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cultureboxCultureboxArts, entertainment, and more.2NA=1154&NC=1208&DI=4098&PS=58310&PI=7315CultureboxfalsefalseError:System.Xml.XmlException: This is an unexpected token. The expected token is 'EQUALS'. Line 2, position 30. at System.Xml.XmlScanner.ScanToken(Int32 expected) at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.SetLiteralValues(XmlAttributeTokenInfo fld) at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.SetAttributeValues() at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.ParseElement() at System.Xml.XmlTextReader.Read() at System.Xml.XmlValidatingReader.ReadNoCollectTextToken() at System.Xml.XmlValidatingReader.Read() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadCurrentNode() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc) at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml) at Publisher.PageBase.ExpandPage(Stack PageStack)CulturespacernotembeddedcultureboxThe Soiling of Old GloryLouis P. MasurThe photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis: How it was taken, and why it still matters.noThe Soiling of Old GloryThe story of the photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide show on The Soiling of Old Glory.falsefalse1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132780755202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132780755202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278075520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Soiling of Old Glory9407351/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132782317702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132782317702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278231770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM6334334613700000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132783880202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132783880202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278388020false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn his recent speech on race, Barack Obama spoke about the legacy of racial hatred and resentment in America. One of the events he probably had in mind was the controversy over busing that erupted in Boston in the mid-1970s. A single photograph epitomized for Americans the meaning and horror of the crisis. On April 5, 1976, at an anti-busing rally at City Hall Plaza, Stanley Forman, a photographer for the Boston Herald-American, captured a teenager as he transformed the American flag into a weapon directed at the body of a black man. It is the ultimate act of desecration, performed in the year of the bicentennial and in the shadows of Boston's Old State House. Titled The Soiling of Old Glory, the photograph appeared in newspapers around the country and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. The image shattered the illusion that racial segregation and hatred were strictly a Southern phenomenon. For many, Boston now seemed little different than Birmingham.In 2006, when Deval Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Globe expressed hope that his inauguration would "finally wash away the shameful stain of that day in 1976." Last June, however, a Supreme Court ruling forbade school districts from assigning students based on their race, and Patrick's administration has been forced to find ways to avoid dismantling desegregation programs throughout Massachusetts. The issue, and the photograph, continue to haunt Boston, and the nation.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/1_soiling.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/1_soiling.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132785442702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132785442702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278544270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph © Stanley J. Forman.20084920538PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:38 PM63343346738000000020084920538PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:38 PM633433467380000000 spaceryeshyperlinkIn September 1974, a federal court ordered that the busing of students was one of the remedies to be used in desegregating Boston's public schools. Protests and violence erupted in predominantly white South Boston. Opponents denounced "forced busing" and took every opportunity to organize and march in opposition. By April 1976, these rallies had become commonplace, and Forman, dispatched by the Herald-American to take a photo of the latest one, was in no rush to get to City Hall. Before heading over, he stopped first to visit his girlfriend, who worked nearby. The delay rewarded him. Because he was behind the pack of protesters and reporters, he had a long view of the melee. Using a Nikon with a 20-millimeter lens, he steadied himself and snapped. The motor drive froze, so he switched to manual, which forced him to take individual shots of the action. He didn't know what he had until he got into the darkroom. Later, some commentators would criticize the photographers on hand that day for not coming to the victim's aid. But in a sense, with his camera, Forman had.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/2_formantaking.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/2_formantaking.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132787005202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132787005202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278700520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph courtesy Stanley J. Forman.20084920552PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:52 PM63343346752000000020084920552PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:05:52 PM633433467520000000spaceryeshyperlinkForman was already an accomplished photographer. The previous year, he had followed a firetruck to the scene of a fire in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. He instinctively ran to the back of the building, where he saw a fireman climbing down from the roof onto a fifth-floor fire escape to rescue a 19-year-old girl and her 2-year-old goddaughter. As a firetruck extended its ladder toward the girls and their would-be rescuer, the fire escape collapsed. The firefighter pulled himself to safety, but the woman and child plunged to the ground. Forman kept shooting, then looked away. Still shaking, he developed his pictures and found this chilling shot of woman and child in free fall. (Forman would learn later that the woman had died but the child had survived.) The photograph would lead to stricter fire escape regulations, and it would win Forman the first of his two consecutive Pulitzers.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/3_fire-escape.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/3_fire-escape.