Pensées on the Pascal Institute

 From The New Criterion:

The third-oldest college in the United States is small and, to borrow a word from the headline of a recent positive article about it in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “weird.” Founded in 1696 as King William’s School, St. John’s College in Annapolis has since 1937 provided its undergraduates, all of whom study Ancient Greek and are working toward a BA in liberal arts, with a University of Chicago–inspired curriculum in the great books that eschews nearly all secondary material. My mother-in-law went there, and two of my most talented former students are “tutors,” as the members of the faculty who teach small groups of self-motivated “Johnnies” are referred to locally.

Great books programs are a North American, and largely American, phenomenon. And there is—or, rather, has been—nothing like St. John’s outside the United States. What is surprising, in view of the Eurocentric nature of the curriculum, is that the idea of great books hasn’t had much of a hold in Europe. At least, that is, until now, with the advent of the Pascal Institute, in the Netherlands, with which St. John’s has formed a partnership.

This is the first thing one sees when going to the St. John’s website: “The following teachers will return to St. John’s College next year,” followed by a scrolling list with such names as Sappho, Sophocles, Lucretius, Virgil, Thomas Aquinas, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Abraham Lincoln, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Einstein, Flannery O’Connor, and James Baldwin—and, oh yes, Blaise Pascal. Some are American, true. But most of these remarkable figures are European.

Also European, by birth, was St. John’s most famous tutor-teacher of the past few decades, the classicist and philosopher Eva Brann (1929–2024), though she became as American as apple pie. To quote the beautiful appreciation of Brann in The Lamp by St. John’s best-known current tutor-teacher, the classical philosopher Zena Hitz, “Her American identity was the strongest of anyone I have known.” (Read more.)

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Tench Tilghman of Maryland

Washington, Lafayette, and Tilghman at Yorktown

And so, as the dawn of that day grew bright
Was the dawn that followed the dreary night
Of trouble and woe and gloom and fear
That broke at last to a morning clear,
Brought by Tilghman over away
From Yorktown and Gloucester, far below
To the South, one hundred and twenty-five years ago.

~ Howard Pyle on Tilghman's Ride

 In the above painting the lily banner of royal France flies beside the American flag even as George Washington and Colonel Tench Tilghman, Washington's trusted aide-de-camp, stand with the Marquis de Lafayette, sent by King Louis XVI to help the Americans in their struggle for independence. The painting is after the Battle of Yorktown where the British were defeated by the French and American forces in October, 1781. Tilghman holds in his hands the dispatches with news of the victory which he would personally take to Congress in Philadelphia. According to Revolutionary War Archives:

Additionally, it was Tench Tilghman who brought the news of the surrender of General Cornwallis and the British on October 19th, 1781 following their defeat at Yorktown, to Congress. Tilghman, in his journey to notify Congress in Philadelphia, first stopped in Annapolis, Maryland and informed Maryland Governor Thomas Sim Lee of the surrender. However, Governor Lee had already been informed of the news, and as a result, sent the State House messenger, Jonathan Parker, to Philadelphia with the news. But, since those in Philadelphia were used to hearing information in the past that turned out to be rumors, and afraid to celebrate too soon, they waited anxiously for the official word; those dispatches that Tilghman carried. From Annapolis, Tilghman boarded a ferry at Rock Hall, Maryland, and after stopping to rest and see his family, continued on his journey to Philadelphia, arriving on October 24th, 1781. He first delivered the news to the President of Congress, Thomas McKean, then later that afternoon, attired in his full uniform and dress sword, Tench delivered the news to the members of Congress, as well as answered the numerous questions about the Battle of Yorktown. In appreciation for his faithful service, Congress awarded Tilghman a horse and another dress sword. That evening, a celebration by torchlight was held in Philadelphia in honor of Colonel Tilghman and the victory at Yorktown. In preparation for this celebration, the following was written and distributed to those in Philadelphia, saying, "those citizens who chose to illuminate on the Glorious Occasion, will do it this evening at Six, and extinguish their lights at Nine o’clock , and decorum and harmony are earnestly recommended to every Citizen, and a general discountenance to the least appearance of a riot."

 Dr. William H. Wroten, Jr. of Salsbury, Maryland wrote the following in the Salisbury Times in 1962:

Tench Tilghman's ride has become somewhat of a legend; therefore, various accounts have been given of his journey between Yorktown and Philadelphia. In some accounts, where that facts are not known, writers have attempted to picture what it must have been like as he crossed the Chesapeake Bay, rode through Kent County, etc. But for this story we will use Esther M. Dole's "Maryland during the American Revolution."

"By the terms of the surrender Cornwallis gave up 7,247 regular troops besides 840 sailors. One hundred and six guns were taken. The land forces and stores were assigned to the Americans and the ships and marines to the French who had ably assisted with their fleet. Maryland troops deserve a full share of the honor of this achievement for they have given material aid in the field under Gist and the State had exerted every effort to furnish the necessary supplies for the combined armies to maintain the siege."

ON THE surrender of Cornwallis, Col. Tench Tilghman of Maryland, aide-de-camp, was selected by Washington to carry the news to Congress at Philadelphia in the form of an official dispatch. Taking boat in York harbor he went to Annapolis which had received the news the day before from the Count do Grasse. He crossed the bay to Kent County, landing at Rock Hall, where he found a horse waiting for him. he then took the old post road to Edesville to Chestertown, thence north to Georgetown where he crossed the Sassafras River. When a horse would tire he would stop at a farmhouse so the account goes, and would shout, 'Cornwallis is taken, a fresh horse for Congress,' and one he would go."

