letter april14 2011

Dear Everyone,

It has been a few weeks with many familial events. The news about Uncle Howard is one of the most dismaying items in a long time. We are thinking of him.

To start with the good, Nicola has decided to matriculate at the University of Chicago. She and Cindy went to Pittsburgh last weekend to participate in an admission weekend for prospective students at Carnegie Mellon, but Nikki wasn’t impressed enough, even though she was offered a spot in a special humanities honors program. I think she liked the people she ‘met’ via Facebook at U of C more.

Facebook is quite a phenomenon. I doubt Mark Zuckerberg foresaw its use as an agent of social unrest and upheaval. I was listening to a radio interview of a young Egyptian biochemist several days ago, and she basically gets all of her information via Facebook sites and recommended blogs, as the printed news is seen mainly as an untrustworthy propaganda tool of the government. In fact, when the Egyptian military wants to make an announcement to the populace, the first place it is ‘printed’ is on their Facebook page. One of my colleagues at work is a Syrian, and although he is not a Facebook user, he constantly has his computer tuned to live streaming broadcasts of the current events at home. As a citizen of the world I only have muted enthusiasm for the Middle Eastern Spring movement. Too often these movements of liberation have been followed by soul-crushing totalitarian governments, as only the most ruthless are able to seize power in the disorder that follows the destruction of the ‘ancien regime’. The eyes of the world did not prevent the excesses of the French or the Russians. It certainly brings to mind the necessity of 40 years in the desert following liberation, something we should be mindful in the coming week.

Back to the kids - - we all went to Nicola’s last drama production at Hinsdale Central. She worked on almost every production offered during her four years. This ‘play’ was an Improv night; Nicola worked the crew. The Improv students had several weeks of training from a Second City comedian, and they all did quite well. I thought the best skit was one in which they summoned two audience members to participate. They had two boys under the age of 13, and one of them stole the show. He was better at improvisation than the students were! Nikki is also getting ready for the prom, but I am not sure when this event is being held. Lucas has been playing tennis a lot; he is second singles on the Freshman/sophomore team, although, looking to his future as a junior, he would rather be playing doubles. Jasper has continued his interest in Iaido, so I am thinking of getting him a uniform, and maybe a sword - - I don’t know if I trust him with the latter at home! I went to Jasper’s winter swim banquet last weekend as Cindy was out of town. Everyone on the team is doing well.

As for me, I believe I pinched one of my cervical nerves, as I have had some pain, numbness and tingling in my right arm. I have been going to a physical therapist with offices in our health club, and doing some strange exercises. I am giving one-half of a Grand Rounds at Lutheran General on Tuesday on muscle pathology - - talk about the blind leading the blind. Among other things, I am reading Jonathan Spence’s “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci”, about the early 17th century, and the Jesuits forays into the Far East. Spence has a style that is a bit interesting for a historian - - he just plunges the reader right in the middle of the whole thing in the first pages - - I couldn’t figure out what the book was about for about 1&1/2 chapters. I also read an interesting novel called Netherland by Joseph O’Neill, about the fall of the twin towers, being an alien in the US, family tensions. The style is melancholic, and recalled me to W. G. Sebald.

Love, H.