Tomconroy
Tomconroy's JournalMy wife's encounter with Justice Scalia
This goes back a decade or so. My wife is the classics translator Sarah Ruden. You can google her. In her world she is famous. (I guess for the sake of the story it is worth knowing that she is a Quaker pacifist.) At this time she was a visiting scholar at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. It had been announced that Justice Antonin Scalia would be visiting the university to give an endowed lecture before a crowd of several hundred people at the university chapel. One day she got an email inquiring if she wanted to attend a small luncheon the university would be throwing to welcome Scalia in the afternoon. Sarah immediately replied that she wanted to go, only to be told that the invite had been sent in error to way too many people. Sarah wrote back saying that they really should invite her. She and Scalia did the same thing. They interpreted ancient texts. Well, her pitch worked (Probably along with the fact that she was the only Guggenheim Fellowship winner on campus). She got the invitation to the lunch.
At this time I was working as a public defender. Àlthough I'm sure Scalia rightly has a terrible reputation as a jurist among most readers of this site, it was a bit different for criminal lawyers. Scalia had authored some seminal opinions vindicating the rights of defendants, particularly in the area of search and seizure law. I gave Sarah a copy of a case of his called Crawford v. Washington. Simply put, it raised an objection based on hearsay to the level of a constitutional violation of the right to confront witnesses. It changed what lawyers do in the court room. Instead of saying "Objection, hearsay", you say "This evidence violates the Confrontation Clause of the US Constitution (and it's hearsay).
The day came for the lunch. There were maybe 35 people attending. First there was a reception. Sarah remembers several people inviting Scalia to a concert where someone had written a new piece of music celebrating the Bill of Rights. Scalia politely indicated he would rather be water boarded.
Anyway, it came time to sit down for lunch. Through clever maneuvering Sarah was seated on the corner, one place away from Scalia. The lunch proceeded about halfway through with a variety of conversational gambits, none really catching fire. Then there was a pause and Sarah took her chance:"My husband is a public defender. He wanted me to thank you for Crawford v. Washington". Well, that got his attention. They talked about the case a little bit. Sarah said how impressed she was by a reference he made in the text to Star Chamber Assemblies. Scalia told her "My clerks put in a lot of that stuff". Then he added: It's true, I really should be a centerfold pinup for the criminal bar. His final word on the subject was: The worst part of my job is that I have to do favors for groups of people I can't stand, like criminal defense lawyers!
Sarah then went to the real reason for attending the lunch. She proceeded to explain what she did for a living and proceeded to tell him about a theory popular in the world of bible translation called Dynamic Equivalence. The essence of the theory, as I understand it, is that you can not just translate a text word for word. You have to translate it in a way that will have meaning for its readers. The original intent of an author is difficult to know. The important thing is the effect the text has on its audience. Of course Scalia, the original Originalist, would have none of it. The conversation went back and forth, Sarah citing examples of how you would translate bible stories for an African villager, Scalia saying she was all wrong. You could explain things in the footnotes. He didn't agree, but he did find the subject interesting, particularly since it touched on religion. By now everyone else in the room was just listening. The argument ended in a friendly draw and the conversation moved on to a number of other subjects, in particular, there was a discussion of a mutual love of vacationing at the South Carolina shore. He knew Pawleys Island well.
When it came time for the lunch to end Scalia invited Sarah to walk out with him to his waiting limo. When they reached the car he threw his arms around her and gave her an enormous hug.
The other night when I was going over the story with Sarah so I could tell it here, she suddenly paused and asked me "Why aren't they like that anymore?"
I really don't know.
The best investment book I have ever read
Is a book by Burton Malkiel and Charles Ellis called 'The Elements of Investing'. It's a short book, only about a hundred pages. It's theme is that anyone can be a successful investor. It is a skill that can be learned like any other. It is best read when you are in your twenties. With the magic of compound interest, if you start out young, becoming wealthy in retirement is not difficult. I wish the book had been around when I was young. It took me many years to figure out what I was doing with my money.
When our nephew was in college we gave him a copy of the book. His reaction was 'Is this a joke?' We said 'No. You have had earnings from a job this year. We are going to fund a little IRA to start you off. Now just read the book so you will know what to do with it'. I don't know if there is a connection but he graduated, worked for a few years and paid off his college loans, and now has just been accepted at the Wharton School of Economics at Penn. We made the same offer to our niece but she wanted the money to pay down her loans. We'll try again when she is in the working world.
The lessons of the book are pretty simple but often hard to follow in real life. You will never be rich unless you save. You will never save unless you spend less than you earn. Ninety percent of profesional money managers can not consistently outperform the S & P average. Dollar cost average. Stocks are the one thing people don't want when they are on sale. To the long term investor the bear market is your friend. Buy low cost index funds. You can't control the direction of the market. You can control what you pay for an investment.
