San Francisco Bar Owner’s Alliance and its 500 members.
The floodgates are opening.
And welcome, the migration of Republicans to the “Get Vaccinated!” club. Last of note, former Gov. Chris Christie, who, for all of his faults, like Mitt Romney and the rest of the anti-Trump faction, has not lost his sense of the rational. His cover-up of his joining the swell: Don’t force people; calmly and rationally explain the need to get vaccinated and they will join the crusade. Appreciate the support, Chris, but an hour late and a pound short. We are into mandated vaccines now.
Although some Republican-led states are preemptively prohibiting vaccine requirements. Sick people.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
I finished writing Part One Section Two. I’ll edit it and then send it off to my beta readers.
If you’d like to be a part of the beta group, just email me at domcapossela@hotmail.com
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And too often is his gold complexion dimm'd:
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or natures changing course untrimm'd;
By thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.”
~William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's Sonnets
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from the desk of a friend:
Contrary to popular belief, in a potato salad, waxed potatoes are not as good as waxy potatoes.
Blog meister responds: I can agree with that.
And from our southern friend, Tommie T:
We are so proud of your wonderful son and the 30 year tribute given to him. Dom, you and Toni Lee did some great parenting! You are a terrific dad as stated many times and in many ways by Chris. So happy for Chris and his successful tenure at Microsoft. What a leader! He is also a great dad and husband. He is certainly one of the best!
In the interest of full disclosure: Tommie is Chris’ mother-in-law.
Blog meister responds: Parents are great. Ultimately, however, individuals take the credit and blame for who they become.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I had Roast Duck with Broccoli Rabe.
Wonderful.
Volunteers keeping the Public Garden lovely.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
Go to Pictures/Camera Roll
Select a picture and rename it
Copy it and paste copy to Onedrive/aPhotos for Blog
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11.0 Thumbnail
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is a 2016 first-person shooter game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. It is a remastered version of the 2007 game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and was initially released as part of the special edition bundles of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in November 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A standalone version was released for these platforms in mid-2017. Set in 2011, the game's story follows the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the Special Air Service (SAS), who take on missions to fight against a separatist group in the Middle East and an ultranationalist group in Russia.
Development began after an online petition requesting a Modern Warfare remaster began circulation. Activision enlisted Raven Software—who had assisted in the development of past Call of Duty games—to develop Modern Warfare Remastered, while original developer Infinity Ward supervised. Modern Warfare Remastered features extensive graphical enhancements, updated animations, and revised original sound effects as well as new ones. It retains the original core gameplay while offering small adjustments. New multiplayer content, and additional single-player achievements and cheats are included.
Critics lauded Modern Warfare Remastered for its enhanced graphics, revised sound, and range of other modifications. They praised the gameplay for what was considered a challenging and innovative single-player campaign when compared to later games in the series. The multiplayer mode was complimented for its simplicity and freshness. Criticism focused on the multiplayer mode for balancing issues and the single-player mode for its pacing and artificial intelligence. Modern Warfare Remastered became the subject of controversy following Activision's decisions to initially release it only as part of a bundle, include microtransactions, and—in the eyes of players—overcharge for both the downloadable content (DLC) and standalone version of the game.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered features the same plot as the original game. The player mainly controls British Special Air Service (SAS) recruit Sergeant John "Soap" MacTavish, starting with his enrollment in the 22nd SAS Regiment. The player also controls United States Marine Corps (USMC) member Sergeant Paul Jackson during five of the levels of Act 1. SAS officer Captain John Price is playable in two flashback missions from 1996 when he was a lieutenant. The player further assumes the role of an American thermal-imaging TV operator aboard a Lockheed AC-130 gunship during one level, and a British operative infiltrating a hijacked airliner to save a VIP in another. Finally, the player controls Yasir Al-Fulani, the president of an unnamed Middle Eastern country before he is executed, although he has no freedom of action beyond turning his head.
While the United States invades a small, oil-rich Middle Eastern country following a coup d'état by the extremist Khaled Al-Asad, a British SAS squad infiltrates a cargo ship found to be carrying a nuclear device. Enemy jets sink the ship, but the SAS team escapes with its manifest and heads to Russia to rescue their informant, codenamed "Nikolai", from the Ultranationalist party. Intelligence from these operations indicates Al-Asad has a Russian nuclear device. The U.S. military launches an assault on his palace, but the nuclear device is detonated, wiping out most of the city and everyone in it.
The SAS team tracks down Al-Asad in Azerbaijan and discovers he was working with Imran Zakhaev, the leader of the Ultranationalist party. The mission then flashes back 15 years where Captain Price, who was a lieutenant, is sent alongside his commanding officer, Captain MacMillan, on a failed assassination attempt on Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine.[24] After killing Al-Asad, the SAS team, with support from U.S. Marine Force Recon and Russian loyalists, attempt to capture Zakhaev's son, Victor, and learn his whereabouts. They ambush Victor, but he commits suicide. In response, Zakhaev seizes control of a nuclear launch facility. A joint operation is launched to take back the site, but Zakhaev launches intercontinental ballistic missiles at the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. The joint teams are able to breach the facility and remotely destroy the missiles before fleeing the area.