He passed through Wilmington, and on to Philadelphia. It took him four days to make this memorable trip, and he arrived at midnight Oct. 23, 1781.

He knocked on the door of Thomas McKean's house (the President of the Continental Congress) told him of the glad tidings. Soon watchmen throughout the city were proclaiming the hour and shouting "All is well and Cornwallis taken." Within minutes most of the citizens were awake and in the streets celebrating the happy news. The State House bell rang out "Liberty" for the new American nation.

...Of more interest to us was the celebration that took place on Oct. 22, after Tench Tilghman rode into Chestertown. "This great event was no sooner announced to the public, than a large number of worthy citizens assembled, to celebrate the signal victory, (in a high degree auspicious to the cause of freedom and virtue) which was done with a decency and dignity becoming firm patriots, liberal citizens, and prudent members of the community-amidst the roaring of cannon, and the exhibition of bonfires, illumination, et., the gentlemen (having repaired to a hall suitable for the purpose) Drank the following toast, viz., 1. General Washington and the Allied Army; 2. Count de Grasse, and the Navy of France; 3. Congress; 4. Louis the 16th; a friend to the Rights of Mankind; 5. The United States; 6. General Greene and the Southern Army; 7. Count de Rochambeau; 8. The Memory of the illustrious Heroes who have fallen in the defense of American liberty; 9. King of Spain; 10. The United Provinces; 11. The Marquis de la Fayett; 12. The northern Arm; 13. The State of Maryland-the last in order but not the last in Love."

Tench Tilghman was the son of one of Maryland's oldest families. As the Maryland State Archives tell:

Tench Tilghman, one of Maryland's great patriots, was born on December 25, 1744 in Talbot County on his father's plantation. He was educated privately until the age of 14, when he went to Philadelphia to live with his grandfather, Tench Francis. In 1761, he graduated from the College and Academy of Philadelphia, which later became the University of Pennsylvania, and then went into business with his uncle Tench Francis, Jr. until just before the Revolutionary War. 

Tench Tilghman's public service began with his appointment by Congress to a commission established to form treaties with the Six Nations of Indian tribes. In 1776, Tilghman was commissioned captain in the Pennsylvania Battalion of the Flying Camp. In August 1776, he joined George Washington's staff as aide-de-camp and secretary. He served without pay until May 1781, when Washington, calling him a "zealous servant and slave to the public, and faithful assistant to me for nearly five years," procured for him a regular commission in the Continental Army....

After the War, Tilghman returned to Maryland where he resumed his career in business in Baltimore and married his cousin, Anna Marie Tilghman. They had two daughters, Anna Margaretta and Elizabeth Tench. Tilghman died on April 18, 1786 at the age of 41.

Tench Tilghman's Grave in Oxford, Maryland

In the words of George Washington (from a letter to Richard Tilghman, the brother of Tench Tilghman):

As there were few man for whom I had a warmer friendship or greater regard for your brother Colonel Tilghman—when living; so, with much truth I can assure you that there are whose death I could have more sincerely regretted—And I pray you and his numerous friends to permit me to mingle my sorrows with theirs on this unexpected and melancholy occasion. June 5, 1786 ...none could have felt his death with more regard than I did, because no one entertained a higher opinion of his worth.

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The UN, Slavery, and History’s Selective Amnesia

 From The European Conservative:

In March 25th, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution describing the transatlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Africans as “the gravest crime against humanity.” The text was adopted by 123 votes to 3, with 52 states abstaining, including France, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and most European countries. The United States, Israel, and Argentina voted against.

The symbolic significance of this resolution is considerable. No one would dispute that the transatlantic slave trade constitutes one of the greatest tragedies in human history. For several centuries, millions of Africans were deported to the Americas under appalling conditions, reduced to the status of commodities, and integrated into an economic system based on their dehumanisation. The memory of this crime deserves to be acknowledged and passed on.

But it is precisely because the history of slavery is too grave to be exploited that we must question the ideological assumptions underlying this resolution. For the controversial nature of the text does not lie in its condemnation of the transatlantic slave trade but in what it omits.

By designating the transatlantic slave trade as ‘the gravest’ of crimes against humanity, the UN appears to be establishing a moral hierarchy among historical atrocities—as if certain sufferings could be considered superior to others and as if one could objectively measure the horror and declare that one crime surpasses all others. This wording partly explains the numerous European abstentions, for whom, for many years, the Holocaust has been held up as the ultimate benchmark of human barbarity. Regardless of the comparison with the Second World War, the motivations for which may be suspicious, several states argued that it was not for the UN to establish a hierarchy among crimes against humanity. Should we place Auschwitz and Kolyma, the Armenian genocide and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda on a graduated scale, as if ranking the competitors in a macabre contest?

But the main difficulty lies elsewhere. This resolution completely ignores the existence of other slave systems which have nevertheless shaped the history of Africa and the world for over a millennium. (Read more.)

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‘Trumping’ Woke Savages

 From Chronicles:

In 2021, the New York City Council voted unanimously to remove a bronze statue of Jefferson from its chamber. The statue had stood there since 1834. Councilors framed the sculpture as a constant reminder of injustices once perpetrated against racial minorities. They cited Jefferson’s ownership of slaves as the embodiment of that injustice while ignoring his authorship of the Declaration of Independence.

