THE OLD YEAR ENDS; THE NEW ONE BEGINS; A BRIDGE TO WHERE?

THE OLD YEAR ENDS

THE NEW ONE BEGINS

A BRIDGE TO WHERE?

ANOTHER HILLSIDE

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 2010

IN HONOR OF CHRISTMAS

MOTHER & CHRIST CHILD

IN HONOR OF CHRISTMAS

CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF

ST. JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

LIMA, PERU

TARJA HALONEN b. December 24, 1943

TARJA HALONEN

PRESIDENT OF FINLAND

b. December 24, 1943

FINNISH PRESIDENT TARJA HALONEN

AND HER HUSBAND PENTTI Arajärvi

WALKING TO DINNER

AT THE PETERHOF PALACE,

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA,

AT THE TIME OF

THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT

HU JINTAO, b. December 21, 1942

HU JINTAO

b. December 21, 1942

PRESIDENT,

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

GENERAL SECRETARY,

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Shown here at the unveiling of the

Politburo Standing Committee

17th Party Congress, Beijing, October 2007

Due to pass on the torch at the 18th Party Congress in Autumn 2012

Due for a state visit in Washington, D.C., shortly

Stay Tuned

More Hu

ARTHUR FIEDLER, b. December 17, 1894

ARTHUR FIEDLER 

December 17, 1894-July 10, 1979 

THE BOSTON POPS MAESTRO 

IN HIS SYMPHONY HALL OFFICE 

BOSTON, MASSASCHUSETTS 

Arthur Fiedler was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1894, and died at home in Brookline, Massachusetts, next door to Boston, on July 10, 1979. 

These bare facts conceal a far more peripatetic and complicated existence, and so does the quick summary of his accomplishments.   For over half a century he led the Boston Pops Orchestra, with enormous success and acclaim.   But -- like a beauty who wishes to be known for his/her brains? -- apparently he hungered for more:   acknowledgment of his musicianship and his gravitas. 

His daughter, Johanna Fiedler, wrote of his story (and hers) in ARTHUR FIEDLER: Papa, the Pops and Me (1994).   The New York Times in its obituary called Arthur Fiedler "grandfatherly," and said that he "projected a jolly, unsnobbish image."   Perhaps so, but that there was more to him was clear already from the time I spent photographing him. 

BICENTENNIAL "TIP": THOMAS P. O'NEILL, JR., b. December 9, 1912

THOMAS P. O'NEILL, JR.

December 9, 1912-January 5, 1994

TIP O'NEILL

Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives

1977-1987

PHOTOGRAPHED ON HIS

BELOVED CAPE COD

JULY 4, 1976

more TIP here

and here

and here

LIEN CHAN WINS CONFUCIUS PEACE PRIZE! (SAY WHAT?)

THE CONFUCIUS

PEACE PRIZE

PICKS ITS FIRST WINNER

LIEN CHAN

FORMER TAIWAN VICE PRESIDENT

&

F.O.C.

More of China's Soft Power on Display?

Confucius Peace Prize: $15,000

Nobel Peace Prize: $1,500,000

LAWRENCE SUMMERS IS FIFTY-SIX

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS 

b. November 30, 1954 

LARRY SUMMERS 

THE DEPARTING DIRECTOR 

OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S  

NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL 

for more, see here  

LIGACHEV MAKES NINETY

YEGOR KUZMICH LIGACHEV

b. November 29, 1920

YEGOR LIGACHEV MEETS THE PRESS AFTER BORIS YELTSIN WALKS OUT OF THE 28TH CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION (CPSU), THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW, JULY 12, 1990

For more, see "Pivot," Chapter One of

RUSSIA REDUX

CONDOLEEZZA RICE b. November 14, 1954

CONDOLEEZZA RICE,

b. November 14, 1954,

HAS A BIRTHDAY AND A BOOK

CONDOLEEZZA RICE AT THE PUTIN-BUSH PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT, ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Condoleezza Rice has written a personal memoir first, before tackling the hard issues of her time and performance as President George W. Bush's National Security Adviser and Secretary of State.

Rice, an erstwhile Soviet scholar, is shown above at the first, and so far only, G-8 summit to be held in Russia, talking to her counterpart, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. To her far right is Igor Ivanov, Secretary of the Russian Security Council (national security adviser); to her immediate right is Stephen Hadley, Rice's successor as U.S. National Security Adviser. Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett sits behind the Secretary of State.

