Love birds on the operatic stage and in real life, the two stars appeared on the huge screen singing their hearts out. Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, in high definition, seemed to relish playing in Puccini’s opera La Rondine. The audience of over 300 clearly enjoyed watching them perform in this simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Category Archives: Aging
Bacevich’s Five Lessons
The United States lacks the power to transform the Greater Middle East.
Almost one-and-a half billion Muslims live in many countries ─ north, south, east, and west ─ within the huge area stretching from Iraq to Pakistan. Expecting to reshape these nations is thoroughly unrealistic.
This is the first of five lessons that Andrew Bacevich imagines sharing with Barack Obama as the latter assumes the presidency next week. He judges it vital for the new president to lead the way in breaking with the myths that, since 9/11, have been shaping U.S. foreign policy.
Buffett’s Store
Some family heritages are worth celebrating in a book. That view finds support in a handsomely printed volume that comes from Bill Buffett, currently an Arlington resident but born and brought up in Omaha, Nebraska.
Entitled “Foods You Will Enjoy: The Story of Buffett’s Store,” this book recounts the history of a family business that endured for a century. It also shares the atmosphere of a developing American city, one located almost exactly halfway between the east and west coasts.
Happy 2009
To mark the arrival of 2009, let me share with you my list of best wishes. In addition to positive selections, be warned about finding here some negative ones as well.
In fact, the negatives may outweigh the positives on this scale of values. As the Protestant theologian Paul Tillich once wrote: “Man’s negations are more powerful than his affirmations.”
New Year’s Resolutions – 2008
For fear you will fault me for not having yet published any resolutions for the New Year 2008, here now is my list.
You will be edified, I trust, to see how sweeping a character reformation I have planned for this, the newly arrived year. Even though other people tend to keep such resolves in the breach rather than the observance, I pledge to give them the force of solemn vows.
Christmas, A Time for Reconciliation
Looking toward Christmas 2008, I recall a story of two friends. (To preserve privacy, let’s call them Nancy and Joanne.) About their relationship, Nancy says “I had the most in common with her of any of my friends.”
They also shared the same house, Joanne as owner and Nancy her tenant. For a long time, that landlord/tenant relationship, though not without some tensions, had worked for them.
Doctors Saying They’re Sorry
Should doctors apologize to their patients when they have made a mistake? Tom Delbanco thinks so.
Himself a doctor, and a long-time professor at Harvard Medical School, Tom urges his fellow physicians to adopt this practice. In an opinion piece on the New York Times web site, he and a colleague, Dr. Sigall K. Bell, argue the benefits of taking this approach to medical error.