new york city: Archive

“Mais il existe une autre raison justifiant mon vote qui transcende la première et toutes les autres. Comme le suggère Stefan Zweig tout au long de ses merveilleux Mémoires, le XXe siècle n’a vraiment débuté qu’avec l’assassinat de l’archiduc François-Ferdinand à Sarajevo, tout comme il s’est sans doute achevé avec la chute du mur de Berlin. D’aucuns, j’en faisais partie, pensaient que le XXIe siècle avait commencé le 11 septembre 2001. C’était là un point de vue occidental, voire étroitement américain. Par-dessus tout, j’ai voté pour Barack Obama parce que, s’il est élu 44e président des Etats-Unis, c’est pour le monde entier que le XXIe siècle débutera.” —

Felix Marquart, on the reasons he voted for Obama. Article in Le Monde.

I hope we will finally enter the 21st century on Tuesday night.

Oct 31, 20081 note

Oct 30, 2008

It's time

America should take a chance and make Barack Obama the next leader of the free world The Economist “wholeheartedly” endorses Obama.
“…this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.”

Oct 30, 2008

Oct 29, 2008

Oct 28, 20081 note

“Ignorant politicians are elected by ignorant people. US education, like the US health system, is notorious for its failures. In the most powerful nation on earth, one adult in five believes the sun revolves round the earth; only 26% accept that evolution takes place by means of natural selection; two-thirds of young adults are unable to find Iraq on a map; two-thirds of US voters cannot name the three branches of government; the maths skills of 15-year-olds in the US are ranked 24th out of the 29 countries of the OECD. But this merely extends the mystery: how did so many US citizens become so stupid, and so suspicious of intelligence?” —

Geroge Monbiot, in the Guardian

Fascinating read. Monbiot points out the main culprits of the state of things: the failure of the education system and Christian fundamentalism. I hope to see a day where these things will change.

Oct 28, 200810 notes

Oct 25, 2008

“What I wanted most of all was the epiphany of the small island solo walker: that moment when you reach the highest point and the whole landmass becomes your own wide skirts, with their gray-green-black-quartzite petticoats dabbling in the glaucous sea.” —

Will Self, writing about his walking adventure on the Shetland island of Foula.

I’ve always wanted to go on a walking holiday in England.

Oct 24, 2008

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms…I have found a flaw [in his free-market ideology]. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.” —

Alan Greenspan, in NYT

Unbelievable. Now he admits he was wrong after all. He should have regulated the market on credit derivatives. Warren Buffet knew better to be skeptical of derivatives when Greenspan rigorously defended the use of them.

Oct 23, 2008

“As for what will happen to us next, I have no safe answers. If fair regulations are established and credibility is restored, people will stop walking around in a daze, roll up their sleeves and start picking up the pieces. Things unconnected with money will be valued more — friends, family, a walk in the woods. ‘I’ will be spoken less, ‘we’ will return, as people recognize that there is such a thing as the common good.” —Margaret Atwood, NYT

Oct 22, 20081 note

Oct 21, 20083 notes

Oct 21, 20081 note

“

Yet if devoting so much intellectual effort to such a dubious undertaking might have seemed indulgent a year ago, today it looks delusional.

It’s not just that New York and much of the rest of the world are preoccupied by economic turmoil, although the timing could hardly be worse. It’s that the pavilion sets out to drape an aura of refinement over a cynical marketing gimmick. Surveying its self-important exhibits, you can’t help but hope that the era of exploiting the so-called intersection of architecture, art and fashion is finally over.”

” —Nicolai Ouroussoff, writing about the Zaha Hadid designed Chanel Pavilion in Central Park. I completely agree with everything he says here, especially his conclusion in hoping that architects will feel more compelled by the economic crisis to “to devote their talents to more worthwhile — dare I say idealistic? — causes.” It’s about time.

Oct 21, 2008

“In these last couple of weeks of unprecedented uncertainty (in my lifetime, in my cosy corner of the world, at least), something else has been on offer. Nature has delivered a sequence of breathtaking autumn days, each stiller and bluer and more golden than the last.” —

Harry Eyres, columnist for the FT

We’ve had some really amazing fall days here in New York too. I walked around Central Park for three hours yesterday looking at trees, learning to identify their genuses and cultivars. The world is endlessly fascinating.

new york city

October 2008

30 posts