Posts Tagged ‘Howard Bloom’
October 31, 2016
As I headed north on the train, I watched mist close over the Hudson River as I drifted off to a nap after an extraordinary brunch with my friends, Mary Clare and Jim Eros, at Café Du Soleil on the Upper West Side. We laughed and giggled and ate and had a good time.
They were off to watch a flotilla of pumpkins in Central Park while I headed down to the station to head north.
It is dark now and the flood lights illuminate the creek. The ticking of my old clock is about the only sound I can hear and I am contented after a good conference in New York. Tomorrow is my meeting with my eye surgeon before the cataract operation a week from this coming Wednesday; I am weary of my blurry vision and am grateful I live in an age when repairs can be done to things like this.
A century ago, I would have been doomed to live with it if I had been so lucky to live this long. My friend, the philosopher Howard Bloom, always points out that we have doubled our life expectancy in the last hundred, hundred fifty years. A great accomplishment.
Things that would have killed us quickly have been either vanquished or we have ways of coping better than ever with what would have been life ending diseases not so very long ago.
Things like that give me some hope.
This week there were articles about robot warriors who could learn to kill using artificial intelligence, making judgments that only humans could before. While that brings to mind images from “The Terminator,” robots are being also developed to help those who are helpless and to save human lives in other ways. The Japanese are in the forefront of this because of their aging population.
Mary Clare and Jim split their time between Shepherdstown, WV and New York City. They describe themselves as the new “young old.” Both are retired and both are full of energy and life and a passion to explore the world and are an inspiration to me.
The three of us have all, to one degree or another, been tuning out the din of this the last weeks of this election cycle. It was left to me to explain the newest twist in the Clinton email drama. Both of them had missed it. All of us are confused by it and are wondering why the FBI ignored the guidance of the Justice Department to not say anything so as not to appear to be influencing the election.
But it is what it is and is another twist in this most remarkable Presidential election.
Last night a truckload of manure was dumped in the parking lot of the Democratic headquarters in Ohio. I find myself somewhere between outrage and hysterical laughter at the silliness of what is going on. Manure? In 2016?
As I cruised through the news today, I found an interview with Jerry Brotton, an English author, who has just published a book about Elizabeth I’s alliances with the Islamic world. Shunned by Catholic Europe, Elizabeth I built alliances with the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Morocco. Fascinating.
However, in this present time the US is telling the families of workers in the US Consulate in Istanbul to leave the country. This is combined with a warning to tourists to not travel there because of targeting by terror groups of Americans and other foreigners.
At the same time, the Turkish government has fired ten thousand civil servants and is crushing any media that disagrees with it.
I am saddened beyond words. Fifteen years ago I was in Turkey and fell in love with Istanbul and have wanted to return. Perhaps not or at least not now…
The old clock is ticking. I think of it as the heart of the house. I am content tonight and am living in the now. Mindfulness is what I think they call it.
Tags:Cafe du Soleil, Cataracts, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth I & Islam, Erdogan, Howard Bloom, Istanbul, Jim Eros, Manure in Ohio, Mary Clare Eros, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Robots, The Terminator, Turkey
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Earthquakes, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Howard Bloom, Hudson New York, IS, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
May 14, 2016
It is Friday the 13th, a day feared by many as unlucky. It has neither been lucky or unlucky for me, so far…
The cottage is ripe with the good feelings from a lovely dinner party last night. There were six of us. We had appetizers, soup, salad, fish, lamb or pork or both, baby gold Yukon potatoes, sautéed carrots, green beans with butter and ice cream and berries for dessert. People arrived at seven and left after midnight. A good time was had by all.
I am now in my fourth load in the dishwasher. We had cocktails, champagne, white wine, red wine, cordials. It was a long, delightful evening of food and wonderful conversation. It was a moment of recognition of how lucky I am, to be in the cottage, to have friends, to be alive.
As I returned from the city on Tuesday, I got a text letting me know that Vinnie Kralyevich had died the night before. He was fifty-two, was on the treadmill, collapsed and could not be revived. He was someone I worked with a lot about nine years ago and I was staggered to learn he had passed. I am older and there was another moment that reminded me of my own mortality.
I am at an age when mortality is knocking at my door. The people who mentored me are growing older and are leaving the scene. I have younger friends who are cursed with terminal diseases and are leaving me.
For more than fifteen years my friends Medora Heilbron and Meryl Marshall-Daniels have had a weekly call to check in and support each other. It’s a phone support group. Medora ran development for USA Network when I was out pitching shows. Meryl got me involved with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. I was on the Board of Governors when she was the Chair of the Academy. Medora reached me on 9/11 just before I lost phone service to check on how I was.
