Biden’s Shelves, New York’s Schmears, Paris’ Moveable Confessionals, and Pandas
“Earlier this is fall, we heard a lot of dire warnings about supply chain problems leading to a crisis around the holidays. So we acted. And the much-predicted crisis didn’t occur. Packages are moving, gifts are being delivered, shelves are not empty. President Joe Biden, December 21, 2021 as reported in The Hill.
“Many supermarkets, unable to find substitutes, are leaving pet-food shelves empty. … Shortages of labor, raw materials and transportation are crimping human food supply, from beverages to snacks. The challenge is the same for pet food…. The Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2021.
“Ships stuck at sea, warehouses overflowing, trucks without drivers: The highly intricate, interconnected global supply chain has been in upheaval for months, with little end in sight.” The New York Times, December 25, 2021.
The chip shortage has affected industries from autos to video games. “I’d like to say things have improved, but they actually a gotten a little bit worse,” says Forrester Analytics’ Glenn O’Donnell. engadget, December 24, 2021
While on the subject of shortages, one that has New Yorkers rattled is the shortage of cream cheese, locally known as “the schmear” used to adorn bagels, and sold to bagel stores unprocessed and unwhipped for further processing by inventive vendors.
The NYT reports that various proprietors of bagel dispensaries are frantic. What is interesting is the names of those proprietors: Pedro Aguilar, Nick Patta, Christopher Pugliese, Frank Mattera, Adrian Concha, Phil Pozzano, Kyla Ramon. And, last but far from least, Scott Goldshine, general manager at world- or at least New York-famous Zabar’s. Is New York still a great city, or what?
Laïcité is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. It dictates that religion, religious symbols and dress should be absent from the public sphere writes Rachel Donadio in The Atlantic. So one would expect the proposal to modernize the interior of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris as the great church is repaired after the fire would be greeted with cheers. The tabernacle and most confessionals are to be moved to create more room for visitors, contemporary art works and new lighting effects are to be installed. This would not only increase the number of visitors but, as the rector reportedly put it, create a “dialogue” between the medieval architecture and modern features. One thing is not to be changed: Art World reports that President Macron’s idea to replace the 19th-century spire with a more contemporary topping has been dropped.
Secularism is one thing, but removing statues of saints from some of the chapel is quite another, even though the chapels are to be “themed” on “a fecund discovery trail” that emphasizes Africa and Asia according to Britain’s Telegraph. In an open letter to Le Figaro, some 100 public figures complained that what the fire spared, the diocese wants to destroy and that in some of the proposals “inanity vies with kitsch.”
The question is not, “should there be contemporary art?” says Henri Loyrette, former head of the Louvre, but rather “what is a church today?” He might have added, “in a society in which Laïcité is the supreme value.”
The loudest cri de coeur came from Michael J. Lewis, who teaches architectural history at Williams College. Writing in The WSJ: “What a fate for the ravaged cathedral! Is that lovely victim, saved in the nick of time and made whole again, now to be whisked, still groggy, straight from the hospital into the tattoo parlor of contemporary art?” Earlier this month France’s National Heritage and Architectural Commission said “Yes, indeed.”
Pandas might have something to teach policymakers who would extend the entitlement state. A Michigan State University study found that Pandas are not benefited, indeed suffer when designers of their habit eliminate discomfort. “There may be too much of a good thing when it comes to pinpointing optimal conditions. Embracing somewhat reduced standards can be good news.” … It seems Pandas should be happy enough to thrive, “but not so content they don’t want to move around and find new mates…. There seems to be a level at which a slice of panda habitat is so nice that the panda doesn’t have reason to seek another patch.”