Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, May 30, 2021
through
Saturday, June 5, 2021
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It’s Saturday, June 5th 2021
Welcome to the 1,120th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Watching the River Flow
Dylan's band in Oslo on March 30, 2007, one of hundreds of concerts at which he has performed "Watching the River Flow"
Tore Utheim - Tore Utheim
Bob Dylan at Oslo Spectrum March 30th 2007
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2.0 Commentary
The effort to install a memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti has stalled.
I will make one more effort but if no more volunteers are forthcoming I believe I will withdraw from the effort. There’s simply too much to do for our small group to get it done
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“To be, or not to be: what a question!”
Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World: Volume I
~E.A. Bucchianeri
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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
So through email I made a date with my married friend Colleen who will be in Boston on the 15th. We will walk a bit and then have lunch out, probably at Figs. And a date with my friend LouLou for the Gardner Museum and the Café there. And a date with my friends Ana and Joanna, for a trip to Plum Island. We will also make plans for an overnight to Bar Harbor, Me, with a stop at Old Orchard beach along the way.
Blog meister responds: Fun, all of it.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night our dear friend Worthy joined Kat and I for dinner.
It was a community do.
We made a Chicken of the Threes: three fats: duck fat, olive oil, and plant-based butter; three liquids, white wine, chicken stock, and lemon juice; three herbs: fresh basil and parsley; and oregano; and three aromatics: capers, anchovies, and green peppercorns.
The chicken, brushed with olive oil, we dipped in flour and parmigiana cheese, and then fried at a high heat in the duck fat and olive oil. We reserved the chicken, wiped the pan clean, and made the sauce by adding the stock and wine to the pan and reducing the volume by half. Then we added the plant-butter, herbs, and aromatics and let them marry a minute or two. Finally we returned the chicken to the sauce for another minute or two and served.
Very tasty and loads of fun with everyone working.
After dinner I helped with the cleanup, leaving them the last bit to do without me.
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"Watching the River Flow" is a blues rock song by American singer Bob Dylan. Produced by Leon Russell, it was written and recorded during a session in March 1971 at the Blue Rock Studio in New York City. The collaboration with Russell formed in part through Dylan's desire for a new sound—after a period of immersion in country rock music—and for a change from his previous producer. The song was praised by critics for its energy and distinctive vocals, guitar, and piano. It has been interpreted as Dylan's account of his writer's block in the early 1970s, and his wish to deliver less politically engaged material and find a new balance between public and private life.
A minor hit in some countries worldwide, the song was included on the 1971 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II, and other Dylan compilation albums. In 2011, five current and former Rolling Stones appeared on a recording of "Watching the River Flow" as part of a tribute project for pianist Ian Stewart. The song has been covered by the Earl Scruggs Revue, Steve Gibbons, Colin James, Russell, and many others.
Between 1967 and 1970, Bob Dylan recorded and released a series of albums that incorporated country rock elements. All were produced by Bob Johnston. During the sessions for the final of these, New Morning, Dylan decided that he did not want to continue working with Johnston. Al Kooper did uncredited production work to help Dylan finish the album. For his next recording session, Dylan asked Leon Russell, who made his name with Joe Cocker, to assist in finding a new sound.
The recording session took place at Blue Rock Studio in New York City on March 16–19, 1971. Russell assembled a backing group that included Carl Radle on bass, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar, and Jim Keltner on drums. Eddie Korvin was the engineer. On the first day in the studio, Dylan, on acoustic guitar and vocals, led the band through a rehearsal jam that included covers of "Spanish Harlem", "That Lucky Old Sun", "I'm A Ladies Man" (Hank Snow), "Blood Red River" (Josh White), and "I'm Alabama Bound" (Lead Belly version). On the second day, after a brief rehearsal, "Watching the River Flow" was recorded with Dylan singing live with the band. "When I Paint My Masterpiece" was recorded in similar fashion on the third day, and a mixing of both songs took place on the last day.
"Watching the River Flow" was based on studio jams done at Blue Rock, and uses a chord progression in the key of F major. Russell recalled that when developing the song, the basic track was formed, and that Dylan then wrote the lyrics in several minutes. Jim Keltner has also reported that Dylan wrote the songs at the Blue Rock session quickly: "I remember Bob ... had a pencil and a notepad, and he was writing a lot. He was writing these songs on the spot in the studio, or finishing them up at least."
The sound on "Watching the River Flow" features what writer Anthony Varesi has described as "rollicking" piano and "blistering" guitar.
The music of "Watching the River Flow"—whose feel the journalist Bob Spitz has likened to Dylan's "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" (1966)—has been described by different critics as a "[b]lues-powered sound [that cascades] like clumps of flotsam and jetsam", as "featur[ing] some blistering guitar work ... and rollicking piano work from Russell", and as "an energetic, funky-gospel rocker". The recording has been praised for the dynamic way in which Dylan's vocal mannerisms bounce off Russell's characteristic stride piano playing. Biographer Clinton Heylin has pointed out that Dylan borrowed the line "If I had wings and I could fly" from the song "The Water is Wide" and words from "Old Man River" for his composition.
Four and a half months after the recording session, on August 1, Russell backed Dylan on bass at the Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison.[24] In November 1971, Russell accompanied Dylan into a studio again to record Dylan's next single, "George Jackson". At this session, Russell once more played bass. Joe Schick, the manager of Blue Rock in 1971, has commented that although Dylan and Russell had a reasonably friendly relationship, their rapport was not strong enough to record an album together. Indeed, Heylin noted in 2009 that Russell had not recorded with Dylan again; however, they did tour together in 2011. Russell died in 2016.
The B-side of "Watching the River Flow" was "Spanish is the Loving Tongue" (written by Charles Badger Clark–Billy Simon). Dylan used the second of two takes of the song recorded during the New Morning sessions on June 2, 1970, in Columbia Studios in New York City. Musicians at these sessions included Bob Dylan, vocal, guitar, harmonica, and piano; Al Kooper, organ; Charlie Daniels, bass; David Bromberg, guitar, dobro; Russ Kunkel, drums; Ron Cornelius, guitar.
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It’s Friday, June 4th 2021
Welcome to the 1,119th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Queen Elizabeth II
photograph of the Queen in her eighty-ninth year
Joel Rouse (Ministry of Defence), and nagualdesign
Her Majesty the Queen during her visit to HMS Ocean in Devonport to preside over a ceremony to rededicate the ship.