It is a deep and rich sharing, once a week, except when one of us is out of the country.
Medora shared today that Bruce Lansbury, brother to Angela, a producer of great renown and who gave Medora her best break in the business, was suffering from Alzheimers. Angela and Medora live in the same Los Angeles neighborhood, run into each other in markets but Medora had never introduced herself to Angela but, for some reason, she did this week at the Whole Foods in Brentwood. She was devastated by the news that Bruce was alive but gone.
It is what all of us fear. I do.
While I write this, on a day which has been dark and drear, a soft fog is descending around me, enveloping the creek, the end of a rainy, dismal day. And the view in front of me is a bit magical. One could imagine woodland nymphs dancing in the distance.
However, there are no woodland nymphs dancing tonight in American politics.
Trump has a butler who is now retired but still gives tours at his estate in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, built for Marjorie Merriweather Post, a cereal heiress whose daughter, Dina Merrill, was an accomplished actress.
He called Obama a “muzzie” who should be hung. The Trump campaign is working to distance itself from those comments. A “muzzie” is a Muslim, by the way.
I had a long chat with my client, Howard Bloom, who has just finished a new book, “The Mohammed Code.” It is an exegesis of the roots of fundamentalism in Islam. We have battered back and forth about the book because it exposes the roots of ISIS and I am hoping will reflect the differentiation between fundamentalist Muslims and the majority of Muslims who have renounced the ugly parts of their religion.
This is the great conversation of today. We must come to peace with Islam and they must come to peace with us. Not easy but must be done…
Tags:Angela Lansbury, Bruce Lansbury, Donald Trump, Friday the 13th, Howard Bloom, Mar-a-lago, Medora Heilbron, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, Muhammed Code, The Donald, Trump, Vinnie Kralyecih, Whole Foods
Posted in 2016 Election, 9/11, Claverack, Columbia County, Columbia Greene Community College, Daesh, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Obama, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
April 23, 2016
On Thursday, I was sitting at Molly Wee, an Irish Pub a block from Penn Station, having lunch with Mark Sklawer, a filmmaker who is working on a film about the music period in the life of Howard Bloom, who is a client of mine. As we talked, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I took it out to see what was going on.
Both the AP and BBC were sending alerts that Prince had died. It was shocking as Prince wasn’t ill as far as I knew and still relatively young at 57, younger than me. We are both natives of Minneapolis though I had left about the time he was beginning his ascent.
What struck the three of us was that the news hit us as we were talking about Howard, who had been Prince’s PR guru at the time of “Purple Rain.” It was, in fact, Howard who persuaded Warner Bros. to release the film. After a screening, studio executives were terrified of what they had on their hands and some wanted to kill the film.
It was Howard that convinced them that the film was brilliant and would be a hit. And he was right.
The papers on Thursday were filled with paeans to the musical legend, as well they should have been. He helped turn many a corner and, through it all, remained close to Minneapolis, his place of origin. He died at his estate in Chanhassen, MN, a suburb of Minneapolis.
RIP.
It is spring like and the last two days have been singularly beautiful though rain fell Friday evening, the day the Hubble turned 26 years old, sending back glorious pictures of deep space.
Friday, in honor of Earth Day, was a day to go without a car in New York City. It did seem traffic was lighter. I used subways to get about.
The weekend will be full of chores, which I will have to accomplish on my own. “Young Nick,” the young man who helps out every weekend, left today for a week’s vacation. He’ll be back a week from Saturday. After all the years of Saturdays when he has helped me, Saturday doesn’t feel like Saturday without a bit of “Nick time.”
Last Wednesday, in my class, students were talking about cyber bullying and how it leads to suicide. Today, it has been reported that suicide has increased in this country by 24% since 1999. I am sure someone will do a correlation between the rise in suicides and the rise of Social Media.
Barak and Michelle Obama attended on Friday a dinner at Kensington Palace hosted by Princes William and Harry after he had lunched with the Queen, who is celebrating her 90th birthday. She has reigned longer than any other British monarch and is the oldest monarch in history. Good on her!
In popular news, “Live with Kelly and Michael” has been in turmoil. Kelly was informed this past week that Michael Strahan, her co-host, is leaving the show to become a full time co-host on “Good Morning, America.” Feeling blindsided and hurt, Kelly did not appear on Wednesday. She is supposed to be off for a few days to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary to soap star Mark Consuelos.
