This and That by JL

    Ella Fitzgerald sang it. So did Sarah Vaughan and Carly Simon. Even Deana Durbin. And we are singing it too. The fact is that “spring will be a little late this year.” All through April, the weather teased us with a few balmy days, but in the end, it was fake weather news.  […]

There’s a book of adjectives that I draw upon to describe our friend Eugene Grant, who passed away recently, some three months before his 100th birthday. The word “giant” comes to mind.  In physical terms, it would be an exaggeration, as Gene was medium in height. Yet his stature was gigantic. This heft was in […]

Whenever I want to escape from my office to a cool, loft-type space, I take the elevator in our building from the lobby to the 7th floor. It’s a journey in time through our 90-year-old building — entering the antique brass elevator doors only to be emptied into the contemporary atelier of John Sullivan, a […]

Have you ever hid a comic book under your mattress? Of course, why would anyone do that? Better than reading a book—or so I thought at the time. When your mother is a teacher, comic books are “a corrupting influence that encourages children to look at pictures, ignoring the words that are basic to reading, […]

I am trying to wrap my head around a few newsworthy items. One of these is the number and size of dogs jet-setting on airlines. Now I happen to be a dyed in the wool dog lover.  So I asked myself what I might do if I was offered a free trip to Hawaii with […]

As a child growing up in segregated Texarkana, TX, Dr. LaRuth Gray found the arts to be her “window to the world.” If sitting in the back of the bus restricted her movement, she learned she could go anywhere and everywhere through the arts. This simple understanding propelled her to a lifetime of leadership in […]

It was Times Square at night that inspired Greek-born artist Stephen Antonakos (1926-2013) to begin working his magic in neon. He is said to have loved the garish colors and the tubes of light. Neuberger Museum of Art now reverberates with his spectacular “Procenium” installation, completed in 2000 and designed specifically for the space it […]

“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 […]