The book Cadillac Desert and the documentary of the same name (narrated by Alfre Woodard) woke me up to this problem. (I live in CA but grew up back east). It's astonishing that we use so much imported water on our lawns (including during Winter) while watering lawns is not even necessary elsewhere.
There is something so strange about reading such a beautiful thing and then reading that comment at the bottom. The juxtaposition is just bizarre. Is there a word for this feeling? It happens to me frequently online.
>I have always wanted a swimming pool, and never had one
>In fact a swimming pool requires, once it has been filled and the filter has begun its process of cleaning and recirculating the water, virtually no water
can confirm, she's never had a swimming pool, they require the addition of water all the time in an arid climate.
A rarely mentioned part of her work is the small book Salvador. She wrote a fair amount on the horrors in Central America during the 1980s, many of which were backed by the US government.
It’s a difficult, harrowing read. But as a student educated in the United States well after these events happened, I never knew this part of our history and the long-lasting repercussions.
The documentary about her, by her nephew, is still on Netflix. I just watched it. It's excellent. Initially I was a bit sceptical, because I only knew her A+ screenwriting and her lifestyle reporting, but she was a great one.
Why are the only choices being an athlete or being black? Seems like you’re trying to funnel responses into a rather arbitrary and contentious direction.
I don't know much about her, but Didion's central legacy is based around her creativity and putting art and ideas out into the world. Bryant's life surely has many lessons to teach us, but in terms of legacy he was not someone who could potentially inspire anyone--you have to be into basketball or sports in general for his life to be relevant to you at all, much less a source of new ideas.
Maybe a fitting comparison would be the deaths of a famous philosopher and a famous Christian theologian writer?
i'm squarely with you on this one. the implicit racism and bias is thick here (note the spite and bile spewed in those many kobe posts). while i appreciate didion's work, she's not even a minor blip in literature and history. also compare this to the lack of interest/discussion around bell hooks[0], a black feminist writer who is at least a minor blip in american culture and history.
besides being one of the best basketball players ever, kobe was a tech investor and media producer in the few short years since his retirement from the nba. there are literally dozens of murals all across LA of kobe. he'll also be forgotten by the zeitgeist eventually, but it will likely be decades before that happens.
neonate|4 years ago
http://web.archive.org/web/20211224011509/https://www.nytime...
509engr|4 years ago
http://archive.pov.org/thirst/holy-water/
raegis|4 years ago
bspammer|4 years ago
Anyway, thank you for sharing.
fsckboy|4 years ago
>In fact a swimming pool requires, once it has been filled and the filter has begun its process of cleaning and recirculating the water, virtually no water
can confirm, she's never had a swimming pool, they require the addition of water all the time in an arid climate.
e40|4 years ago
TedDoesntTalk|4 years ago
The top of this page says 2004. Is that correct? Univac is anachronistic to 2004.
justinpage|4 years ago
jelling|4 years ago
tyre|4 years ago
It’s a difficult, harrowing read. But as a student educated in the United States well after these events happened, I never knew this part of our history and the long-lasting repercussions.
mturmon|4 years ago
https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/joan-didion/
(Their home page has a dozen specific recommendations.)
rurban|4 years ago
Quarrel|4 years ago
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Didion:_The_Center_Will_N...
89% on RT. So pretty fkn good.
staplung|4 years ago
http://deathray.us/no_crawl/others/atthedam.html
BruceEel|4 years ago
bsanr|4 years ago
[deleted]
blitz_skull|4 years ago
_bfhp|4 years ago
Maybe a fitting comparison would be the deaths of a famous philosopher and a famous Christian theologian writer?
clairity|4 years ago
besides being one of the best basketball players ever, kobe was a tech investor and media producer in the few short years since his retirement from the nba. there are literally dozens of murals all across LA of kobe. he'll also be forgotten by the zeitgeist eventually, but it will likely be decades before that happens.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29581259