At the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded, the student newspaper published an editorial demanding the removal of every reference to him. It accused the famously liberal university of upholding white supremacy. The editorial even linked Jefferson’s presence to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

Efforts to diminish Jefferson have reached his historic home at Monticello. Exhibits and programming there face justified criticism for fixating on his slaveholding and supposed relationship with Sally Hemings. These displays overshadow his roles as statesman, inventor, and advocate for individual liberty. (Read more.)

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Desserts for Spring and Easter

 

From Victoria:

The gentle blush of a sugared rose petal adds the crowning touch to Angel Food Cakes. Beneath a rippling cloud of sweetened whipped cream, delicate sponge cake holds a luscious surprise. The first forkful reveals an abundance of raspberries and jam—the ruby-hued fruit filling a delightful complement to the other components of the dessert. For a variation on England’s chilled dessert of cooked, puréed fruit (typically gooseberries) folded into whipped cream, sample sunny Lemon Shortbread Fool. Crumbled cookies add delightful crunch to tantalizing swirls of citrus and cream. Hibiscus tea, an infusion made from the subtropical roselle bloom, adds tartness to the airy dessert filling in our decadent Chocolate Mousse in Chocolate Cups. Raspberries, edible flowers, and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar draw attention to these artful treats. Our pièce de résistance is a scrumptious pairing featuring fruits swimming in silky-smooth cream. This fresh and fragrant Berries and Cream delight mixes strawberries and raspberries with whipped cream flavored with raspberry liqueur. (Read more.)

From Southern Living:

To longtime Southern Living readers, it might come as no surprise that the most searched cake in the South is the Hummingbird Cake. Any way you slice it, this cake’s classic combination of banana, pineapple, and cinnamon has long made it one of our most popular recipes across all recipe genres. The 45-year-old recipe, first submitted to the magazine in 1978 by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina, has been reinvented into Bundt cakes, pancakes, and even whoopie pies. But the classic three-layer cake enveloped in cream cheese frosting is still our readers’ preferred way to enjoy this dessert. Nationwide, ‘dump cakes’ proved popular for their ease, with no special tools required to make these no-fail cakes. Despite the extra effort needed to assemble the hummingbird cake, Southerners are more than willing to put in the time for the final delicious result. (Read more.)

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Easter Bonnets

Miss Janice explains the etiquette of wearing hats, gloves and corsages.

 Hats are a beautiful accessory and certainly popular to wear on Easter Sunday. You may keep your hat on while indoors, but should remove it at dusk. Gentlemen should remove their hats when entering a building. Hat pins are lovely adornments to a hat and should be pinned on the right side of a lady's hat and on the left side of a gentleman's hat. Make it Southern...A lot of Southern gentlemen still tip their hat to a lady (some men were just raised right)!...All y'all know by now that you may start wearing your white shoes and carrying your white pocketbooks on Easter Sunday...Here's Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy with Young John Fitzgerald, Jr. on Easter Sunday 1963...

 There is also etiquette to be followed when wearing gloves and corsages. Proper etiquette dictates that gloves are removed when entering a building, whether it is a tearoom or a church. It is not considered proper to shake hands while wearing gloves (only the Queen of England can get away with this) or to eat or drink while wearing gloves. Remove your gloves in a lady like fashion, one finger at a time. Always hold your pocketbook and gloves in your left hand so that you will be ready to shake hands at any time.Remember, only the Queen of England may wear gloves while shaking hands! Corsages are a tradition in the South and may be worn on Easter Sunday. Corsages are pinned to the clothing on the left shoulder. (Read more.)

(Artwork courtesy of Hermes)

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"If Ever I Cease To Love"

It is Mardi Gras. "If Ever I Cease To Love" was once the theme song of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is a song which does not make sense, but then neither does love, most of the time. Tomorrow it will be Lent.

In a house, in a square in a quadrant
In a street, in a lane, in a road.

Turn to the left on the right hand
You see there my true love's abode

I go there a courting, And cooing to my love like a dove;
And swearing on my bended knee, if ever I cease to love,
May sheep-heads grow on apple trees, If ever I cease to love.

Chorus:
If ever I cease to love, if ever I cease to love,
May the moon be turn'd to green cream cheese,
If ever I cease to love

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Carnival

 P. Bernaigne, "A Carnival Ball"

José Benlliure y Gil, "At the Carnival"

Carnival season officially began on January 6 and ends on Shrove Tuesday or "Fat Tuesday," called Mardi Gras. It is now Shrovetide, when most parishes used to have Forty Hours devotions in order to atone for the excesses of Carnival. Outside of certain exotic places such as New Orleans, LA and Bellefonte, PA, Carnival is not celebrated to the extent that it once was in the Christian west, when the season was a time of joyful merry-making before undertaking the rigors of Lent. At home, we usually have a "king cake;" HERE is an easy recipe. Amid the festivities, the traditions of the liturgy remind us that Lent is near. Not only Lent approaches, but death as well; the hour of reckoning for each soul is unknown.

"If Ever I Cease To Love" was the theme song of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is a song which does not make sense, but then neither does love, most of the time.

In a house, in a square in a quadrant
In a street, in a lane, in a road.

Turn to the left on the right hand
You see there my true love's abode

I go there a courting, and cooing to my love like a dove;
And swearing on my bended knee, if ever I cease to love,
May sheep-heads grow on apple trees, if ever I cease to love.

