The Narcissistic Young Women of Our Era

2011 photo of Alexis Bledel
who played Rory in The Gilmore Girls
I call her look "Narcissism with a smile"

The Gilmore Girls is a show that was discontinued in 2007 (it ran from 2000-2007) about a single mother and her daughter. The show starts when Rory, the daughter, is about ten years old, and ends when she makes plans to go to college. We are never made to feel that this is a "good thing." Lorelei, the single mother, is in constant battle with her wealthy parents since she became pregnant at sixteen, and refused to marry the father (she ran away briefly when she got pregnant to avoid the friction with her parents); she works long hours in an inn, where she rose from maid to executive manager and has hardly time for anything else; and she says that her daughter Rory is the best thing that happened to her, altough Rory is a spoilt and self-centered girl.

Lauren Graham, the actress who plays Lorelei, brings a light, self-parodying quality to her role. At times, I get the feeling that she is improvising as she goes along (and that the writers allow her to do so). I've laughed out loud quite a few times.

Alexis Bledel who plays Rory, is a dry, humorless actress. Even though she is playing a character, her stiff acting makes me wonder if the narcissism with which she embodies Rory isn't a spill-over from her real personality.

But there are enough comic characters, including Sookie, the chef at Lorelei's hotel, and Michel, the French-speaking Haitian concierge, to over-ride Rory's presence. Plus, the series is set in a charming Connecticut town (although the filming location is Unionville, Ontario), with a quaint main street and lovely homes, including Lorelei's home.

Lolerlai's home, which is actually filmed in Unionville, Ontario

The Dragonfly Inn, where Lorelai works

Interior of Lorelei's wealthy parents' home

Dragonfly Inn Reception

And, I get the feeling that Rory will get her just medicine (the more bitter, the better) by the time the series ends.

Lauren Graham has been a main character in the funny, romantic sitcom Parenthood with funny guy and sitcom veteran Ray Romano (of I Love Raymond fame) since 2010. Sookie, the ditzy chef in Gilmore Girls, has held her own in the sitcom Mike and Molly since 2010, and is (justly) touted as the new comedienne to watch.

What Bledel is getting are roles in violent and vicious films like the 2011 "chick flick" Violet and Daisy, and The Letters, a film advertized as a "drama horror, mystery" due out in 2013. Narcissism leads to violence, which leads to evil.

Lawrence Auster, at the View From The Right, writes about the narcisistic personalities (or appearances) of contemporary young women as he discusses the recent remake of Anna Karenina.

He writes:

The movie sounds interesting and I would be tempted to see it, but for one major problem. Can you imagine that cold, narcissistic Keira Knightley (who, moreover, is only 27) playing Anna Karenina, with all her inner fires and torments?

Vivien Leigh as Anna Karenina with Count Vronsky
played by Kieron Moore from the 1948 film

Keira Knightly in 2012
as Anna Karenina

Carol Iannone responds:

Interesting point. You have an eye for these things. Knightley was good as Elizabeth Bennet, a cooler kind of character.

I disagree with Iannone. Elizabeth Bennet may have only been twenty, but her character is more mature and sophisticated than anything Knightly can fathom. Knightly was the same age as Bennet when she played her character, but she brings a pouty narcissism to Bennet, who would have stopped such childish expressions as a young girl.


Left is English actress Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet in a serious moment, and right is Keira Knightly also trying to evoke a similar serious turn as Elizabeth Bennet. Who looks more authentic? Who looks more mature?


And Jennifer Ehle (right) once again brings more character and variety than pouting lips to Elizabeth Bennet.

Below is a recent magazine cover from December 2012 of Knightly at twenty six. Knightly looks like a pouting narcissist. She may have an adolescent pout, but her eyes are harshly mature. Narcissism is a trying occupation.


Narcissism reigns strong in the young women of this era. As I wrote earlier, narcissism is a trying occupation. Lauren Graham, who plays Bledel's mother in Gilmore Girls, looks younger and happier than Bledel. Both Bledel and Knightly have a weary, worn out look despite their youth. Yet, in their most recent images (and roles), they also look unrepentant, with harsh glints in their eyes.

