Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces
The Guastavino family’s soaring tile vaults grace many of the nation’s most iconic structures including Grand Central Terminal, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the Boston Public Library, the US Supreme Court, and the Nebraska State Capitol (see below). Yet the name, the accomplishments, and the architectural legacy of this single family of first-generation Spanish immigrants are virtually unknown.
The Scream, Everyone’s Inner Angst With a Rock Star Reputation
Val Castronovo writes: "I was walking along the road with two of my friends. The sun set — the sky became a bloody red. And I felt a touch of melancholy — I stood still, dead tired — over the blue-black fjord and city hung blood and tongues of fire. My friends walked on — I stayed behind — trembling with fright. I felt the great scream in nature. E.M."
Sexual Assault in the US Military; Kirsten Gillibrand's Remarks
The testimony on Capitol Hill in front of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel regarding the issue of sexual assault in the miltiary encouraged us to pull up some of the articles and references that SeniorWomen.com has, in the past, produced on our site. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand delivered an opening statement. It has to be remembered that the Defense Task Force report also covered thousands of assaults on male military servicemembers.
For Women, A Serious Crisis of Retirement
Among Baby Boomers, only 20 percent of women have a backup plan if retirement happens sooner than expected. “Life’s unforeseen circumstances such as a job loss, health issues, or family obligations can derail the best of intentions. ” said Collinson. “Especially with so many women planning to delay retirement or continue working part-time in retirement, a backup plan is an essential part of a retirement strategy.”
Rainbow on the Wall
Ferida Wolff writes: I was reading an article in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer about Winnie-the-Pooh. I remember the Pooh books. Many nights were spent with my kids tucked in and cozy as we followed Christopher Robin and the adventures of Pooh Bear, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga and little Roo.
Elaine Soloway's Caregiving Series: The Screening Room
I confessed, “I hate this. It’s taken all of the pleasure out of eating.” “Think of the alternative,” my daughters said. “Tommy choking, you trying the Heimlich, you panicking. Is that what you want?” “No,” I said. “I’ll talk to his doctors.” Although they discounted the nurse’s report, and said they’d never heard of a patient choking, the doctors concurred a Cookie Swallow Test might be a good idea.
Lawmakers Move Swiftly to Block Release of Gun Permit Records
Curious about whether your neighbor is armed? Wondering if local officials are illegally doling out gun permits to convicted felons? It may be impossible to find out, unless you live in one of a small and shrinking group of states. Lawmakers in most states sealed such records in past years. This year, many others are rushing to join those ranks, spurred by a suburban New York newspaper’s publication of names and addresses of handgun permit holders.
Body Dissatisfaction: Has the Study of Body Image Overlooked “old talk”?
Women across the lifespan appear to report elevated levels of dissatisfaction with their bodies, although women in older adulthood (60 years and older) may report less dissatisfaction in some domains such as a perception that weight and shape negatively affected life, in comparison to younger women.
Culture Watch Book Reviews: My Beloved World and Consider the Fork
Reviewer Jill Norgren writes that Justice Sotomayor has said that she wrote My Beloved World because being a role model “is the most valuable thing I can do.” It is to her credit that the memoir is, like the justice, unpretentious and welcoming to readers of all ages. Reviewer Julia Sneden declares the depth of the research for Consider the Fork mind-boggling, but Be Wilson's style is simple, direct, and leavened with wry humor; calling her just “a food writer” would be a bit like calling Yo Yo Ma “a guy who plays the cello.”
Just Put Me in the Wheelbarrow
Unlike the members of a certain famous rock group who think they are young rebels but look like the permanently undead; I don’t believe that seventy-something is the new forty. At age sixty-nine, I know that I’m almost seventy. My body knows it too and it reminds me every morning. When it complains, I know for sure that I’m still in this world. However, I won’t always be here and those dread-filled ads keep reminding me of that. So, how to deal with the facts of death?
The Art of Fashion in the Impressionist Era
Val Castronovo reviews: A collaboration between The Met, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the works collected chronicle the golden years of Impressionist painting from the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s when Paris became the style capital of the world ... the avant-garde sought to distinguish themselves ... and paint their subjects in a new, modern light, focusing on au courant costumes and accoutrements at the expense of the individuals’ physical characteristics.
A Bank's Reputation, Trusted or Tarnished?
Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin: "Many of the darkest manifestations of the financial crisis have finally begun to diminish: the boarded-up homes with overgrown lawns, the half-built skyscrapers, the 'We Buy Houses Cheap' signs planted at exit ramps, the eviction notices nailed to front doors. But even as the economy comes back to life, our memory of these events is still sharp and the reputational damage suffered by US financial institutions during the crisis endures."