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2.0 Commentary
Recently enjoyed watch Tin Star with Tim Roth and Mare of Eastown with Kate Winslet.
Looking forward to watching Oslo with my daughter Kat.
Just about catching up from my days spent in Swarthmore, Pa. I was hard-pressed to produce the blog everyday. Now I’m comfortably caught up.
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I was asked what my bosses were like.
I didn’t have many.
While I worked my newspaper route I was an independent contractor: I bought my papers from the store and, unsupervised, went out to sell them in my own way.
I liked that independence. Start and finish when it suits. Work as little or as much as it suits. No one to answer to.
I kept the money I made. Hustle was rewarded.
I have zero idea why I stopped selling newspapers. It’s possible that the inspector who took me to Court notified the store that sold me the newspapers that they had to stop selling to me. I don’t see how that interdiction would have an effect on our comings and goings. In the North End we were scofflaws. But it may have. Perhaps they complied as a pretext to take the route from me for a favored friend. I don’t remember.
My first boss was the owner of a drug store/ice cream bar. He hired schoolboys as a source of cheap labor. He was a nasty, sneaking local man. I worked there for a good while. I don’t know how long.
My first boss deserving of the name was the head chef of the Harvard Club in Boston. He hired me as a waiter although I had no experience. I was a sophomore at Boston University and he explained that he wanted college men to staff the crotchety men’s dining room. Respect and energy were more important for his dining room than style.
Mr. Sheldon was kind and gentle. He liked to explain things and I was fascinated by his stories. He always made me late for helping the others in the setting up. No repercussions for my tardiness, bosses’ pet and all that.
The next boss was a terrific guy, Johnny Polcari. He was more like one of the boys. He didn’t care to be treated with the kind of respect that Mr. Sheldon commanded but Johnny still got you to do what he wanted.
I could do no wrong in his eyes. He loved the dumb poems I wrote to Toni-Lee and insisted on reading them even though his reading skills were challenged. He conspired with me to surprise Toni-Lee on the rare occasions she came in for dinner. I paid for dinner for her but food kept coming out. Johnny made sure she tasted everything, especially if it was in one of my famous poems.
Johnny was building another restaurant and loved sharing the architectural plans with me. I loved it.
My last boss was a loose cannon, a loser as a person; a loser as a boss. He was emotionally distraught and was a nightly embarrassing spectacle in the dining room with both the staff and the customers. But he did serve up better food than most of the Boston-area restaurants and I admired him for that.
After passing the bar, at age twenty-four, I began to pursue the concept of opening a restaurant. Two years later we opened Dom’s. Then I was my own boss.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“- Be thou not technical with me,/
Or else thine input valve may swift receive/
a hearty helping of my golden foot.”
~Ian Doescher, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
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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,
You are anything but seedy. But it may well be that the lack of demand from a seedy motel room for some kind of decorum by its occupant may be the formula to a relaxed slumber, provided, of course, that the bed frame and mattress are not equally seedy.
How droll! “This is where I sit” with regard to the prunes and other digestive aids. That struck my funny-bone! Personally, I love prunes – fresh prune plums, dried, stewed – any way they come. I don’t buy them often because I will and do OD on them. I remember gobbling them up like there was no tomorrow at my grandfather’s house, when I was a small child.
Maybe I’ll write a poem or a blog post one of these days – “An Ode to the Prune.” I think it really has had a bad rap in modern times. Somebody ought to be in its court.
Sally
Blog meister responds: I also like the taste of prunes. But having to eat two everyday is a bit much. But, whatever it takes to live comfortably within nature we have to do.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night we got back to Boston in the evening. At 7.00pm we were a bit hungry but didn’t want to cook. We had opened jars of quality tunafish and sardines. We heated garlic oil and emptied the contents of the two jars into the oil, along with small-chopped red onion and celery and added a touch of white wine vinegar. A few dashes of red pepper flakes and chopped parsley added spice and flavor. We broke up the tuna while it cooked.
Meanwhile, we cooked some spaghetti to a very chewy consistency. When it was cooked we poured two tablespoons of EVOO over it, tossed it, and then covered the spaghetti with the tuna fish sauce. It hit the spot.
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Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father ascended the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947, she married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, with whom she had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth – then 25 years old – became head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. She has reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities, Brexit, Canadian patriation, and the decolonisation of Africa. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence, and as realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics. Her many historic visits and meetings include a state visit to the Republic of Ireland and visits to or from five popes. Significant events have included her coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees in 1977, 2002, and 2012, respectively. In 2017, she became the first British monarch to reach a Sapphire Jubilee. In 2021, after 73 years of marriage, her husband Prince Philip died at the age of 99.
Elizabeth is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the longest-serving female head of state in world history, the world's oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch, and oldest and longest-serving current head of state. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the royal family, in particular after the breakdown of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales. However, support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom has been and remains consistently high, as does her personal popularity.
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It’s Thursday, June 3rd 2021
Welcome to the 1,118th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Meredith Clark
by Kumolu Studios
Dare Kumolu-Johnson - Own work
The headshot of Dr Meredith Clark
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2.0 Commentary
I’m back in Boston from the three day trip to and from Swarthmore.
The celebration and the dinners were terrific.
Dealing with Zip Car was a terrible experience.
My daughter, Kat, who used Zip Car a lot in NYC says that one out of three rentals involved so hassle or another. While I feel that was unacceptable, she disagrees. The price, she says, is so much lower than any other transportation offerings, she feels it’s worth it. And as you use the service, you get to know the little idiosyncrasies that make the experience less fraught with issues.
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Notes on Trip to Tuscany
Select the date.
We know approximately: Labor day.
Plan the itinerary.
This is mostly done.
Buy the plane ticket.
Q. What is involved in leaving this country and landing in Italy?
Q. What’s involved in returning to this country?
Rent the car.
Buy the museum tickets.
Is each museum open?
What are the protocols.
Book the restaurants.
What are the new protocols?
Make arrangements at home for our absence.
Offer the afternoon plans to daughter, Kat, who’ll be coming with me.
Thinking paid tours when we’re in Florence.
So I’ll do some work on these issues this week.
The most worrisome aspect of the trip is getting back to America.
And it appears the consulates are not fully operational and can’t be counted on for support.
