Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, May 16, 2021
through
Saturday, May 22, 2021
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It’s Saturday, May 22nd, 2021
Welcome to the 1,106th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Chuck Berry
Publicity photo of Chuck Berry.
Universal Attractions (management) - eBay item photo front photo back
School Days
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2.0 Commentary
Bank of America announced Tuesday that it would raise its minimum hourly wage to $25 and insist that its contractors pay their employees at least $15 an hour.
Bravo!!!
So much more to the point than the taunting advertising of Amazon, daily touting how wonderful they are paying niggardly wages to their employees, the long overdue and by now stale $15.00/hour.
Have rarely taken overnights so close together as my recent trip to San Francisco and the impending graduation trip to Swarthmore.
Although Swarthmore’s every minute will be accounted for, it will all be fun and exciting.
That college was a perfect fit for Katherine.
It is hard-wired into every activist campaign being waged anywhere in these United States and
Kat, who served on-campus as President of the Student Government for two of those years, was in the middle of it all.
As for granddaughter Grace, an accomplished ballet dancer who enters Swart in the fall, the college will offer a look suitable to her, and, given the makeup of the school, it will be a different wonderful fit.
Would have been a hoot if they could have spent one year together.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format.
Target for completion is July 4th.
Am working on edits proposed by my editor.
Hoping to incorporate them within a week and then restructure the story.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me what my favorite and least favorite college courses were
See my response in the 11.0 Thumbnails section of this posting.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1100 days.
3.6 Trip to Tuscany/Swarthmore
Kat and I exchanged thoughts.
It’s her day.
Her thoughts and her wishes guide us.
She chose a revisit to Talula’s Garden for our Graduation Sunday night dinner.
And Monday morning after we load the car, a last breakfast at the Broad Table Tavern in the Inn @ Swarthmore, located right on campus.
After breakfast we will take the highways back to Boston where Kat will spend this summer while working remotely at her internship in political consultancy.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I have good reason to be content,
for thank God I can read and
perhaps understand Shakespeare to his depths.”
~John Keats
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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
Blog meister responds:
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Wednesday I tackled the simple, classic, popular Chicken Piccata using the idioms I have developed over these past 1100+ days of writing the blog, using three different fats, three different liquids, and three herbs and spices.
Here’s the How-to.
ONE PICCATA, TWO PICCATA, THREE PICCATA, MORE
This simple lemony Chicken Piccata recipe is made more interesting by using a variety [three each] of fats, liquids, and herbs/seasonings.
I used chicken thighs and pounded them flat.
After rubbing them with olive oil I dipped them in a mix of flour and parmigiana cheese,
shaking off the excess.
In a frying pan I blended olive oil and duck fat and seared the chicken, 3 minutes on one side, 1 minute on the other.
What could be more simple?
Removing the chicken, I added small amounts of white wine and chicken stock, reducing the liquids by half.
Then I added lemon juice and small chunks of cold butter.
Then I added capers, chopped parsley, and basil.
I returned the chicken to the fry pan gave it a quick reheat, and served it, pouring the sauce over the chicken.
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11.0 Thumbnail
School days. School days.
The question today is:
What were your most and least favorite courses in college?
I’ll directly answer this question after these introductory remarks.
I entered college from an anti-intellectual, emotionally-distraught home environment.
Without study habits.
With erratic behavior.
With a spontaneously aggressive and hostile attitude.
With an attitude: if you can get away with it, avoid work.
My first and only time I performed well as a student was when I was in the seminary, in my sophomore and junior years of high school. There our study time was set and heavily patrolled. For those years I scored straight As.
For the next four years after I left my studying went down the tubes.
What a waste.
A terrible waste.
At the end of my sophomore year I met Toni-Lee and fell in love.
She was the quintessential scholar: phi beta kappa in her second semester junior year, summa cum laude, A+s all, except for a single A which she vociferously protested.