However, she has now announced she will return on Tuesday as scheduled and it will be interesting to see how they interact.
Today is a brilliant day, sun out but with a chill wind. Following my Saturday round of the Farmer’s Market, I went to The Red Dot for brunch, where I worked on the final exam for my class, “Media & Society” after finishing my food.
It is a good day; off tonight to dinner with some people I haven’t yet met but with whom I am working on a project for the community radio station, WGXC.
While I write this, the world is still absorbing the death of Prince, that North Korea has apparently fired a ballistic missile from a submarine, that 8 relatives were killed execution style in Ohio, including a woman lying next to a four day old baby and markingß today, the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death at the age of 52.
He wrote 37 plays that will live on and on and on… He wrote about life and no one will tire of that…
Tags:Chanhassen, Claverack, Earth Day, Howard Bloom, Hubble, Hudson, Live with Michael & Kelly, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Minneapolis, North Korea, Obama, Prince, Princes William & Harry, Purple Rain, Queen Elizabeth II, Suicide, The Red Dot, William Shakespeare
Posted in Columbia County, Entertainment, Greene County New York, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Music, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 19, 2016
A brilliant sun is beginning to set over the Catskills as I ride north on the train. There is a great swath of sunlit river streaming straight toward the train as we crawl north.
There might be snow this weekend; a nor’easter may be storming our way though the forecast for Claverack doesn’t seem to indicate snow. It will be what it will be…
I am headed down to the city on Monday so I can sit in on the taping of Howard Bloom’s podcast, “Howard Bloom Saves The Universe.” [Available on iTunes.] Then a couple of meetings on Tuesday, a lunch on Wednesday and then I’ll race back to the country.
Easter Sunday is in front of me and I’m doing the brunch after Mass. I am beginning to think the General in me will need to come out. With moderation, of course…
While I have been doing my meetings in New York, the Belgian police have been conducting raids, which netted one of the prime suspects in last fall’s Paris attacks, Salah Abdesalam. It may be an intelligence coup. Other suspects also have been detained, some for helping him.
The EU has struck a deal with Turkey to return refugees to them while Greece, a bankrupt country, is on the verge of being a refugee prison. Would this be or not be a good time for an American to go to Greece? I love the country and would like to visit.
The Hudson is now steel grey and there is pink in the sunset. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” Pink? Probably good…
Mitt Romney has said he is supporting Ted Cruz. Has it come to this?
Merrick Garland made some rounds on the Hill today while the Republicans say, with absolutism, they will not consider him. Ah, love gridlock… So now that Congress in in recess the fight is going to the home front.
It’s my understanding Georgia has passed a religious freedom bill, which is interpreted by many to be anti-gay.
The NFL as in the National Football League, has said that this might impact their plans to have the Superbowl in Georgia. Unintended consequences…
The markets have finally caught up with where they were at the end of last year but more to be thought of about where the markets are. Are things good again or not? The reports in the press seem divided.
Dark has descended on the trip. We are now headed toward Hudson. The evening progresses. When I am off the train, I’ll head to the Red Dot for a bite to eat and then home.
My bathroom is being repainted and from the pictures I’ve seen looks quite wonderful. Tomorrow I am meeting young Nick to pick up a new sink and faucet while at the same time picking out new appliances for the kitchen.
Now that I am living more at the cottage than anywhere else I would like it to be more me than it is now.
It is what we all want, our homes to represent ourselves.
Home is something I have thought about all my life, a looking for home. The cottage is the most I have ever felt at home and I am so grateful I have found that place.
The world will roar and the political battles will be fought and at the end, I will be at home, in the cottage, looking over the creek while the world plays itself out.
Tags:Amtrak, Belgian Police, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hudson, Hudson River, Iran, IS, Markets, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, NFL, NFL and Georgia, Obama, Putin, Red Dot, Salah Abdesalam, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Howard Bloom, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
November 24, 2015
Howard Bloom. New York City. Thanksgiving. Metrojet. Claverack. Howard Bloom Saves The Universe. Anne Frank. Jason Rezaian. Nancy Wiard. Penn Station. Chad Dougatz. Metrojet.
It is mid-afternoon and I am beginning this as I am closing in on New York City, on the train. I’m down this afternoon for Howard Bloom’s Podcast [Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, look it up on iTunes or howardbloom.libsyn.com/.
I have a breakfast in the morning and then I am scurrying back north for the long weekend. Trains were getting hard to get yesterday – every other one seems to be sold out.