While I do my own prep I’ll watch for the published experiences of recently returning travelers.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "It's Greek to me", you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you act more in sorrow than in anger;
if your wish is farther to the thought;
if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare;
if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy,
if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you , for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare;
if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then - to give the devil his due - if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare;
even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then - by Jove! O Lord! Tut tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! But me no buts! - it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.”
― Bernard Levin
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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
Many well wishes and congratulations on Kat’s graduation.
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my friends. These milestone events take place many times in every one’s homes. All of us wish each other very well, indeed.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night, post-graduation celebrations, Kat and I repaired to Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia.
A favorite of ours in that city, this was our third and much anticipated visit.
Another brilliant dinner.
We had bisquits, pasta primavera, short rib, diver scallop, and dessert, Kat, a rich coconut sorbet and I, a peanut butter chocolate sundae, of which I ate only a third. It was enough.
A fine atmosphere, fine service, and fine food.
I hope the guide Michelin gives it a star very soon.
There’s something quite lovely about dining with your grown daughter.
Love flows between us so effortlessly.
We talk of lovely things to come; hopes, ideas, even politics. (We’re of one mind).
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Meredith D. Clark is an American scholar. She is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. Her research interests include Black Twitter, cancel culture, and systemic racism in US news media. She was named by The Root to their 2015 list of 100 most influential Black Americans after her Ph.D. dissertation, To Tweet Our Own Cause: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Online Phenomenon "Black Twitter", won a Top Dissertation award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
According to The Root, the dissertation was likely the first analysis of Black Twitter by an academic researcher. NPR called her "the go-to person about Black Twitter".
Early life and education
Clark was born to John T. Clark and Dr. Bonnie Mitchell-Clark and raised in Lexington, Kentucky.
Clark attended Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, earning a bachelor's degree in political science in 2002 and a master's degree in journalism in 2006. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a Ph.D. in mass communication in 2014. Clark's dissertation for her Ph.D. was titled To Tweet Our Own Cause: A Mixed-Methods Study of the Online Phenomenon "Black Twitter". It won a Top Dissertation award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Career
Prior to earning her Ph.D., Clark worked as a journalist for the Capital Outlook, the Tallahassee Democrat, the Austin American-Statesman, and the News & Observer. She wrote a column on diversity at the Poynter Institute's website and was a contributor to USA Today.
According to The Root, Clark's Ph.D. dissertation was likely the first analysis of Black Twitter by an academic researcher. NPR called her "the go-to person about Black Twitter".
After earning her Ph.D., Clark became an assistant professor at the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas. She is an assistant professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. She is a faculty fellow with the Data & Society Research Institute, an advisory board member for the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies at New York University, an advisory board member for Project Information Literacy at Harvard University, and a faculty affiliate of the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a grant of $1.2 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to research African-American social media.
Clark's research interests include Black Twitter, cancel culture, and systemic racism in the US news media.
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It’s Wednesday, June 2nd 2021
Welcome to the 1,117th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
Contact Information
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081
(610) 328-8000
About Valerie Smith :: President’s Office :: Swarthmore College
1.0 Lead Picture
Valerie Smith
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2.0 Commentary
I’m writing this on Monday morning.
The graduation celebration is over.
I’m at a Starbuck’s, fortuitously located directly across from my seedy motel room at Media Inn.
It’s 7.58am.
I got out of bed at 5.45am after an excellent sleep. That’s two nights in a row of excellent sleep, both in this seedy room. I may simple be a seedy motel room person.
Suits my personality, I guess.
Kat has asked to sleep in until 10.00am.
She has certainly earned it.
I’ll pick her up, we’ll get breakfast, and then shove off on a six-hour excursion returning to Boston.
As an early opening coffee shop with good coffee and an excellent place to blog, Starbuck’s is a true godsend.
Don’t know what I’d do without cafes.
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8.0 Health and Medical Issues
Thanks to my nurse practitioner who responded to my constipation issue holistically, listing several baby steps I could choose from to see if any of them alleviated the issue. I chose to add blueberries, prunes, and stool softener gels to my diet.
Within several days the issue was resolved.
I soon dropped blueberries from my diet without ill effects and then I dropped from four prunes to two, retaining the two softener gels. And that’s where I sit now. Things are working themselves out beautifully.
My weightlifting has returned to pre-pandemic normal. Unfortunately, one experiment did not work out. For years I’ve been unable to use the calf extension machine without suffering severe calf muscle strains. I thought I’d try them again. For three weeks I suffered no repercussions, but over graduation weekend in a seedy motel room I suffered severely for the experiment, spasms that took a long time to walk off. Painful.
Weightlifting for most people does not mean power-lifting complete with grunting and groaning. It means that you adopt a set of exercises that involve all of your muscles, find a very light weight, and learn the smooth and rhythmic way to workout. Every club has staff that will happily show you the motions. Knowing that you can lift that light weight should be enough to make it comfortable for you to add visits to the club to your schedule.
There is no rush to add weight. But you will add weight based on your comfort zone. No one prodding you.
Once the health club becomes part of your routine, it becomes your personal prod to gain control of your weight. Why spend the time exercising if you’re not going to complement the effort with the adoption of a healthier eating pattern. One feeds off the other. Perhaps ‘feeds’ is not the appropriate word here.
My diet has worked simply because the last girding of my will led to my toeing the mark. No cheating. That means a small breakfast, no lunch, cappuccino and a very small dessert, [like a miniature chocolate], and then a reasonable supper. I have learned to accept the deprivations as payment for regaining control of my weight.
There is another issue I’ve had for years. It’s never been bothersome so I never reported it. However, buoyed by the successful treatment of my constipation, I will discuss the situation with my healthcare providers and report back.
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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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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 contributor and friend from college days, Joyce G, talking about a recent post:
The salads are artistic delights. A pity that they have to be eaten.
I agree with Susan Sontag. About white men causing evil. I am reading The Pope and Mussolini . The author details all the suffering and deaths that were caused by their decisions. I wonder how a female Italian leader and a female pope would have handled Hitler.
Joyce
Blog meister responds: Point well-taken, Joyce. I doubt it could have been worse.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
A thought on simplifying Eggplant Parmesan and making it healthier than frying the slices in oil.
Wash the eggplants and then slice them lengthwise into ¼” thicknesses.
Brush both sides with olive oil and roast them on a rack for 45 minutes made easy and much healthier.
They should have a nice brown color.