Chorus:
If ever I cease to love, if ever I cease to love,
May the moon be turn'd to green cream cheese,
If ever I cease to love.

Winslow Homer, "Dressing for Carnival"

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King Cakes

And Galette des Rois. From Southern Living:

In two words—sensory overload. But more specifically, it's a frosted seasonal treat that Mardi Gras partygoers eat between January 6, otherwise known as King's Day or Twelfth Night, and Fat Tuesday. Typically, king cake is made of a rich, brioche dough and a wide array of fillings, such as cinnamon, chocolate, and cream cheese. But the rainbow magic is found in the glaze and sprinkles, which are usually gold, green, and purple. Even the colors of the icing (and royal colors of Mardi Gras) have a deeper meaning. Gold represents power, green is associated with faith, and purple illustrates justice. King cake is baked without a center, like your average Bundt cake, except buried inside the batter is a tiny, plastic baby figurine.

There are two theories. Some believe the plastic baby is symbolism of Baby Jesus because of the religious connection to King's Day. Others, however, believe the popular New Orleans lore, which suggests that an elaborate cake was served with a bean or ring placed inside during the commemoration of the king's ball in colonial Louisiana. Whoever found the bean or trinket in his or her slice of cake would be crowned the king or queen of the balls leading up to the lavish finale on Mardi Gras.

Rather than a bean or expensive ring, the plastic effigy is mostly used today as an emblem of good luck. Though as history would have it, the lucky individual who scores the piece of king cake with the baby inside is said to gain favor, and they're also tasked with hosting duties and bringing their own king cake for next year's revelry. (Read more.)

From Eater:

You can’t cancel king cake. That’s one thing New Orleans learned in 2021, when Mardi Gras looked very different: no parades, no fancy balls, no crowds. But Carnival is always the most wonderful time of the year and king cakes are a totem everyone can celebrate, and that’s just what the city did — bakeries, restaurants, and pop-ups stepped up their king cake game like never before, flooding the market with creative, unexpected, and gorgeous cakes to enjoy at home, gift a neighbor, or bring to work.

Beginning January 6, options abound, from traditionalists staying true to the brioche-based king cake — ring-shaped and laced with cinnamon, covered in icing and purple, green, and gold sugar, with a plastic baby hidden inside — to the many twists on the original, plus a growing availability of the elegant French puff pastry and almond cream version.

This map reflects the king cakes in the Greater New Orleans area that will be available on a regular basis for the 55 days of the 2022 Carnival season, not including pop-ups and home kitchens (to be included in a separate guide after the season begins). (Read more.)

More HERE.

King Cake  and Galette des Rois recipes,HERE, HERE and HERE.

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Anne Arundel’s Historic Belvoir Manor

There is some really intriguing archaeological work going on about slavery in Maryland. From WYPR:

An Anne Arundel County home’s ties to enslavement can be found beneath its soil and in the historic record.

But descendants of those enslaved believe their history is threatened.

When you enter the Belvoir Manor house from the basement and climb the stairs to the first floor you encounter history.

Julie Schablitsky, the chief archaeologist for the Maryland Department of Transportation, said the original stone house was built by Francis Scott Key’s grandparents in 1736. Then a brick addition was built in the 1780s by the owner and enslaver, Dr. Upton Scott.

“He was kind of banned from Annapolis a bit because people thought he was a British sympathizer,” Schablitsky said. “And so he was here living away from his Annapolis home and in doing that I think he was building, and then I also think that’s about the same time when a quarter for enslaved people was built too when they were firing all of these bricks up.”

Schablitsy found evidence of the building where enslaved people once lived while looking to no avail for something else at Belvoir. The French commander Comte de Rochambeau and his 4,500 troops camped there on their way to Yorktown in 1781.

“And instead of finding France we ended up finding Africa,” Schablitsky said.

A short walk from the home is a 32 by 32 foot site that was loaded with evidence and artifacts like stone walls and a brick floor, pieces of ceramic, and what Schablitsy calls the smoking pipe, a clay pipe with DNA that proved its user was a woman of African ancestry.

Wanda Watts has her fourth great grandmother’s manumission papers which prove she was enslaved at Belvoir.

“We know her husband, who was a free man, who was a glass maker in Annapolis and Baltimore, he purchased her and her daughter from here,” Watts said.

Pam and Larry Brogden, who are cousins, believe their family was at Belvoir too. There was a woman, Cinderella Brogden, who was enslaved there in the 19th century. Cinderella and her husband Abraham, a freedman, ran away to Baltimore but were captured.

“Abraham went to prison for three years,” Pam Brogden said. “They don’t know what happened to Cinderella.”

“Cinderella and Abraham, there’s a little gap between that and my great grandfather who came from slavery but we don’t know where,” said Larry Brogden.

On a recent tour of Belvoir the Brogdens, Watts and Schablitsky were taken aback by its condition.

“This is sad that we’re losing the main house,” Schablitsy said.

They had not been there for several years.

Watts said, “It’s really dilapidated and overgrown.”

Windows are broken. Fences are overrun by weeds. Watts said they have reached out to the owners.

“We’d like to see the manor preserved as well as the slave quarters and the area that we believe is the burial ground,” Watts said. “Preserved in some manner, not to disappear.”