Zakhaev's forces trap the escaping joint force on a bridge, and during the fight many are killed. Zakhaev arrives, but a loyalist helicopter distracts him. The player shoots and kills Zakhaev with their pistol before being tended to by loyalist forces.
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It’s Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Welcome to the 1,172nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Bob Moses
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2.0 Commentary
I’m someone who is more productive when I’m following a routine.
Routine sounds boring.
One escapes from routine and its stress by taking a vacation.
Lie back.
Relax.
No schedule to follow.
What a crock!
Vacations require planning. Tickets. Expenses. Train or plane schedules. Dates.
You need the vacation after planning for it.
Give me the relaxation of following a rhythm.
Once it’s set up, you know where you’re going to be at what time.
What work you have to get done and what time slot does it fall in.
When it’s time for a break.
Or for lunch.
Without a routine, you have to answer these questions every day.
With a routine, it’s one and done.
As part of my routine, I did good work writing on my manuscript today.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I'm not absolutely certain of my facts,
but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare -
or, if not, it's some equally brainy lad -
who says that it's always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top-hole, and
more than usually braced with things in general that
Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping.”
~P. G. Wodehouse
My Man Jeeves
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C:
Greetings, Yan! So glad to know you are still there!
It’s wonderful that you have a fan club, Yan, courtesy of Dom’s generous nature.
Sally
Blog meister responds: She does have a bit of a following. Lovely.
One of the grand courses I had in San Francisco: sorrel beef zorbuton
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had dinner with two wonderful people on Saturday night. Mike I’ve known for seventy years, and Cathy a mere ten.
We had a glass of pink Moet. Festive before dinner.
We began the meal with a mixed plate of appetizers picked from a bountiful refrigerator.
Mike and Cathy also brought a bottle of 1970 Chateau Rauzan-Gassies. We waited just a few minutes after opening before the wine turned spectacular: a true aged red Bordeaux in all its glory. What an experience!
Then we had Ravioli from Eataly with a Bolognese Sauce I made with small chunks of meat instead of ground meat. It came out very well.
Then we had Roasted Duck, eating very little of it.
That, too, came out well.
The evening was lovely.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Robert Parris Moses (January 31, 1935 – July 25, 2021)[4] was an American educator and civil rights activist, known for his work as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee on voter education and registration in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, and his co-founding of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. He was a graduate of Hamilton College and completed a master's in philosophy at Harvard University.
In 1982 Moses began developing the nationwide Algebra Project in the United States. He received a MacArthur Fellowship and other awards for this work, which emphasizes teaching algebra skills to minority students based on broad-based community organizing and collaboration with parents, teachers and students.
Robert Parris Moses graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1952[5] and received his B.A. from Hamilton College in 1956. He earned an M.A. in philosophy at Harvard;[1] in 1958 he began teaching at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx of New York City. Also in 1958, he was private tutor to singer Frankie Lymon, of The Teenagers, and credits his experience visiting Black sections of numerous towns with the doo-wop group for his recognition of the emergence of a distinct urban Black culture scattered across the nation.
Moses became one of the influential black leaders of the civil rights struggle, and he had a vision of grassroots and community-based leadership. Although Moses’ leadership style was different from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, King appreciated the contributions that Moses made to the movement, claiming they were inspiring. Moses initiated and organized voter registration drives in the South, sit-ins, and Freedom Schools for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
He ran the Algebra Project, which is a continued effort to improve math education in poor communities with the goal of sending more students to the workforce.[8] Starting as a civil rights leader and transitioning into an advocate for the poor through his work with the Algebra Project, Moses revolutionized the ideal of equal opportunity and played a vital role in making it a reality.
Moses began working with civil rights activists in 1960, becoming field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As director of the SNCC's Mississippi Project in 1961, Moses traveled to Pike County and Amite County to try to register black voters. Comprising a majority in both counties, despite many people leaving in the Great Migration in the first half of the century, they had been utterly closed out of the political process since 1890. He pushed for the SNCC to engage in a "tactical nonviolence," a matter he discussed in an interview with Robert Penn Warren for the book Who Speaks for the Negro?
White Democrats had disfranchised Mississippi's blacks in their 1890 constitution, which required poll taxes, and other barriers, such as residency requirements, and subjective literacy tests. It was nearly impossible for blacks to register and vote. After decades of violence and repression under Jim Crow, by the 1960s most blacks did not bother trying to register. In 1965, only one African American among 5500 in Amite County was registered to vote.