Depending on when I get finished with breakfast, I may take an earlier train. I’m eager to be back at the cottage, priming for Thanksgiving. I have a few side dishes to make for the feast I am attending.
It’s cold today and it is going down to a mere 14 degrees tonight in Claverack. Yikes! I am wearing my winter jacket and have pulled out my favorite scarf.
But my hardships are minimal. I could be a refugee somewhere in Europe as the cold settles in on the Continent while, at the same time, finding themselves feared by the countries to which they have been fleeing.
Earlier today, in a Facebook posting, I saw that Anne Frank had applied to come to America but was denied. We weren’t very open to Jews before the war. If that visa had been granted we may have been denied her diary but she’d be 77 if she had lived.
That fact saddened me.
People are wrestling with what to do about refugees. Some of most liberal friends are now feeling fearful of accepting them. I have been seeing the postings on Facebook. There is great support for and there is great fear of refugees, both views understandable in the light of current events.
Jason Rezaian, a journalist for the Washington Post and who headed their Tehran bureau is headed for prison for an unspecified period of time. Holding both Iranian and US citizenship, he seemed a natural for the posting. The Iranians have convicted him of espionage.
He has languished in prison since July 2014.
Now, I am sitting just outside the studio while Howard is doing his podcast, discussing with Chad Dougatz, the host, the roots of Islamic terrorism.
Terrorism, the bane of our time… Just moments ago, my phone buzzed with a notice that the US has issued a global travel alert due to increased threats of terrorism.
My friend, Nancy Wiard, is traveling to the European Christmas markets. She sent me a message today from Amsterdam, which is close to Belgium whose major city, Brussels, home for the European Union, is under lockdown.
Multiple operations are underway in Brussels as I type.
It is believed that the bomb that took down the Russian Metrojet was placed under the seat of a fifteen year old girl, seat 31A.
I didn’t get to finish last night. Today is a beautiful, slightly chill, afternoon on the train heading north. I’m seated on the river side of the car and I’m watching the Hudson slide by as I move north.
As I headed toward the train this morning, Penn, not unexpectedly was overflowing with people heading out for Thanksgiving. It, too, had more than its usual contingent of police and soldiers. In the fourteen plus years since 9/11, I have yet to accept their presence as the new normal.
But, it is, and during Thanksgiving the city is on a higher alert level. More police, more soldiers, more…
Yes, the world is a grim place. The Turks have shot down a Russian warplane which kept, according to them, violating its airspace. Let’s just ratchet up the tensions, why don’t we…
However, I also read an article in the NY Times this morning about the positive health affects of being grateful, so I am attempting to settle myself into my “attitude of gratitude” mode. It will be a healthier place for me.
It is two days from Thanksgiving and tomorrow I will be prepping my contributions to our annual feast of gratitude and I will do my best to remember all the many things for which I am grateful.
Tags:Anne Frank, Attitude of Gratitude, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Syria, Thanksgiving
Posted in 9/11, Airstrikes, Columbia County, European Refugee Crisis, Iran, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Paris Attacks, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
October 13, 2015
It is 7:30 PM and it is dark already. I’m headed north on the 7:15 Amtrak out of Penn towards home after two weeks of wandering. Baltimore followed by Indianapolis followed by Minneapolis and now home. I made a stop in New York and listened as Howard Bloom recorded his podcast, “Howard Bloom Saves the Universe.” Look him up in your iTunes store. He’s very good, very funny and very wise.
Having not had very much to eat today, as in almost nothing, I stopped and got some California Roll from Penn Sushi and ate it while waiting for the train to start its journey north, which it has. I would love to be able to watch the river but it’s too dark, the river is hidden.
Minneapolis is a lovely town. There are an infinite number of things to do in the city of my birth. Often I have described my youth as being what it must have been like to grow up in one of the great provincial capitals of Europe. It has the Minnesota Orchestra, back to making music after a crippling strike. The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, the Walker, the Guthrie, an amazing theatre scene. One Uber driver said to me that in Minneapolis/St. Paul you found a college on almost every corner. Which is almost true.
The city is freshly spruced. Every building looked like it had just been splashed with a fresh coat of paint. Everything was sparkling clean and looked like the glistening city of the future. Unemployment is low and the city is prospering.
But I sampled none of the intellectual delights of my hometown. I spent all my time visiting with people, my friends and family, people that have been important to me over the years.
When I taught high school there I became close to one of the families involved with the school, the Elsens. I spent an afternoon with them at a restaurant. Don is 88 and his force of nature wife, Betty, has been dead now almost ten years. Julie was there as was her cousin Brenda. After Don and Julie left, Brenda stayed to chat with me. She wanted to let me know that I was the only teacher she had in her life she felt “saw” her. I was humbled.