Schablitsky said, “This is a very very significant site in Maryland and it is threatened. It is actually threatened. It’s not preserved. There’s nothing to keep it from being developed and lost forever.”

The property is owned by Luminis Health, which owns Anne Arundel Medical Center.

In a statement, Justin McLeod, Luminis’s media strategist, said Belvoir was donated to the company.

He said, “We appreciate its historical significance to its ancestors and our community. The Belvoir House remains in the same condition as when it was gifted to us, and we have engaged a professional property management company to maintain it.”

McLeod added there are no specific future plans for the property.

Gabby Reed, the director of communications for Anne Arundel County, said in a statement that the county has no plans to purchase the property.

On Nov. 22, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman gave a formal apology for the government’s role in the institution of slavery and its lasting impact on the Black community.

Pittman said, “As County Executive, and as a direct descendant of Anne Arundel County enslavers, we collectively offer our inadequate and long-delayed, but deeply felt apology, and pledge to never allow this history to be forgotten as we work together toward atonement.”

Schablitsky has written a book, Belvoir: An Archaeology of Maryland Slavery. She offers clues on how the enslaved lived their lives. (Read more.)

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Inside Choctaw Hall

 

 

From Victoria:

Few would guess the white orbs topping the lower posts on each side of the graceful ascent to Choctaw Hall’s entrance are actually cannonballs. Excavated from the grounds following a Civil War skirmish and encased in stucco, the accents are just one of many character-rich details waiting to be discovered in a dwelling lauded for its architectural appeal, sumptuous interiors, and almost two centuries of history.

 Constructed between 1830 and 1836 for Joseph Neibert, the Natchez mansion passed through several hands before being purchased by David Paul Garner Jr. and Lee Glover in 2014. Lee, who serves as operations manager, and David, the self-ascribed “avant gardener,” immediately set about restoring the structure with fresh plaster and paint as well as repairs to the roof and exterior. “Thank goodness we started out with good bones,” says Lee.

 Desirous of extending the grounds, the new owners also purchased adjoining property, where David cultivates gardens lush with camellias, azaleas, and other blooms. Indoors, elegant furnishings and antiques abound, but one of the most exquisite items in the trove is a grand assemblage of Jacob Petit Paris porcelain. So extensive is the collection that in 2023, a curator from the Louvre came to behold its charm. (Read more.)

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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

 "Please don't get up. I'm only passing through." ~Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

The above quote distills for me the tragedy of Blanche DuBois, even more so than the famous line about the "kindness of strangers." Blanche tells a group of poker-playing, beer-guzzling men not to rise for her, as if the thought of rising for a lady would ever occur to them. It is a small but final degradation of many which Blanche experiences in the house of Stanley Kowalski. Yet the viewer is reminded again and again throughout the course of the drama that Blanche's own past behavior has led her to such an utterly sordid end. Not only Blanche's behavior, but her sister Stella's attachment to a rapist, have resulted in Blanche's being taken from the prison of chez Kowalski to the prison of the mental hospital. 

As with all of Williams' plays, the dialog sparkles and even enchants in spite of the undercurrent of depravity. The following is a plot synopsis from Allmovie.com: 

In the classic play by Tennessee Williams, brought to the screen by Elia Kazan, faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) comes to visit her pregnant sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), in a seedy section of New Orleans. Stella's boorish husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), not only regards Blanche's aristocratic affectations as a royal pain but also thinks she's holding out on inheritance money that rightfully belongs to Stella. On the fringes of sanity, Blanche is trying to forget her checkered past and start life anew. Attracted to Stanley's friend Mitch (Karl Malden), she glosses over the less savory incidents in her past, but she soon discovers that she cannot outrun that past, and the stage is set for her final, brutal confrontation with her brother-in-law. Brando, Hunter, and Malden had all starred in the original Broadway version of Streetcar, although the original Blanche had been Jessica Tandy. Brando lost out to Humphrey Bogart for the 1951 Best Actor Oscar, but Leigh, Hunter, and Malden all won Oscars.

When I watched A Streetcar Named Desire as a young person I found it dark and shocking, especially Blanche's proclivities which result in her utter destruction. All I could see was the crazy, drunken old slut; it was quite unappealing. It still is. However, now I am better able to see Blanche as she had once been. I can see the sweet and refined person whose mental and emotional stamina were destroyed by trying to hold onto her patrimony, without any help from anyone. (Stella was too busy romping with Stanley to save Belle Reve or take care of the dying old folks.) I can see the heartbroken wife who gradually awoke to the horror that her marriage was not really a marriage. I pity the fact that the shattered Blanche sought to ease her pain by adopting a promiscuous lifestyle, as have many before and after. In Blanche's case being a sexually "liberated" woman resulted in the further fraying of her psyche; I daresay the same thing has happened to other liberated women as well. All may not end up in the mental hospital, but a little of the soul dies and one's human dignity is tarnished by taking refuge in hedonism.

According to SparkNotes:

Blanche’s sexual history is in fact a cause of her downfall. When she first arrives at the Kowalskis’, Blanche says she rode a streetcar named Desire, then transferred to a streetcar named Cemeteries, which brought her to a street named Elysian Fields. This journey, the precursor to the play, allegorically represents the trajectory of Blanche’s life. The Elysian Fields are the land of the dead in Greek mythology. Blanche’s lifelong pursuit of her sexual desires has led to her eviction from Belle Reve, her ostracism from Laurel, and, at the end of the play, her expulsion from society at large.