(Having accompanied her, I well remember that evening meeting with her History of Western Civilization teacher. He had posted an A for her, the only A he gave that first semester. That didn’t soothe Toni. She brought her exam paper with her into his office and, laying it on the table, challenged him to point out an error or an omission. He couldn’t. Nor could he change her posted grade. Although, he promised, “You will mostly likely get the A+ for second semester.”
It took all night for her to calm down.) She, did, of course. Get the second semester A+.
The lesson was not lost on me.
Our brightest, most promising students work in a stratosphere barred to non-achievers.
Pathetic me.
Do you want a definition of poverty?
A twenty-year-old who didn’t know enough to know his bad habits were confining his life choices.
Things did improve for me.
Before Toni-Lee, my college grades were C+s and B-s.
Once we met, we were never apart.
And Toni, when I made a suggestion to take a break, inevitably chose to stay in to continue her assignments rather than take the opportunity of beautiful weather to walk out along the Charles River.
So I stayed indoors with her.
And studied.
After meeting Toni-Lee, my grades went up an entire letter across the board..
My favorite courses were literature, art, and history.
My least favorite were mathematics and science, the all-time least favorite (an irredeemable D) was Statistics,
and that was a two-semester mandatory.
Torture.
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It’s Friday, May 21st, 2021
Welcome to the 1,105th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Underground
The title screen of the TV show "Underground" on WGN America
WGN America - wgnamerica.com
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2.0 Commentary
I read ads every day touting the positive impact Amazon’s $15.00/hour wage has had on their employees, local communities, and God.
Cut it out, amazon.
$15.00 is MINIMUM wage.
Barely.
Define minimum.
Buy food?
Yeah. Ramen noodles.
Pay the rent?
Not without other income;
not without sharing a room with rats and bedbugs.
Not fun, that.
Take my word.
$15.00 is barely a catch up to the last minimum wage increase.
$25.00 is the number.
If an employer has an employee doing a job that requires significant training, $25.00.
Or has an employee exhausting herself for eight hours daily, $25.00.
If the jobs are truly workplace-entry-level,
akin to pre-school where children learn to use their indoor voice or wait their turn, or share,
then $15.00 may be acceptable.
While the employee learns to show up on time, work diligently, get along with the other children, accept direction.
But once that employee has inculcated these virtues, then what?
Continue to milk the employee for as long as possible?
An employer may not need staff with more than workplace-entry-level achievements.
Is there a further employer’s obligation?
Oh, yes.
Help that trained employee advance outside of your company.
Provide the direction it takes to look for next-level jobs that will
provide additional training leading to better paying, more satisfying jobs.
Every company is a workplace school for advancement.
Stop it with the heroics.
$15.00 for an adult supporting herself is a mockery.
Pay the money, Amazon, but do it in the dark.
Hide it with your other shortcomings.
Don’t rub our noses in it.
$15.00 makes me nauseous.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti: I’m working on establishing a memorial to two victims of social injustice.
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format.
Target for completion is July 4th.
Am working on edits proposed by my editor.
Hoping to incorporate them within a week.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
What were your most and least favorite courses in college?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1100 days.
3.6 Trip to Tuscany
With my trip to Swarthmore/Philadelphia settled, I was happy to ready that the EU is opening up to visitors.
Details to follow.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triump die, like fire and powder
Which, as they kiss, consume”
~William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
I reached into my freezer and pulled out a tub of chicken soup.
This the one I had made from leftover Chinese food.
I pulled the meat from the chicken wings and sliced the pork from the barbecued ribs.
Added my chicken stock, a bit of carrot, celery, onion, and lettuce.
It was delicious the first time and these leftovers from that meal were also good.
Forgot. I cooked rice and added that, as well.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Underground is an American television period drama series created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski about the Underground Railroad in Antebellum Georgia.
The show debuted March 9, 2016, on WGN America.
On April 25, 2016, WGN renewed the show for a 10-episode second season, that premiered on March 8, 2017.
On May 30, 2017, it was announced that WGN had canceled the show after two seasons.