Moses faced nearly relentless violence and official intimidation, and was beaten and arrested in Amite County. He was the first African American to challenge white violence, and filed assault charges against his attacker. The all-white jury acquitted the man, and the judge told Moses he could not protect him, providing him an escort to the county line. The next month in September 1961, E.H. Hurst, a white state legislator, killed Herbert Lee, a 56-year-old married local farmer in Liberty, Mississippi, who had been in a voter registration class. Hurst murdered him in front of a dozen witnesses and was cleared at the inquest that day, claiming self-defense; the courtroom was filled with armed white men. Witness Louis Allen was murdered in early 1964 after being boycotted and harassed for discussing the Lee murder with federal officials.
By 1964 Moses had become co-director of the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO), an umbrella organization for the major civil rights groups working in Mississippi. A major leader with SNCC, he was the main organizer of COFO's Freedom Summer project, which was intended to achieve widespread voter registration of blacks in Mississippi, and ultimately, end racial disfranchisement. They planned education and organizing, and a simplified registration system, to demonstrate African-American desire to vote. Moses was one of the calm leaders who kept the group focused.
On June 21, as many of the new volunteers were getting settled and trained in nonviolent resistance, three were reported missing. They were James Chaney, a local African American, and his two Jewish co-leaders Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, both from New York City. These three young men had gone to investigate a church bombing near Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were arrested on alleged traffic violations and released that night. After an FBI investigation, their decomposed bodies were found six weeks later, buried in an earthen dam. The volunteers were frightened. Moses gathered them together to discuss it; he told the group this was the risk they faced. He said that now that they had seen first-hand what could happen, they had every right to go home. He assured volunteers that no one would blame them for leaving.
This was not the first murder of activists in Mississippi or the South, but the Civil Rights Movement had attracted increasing notice from the national media. Many African-American volunteers were angered that publicity appeared to be based on two of the victims being white Northerners. Moses helped ease tensions. The volunteers struggled with the idea of nonviolence, of blacks and whites working together, and related issues. These tensions were enormous, but arguably, Moses's leadership was a major cohesive factor for a number of volunteers staying.
Moses was instrumental in the organizing of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a group that challenged the all-white regular Democratic Party delegates from the state at the party's 1964 convention. Because the Democratic Regulars had for decades excluded African Americans from the political process in Mississippi, the MFDP wanted their elected delegates seated at the convention. Their challenge received national media coverage and highlighted the civil rights struggle in the state.
Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic leadership nonetheless prevented any of the MFDP delegation from voting in the convention, giving the official seats to the Jim Crow regulars. Moses and the rest of the SNCC activists were profoundly disillusioned by this decision. Moses was also disturbed by the machinations of liberal Democrats, whom he had invited into COFO, to centralize the Council's decision-making, an effort that seemed to undermine the grassroots participatory democracy of SNCC.
Moses resigned from COFO in late 1964. He later commented that his role had become ‘‘too strong, too central, so that people who did not need to, began to lean on me, to use me as a crutch’’. He temporarily dropped his surname, going by his middle name, Parris, and began participating in the campaign against the Vietnam War. Speaking at the first massive anti-war demonstration on April 17, 1965, at the Washington Monument, Moses linked his opposition to the war to the civil rights struggle. As his involvement in the anti-war movement increased, he took a leave of absence from SNCC to avoid criticisms from fellow members who did not support his stance. Following a trip to Africa in 1965, Moses came to believe that blacks must work independently of whites, and by 1966 Moses had cut off all relationships with whites, even former SNCC activists
In 1976 Moses returned to the United States and Harvard, doing graduate work in the philosophy of mathematics. He taught high school math in a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after learning from his daughter that the school was not offering algebra.
In 1982 Moses received a MacArthur Fellowship. He used the award to create the Algebra Project, devoted to improving minority education in math, starting with his daughter's classroom in a Cambridge, Massachusetts public school. Moses also taught math for a time at Lanier High School in Jackson, Mississippi. He used the Lanier classroom as a laboratory school for developing methods and approaches for the Algebra Project, enlisting the support of parents and the community in the project.
In 2005 Moses was selected as one of twelve inaugural Alphonse Fletcher Sr. Fellows by the Fletcher Foundation, which awards substantial grants to scholars and activists working on civil rights issues.
Since 1982, Moses expanded the Algebra Project from teaching math in one school, to supporting these methods for teaching math in over 200 schools across the country by the late 1990s. The Algebra Project's unique approach to school reform intentionally develops models that are sustainable and focused on students. This is achieved by building coalitions of stakeholders within the local communities. The historically underserved population is a big portion of these coalitions.
The Algebra Project works to change common attitudes of our society that routinely promote the exclusion and regression of minorities. The goal of the Algebra Project is to take the students who score the lowest on state math tests and prepare them for college level math by the end of high school. This is done by doubling up on math courses for the four years of high school. The Algebra Project is based in research and development, school development, and community and site development.