Everyone raves about the ground-breaking, soul-searing sexuality that is unleashed in Streetcar, but it is not so much about sex as it is about lust and addiction. It is their addiction to lust that has landed both DuBois sisters in the squalid scenario where they are at the mercy of the brutish Stanley, who expresses his pleasure or displeasure by screaming in the street or by smashing china and light bulbs. Stanley is the complete antithesis of the gentlemen among whom the DuBois sisters were raised; he is a source of fascination as well as revulsion for them both. It cannot be forgotten that it was the DuBois gentlemen whose "epic debaucheries," by Blanche's account, led to the loss of the family fortune. Blanche, who seeks beauty and romance, is hounded by the result of debaucheries, her own and other people's, until the final moment of the play.

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Matthew Cartwright House

 

From Sorgulamam:

The Cartwright house was built in 1883 for The Matthew Cartwright Family. Their ten children enjoyed the 7,000 square foot house. The Cartwright brother lived next door with nine children, so the house was always full of children playing from the fourth floor to the large yards.

 

The original house didn’t have a kitchen attached because everyone was very afraid of fire destroying their homes. The house under went changes in the early 1940’s when the two sisters inherited the house. They lived in the house until the 1980’s when a grandson inherited the house. The last thirty years the house had little or no maintenance.

 

The house has over 70 columns with a beautiful 2nd-floor balcony. The entry columns are 25 feet high. The Grand Entry and the front porch is covered in captivating tile using several shades of beige and brown tiles laid in a triangle design with a deep Victorian royal blue tile giving the regal feel to the large entry. The same tile was used in the Bishop Palace in Galveston, Texas. The entry has the original light fixture and walnut staircase that opens to the third floor.

 

The entry has an 1800’s American Pier Mirror flanked by two chairs with the egg motif often used by Mallard in the design of his furniture.

 

A square Empire table has a large floral and an 1850’s bronze calling card bowl. The double set of large doors opens into parlors with 1880’s furnishings and wooden a flat Grand piano by John Broadwood & Son of London England.

 

The house has nine fireplaces, many with Texas slate for the mantle, the other have period wooden mantles. The floors are original to the home, with inlaid parquet of oak and walnut. The Sunroom has beaded walls, painted a soft white, the window accented with antique French panels of red etched glass that is very rare. (Read more.)

 

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If Chivalry is Dead, Did Women Kill It?

 From Culturcidal:

So, before I dig any further into this, I want to note that like many Southerners, I was taught to be chivalrous from a young age – and it stuck. I open car doors and pull out chairs for women. I even walk on the side of the street closer to the road, so that if a car jumps the curb, I will be the one hit. This article discusses men giving up seats for women on the subway. Well, the last time I was on the subway in NYC (which has admittedly been quite a while because I now like to Uber while I’m there), it was crowded and I gave up my seat for a woman. In other words, I am someone who grew up with the habit of being chivalrous, and it still continues to this day.

However, it’s also worth noting that over the course of my entire life, I’ve had one girlfriend who genuinely seemed to appreciate chivalrous behavior, another that seemed to expect it and a third girl I only went on a couple of dates with, who (politely, mind you), basically said she didn’t see the point of chivalry. Beyond that, the reactions to it from women could best be described as complete indifference.

Similarly – and understandably – most men don’t care about it either, and some guys even think chivalrous men are chumps, which is a result of listening to feminist women who basically tell anyone who listens some version of, “Women can do anything men can do, except better!”

Well, if that’s true, then women should be able to get their own seats on the bus and subway without men needing to worry about how it plays out for them, right? Of course, it’s even worse than that because a lot of men believe there’s a possibility that a woman may be genuinely OFFENDED if they behave in a chivalrous way toward them. How realistic is that outside of Berkeley or some Manhattan feminist enclave? It’s hard to say, although several men in the comments section discussing this article on X talked about bad experiences they had, so that seems to be at least a somewhat realistic concern men genuinely have. (Read more.)

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The Season: A Social History of the Debutante

Queen Charlotte's Ball, 1950

 

 Every culture, civilized or not, has coming-of-age rituals, which usually have something to do with puberty, marriage or both. The custom of young girls being presented to society in a formal, ritualized community event, intended as a signal to all the bachelors that the maidens have attained a marriageable age, is one which pervades many societies and social classes. While in Anglo-Saxon society the "debut" was seen as the purview of the wealthy and privileged, in Latin American cultures fifteen-year-old girls from all walks of life have a quinceañera ball. In England a young lady's "coming out" was marked by her presentation at court, usually to the Queen, if there was one. In France, young ladies were not presented to the Queen until after they were married; hence the presentation at court marked the final glorious punctuation to her initial debut into society. In France there is no longer an enthroned monarch to whom the young ladies might be presented. In England, where there is a king and a queen, court presentations have been abolished. However, some enterprising French socialites have initiated Le Bal des Débutantes where wealthy young ladies may again be launched in Parisian high society. The latest ball was opened by a genuine Bourbon princess. Some left-wing American celebrities were also present, which is ironic, since debutante balls are distinctly vestiges of the ancien régime. It reminds me of the old Revolutionaries vying for aristocratic titles at Napoleon's court. 