Cover the baking dish with Marinara Sauce or a white sauce and cover the bottom of the baker with eggplant, cutting pieces to make them fit perfectly or overlapping the slices.
Then spread more sauce.
Then Parmesan cheese.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Bake at 375* until the baker is bubbling (about 25 minutes), then let settle, cut and serve.
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Valerie Smith (born February 19, 1956) is an American academic administrator, professor, and scholar of African-American literature and culture. She is the 15th and current president of Swarthmore College.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she is a graduate of Bates College and the University of Virginia. She taught at Princeton University from 1980 to 1989 and at University of California, Los Angeles from 1989 to 2000. In 2001, Smith returned to Princeton upon being appointed the director of Princeton's African-American studies program. From 2006 to 2009, Smith was the founding director of Princeton's interdisciplinary Center for African American Studies. In July 2011, the university's president appointed Smith the Dean of the College, tasked with "Princeton's undergraduate curriculum, residential college system, and admission and financial aid offices." While at the university as dean, she removed numerical targets for the university's grading policy, expanded socioeconomic diversity, created an international residential college exchange program, and created the Office of Undergraduate Research of Princeton University.
She left Princeton after a 23-year tenure to assume the presidency of Swarthmore College in July 2015; she was inaugurated in October. As president she increased the college's endowment to its 2016 market value of $1.85 billion and started the $450 million fundraising campaign called "Changing Lives, Changing the World" on April 6, 2017.
Early life and education
Valerie Smith was born on February 19, 1956, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, W. Reeves Smith, was a professor of biology at Long Island University, and her mother, Josephine Smith, a public school teacher; both moved from Charleston, South Carolina to New York. She has said of her time in Brooklyn: "I grew up in a family that really valued knowledge, but also, growing up in Brooklyn, I grew up in an environment where I enjoyed the cultural riches of an urban environment.”
She attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn. At the age of 15, she enrolled at Bates College where she majored in English literature and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude in 1975. She described her experience at the college as "nurturing" and studied abroad in England at Oxford University. She completed her graduate work at the University of Virginia, eventually earning M.A. and Ph.D degrees.
Early academic career
She began teaching at Princeton University in 1980 where she held appointments in the departments of English and African-American studies. After teaching for nine years at Princeton, Smith went to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was appointed a professor in the English department. Smith along with Emory Elliott, Margaret Doody, and Sandra Gilbert all resigned from Princeton in 1989. The reports suggest that the four were unhappy with the leniency shown to Thomas McFarland after he was accused of sexual misconduct. McFarland was initially put on a one-year suspension, but eventually took early retirement after these resignations and threats of student boycotts. She moved to University of California, Los Angeles that year and was appointed in the English department. While at the University of California, Los Angeles, she served as the Chair of the Interdepartmental Program in African-American Studies and Co-Director of Cultural Studies in the African Diaspora Project until 2000.
Princeton University
In 2001, she returned to Princeton where she was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Professor of English and African American Studies, as well as the founding director of the Center for African American Studies. A year later she was asked to serve as the director of the university's African American Studies program eventually turning into an academic center in 2006. Smith created a postdoctoral fellows program and established a distinguished visiting scholars program at the academic center. In 2004, she was chosen to give the keynote address for Princeton’s observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
In July 2011, it was announced the Smith was to assume the deanship of Princeton College, the undergraduate program of the larger university. She removed numerical targets for the university's grading policy, expanded socioeconomic diversity, created an international residential college exchange program, and created the Office of Undergraduate Research of Princeton University.
On February 21, 2015, Princeton announced that Smith was selected by Swarthmore College as their 15th president. Smith remained at Princeton until June 2015.
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College's Parrish Hall setting of Smith's post-inguarual reception
In February 2015, the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College unanimously approved Smith as the next president of the college and announced that she would begin her tenure on 1 July 2015. She will also hold appointments in English Literature and Black Studies.
Inauguration
On October 3, 2015, Smith was inaugurated as the 15th President of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Her position as the first African-American president drew many of the speakers to discuss the growing racial divides in the U.S. and academia. The president of Brown University at the time, Ruth Simmons, noted that "the long shadow of racial and gender bias still lingers in this society and will influence some of what she will experience on a day to day basis." To a crowd of 1,200, Smith addressed her inauguration by stating:
ow does greater diversity make us better? Our ability to discover and communicate new knowledge; to find solutions to intractable problems in science and technology, public policy, and the social sciences; and to analyze, contextualize, and express the highest ideals of the human spirit in the humanities and the arts – these are all enhanced when we earnestly engage with others whose perspectives and experiences differ from our own.
Presidency (2015–present)
Student life
In late October 2015, Smith adapted the “Dinner with 12 Strangers” program (originally developed at UCLA), which, according to the Swarthmore Daily, "brings members of the campus community together for a meal at the Courtney Smith House." On March 2016, she penned an opinion editorial in the college's newspaper regarding a Letter to the Editor about members of the board of trustees having a conflict of interest in divesting in fossil fuels. The original article requested that "manager[s] having a duality or possible financial conflict of interest on any matter should not use his or her personal influence in the matter and, if a vote were to be taken, should not vote thereon nor be counted even in determining the quorum for the meeting." Smith, along with the Chair of the Managers of Swarthmore College, Tom Spock, issued that "the assertions in the piece [were] unfounded and present[ed] a distorted picture," adding "the administration are united in their deep commitment to climate action." Smith concluded the letter by stating that the college will not divest, citing the "Board’s responsibility to ensure that both current and future generations of Swarthmore students have access to the financial resources," indicating the importance of dependent investments in their long-term financial goals.
Endowment and fundraising
According to an article by BizJournals, the Swarthmore Endowment Fund, fell by -5% in 2016, indicating a drop from $1.846 billion to $1.747 billion.
On April 6, 2017, Smith announced the "Changing Lives, Changing the World" fundraising campaign intending to raise $450 million.
Academic outreach
In September 2016, she was profiled by Washington Monthly, where she commented on the minority incarceration debate by rhetorically asking: "How many of the men who are in this facility, or in facilities like it across the country, are there because the educational system failed to engage them intellectually, made them feel unintelligent, less than human?"
On February 17, 2017, Smith was interviewed by Adam Bryant of The New York Times where she outlined the college's market position, incoming students, and her leadership philosophy: "creating an environment within my leadership team where people feel that they can trust each other and feel confident sharing their ideas."