JOHN HAMMOND b. November 13, 1942

JOHN HAMMOND 

b. November 13, 1942 

JOHN HAMMOND 

HARVARD STADIUM, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 

PRE-CONCERT (1970) 

John Hammond is still singing the blues, after all these years: "For four-plus decades, Hammond has, like many itinerant country-blues artists before him, played acoustic guitar with a fast-fingered finesse that leaves audiences marveling at his technique. Like [Robert] Johnson, Hammond sometimes gives the impression he’s playing two guitars simultaneously – one holding down the bass line, and the other delivering fiery rhythm work and solos." – Russell Hall 

More Hammond these days, here and here and here and here and here 

(JANIS JOPLIN at Harvard Stadium, here and here and here and here) 

ANNE SEXTON b. November 9, 1928

ANNE SEXTON 

November 9, 1928- 

October 4, 1974 

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1967 

(Live or Die) 

more 

Anne Sexton 

here 

FOUND OBJECTS: A CUSCO PAIR (PERU SCENES)

FOUND OBJECTS

A CUSCO PAIR

PERU SCENES

MERKEL & MULTIKULTI

MULTICULTURALISM 

HAS 

"UTTERLY FAILED" 

-- THUS SPAKE THE OSSIE -- 

GERMAN CHANCELLOR 

ANGELA MERKEL 

HOLDS HANDS WITH 

GEORGE W. BUSH 

AT THE 2006 G-8 SUMMIT 

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 

A reporter for the Christian Science Monitor wrote of "multikulti" -- the German term for multiculturalism --as a concept in which "people of different backgrounds would live together happily." After more than two decades of German re-unification, is it a given that Wessies (West Germans) and Ossies (East Germans) "live together happily"? But this Ossie, this first Chancellor from East Germany, has something different in mind. 

XI JINPING GETS HIS PROMOTION

XI

GETS

HIS PROMOTION

XI JINPING INTRODUCED

AS HU JINTAO'S SUCCESSOR

17TH CONGRESS OF THE

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

BEIJING 2007

Today Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping was named vice-chair of the Central Military Commission, solidifying his slotting to become the next General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China.

This is succession planning with Chinese characteristics: Xi Jinping was unveiled as potential top leader-to-be of China in 2007; the changes are not due to take place until late 2012 (on the party side) and early 2013 (on the government side).

If he had not been given this new post, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness, and of uncertainty at the top with signs of ferment in the air.

JIMMY BRESLIN TURNS EIGHTY

JIMMY BRESLIN

b. October 17, 1930

JIMMY BRESLIN

HARVARD COMMENCEMENT

CLASS DAY SPEAKER, 1971

A columnist and author, in 1986, Jimmy Breslin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, for "columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens."

KALYAN MINARET, BUKHARA: THE SILK ROAD AGAIN

THE SILK ROAD

AGAIN

KALYAN MINARET

BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN

SERGEI SOBYANIN NOMINATED MOSCOW MAYOR

NEW MOSCOW MAYOR

NAMED

A LOOK BACK AT ONE OF THE

HIGHLIGHTS OF FORMER MAYOR

YURY LUZHKOV'S

ADMINISTRATION,

THE CELEBRATION OF THE

850TH ANNIVERSARY OF MOSCOW

Here Mayor Luzhkov is seated on President Boris Yeltsin's right (the Patriarch is on Yeltsin's left). Today his successor was formally nominated by President Dmitry Medvedev: Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Sobyanin, "top aide" to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

AS THE POLITICAL ELITE IN CHINA GATHERS...

AS THE

POLITICAL ELITE

IN CHINA

GATHERS

INTERIOR OF

THE GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE

BEIJING, CHINA,

WITH BASKETBALL COURT

A quiet photograph of the big venue as the Central Committee meets in Beijing in unquiet times.

TWENTY-THREE MOSTLY "FORMERS" SPEAK UP FOR MEDIA FREEDOM IN CHINA

TWENTY-THREE 

MOSTLY "FORMERS" 

("PARTY ELDERS") 

DEMAND 

FREEDOM OF SPEECH 

IN CHINA; 

CRITICIZE PROPAGANDA ORGANS 

LI CHANGCHUN 

POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBER 

responsible for the media, and overseer of the Propaganda Department, described by the letter of the twenty-three as "invisible black hands," censoring even Premier Wen Jiabao. 

THEY LEFT OUT THE COLD WAR

THEY LEFT OUT 

THE COLD WAR 

WARS LISTED ON A GRAVESTONE IN 

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY 

The Washington Post has an article reporting on family members' protests of the inscribing of "propaganda" names for America's recent wars on the headstones at Arlington National Cemetery: "Operation Enduring Freedom"; "Operation Iraqi Freedom"; "Operation New Dawn." Previous names looked like those above: "World War II"; "Korea"; "Vietnam." (No "Cold War," however much it molded and warped so many lives, and deaths.) 

THE CATHEDRALS IN THE KREMLIN, PART II

THE CATHEDRALS

IN THE KREMLIN

PART II

REFLECTIONS IN

THE PALACE OF CONGRESSES

THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW, 1990

For more, read this

RUSSIA REDUX

ARCHANGEL CATHEDRAL, THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW

IT IS SUNDAY

One of a series

of photographs

of cathedrals and churches

ARCHANGEL CATHEDRAL

Cathedral Square, The Kremlin

Moscow, 1984