All of which brings me to The Season (W. W. Norton & Company, 2019) by Kristen Richardson. I thought it would be a history of the custom of "the season" enjoyed by debutantes in Merrie Old England, as torridly portrayed in the pseudo-historical Netflix fantasy series known as Bridgerton. I thought it would have all about the Mitfords, the real Royal Family and the scandals of the Duchess of Argyle. However, there was much more about America in the book; England and the infamous Margaret Whigham are hardly mentioned while Pamela Digby Churchill does not appear at all. (!) Instead there is much about the Astors, the Vanderbilts, Consuelo, and New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Ms Richardson makes a point of emphasizing her progressiveness by asserting that she was never a debutante, although she certainly could have been one, as she is descended from lineages of debutantes on practically every branch of her family tree. 

 While sighing over the patriarchy and the semi-enslaved status of most women who had the misfortune to live before 1973, Ms. Richardson crafts a lively history of the rituals of "coming-out" and how they "empowered" young women by giving them temporary control and agency over their bodies. In America, particularly in New York City, being invited to a debutante ball given by one of the 400 was a sign that one had arrived in the best society. In the rest of the country, towns and cities would debut their daughters in varying degrees of glamor as a way not only to find husbands for the daughters but to elevate entire families and even the fathers' businesses, if they had one. They usually did, as even the wealthiest of American men were expected to work, unlike their European counterparts. In the South, particularly in New Orleans, the debutante balls became confounded with Shrovetide customs and rituals, and thus became a part of the Carnival celebrations. In New Orleans the various balls were hosted by secret societies called "Krewes" and membership in them depended upon many things but mostly on ancestry and family ties. Most interesting is how many prosperous African-America families began debutante traditions for their daughters, with an emphasis upon the young people who took part learning and practicing their manners and waltz steps. Prizes were awarded and sometimes even scholarships for college.

From the Amazon page:

In this enthralling history of the debutante ritual, Kristen Richardson sheds new light on contemporary ideas about women and marriage.

Kristen Richardson, from a family of debutantes, chose not to debut. But as her curiosity drove her to research this enduring custom, she learned that it, and debutantes, are not as simple as they seem.

The story begins in England six hundred years ago when wealthy fathers needed an efficient way to find appropriate husbands for their daughters. Elizabeth I’s exclusive presentations at her court expanded into London’s full season of dances, dinners, and courting, extending eventually to the many corners of the British empire and beyond.

Richardson traces the social seasons of young women on both sides of the Atlantic, from Georgian England to colonial Philadelphia, from the Antebellum South and Wharton’s New York back to England, where debutante daughters of Gilded Age millionaires sought to marry British aristocrats. She delves into Jazz Age debuts, carnival balls in the American South, and the reimagined ritual of elite African American communities, which offers both social polish and academic scholarships.

The Season shares the captivating stories of these young women, often through their words from diaries, letters, and interviews that Richardson conducted at contemporary balls. The debutantes give voice to an array of complex feelings about being put on display, about the young men they meet, and about what their future in society or as wives might be.

While exploring why the debutante tradition persists―and why it has spread to Russia, China, and other nations―Richardson has uncovered its extensive cultural influence on the lives of daughters in Britain and the US and how they have come to marry. (Read more.)

 The Frederick Towne Mall was the site of the Mardi Gras Ball where I danced as a Mardi Gras "princess" in 1980. It was an ugly mall, even by the low standards of the 1970's, with lots of poured concrete. But its size meant there could be 2 or 3 bands, with different kinds of music and so we, my escort and I, walked the length of the mall, back and forth, stopping to dance if we heard a song we liked.. The League of Women Voters hosted the event, held on the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday, calling it "Mardi Gras." Green, purple and yellow balloons were everywhere, with beads and streamers. Eighty girls from the Frederick, MD community were invited to wear white evening gowns and be "presented" to the Mardi Gras Queen, chose from among the "princesses" by lottery, as well as to the "King Comus," chosen from among the town businessmen. Everything went smoothly, except for one too many whiskey sours, which inspired me to flirt outrageously, not with my escort, the scion of an old Frederick County family, but with another girl's date, a devilish ne'er do well. Very bad form. I still apologize to George every time I see him.

Here is a excerpt of The Season:

The debutantes we think of today, bowing deeply in frosty dresses, originated and evolved in England and America quite simply because they were needed to solve a problem. The Protestant Reformation in 16th century England and northern Europe ended the extremely convenient practice of cloistering unmarriageable girls in convents. While Catholic aristocracy in Europe continued this practice, the English aristocracy now had a daughter problem. Protestants, you see, don’t have convents. When an exasperated Mr. Bennett says of his five daughters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: “What’s to be done with all these girls?” he was speaking to a marriage problem that had existed, unresolved, for several hundred years already. The Reformation left wealthy or titled Englishmen with a glut of daughters, whose marriages had to be considered most delicately since, by law, they could not inherit their fathers’ estates. The type of marriage the debutante ritual would provide was safe—the girls were presented to vetted company—and prevented a bad marriage from dragging down the status of an entire family, like Lydia’s threatened to do in Austen’s novel.

To understand how and why the ritual developed specifically in England and its colonies requires considering to what extent the marriage market was indeed a market, born, not coincidentally, during England’s long, slow industrialization. England experienced commercialization earlier than did other countries due in large part to the social upheaval that followed the Reformation. Free market experimentation was destabilizing and changed the way people thought and behaved, replacing guaranteed income from inherited land with the boundless possibility of new speculative ventures. (Read more.)

 

The difference between a cotillion and a debutante ball, HERE.