I lived through the bear market of 2000-2003. I was working for myself. Every month I had to write out the checks myself. Imagine, you put money in every month and your balance just keeps going down. I really didn't know what I was doing but for some reason I kept writing the checks. The smartest thing I did was eventually I just stopped opening the statements from T Rowe Price. I didn't realize it at the time but I was doing what you are supposed to do. I was buying low. When the crash of 2008 came along, I had figured it out. It was the greatest buying opportunity of my life time. By then it was easy. I was working for the state. I just had them take a bit more out of my pay check.
Malkiel and Ellis quote Warren Buffett on long run Investing': If you are going to be buying hamburgers your whole life, you want hamburgers to be cheap. The same with buying stocks.
I just think the book is valuable for all of us whose retirements are dependent on our 401ks and our own Investing' skills. You don't need an investment advisor or high priced fund managers. You just need to master a few Investing' lessons.
Start packing your bags!
I saw the New York Times is up with a lead story tonight: The European Union is going to allow fully vaccinated American tourists to travel virtually everywhere in Europe this summer.
Bit by bit, the lights are coming on again (at least in the EU).
Now I'll have to start looking for a cheap flight.
Connecticut to end all covid restrictions May 19 (except for indoor masks)
Governor Lamont announced a few days ago that covid restrictions are coming to an end in a few weeks. Outdoor masks will go by the boards, bars and restaurants will be 100% open, the six foot distancing rule will end. It could be that the indoor mask will be a recommendation, not a requirement.
This comes about because Connecticut has one of the highest vaccine rates in the country. It is expected that 70% of state residents over 16 will have received at least one shot by the end of April.
This is Connecticut folks, not some right wing nut job state. It wouldn't be happening if it wasn't safe.
The end is in sight. Our liberation is near.
Mr. Clarke's Wonderful Bar
Maybe the end of the plague is in sight. It gets me in mind of trips to New York City which often as not would end up at the legendary bar P. J. Clarke's. The place has survived since the 1880's and the front bar room must look pretty much the way it did when the place opened. Stories about the place are legion. Johnny Mercer wrote the song 'One for My Baby, And One More For the Road' while sitting at the bar one night. Billy Wilder recreated the interior on a Hollywood set for the movie The Lost Weekend. Jackie Onassis was a regular for lunch when she worked in publishing.
Long ago, by custom or law, unaccompanied women could not sit alone at the bar. One day in the late 1960's a group of women grabbed seats at the bar and demanded to be served. The bartender hopelessly looked to the owner and said 'What do I do?' The long time proprietor Daniel.Lavezzo thought for a second and then said "Oh pour them a drink. I gotta go make the Daily Double at Belmont Park". Out the door he went and thus human progress was made. The food was usually decent and for New York the prices were reasonable.
I looked at the website and they will send you an email when the place is ready to reopen. The six foot rule will have to go by the boards. When will it be? The summer? Surely by the fall. I for one can't wait to strike a blow for Liberty in P. J. Clarke's wonderful bar.
My next new car
I was born in 1955. Like so many my age (boys), I have had a deep love affair with American cars. When it came time to buy something I owned a couple of used Buick sedans with a 350 V8 engine. Got about 12mpg. Then around 1980 I bought a really terrible Chevy Chevette new. It later had the reputation as one of the worst cars ever made. It actually lasted until I was in a bad auto accident (my fault). For some reason I then bought a Mazda 323. This was all the rage. Japanese cars were so much more reliable than American cars. Of course with mine the engine blew a few thousand miles after the warranty expired. After that it was back to American cars, for some reason usually GM. Always sedans. The SUVs always seemed sort of wasteful. At any rate, I was happy with the next four cars. They were reasonably reliable GM sedans. I did have a bias toward Ford and GM. I thought it was important to buy a union made car. Although I favored Buicks, I have been a long time share holder of Ford. I thought that since the Ford family controlled the company through a special class of shares, the owners and investors interests would be closely aligned. I also cherished the story that when Bill Ford, then CEO of the company, learned of an accident at a Ford plant, he dropped everything and rushed to the scene, against the advice of many in the home office. He did his best to comfort the families, assuring them that they would be taken care of. The union rep on the scene came up to him and said "I will never forget what you did today." (That's a family company). For decades Ford's reputation with the UAW was that in negotiations, they were the easy company to deal with.
Well, my last car was a Buick Regal. Highly rated by Consumer Reports at the time, it's been very quiet, all leather, a pretty luxe ride. My Quaker wife thinks it's pretty luxurious. (Does anyone remember when Buicks used to be referred to as 'The doctor's car?). My theory of car ownership has been to drive until death. The Buick has 100000 miles on it. I'm retired so I'm only racking up 10000 miles a year. So it has a way to go. But I am at the point where I am checking out the new models. I looked at the April CR and I guess I shouldn't be surprised but Ford and GM offered no sedans. It was all SUVs and trucks.