After the Oscars: Michelle Obama Challenges Governors to Ease Service Members Transition to Civilian Work Force
Editor's Note: The audience was surprised to see the First Lady (appropriately dressed in a silvery gown by Naeem Khan) present the Best Picture Oscar to Argo, appearing via satellite from the White House last night. This morning we viewed her on C-Span addressing the nation's governors about a much different and very important subject:
Recycling Guilt
Joan L. Cannon writes:
The wakeup call was the realization of how much we were still using that's intended to be disposable and can't be reused. The hundredweight of magazines and catalogs astonished me every time we loaded the trunk of the car. Then there was the prohibition on dry cat food pronounced by our vet. You don’t know what it’s like to collect aluminum cans until you’ve fed a voracious feline for a month on wet food.
Sleep and Memory in the Aging Brain
Meghan Mott, Ph.D. writes: Our brains naturally deteriorate with age. Sleep quality — specifically the slow-wave activity that occurs during deep sleep — also decreases as we get older. Previous research found that slow waves are generated in a brain region called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which exhibits age-related deterioration.
Pew Research: What the Public Knows - In Pictures, Maps, Graphs and Symbols
In past versions of the News IQ test, Republicans have often outperformed Democrats and independents, but that was not the case with the current quiz. Overall, Republicans on average answered 8.7 items correctly, no different than Democrats (8.6) and independents (8.7). Democrats (47%) were more likely than Republicans (37%) to recognize a photo of Elizabeth Warren, the new senator from Massachusetts. Other partisan differences were very small.
VAWA Reauthorized, Bills Introduced About Abortion, Firearms, Reduction of Unintended Pregnancy and STDs
Aside from the Senate passing VAWA, these some congressional bills introduced last week: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), placing limitations on the possession and sale of a firearm by persons convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses against children; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), prohibiting taking minors across state lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions; Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE), ensuring women seeking an abortion are fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child.
The Story of the Beautiful: Freer, Whistler and Their Points of Contact
Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Wayne State University in Detroit have launched a new online resource, a comprehensive guide to James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room and its dynamic history. The elaborately painted former dining room and one of the most famous masterpieces in the Freer’s collection, celebrates its 90th anniversary of being on public view in 2013.
A Climate Rally at the Right Time
Frances Beinecke writes: When I started talking about climate change more than a decade ago, I worried my future grandchildren would someday face rising sea levels and punishing drought. Now it’s clear those dangers won’t wait until a later date. They have arrived already, and they are delivering heartache and suffering right now.
A Comprehensive Look at George Bellows
Val Castronovo writes: Almost one-third of his portraits are of family members, and the ones of his wife, to whom he was extremely devoted, are quite arresting. Portraits were one of the mainstays of his career; he painted them from the time he arrived in the city up until his death. For an artist intent on blowing up the art world and defying convention, he had a quite conventional personal life.
Love and Marriage
D’Vera Cohn writes: Love only goes so far. Most Americans cast cold water on a central premise of many a song or poem, that each person in the universe has only one true love. About seven-in-ten (69%) people do not agree with that notion; only 28% do. Among those who do agree, men (31%) are slightly more likely to do so than women (26%). Young and old, married and unmarried are equally skeptical.
Deemed Unreliable by the GAO: VA Health Care Outpatient Medical Appointment Wait Times
This statement highlights key findings from the GAO December 2012 report that describes needed improvements in the reliability of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA's) reported medical appointment wait times, scheduling oversight, and VHA initiatives to improve access to timely medical appointments.
Veronica Fake
Ferida Wolff writes: Who would have thought that hair could be so opinionated? It used to be reasonable, letting me do pretty much what I wanted with it. But then I guess we change in many ways as we age. Ideas we held in our twenties shift with experience and perspective. Foods we loved as teens often become indigestible later on (gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance have become watchwords for a more mature generation).
Encountering Unusual Headwinds: Fed Reserve Vice Chair Yellen Explains the Painfully Slow Recovery for America's Workers
Fed Reserve Vice Chair Janet L. Yellen: As an objective of public policy, maximum employment doesn't appear in the US Constitution, in any presidential decree, or even in the mission statement of the Labor Department... the Federal Reserve is the only agency assigned the job of pursuing maximum employment. The gulf between maximum employment and the very difficult conditions workers face today helps explain the urgency behind the Federal Reserve's ongoing efforts to strengthen the recovery.
Senate Continues to Consider Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act; Congressional Bills Introduced Including Homeland Security and Abortion
The Senate is scheduled to resume consideration of the WAVA measure on February 11. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would authorize about $660 million annually for FY2014 through FY2018 for programs that address domestic and sexual violence in the US.
