Book review: Love & War by Mary Matalin and James Carville

Mary Matalin, I almost liked you.

The three reasons why IMO the James Carville and Mary Matalin book, Love & War*, did no better than #14 for one week on the New York Times'  best seller list are:

1.  The cover
2.  The title
3.  Dick Cheney

A better cover would have pictured the authors in a New Orleans park with Mary Matalin sitting in a white ladder-backed chair wearing "Southern," and James standing nearby, in a hat and seersucker, sucking on a piece of grass, you know, "Southern" with the trees dripping Spanish moss which I think still grows in Noirrraaarrrrrlins, unless the Yankee pollution has killed it off.

As the cover looks now, they could be two old folks sitting on the porch of a nursing home with that pink thing in her hair which looks like one of those spongy rollers, the kind Condi Rice may wear. (?  It's in the book.) 

Who wants to read about two old people in a nursing home? One who talks nonstop about Dick Cheney?

Me neither.

The title is trite, dull, and rather common.  Another book by the same name, which is also about marriage, pops up first on Amazon. It was published in 2011.

And then there's still another Love and War, part of a trilogy of fiction about the Civil War which has sold a mere 5,000,000 copies.  

Whose title was this, anyway?  Anybody ever think about market research?

May I suggest for the second edition:  Sex and White House Ruins.  (That title is not taken.)  Something along that vein to grab the attention of a book buyer, even if it's not all about sex.  Doesn't have to be. (Readers: The Matalin/Carville book does have a chapter about their sex lives. (!))

Dick Cheney:   Oh, please and barf, Mary Matalin.  He makes up half the freakin' book!  With your sob stories, I had to keep a plastic bag beside me in the bed at night while I read.

Her adoration for him knows no bounds, and she expounded upon it ad nauseam. 

Are you kidding?

Dick Cheney the "comforter"? Oh get real, Mary Matalin.  A viper is more comforting than Dick Cheney.

The part about September 11 and its aftermath when she continues her glorification of the demon became insufferable, and I had to skip those pages and move on.

Anyway, I am just guessing Mary Matalin and James Carville didn't write the book; they "talked" the book, and their dear editor, Martha Sherrill, whom they credit at the end, transcribed and assembled all the jambalaya into one piece. 

She did a darn good job.  

The "writers"  alternate speaking roles, and Mary talks the most, too much.  Since I like the way James thinks, naturally his portions are more interesting to me.  He speaks rather matter-of-factly without all that philosophizing.  (I have seen them on stage together twice, and he "won" both times, likely because I wanted him to win.  I realize that.  What you wish for is what you get.)

The couple is (at times) painfully honest, in some cases, brutally so, which makes the book a lot better than otherwise.  Not much is screened.  Without inflecting criticism on most, they withhold personal attacks.   There is no index (new trend). They are whom you expect.

The reasons for their move to James's beloved New Orleans are spelled out along with their routines, etc.  (Please, do not get in the way of his daily run. When he is not running or reading print newspapers, he consults for foreign political campaigns, and after the book was published, joined Fox as a contributor.  She tends animals, among other things.)

The book makes it obvious that he loves her more than vice-versa since she would practically give him up for the Most Despised Person on the Planet (MDPOP) and even says so on page 184:  "...he just knew it would be a divorceable offense" [to directly attack Cheney]. 

I was horrified. Give up James for a snake?

When things get too ripe, James ceases arguing with her.  (The Iraq War and the 2000 presidential race are real hot topics in their household.  You think things might be heating up again?) 

Besides life in Noirlins, the description of the evolution of James's relationship with Barbara Bush is good, and so is the women's fitness regime at the White House during the aftermath of September 11, but, please, cease with the page after page of September 11.  ("I read so you don't have to." You may want to skip their September 11, and certainly all of Chapter 9, as if we didn't know their political philosophies.)

James says (a la the wizard, Bill Clinton) that an excellent way to win friends and influence enemies, is to always talk about your target's children and their grandchildren, endlessly.  You can never go wrong.  And if it worked with Barbara Bush who, it sounds like, considered James a snake of sorts.

I didn't buy the book.  Of course not.  I am more "dead broke" than Hillary and Bill were.  I got it at the Fairfax County Public Library, the best public library in the world bar none, and more proof about this book languishing on the shelves:  I was able to renew it every time I tried since no one had requested it, and it's only been out of the gate six months.  (The librarian told me that the library sometimes has waiting lists of longer than 1,000 for a new John Grisham. Yikers.  Glad I am not one of those readers.) 