The cancellation came after the network's parent company Tribune Media was attempted to be purchased by conservative corporation Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which led to speculation that the latter did not approve of the subject matter of the show.
The Oprah Winfrey Network acquired rebroadcast rights for Underground in 2020, and will broadcast the series with newly-filmed episodic introductions by cast members and behind-the-scenes footage.
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It’s Thursday, May 19th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,105th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Rape of Europa
Titian - http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection/artwork/3rd_floor/titian_room/europa?filter=artist:3150
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2.0 Commentary
I have been immersed in the reorganization of my apartment.
I had been reasonably organized so that the additional effort has produced pleasing rewards.
I disposed of a good deal of ‘things’ and the extra space provided opportunity for neat individual stacks rather than jumbles.
We in the northeast all welcome this most kind weather.
So nice not to have to battle the elements.
As we welcome the impending easing of covid restrictions.
As we welcome movement, however reluctant, to a $15.00 minimum wage.
As we realize that minimum is meant to be taken literally: minimum.
Minimum does not mean ‘desired’.
$25.00 hourly is a desired wage for entry level positions.
We are not going to grow our economy by choking our markets;
by paying people so poorly that they cannot buy electronic devices; or cars.
$25.00 per hour will return immediately to the manufacturers and other large companies in the form of consumer spending.
Profits will increase.
So we welcome the reluctance of workers to return to the workplace for insufficient wages.
Workers need to earn fair value for their labors.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti: I’m working on establishing a memorial to two victims of social injustice.
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format.
Target for completion is July 4th.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
What were your most and least favorite courses in college?
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1105 days.
3.8 Trip to Swarthmore
The trip from Boston to Swarthmore is a relaxed seven hours.
My plan is to leave on Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend
at 5.00am and arrive Swarthmore before noon.
I am one of those who, when feeling the slightest drowsiness
can pull over at a rest area, close his eyes for 5 to 10 minutes, and,
refreshed, resume driving, wide awake from the cat nap.
A blessing when driving long distances.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring barque,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
~William Shakespeare
Sonnet 116
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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
Yesterday I asked Sally C if she is gathering her wonderful memories for publication.
She responded:
Indeed, I gather my little life stories avidly. So many little stories …! Like drops in a bucket, they add up after a while. It’s great to see you doing the same.
A friend I’ve met online, whose profession is ghost-writing life stories and memoirs for seniors, has begun an online Christian writer’s Write-In, where interested writers meet once a week for an hour to write together – well, individually, but all in a Zoom meeting. Whatever each of us is noodling on, on any given day, may be Christian based or secular, it doesn’t matter, but it’s fun and enlightening to share our ideas, techniques, writing goals, and so forth. It provides a certain amount of accountability, too, although there’s no obligation to show up every time. At least once a week, those of us who attend are committed to writing something. So far, it’s all ladies, but that’s not restrictive. I’m enjoying it. My weekly natterings get saved into a computer file and will eventually get developed and incorporated into my newsletter.
Go well, my friend!
Sally
Blog meister responds: Delighted to hear it! Love.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
I felt like lamb so I bought a two-pound piece of a leg of lamb.
I slow roasted it and served it using some lamb gravy I keep in my freezer, although I noticed that I should make another batch when lamb stew meat goes on sale.
With the lamb I made and served broccoli rabe in olive oil, garlic, and pepperoncini mixed with a few gnocchi.
Lovely.
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11.0 Thumbnail
The Rape of Europa is a painting by the Italian artist Titian, painted ca. 1560–1562. It hangs in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Boston, Massachusetts. The oil-on-canvas painting measures 178 by 205 centimetres (70 in × 81 in).
The title of the painting refers to the mythological story of the abduction of Europa by Zeus (Jupiter to the Romans). In the myth, the god assumed the form of a bull and enticed Europa to climb onto his back. Once there, the bull rode into the sea and carried her to Crete, where he revealed his real identity. Europa became the first Queen of Crete, and had three children with Zeus.
