Archives for November 24, 2014

Last week I wrote five Wall Street Journal, columns, a Commentary essay, and a fable, taught two classes, drove six hundred miles, saw a Broadway show, and went to a funeral. It was too much for me, and I now feel as though somebody worked me over with a rubber hose. On Wednesday I’ll be flying to St. Louis and driving from the airport to Smalltown, U.S.A., there to spend Thanksgiving with my brother and sister-in-law and a happy horde of hungry relatives. I return to New York on Saturday.

For all these reasons, it seems to me as though I’ve had enough, at least for now. No blogging this week—just the usual regular postings, which will appear on schedule as always.

See you Monday.

In an extremely rare TV appearance on 200 Years of Woodwinds, a 1960 public-TV series that featured the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet, Samuel Barber talks with the members of the quintet, after which they perform his Summer Music. The players are Robert Cole on flute, John deLancie on oboe, Anthony Gigliotti on clarinet, Mason Jones on horn, and Sol Schoenbach on bassoon:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

“If someone tells you he is going to make ‘a realistic decision,’ you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.”

Mary McCarthy, On the Contrary