In October 2006, the Algebra Project received an award from the National Science Foundation to improve the development of materials for Algebra I. In terms of school development, the Algebra Project strives to provide culturally sensitive, context-based, and site-specific professional development opportunities to teachers. It promotes collaboration of teaching methods and knowledge. The Algebra Project partners with local higher education and research institutions to help teachers develop professionally, trains teachers on new materials, and provides them with programs to get certified.
The Algebra Project collaborates with the Young People's Project to help engage students in their learning process. “YPP uses mathematics literacy as a tool to develop young leaders and organizers who radically change the quality of education and quality of life in their communities so that all children have the opportunity to reach their full human potential.” [22] At its peak, the Algebra Project has provided help to roughly forty-thousand minority students each year. Contributions include curricula guides for kindergarten through high school, the training of teachers, and peer coaching.
Moses believed that Algebra was a critical “gatekeeper” subject because mastering it was necessary in order for middle school students to advance in math, technology, and science. Without algebra, students would not be able to meet the requirements for college. Fifty-five percent of the students following the Algebra Project's curriculum passed the state exam on their first attempt, compared to 40 percent of students following the regular curriculum. More students at junior high school sites who followed the Algebra Project curriculum scored higher on standardized tests and continued to more advanced math classes than did their schoolmates who followed standard curriculum. Thus, they could better meet requirements for college admission and future entry into good jobs.
In 2006 Moses was named a Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor at Cornell University.[23] As a Visiting Scholar at Princeton University, he taught an African American Studies class with Professor Tera Hunter in the Spring 2012 semester.
Moses taught high school math in Jackson, Mississippi, and Miami, Florida.
He was identified as a Teaching hero by The My Hero Project.
Radical Equations—Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project (with Charles E. Cobb Jr.) (Beacon Press, 2001)[24] ISBN 0807031275
Co-editor, Quality Education as a Constitutional Right—Creating a Grassroots Movement to Transform Public Schools (Beacon Press, 2010)[24] ISBN 0
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It’s Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Welcome to the 1,171st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Ekua Holmes’ Google Doodle
Painter and collage artist Ekua Holmes
has long championed the beauty, the uniqueness and the history of Roxbury and its residents through her collages and paintings. MLK spent significant time in Boston and Roxbury.
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2.0 Commentary
I am upset with the poor wages the MFA pays its staff: just a smidge beyond the government mandated minimum wage. And the concept of a minimum wage is a joke and an insult to every American. $15/hour is an entry wage paid to people with no work experience, no developed skills.
On a daily basis, the MFA deals with a billion dollars worth of art. There must exist a creative way to amend the art donor-program to include cash for an entry-level $15.00 per hour for labor.
Come on! This is the artistic world. Where are our champions of the stepped upon? The walked over?
Right-thinking executives must be embarrassed to claim an esteemed position in an organization so blamefully trampling on workers’ basic needs. Matthew Teitelbaum, Director of the MFA. Ha! Director of a dreadful organization exploiting its workers.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I once witnessed a rather unfortunate production of Shakespeare's Hamlet -
the lead actor didn't know his existential angst from his iambic pentameter and, alas,
poor Yorick was a bemused bystander.”
~Stewart Stafford
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from our dear friend, Ann H:
Wow Love the photo of Yan.
I rejoined the MFA and love you hearing talk about the exhibits I also experienced.
xooxo
Ann Heimlicher
Boston Spot-Lite, Inc.
"The Concierge Specialists"
50 Commonwealth Avenue #501
Boston, MA 02116
617-247-0001
visit our website at www.bostonspotlite.com
Blog meister responds: I forgot that Yan has other friends, too. Caring for our neighbors is great for the city.
.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night my cousin Lauren and I enjoyed a belated Father’s Day at the Capital Burger, on Newbury Street, a newly-opened offshoot of the Capital Grill, on Boylston Street.
The setting was pleasant as was the service. The menu is a traditional burger menu; the prices attractive.
I ordered a burger with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. It was very good.
An enjoyable, reasonable night.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
Ekua Holmes’ Museum Poster
This is great exhibit: small enough to view in a single visit; engaging enough to make the visit worth while.
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Ekua Holmes (born in 1955) is an American mixed-media artist , children's book illustrator, and arts organization professional. Holmes' primary method of art making is mixed media collage, by layering newspaper, photos, fabric, and other materials to create colorful compositions. Many of these works evoke her childhood in Roxbury's Washington Park neighborhood in Boston, MA.
As a young artist, Holmes discovered the power of found objects, which derive their identity as art from places as well as the social histories attached to the objects. Place, identity, culture, and social justice are frequent themes in her work. Many of Ekua's collages are reminiscent of works by African and African American artists such as the late Romare Bearden and Njideka Akunyili.
About her work, Holmes said, “In everything I create I hear them saying, ‘Remember Me,’ and through my work I honor their legacies by bringing them forward to life with torn and cut shapes of found colors and textures. With these scraps and remnants, assembled like a down-home quilt, I rebuild my world, putting in what speaks to my personal and cultural narrative.”
