In 1965, a reporter for
Cumhuriyet, a Turkish daily newspaper, asked the novelist, playwright, and essayist James Baldwin then living in Istanbul about his dreams for the future of the United States. Baldwin, in his reply, chose instead to talk about the
history of the United States. He explained that the future he imagined already existed in the past of the country, namely in the Reconstruction era. “Black and white people were side by side even in trade unions in the South,” Baldwin said, and continued: “We had Black members in Parliament. … Unfortunately, northern capitalists and southern landlords [
aghas] destroyed this unity and order.”
Updated 06 April 2021
April 05, 2021 16:59
CHENNAI: Oscar-nominated actress Frances McDormand plays a disenfranchised widow in “Nomadland,” where she takes to the road in a van after she loses her job in a mine, which shuts down in 2011. The Nevada town that depended on it crumbles, its zip code is binned.
“Nomadland” has clinched several Academy Award nominations, including those for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director for Chloe Zhao. The first Chinese woman auteur with this recognition, Zhao had in her earlier two films “Songs My Brothers Taught Me” and “The Rider” created a romance with the American West, training her script and camera toward the magical landscape with its huge, thinly populated open places.
Noted social historian, award-winning author, and educational leader, Earl Lewis, is the founding director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions. Also the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and public policy, Lewis is president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2013-18), one of the premier philanthropies supporting the arts, humanities, and higher education. At Michigan, Lewis and colleagues in the center are addressing four core areas of social concern: diversity and race, slavery and its aftermath, water and security, and the dignity of labor in an automated world. Prior to returning to Michigan and before leading the Mellon Foundation, he served as the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Emory University as well as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies (2004-2012). Lewis was previously on the faculty at the University of Michigan (
Common calendar, Packet papers, January 29
Common calendar, Packet papers, January 29
Ongoing
Princeton University Concerts (PUC) is expanding its digital offerings for the remainder of the 2020-21 season to replace planned in-person concerts, many of which will be rescheduled to future seasons.
The university’s performing arts series has recast all of its virtual programming to directly address socially relevant topics. This includes: a new podcast series, Breathe in Music, bringing PUC’s popular Live Music Meditation series to a digital format; a new series of conversations with musicians and prominent arts thinkers about the impact of COVID-19 on the performing arts hosted by multidisciplinary artist and WNYC host Helga Davis; the release of new video episodes of mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s Sing for Today, in which the opera star responds to current events through the lens of song and conversations; and virtual performances and live Q&As with world-renowned musicians
New World Wonder: How a geological oddity became an enduring symbol of the nation in American Art Christopher C. Oliver
Fig. 1.
Thomas Jefferson at Natural Bridge by Caleb Boyle (active 1800–1822), c. 1801. Oil on canvas, 92 by 60 inches.
Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, Kirby Collection of Historical Paintings.
The Natural Bridge of Virginia is a 215-foottall geological formation located in the Shenandoah Valley that is the last remnant of the roof of an ancient cavern that collapsed millions of years ago. Its impressive height and unique features inspired generations of artists who visited the site, which for many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists was relatively remote. Yet, its craggy, foresttopped visage made a familiar and frequent appearance in painting, prints, photography, and the decorative arts of the era. As one of the earliest painters to depict the site, Joshua Shaw, remarked upon his visit to the Natural Bridge in 1820: “It is one of those s