Titian is unequivocal about the fact that this is a scene of rape (abduction): Europa is sprawled helplessly on her back, her clothes in disarray. The painting depicts Europa on the back of the bull, just off the shore of her homeland. Although the act of sexual violence is not depicted in the painting, it is implied through Europa's open-legged posture and her expression of fear as she is dragged off by Zeus. Her danger is also implied by her waving a red silk scarf and by the sea monster in the foreground of the painting. In other parts of the painting, two putti in the sky chase after Europa, and one rides on a dolphin in the sea.
Yael Even has theorized that Titian could have created this painting not due to any particular attachment to the subject, but in order to assert his abilities as a painter. Even further states that this artwork’s primary purpose was to show everyone that Titian had eclipsed his master, Bellini, and also to establish that painting was superior to sculpture.
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It’s Wednesday, May 19th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,104th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Bill Gates
Head and shoulders photo of Bill Gates
Kuhlmann /MSC - https://securityconference.org/en/medialibrary/asset/bill-gates-1523-18-02-2017/
Bill Gates während der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz 2017
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2.0 Commentary
Bill, say it ain’t so!
After a conversation with daughter Kat last night I went to work on a motel date and a rental car for my trip to Swarthmore.
The motel was no problem but the car rental was.
Didn’t realize the weekend in question was Memorial Day.
After a couple of tries I went to Zip Car.
They had a Mercedes.
I decided to splurge.
For the three days, $697.00.
For one supper I’ll be alone so I booked at the restaurant at the hotel on campus.
Felt lucky to get a table for 1 during the rush hour of the rush weekend.
For Sunday night dinner with Kat I’ll seek some advice.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format.
Target for completion is July 4th.
Am working on edits proposed by my editor.
Hoping to incorporate them within a week.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1100 days.
3.6 Trip to Swarthmore
SCHEDULE FOR SWARTHMORE WEEKEND
Friday night
p/u car at 7pm
fill it up if it needs gas
park the car overnight
Saturday, May
Leave for Swarthmore as soon as I wake up.
Take a breakfast roll with me. (Food on the road sucks)
Coffee on the road.
Drive directly to Swarthmore (7 years) for coffee w Kat
Have dinner at the college’s inn, Broad Table Tavern.
Lucky to get a reservation.
Sleep at nearby motel.
Sunday
Breakfast at Broad Table Tavern.
Graduation ceremony
Dinner w Kat @ Talula’s Garden, outdoors
Sleep at nearby motel.
Monday
Breakfast at Broad Table Tavern.
Load Car with Kat’s stuff.
Drive home
Does car need gas
Return car by 6.30pm
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...”
~William Shakespeare
Hamlet
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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:
Dear Dom,
I’m most pleased that you had a wonderful trip to the West Coast, and that you ventured there and back safely. There’s nothing like time away from home with no serious glitches.
With regards to your notes on Swarthmore College, with its Quakeer roots, and with regards to my propensity for finding connections between things, it’s interesting to note today that shortly before opening up your thumbnail on your daughter’s college, Phillip and I received a pamphlet that I had ordered from Pendle Hill, a Quaker educational center located in Wallingford, PA, just a few minutes from Swarthmore. The pamphlet is “Abraham Lincoln and the Quakers” by Daniel E. Bassuk, whom we met thirty-plus years ago, a fellow Lincoln aficionado and portrayer of our 16th president.
Bassuk taught many college-level courses in religious studies and was a Research Fellow of Princeton Theological Seminary. (When we first met him, he was living in central NJ.) We recently received a book that he was working on when he died in 2005; his son completed the editing of the book and had it published this year, each chapter about Lincoln’s direct friendships and relationships with black Americans in his day. Bassuk wrote many other books, on theology and spirituality, but only these two on Lincoln, so it seemed appropriate, with our interest in Lincoln, to acquire these two.
It’s all good!
Sally
Blog meister responds: I hope you are gathering your life stories.
What a great chronicler you are.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
I was desirous of an egg salad sandwich.