Anyway, most political junkies will want to read this book themselves, no doubt, but they pretty much know the contents. 

* The subtitle:  Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home.   An interesting fact:  On the cover, her name comes first, but on the title page, it's his name which is first.

patricialesli@gmail.com




 

Where are the Washington Mystics?

 

Not pictured in today's Washington Post.

 

Coach Mike Thibault and the Washington Mystics get no help from the Washington Post/photo by Patricia Leslie

Under a surprisingly large headline (for women's sports: "Washington tops shorthanded Chicago"), what picture do you think WAPO used for the story?

You might expect a picture of the Mystics scoring.  A battle under the net.  (The final score: 79-68.)  A picture of the night's heroine, Emma Meesseman?

No, m'am, strike damn.  Get real.  That makes too much sense.  That would be logical, no?  To expect  a picture of the Mystics?  Or Coach Thibault or something... Mystics?  On top of that big story about a game the Mystics won.

Please.

Why, of course, WAPO used a photo of, of (sic and hold on) competitors (Connecticut and New York) playing in a game  at Madison Square Garden. 

That would be New York, right? 

Yes. 

That picture covered almost a third of the page. And the article about that game?  Give me two paragraphs and two paragraphs only. 

Oh, but that picture has a former Georgetown player in it. 

Big deal.  That was so last year.

I had to take several looks.  Whatsis?  It made no sense.  No picture of the Mystics?  What is going on?  They did play at Verizon, didn't they? 

Well, yes.

I suppose WAPO:

1.  Deems the Mystics too unimportant to show on the sports pages.  So it relies on the wire services for photos of...competitors?  Or...

2. Left the page in the hands of an 16-year-old intern (no pay).  Or...

3. Is so broke it has no money for wire service photos of the Mystics.  Or...

4. Was so captivated by the NHL and the World Cup it forgot about the rest of sports. 

5.  All of the above?

Hey, WAPO editors, it is 2014, not 1914. 

Next up for the Mystics:  Atlanta, Verizon, 4 p.m., Father's Day, June 15.   Take your camera.

patricialesli@gmail.com

St. Martin-in-the-Fields choir to sing June 15 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

The choir from St. Martin's-in-the-Fields will sing at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, June 15

The public is invited to hear London's renowned choir from St. Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday evening at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Reserved seating is available with advance purchase ($25) or tickets may be bought with cash or check at the door, if available.  The choir will also sing at the 10:30 a.m. Sunday service for which there is no charge to attend.

The choir sings every Sunday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and frequently performs on the BBC.  St. Martin's, the parish church of the Royal Family, stands at Trafalgar Square and is one of England's oldest, most famous churches, dating to 1222.  Its name derives from its location "in the fields" where Henry VIII (1491-1547) rebuilt the church in 1542 so plague victims would stop walking through the grounds of his palace, says Wikipedia.

Leading the choir is St. Martin's director of music, Andrew Earis, and joining St. John's in the presentation of the program is the Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians. 

On the evening program are:   

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
Haec dies

William Byrd (1540-1623)
Laetentur coeli
Justorum animae

Henry Purcell (c.1659-1695)
I was glad

Hubert Parry (1848-1918) from Songs of Farewell
My soul, there is a country
Never weather-beaten sail

Gabriel Jackson (b. 1962)
A Prayer of King Henry VI

James MacMillan (b.1959)
Mitte manum tuam from Strathclyde Motets
A New Song

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
The Turtle Dove

Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Lillibulero from Four Songs from the British Isles

Nils Lindberg (b. 1933)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day

Vaughan Williams
Over hill, over dale from Three Shakespeare Songs

George Shearing (1919 - 2011)
Songs and Sonnets of Shakespeare

Trad. arr Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
Go down, Moses from Five Spirituals

Trad. arr Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
The Battle of Jericho

At the morning service, the St. Martin's choir will sing compositions by William Lloyd Webber, John Stainer, and Charles Villiers Stanford, and a new assistant rector, the Rev. D. Andrew Olivo, will be welcomed at St. John's.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Well known as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, the “Church of the Presidents” was founded in 1815. When he began attending services at St. John's, President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, set a precedent for future presidents who have all either attended and/or joined St. John's.  A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

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Who:  The Choir of St. Martin-in-the-Fields

When: 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 a.m., June 15, 2014, Trinity Sunday

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

Tickets: $25 at 7: 30 p.m.  Or attend the church services at 10:30 a.m. when there is no fee!

St. John's is wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information:  Michael Lodico, associate organist and choir director at St. John's, ph. 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

 

 

 

 

Last chance to see Garry Winogrand pictures at the National Gallery of Art

The cover of the catalogue, Garry Winogrand, edited by Leo Rubinfien, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yale University Press, 2013

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984) may not be a household name, but his pictures are classics.

Almost 200 of them on display through Sunday at the National Gallery of Art. In the words of guest curator, Leo Rubinfien, Mr. Winogrand's friend and photographer, they are "an epic picture of American life," unlike those captured by any other.

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), New York World's Fair, 1964, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

 

One of the nation's most respected photographers, Mr. Winogrand is chiefly known as a diarist of New York.

Sarah Greenough, a senior curator and head of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, said the New Yorkers photographed by Mr. Winogrand illustrate a "powerful sense of anxiety." The pictures depict "who we are and how we feel."  

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), Centennial Ball, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Mr. Winogrand, a Bronx native, did not stay in New York.  Guggenheim Fellowships enabled his travel to other parts of the U.S., to large cities and the Southwest, where he took thousands of pictures which tell the stories of life on city streets, beaches, and other public places in post World War II America, a time of vast upheaval, the 1960s and 70s.

The big hair, the heavy makeup, the slick and stand-up hair for men, the styles, the huge cars, the "gas hogs," the demonstrations, sex. It's all here.

Mr. Winogrand, influenced by Robert Frank and Walker Evans, captured the land's mood and spirit in black and white, still videos, the work of a pictorial historian whom Mr. Rubinfien compares to Walt Whitman.

Many of the pictures reveal private moments of passersby on city streets, lost in thought and worry.  Their anguish is palpable. As with many photography exhibitions, a viewer may experience feeling like a voyeur, observing day-to-day lives of citizens who rarely smile or express sunny dispositions, but rather, they are like people found on sidewalks today everywhere, anxious and stressed. There we are.

In a video at Rice University taped in 1977 which runs continuously in the show, Mr. Winogrand, seated with his feet propped on a chair, answers questions from students who are offstage.

"I don't think you learn from teachers; you learn from working," he says.

And yes, he agrees, he does photograph a lot of women, but he is not obsessed by them. 

The pictures tell a different story.
 
What Mr. Winogrand didn't have time to do before he died of gall bladder cancer at age 56, was to edit his 22,000 contact sheets and thousands of rolls of film, but Mr. Rubenfien did.  He spent three years studying, developing, and making choices from Mr. Winogrand's collection of thousands of images, sometimes with Mr. Winogrand's handwritten directions found on the sheets.

Many of the 190 selections in the show have never been publicly displayed including one of John F. Kennedy with four African-Americans at the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. 

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), Garry Winogrand Archives, Center for Creative Photography, the University of Arizona, copyright, the estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Some say that later in his career, Mr. Winogrand "lost his touch," and the National Gallery show seems to affirm the criticism (or perhaps it is the power of suggestion).  The spark and lustre of his earlier works are missing in the last two galleries, and what are represented are more common and indistinctive scenes and individuals.

Mr. Rubinfien edited the catalogue which notes that some of the later pictures are still, quiet, without "the energetic roiling of the urban crowd" found in earlier scenes which generally feature younger, more attractive people. 

At the end "the people here...seem to look inward, as if toward some trouble....Winogrand may well have seen them as mirrors of himself."

Where are the studies of people photographs juxtaposed with those from other nations of the same era where expressions and moods can be compared?

From Washington the exhibition travels to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 27–September 21, 2014; Jeu de Paume, Paris, October 14, 2014–January 25, 2015; and Fundación MAPFRE, March 3–May 10, 2015.
 
Assisting Mr. Rubinfien for the exhibition and catalogue were Ms. Greenough and Erin O'Toole  of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which organized the show with the National Gallery of Art and where it opened last year.

The comprehensive catalogue of Mr. Winogrand's life and work, available in the shops, spans almost 500 pages and includes hundreds of photos, lists of his exhibitions, lectures, articles, and a timeline of his life.

The people of the United States are grateful to those who made the presentation possible in Washington:  the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, the Trellis Fund, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.  Sponsor for the international exhibition is the Terra Foundation for American Art with leadership provided by Randi and Bob Fisher.

What: Garry Winogrand

When: Now through  Sunday, June 8, 2014, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday.

Where: Ground Floor, West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com 

Free organ concert June 4 at St. John's, Lafayette Square

Alan Morrison

One of the best known organists in the U.S., Alan Morrison, will present the finale of the free noon concerts of the season at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Wednesday, and the public is invited to attend at no charge. 

On the program are Toccata by Anne Wilson, Mountain Music by Harold Stover, Aria by Charles Callahan, and a piece by Washington's Leo Sowerby, Pageant, known to have one of the most difficult passages for pedal ever written.

Mr. Morrison is a champion of contemporary music and has premiered more than a dozen compositions.  He heads the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and is associate professor at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

Next May he will premiere a concerto by Dick Brosse in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Philadelphia's Chamber Orchestra.

Alan Morrison

From October through June St. John's hosts First Wednesday concerts for the public at 12:10 p.m.

 

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Well known as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, the “Church of the Presidents” was founded in 1815. President James Madison, who served as president from 1809 to 1817, began a tradition for all presidents who have attended and/or joined St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

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Who: Alan Morrison, organist

What: First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., June 4, 2014

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.

Patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Memorial Day weekend at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

It was startling and gratifying on May 25, 2014 to see so many parents too young to remember the Vietnam War themselves bring their children to honor the 58,286 soldiers whose names appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial/By Patricia Leslie

Some brought art work, flags, clothing, plastic flowers in commemorative wrap, and mementos to leave at the memorial. A ranger for the National Park Service said all items are collected nightly except for Memorial Day weekend when items were left at the wall for visitors to see. Volunteers, including members of Rolling Thunder, help the single ranger gather the keepsakes, and non-perishables are stored in a warehouse. Some of them will be displayed at the memorial's new visitors center once funding is completed, and the center is built/By Patricia Leslie

The names of the war dead and those missing in action are etched in stone and appear chronologically beginning with 1959 on the far upper left where the wall points to the Lincoln Memorial and stretching to 1975 with the wall in the foreground pointing to the Washington Monument/By Patricia Leslie

This looks towards the Washington Monument (in the distance) and more current years and names.  The design by Maya Lin, then a Yale University undergraduate student, was intended to bring the past and present together with reflections on the wall.  Her creation was chosen in a blind competition which received 1,421 submissions.  The wall was completed in 1982 and was so controversial at the time, another memorial called "The Three Servicemen" (or "The Three Soldiers") was unveiled two years later, designed by the third-place finisher in the contest, Frederick Hart.  It and the Vietnam Women's Memorial designed by Glenna Goodacre and dedicated in 1993, stand nearby.  Ms. Goodacre, who also submitted in the original competition, had to change her women's winning design because of controversy/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, May 25, 2014/By Patricia Leslie

Nearby directories make it relatively easy to locate names of soldiers which may be copied identically with available paper/By Patricia Leslie 

 

Boots, medals, photos and biographies of the deceased and missing lined the wall on Memorial Day weekend/By Patricia Leslie

The park ranger said he thought more people than usual came to see the memorial last weekend.  Its stature grows with its increasing image as an American shrine, to match the respect and honor due all soldiers who protect and serve the United States. In a list compiled by the American Institute of Architects in 2007, Americans ranked the Vietnam Veterans Memorial tenth most favorite architecture/By Patricia Leslie

Honoring POW/MIA soldier, Ronald E. Smith/By Patricia Leslie

 

Poems by children were found at the wall.  This is the cover of a book which says "MILITARY We Will Fight For You.  A Collection of Poems by Jonathan Post, Troy, Ohio.  Navy!  Air Force!  Marines!  Army!"/By Patricia Leslie

Jonathan devoted a page to his mother which says "I dedicate this poetry anthology to my mom because she has helped me with some of the poems in this book and had the paitience it took to sit there and help."/By Patricia Leslie

 

A statement and artwork by a student says "The Vietnam War was the most hated war that the U.S. faught (sic) and, when the soliders  came home they were treated very badly."  On the right of the page is a drawing of a female in a short skirt who calls out "Boo!!!" and "You stink!!!" That these young children are educated about the war and its futility was welcoming.  A local Vietnam vet told me this week he has only visited the memorial once, and no more because of the pain.  Another one said he was never able to go and see it.  "Why?  Why?" John cried. "What was the purpose? All a waste!  All for egos!"/By Patricia Leslie

A floral tribute at the memorial which says "Rolling Thunder Never Forget Our Brothers and Sisters"/By Patricia Leslie

A wooden wreath with soldiers' dog tags at the memorial/By Patricia Leslie

 

Some of the wreaths at dusk at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, May 25, 2014/By Patricia Leslie

When it got too dark to see, the people took out their telephones and used the lights to illuminate names of those not forgotten. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is open all day and night/By Patricia Leslie

 

Glenn Greenwald and the NSA on book tour

Do you think the NSA will buy any copies of Glenn Greenwald's new book, No Place to Hide?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Glenn Greenwald whose newspaper, the Guardian shared Pulitzer Prize honors last month with the Washington Post based on Mr. Greenwald's scoop about government spying, was in town last week at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue promoting his newest book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.

At the ticketed event all 800 seats were taken and all copies of the book sold out, according to bookstore Politics and Prose.

When he was a contractor for the U.S. government, Edward Snowden downloaded NSA documents he found so disturbing he wanted to share them and educate the public about just exactly what it is the NSA does, Mr. Greenwald said.  Mr. Snowden could have sold the documents and made millions.  Instead, he chose public awareness and transparency.
 
He "unleashed profound change," said Mr. Greenwald.  The NSA motto is "collect it all," and the agency has billions of pieces of information about Americans, Mr. Greenwald said.

When he first met Mr. Snowden, 29 years old at the time, Mr. Greenwald was taken aback since he expected someone much older, in his 60s or 70s. Mr. Snowden came across online as "a little cynical, very sophisticated, a deep thinker."

"It took me about the entire day to recover" after they met a year ago in Hong Kong, and Mr. Greenwald remained skeptical of Mr. Snowden's motives for a while. Why would someone possibly give up his life for prison? Mr. Greenwald wondered.

For Mr. Snowden, the possibility of "the pain of prison" was better than "the pain of doing nothing."

Now Edward Snowden lives in Moscow where he fled to avoid the the U.S. government which has tirelessly tried to capture him. Mr. Greenwald said he could not picture any scenario that would bring Mr. Snowden back to the U.S. since he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life "in a cage" like another well known whistleblower, Chelsea Manning, whom the U.S. has "turned into a martyr."

The U.S. government is sending a loud and clear message that Chelsea Manning's punishment is a model for anybody else who may be thinking about revealing government secrets, Mr. Greenwald said.

Glenn Greenwald at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

A persistent critic of the mainstream press, Mr. Greenwald said the press never fails to ask him one question as if it were the most important one: "What about Snowden's girlfriend?"
He talked about 30 minutes and gave lengthy answers to questions posed by the mostly male, mostly under age 40 (80%, according to an unofficial tally) audience, some who lined up six deep at two microphones to query Mr. Greenwald.  No one asked any hostile or negative questions.

Mr. Greenwald quoted one of his childhood heroes, Daniel Ellsberg, who says "they" are saying the same things about Mr.Snowden that "they" said about Mr. Ellsberg and Ms. Manning.  Nothing new.

The audience interrupted the author several times with applause, and some intermittently stood and clapped.

Mr. Snowden's "strategic sense has been remarkably vindicated," Mr. Greenwald said. He said there is a document which supersedes the Justice Department: "It is called the Constitution."

Greenwald is prepared. He has done his homework.   He ain't no slouch, and he makes no apologies for selling and making money on his books: It's the American way. He is a graduate of George Washington University where he majored in philosophy, and he earned a law degree from New York University. He lives in Brazil with his partner, David Michael Miranda, since the U.S. won't give Mr. Miranda a visa to live here.

Mr. Greenwald is working on something much bigger than the NSA story which will come out in due time, he said.

Movie rights to No Place to Hide have been sold to Sony Pictures, and producers will be Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli who produced the James Bond series.

Mr. Greenwald mentioned James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, who lied to the U.S. Congress in testimony about government spying, committing at least a felony, he said.

No one responsible for the destruction of Iraq, a nation with 26 million people, or the wounding and deaths of thousands of Iraq citizens and American troops has ever been held accountable, he noted.  I suppose it depends upon whom you know.

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