This and That by JL

“First in war. First in peace. First in the hearts of his countrymen.” That’s George who, as our first president, set the tone and the bar for the Office of the Presidency. On and about President’s Day, it’s worth reflecting on George Washington’s historic legacy, eulogized above by his friend Henry A. Lee.  Washington’s character […]

Seeing as this is the season for lifting voices, I started to think about my own voice. As the youngest in my family, a girl, I hardly had a voice – or at the very least, my voice was muffled by others who had more authority than me. My reflection on this topic was prompted […]

When I reflect on Harvey, and then on Irma, I can’t help thinking aloud: “So, who’s creating all this disturbance anyway?”  Well perhaps it’s that nasty woman – Mother Nature – making a fuss about the state of the environment and calling on us to do our civic duty. Am I naive to believe in […]

Can a bridge be a work of art? At ArtsWestchester, we think it can. That is why we will be honoring the New New York Bridge at our upcoming 2017 gala on November 18 at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains. Like most creative people, designers of public works aspire to create uplifting, aesthetically pleasing […]

Art in public places never ceases to surprise and delight me as it did in Reykjavik, Iceland last week. A stroll down the main shopping street exhibits store windows laden with Nordic designed sweaters and blankets. I duck around a corner and run face first into an outdoor wall mural almost cartoonish in its style. […]

If one is to be honored, I would wish it to be in such an idyllic place as Caramoor, where butterflies mingle with guests amidst lush greenery, peonies and irises, now in bloom, and the drumbeat of applause punctuating the air. That was my vision when CEO Jeff Haydon called to say that the Caramoor […]

    Thank you Brian Williams for reminding me (and the MSNBC world at large) about the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945 at the height of World War II. As a child, I heard this news when it happened from the bigger kids on the street, where I got most of […]

In this era of fake news, it seems like most anything goes.  Strange now to say, that wasn’t what I learned as a journalism student at NYU.  Fact checking was our honor system and, as I recall, no one dared to risk the wrath of Professor Ben Yablonsky. Another thing I learned at NYU is […]