There were long mornings of coffee with my brother and sister-in-law, Deb, and a long and lovely lunch with my ex sister-in-law, Sally, with whom I laughed and cried.
I have deep roots in Minneapolis though one morning, driving to some get together, I also realized that the old phrase, “ You can’t go home again,” is true. I have roots but I no longer belong there.
All was familiar but I am no longer a citizen of that place; I am a citizen, for now, of Columbia County, where I have lived for, for me, a long time. And now I am on the train, headed back to the little cottage by the creek, looking forward to being in that space, surrounded by my things, to be able in the morning to sit on the deck while having coffee and to think about the future and not the past.
Tags:Amtrak, Brenda Elsen, Columbia County, Deb Tombers, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Joe Tombers, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minnesota Orchestra, Penn Station, Penn Sushi, Sally Tombers, The Guthrie, Uber, Walker
Posted in Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Comentary | Leave a Comment »
September 21, 2015
It is dusk here in the city. I have just come from the taping of one of Howard Bloom’s podcasts. Sometime this week it should be live and when it is, I will share the URL. Today we talked about sin. The show’s title: Howard Bloom Saves the Universe.
As I left Howard and was descending into the subway, I realized it was cool. It had been my intention to go to Thai Market and write but I realized by the time I was finished it would be chill. I’m going to need a jacket tonight so I came back to the little apartment and opened my laptop.
It has been an okay day, up early to do some work and then a few other errands. Tomorrow I’m moderating a panel for the Religious Communicator’s Council on blogging, followed by coffee with the producer for that, my friend Mary Dickey, and then a meeting in Chelsea and then off to the train.
On Wednesday, I am driving over to the Cape.
There’ll be many things that will occupy my mind as I drive, I’m sure. The world is a rocky place these days.
Croatia is crying for help with the refugees and migrants that have crossed into the country. European leaders meet but seem to come to no conclusions on what to do. It feels likes million are on the move, though I am sure the numbers are not that high. Hungary has taken to posting warnings to refugees and migrants in Lebanon and Jordan NOT to come.
One of the issues Alexis Tsipras faces is that his country is a major transit point for those attempting to reach Western Europe. His is a country overflowing with crises. Reelected, he must now really govern.
David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, is fending off allegations he had sex with a dead pig in an initiation ceremony for the exclusive Piers Gaveston Society, named after the supposed gay lover of Edward II, while at Oxford. Oh those wacky Brits!
Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Governor, is suspending his campaign for President, warning there may have to be many more dropouts if Republicans want to stop Donald Trump, who has slipped while Carly Fiorina has risen. The merry dance goes on, Rome burning while the fiddler plays.
Bernie Sanders is the “passion” candidate for the Democrats while Hillary Clinton is the conventional one. The size of crowds they are attracting, with Bernie drawing more than Hillary, is causing Hillary’s detractors to, well, detract.
In a particularly disturbing story that was featured in the NY Times this morning, American soldiers and officers have been told to ignore the painful cries of young boys as they are sexually assaulted by their Afghan counterparts for fear of seeming culturally insensitive.
It was a story I had to read a couple of times to comprehend.
The Emmys are over. Jon Hamm got one, at last. Viola Davis won Best Actress in a drama and gave a heartfelt speech, which I read today.
Last night, leaving the reception for my friends Kris and Eric, I realized I was just a short distance from my friends, Mary Clare and Jim. I phoned them, we got together, I surveyed their new apartment and then we walked down the hill to a little restaurant near them. I’ve known Mary Clare forever and it was such fun to spontaneously join them.
I’m off now to get some food, do a little reading and get to sleep so I can do a good job moderating tomorrow.
Tags:Afghan sexual abuse of boys, Alexis Tsipras, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, Croatia, David Cameron, David Cameron Dead Pig, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hungary, Jon Hamm, Mary Clare and Jim Eros, Mary Dickey, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Piers Gaveston Society, Religious Communicators Council, Scott Walker, Thai Market, Viola Davis
Posted in Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Social Commentary | Leave a Comment »
August 25, 2015
The day started peacefully, coffee on the deck, a reading of the New York Times which presaged the market fall today, with a good article about hanging on, breathing deep and not panicking. It was that kind of day. I was getting ready to go into a meeting when I had an alert from the AP that the market plunged 1000 points at the open.