At my age it was a bit of a shock. A sedan still appeals to me as a bit more modest than the big trucks. And maybe it's a lonely cause, but I would prefer an automobile built by American union workers.
I really am at a loss. I read a review in the latest CR of the Subaru Forester. Seemed very desirable, but not union made. I am at a loss.
Does anyone else out there have these issues? Is the Toyota Prius the answer to all moral issues? I wish we could unionize those damn southern states. That would make things a lot easier. Does anyone have any thoughts?
My wife's translation of The Gospels
My wife is Sarah Ruden, a noted translator of latin and greek. In the world of classics she is famous.(Gary Wills reviewed her line for line translation of Vergil's Aeneid in iambic pentameter as 'The first translation since Dryden's that is itself a great English poem')
She is out this week with a completely new translation of the four Gospels and I hope it is alright if I give it a plug. It is published by Random House in the Modern Library imprint. Sarah says it is the first translation that is really true to the original greek. The head of the Modern Library imprint told her it is the one book that he takes home to read at night.
I hope that anyone with an interest will check it out. It is her attempt to bring us ever closer to the actual words of Jesus. The Gospels by Sarah Ruden, available at book stores today.
Lunch at the "Gris"
The. Griswold Inn in Essex, CT has been serving diners since 1776. Even more than good food, I love a great atmosphere, and "The Gris" has that in spades. Laid out in a series of wood paneled rooms, the main dining room walls are covered in nautical paintings and prints. The restaurant features the largest collection of Antonio Jacobson's ship's paintings in the country. Another room features a large collection of 18th century firearms. When I was courting my wife I took her here for. lunch. At one point she looked around and said, "This must be the preppiest place in America." It wasn't meant as a compliment.
In the time before the plague, the place would attract a good crowd, particularly in summer when people would dock their boats in the harbor and spend the evening in the crowded tap room. Usually there would be live music, often a jazz band. One summer night I was enlisted to ring the ship's bell on the wall in time to 'Sweet Caroline'. I was told by the band members I did pretty well. Apparently other people who tried had a hard time keeping time to the music.
We went there today for lunch. Like all places these days, The Gris is trying to scrape by. There were about a half dozen widely spaced tables taken. The food was decent. Lunch entrees ran in the fifteen to twenty dollar range. This being the land of the preppy, the martinis were on the generous side.
For anyone who is vacationing in the area of Essex, CT the Griswold Inn is definitely worth the visit. It's a Connecticut landmark and a unique dining experience.
I got a Stimulus check
Came in the mail today. For some reason we always received checks instead of direct deposit, even though the IRS has our bank info. The first one took months. The second one came pretty quickly and this one was quick for being delivered the old fashioned way. I collect social security but that didn't seem to be an issue. I do feel a little guilty. We don't need the money the way so many do. Anyway, the good news is the paper checks are going out.
We decided to stimulate the economy by going out to lunch. I had a martini on Joe Biden. Thank you Mr. President!
Van Cliburn (and a democratic anecdote)
Missing visits to the symphony during this plague year brought to mind the great pianist Van Cliburn. He came to fame in the late 50s when he stunned the world by winning the quadrennial piano competition in Russia. The story is the decision went all the way up to Kruschev who said"If he is the best then he should get the medal". This was the height of the cold war. Cliburn came home to a rapturous welcome. He is the only classically musician to receive a ticket tape parade through New York's canyon of heros. He went on for a decade as a soloist with the world's symphonies. In particular, he had a collaboration with conductor Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony.
One day he was flying into Washington DC to do a concert when he discovered the luggage with his evening dress was missing. He decide to make a call to the one person in the city who would have a white tie outfit to fit his tall frame. The answer came back right away."Van, you come over right away. We'll have the outfit ready when you arrive". Cliburn had the class to invite his cab driver in with him as they entered the White House to be greeted by President Lyndon Johnson, white tie outfit in hand.
Cliburn retired from the soloist career in the 70s and was rarely seen in public. He did start his own quadrennial piano competition in Texas. He was called out of retirement in the 1980s by President Reagan to entertain at a gala dinner for Russian premier Gorbachev. I remember the video on the news of Cliburn playing 'Moscow Nights' and singing the words in the original Russian. The expressions on the faces of Gorbachev and his wife were a sight to behold.
Only in the last years of his life did he return to the concert stage. That was when I saw him at Tanglewood performing with the Boston Symphony. Normally at that venue I would get lawn tickets and have a picnic. But for this concert I bought tickets in the vast music shed. The later reviews said he made some mistakes and that his vast powers were fading. You couldn't tell by me. I was the first to leap up and give him a standing ovation. To me he was a great hero.
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Name: Tom ConroyGender: Male
Home country: USA
Current location: Langley, Virginia
Member since: Sat Mar 6, 2021, 08:56 PM
Number of posts: 7,611