An offbeat look on Valentine’s Day issues, after the jump ….
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Before I turn this space over to you, dear readers … some takes on Valentines’ Day and love …. some heartwarming, some not ….
To begin: this past weekend’s CBS Sunday Morning had a nice look at the 40th wedding anniversary gemstone, the ruby— which can be more rare (and pricey) than an equal quality diamond. And this short, 4-minute profile tells where it can be found and even its scientific background.
x xYouTube VideoWhile I am not into celebrity relationships, I do feel a modicum of sadness in learning of a split (whether I like the people in question or not). And if it had become a toxic relationship, then a sadness that it had to be that way. Yet there was one public split that I’ll confess that I took some schadenfreude over — even though the split didn’t happen for the right reasons.
Conservative pundits come in several varieties: high-concept intellectuals, spokespeople, campaign strategists, data-crunchers, recruiters … and also polemicists. Many polemicists punch-up: witness the Clintons, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, et al. Yet someone who prefers to punch-down is Dinesh D’Souza who will continue to do so …. as long as the money is there.
Seven years ago, he had a much-publicized engagement break-up — all at the hands of the religious fundamentalists, during his time at The King’s College, a conservative Christian school located in the financial district of Manhattan. Apparently his hiring as school president in 2010 (which did get a little push-back) was done in hopes of attracting extra funding due to his high-profile status. But then, his marriage began to fall apart (with a later charge of violence) and then …..
Given his leadership role at a Christian college, he might have handled the situation with as much grace and care as possible. Instead, his old recklessness took hold. In the summer of 2012, before any divorce papers were filed, he began secretly seeing Denise Odie Joseph II, a D’Souza groupie, also married and 22 years his junior.
D’Souza felt indestructible, and weeks after orchestrating illegal contributions (for which he was later convicted) he brought Joseph along to a conference in South Carolina. The subject was how to apply a Christian worldview to one’s life, and D’Souza was the keynote speaker. He introduced Joseph as his fiancée to several people, even though both of them were still married to others. Alas, a reporter named Warren Cole Smith from the Christian publication World Magazine discovered that he and Joseph were sharing a room. Six days later, Smith called D’Souza to ask how he could be engaged when he was still married. D’Souza replied that he had filed for divorce “recently.” When Smith checked, it turned out that D’Souza had filed for divorce that very day.
The couple split-up after this uproar (although D’Souza later married a different woman in 2016, in a service conducted by Ted Cruz’s father). Uncharacteristically, I delighted in his break-up … even though (a) whether the two shared a room is not my personal concern, and (b) D’Souza had a point in questioning the motives of that magazine’s publisher Marvin Olasky— upset that D’Souza had never formally converted from his being born a Catholic, and who was a provost at the school at the time — including Olasky being “unbalanced”. One wonders why such an educated fellow like him …... took so long to understand that.
Still, to see someone like that get knocked-down-a-peg … even if it was not for the right reasons … did wonders for my soul. He had complained about people who got divorced in one of his earlier books … yet I doubt he had a re-think about the difficulties of life; probably just carving-out an “indispensable man” exception.
And his conviction for foolishly making illegal campaign contributions to help an old college (in an impossible election to win) was even better. Yes, it hurt to see him pardoned by the Trumpster … but I suppose we’ll be seeing more of this, won’t we?
In another treatise on millennials, they may be the latest front in the struggle against the $70 billion Wedding Industrial Complex— with their student loans to pay, an expensive wedding may not be in reach. Just three months ago, the chain David’s Bridal was forced to declare bankruptcy. You can still say yes-to-the-dress .. it just might need to be done more creatively. An interesting example of a budget wedding was published in — of all places — The Federalist… where I would imagine high-end weddings are the norm among its denizens.
Next, from romance to …. ummm ….. errr …..
Ninety years ago today …. *this* happened in ChicagoToday is the 90th anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre— and this day may never shake its association with this event completely. It turns out there is more than one organized crime museum in the US. The Museum of the American Gangster is located in the East Village of Manhattan. The city of Chicago is planning one … and the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement is located in downtown Las Vegas if you are interested.
It was widely attributed to Al Capone, conveniently in Florida at the time (perhaps evading taxes). In an issue relevant today: an essayist in the NY Times believes this event — splashed on newspapers across-the-country — sparked the beginning of a change in existing gun laws (outlawing Thompson guns, the F.B.I. fighting crime scientifically, aiding the repeal of Prohibition) and the author concludes thusly:
We should be ashamed that the killing of criminals 90 years ago could help spur such change, while the repeated slaughter of children prompts little more than “thoughts and prayers” from lawmakers today. The story of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shows how public outrage can create meaningful reform when the political and economic costs of inaction outweigh the inertia preserving the status quo.
I’ll conclude with two love stories … one about one of my favorite musicians (of whom I have written before) and his wife, who played a (largely) behind-the-scenes role in his career … yet crucial. Dave and Iola Brubeck were married 70 years, and it was she who pushed him in a key direction. Young people were perhaps underage to attend a jazz club, may not have been able to afford the cover charges/minimums …. and so she suggested, “Bring the jazz to them” — on college campuses.
It was such a success for his band’s career, Dave released this album nearly sixty-five years ago, Jazz Goes to College— and while most of his work was instrumental, she was his lyricist for several oratorios and cantatas of his and notably The Real Ambassadors— a play about the jazz musicians who went on world-wide tours on behalf of the State Department during the 1950’s … who could change more hearts-and-minds with their music (to citizens of military dictatorships and Stalinist regimes) than any aircraft carrier could. The jazz-loving comedian Mort Sahl once remarked of American cold-war foreign diplomacy that "After John Foster Dulles visits a country, the State Department sends the Brubeck Quartet in to repair the damage." And she gave birth to their six children, four of whom became working musicians.
Dave & Iola married in 1942 ...Dave Brubeck died in December, 2012 just one day short of his ninety-second birthday and Iola Brubeck died in March, 2014 a the age of ninety.
... and sixty-six years laterAnd lastly, a couple you do not need a primer on …. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been married 72 years (even though she said no the first time he proposed).
Married on July 7th, 1946Let’s close with the late trumpeter Chet Baker, but not his signature “My Funny Valentine” — instead, I Fall in Love Too Easily from the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh, and a nominee for a Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.
x xYouTube VideoThe rest of this space is for you, dear readers ….. about valentines, or any other topic.
Now, on to Top Comments:
Nothing from the field, this eveningAnd from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by durrati about Fox refusing to run an ad (during the Sean Hannity show) about a documentary of a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden eighty years ago next week — Glinda has a more analytical take, while Artist Mark is glad that they will not run it … for a different reason.And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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