With that in my mind, I walked into my meeting and did my best to push that out of my consciousness and center myself in the moment. I’m not sure anything will come of it but the local community college, Columbia Greene, is interested in me as a potential adjunct professor. Their enrollment is down but they won’t really know until the end of next week when open registration ends. They seem to be considering me for two potential positions, Public Communications and/or Intro to Journalism.
There isn’t much pay involved but I would love to go back to the classroom. We’ll see but it has been a fun thought with which to play.
So the big news of the day in the conversations around me is the Dow’s Dive, which follows a dive of similar proportions on Friday.
But that’s not the only news of the day. The Dow will go up; the Dow will go down. But the fluctuations, which do affect us, don’t last for millennia. What has lasted for millennia are the ruins of a temple of Baalshamin, until now. IS planted it with explosives and destroyed it. It may have been yesterday or a month ago but it is gone, destroyed. It was part of the ruins of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has seen empires rise and fall, markets rise and crash and it endured. Until now.
Once I walked amongst the ruins of Ephesus and marveled at what they were and Palmyra was so much more. This week, IS beheaded the man in charge of Palmyra’s antiquities and destroyed one of its major temples.
Barbarians walk the earth again.
As I write this, I am in one of my favorite restaurants, Thai Market. It is at 107 and Amsterdam. My friend Lionel, whose New York apartment was not far from here, introduced me to it. I come, about once a week. Some of the staff knows me and it is a good place to come, eat, and write sometimes, as I am doing now.
It is the Chinese slowdown that is so roiling the markets; I thought it would be the Greeks but the market seemed to have, over the years, factored that crisis into its workings. China was not expected.
The Greeks are going through their own drama. Tsipras has resigned, triggering snap elections. Right now an anti-Euro, pro-drachma party is attempting to form a government but without much success. It will be interesting to see what happens in Greece. Tsipras, defiled by some for his U-turn on anti-austerity, is incredibly popular because he represents something “different.”
Also representing something “different” is our Donald Trump.
Howard Bloom, my writer friend, author of “The Lucifer Principle” and three other books, is doing a podcast. The second one taped tonight. I am fresh from that. At the end, we all talked about Trump and Howard posited that he is sending out all kinds of male dominance signals, which are resonating with those who need to have their male dominance plucked up.
It makes some sense.
He holds a resounding lead in the Republican polls and that makes me think Howard may be onto something. The Donald is primal if he is anything.
Three Americans and a Brit have been honored by France with the Legion of Honor for their participation in overwhelming a potential terrorist on a fast train between Amsterdam and Paris. They took him on and subdued him. It prevented a potential tragedy. No one died and no one was critically injured. Bravo!
Ukraine is unsettled even as it celebrates its independence. More trouble will come from there before the year is out.
South Korea and North Korea have reached an agreement to ratchet down their escalating crisis. North Korea has, sort of, apologized for the landmines they placed across the border, which cost two South Koreans soldiers their legs. The South Koreans have agreed to quit their loudspeaker broadcasts across the border. The countries have gone off war footing, a good thing.
And a good thing is that my friend Robert will be coming shortly to join me and we will get some food because I am now very hungry.
Tags:Baalshamin, Chinese Crash, Claverack Creek, Columbia Greene Community College, Donald Trump, Dow Jones plunge, Dow's Dive, Greek Debt Crisis, Howard Bloom, IS, Legion of Honor, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, North Korea, Palmyra, Robert Murray, South Korea, The Donald, The Lucifer Principle, Tsipras, Ukraine, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Posted in Claverack, Columbia County, Greek Debt Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers | Leave a Comment »
July 27, 2015
As I begin to write this, I am seated on the deck. I realized I had the choice of writing at my desk or being here on the deck so I moved my laptop out here.
It is an elegant day in Claverack. The sun is glinting through the trees and the birds are singing all around me. Jazz is playing on Pandora. The creek is mirror like today, reflecting the green trees hanging over the water. It is warm and a shade humid but not uncomfortable.
I lazed around the house this morning reading and visiting with a friend who was up for a day and a half. Around two, I finally did the errands I had meant to do much earlier in the day and then it seemed too late to head into the city so I returned to the cottage to do a little work and write.
The New York Times’ T Magazine is up, shooting over at Jim Ivory’s house [Merchant Ivory Films], just down the road from me. I ran into Jeremiah today, a friend who is helping with the shoot while having lunch at Relish, across from the Train Station.
It is a day, here, of pastoral beauty.
The world is not quite like that. The Shanghai Exchange fell 8.5%, a move that rattled world markets. The Chinese government is intervening though it didn’t move quickly enough to stop today’s slide. There are market jitters everywhere because of China and the ongoing Greek situation, one that doesn’t seem resolved yet though not in the news as much.