Personal life
Smith lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She has served as trustee of her alma mater Bates College (2004-2015), the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, and the McCarter Theater Center.
Awards and honors
She has been awarded fellowships from the Alphonse G. Fletcher Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2009, Smith won Princeton's President's Award for Distinguished Teaching. In 2016, she received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Hong Kong Baptist University and delivered a distinguished lecture on "Liberal Arts Education: Challenges and Prospects."
She has served on the editorial boards of Women's Studies Quarterly, Criticism, and African American Review.
Selected works
Smith is the author of three monographs: Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro-American Narrative (1987), Not Just Race, Not Just Gender: Black Feminist Readings (1998), and Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination (2012). She is the editor or co-editor of seven books, and the author of over forty articles.
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It’s Tuesday, June 1st 2021
Welcome to the 1,116th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
A mandoline
with various cutting blades
Beeblebrox - Own work
A mandoline and various blades used with it
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2.0 Commentary
My trip to Swarthmore for my daughter’s graduation has been one of the most trying excursions of my life.
As I write this I’m preparing for the main event: a college-wide celebration breakfast and ceremony.
My fondest hope?
That my daughter’s ideas for the day will permit us to return to Boston tonight.
The plan in place is a fine dinner tonight, a return to our separate domiciles, pack in the morning and leave. I won’t mention leaving early unless the opportunity presents itself.
I don’t have time to pen the horrors that beset me so let me say that the tide changed Saturday afternoon @ 2.19pm when I walked into the Broad Table Tavern @ Swarthmore and hung out with Kat and Will, her boyfriend.
Then I rested a bit and drove to my dear friend Howard’s for a great dinner and stimulating conversation with Howard, Melissa, [She and Howard married] and their friend Tom Brennan both faculty members of Saint Joseph’s, a small, successful, non-diverse Catholic university in Philadelphia.
And, continuing the streak into early Sunday morning, I found a Starbuck’s practically adjacent to the dump of a motel I’m staying at.
A great Starbuck’s
No need to wear a mask!
Open @ 6.00am.
Indoor seating.
Very comfortable to create today’s blog.
Friendly and helpful staff.
Now the goodness piles on.
A meetup with Kat and a drive to the outdoor celebration of the commencement. The actual commencement to take place next week, virtually.
The celebration was under two hours, a blessing; and it didn’t rain. Blessing two.
And I got to talk a few minutes with Swarthmore President, Valerie Smith.
Later in the day I will meet William’s parents for tea (William, also a 2021 Swarthmore graduate, Kat’s serious boyfriend) to be joined by Kat’s mother and stepfather, plus. of course, the graduates.
Kat and I will end the day with dinner together alone.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“If you expect me to believe that a lawyer wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream, I must be dafter than I look.”
~Jasper Fforde,
The Eyre Affair
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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
Well despite your misimpression that I should be relegated to the status of a recipe-driven kind of cook, I will share this, pardon the expression, recipe. Which is more caveat than reproof. I’m merely warning you that, in fact, the salad, and the dressing were off the cuff, or the seat of my pants, or simply out of my head, so, I can’t speak for the precision of the portions of the ingredients.
Salad:
Slice very thin, starting from the outer leaves, approximately half of a medium sized radicchio (about 5-6” in diameter), being sure to remove the outermost leaves, which are undoubtedly slightly wilted already. Reserve.
Slice very thin half of a medium sized Vidalia onion (make sure it’s a genuine Vidalia® brand – they’re the somewhat flattened squat variety), about 4 ½ to 5 inches in diameter, cut in half equatorially, so you’ll be cutting rings, albeit really really thin ones. The slices will be thinner than the radicchio, which should be cut more as if for slaw. Anything thicker than what allows a slice of onion to hold up, but barely, with its integrity as a complete “ring” intact is too thick. Be sure to remove the outer dry skin of the onion before starting to slice it on the mandoline. Reserve
Slice very thin, maybe a bare 1/16”, a whole small to medium persian cucumber. You can probably substitute about 5-6” of an English cucumber, but the latter will produce slices not as dainty, as the Persian cucumber is of really narrow caliper and most of the Engish are of greater girth. Reserve.
Remove the skin and all signs of the pith of two medium-sized blood oranges. Also carefully remove the bit of core at each end. Leave the skinned oranges intact, and slice latitudinally into slices about ¼” thick. Set aside.
Maybe two tablespoons of fresh pomegranate seeds. To be added last, just before tossing.
I would also add about three tablespoons of very lightly toasted pine nute (I suppose the same quantity of toasted blanched slithered almonds can be susbstitued), but I didn’t last night because I didn’t want to gild the lily.
Dressing:
For a salad of the dimensions produced by the above list of components, about enough for a salad course for four adults, here’s the approximate measures and proportions of the dressing ingredients.
I make this kind of dressing (anything tahini or yogurt based – this has both – rather than oil and vinegar bonded by something that acts as an emulsifier, like prepared mustard or egg yolk) in a mini-blender. In my case I use an attachment that came with what has been the greatest immersion blender I’ve ever encountered, by Kitchen Aid.
They still make a version of it, but it’s not as good as the one I have, because in the obsolescence driven evolution in the name of improvement in the 10 to 12 years that have elapsed since I bought this one, they have made it worse, for the sake of making it less an appliance and more of a labor-saving convenience, i.e., it’s now cordless (‘cause you never know when you might have to run out of the house and blend something in your neighbor’s backyard during a backyard emergency) and also, well, obsolescence, because if it’s cordless you need a battery, and eventually all batteries wear out, and by the time this one does, they won’t make it any more, and you’ll have to buy the new handheld immersion blender, which will have 82 AI features that will analyze what’s in the container you stick it into and decide for itself, using the built-in computer, connected to the internet by WiFi of course – because doesn’t everybody need an immersion blender that stores data in the cloud? I think Microsoft is working on it right now, with Kitchen Aid engineers – just what speed and for long to apply the correct number of bursts to produce the perfect concoction. You won’t even have to have a purpose in mind: it will send you an email with a menu of a meal based on what you’ve just blended.
