Ramblin' with Roger

Sunday Stealing – Random Revelations

SCRABBLE or bowling?

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week’s meme was inspired by a post at My Random Randomness. That gentleman shared random thoughts about himself. His revelations have been turned into questions.

Random Revelations

1. Is your phone Apple or Android? What about your laptop?

My last two phones were Apple. Previously, I avoided them for philosophical reasons, not the least of which is some incompatibility when new products come out. But it seems to interact better with other Apple phones. I’ve only had non-Apple computers and don’t see myself changing.

2. Can you say “thank you” in more than one language?

Only in French, German, and Spanish. I took French in high school, and I used to watch Hogan’s Heroes on TV when I was a teenager.

3. What do you draw when you doodle?

Random geometric shapes, because my skills as an artist are nil.

4. Which do you enjoy more, Scrabble or bowling?

I have done both a LOT in the past, but haven’t done either in quite a while. I’ve written more about bowling because it’s tied to my mom. But I played SCRABBLE a lot as a kid and much later. My college roommate painted me a SCRABBLE board, which I still have. It’s a toss-up.

5. Can you juggle?

I assume juggling two items isn’t REALLY juggling! No.

6. Have you ever worn pajamas in public?

Only to bring in the garbage cans from the curb early in the morning, and only a handful of times.

School daze

7. Was your best subject in school the one you enjoyed the most?

My BEST subject was probably spelling, but I didn’t love it. I was good at social studies/history, and I enjoyed it. The topic I most enjoyed was probably mathematics because Math Is Everywhere .

8. When you’re offered the senior discount before you ask for it, are you offended or grateful?

It never bothered me. I like a bargain.

9. Do you agree that with age comes wisdom?

I can think of certain people – one in particular -who are clearly more stupid every day. That said, for those people who learn not to sweat the small stuff as they get older, then sure.

10. Do you consider Sunday the first day of the week or the last day of the weekend?

I’m pretty catholic about it. My calendar growing up in the US was Sunday to Saturday. When I took high school French, I discovered the week ran from lundi to dimanche. (Shrug)

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Lenten music; Barber’s Adagio

‘full of pathos and cathartic passion’

There are rituals I must follow regarding Lenten music. Early on, I play an album of Barber’s Adagio, specifically THIS album.

As I noted here:

From This Day in History:

Adagio for Strings had begun not as a freestanding piece, but as one movement of Barber’s 1936 String Quartet No. 1, Opus 11. When that movement provoked a mid-composition standing ovation at its premiere performance, Barber decided to create the orchestral adaptation that he would soon send to Toscanini.

In later years, the piece would be played at the state funerals of both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, taking its place as what one observer has called “the semi-official music of mourning.”

“It is an adaptable piece, which has been arranged for solo organ, clarinet choir, woodwind band, and, as Agnus Dei, for chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment, among others.”

From Wikipedia: “Alexander J. Morin, author of Classical Music: The Listener’s Companion (2001), said that the piece was ‘full of pathos and cathartic passion’ and that it ‘rarely leaves a dry eye.’… As part of a musical retrospective in 2000, NPR named Adagio for Strings one of the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.” Listening to eight versions leaves me a bit a puddle.

Listen:

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Galway

Canadian Brass

The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge (Agnus Dei)

Kalman Opperman Clarinet Choir, Richard Stoltzman, clarinet

Tokyo String Quartet

David Pizarro, organ

Smithsonian Chamber Players Kenneth Slowik, conductor

You might assume that it might feel a bit repetitive, but not really. Still, I have a particular affection for the organ version and the Agnus Dei. My least favorite is the Galway, a sentiment echoed by a couple of Amazon reviewers, but I don’t hate it.

Some time after I have played the whole thing, I will listen to a bunch of requiems, especially by Fauré, Rutter, and, of course, Mozart.

Twenty Lessons for Fighting Tyranny

Believe in truth.

tyranny In the book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017), historian and Andrew Carnegie Fellow Timothy Snyder suggests a score of ways of fighting tyranny, and defending democracy with individual actions. I learned about this on November 18 while attending a book review at the Albany Public Library by Mark Lowery, who retired from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in the past year.

Here’s a seven-minute summary. Check out the SparkNotes. Below are the 20, which are explained by Snyder himself here.

Do not obey in advance.
Defend institutions.
Beware the one-party state.
Take responsibility for the face of the world.
Remember professional ethics.
.Be wary of paramilitaries.
Be reflective if you must be armed.
Stand out. Someone has to.
Be kind to our language.
Believe in truth.
Investigate.
Make eye contact and small talk.
Practice corporeal politics.
Establish a private life.
Contribute to good causes.
Learn from peers in other countries.
Listen for dangerous words.
Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.
Be a patriot.
Be as courageous as you can.

Maybe not 2017, but 2025 for sure

You would think that the book was written in 2025. Alas, no. I was interested in the reviews cited by Wikipedia.

“Carlos Lozada of The Washington Post describes the book as ‘clarifying and unnerving,’ ‘a memorable work that is grounded in history yet imbued with the fierce urgency of what now.’