Google Doodle
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2015, Holmes's Google Doodle illustration honoring the civil rights leader was the featured image on Google's U.S. homepage. The collage depicts King walking arm in arm with fellow activists in Selma, Alabama.
Ekua Holmes, a collage artist and Boston native commissioned by Google to create the popular Google Doodle, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
It’s an art work that captures the essence and message of Dr. King as his philosophical teachings spoke to brotherhood, unity and peace.
There’s a vibrancy in her work and story depicted in each brush stroke. Fueled with energy and message, Holmes creates with sound purpose.
Holmes founded The Great Black Art Collection, an organization dedicated to both giving a platform to emerging artists and to introducing Black art to previously unreached audiences.
Holmes is currently Vice-Chair of the Boston Arts Commission. Holmes is also currently working in Boston as an assistant director at the Center for Art and Community Partnerships at MassArt. There, she manages sparc! the ArtMobile.
Holmes has illustrated several children's picture books, garnering awards for several.
Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, written by Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick Press, 2015)
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, by Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth (Candlewick Press, 2017)
The Stuff of Stars, by Marion Dane Bauer (Candlewick Press, 2018)
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That?: The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, by Chris Barton (Beach Lane Books, 2018)
Black Is a Rainbow Color, by Angela Joy (Roaring Brook Press, 2020)
Exhibitions and collections
Holmes' first exhibition was in 2000, at "Renewal and Regeneration" at Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, MA.
She has also exhibited at Hess Gallery of Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, MA, and Harvard Medical School's Transit Gallery.
Her work is in the public collections of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston Medical Center, Boston Arts Academy, Dana Farber Cancer Center and the Boston Children's Hospital.
Holmes' "Crosswalks and Bus Stops" was installed at Northeastern University, in oversize glass windows that faced onto Parker Street and Huntington Avenue. The work was part of Northeastern's Public Art Initiative, a platform for artists from the local community and the world.
Awards
In 2013, Holmes was awarded the NAACP Image Award.
Voice of Freedom won a Caldecott Honor, a Robert F. Sibert Honor, John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Nonfiction Honor.[8]
Holmes was awarded the 2018 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for Out of Wonder and the 2019 award for The Stuff of Stars.
Holmes was the recipient of a 2013 Brother Thomas Fellowship from The Boston Foundation. Also in 2013, Holmes was named to the Boston Art Commission, which oversees public art projects on city property. In 2015, she installed a community-based work for an opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, which consisted of a gigantic interactive collage with scenes of Boston in transition, designed to complement the ICA group show, “When the Stars Begin to Fall.”
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It’s Monday, July 26, 2021
Welcome to the 1,170th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Manhattan clam chowder
has a reddish color from tomatoes
Alexa - Manhattan Clam Chowder
Manhattan Clam Chowder
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2.0 Commentary
My son Chris is thirty years now at Microsoft. He’s the Chief Marketing Officer at the company as well as executive vice president of worldwide consumer business. The company marked the milestone as did his family. We’re proud.
I wrote up my recipe for what I’m calling Italian Clam Chowder. Here it is. Delicious and no dairy.
CLAM CHOWDER, ITALIAN
(4 bowls)
24 cherrystones
3 cups water
Steam clams open and remove, shells discarded
Save 3 cups of the broth
Cut cherrystones into ½” pieces and set aside
Use three fats to add flavor depth.
Suggestions: 1 oz Pancetta/Salt pork/bacon, 1/8” dice; well-rendered in a 12-cup sauce pan; 1TB duck fat; 1TB butter.
Make it dairy-free to cover those with lactose issues
Vegetables in hot oil:
4 oz waxy potatoes, scrubbed, large-dice, ½”
Add potatoes to the rendered hot fat, burner on low, pan-covered. Fry for 8 minutes or until the potatoes begin to brown.
AROMATICS: SOFTEN THESE FIRST
2 oz leeks/scallions, large-dice, ½” circles
2oz celery, large-dice, ½”half-circles
2 oz carrots, large-dice, ½“ pieces
2 oz green bell, large dice, ½” pieces
½ serrano, small dice
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 TB tomato paste
2 TB anchovy paste
Soften then add
2 sprigs thyme and
1 bay leaf
LIQUIDS
14-ounce whole peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed or roughly diced
3 cups clam broth
1 cup white wine
freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup chopped fresh parsley.
½ cup fresh basil
Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
Add the chopped clams and
Simmer all for 15 minutes
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Thinking of emoji as gestures helps put things into perspective if we're tempted to start thinking, "If words were good enough for Shakespeare, why aren't they good enough for us?" We can pause and realize that plain words weren't actually good enough for Shakespeare.
A lot of what Shakespeare wrote was plays, designed not to be read on a page, but to be performed by people.
How many of us have struggled through reading Shakespeare as a disembodied script in school, only to see him come to life in a well-acted production?”
~Gretchen McCulloch
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
A good deal of family mail regarding Chris’ 30-year milestone.