Into the bowl of the mini-blender, with the blade in place
2 – healthy tablespoons of very fresh tahini; try to get an Israeli brand made from organic or non-GMO middle eastern (this includes, if it’s not exclusive to, Ethiopia) sesame seeds, with no other ingredients, not even salt. Tahini is sesame seed paste with all the natural oil intact to make it viscous. Period. [N.B.: There’s at least one American brand (though the founders of the company are sisters, one of whom was living in Israel when they decided what America needed was an authentic Israeli-style tahini – made, you may not be surprised to learn, from single-source Ethiopian sesame seeds, same as in Israel; I like it, because usually locally it’s very fresh, being a Philadelphia based company) which is a more than acceptable substitute. It’s called Soom.]
2 – healthy tablespoons of (well, I like grass-fed milk products; but I’m just telling you that) whole milk yogurt (this means there’s still an ample amount of the cream that was in the milk used to make the yogurt still in the yogurt, so make sure you mix the yogurt well before doling out the portion for the dressing)
1 – lime, very fresh, juiced thoroughly. I have a lime press… does a very thorough job. Might as well squeeze it right into the blender bowl.
½ -1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
healthy pinch of Kosher or finely granulated sea salt. If you can’t get Diamond Crystal brand or David’s Kosher Salt, use sea salt (real sea salt). Morton Kosher Salt sucks, and, in violent contradiction to the concept of crystallized kosher salt, it is heavier, denser, and therefore more laden (not less) with sodium.
a grind or two of freshly ground black pepper
maybe ½ teaspoon (I’m really guessing; I eyeball this, shaking the cumin right out of the jar) Cumin
maybe ¼ to ½ teaspoon (see note about cumin and eyeballing it) of sumac; if you don’t have sumac, which you probably don’t (who has sumac?) use some sweet paprika, preferably Hungarian, and maybe a ½ teaspoon of fresh lemon zest
As much of the leaves and more delicate stems of fresh coriander as you can grab in one hand and tear from a bunch of coriander – discard any tough or thicker stems you might happen with your superior hand strength than you intended – rinse what’s in your hand and shake off the excess the water. Tear up the leaves as you add them to the blender container. Should be roughly ¼ to ⅓ cup, but no more, and better less.
Blend all of the above for probably longer than you think is prudent. Stop occasionally and with the cute little spatula that used to come with the Kitchen Aid immersion blender, or a similarly cute-sized small silicon rubber spatula, scrape down the walls of the container. All in all, blend for maybe a minute or a minute-and-a-half (it’s longer than you think).
The final homogeneous consistency should be viscous and creamy, about the viscosity of a good ranch dressing, and certainly not as thick as mayonnaise. If it seems too thick, add tiny bits of filtered water, like a ¼ teaspoon at a time, and blend some more until you get the right consistency.
Scrape the blade when you remove it, so you get all the dressing you made into the container.
Dress the salad only just before you intend to toss it and serve it.
The salad ingredients should be layered in the bowl in any order, though I’d put the radicchio in first, then the onion, and then the cucumber, evenly distributed. The bowl should be amply sized to allow for unfettered tossing without losing anything that goes flying. Add the orange slices and the pomegranate seeds last, before drizzling the dressing evenly over all… Use up all the dressing. Toss evenly and making sure all ingredients get distributed and coated.
Blog meister responds: A master, Howard. Like the little boy lost, he takes his work so seriously…Only the rarest of the great chefs have this talent, this depth of knowledge, this commitment to perfection. I listen and read in great admiration.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Dinner at Howard’s on Saturday night was a throwback.
For the first ten years of our relationship, Toni-Lee was either a top student or an full-blown academician. During those years our conversations were filled with topics academic.
I loved those discussions, loved Toni’s passion.
And Saturday night I was hearing these same issues.
It was lovely.
Dinner was an artistic array of plats variee from hummus to petite carrot sticks, olives, artichoke slices and several others designed as nibbles to accompany our conversation. I expected nothing less.
For a main course, we fell into bowls of confit cherry tomatoes and of confit shallots, perfect accompaniments to our dinner plates layered with arugula and black rice [purplish, actually] on which sat a perfectly baled wedge of halibut.
Perfect.
But the piece de resistance for me was the salad.
Few of us use a mandolin: it’s dangerous. It has always frightened me off. I’m clumsy.
Look above to the mail section and read Howard’s description
For dessert we had a tasting of four delicious ice creams.
Thank you, Howard.
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11.0 Thumbnail
A mandoline or mandolin is a culinary utensil used for slicing and for cutting juliennes; with suitable attachments, it can make crinkle-cuts.
A mandoline consists of two parallel working surfaces, one of which can be adjusted in height.
A food item is slid along the adjustable surface until it reaches a blade mounted on the fixed surface, slicing it and letting it fall.
Other blades perpendicular to the main blade are often mounted so that the slice is cut into strips. The mandoline juliennes in several widths and thicknesses. It also makes slices, waffle cuts and crinkle cuts, and dices firm vegetables and fruits.
With a mandoline, slices are uniform in thickness, which is important with foods that are deep-fried or baked (e.g. potato chips), as well as for presentation. Slices can be very thin, and be made very quickly, with significantly less skill and effort than would be required if cutting with a knife or other blade.
Operation
A mandoline is used by running a piece of food (with some protection for fingers) along an adjustable inclined plane into one or more blades. On some models vertical blades cut to produce julienne, or a wavy blade is used that produces crinkle cuts. In these models a quarter turn to the food between passes produces dice and waffle cuts.
A mandoline can cause injury if not used correctly.
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It’s Monday, May 31st 2021
Welcome to the 1,115th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci - Online Taken on 23 July 2013
The Last Supper Restored - Leonardo Da Vinci
Public Domain
File:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg
Created: from 1495 until 1498 date QS:P571,+1495-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P580,+1495-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P582,+1498-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Location: 45° 28′ 0″ N, 9° 10′ 15″ E
Leonardo da Vinci - Online Taken on 23 July 2013
The Last Supper Restored - Leonardo Da Vinci
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2.0 Commentary
I’m writing this on Saturday early morning.
Will be heading to Swarthmore, PA in several hours.
So much to go wrong.
Careful is the name of today’s events.
Wishing I wasn’t alone.
Never felt this degree of aloneness.
But it’s what it is.
Will report.
Today’s post will be briefer than usual.
On the road.
Meetings with daughter and dear friend.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“When I read Shakespeare I am struck with wonder
that such trivial people should muse and thunder in such lovely language.”
~D.H. Lawrence
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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 dear friend and also writer, Sally C.
