It was an odd question, and I took a long moment to react. There I was at the corner of Main and Gibbs, right under the Eastman Theatre marquee. A young woman came up and pointed to the Central YMCA across the street. How do you get into that building? she asked. Where’s the […]
Jack Bradigan Spula
Posted inNews & Opinion
School improvement: the price is wrought
When you hear stories about New York State’s urban schools and budget problems, you might assume that only the “Big Five” urban districts (including Rochester) are in a bind. But a new report from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity says, basically, we’re all in this together. Well, most of us. On March 30, […]
Posted inMusic
Hour of power
I was in the presence of greatness. Times three. It was J.S. Bach‘s birthday (319 years young). I was listening to the Master’s voice on a masterpiece of an organ, the Fisk “Opus 83” at Downtown United Presbyterian Church. And one of the Bach works on the program was the “Great” G minor fugue. […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
As the windmill turns: residents doubt the power
Upstate New York has been boasting about wind-power development the last few years. Wind farms — clusters of high-tech windmills 200 feet or more tall — have become tourist and business-booster attractions in Wyoming County and Madison County. The Wyoming County wind farm, on one otherwise vacant hilltop in the town of Wethersfield, sports […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Mega mediasaurus
To grasp bigness, sometimes you have to take out the magnifying glass. That’s what media observers are doing retrospectively with a story that came out of Minot, North Dakota, in January 2002. The small town was hit with a rail-car leak of anhydrous ammonia, an irritant that can cause serious injuries. The story […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Anybody but butch
Like everybody tuned in to the presidential race, I’ve been hearing “drumbeats” lately. One of them has my head pounding: the post-Super Tuesday demand that all join hands in backing presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry. Up-front disclosure: If Kerry’s the One, as seems inevitable, he’ll get my vote. It won’t be the first time […]
Posted inMovies
Not enough pins to tie McNamara down
After 40 years, we should all be ready to forgive and, ah, remember. But Robert S. McNamara probably never will win this critic’s heart or mind. And Errol Morris’s polished documentary, even with the dual bonus of an Oscar and Philip Glass’s primordially appropriate music, is too good for the former whiz kid, defense […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
The marriage market
Amid a swirl of popular images — The L Word on many lips, queer eyes locking onto straight guys, Rosie not finding but proclaiming her heart in San Francisco — gay and lesbian issues are all over the map. But the top gay issues are not glitz and style or pomp and circumstance, but […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Off the stump: Yes, there are issues
Note to registered Democrats on Primary Day: The eager beavers of TV journalism have nailed down the tough issues for you. Take what happened at a pro-Kerry news conference the other day. The local Democratic Party event was pretty canned, but some participants did mention foreign policy, war and occupation, jobs and trade. Then […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Out with the new, in with the old?
Call it an endless melody or the same old song. By any name, it’s a recurrent dilemma that dogs the concert world. Here’s the A theme: Symphony orchestras are alienating us with “difficult,” dissonant program choices. Hold your ears and complain loudly. Or the B theme: Orchestras must strive to please. It’s the […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Bush’s other urban warfare
During a recent “Tuesday Topics” talk at the Central Library, Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy laid out the causes of urban homicide. “Look into our homes,” he said, referring to family relationships or the lack of them. “It all starts there.” Yet the day before Duffy spoke, a hefty document packed with data and […]
Posted inNews & Opinion
Say what?
Bound for Iraq with a seven-person peace delegation, 21-year-old Khury Petersen-Smith was waiting for a connector flight in Amsterdam. He spied a half dozen Americans in the airport, all headed for Iraq, and all wearing the “KBR” logo. He knew that stands for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, a friend of people in […]