Blog meister responds: Kind of amazing that he achieved world-wide celebrity by being no more (or less) than he was as a child. God bless.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Thursday night Katherine and I shared Baked Stuffed Clams and Shrimp in Oil and Garlic with angel hair pasta.
These are standards in our family and very good.
See Commentary above for recipe for Italian Clam Chowder.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
Japanese Garden San Francisco
I loved my visit there, in the Golden Gate Park
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Clam chowder is any of several chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, and onions. Other vegetables are not typically used. It is believed that clams were used in chowder because of the relative ease of harvesting them.[3] Clam chowder is usually served with saltine crackers or small, hexagonal oyster crackers.
The dish originated in the Northeastern United States, but is now commonly served in restaurants throughout the country. Many regional variations exist, but the three most prevalent are New England or "white" clam chowder, which includes milk or cream, Manhattan or "red" clam chowder, which includes tomatoes, and Rhode Island or "clear" clam chowder, which omits both.
Manhattan clam chowder has a red, tomato-based broth and unlike New England clam chowder there is no milk or cream. Manhattan-style chowder also usually contains other vegetables, such as celery and carrots to create a mirepoix. Thyme is often used as an optional seasoning.
Many sources attribute its creation to Rhode Island’s Portuguese fishing communities who were known both for their traditional tomato-based stews and for their frequent travels to New York City’s Fulton Fish Market during the mid-1800s. While Rhode Island clam chowder is clear, it was relatively common in Rhode Island for some cooks to add tomato sauce to their chowder. In Rhode Island this style chowder is also frequently referred to as "Rocky Point Clam Chowder" as it was a popular menu item at the Rocky Point Amusement Park Shore Dinner Hall since the park opened in 1847.
This chowder was at times called by various names including "Clam Chowder - Coney Island Style" (1893). Manhattan clam chowder is included in Victor Hirtzler's Hotel St. Francis Cookbook (1919) and "The Delmonico Cook Book" (1890) as "clam chowder". The "Manhattan" name is first attested in a 1934 cookbook.
New England clam chowder, occasionally referred to as Boston or Boston-style clam chowder, is a milk or cream-based chowder, and is often of a thicker consistency than other regional styles. It is commonly made with milk, butter, potatoes, salt pork, onion, and clams. Flour or, historically, crushed hard tack may be added as a thickener.
New England clam chowder is usually accompanied by oyster crackers. Crackers may be crushed and mixed into the soup for thickener, or used as a garnish.
Rhode Island clam chowder is made with clear broth, and contains no dairy or tomatoes. It is common in southeastern Rhode Island through eastern Connecticut. In Rhode Island, it is sometimes called "South County Style" referring to Washington County, where it apparently originated.
Long Island clam chowder
Long Island clam chowder is part New England-style and part Manhattan-style, making it a pinkish creamy tomato clam chowder. The name is a joke: Long Island is between Manhattan and New England. The two parent chowders are typically cooked separately before being poured in the same bowl. This variant is popular in many small restaurants across Suffolk County, New York.
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It’s Sunday, July 25, 2021
Welcome to the 1,169th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Peanuts
The Peanuts gang
“Linus and Lucy” theme song by Vince Guaraldi
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2.0 Commentary
Am delighted that a very good friend of mine feels well enough to venture to my apartment for dinner. It’s been a while. We were five friends from sixty years ago who met regularly for dinner. We lost one to an unforeseen illness just before the pandemic and her husband went to live in Florida. So we are now only three meeting instead of five. We will have fun nonetheless.
Spent time today with my cousin Lauren. We went to the Weng Family Collection of Chinese Paintings exhibition. Lovely. The paintings all exuded peace and tranquility.
Then we had dinner and watched episodes of Ozark.
Despite the welcome distraction of my cousins visit. I still had time to correspond to a couple of my manuscript beta testers who had some great and useful comments.
And an odd moment. A dear friend and relative with whom I have not spoken in a decade, sent me an email asking if I had ever completed the manuscript I was working on, part of which he read. This question coming on the day I decided that I ought to engage some beta readers. He was delighted that I had finished it and delighted to be a part of he rewrite process. I am delighted to have him on board.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I suppose the fundamental distinction between Shakespeare and myself is one of treatment. We get our effects differently. Take the familiar farcical situation of someone who suddenly discovers that something unpleasant is standing behind them. Here is how Shakespeare handles it in "The Winter's Tale," Act 3, Scene 3:
ANTIGONUS: Farewell! A lullaby too rough. I never saw the heavens so dim by day. A savage clamour! Well may I get aboard! This is the chase: I am gone for ever.
And then comes literature's most famous stage direction, "Exit pursued by a bear." All well and good, but here's the way I would handle it:
BERTIE: Touch of indigestion, Jeeves?
JEEVES: No, Sir.
BERTIE: Then why is your tummy rumbling?