Boston has terminated its bid for the Olympics in 2024. Resistance to the bid was rising among the denizens of the city. Everyone capitulated and that might not have been a bad thing.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock the last couple of days [and I have almost been] you will have known Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died after months in a medically induced coma. She was found in a bathtub [as was her late mother] and never recovered. Tragedy follows tragedy and it is so sad. Did she have a chance? Probably but probably not many supported her in having that chance. The American entertainment industry has created a small industry of tragic stories, going back as far the dawn of the movies.
Huckabee, one the many Republican candidates for the Presidential nomination, said a deal with Iran would march Israelis to the ovens. Ouch. Lots of people are working to distance themselves from that comment. Though some are not.
In one of the most interesting stories I heard on NPR today as I was driving is that “Jihadi John,” a Kuwaiti born British citizen who fell in with IS, is now on the run from IS. He was responsible for some of the worst of the beheadings. Now that he has been identified as Mohammed Emwazi, he apparently feels his value to IS has diminished and he is fleeing for his life. Prime Minister David Cameron so wants to bring him to justice…
The humidity has slipped away and it is remarkably pleasant sitting on my deck. A while ago mosquitoes began to plague me. I went to my iPhone and went to my apps and set off the mosquito repellant app and they actually have disappeared, hounded away by a noise I can’t hear but which makes them really unhappy. Have not seen a mosquito since I activated it.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India, and the foremost promoter of both its nuclear and space programs, died today. He is a personal friend of my friend, Howard Bloom, writer and theorist. Howard has been in my life since 2008 or so, maybe earlier. A producer friend introduced me to him. He has had a remarkable life. He was a public relations maven and handled Michael Jackson, Queen, Mellenkamp, you name it, back in the 70’s and 80’s, Bloom was the man for the big groups and individuals.
He’s amazing. So apparently was Kalam, who died while giving a speech. Not a bad way to go.
The sun is beginning to set. It is a perfect night in Claverack. Soft, cool breezes are beginning to blow across my land. The creek no longer is so brilliantly reflecting the trees; the sun has fallen too low for that.
The world is not content. I am.
Tags:APJ Abdul Kalam, Bobbi Kristina Brown, Bobby Brown, Boston, Claverack, Claverack Creek, Howard Bloom, Hudson, Jeremiah Rusconi, Jihadi John, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mellenkamp, Michael Jackson, Mike Huckabee, Mohammed Emwazi, New York Times T Magazine, Olympics, Pandora, Queen, Relish Hudson, Shanghai Exchange, Whitney Houston
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June 3, 2015
Returning to the office from a series of appointments and meetings, I met with one of the phenomenon of New York City, the partially crazy person we all learn to just ignore. As I exited the 1 line at 28th Street, a very large gentleman came down 7th Avenue carrying huge black nylon bag, swinging at his side. As he strode the Avenue like a colossus, he was not exactly shouting; it was more like braying. He sounded rather like a human imitation of a siren. As I reached my turn at 30th Street, he began to alternate the braying with shouts of “I hate effing everything and everyone!”
No one seemed to really notice him. He just went on his way, slicing through the pedestrian traffic, a human battleship on some kind of mission.
Almost any foray onto the streets of New York means an encounter with at least one person with a loose grip on reality.
The other morning, there was a well-dressed, middle-aged lady on West End Avenue, chattering away. I thought she was speaking to someone while wearing a Jawbone. But she wasn’t. No Jawbone. Just having a merry conversation with her best imaginary friend.
We don’t intervene or do much except to give them as wide a berth as we can. If they’re not doing any harm, they sail on down the streets. Such people are part of the fabric of any metropolitan area. It sometimes causes me to think on the social welfare net we don’t seem to have for these folks.
There are so many human needs all over the world. Hundreds of thousands are facing potential starvation in South Sudan. Migrants are dying while attempting to reach Italy from Africa or from Myanmar to Indonesia. Nepal is in ruins. Heat is killing them by the hundreds in India.
The huge man on 7th Avenue got me thinking about the state of humanity. We spend so much time and money on fighting each other rather than uniting in curing what ails us. Howard Bloom posits that is part of our nature in “The Lucifer Principle.” He’s probably right. But my hope is that we head toward a better future though I’m not banking on it so much right this moment.
Fierce fighting has broken out in Ukraine again. Boko Haram has slaughtered thousands and kidnapped at least hundreds while Amnesty International is claiming the Nigerian Army has managed to kill off at least 7000 and should be investigated for war crimes.
