Happy Are Those
That’s an architectural model created by Edward Tuckerman Potter in 1888 as part of “a proposal for an apartment building with improved daylighting and ventilation, and a roof garden as tenant amenity.” See more about the magical possibilities of rooftops at Misfits’ Architecture.
Oh, there’s lots of fun at Finnegans Wake — and Anthony Burgess will tell you all about it, in this “appealingly bonkers” video from 1973 — quoted phrase courtesy of my friend Adam Roberts.
My favorite thing about Al Franken’s characteristic parlor trick, drawing a freehand map of the United States, is that he starts with his home state of Minnesota. Beginning with local attachment and gradually expanding the reach of one’s affections is how to achieve a healthy patriotism. When Franken was at Harvard his great rival in comedy was his fellow undergraduate Whit Stillman, and while in an earlier edition of this newsletter I warmly recommended Stillman’s great Barcelona, our current political moment makes it feel even more relevant and insightful. Watching a comedy about cultural misunderstanding (and how it might be overcome) and drawing maps of the United States from memory — two useful exercises in a time of social tension.
It would be wonderful if Sister Corita’s studio could be saved.
Digging through my office mail the other day — haven’t been at the office a lot recently — I discovered that we Baylor faculty members have received a coupon for a free Whataburger Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit. And of course that immediately made me think of that great Texan and example to Christians everywhere, Pastor Fred Thomas. Preach it, Pastor Fred!
This might be behind a paywall, in which case I apologize, but my friend and former boss Tom Hibbs — now the president of the University of Dallas — has written a terrific op-ed drawing on my new book. I hope people will hear him, and not because he likes what I’ve written.