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Capote: A Biography

 

 Sometimes people leave books in our village hall, as a way of either passing on a good read or of disposing of one they hated. Someone left behind a 1988 hardcover edition of Gerald Clarke's Capote: A Biography which I read over several months, usually at 3 am after being awakened by my cat. Clarke's biography of the 20th century American author was the basis for the 2005 film Capote starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. I do prefer, however, the 2006 film Infamous with Toby Jones as Truman. Clarke's, at any rate, is the first full biography about him that I have read, following  Laurence Leamer's Capote's Women that the Hulu miniseries Feud was based upon. I had also read Roseanne Montillo's Deliberate Cruelty about how Truman Capote's ridicule in a short story contributed to the downfall and suicide of socialite Ann Woodward after she accidentally shot and killed her husband. The short story in Esquire, which was supposed to be part of his magnum opus Answered Prayers, never completed, destroyed Ann but caused Truman's fall from grace as well, as his coterie of grandes dames did not appreciate having their secrets betrayed to the world. But Truman seemed to have trouble with boundaries, perhaps as a result of the repeated emotional and physical abuse he suffered as a child.

The style and sophistication of New York City in the 1950's and early 60's, that lost world of privilege and prejudice depicted in Mad Men and in Doris Day movies, fascinates many people today. The New York odyssey of Truman Capote, the poor lad from Monroeville, Alabama, who journeyed through the labyrinth of publishing houses, theaters, penthouse apartments, art studios, grand hotels, mansions, prisons, restaurants and bars, only to end up dead from alcohol and drug abuse, is a modern morality tale of the highest order. I think Truman became famous too young before he had the chance to prove the extent of his brilliance. When still writing short stories for ladies' magazines, he was treated as a wunderkind. Soon he was hanging out with movie stars and producers. He made friends easily and had many, making more with every Long Island house party to which he was invited, as his wit made him a riveting guest. His inability to keep the confidences of his friends, as well as his tendency to embroider the facts with his novelist's imagination, lost him most of his companions, including his beautiful Babe Paley, whom he had cherished the most. But he was never the same after In Cold Blood, in which he wrote about the massacre of the Clutter farm family in Kansas, becoming obsessed with the murderers and a champion of abolishing the death penalty. Reading about the murder of Mr and Mrs Clutter and their two children would make most people pro-death penalty, but not Truman, who instead agonized over Perry's deprived childhood.

My own interest in Truman began with his friend Nelle Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird and the character of "Dill" who, based upon Truman, was Scout's best friend, even as Little Truman Persons was Nelle's best friend in Monroeville where they were neighbors. Much of what made him a great writer, his empathy and insights, he gained from living with his old cousin Sook and the other ageing eccentric aunties.Truman later claimed that he wrote To Kill a Mockingbird although his letters show that, while he may have made suggestions to Nelle, it was definitely her work. But Truman never let the truth dim the glamor of a really outrageous tale, a trait he seemed to have acquired from both of his biological parents. He definitely inherited his mother's fascination with wealth. As he saw through the golden haze of pleasure to the sordidness and suffering which even money cannot protect people from, he felt betrayed by those whom he had entertained. In some ways he was merely a curiosity, an amusing lapdog, to some of the rich ladies whom he labeled his "swans," as encapsulated by the words of Lee Radziwill, who dismissed Truman and one of his friends as "just a couple of fags." Such words from someone to whom he had been genuinely devoted added another mile of despair to the already bottomless pit of his pain.

Someone sent me a picture of the menu from a local restaurant which has at the bottom a small rainbow banner with the words “LGBTQ+ Welcomed” as part of “The Welcoming Project." I could not help wondering what Truman would have made of such welcoming rainbows. No doubt he would have found them vulgar, tasteless. For those who do not know, Truman was an uncloseted gay man in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. I say “uncloseted” although they did not really use those terms back then. It is just that everybody knew about Truman’s proclivities. Was he bullied at school? Yes, but then so was his friend Nelle. Unlike the rainbow brigade of today, Truman and his buddies were not a left-wing political movement bent on overturning society. They were artists, trying to create beauty, or at least to reveal truth. He moved freely in high society and in low society. Truman did not need rainbows to make him feel safe; he used his wit and story-telling abilities, turning his eccentricities to a productive use, and unproductive use, too, for that matter. But my point is that he did not live in a rainbow cocoon looking for safe restaurants in which to sip his martinis.

But even Truman's lifestyle was ultimately self-destructive, from the boyfriends who beat him up to his inability to finish his novel or even to give a coherent reading. His personal lack of boundaries coincided with a loss of restraint by the entire society, as people's most private matters of their private lives became topics for talk show hosts. By the early 70's the sexual revolution was in full swing. Like the murdered Clutter family in Truman's In Cold Blood, Americans saw their homes invaded, not necessarily by thuggish murderers, but by the breakdown of modesty and self-control. Family life could barely survive the onslaught, as the boundaries constructed by respect and tradition were thrown to the winds. Holly Golightly came to embody the lifestyle of so many young women in whose lives there have often been many lovers but very little true love. Truman in the end was set adrift with no home, no committed friends, only an addiction to drugs and alcohol and a deep bitterness caused by unhealed trauma. Clarke's biography is based upon personal interviews with Truman and those who knew him, revealing the greatness of the writer as well as the human weakness and woundedness which overcame him at last.

Babe and Bill Paley

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