Since my diet doesn’t permit a sandwich in addition to dinner,
I had a large egg salad sandwich for dinner.
With a little mustard and relish, and a bit more of mayonnaise,
on a delicious loaf, it made for a welcome simple and delicious dinner.
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11.0 Thumbnail
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He is considered one of the best known entrepreneurs of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It became the world's largest personal computer software company. Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and became chief software architect. During the late 1990s, he had been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings. In June 2008, Gates transitioned to a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the private charitable foundation he and his wife, Melinda Gates, established in 2000. He stepped down as chairman of the board of Microsoft in February 2014 and assumed a new post as technology adviser to support the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella. In March 2020, Gates left his board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on his philanthropic efforts including climate change, global health and development, and education.
Since 1987, Bill Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people. From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world every year except from 2010 to 2013. In October 2017, he was surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who had an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion compared to Gates's net worth of US$89.9 billion at the time. As of May 2021, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$144 billion, making him the fourth-richest person in the world.
Later in his career and since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates has pursued many business and philanthropic endeavors. He is the founder and chairman of several companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, bgC3, and TerraPower. He has given sizable amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reported to be the world's largest private charity. Through the foundation, he led an early 21st century vaccination campaign which significantly contributed to the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Africa. In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.
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It’s Tuesday, May 18th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,103rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Observatory
Smallbones - Own work
Observatory at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
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2.0 Commentary
Since I returned from San Fran I’ve been on an organizing binge including
throwing stuff out and reordering
shelves and drawers and hangers.
Apartment looks much more orderly than it did.
Seems the trip to San Fran imbued me with a nervous energy that found a positive outlet.
Planning a trip to Swarthmore, Pa where my daughter is graduating,
3.2 Conflicted:
Working on a manuscript that I’m recasting in a new format.
Target for completion is July 4th.
Am working on edits proposed by my editor.
Hoping to incorporate them within a week.
3.3 Storyworth: Every week this application sends me a question about my life. At the end of the year I get a hard cover book from it. My family gets to know me a little better.
This week’s question asks me:
What were your most and least favorite courses in college?
I’ve written my first thoughts.
3.4 Blog: I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1100 days.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Life’s but a walking shadow,
a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then
is heard no more:
it is a tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.
~William Shakespeare
Act V, Scene V, Macbeth (1623)
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday I made a Gravy.
A series of fortunate events.
Choose the meat.
I chose a pound of ground beef (80% lean on sale) and ¾ lb hot Italian pork sausage meat for the meatballs (mixed with salt, fgp, onion and garlic powders, dried oregano, fresh parsley and basil, 2 beaten eggs, an abundance of Romano cheese and an equal amount of breadcrumbs.)
Plus a pound of boneless short ribs plus a pound of country-style pork ribs.
Meat chosen, fry it in hot olive oil.
Make a mirepoix of celery, garlic, onion, carrots, bell pepper, fresno chili.
When meat is deliciously browned, remove and fry the mirepoix.
When softened, return the meat and add the tomatoes.
Add your own stock; add red wine and simmer for ninety minutes to two hours.
Serve.
I served this on Saturday.
Delicious.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Swarthmore College is a private liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeducational colleges in the United States. It was established as a college "under the care of Friends, [and] at which an education may be obtained equal to that of the best institutions of learning in our country." By 1906, Swarthmore had dropped its religious affiliation and officially become non-sectarian.
Swarthmore is a member of the Tri-College Consortium, a cooperative academic arrangement with Bryn Mawr and Haverford College. Swarthmore also is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania through the Quaker Consortium, which allows for students to cross-register for classes at all four institutions. Swarthmore offers over 600 courses per year in more than 40 areas of study, including an ABET-accredited engineering program that culminates in a Bachelor of Science in engineering. Swarthmore has a variety of sporting teams with a total of 22 Division III Varsity Intercollegiate Sports Teams, and it competes in the Centennial Conference, a group of private colleges in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Despite the school's small size, its alumni have attained prominence in a broad range of fields. Graduates include five Nobel Prize winners (as of 2016, the third-highest number of Nobel Prize winners per graduate in the U.S.),[13] 11 MacArthur Foundation fellows, 30 Rhodes Scholars, 27 Truman Scholars, 10 Marshall Scholars, 201 Fulbright Grantees, and many noteworthy figures in law, art, science, academia, business, politics, and other fields.