Hi, Dom,
I imagine you are familiar with this story about “threads of God,” the rarest pasta in the world, but just in case you aren’t, here’s a story about it from Atlas Obscura.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/threads-of-god-pasta-sardinia/?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=91ef569a89-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_05_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-91ef569a89-74573326&mc_cid=91ef569a89&mc_eid=b1c4885a7c
Sally
BRASS CASTLE ARTS
Literary Services to Polish Your Gem
Freelance Copywriter | Copyeditor | Author
Blog meister responds: Indeed, I had not heard of it but was fascinated by the short piece the link led me to. Thanks, my friend.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday I had dinner (at lunch time) with my friend Jim Pasto.
We ate at the Palm which has revived its $26.00, three-course power lunch.
It was an excellent take although business on this afternoon was very slow.
We hope the recovery revives the restaurant industry.
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11.0 Thumbnail
The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci housed by the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
It is one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings.
The work is assumed to have been started around 1495–96 and was commissioned as part of a plan of renovations to the church and its convent buildings by Leonardo's patron Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.
The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with his apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John, 13:21.
Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Apostles when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him.
Due to the methods used, a variety of environmental factors, and intentional damage, little of the original painting remains today despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999.
The Last Supper measures 180 in × 350 in and covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy.
The theme was a traditional one for refectories, although the room was not a refectory at the time that Leonardo painted it.
The main church building was being completed (in 1498).
Leonardo's patron, Ludovico Sforza, planned that the church should be remodeled as a family mausoleum, and to this end, changes were made, perhaps to plans by Bramante; these plans were not fully carried out, and a smaller mortuary chapel was constructed, adjacent to the cloister.
The painting was commissioned by Sforza to decorate the wall of the mausoleum. The lunettes above the main painting, formed by the triple arched ceiling of the refectory, are painted with Sforza coats-of-arms.
The opposite wall of the refectory is covered by the Crucifixion fresco by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano, to which Leonardo added figures of the Sforza family in tempera; these figures have deteriorated in much the same way as has The Last Supper.
Leonardo worked on The Last Supper from about 1495 to 1498, but did not work continuously. The beginning date is not certain, as the archives of the convent for the period have been destroyed. A document dated 1497 indicates that the painting was nearly completed at that date.
One story goes that a prior from the monastery complained to Leonardo about its delay, enraging him. He wrote to the head of the monastery, explaining he had been struggling to find the perfect villainous face for Judas, and that if he could not find a face corresponding with what he had in mind, he would use the features of the prior who had complained.
In 1557, Gian Paolo Lomazzo wrote that Leonardo's friend Bernardo Zenale advised him to leave Christ's face unfinished, arguing that "it would be impossible to imagine faces lovelier or gentler than those of James the Greater or James the Less." Leonardo apparently took the advice.
The Last Supper portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. The apostles were identified by their names, using an unsigned, mid-sixteenth-century fresco copy of Leonardo's Cenacolo. Before this, only Judas, Peter, John and Jesus had been positively identified. From left to right, according to the apostles' heads:
Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus, and Andrew form a group of three; all are surprised.Judas Iscariot, Peter, and John form another group of three. Judas is wearing red, blue, and green and is in shadow, looking withdrawn and taken aback by the sudden revelation of his plan. He is clutching a small bag, perhaps signifying the silver given to him as payment to betray Jesus, or perhaps a reference to his role as a treasurer. He is also tipping over the salt cellar, which may be related to the near-Eastern expression to "betray the salt" meaning to betray one's master. He is the only person to have his elbow on the table and his head is also vertically the lowest of anyone in the painting. Peter wears an expression of anger and appears to be holding a knife, foreshadowing his violent reaction in Gethsemane during the arrest of Jesus. Peter is leaning towards John and touching him on the shoulder, in reference to John's Gospel where he signals the "beloved disciple" to ask Jesus who is to betray him. The youngest apostle, John, appears to swoon and lean towards Peter.
Jesus
Thomas, James the Greater, and Philip are the next group of three. Thomas is clearly upset; the raised index finger foreshadows his incredulity of the Resurrection. James the Greater looks stunned, with his arms in the air. Meanwhile, Philip appears to be requesting some explanation.
Matthew, Jude Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot are the final group of three. Both Thaddeus and Matthew are turned toward Simon, perhaps to find out if he has any answer to their initial questions.
In common with other depictions of the Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. Most previous depictions excluded Judas by placing him alone on the opposite side of the table from the other eleven disciples and Jesus, or placing halos around all the disciples except Judas. Leonardo instead has Judas lean back into shadow. Jesus is predicting that his betrayer will take the bread at the same time he does to Thomas and James the Greater to his left, who react in horror as Jesus points with his left hand to a piece of bread before them. Distracted by the conversation between John and Peter, Judas reaches for a different piece of bread not noticing Jesus too stretching out with his right hand towards it (Matthew 26: 23). The angles and lighting draw attention to Jesus, whose turned right cheek is located at the vanishing point for all perspective lines. In addition, the painting demonstrated Da Vinci's masterful use of perspective as it "draws our attention to the face of Christ at the center of the composition, and Christ's face, through his down-turned gaze, directs our focus along the diagonal of his left arm to his hand and therefore, the bread."
Leonardo reportedly used the likenesses of people in and around Milan as inspiration for the painting's figures. The convent's prior complained to Sforza of Leonardo's "laziness" as he wandered the streets to find a criminal to base Judas on. Leonardo responded that if he could find no one else, the prior would make a suitable model. While the painting was being executed, Leonardo's friend, the mathematician Luca Pacioli, called it "a symbol of man's burning desire for salvation".
Film and television
In Luis Buñuel's 1961 Spanish film Viridiana, a tableau vivant of Leonardo's painting is staged with beggars. Another beggar "photographs" the scene by flashing them. This scene contributed to its refusal by the Vatican who called it "blasphemous." The painting is parodied in the motion picture of M*A*S*H (1970), in the scene where Hawkeye Pierce stages a "last supper" for Walt (Painless) Waldowski before his planned suicide. The various doctors, all in surgical scrubs, pose in imitation of the painting. In Norman Jewison's film version of Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), in the Last Supper sequence, Jesus and the 12 apostles briefly mimic the posture of each character in Da Vinci's painting. The painting is also parodied in Mel Brooks's movie History of the World, Part I (1981), making Leonardo a contemporary of Jesus.
