Friday, July 29, 2011

Appreciating Jerry Liebling's Vision

R.I.P. Jerome Liebling, 1924 - 2011

In Focus: Jerome Liebling: (photo of, not by ...)
Jerome Liebling was a visionary photographer and documentarian of the American experience, who taught and inspired so very many, and whose pictures illustrate unique, personal and transcendent stories. It is said that "Jerome Liebling and his camera saw into the souls of America" - have a look here and see what you think.  He passed away on Wednesday.

In 1969, moving from Minnesota with his family, Jerry rented our home in Amherst for a year (my father had an exchange to teach American Literature at Keele University in the British Midlands). Upon arrival, Liebling started the interdisciplinary film and photography program at brand-new Hampshire College.   I challenge you to think of a better artist at combining film and photography than Ken Burns, who has many times expressed his deepest debt to Professor Liebling under whom he studied at Hampshire.

* * * Today begins the Emily Dickinson International Society's annual meeting, in Amherst. Come one, come all!  The EDIS was founded in 1980, my father keynoting and organizing the events.  At around this time, Jerry began capturing images for his spectacular book, The Dickinsons of Amherst.
Dickinson Fence  - Amherst, MA (1980)  Jerome Liebling
"Like Emily Dickinson, he is constantly wondering what happens to us after we die. Liebling: "In the body that remains, is there some residue of the spirit, of the soul?"  Dickinson: "Do people moulder equally. / They bury, in the Grave?"  Liebling's photographs are always asking where the line is between life and death.  What of our feelings lingers around the objects we loved?  Why is grief, even when 'tongueless,' so palpable?"
Christopher  Benfey
The Dickinsons of Amherst

While his imprint is admired the world over, and his work appears in the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art,
Emily, by Jerry
 Jerry and his family made a huge mark on the Amherst academic, social, and political community for over forty years.  I feel fortunate to have known him.

God Rest His Soul.



Thursday, July 28, 2011

J. C. Duffy: Fusco Father

Porter Brothers Meet the Fusco Brothers

J.C. Duffy, the hilarious cartoonist whose work appears frequently in the New Yorker and elsewhere, is a friend of my brother's whom I met at the bachelor party that I'd organized before Dave's wedding in 1997.  The two were classmates at U. Penn in the glory days.

We chatted again at a 40th birthday cookout in Trenton, N.J.

A lot of Duffy's tableaux take place in bars - and I support that!  For instance this one and that one. And here is something to enjoy in the sunny summer season:
Happy Summer Reading, friends...

Yes . . . a laughing, funny, burly guy is J.C. Duffy!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Once Around the Track with Andrew Cuomo - Champion of Same-Sex New Yorkers

Beginning this Sunday, New York citizens may legally enter into same-sex marriages under the law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo one month ago.
At a high school track meet this spring, I snapped a shot of my parents, who had come along to see their granddaughter run the individual 400m and the 4x400 relay.  Seconds later my mother turned around, spotted the gent nearby and exclaimed "That's my paesano, the Governor of New York!"

Indeed, it was he.  Forza Italia !!
Governor Cuomo lurks behind my opposite-sex parents