It was a beautiful day: That’s what I remember thinking. And it’s probably the first thing anyone who is old enough to remember it will tell you about it.
Seamless sky, what pilots call severe clear. Had to be. The men who brought those buildings down didn’t know how to pilot a plane beyond flying straight, so conditions had to be optimal. The day before, Sept. 10, it had rained. The next was a different story.
It had started promisingly enough. I was working on a piece about the 75th anniversary of the Chrysler Building – the favorite landmark of New Yorkers – and had a 7:30 a.m. interview with William Ivey Long, costume designer for the Broadway hit “The Producers,” whose designs for the show included a gown inspired by the building’s diadem top. Long was a terrific interview but soon excused himself for what he said was a busy day. Delighted with his remarks, I wished him joy of it. ...
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Read MoreThe first time I saw the burkini – the controversial swimwear worn primarily by Muslim women, whose ban on French beaches was recently overturned by a French court – I thought, if I wasn’t often so hot, and not in a good way, I would definitely wear one.
Indeed, when I first hit the beach in Bali – the Hindu island of Muslim Indonesia, where everyone lets it all hang out – I was dressed in a one-piece and a sarong, accessorized by a beach umbrella.
I cannot have the sun beating down on my head – I take my daily constitutional with an umbrella or parasol in the warm-weather months – and I don’t want my skin overexposed to Mr. Sun either.
I’m not alone. British chef Nigela Lawson sports a burkini at the beach to shield her fair skin, and the swimsuit has been championed by members of both sexes and several major religions, along with lifeguards in Australia, where it was designed by Lebanese-born Aheda Zanetti. ...
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Read More“Only in America could a conversation about racial oppression devolve into one black millionaire calling out a biracial millionaire for not knowing what's it's like to be truly oppressed.”
So posted Mark Thomas on an ESPN thread about NFL analyst Rodney Harrison criticizing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he sat through the National Anthem in a preseason game to protest violence toward blacks and other people of color in this country. Harrison said that Kaepernick – whom all eyes will be on when the Niners take on the San Diego Chargers on CBS’ “Thursday Night Football” – didn’t know what it was like to be a black man. ...
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Read MoreIn the continuing saga of people I admire becoming cause célèbres this summer, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the National Anthem before a preseason game Friday to protest violence against blacks, garnering praise and condemnation.
I remain a Kaepernick fan – just as I remain a fan of Ryan Lochte. I believe people are more than the one comment or action by which we may judge them. And he, of course, has the right to protest this violence, which he understands as a biracial man in a way I as a white woman can’t.
But to me “The Star-Spangled Banner” is bigger than racism and violence, as is the Stars and Stripes. These are about our country as a whole and its place on this earth, all those Americans who came before, including those who died in defense of its freedom, and all those who have come and will come after. ...
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Read MoreIn the games men play, Donald Trump has consistently defined himself as a winner. It’s what suits him most to the presidency, he has said.
But what does it mean to be a winner? In the scriptural readings for Mass this past Sunday, both the Book of Ecclesiastes and Jesus warn against those who build up material wealth with either no concern for their spiritual development or the reality that someday what is yours now will belong to someone else.
Trump, of course, would not see himself in this admonition. He says he has sacrificed much, because he employs thousands upon thousands of people.
But can such a sacrifice be compared to that of Capt. Humayun Khan, the Muslim-American soldier who was killed on June 8, 2004 in the early days of the Iraq War protecting his unit from a suicide car bomber? ...
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Read MoreFrom the moment I became aware of Hillary Clinton when her husband, Bill, ran for the presidency, I thought she would someday be the first woman president of the United States. The superbly orchestrated Democratic National Convention did nothing to change that perception.
She is not, and never will be, the seductive speaker her husband is. Nor will she ever strike the delicate balance between the intellectual and the visceral that President Barack Obama has achieved, inspiring us not only to hope but to continue striving. She lacks, by her own admission, the temperament for that, being more comfortable, as she said, with the “service” part of “public service” than the “public” portion. Indeed, her naturally secretive nature, at the heart of the overblown email scandal, is no doubt exacerbated by her husband’s ability to feel everyone’s pain – particularly that of nubile women. ...
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Read MoreOK, let’s address the 800-pound elephant in the room right away – the Democrats’ email scandal.
Never write anything you wouldn’t say in public. Never send an email containing sensitive information that should be exchanged in person. And make sure that when you exchange information in person, that that person you exchange it with can be trusted.
Remember: The best-kept secret is the one you share with no one.
I don’t care if the Russians hacked the Democrats’ emails, or if the dog ate their homework. It was stupid of Dems in disarray to try to micromanage the process and weight it toward frontrunner Hillary Clinton – and, if they were going to do that, they shouldn’t have put it on the oh-so-secure internet, should they?
Having said that, I was immediately struck on night one by the difference in tone between the two conventions. ...
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