Alexis Bledel: Narcissism with a smile

Alexis Bledel in Violet and Daisy

Washington and His Dogs

I was watching the Kennel Club of Philadelphia's National Dog Show this past Thanksgiving, and Jewel, an American Foxhound won the "Hound" category. She is a slim, athletic-looking dog, with beautiful coloring of black, beige and a russet/orange.

Jewel is from Washington DC. And this is appropriate because she is from the city named after the American president who introduced the American Foxhound.

Below is more about President Washington's role in the breed from the American Kennel Club:

George Washington, the father of our nation, is also the father of American Foxhounds. In 1770, Washington imported a number of hounds from England and in 1785, he received a number of French foxhounds from the Marquis de Lafayette. These hounds, carefully bred and maintained by Washington, are the founders of today’s American Foxhound. More than 30 hounds were listed in Washington’s journals, including "Drunkard," "Tipler," and "Tipsy."

And here is more on the character of the American Foxhound:

The Foxhound is well-mannered in the home. He gets along best with human or canine companionship. He is a tolerant, amiable and gentle dog, even though he is not very demonstrative. Many are reserved with strangers. He is first and foremost a hunter, ever ready to hit the trail. He needs daily exercise in a safe area. Once on a scent, he will follow gleefully, heedless of commands. This is a dog that likes the outdoors. He bays.

The above illustration is from the website for George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate, Museum and Gardens, and it is titled: Brissot Interview with Gen. Washington, engraved by Owen after Kirk, 1797.

The book from which the illustration came:

Historical Account of the Most Celebrated Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries, from the Time of Columbus to the Present Period


The illustration title reads:

Published Dec, 1 1797, Newbery, corner of St. Pauls.

Below is an enlargement of the text that appears below the illustration:


The text for the illustration reads:

I hastened to arrive at Mount Vernon, the seat of General Washington, ten miles below Alexandria, on the same river. On this route you traverse a considerable wood, and after having passed over two hills, you discover a country house, of an elegant and majestic simplicity. It is preceded by grass plats; on one side of the avenue are the stables, on the other a green-house, and houses for a number of negro mechanics. In a spacious back yard are turkeys, geese, and other poultry. This house overlooks the Potowmack, enjoys an extensive prospect, has a large and elevated portico on the front next the river, and a convenient distribution of the apartments within. The general came home in the evening, fatigued with having been to lay out a new road in some part of his plantations. He has often been compared to Cincinnatus : the comparison is doubtless just. This celebrated general is nothing more at present than a good farmer, constantly occupied in the care of his farm and the improvement of cultivation.

Unfortunately, there is nothing on the dog (at least in these pages), but Wikipedia lists Washington's pet dogs, and names three of his dogs as American Staghounds. This looks like a likely breed for the dog in the illustration. Could the dog be Sweet Lips, Scentwell or Vulcan? I think not Vulcan, and the dog's docile and loving nature suggests Sweet Lips might be a good name :_).

(Here is more on Washington's creative name-assignments for his dogs:

In addition to Sweet Lips, Tipsy, Tipler, Cloe, Searcher, and Drunkard, the hounds portrayed in Steven Kellogg’s delightful illustration in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, Washington had more than twenty additional canine companions. They included: Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Truelove, Juno, Duchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Rover, Vulcan, Singer, Must, Tiyal, Forrester, Captain, and the frisky Madam Moose, of whom Washington noted in his diary, “A new coach dog [arrived] for the benefit of Madame Moose; her amorous fits should therefore be attended to.” From Presidential Menageries: George Washington, Hound Dogs, and Super Mules By: Mary Brigid Barrett.)

Illustration from Steven Kellogg's "The Presidential Pet"
From Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out

-------------------------
Here is what I could find about Brissot, Owen and Kirk (the names on the title for the first illustration above):

Jacques Pierre Brissot:

Jacques Pierre Brissot (15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution...

Brissot became known as a writer, and was engaged on the Mercure de France, on the Courrier de l'Europe, and on other papers...

As an agent of this society he paid a visit to the United States in 1788, and subsequently published in 1791 his Nouveau Voyage dans les États-Unis de l'Amérique septentrionale (3 vols.).
[Source: Wikipedia]

-------------------------
Kirk:

From Wikipedia:

Not to be confused with sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown (1857-1935), the nephew of Henry Kirke Brown.

