In Venezuela, Christmas will start on October 1 (and last until the end of the year, I suppose). Why? Because the dictator says so. It’s the people’s reward for “reelecting” him in July. (They didn’t.) In any event, I lead my Impromptus today with this subject. I go on to “Churchill vs. Hitler: Who’s the Bad Guy?” This is a question that has arisen of late. I also talk about peddlers of the Kremlin line: paid and unpaid. There were paid and unpaid in Soviet days as well.
Anyway, for this smorgasbord of a column, go here. Let’s sample some mail.
A reader writes,
I’ve asked before, and no doubt will ask again: Is there a way back for people in this country to be able to hear outside the echo chamber?
Frankly, I don’t see a solution. People are in their own “media silos,” and like it there. These days, we read, listen to, and watch little in common. “You are what you eat,” goes an old line. My line is: “You are the media you consume.”
A reader says,
I am pro-life. I oppose abortion and I also oppose capital punishment. In your opinion, does that make me an outlier? I’m happy to be, mind you, just curious, is all.
I have known a number of people who are both anti-abortion and anti–capital punishment. A big number? Probably not, but a significant number, nonetheless. I myself am in that number.
An acquaintance of mine — a noble professor, who works against human trafficking — once said this about capital punishment: “I’m against it in theory and for it in practice.” I knew just what she meant. I am opposed to capital punishment. But I could pull the lever on many a monster . . .
In an Impromptus earlier this week, I had the following item:
“Simon Verity, World-Renowned Stone Carver, Is Dead at 79.” That obit is here. The subheading reads, “He headed the team that created the statues of biblical figures at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.” This Verity spent a life evoking truth in stone, so to speak. He was well named.
A reader writes,
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is a truly beautiful place. Years ago, I worked at Citibank on 111st Street and would often walk over to the cathedral on my lunch hour and just marvel at the architecture. It is sad that Mr. Verity has passed, but he has a legacy in the work he did and in those he trained to continue the craft of stone carving.
I had a column about Stefan Zweig — specifically, his novel The Post-Office Girl. His most famous book is a memoir, The World of Yesterday. A reader — an eminent historian — writes,
The World of Yesterday is one of the finest memoirs I have ever read: so perceptive, evocative, observant, and beautifully written. I first read it a few years ago. As it happens, last month I decided to reread it and am doing so now. Your column was therefore of more than casual interest!
Responding to my “sampler” from the Salzburg Festival, a reader writes,
I was in the Grosser Saal of the Mozarteum in 1977, hearing Edith Peinemann play the Mozart “Turkish” Concerto with Sawallisch conducting. I was sitting in the middle of the first row. At the end, I wanted to go up onstage to take Edith home with me. Things you never forget . . .
Not until 2019 did I get back to Salzburg, with my wife (not Edith Peinemann).
I just loved that. Thank you to one and all readers and correspondents.