Rankings
Some sources, including Greene's Guides, have termed Swarthmore one of the "Little Ivies". In its 2019 college ranking, U.S. News & World Report ranked Swarthmore as the third-best liberal arts college in the nation, behind Williams and Amherst and tied with Wellesley. Since the inception of the "U.S. News" rankings, Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore are the only colleges to have been ranked for the number one liberal arts college. Swarthmore has been ranked the number one liberal arts college in the country a total of six times.
In its 2019 ranking of 650 U.S. colleges, universities and service academies, Forbes magazine ranked Swarthmore twenty-fifth.
Swarthmore ranked fourth among all institutions of higher education in the United States as measured by the percentage of graduates who went on to earn Ph.D.s between 2002–2011.
In 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013, Swarthmore was named the #1 "Best Value" private college by The Princeton Review.[38] Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Swarthmore was also placed on The Princeton Review's Financial Aid Honor Roll along with twelve other institutions for receiving the highest possible rating in its ranking methodology.
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It’s Monday, May 17th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,102nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Saint Peter's Basilica
Jebulon - Own work
Facing Saint Peter's basilica, Rome, Italy, Vatican City.
CC0
File:Saint Peter's Basilica facade, Rome, Italy.jpg
Created: 25 August 2013
Location: 41° 54′ 8.54″ N, 12° 28′ 17.01″ E\
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2.0 Commentary
Recommitting myself to finding a diet I can live with while maintaining the weight I am striving for, has given me new hope.
Meanwhile, after several weeks of workouts it appears as though I will regain my pre-pandemic strength.
And the weather promises to stay above 70 for the next ten days.
Lots of causes for optimism.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.3 Storyworth:
This week’s question asks me:
How is your faith different from your parents?
This is a relatively short answer.
While my parents would unhesitatingly call themselves Catholic and were aware of the Catholic calendar, I don’t ever remember them going to Church.
Not on holidays.
Not for school events.
My mother was so incredibly shy and lacking confidence that being in public was painful to her.
My father lacked self-respect so he, too, shied from such public events.
Of course, being us, we never spoke of such things to each other.
From kindergarten through high school I was Catholic indoctrinated.
How much do I believe?
I don’t know.
I greatly admired the thought processes of Thomas Aquinas but unquestionably relate much more closely to the Christian mystics like Francis of Assisi.
For most of my life I celebrated the Christian calendar: Easter, Christmas, and the like.
I don’t give it a lot of thought and I don’t know what it means to me.
Meditation and introspection are the closest I come to spirituality.
When I think of death I think of the moment three years ago when a bicycle knocked me down and knocked me out.
It was only for five seconds but I have absolutely no memory of that moment.
Those five seconds, nothing, blank, cessation.
That’s my most honest belief in what death is like.
No communion of saints.
No Beatific Vision.
3.6 Trip to Tuscany
Getting ready to resume planning my trip to Tuscany.
Post-pandemic, I don’t know what to expect in terms of restaurants that have survived or museums that are open and what protocols they have instituted, or even who may be coming.
But I’ll start probing.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
This above all;
to thine own self be true;
And it must follow,
as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
~William Shakespeare
Act I, Scene III, Hamlet (1603)
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night I had a dry-aged rib eye.
I had fried some cubanelle peppers with a pork chop the night before
and I used the leftover peppers with the pork fat to fry the steak in.
The steak browned thoroughly on each side while remaining MR in the center.
Perfect.
I had the leftover over peppers and a tomato salad with it.
