"Among Freedpeople"

"On May 1, 1865, freed slaves gathered in Charleston, South Carolina to commemorate the death of Union soldiers and the end of the American Civil War. Three years later, General John Logan issued a special order that May 30, 1868 be observed as Decoration Day, the first Memorial Day--a day set aside 'for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land.'"

Jim Downs at History News Network discusses the origins of Memorial Day.

"Undercurrent Of Inequality And Fear Roiling Just Beneath Surface Of '50s-Themed Diner"

"'This place is like a great nostalgic time capsule,' said customer Brad Handley, 61, describing the roller-skating waitresses, old-fashioned jukebox, and sense of overwhelming nuclear paranoia inherent in the family-style eatery."

From The Onion.

"One of the Most Beautiful Pieces of Artwork in the World"

"Thousands of well-wishers, bedecked in layers of fleece and sweatshirts, celebrated the landmark with a day-long party that included live music, art shows, boat parades, tearful renditions of 'San Francisco (Open Your Golden Gate)' and fireworks along the waterfront."

Carolyn Jones and Peter Fimrite report in the San Francisco Chronicle on the festivities to celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge's seventy-fifth anniversary.

"Something Like a Confessional Manifesto from the Emerging Director"

"All the talk in 'Too Late Blues' of integrity and authenticity seems even more significant in light of the career Cassavetes went on to forge. Despite a certain mannered slickness, the film is proof of his inability, even under clear constraints, to make anything less than a deeply personal work."

Dennis Lim in the Los Angeles Times revisits John Cassavetes's 1962 movie, Too Late Blues.

"We Were Born with a Divided Political Heart"

"For much of our history, Americans—even in our most quarrelsome moments—have avoided the kind of polarized politics we have now. We did so because we understood that it is when we balance our individualism with a sense of communal obligation that we are most ourselves as Americans. The 20th century was built on this balance, and we will once again prove the prophets of U.S. decline wrong if we can refresh and build upon that tradition. But doing so will require conservatives to abandon untempered individualism, which betrays what conservatism has been and should be."

E. J. Dionne, Jr., in The Washington Post wonders why conservative no longer seem to value community.

Land of Divergence

In The New York Times, David Leonhardt reviews Michael Lind's Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, and Benjamin M. Friedman reviews Timothy Noah's The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It.

"Like Abstract Altars"

"The highlights of the Ocean Park series are large canvases (7 to 8 ½ feet tall) of abstract painting, most of them geometric and architectural in construction and appearance. While deceptively simple upon first glance or in reproduction, these works feature layers of paint over paint, signs of adding and subtracting, and traces of what the artist was previously working on emerging through newer layers."

Richard Chang in The Orange County Register discusses "Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series" at the Orange County Museum of Art.

Thru the Perilous Fight

"Historians of the period and of the war may resent Hofstadter’s summary dismissal, but it offers some clues as to why neither is the subject of much popular interest. The very things that put Hofstadter off—the bumbling diplomacy, the bitter infighting, the ineptly executed war effort—force us to confront a vision of the United States that doesn’t generally fit our understanding of its origins. The war plays out as a disappointing second act to the Revolution, with the nation suddenly at the whim of Europeans and Indians and riven by internal dissent, and the heroes and heirs of 1776 acting without the pluck and ingenuity that we expect of them. How are we to commemorate that?"

In Slate, James M. Lundberg observes the War of 1812's bicentennial.

"Couple Has Nest Egg Of Debt To Make Sure They've Got Some Money To Owe Down The Road"

"Ratliff said the nest egg was personally important to her, as her own mother had never put any debt aside and was now an elderly widow with almost no source of financial hardship."

From The Onion.

When People Stop Being Polite...

"But early on, it seemed, the show was morally simpler, those behind and in front of the cameras less practiced, maybe. The episodes largely functioned to vilify the bad and legitimize the good who might not have been so accepted otherwise. And the subject matter meant we were having conversations about oft-controversial topics in our homes and schools. Remember Puck, and how much we hated him in the third season and following, or his co-cast-member, AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, who was so beloved? Zamora, one of the first openly gay men with AIDS portrayed in pop-culture media, died on November 11, 1994, hours after the final episode of season three aired. This was unbelievable (people we'd grown to love on TV did not die, not like this) and heartbreaking. It's no less heartbreaking now—but more believable, having grown up as we have on reality TV."

Jen Doll at The Atlantic marks the twentieth anniversary of MTV's The Real World.

"The Hidden Hand at Work?"

"The reason that Eisenhower sustained high levels of popularity has nothing to do with the empty pronouncement that he knew right from wrong. A good soldier to the last, he knew not to rock the boat. He preserved New Deal programs, shunned controversy, kept his meddling in other countries’ affairs out of public view, and sometimes concealed outright the most unsavory aspects of his presidency. In the 1950s, Americans for the most part were content with this kind of leadership. The man who had defeated the Nazis helped guide them safely through the early Cold War. But more than a few citizens could see that Eisenhower also allowed right-wing demagoguery to fester, the civil rights struggle to suffer, the problems of the inner city to languish, and the conundrums of the superpower rivalry to remain acute and unresolved. It was in part because these Americans saw what Eisenhower had wrought during his two terms that in the ensuing years they decided, with all due respect, that they wanted something different."

David Greenberg in The New Republic reviews Jean Edward Smith's Eisenhower in War and Peace.

"These Districts Work Better without All the Bureaucratic Attachment Parenting"

"What could be wrong with a district where nightclubs and galleries are encouraged to thrive? Nothing, necessarily; done right, a city can help foster these scenes with a gentle guiding hand. Constructing an entire milieu from whole cloth, however, is where cities get into trouble. 'The problem with these created-overnight districts is that you’re trying to create a culture as opposed to letting one grow,' says Nathaniel Hood, a Minneapolis-based transportation planner. 'You’re getting the culture that one developer or city council member thinks the city needs, as opposed to the ground-up culture that comes from multiple players.'"

Will Doig in Salon criticizes "urban entertainment districts."

"Fleet Of Ambulances On Hand For 41-Year-Olds' Touch Football Game"

"'As soon as dispatch informed us that 15 middle-aged guys were talking about "tossing the old pigskin around," everyone on duty stopped what they were doing and got here as fast as possible,' said ambulance driver Reed Macallen, opening a fresh package of Ace bandages and making sure his defibrillator's batteries were charged. 'Given the widely varying levels of physical fitness and lack of any protective gear whatsoever, it's only a matter of time before emergency medical services are required.'
"'Someone's pulling a groin on the first play,' he continued. 'That's pretty much a guarantee.'"

From The Onion.