President Biden has nominated Admiral Lisa Franchetti to be the chief of naval operations. As he noted, she will be the first woman in that post, and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thus, she will “make history.” Should Biden have noted this? Or left it to others to do so? The issue is not earth-shattering, but it is interesting, and I lead my Impromptus today with it. I also have items on sports, politics, music — the usual.
Speaking of music: Here is a post on an offbeat topic. That topic is musical titles that are today problematic (not least racially). Lyrics, too. My bottom line (literally, because it is the last line of my post): “I think you have to go case by case, guided by common sense, taste, and humanity.”
Let’s have some mail. In response to a post of mine about Ukraine and Russia, a reader writes,
Looking at the bit about Italy helping restore the cathedral in Odessa, I thought of Dresden, which I visited earlier this year. I was stunned to learn the city had just recently been rebuilt from the firebombing in WWII, having sat untouched during its life as part of East Germany. The stone is still charred! Restoration is possible and will happen.
The reader’s letter reminded me of a recent column by Bret Stephens: “What I Learned in Ukraine.” Here is an excerpt from that column:
I learned that Ukrainians have no interest in turning their victimization into an identity. Years ago, in Belgrade, I saw how the Serbian government had preserved the wreck of its old defense ministry, hit by NATO bombs in the 1999 Kosovo war, in keeping with its self-pitying perceptions of that war. By contrast, in Bucha, the Kyiv suburb that suffered some of the worst atrocities during Russia’s brief occupation in the early days of the war, I witnessed the transformation of apartment buildings dotted with patched-up bullet holes into trendy co-working spaces. As Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, told [Samantha] Power [the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development], “Memory will stay in memoirs but residents want to rebuild without reminders.”
In response to a column of mine last week, a reader sends a short and simple note:
I appreciate the positive comments about George W. Bush. I don’t know how he became such a villain.
Today’s Impromptus includes an item about Tony Bennett, who passed away last week at 96. A reader shares a story:
My dad was working for a shipping company as a chief engineer. One of his trips in 1975 had him sailing out of San Francisco early on a Sunday morning. I remember getting up at 4 and Mom, Dad, my sister, and me piling into my mom’s 1966 VW Bug for the 50-mile drive down from Santa Rosa. We dropped Dad off right before sunrise and started the drive back through the city towards the Golden Gate.
The city was draped in its famous fog and Mom had KSFO 560 on the radio. As we were just about at the Golden Gate, a caller called in to say that the sunrise over the East Bay was a perfect contrast with the city in fog. The caller requested Tony Bennett’s famous song [“I Left My Heart in San Francisco”].
We were now on the bridge and I was in the back seat and I turned around and looked and yes — a gorgeous contrast of sunlight with fog, as the song was playing. I have always felt that this is what a “movie moment” is — when everything clicks for a powerful memory.
Wonderful. Thanks to one and all.