Henry Kirke Brown (February 24, 1814, Leyden, Massachusetts – July 10, 1886, Newburgh, New York) was an American sculptor.

He began to paint portraits while still a boy, studied painting in Boston under Chester Harding, learned a little about modelling, and in 1836-1839 spent his summers working as a railroad engineer to earn enough to enable him to study further...

His equestrian statues are excellent, notably that of George Washington (1856) in Union Square, New York City.

Also from Henry Kirke Brown papers, 1836-1893
(in the Archives of American Art):

[Kirk] discusses his work, including progress on his statue of George Washington, located in Union Square, New York City. Letters to his family from Rome and Florence allude to his awe of Italy's monuments. Also included are letters from Washington, D.C. during Brown's tenure as a member of the U.S. Art Commission in the 1860s.

Biographical/Historical Note: Sculptor and portrait painter; born in Leyden, Mass.; died in Newburgh, N.Y.

-------------------------
Owen:

Hanks, O.G. Landscape painter and copperplate engraver worked in 1843 in Cincinnati, Ohio (Hamilton)...This may well been the Owen G. Hanks who apprenticed with the engravers Rawden, Hatch and Rice in New York City in 1838; born in Troy New York, before 1838, he was active in New York City from 1848 to 1851 and form 1856 to 1861. [Source: Google books]

-------------------------
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any specific American Foxhound amongst Washington's dogs.

Here is the video for the Philadelpahia Dog Show, with Jewel.

'S Wonderful

I wrote recently about contemporary media personalities (i.e. Matt Lauer, the NBC reporter) who have limited knowledge about contemporary culture, who nonetheless dictate social and cultural norms to us via their TV seats. The song Lauer was clueless about was George Gershwin's 'S Wonderful. I looked online for the various (infinite) versions of this early 20th century American song classic.

There are 101 variations of George and Ira Gerswhin's 'S Wonderful, vocal, instrumental, duets, piano, choral, etc.

I always find the piano version to be the most charming.

The player in the above recording is Ethan Uslan who:

...is one of the hottest names on the ragtime/traditional jazz scene today...[He] complemented his classical piano studies by learning to play like Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and George Gershwin.

'S Wonderful
Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
Melody by George Gershwin

Life has just begun,
Jack has found his Jill;
Don't know what you've done
But I'm all a-thrill.
How could words express
Your divine appeal?
You can never guess
All the love I feel
From now on, Lady/Darling, I insist,
For me no other girls/guys exist.

'S wonderful! 'S marvelous!
(That) You should care for me!
'S awful nice! 'S paradise!
'S what I love to see!

You've made my life so glamorous,
You can't blame me for feeling amorous,
'S wonderful! 'S marvelous!
That you should care for me!

A Thanksgiving Poem

Limestone.
Granite.
Marble.
Iron and other metals.
Wood.
Wool.
Cotton.
Cows.
Pigs.
Fowl.
Fish.
Wheat.
Corn.
Potatoes.
Oranges.
Apples.
All kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Nuts.
The coffee plant.
Black tea.
Plants that can be fermented producing alcohol.

This is the list that Larry Auster at the View From the Right posted in his entry "Thanks, Universe."

This is the email I sent him:

Larry, I hope you had some of these on this day.

It was the "oranges and apples" that made realize the beauty of your poem. I try to have one or the other each day, otherwise it doesn't "feel right."

Also your period after each element shows its independent importance.

Well done!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Raining on the Parade

I don't want to rain on the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

I watched the show on TV, mostly to see the exuberant list of performers and parade floats. And, even in this time of a changed America, why not give thanks for what there is, and take those good things and build on them for a new America.

But, here is my rain shower:

- The moronic Matt Lauer from NBC, who hosts the show, introduced a lovely Gershwin tune "S'Wonderful" (It's Wonderful) and pronounced it "Es Wonderful" as in the letter "S." What could "S Wonderful" possibly mean? Has he never heard the song? Quite likely he hasn't in this culturally degraded America.

- George and Ira Gershwin's song "Lady be Good" from their musical "Nice Work if You Can Get it" was performed by a "mixed" cast of whites and blacks. This was highly unlikely to have happened in 1924, when the musical was set. It might not have been as irritating if the cast wasn't wearing 1924 clothing. If they are going to "mix it up" why not at least give the performers contemporary clothing?

- Why are Mexicans in an American Thanksgiving parade? Perhaps, with a bit of a stretch, Mexican-Americans might have had a place, but the group in the parade came from Veracruz, Mexico, and was in full native costume.

- Why is a "Native American" group in the parade? And with a song by Native American artist Thirza Defoe singing "The Tree of Life."

Still, despite this multi-culti focus, the majority of the crowed was white. So were are all the others not present at the parade (blacks, Hispanics, Asians) at home giving thanks? I doubt it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Freedom from Want
By Norman Rockwell, 1943

Obama's Unchanging Middle East Position

Lawrence Auster writes at the View From the Right:

I was pretty surprised when Obama declared the other day that Israel “has the right to defend itself” from Hamas rocket fire and urged the Palestinian, not Israel, to stop aggressive actions.

He continues:

However, it seems that Obama has already backed away from his unwonted backing of Israel. In an article entitled, “With Hillary Clinton’s dash to Middle East, Obama signals a shift in his approach."

And quotes a Washington Post article via Powerline:

Clinton’s peacemaking trip is Obama’s clearest signal yet to Israel that it should begin to pull back its campaign against militants in the Gaza Strip. The administration knows that with Clinton on the ground trying to resolve the crisis, it will be harder for Netanyahu to make good on his threat to invade Gaza.

I admit I was also pretty surprised by this. But then my rational side wasn't totally convinced. My thoughts were, "Is Obama trying to keep on the good side of American Jews to keep his presidency going?" And, "Is he in panic mode, and grasping at any opportunity to look good to Americans and internationally?"

In any case, it didn't take long for it to clear up. Again from VFR, quoting Paul Mirengoff from Powerline:

Obama’s real position, then, is that he will attempt to dictate the tactics and operations through which Israel exercises the right to defend itself. And Obama’s efforts to dictate constitute a constraint on Israel’s right to defend itself.

So nothing has really changed.

Why Isn't Obama Back in the US?

The Daily Mail makes it look as though there is some serious goings on between Obama and Myanmar's President and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. I think Obama is naturally friendly, and Yingluck Shinawatra is acting in a naturally feminine manner, although I think she's the one coming on to Obama with her slightly lewd glances.

I don't find anywhere on the web that Obama should cut his visit short to Myanmar and make his way back to the US, where an international crisis from the Middle East is looming over his new term. Instead he finds time to travel across continents and "flirt" with female leaders.


The above images are from the Daily Mail, which has a series of them.

More on Myanmar's problems at the Christian Science Monitor, which heads its article into four sections: Myanmar's reforms haven't yet taken root; What’s behind religious conflicts; Religious stereotypes don’t match; Extreme weather may be a factor [KPA note: I'll leave that in. The perennial global warming catastrophe which guides nations' foreign policy decisions!].

Other than the fourth point (what happened to Christian Science Monitor?) the first three seem sane enough reasons for an American president to take caution when dealing with this country. And certainly not one to spend too much of one's official time with when a big crisis is unfolding in the world.

"Along comes Hamas"

A rocket is launched from northern Gaza, November 15, 2012.

I've taken the blog title directly from Andrew C. McCarthy's piece on National Review Online. The quote below is also from the article, as is the image.

The president [of the United States] is a movement leftist who sees in our society a condemnable legacy of racism, imperialism, and economic exploitation that cries out for “fundamental change.” That is not meaningfully different from the Islamist perspective of America: The Brotherhood’s self-proclaimed mandate to “eliminate and destroy Western civilization from within” by “sabotage” is, in effect, a cognate summons to “fundamental change,” even allowing that Islamists are driven to statism by sharia rather than Marxism. The Brotherhood’s American mouthpiece, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, brags that the president nabbed 85 percent of the Muslim vote on November 6 — larger even than Obama’s lopsided share of the Hispanic vote, which has GOP strategists hyperventilating. You wouldn’t want to take CAIR claims at face value, but their ardor for Obama, like the Brotherhood’s, is palpable. And as we’ve seen for four years, it is not an unrequited love.

So along comes Hamas. Just days before the presidential election, the terrorist organization —begotten by the Brotherhood and serving as its Palestinian branch —spearheaded an Islamist offensive, firing in just a few days over 120 rockets into the Jewish state from its home base in Gaza. You may not have heard about it until a few days after the election...

By its own declaration, Hamas will be at war with Israel until the latter’s demise. Toward that end, the jihad has now been taken to population centers such as Tel Aviv. As of this writing, the Israeli death toll stands at three, kept low only by the crudeness of the jihadist weapons and tactics.

Regression and (Lack of) Beauty

I discussed the regression of our contemporary society based on a recent ad on television for home appliances on my previous post. One thing that stands out about our era is the sophisticated and advanced technology, which of course spills over into the home.

Yet, it is a society pronouncedly deficient spiritually and culturally. One of the aspects of culture I've been studying on this blog is beauty. Where beauty is lacking, or ignored, there is an inferior culture behind it. Our era may cook roasts to some kind of perfection, but how can we really enjoy it if everything around us is sterile and bland?

Regression

Below are screen shots from an ad currently running on TV for the brand Frigidaire (full video at the end of the post).

It does a one minute historical survey of home appliances. The point, of course, is "We've sure come a long way." A celebration of progress.

I beg to differ.


1918: The beginning of this "history" begins with two women in the kitchen, one preparing food, the other drinking tea. They could be related, or just friends, (most likely related) but they clearly don't feel the need to have male company in their territory. The kitchen is also brightly decorated with mustard yellow paint and pretty plates hung on the wall. The "first electric refrigerator" is behind a practical yellow cupboard, and gives additional color to the already colorful room. The floor is a practical tile, which also adds color and interesting design to the room. The women are dressed possibly according to the time of day and the chores they're performing, but they still have elegance.


1929: The "first room air conditioner" gives a couple of young girls something to get excited about. They are in pretty white frocks, with their hair loose and feminine, and they have with ribbons around their head. The living room has splashes of color, with the turquoise from the cushion and curtains matching the thin bands around their dresses.


1950: An industrious housewife nonetheless manages to look good in her kitchen, which is designed in contrasting yellow and green. The cherry wood cabinets give additional color. It looks like the woman has already prepared her food in the oven, and is expecting her husband back home for dinner any time soon, dressed in an attractive dress with a pretty apron to cover it for light mishaps.


1965: This bright blue kitchen is plainer than the others despite this explosion of (a single) color. The man in the kitchen is probably not preparing food, but using the ice maker. This is a manly enough activity and gives him a good enough reason for being in the kitchen. Although the woman is wearing a frock, it is baggy and formless. And although it has some print on it (it looks like small flowers), it looks drab and uninteresting. She's probably dressed to ward off summer heat, but there are many to do so without putting on a sack-like dress.


1970: For some reason, the 70s look more colorful and design-friendly than the 60s. I think this is an off-shoot of the psychedelic sixties. Despite the pattern on the wall, and the younger woman's patterned dress, we are not in an earlier era. For one, the woman has on pants, which wouldn't have occurred in the fifties. And they are not the baggy pants of the sixties, but tight, form-fitting ones. Men still don't do household chores, but women can now act like men.


Contemporary: The stove is in full use, but the cook is the man. The family is eating informally in the kitchen. The dinner is cooking in the sophisticated oven. Is that the incentive to get the man in the kitchen? But the woman "owns" the place. She hands out the dishes but the man waits on them. The kitchen is clean and spacious, but it is sterile and colorless (lifeless?). The family is dressed in the baggy, sloppy clothes of our era. The woman is wearing the pants metaphorically and literally. Both she and her husband look like they're wearing the same clothes: tan pants with blue shirts. I don't think (yet) men will be wearing women's clothes, so this sartorial decision is clearly hers. And the daughter looks like she's in her pajamas, while the son is in a baggy sweat shirt/jacket. I wonder how much of an internal/marital conflict there is under all this sterile happiness?