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11.0 Thumbnail
The Catholic Church, often referred to as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2019. As the world's oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 particular churches and almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world. The pope, who is the Bishop of Rome (and whose titles also include Vicar of Jesus Christ and Successor of St. Peter), is the chief pastor of the church,[9] entrusted with the universal Petrine ministry of unity and correction. The church's administration, the Holy See, is in the Vatican City, a tiny enclave of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practices the original Christian faith, reserving infallibility, passed down by sacred tradition. The Latin Church, the twenty-three Eastern Catholic Churches, and institutes such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.
Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Mother of God and Queen of Heaven, honored in dogmas and devotions. Its teaching includes Divine Mercy, sanctification through faith and evangelization of the Gospel as well as Catholic social teaching, which emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates thousands of Catholic schools, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations.
The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, culture, art, music and science. Catholics live all over the world through missions, diaspora, and conversions. Since the 20th century the majority reside in the southern hemisphere, due to secularisation in Europe, and increased persecution in the Middle East. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope. Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology. In the 16th century, the Reformation led to Protestantism also breaking away. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its teachings on sexuality, its inability to ordain women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases involving clergy.
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It’s Sunday, May 16th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,101st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Ron DeSantis
Photo 11/6/19 Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
State of Florida - https://flgov.smugmug.com/Governor-Ron-DeSantis/11-November-2019-/11-6-Osteopathic-Medicine-Group/i-R6Fkvjm/A
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2.0 Commentary
Two thoughts re: my trip to San Francisco.
One was like in a dream.
I woke 4.00am on the day of departure from Logan ad thought this:
I have been singularly unable to control my weight for the last twelve months and am now heading to a place with a heavy emphasis on eating.
Remember back to my trip Paris when I lost a pound or two despite eating lavish dinners for seven nights.
Return to that diet.
Well, I did.
And I returned from San Francisco having lost three pounds.
More importantly, having found my self-control.
That San Fran/Paris diet I must now continue in Boston.
The second thought is that I am singularly offput by over-friendliness in restaurants.
Being nice is good.
“And how are we today?” crosses the line.
Are we in kindergarten?
Mind your own business.
And using words like “dining experience.”
Does that mean dinner?
Take me to my table, explain the menu, take a drink order, and shut up.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti: I’m working on establishing a memorial to two victims of social injustice.
The efforts of my group are focused on getting a large number of volunteers.
I am composing an appeal which if it goes unanswered may spell the untimely end of the year’s work.
3.4 Blog:
I publish this blog every day. Have been doing it for more than 1078 days.
3.5 Conflicted
If I’m unable to gather enough staff and my efforts to install a memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti fail, I will use the extra time on my manuscript and on planning my next vacation.
3.6 Trip to Tuscany
If I’m unable to gather enough staff and my efforts to install a memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti fail, I will use the extra time on my manuscript and on planning my next vacation.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
My words fly up,
my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts
never to heaven go.
~William Shakespeare
Act III, Scene III, Hamlet (1603)
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Was desiring White Clam Sauce. The advantage of a fasting diet is that you can splurge at dinnertime. So a pasta meal possible.
The sauce came out wonderfully and I loved having pasta.
But I can never fill up on this dish so I supplemented it with a 4oz piece of Chilean Sea Bass which I simply fried and served with a piece of lemon.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Ronald Dion DeSantis (born September 14, 1978) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 46th Governor of Florida since 2019.
A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.
After graduating from Yale University and Harvard Law School, DeSantis served as an officer and attorney in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy (JAG).
DeSantis was a candidate in Florida's 2016 U.S. Senate election, but he withdrew when incumbent senator Marco Rubio announced that he would seek reelection. DeSantis then opted to run for reelection to his U.S. House seat. During his tenure in Congress, he became a staunch ally of President Donald Trump. DeSantis made frequent criticisms of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
On August 28, 2018, DeSantis won the Republican primary for the gubernatorial election.
He was officially certified as the winner of the general election on November 20, 2018, after a machine recount, defeating the Democratic nominee, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum. At 42, he is the youngest governor in the United States.
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