China, Russia and the United States are all jockeying for position. Saudi Arabia and Iran are duking it out to see who is going to be the big kid on the block in the Middle East. Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines along with the U.S. are skittering to keep China from controlling the South China Sea.
But at the end of the day it is all geo-political nonsense that has been going on since the beginning of empires. The Egyptians wanted to be the big guy on the block and they were for a while. So were the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, Alexander had his moment – and it was just a moment – then came the Romans and so on and on and on. All about conquering and crushing.
I must pick up a copy of Pinker’s “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.” Today it doesn’t feel like it.
While Mayor DeBlasio proclaims that New York is the safest big city in the country, murder rates have inched up the last two years.
Ah, I am ranting tonight but it’s what is on my mind tonight. And isn’t that what blogs are for? Our individual thoughts and rants and hopes and prayers?
Tags:"The Better Angels of Our Nature", Alexander the Great, Amnesty International, Assyrians, Babylonians, Boko Haram, Egypt, Howard Bloom, Japan, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mayor DeBlasio, Migrant deaths, New York City, Nigeria, Persians, Phillippines, Ranting, Roman Empire, Romans, Russia, Steven Pinker, The Lucifer Principle, Ukraine, Vietnam
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Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From Claverack 10 30 2016 The old clock is ticking…
October 31, 2016As I headed north on the train, I watched mist close over the Hudson River as I drifted off to a nap after an extraordinary brunch with my friends, Mary Clare and Jim Eros, at Café Du Soleil on the Upper West Side. We laughed and giggled and ate and had a good time.
They were off to watch a flotilla of pumpkins in Central Park while I headed down to the station to head north.
It is dark now and the flood lights illuminate the creek. The ticking of my old clock is about the only sound I can hear and I am contented after a good conference in New York. Tomorrow is my meeting with my eye surgeon before the cataract operation a week from this coming Wednesday; I am weary of my blurry vision and am grateful I live in an age when repairs can be done to things like this.
A century ago, I would have been doomed to live with it if I had been so lucky to live this long. My friend, the philosopher Howard Bloom, always points out that we have doubled our life expectancy in the last hundred, hundred fifty years. A great accomplishment.
Things that would have killed us quickly have been either vanquished or we have ways of coping better than ever with what would have been life ending diseases not so very long ago.
Things like that give me some hope.
This week there were articles about robot warriors who could learn to kill using artificial intelligence, making judgments that only humans could before. While that brings to mind images from “The Terminator,” robots are being also developed to help those who are helpless and to save human lives in other ways. The Japanese are in the forefront of this because of their aging population.
Mary Clare and Jim split their time between Shepherdstown, WV and New York City. They describe themselves as the new “young old.” Both are retired and both are full of energy and life and a passion to explore the world and are an inspiration to me.
The three of us have all, to one degree or another, been tuning out the din of this the last weeks of this election cycle. It was left to me to explain the newest twist in the Clinton email drama. Both of them had missed it. All of us are confused by it and are wondering why the FBI ignored the guidance of the Justice Department to not say anything so as not to appear to be influencing the election.
But it is what it is and is another twist in this most remarkable Presidential election.
Last night a truckload of manure was dumped in the parking lot of the Democratic headquarters in Ohio. I find myself somewhere between outrage and hysterical laughter at the silliness of what is going on. Manure? In 2016?
As I cruised through the news today, I found an interview with Jerry Brotton, an English author, who has just published a book about Elizabeth I’s alliances with the Islamic world. Shunned by Catholic Europe, Elizabeth I built alliances with the Shah of Persia, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Morocco. Fascinating.
However, in this present time the US is telling the families of workers in the US Consulate in Istanbul to leave the country. This is combined with a warning to tourists to not travel there because of targeting by terror groups of Americans and other foreigners.
At the same time, the Turkish government has fired ten thousand civil servants and is crushing any media that disagrees with it.
I am saddened beyond words. Fifteen years ago I was in Turkey and fell in love with Istanbul and have wanted to return. Perhaps not or at least not now…
The old clock is ticking. I think of it as the heart of the house. I am content tonight and am living in the now. Mindfulness is what I think they call it.
Tags:Cafe du Soleil, Cataracts, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth I & Islam, Erdogan, Howard Bloom, Istanbul, Jim Eros, Manure in Ohio, Mary Clare Eros, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Robots, The Terminator, Turkey
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Earthquakes, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Howard Bloom, Hudson New York, IS, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »