It’s been too long since I’ve written a Deckchairs entry because the following things have occurred:
- My daughter is now toilet trained. It’s a big deal in the field of parenting and it took a lot of cajoling, bribery, shenanigans, and generalized anxiety. But she is and her parents are relieved that, when she goes to a new school in the Fall, the teachers won’t have to do any training around the potty. I must say that I already miss the days of holding her hand while she went to the bathroom in her diaper and watched her as she gave permission to herself to do what she needed to do.
- On the moving scene, I’ve confirmed with the mover that we’re moving. I’m about to detail and sell the car and I’m thinking about loading Tiger so that I can simultaneously worry about something other than moving and shipping and packing and saying goodbye to all that. Up to Canada.
- I experienced a Father’s Day that was filled with much joy. In particular, we went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and I fell in love with Brooklyn generally again. The Museum, having recently undergone reconstruction (remont in Polish, which always made more sense to me), installed an incredible fountain that is beautifully choreographed in the most minimal and yet most pleasurable ways. It’s hard to describe but imagine about 20 propelled water streams forced to different levels above a marble base, each one in some sort of synchronicity with the others, falling up, falling down, and then falling flat. The sounds of the water hitting the stone and the droplets hitting each other was mesmerizing and it has completely transformed that busy corner of Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights.
- I’m equally mesmerized with the recent fate of public radio and television. It’s as if the Republican administrators of our fair country have decided that the small amounts of funding provided to keep public-oriented programming on the public airwaves is too much to bear for our debt-ridden nation. It’s hard to believe but their position seems to be that the federal deficit can be helped along by cutting out a few culturally rich parts of the popular arena so that the gap can be filled by benefactors. Bill Moyers has been predicting this for some time and so have I.
- At the same time, I’m impressed by the audacity of Con Rice going around to Arab countries lately pronouncing the importance of democratic institutions and civic values. I always think that the person the person that doth protest too much is always the most guilty of crimes.
More tidbits and better posts coming up.