JEEVES: Pardon me, Sir, the noise to which you allude does not emanate from my interior but from that of that animal that has just joined us.
BERTIE: Animal? What animal?
JEEVES: A bear, Sir. If you will turn your head, you will observe that a bear is standing in your immediate rear inspecting you in a somewhat menacing manner.
BERTIE (as narrator): I pivoted the loaf. The honest fellow was perfectly correct. It was a bear. And not a small bear, either. One of the large economy size. Its eye was bleak and it gnashed a tooth or two, and I could see at a g. that it was going to be difficult for me to find a formula. "Advise me, Jeeves," I yipped. "What do I do for the best?"
JEEVES: I fancy it might be judicious if you were to make an exit, Sir.
BERTIE (narrator): No sooner s. than d. I streaked for the horizon, closely followed across country by the dumb chum. And that, boys and girls, is how your grandfather clipped six seconds off Roger Bannister's mile.
Who can say which method is superior?"
(As reproduced in Plum, Shakespeare and the Cat Chap )”
~P.G. Wodehouse
Over Seventy: An Autobiography with Digressions
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Katherine and I had dinner at the Midi in Boston’s South End. The experience was excellent with one drawback: the absence of a Primary Presence in the dining room. Dinner over, we got up to go and not a person said ‘Goodnight.’ Our waitstaff not around and no one was at the door. A loss to the diner.
But otherwise, we shared a Fritto Misto, a fried plate, and then Mussels, and then Bucatini Bolognese. Everything was excellent. Highly recommended.
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7.0 Blog Meister’s Pictures with Captions
After months of not seeing my friend Yan I ran into her at Blue Bottle in the Prudential Center.
As is my wont, I gave her money for a meal. Fifteen minutes later, my daughter, Kat, happened to pass Wagamama and took this shot of Yan enjoying lunch. Made me feel good. I publish the photo with Yan’s enthusiastic permission.
Ooops. I missed on the recapture for my files and print this close up of Yan instead.
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Vince Guaraldi composed music scores for the first sixteen Peanuts television specials plus one feature film, and was responsible for their signature theme, "Linus and Lucy"
In 1963, while searching for music to accompany a planned Peanuts documentary entitled A Boy Named Charlie Brown, television producer Lee Mendelson heard "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Mendelson then contacted Ralph J. Gleason, who put him in touch with Guaraldi. Mendelson offered Guaraldi the job of composing the score for the documentary, which Guaraldi gladly accepted.
Within several weeks, Mendelson received a call from an excited Guaraldi who wanted to play a piece of music he had just written. Mendelson, not wanting his first exposure to the new music to be marred by the poor audio qualities of a telephone, suggested coming over to Guaraldi's studio. Guaraldi enthusiastically refused, saying "I’ve got to play this for someone right now or I’ll explode!" He then began playing the yet-untitled "Linus and Lucy" for Mendelson, who agreed the song was perfect for Schulz's Peanuts characters. Reflecting on the song in 2008, Mendelson said, "it just blew me away. It was so right, and so perfect, for Charlie Brown and the other characters. I have no idea why, but I knew that song would affect my entire life. There was a sense, even before it was put to animation, that there was something very, very special about that music."
The documentary soundtrack, entitled Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was recorded by Guaraldi's current trio (with bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey) in October 1964 and released in December of that year. Although the documentary was ultimately shelved due to Mendelson's inability to secure sponsorship, Schulz and Mendelson retained Guaraldi for the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). The soundtrack album was recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, this time featuring drummer Jerry Granelli and bassist Fred Marshall, and contained the songs "Christmas Time Is Here", "Skating" and "Linus and Lucy". Both the seasonal television special and accompanying soundtrack were very successful.
Derrick Bang, Guaraldi historian and author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, commented that, "the importance of Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and its successor, the score to the Christmas special, cannot be overstated; rarely has an entertainment icon been so quickly—and firmly—welded to a musical composition...indeed, to an entire body of work from one individual. Guaraldi defined the Peanuts sound, and it's just as true today as it was in the 1960s. The compositions themselves are uniformly sparkling; it's as if the jazz pianist and his trio were waiting for this precise inspiration." Mendelson concurred: "There's no doubt in my mind, that if we hadn't had that Guaraldi score, we wouldn't have had the franchise we later enjoyed."
All involved with A Charlie Brown Christmas initially regarded the stunning success of the project as something of a one-time fluke, but the second official Peanuts television special—Charlie Brown's All Stars!—was televised in June 1966 to similarly high ratings and acclaim. It was at this point that Schulz, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez focused on creating another holiday blockbuster in the vein of A Charlie Brown Christmas, eventually titled It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Guaraldi spent most of summer 1966 composing cues for the Halloween-themed special, strongly encouraging Mendelson to consider making "Linus and Lucy," which had been featured prominently in the Christmas special, the unofficial Peanuts theme. Guaraldi did not include the song in the music score for Charlie Brown's All Stars! and worked to correct that oversight by featuring it throughout It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Melendez responded to Guaraldi's suggestion by beginning the special with a lengthy cold open sequence sans dialogue, employing only music and sound effects to convey Linus and Lucy's search for a pumpkin. Guaraldi recorded a fresh version of "Linus and Lucy" for the opening sequence as a sextet, featuring Budwig and Bailey, as well as trumpeter Emmanuel Klein, guitarist John Gray, and flautist Ronnie Lang. Lang's flute counterpoint was featured throughout the new version of "Linus and Lucy", resulting in the song ultimately becoming the Peanuts franchise signature melody.