Below, the woman is patting the man on the back for a job well done, and he is smiling contentedly. Is this how he behaves towards his colleagues and bosses at work? But he's probably one of those "house husbands," and his wife is his boss. Again, I wonder how long this will last, and they will just be another modern statistic of divorced (and remarried) couples with children strewn around.


We think we have come a long way, with our modern life, but any alien civilization looking in at us will notice the lack of color (or joie de vivre) our modern era exhibits, and will wonder if we're mourning something.

Below is a screen shot of the uber-modern cooking range. Is this what encourages the man to enter the kitchen, all those gadgets? Still, it seems to be working.


Efficiency with the dishwasher. I wonder who puts in the dishes?


And the fancy Frigidaire fridge (not fully viewed in the video, but below is a sample from Productwiki), with double doors, a freezer at the bottom and an ice maker for all those cocktails Mr. Domesticity can provide for his over-worked wife:


Full video of the ad below:

Freaks for Eternity

Larry Auster, at the View From the Right (VFR), has the above photo from 2009 of the San Fransisco police force out to commemorate the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot. The photo is captioned:

Freaks in charge: Heather Fong (left), Theresa Sparks, and Sgt. Stephan Thorne commemorate the start of the transgender rights movement.

The freaks are:

- Theresa Sparks is the president of the San Francisco Police Commission and the CEO of a multimillion-dollar sex toy company. “She” started out life as a male but had the operation. Sparks was a Grand Marshall in the 2008 San Francisco Pride Parade.

- Stephan Thorne took a different route to police work, starting out life as a female and, through surgery, becoming a simalcrum of a man. Thorne enjoys the distinction of being the San Fransisco Police Department’s first transgender officer.

- Heather Fong is the first female and the first lesbian chief of the San Fransisco Police Department.

LA writes:

That photo is one of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen...Not only are they freakish, and not only are their physical appearances and expressions freakish, but the atmosphere and lighting and the people behind them are also freakish. It’s like something out of hell. Yet it’s a picture of public officials and police in an American city.

Homosexuals (and this includes lesbians) thrive under freakish environments. It is as though they're accelerating the hell in which they will be living for eternity.

I used to think that homosexuals where hyper-tuned to beauty (at least, that is what sex writer Camille Paglia writes and I think still believes). But, I think what they finally get is freakishness, or hyper-distortion of life. This brings them closer to hell than to heaven.


Here are the happy trio of sinners, Fong from 2008, the year she retires, Sparks from 2007 as incoming Police Commission President, and Thorne from 2008 promoted to lieutenant. They have enough to be happy about. As Larry Auster says at the beginning of his post:

I’m laughing out loud. It doesn’t bother me any more. It’s their country now.

And he elaborates at an earlier post:

Which doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to get at the truth. We should never give up trying to get at the truth. But to think that finding the truth will lead to the administration being held accountable, by law or by public opinion, for any wrongdoing it has committed, is delusory. It’s their country now.

Obama's Many Faces (But one Mind)

I am always struck at how Obama vacillates between a Mussoliniesque dictator with a hardened expression, to one where he looks like he's telling a story to a group of kindergartners.

I think it is the flip side of the same thing. His dictatorial appearance is a manifestation of his hard-core socialism (borderline communism), where he is intent on changing America into the socialist country where poor and rich are equal. He has to do this by looking and acting tough.

His at times perplexed, at other times softened expression is his narcissim trying to show a softer side so that people will "love" him as a kind and generous Robin Hood.

Either way, how can we trust someone with such vacillating expressions? We judge a man's character by his appearance and his actions. Usually the first determines the second.

Drudge, from the Drudge Report site, also seems to have similar ideas. In fact, I got this "Obama juxtaposition" from his site.

Here is yesterday's page showing Obama with his stern face and hard eyes, and here is a page from November 13 with Obama looking softer (kinder?) with General Petraeus beside him (here is a larger image).

Gardens of New York City

Park Avenue Mall
From Garden Guide: New York City, 2010 (Revised Edition)
By Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry
Publishers: W.W.Norton
Photograph by Joseph De Sciose
[Discussed on pp. 96-97]

During my last visit in New York, I bought a few guides (including a Micheline Guide) to visit some off-the-beaten-track (for me at least) places in the city.