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132788567702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132788567702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113278856770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph © Stanley J. Forman.20084920634PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:06:34 PM63343346794000000020084920634PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:06:34 PM633433467940000000spaceryeshyperlinkBefore the busing protestors poured out onto the plaza, they had gathered in city council chambers, where they were greeted warmly by Louise Day Hicks, the city council president and a leading opponent of busing. She served the students hot chocolate and then led them in reciting the pledge of allegiance. Joseph Rakes, a South Boston teen, had grabbed the family flag before heading out to the rally that morning. He stands, hand-over-heart, with his classmates and friends. The students were angry because their parents were angry—because their neighborhood felt under assault, and because for nearly two years, ever since the federal judge had ordered busing, life had not been the same: classes disrupted, police at the schools, national media in the streets. That anger would soon be directed at Theodore Landsmark, a lawyer hurrying to a meeting at City Hall on behalf of the Contractor's Association for which he worked.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/4_pledge.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/4_pledge.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132790130202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132790130202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279013020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920716PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:16 PM63343346836000000020084920716PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:16 PM633433468360000000spaceryeshyperlinkSpotting Landsmark, one protester yelled a racial epithet. Suddenly a student stepped forward and punched him. Another hit him as well. He was kicked, and he fell to the ground. As he rose, Rakes came at him with the flag. The entire incident lasted 15 or 20 seconds.Though he was at City Hall on routine business that day, Landsmark, a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, was a veteran of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. He had marched from Selma to Montgomery and attended King's funeral. At the hospital, following his beating, he made certain that his broken nose was bandaged in such a way as to draw maximum attention. He held a press conference two days after the assault. In a remarkable speech, he said he did not blame those who attacked him. Indeed, he said he identified with them as poor, working-class victims of a system that used race to mask deeper economic divisions in American society. "We continue to need jobs and housing and high quality education and human decency" for all people, he said.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/5_landsmark_bandaged.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/5_landsmark_bandaged.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132791692702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132791692702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279169270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920730PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:30 PM63343346850000000020084920730PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:30 PM633433468500000000spaceryeshyperlinkForman's photograph appeared on the front page of the Herald-American. (At the time, the quarto-size paper was owned by the Hearst Corp. and competed with the Globe for hard-news stories; it would be transformed into a tabloid after it was sold to Rupert Murdoch in 1982.) Forman's image also appeared in newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle. But it almost didn't appear at all. The Herald-American editors vigorously debated whether publishing the photograph would further inflame an already explosive racial situation that had made national headlines for nearly two years. They feared reprisals and increased violence. In the end, they published, believing the image was too important to suppress. Had Howard Hughes not died the same day, the photograph might have occupied even more space above the fold.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/6_front-page.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/6_front-page.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132796380202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132796380202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279638020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Boston Herald. Photograph originally published in the Boston Herald-American.20084920744PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:44 PM63343346864000000020084920744PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:44 PM633433468640000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe photograph had an instant and profound impact. At the Boston State House, legislators debated a resolution condemning the attack. It passed by voice vote, with some representatives choosing not to vote. Mayor Kevin White, who had witnessed the assault from his office window, and Gov. Michael Dukakis denounced racism and mob violence. One minister warned that war was being declared against the black citizens of Boston, while other religious leaders called for calm. The opponents of busing did not defend the attack, but they did blame the media for one-sided reporting, saying that the news seldom reported busing-related incidents in which whites were the victims.An outburst of retaliatory violence led to the brutal beating of Richard Poleet, a car mechanic who was driving through mostly black Roxbury. An anti-violence march organized by the mayor drew thousands, though not the leaders of either the black caucus or the anti-busing activists. Later in the year, the Socialist Workers Party used Forman's photograph as a presidential election poster: "200 Years of Racism Is Enough." The socialist candidate received the most votes that year in the history of the party.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/7_socialist_workers.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/7_socialist_workers.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132797942702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132797942702008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279794270false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920757PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:57 PM63343346877000000020084920757PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:07:57 PM633433468770000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn looking at Forman's photograph, viewers made connections to other images, but in particular to Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre. The visual parallels are striking. Both images depict enclosed spaces from which there is no escape. Both contain powerful horizontal lines—the flag, the rifles—that guide the eye. Indeed, the Landsmark incident occurred within shouting distance of the site of the Boston Massacre, which counted a black sailor named Crispus Attucks among its victims. It wasn't long before Landsmark was compared to Attucks, held up as a 20th-century victim of the struggle against oppression. Ebony asked what Attucks would have thought of the assault and concluded that "he would have understood the racism ... but it is doubtful he would have understood the insensitivity of public officials." Landsmark himself made the connection as well, saying to a reporter after the incident that the assault occurred not far from where "Crispus Attucks ... got his."spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/8_bostonmassacre.