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PLACES & CULTURE
From the New York Times:
LOS ANGELES — Designed by Frank Gehry, the $274 million Walt Disney Concert Hall hall open[ed] on Oct. 23. Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonic's charismatic young music director, conduct[ed] "The Rite of Spring." Wrong season, right rite: Disney Hall is a riotous rebirth. Not just for downtown Los Angeles, where the building is situated, and not just for the whole sprawling mixed-up La-La. What is being reborn is the idea of the urban center as a democratic institution: a place where voices can be heard. Disney Hall has at least a dual personality and moods enough to spare. On the outside it is a moon palace, a buoyant composition of silvery reflected light. Inside, the light shifts to gold. Sitting atop the downtown Bunker Hill district, Disney Hall is the most gallant building you are ever likely to see. And it will be opening its doors to everyone who has fought for the chance to be generous, to others and to themselves. From some approaches Disney Hall first appears as a luminous crescent hovering between skyscrapers. The light playing off its surface is uncanny, though we have often been in its presence. It is the light of the silver screen and of the round reflectors used on photo and video locations: the light of the Hollywood dream. Summary*
Related: More on Gehry and Disney Hall in the New York Review of Books and PBS.org
SEATTLE — Nikkei Manor, where 46 Japanese-Americans are spending their old age, is one of a growing number of assisted-living facilities and nursing homes across the nation that cater to first- and second-generation elderly immigrants. It is a fast-growing population that has begun to embrace the very American tradition of living the last years with peers, not family. That phenomenon is driven by two-career families that have little time to care for their parents, increasing wealth for some immigrant populations and gradual acceptance of a lifestyle that was unheard of a generation ago. Assisted-living facilities, which allow the elderly to live independently with some supervision, became popular in America beginning in the 1980's. For many immigrants—and their children—the move into nursing homes or assisted-living facilities runs counter to deeply held beliefs about elders and family. And for some, experts on elderly immigrants say, the decision to send a parent away is clouded with shame and ambivalence. Still, places like Nikkei Manor—where miso soup, soba noodles, red ginger and dark-roasted tea are staples of the daily lunch and dinner menus—are sprouting up at a rapid pace, from Seattle to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, signaling a major shift in how immigrants in this country care for their elders. Summary*
CITY SCENE: HUNTSVILLEThis week, Cathy Guiles, fellow veteran of the Calvin College Chimes, writes of her arrival in Huntsville, Alabama, where she interned this summer as a copy editor for the Huntsville Times. She is currently a copy editor at the Daily Star in Oneonta, New York.
"Yes, I Am A Rocket Scientist," a driver announces via bumper sticker. And it's no joke: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center give Huntsville its nickname, "The Rocket City." Newcomers are greeted by an enormous rocket that sticks out of the ground and creates an odd tableau when viewed against the rolling hills that surround the city. But the shock of the rocket's size is tempered by residents' heartfelt hospitality. This is a forward-thinking "New South" city that holds fast to time-honored traditions. At a church get-together, a Northerner like me who's never drunk sweet tea is quickly initiated by a new acquaintance, and people are too polite to mention my accent (or lack thereof, as it seems to me). Huntsville knows it would not be what it is today without the influence of outsiders, namely the German rocket engineers who arrived in the late 1930s, and hopes its willingness to extend a warm welcome—and a cup of sweet tea—bodes well for its future.
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