At the Barnes and Nobles in Grand Central Terminal, I found a lovely, small book (it is smaller than a pocket book, but has a sturdy hard back cover) called Garden Guide: New York City by Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry.

This is a lovely book to read, well-written and well-researched, where we can get a little of spring and summer during these winter months when gardens are dormant. Also, it is a respite from the depressing and downright frightening current events around the world.

About the authors, the back of the guide says this:

Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry lecture widely about New York City's gardens and are the authors of Gardens of the Hudson Valley. They both live in New York City and are longtime volunteers at Central Park's Conservatory Garden.

Their website has more on their backgrounds:

Nancy Berner has worked as a book editor and an editorial consultant to several non-profits. Susan Lowry was a television journalist in Canada and the United States before switching fields and earning a diploma in landscape architecture.

Both Susan and Nancy live in New York City, where they are longtime volunteers at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park. Together, Susan and Nancy have lectured widely in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut on the subject of urban public gardens.

And the publisher has this to say (more here):

Tucked inside venerable museums, perched on rooftops, concealed behind sleek midtown facades, and waiting beyond unassuming gates you may have passed a hundred times, if you know where to look, remarkable gardens welcome visitors in almost every corner of New York City.

The book is divided into the various sections of New York, with each section listing a selection of gardens:

Manhattan:
Upper Manhattan
Upper West Side
Upper East Side
Midtown
Downtown

Then Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are listed separately (without sub-divisions).

The garden designers (many of them women) are also discussed in the sections.

Wherever there is a historic building associated with a garden the architects of the building (all of them men) are also discussed.

And there are some surprising gems, like the hidden gardens in the Frick Museum, or the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum Gardens (unfortunately closed for renovation until 2014).

I have one qualm with the book: There aren't enough photos.

But then, good descriptive writing should evoke images and imagery. On reading about these places and gardens, I am curious (and intrigued) to go and visit them, and if not, to do some other searches on the web, and other books, to find out more.

Although gardens are supposedly for those warmer months of spring and summer, there are parks and gardens which do cultivate winter plants, and there are a couple of conservatories which fill their interiors with all kinds of plants all year round, such as the Steinhardt Conservatory at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.


Central Park Conservatory Garden
[Discussed in:
Garden Guide: New York City pp. 80-86]

The Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
[Discussed in:
Garden Guide: New York City pp. 252-265]

Garden in the Cloisters
[Discussed in:
Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37]
Cloisters Flowers
Photo by KPA

According the the Garden Guide, the Cloister Gardens were divided into three sections:

- The Cuxa Cloister Garth Garden, which

was assembled from the remnants of a Romanesque (eleventh century) Benedictine monastery, Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, located in the French Pyrenees...

This space demonstrated key elements of the medieval garden: it is enclosed, rigorously symmetrical, and organized around a central feature, here a handsome fountain.

- The Bonnefont Cloister Herb Garden

On the lower level of the museum is the Bonnefont Cloister, a tidy working herb garden that, except for the stunning views of the George Washington Bridge in the distance, looks like a page from a medieval script.

- The Trie Cloister Garden,

...named for the Carmelite convent in Trie-en-Bigorre in south-western France, the original site for much of the stonework.

Periwinkles in the Cloisters
[Discussed in: Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37]
Periwinkle Label:
"Common Periwinkle, Myrtle
Vinca minor
Photo by KPA

The information plaque by the periwinkle bed described the flower as a medieval cancer treatment.

Annual periwinkles have been used for centuries for folk medicine, especially for treating diabetes, and are the source of several cancer drugs.

And from this site, on the meaning of the flower's name:

The Latin name of periwinkle's genus, Vinca, is derived from a word meaning "to overcome."

Such a small flower, with such a sturdy name!

Below is a single flower, standing its ground. Although the flower bed nearby is full of periwinkles, this one flower stood out amidst a hostile leaves.