“Daniel W. Drezner, writing for The New York Times, says, ‘For such a small book, Snyder invests On Tyranny with considerable heft,’ but he also describes it as ‘overwrought’ and tending toward hyperbole.” In 2017, perhaps the narrative seemed overly dramatic; not anymore.

“Tim Adams of The Guardian describes the work as ‘a ‘how to’ guide for resisting tyranny,’ concluding, ‘You will read no more relevant field guide to that wisdom than this book.’

“Richard Evans, also in The Guardian, writes that ‘Snyder provokes us to think again about major issues of our time, as well as significant elements of the past, but he seems to have rushed it out rather too quickly.'” This is arguably true, given the short time between writing (November 2016) and publication (February 2017).

The first ones

From the SparkNotes: The first two lessons, “Do not obey in advance” and “Defend institutions,” use examples from the rise of the Nazi Party before World War II. The Nazis were able to destabilize Germany’s existing system of government and laws so that they could create a fascist dictatorship.

Snyder: “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” See ABC, CBS, several colleges, and law firms, et al. “In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked.” See the collusion between the techbros and the federal government.

Sparknotes: “The third lesson, ‘Beware the one-party state,’ describes how several different European nations went from electoral democracies to dictatorships. The people in each country were probably unaware that they were voting for the last time. While most of the new regimes did not last, the lapses into dictatorship might have been avoided if citizens had heeded the warning signs. “

Snyder: “The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multiparty system and defend the rules of democratic elections.”

You should take in all of these descriptions and apply as many as possible. Read Frank S. Robinson’s take on the same book review.

Lydster: Div III gallery invitation

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This is the Div III gallery invitation for the Daughter’s show, which she is sharing with three other artists. What’s Div III? Don’t worry about it.

What is kuumba? It is “a Swahili term that translates to Creativity. This principle is about making the community more beautiful and beneficial than it was inherited. Kuumba encourages the use of creative energy to improve the conditions of the community and to leave a legacy that honors both ancestral heritage and future generations.”

When she was working on the show title, she was concerned that people wouldn’t know what it meant. She knows the term kuumba in part because she’s been studying Swahili. I was of the opinion that people would figure it out.

The Daughter has always been creative. I’m sure I’ve written about her talent – here and here, e.g.; I’ve tried NOT to steer her in a particular direction.

What’s going to be in the show? I’m not certain. She has about two dozen pieces she’s completed, but there is space for only about half of them.

One of her early pieces was tied to W.E.B.DuBois’s the American Negro exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition. He “developed colorful hand-drawn charts, graphs, and maps that illustrated the social realities of African Americans.” She integrated the graphics with her own genealogical line. But it may not fit.

For certain, her semester at the University of Cape Town in the first half of 2025 will be represented.

Natal day

I must note that today is her birthday. At the risk of publicly embarrassing her – hey, isn’t that what parenting is all about? – she’s shown a much greater sense of time management in the past year or two. Even when she “goofed off” hanging with the parents for three days in mid-February, she recognized that she needed to redouble her efforts the following week.

We may not visit with her at Easter break because she’ll want to finish framing some pieces and then hang the display, but we’re looking forward to seeing her at her show.

Underground Railroad Educational Center v. NEH

Interpretive Center

I have been a fan of the Underground Railroad Educational Center since its inception in 2003. Actually, well before then. UREC is a non-profit organization that seeks, among other things, “to promote and encourage knowledge and understanding of the Underground Railroad Movement and its genesis and legacy in the Capital Region and in New York State, and as a significant element of the history of the United States.”

I’ve known its founders, Paul and Mary Liz Stewart, since before they first started giving tours of significant locations in Albany. The UREC has held conferences that I’ve attended. The moving July 4 responses to Frederick Douglass’s famous speech on the topic are on my calendar each year. The Stewarts are featured on this recent WTEN digital story.

I attended the groundbreaking of the Interpretive Center, very close to the historic residence of abolitionists Stephen and Harriet Myers at 194 Livingston Avenue in Albany, NY.

Then the $250,000 grant the museum had won in 2024 was canceled, DOGEd out in May 2025 as part of the regime’s anti-DEI effort. This was understandably devastating news.

News

But I read recently in The Washington Post [behind a paywall] that UREC is suing the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and several other officials in a case filed Friday. March 20, in the U.S. District Court in Albany. “The lawsuit accuses the government of violating the center’s First and Fifth Amendment rights.”

Reading the WaPo comments, I realize, yet again, that people only understand part of the story. If the money was allocated in 2024, how could the funds be cut in 2025? In part, the money was tied to matching funds the UGEC has been diligently raising.

I was surprised by the news, assuming they did not have the means to engage attorneys. “The lawsuit was filed through Lawyers for Good Government, an organization that provides free legal services for public interest cases.” Ah, that makes sense.

Here’s the Albany Times Union [behind a paywall]. Syracuse.com [usually available], and NBC News [available] stories.