Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a 2019 command portrait,. Photograph by Monica King, United States Army.
What do September, Labor Day, 9/11, tennis and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have in common?
One word, one four-letter word — work.
Read MoreNovak Djokovic defeats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals of the 2011 Wimbledon to become the No. 1-ranked men’s player, a position he has held — on and off, mostly on — for 10 years. Sourcehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/43555660@N00/5935139063/
On Monday, Aug. 30, Novak Djokovic begins his quest to win the US Open and thus the Grand Slam — holding all four Slams (including the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon) in one calendar year. Only two other men have done it (Don Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in ’62 and ’69), along with three women (Maureen Connelly in ’53, Margaret Court in ’70 and Steffi Graf in 1988, the year after Djokovic was born). Graf remains the only person to win the Golden Slam — the Grand Slam and the Olympic gold medal that year.
Read MoreNew York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, far left, meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden in the White House on Feb. 12. Photograph by Adam Schultz/White House.
Time is indeed another country. Last year, New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo was a hero of the pandemic, his daily Covid briefings compared to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats for their calming humanity.
This year, Cuomo — who announced his resignation today — is another villain of #MeToo, accused in state Attorney General Letitia James’ report of sexually harassing and assaulting 11 women and in other circles of berating, bullying and brutalizing male and female employees alike.
Read MoreSimone Biles taking the all-around gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Photograph by Agência Brasil Fotografias.
Citing some mental challenges, gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the team competition and individual all-around at the Tokyo Olympics, cheering her teammates instead as they exhibited grace and grit under pressure to win the team silver as their Russian rivals took the gold.
We can’t know what is going through her mind. She had a tough childhood and was among the gymnasts abused by Dr. Larry Nasser. She said she took herself out of competition so she wouldn’t cost her team a medal. Watching her vault again, it’s clear she did the right thing., despite the naysaying from the usual suspects, including provocateur Piers Morgan. Biles seemed disoriented in space, a dangerous thing to be in a sport in which paralysis and death are real possibilities. Without her, there would be no chance for the team gold. But with her, in that condition, there might’ve been no chance for the podium. So Biles was prudent to walk away for now.
Read MoreDiana, Princess of Wales, with Luciano Pavarotti at his 1995 benefit concert for Bosnian children in Modena, Italy. Ian Rank-Broadley’s new sculpture of the princess, commemorating what would’ve been her 60th birthday on July 1, fails to capture her shapely beauty and sheer goddess-ness.
Like summer itself — which seemed to define her — Princess Diana’s season was too brief. She was born 60 years ago today, July 1, when summer, like an open road, stretches out before us, full of promise, and died 36 years later on Aug. 31, when summer’s promise, like its roses, has faded and its leaves have burnished, signaling fall.
Earlier today, she was remembered with a statue in the redesigned Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, where she lived in London. Contemporary figurative sculpture is difficult to do. There’s something about modern clothes that seems at odds with sculpture’s heroic idealization. Think of all those dreary Soviet bureaucrats. That said, Ian Rank-Broadley’s Diana, Princess of Wales, is a total miss.
Read MoreGod directs Abram, renamed Abraham, to count all the stars for that is how numerous his descendants shall be. From a Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut for a “Bible in Pictures” (1860).
It’s one of the few things you carry throughout your life that you don’t actually choose. I’m talking about a name, of course — although that may come as a surprise to Lady Gaga and other celebrities who are often better known by their stage names than their given ones.
It might certainly come as a surprise to the former Meghan Markle, whose actual name is Rachel Meghan Markle but who calls herself Meghan. There are two schools of thought about people who rename themselves: They are wildly independent. They are wildly insecure. I myself don’t care for my first or middle names, but I was named for my grandmothers, whose memories I care greatly about honoring. So I wear their names with pride. And when time came for my Confirmation, I chose another name that I liked better and have since added a fourth that is my favorite. You can understand why the Department of Motor Vehicles has a problem with me.
But back to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex — yet another name. She and her husband, Prince Harry, have chosen to name their newborn daughter after his grandmother and mother, Queen Elizabeth II and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Fair enough. Lots of girls, especially first-born daughters, are named as I was after grandmothers or great-grandmothers. It was, however, how they chose to honor Prince Harry’s grandmother that has become the sticking point. Instead of naming their daughter Elizabeth Diana, they named her Lillbet Diana, after the queen’s childhood nickname.
As the story goes, the nickname was based on her own mispronunciation of her name when she was very young. It was then championed by her grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary,; her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, known as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother; her sister, Princess Margaret; and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Perhaps some of her contemporary cousins use it as well. Perhaps not. Needless to say, the principle people who called the queen “Lilibet” are, sadly, all gone.
So the question becomes why would you name your child after someone’s intimate nickname that has nothing to do with you?
Read MoreRep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) in 2016. Courtesy Office of Liz Cheney.
You have to wonder what Nathaniel Hawthorne would’ve made of ousted House Republican Party Conference chair Liz Cheney. Would she have been standing on the scaffold with Hester Prynne and her out-of-wedlock baby, Pearl, wearing a big scarlet “O” for ousted or a scarlet “B” stabbed with an interlocking “L” for “Big lLie”?
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