Sturdy Periwkinle in the Cloisters Garden
[Discussed in: Garden Guide: New York City pp. 33-37]
Periwinkle Label:
"Common Periwinkle, Myrtle
Vinca minor
Photo by KPA

And below is the bronze statue "Memory" in Straus Park on Broadway and 107th, about which I have written here.

Bronze figure titled "Memory" gazing into the reflecting pool
in Straus Park was sculpted by Augustus Lukeman
and dedicated on April 15, 1915.
[Discussed in: Garden Guide: New York City pp. 252-265]

Remembrance Day in Multi-Culti Toronto

This image, and the three below are screen shots from the Sun report:
"Toronto war memorial defaced in ‘hate crime" found here:





The above screen shots are from a Sun TV report on the vandalism of a Toronto veteran's memorial with the message "Burn Canada, Praise Allah" left yesterday on Remembrance Day.

Here is a view of multi-culti Toronto, with our news reporter, police chief and regular police guy, all non-whites, on a report about the desecration of a memorial in downtown Toronto. The only white people I see in the video are the person cleaning the memorial (who looks like a woman to me) and a white male beside the Asian policeman, who looks like a reporter but who says nothing throughout the report.

The Asian (Chinese/Korean) female reporter is squatting by the "desecration" and is wearing jeans and a sweat shirt jacket. Why does she need to squat? Couldn't she do a better job standing by the vandal, and just pointing at it? And why those jeans? Can't women reporters look better wearing dress suits? Oh, I just got it. It is so that she can squat and look all "field reporter" like, and do her job like a man, who probably would (or who could) squat to get a closer look. Only difference is that he would naturally be wearing pants to the job.

Ubiquitous and ambitious reporter Jenny Yuen introduces herself at her twitter site as:

General Assignment News Reporter for Toronto Sun. Really big nerd. Write me: jenny.yuen@sunmedia.ca. Hear me: Tuesdays on Fearless Fred's show, 102.1 The Edge.

Below is her edgy photo on her LinkedIn site, introducing herself amongst other things, as a "weekly news guest on the Fearless Fred show" on the radio program The Edge. Bare upper body, dyed/streaked hair, she is an edgy Asian alright.


Fearless Fred at The Edge looks like this:


Yuen spent three years from 2004 to 2007 working for the hard-left NOW newspaper, where she was:

Writing and researching hard-hitting news stories for Toronto's largest alt. weekly about social housing, environment, cityscape, terrorism, privatization issues. Responsible for copyediting stories. My contract was renewed twice - never done before in NOW history. Responsible for covering two to three news briefs a week.[Source: Yuen's LinkedIn page]

How does a reporter who was a writer for Toronto's "largest alt. weekly" (Now magazine, whose senior editor is a "lesbian activist") turn up on a right/centrist paper like the Sun? And how does streaked hair and bare upper body (the photo is up for all to see on Yuen's LinkedIn page) fit in with conservative views, as the Sun tries to sell itself in the liberal-filled Canadian media?

How does an Asian woman relate to the jihadi message "Burn Canada. Praise Allah" as she reports in the Sun TV memorial vandalism video:

On this post, city crews have been this all night and this morning as well. It had read, "Burn Canada, Praise Allah." It is one act of vandalism that Toronto Police are treating as a hate crime.

Where does she find the cultural strength to denounce this message other than as a "hate crime? At the end of the day, anyone like me, who calls Muslims and their jihadi fighters as a group of people who don't belong in Canada, will also be guilty of "hate crime" because I'm "hating" Muslims. Next, I'll be hating Asians.

Yuen's biggest worry is not that Muslims are getting bolder, and more symbolically destructive. Her biggest worry is that hate criminals like me who denounce Muslims will turn around and hate Asians.

The black, 14th Division detective is no better. This is what he says about the vandalism:

Detective Anthony Williams: This is an identifiable group. The veterans should be respected, and that is total disrespect for our...military members that have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Reporter: So you're saying that this is a hate crime against veterans?
Detective Anthony Williams: Yes it is.

Hate crime against veterans?!

In racist white Canada the only people according to Williams and Yuen that can desecrate a city's veterans memorial "hate criminals," not anti-Western civilization destroyers like Muslims, who have no problem leaving their signature. Is there anything clearer than "Burn Canada, Praise Allah"?