Many parodies of the painting appear on the small screen, including That '70s Show's 1998 first-season episode "Streaking," with Eric flanked by his friends (and Jackie wondering why everyone is sitting on the same side of the table); The Simpsons' 2005 Season 16 episode "Thank God, It's Doomsday", with Homer as Jesus and Moe and his other patrons as the disciples; and South Park's 2009 Season 13 episode "Margaritaville", with Kyle and his friends eating at a pizza parlor. In one 2015 episode of the CBC drama Murdoch Mysteries called Barenaked Ladies, the suspects recreate the poses of Peter, Judas, and Thomas in their victims.
Other speculation
Detail of the "beloved disciple" to Jesus's right, identified by art historians as the apostle John,but speculated in the 2003 book The Da Vinci Code and similar works to be Mary Magdalene.
The Last Supper has been the target of much speculation by writers and historical revisionists alike, usually centered on purported hidden messages or hints found within the painting, especially since the publication of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code (2003), in which one of the characters suggests that the person to Jesus' right (left of Jesus from the viewer's perspective) is actually Mary Magdalene.
It also states that there was a letter ‘glaring in the center of the painting’ (M) standing for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene. This speculation originated in earlier books The Templar Revelation (1997) by Lynn Picknett and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln and Richard Leigh (1982).[40] Art historians hold that the figure is the Apostle John, who only appears feminine due to Leonardo's characteristic fascination with blurring the lines between the sexes, a quality which is found in his other paintings, such as St. John the Baptist (painted c. 1513–1516).
Christopher L. Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon comment, "If he [John] looks effeminate and needs a haircut, so does James, the second figure on the left." According to Ross King, an expert on Italian art, Mary Magdalene's appearance at the last supper would not have been controversial and Leonardo would have had no motive to disguise her as one of the other disciples, since she was widely venerated in her role as the "Apostle to the Apostles" and was the patron of the Dominican Order, for whom The Last Supper was painted. There would have even been precedent for it, since the earlier Italian Renaissance painter Fra Angelico had included her in his painting of the Last Supper.
The painting contains several possible numerical references, including to the number three. The Apostles are seated in groups of three, there are three windows behind Jesus, and the shape of Jesus' figure resembles a triangle. His hands are located at the golden ratio of half the height of the composition. The painting can also be interpreted using the Fibonacci series: one table, one central figure, two side walls, three windows and figures grouped in threes, five groups of figures, eight panels on the walls and eight table legs, and thirteen individual figures. Debates among art historians still surround the use of the Fibonacci series as some argue that its purposeful use did not fully begin to be applied to architecture until the early 19th century.
Giovanni Maria Pala, an Italian musician, has indicated that the positions of hands and loaves of bread can be interpreted as notes on a musical staff and, if read from right to left, as was characteristic of Leonardo's writing, form a musical composition.
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It’s Sunday, May 30th, 2021
Welcome to the 1,114th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Stefanie Martini
Unlikely roles for the daughter of Italian people.
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2.0 Commentary
Howard Dinin is one of the most remarkable fellows I have ever had the pain and pleasure to call my friend over the last 60 years.
That’s sixty.
It will be my great pleasure to be his dinner guest on Saturday night while daughter Kat, the graduate, has dinner with her mother and stepfather.
I have two bottles of wine chilling for the event.
Howard and I haven’t seen each other since the pandemic.
I am delighted that Howard is a regular contributor to the blog. His responses have added greatly to the quality of the Blog and have provided us an activity creating new memories.
I hate simply feeding off old ones.
How boring.
3.8 Boston to Swarthmore for Graduation
I decided on a Condrieu as a quality equivalent to Howard’s dinner.
I knew the ballpark price of a quality Condrieu although I realized it’s been a while since I last bought a bottle.
For the best, I had prepared for the worst.
I hadn’t prepared thoroughly enough.
Zipcar changed my vehicle (I will now be driving a BMW) and
my pick-up/drop-off spot.
Not really much of a change but, frankly, I do hate changes.
Do hate surprises.
I make enough mistakes on my own.
I don’t need others adding to my trepidations.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Balanchine ballets, et al. don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. The white race is the cancer of human history.”
~Susan Sontag
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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
Our Friend, Howard, has a couple of photos of Salade Nicoise he’d like to share, along with a couple of tongue in cheek comments:
“you call those salades Niçoises?
This is a salade Niçoise...”
and again, Howard D:
“Actually, even better
from during Covid lockdown, and much closer to the canonical...”
Followed by a Howard D musing:
There’s an essay in me somewhere about what we’re really doing when we critique food, I mean in restaurants. Obviously, I think how food looks on the plate means a lot. I think people, including oneself, deserve to have food be as attractive to look at before consumption as you can only hope it tastes to the diner... I rarely make anything that looks good, but tastes like crap. I don’t think good tasting dishes taste better because they were made to look good. I think each aspect (the look, and all the work that went into the prep and the cooking, are driven by the same impulse, and it’s akin to the same impulses writers and artists have to produce what they create.
Blog meister responds: Yes, my friend. I took your comments in the spirit in which they were made. I’ve known you long enough for something as obvious as ‘canonical’. To start an argument, I respond that there is no ‘canonical’ Nicoise, just as there isn’t a canonical Bouillabaisse.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Stefanie Martini (born 6 October 1990) is an English actress, known for her leading role in ITV's 2017 production Prime Suspect 1973.
She also starred in Doctor Thorne (2016), Emerald City (2017), the 2017 film Crooked House and the TV series The Last Kingdom.
Born in Bristol, Martini was raised in villages in North Somerset by her parents.
She completed her secondary education locally.
Having starred in local youth plays with Winscombe Youth Theatre and undertaken the two week induction at the National Youth Theatre, with an interest in illustration post A Levels at Churchill Academy and Sixth Form, she began an arts foundation course.
However, a teacher suggested that if she was interested in acting, then she should try it.
After failing to get into RADA on her first attempt, Martini joined a one-year program at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where the company wrote their own plays which were then performed in local schools.
She was subsequently accepted into RADA the following year.
During Martini's third year at RADA, she played the supporting role of a suspect in an episode of Endeavour.
In 2016, she starred as Mary Thorne in Doctor Thorne, and Princess Langwidere in NBC's Emerald City.
Martini portrayed the lead role of Jane Tennison in ITV's 2017 production Prime Suspect 1973 (also known as Prime Suspect: Tennison).
She also played Sophia de Haviland in the 2017 film Crooked House, an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
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