Recent links of note:
“Save Louis Kahn’s Concert Boat!”
Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Review of Books
In a cultural news story that seems tailored specifically towards the interests of readers of The New Criterion, it appears that Point Counterpoint II, the floating concert hall designed by Louis Kahn in 1976 in celebration of America’s bicentennial, is in danger of being destroyed. At age ninety, Robert Austin Boudreau, the Musical Director of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, has decided that maintenance of Kahn’s barge has become too personally costly and time-consuming to merit its preservation, and has made plans to send it to a scrapyard in Louisiana. In an appeal to save the ship, internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma speaks to the symbolic and cultural importance of Kahn’s boat as “a vibrant ambassador for our national unity . . . .” Ma’s aspiration is certainly a noble one—here’s hoping that a solution can be found for the preservation of Point Counterpoint II.
“Brawn in an age of Brains”
Victor Davis Hanson, City Journal
In a special issue of City Journal this month on the future of labor in an increasingly technology-driven American economy, Victor Davis Hanson adds a rational voice to an often hyperbolic conversation. The central argument of Hanson’s article is that the need for physical labor will never be completely lost to our society. As such, how we have viewed both labor and laborers throughout history remains a topic worthy of serious study. From currently popular reality television programs that investigate and elevate jobs that its viewers may have likely never encountered or even heard of, to the voluntary physical exercise that approximates our previously more strenuous modes of living, Hanson moves about this topic with deep historical and social awareness.
From our pages:
“Tanglewood dispatch”
Eric C. Simpson