The Wednesday Curator – 6/25/14

June 24, 2014

Wednesday. Curator duties are at hand, and I think I have some good stuff for you all. So good, in fact, that I’ve posted early, so that you’ll have Tuesday night enrich your mind.

First up, I ran across—where I don’t recall—The course of bigness by Andrei Cherny, published in the Spring 2007 issue of Democracy, the journal he started many years ago. Andrei is a friend, a terrific writer—you should really read The Candy Bombers:  The untold story of the Berlin airlift and America’s finest hour, one of my “best ever” books—and a nice guy. What he says in The Course of Bigness matters, he says it well, and he said it seven years ago!

Next up, I read two pieces about the brains of people, seen through their political views. Inside the conservative brain:  Tea Partiers are afraid was written by Lynn Stuart Parramore for Alternet and first appeared in Salon on October 21, 2013. Crispin Sartwell wrote The left-right political spectrum is bogus for The Atlantic, and it first appeared on June 20, 2014. The Sartwell piece is not easy, and I’ll likely read it again. Understanding the mentalities of the various groups that participate in public discourse matters, so I’m pleased to see these analyses.

Here’s an interesting feature story from National Journal about Senator Bernie Sanders (Soc.-VT). How many people know we have a Socialist in the Senate … who might be running for President of the United States? I’m right and everybody else is wrong. Clear about that? was written by Simon van Zuylen-Wood.

Speaking of presidential candidates, A unified theory of Hillary by Peter Beinart, also in National Journal, is as good a piece as any I have read about Mrs. Clinton. Really! And for fun, check out The story isn’t that Hillary Clinton is rich, it’s that she’s an overrated politician by Philip Klein, published on June 23 in the Washington Examiner. The story is fun only because of the lengthy quotes about how a master politician—the former President—handled, in public, getting rich. I’m warming to Mrs. Clinton, really, but I don’t think she’ll ever be her husband’s match when it comes to retail politics and handling public situations.

I’ve been dabbling with a vegan diet lately. Dabbling means less meat and dairy, and mostly veggies before dinner. (That’s a nod to V(egan) B(efore) 6 by Mark Bittman. The concept involves eating lower down on the food chain, and it makes sense, at least for me.) I don’t see a break-up with fish/seafood soon, but less meat and dairy feels good! Anyway, I ran across this beautiful 8-course meal from Del Posto in New York, the NYT 4-star crown jewel of the Mario Batali-Joe Bastianich restaurant empire. I offer it for your pleasure; meat-free looks like it can be tasty!

 

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