Guaraldi went on to compose scores for twelve additional Peanuts animated television specials, as well as the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown and the documentary Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz (both 1969). Despite the wealth of Peanuts material Guaraldi recorded, only A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Boy Named Charlie Brown (both the unaired documentary and feature film) received official soundtrack releases during his lifetime.
"I have always felt that one of the key elements that made A Charlie Brown Christmas was the music," said Mendelson in 2010. "It gave it a contemporary sound that appealed to all ages. Although Vince had never scored anything else and although I was basically a documentary film maker at the time, we started to work together on the cues because we both loved jazz and we both played the piano. So he would bring in the material for each scene and we would go over it scene by scene. Most of the time, the music worked perfectly. But there were times we would either not use something or use it somewhere else. We went through this same process on all sixteen shows. Although there was always some left over music, most of the time what he wrote and performed is what went on the air."
Later years
Guaraldi's final three albums released during his lifetime were recorded for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts after spending nearly two years trying to extricate himself from Fantasy Records. Warner signed Guaraldi to a three-record deal in early 1968, insisting that his inaugural release consist of Peanuts material. This was done in part to fill the void left by a lack of soundtrack albums to accompany the successful television specials Charlie Brown's All Stars!, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, You're in Love, Charlie Brown and He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown. Guaraldi responded with new renditions of eight of his most popular scores from those programs on his first release, Oh Good Grief!.
Guaraldi was then given complete artistic control over his sophomore self-produced Warner effort, The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi, resulting in an unfocused and overindulgent album that was not well received by both critics and consumers. At Warner's insistence, arranger Shorty Rogers was recruited to produce Guaraldi's final album, Alma-Ville. Though deemed a focused improvement over the previous album, Warner did not promote the album, ultimately choosing to not retain Guaraldi at the end of their three-record deal. Both The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi and Alma-Ville gradually fell into obscurity, while Oh Good Grief! remained a steady seller due to the perpetual popularity of the Peanuts franchise.
After working on the soundtrack for the Peanuts feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Guaraldi ceased releasing any new material. In his review of The Complete Warner Bros.–Seven Arts Recordings, The Recoup critic Joseph Kyle lamented, "frustrated and unable to secure a record deal, he spent the remainder of his life as a live performer, recording more soundtrack material, and banking on the goodwill his Peanuts compositions earned him." Guaraldi's sound also evolved into a more fusion jazz/rock sound, as he largely traded the piano for Hammond B-3 and Fender Rhodes electric keyboards. His live performances included musicians who specialized in funk and soul as well as traditional jazz. Posthumous releases Oaxaca (recorded 1970–71), Live on the Air (recorded February 1974), and North Beach feature both studio and live performances recorded during this period of transition.
All Peanuts soundtracks scored after Play It Again, Charlie Brown (1971) feature Guaraldi favoring electric keyboards over traditional piano as well. You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (1975), Guaraldi's penultimate music score, fused his fusion jazz style with the funk, disco and pop music that was popular at the time coupled with the use of the ARP String Ensemble synthesizer.
Guaraldi biographer and historian Derrick Bang put the musician's later years in perspective, saying, "As jazz clubs were closing in the 1960s, with the advent of rock 'n' roll—a development that put many jazz musicians out of work—Guaraldi embraced the enemy, adjusting his style and approach to include electric keyboards. By the mid-'70s, he had become a respected veteran in what remained of the declining Northern California jazz club scene."
The amount of wealth Guaraldi accumulated from his perpetual Peanuts scoring opportunities plus royalties from previous work allowed him to live comfortably in Mill Valley, California. His desire to continually perform at small, local clubs was not due to financial necessity but because he wanted it like that. The monumental success garnered from his Peanuts work resulted in lucrative offers coming in from all over the U.S., all of which he declined. "Once the Peanuts music became famous, Vince could have gone out and done a whole lot more," Mendelson said. "But he was very provincial; he loved San Francisco, and he liked hanging out and playing at the local clubs. He never branched out from there; he never really wanted to. He'd get offers, but he'd tell me, 'I just want to do this; I'm having a good time, and I'm satisfied with it'." Eddie Duran concurred, saying, "he did talk at times about moving to Los Angeles, but I think he really dug staying in the area, because he was sure of himself. When you're sure of where you are as an artist, you don't seek to go other places and prove it."
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