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/8_bostonmassacre.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132799505202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM6334351132799505202008411114847AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:47 PM633435113279950520false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920835PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:35 PM63343346915000000020084920835PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:35 PM633433469150000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Soiling of Old Glory was also compared to Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi. Often considered the finest spot-news photograph ever taken, and certainly the most widely reproduced, Rosenthal's photograph stood as a symbol of all that was glorious about the United States: six faceless men united in effort, their exertion a perfect ballet of balance and form. No less a figure than Sen. Ted Kennedy made the connection a few weeks after Forman's photograph appeared: "There are two pictures in which the American flag has appeared that have made the most powerful impact on me. The first was that of Iwo Jima in World War II. The second was that shown here in Massachusetts two weeks ago in which the American flag appeared to have been used in the attempted garroting of an individual solely on the basis of his color."spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/9_iwojima.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/9_iwojima.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132801067702008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132801067702008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM633435113280106770false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph by Joe Rosenthal. Courtesy the Library of Congress.20084920847PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:47 PM63343346927000000020084920847PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:08:47 PM633433469270000000spaceryeshyperlinkAfrican-Americans have often sought to show their patriotism by taking ownership of the flag. It is no accident that Barack Obama delivered his speech on race with flags displayed in the background. During the civil rights movement, activists waved the flag as a symbol of justice and equality and embraced it as representing their struggle. Forman's photograph disturbed viewers for many reasons, but none more so than the use of the flag to puncture the dream of inclusion. Unfortunately, that dream is still far from being fulfilled. On Sept. 1, 2005, Associated Press photographer Eric Gay took this shot of 84-year-old Milvertha Hendricks waiting in the rain outside the Convention Center in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her brow is furrowed, and her eyes stare blankly forward. The fingers of her right hand slip beneath the fabric that provides her only shelter. The flag has become a mourning shawl. She appears to be waiting for deliverance and wondering whether it will ever come.spacer600450nono1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/10_milvertha.JPGhttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/123050/2180573/2188133/2188647/10_milvertha.JPG600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132802630202008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM6334351132802630202008411114848AMFridayAprApril114/11/2008 3:48:48 PM633435113280263020false20084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM63343346137000000020084915537PMWednesdayAprApril134/9/2008 5:55:37 PM633433461370000000Photograph by Eric Gay/AP.20084920921PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:09:21 PM63343346961000000020084920921PMWednesdayAprApril144/9/2008 6:09:21 PM633433469610000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on the photograph that captured Boston's busing crisis.truenotochyperlinkno200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000200841070059AMThursdayAprApril74/10/2008 11:00:59 AM633434076590000000cultureboxIt's Me in That 9/11 PhotoWalter Sipser was in that picture Frank Rich wrote about. Here's what he thinks of Rich's column.noIt's Me in That 9/11 PhotoI was in that 9/11 photo Frank Rich wrote about. Here's what I think about his column.noYesterday, Slate posted this piece criticizing Frank Rich's New York Times column about the 9/11 photo shown here. The picture was taken by Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker on the afternoon of 9/11. Calling the image "shocking," Rich suggested that the five New Yorkers were "relaxing" and were already "mov[ing] on" from the attacks. Slate's David Plotz disputed that characterization of the picture, arguing that the subjects had almost certainly gathered to discuss the attacks and to find solace in others' company. Rather than showing callousness, as Rich suggested, it depicted civic engagement. But since neither Rich nor Plotz knew exactly what the five New Yorkers in the photo were doing or thinking, we invited them to contact Slate and tell us.truenotochyperlinkno200691333014PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/13/2006 7:30:14 PM632937582140000000200691333014PMWednesdaySepSeptember159/13/2006 7:30:14 PM632937582140000000cultureboxIt Takes a HorseMeghan O'RourkeHow America became obsessed with Barbaro.noIt Takes a HorseAmerica's love for Barbaro.noAfter the breakdown of Barbaro in the Preakness Stakes the other week, an astounding outpouring of emotion deluged the pages of newspapers and newsmagazines across the country. "Brave Barbaro, His Owners Must Love Him," proclaimed the Wall Street Journal. "Now's a Time for Healing, for Barbaro and for Matz," noted the New York Times, staunchly. An op-ed writer for the Times offered up a ponderous, if accurate, rationale for why Americans feel so strongly about a horse most had never heard of until a few weeks earlier: Horseracing is dangerous, and so we feel cruel when these "wordless creatures" hurt themselves for our entertainment. Well, yes. But horses—even famous horses, like Go for Wand—break down all the time while racing. What that columnist and other essayists have failed to answer is a deeper question: Why this horse, and why with this much feeling?truenotochyperlinkno200661110209AMThursdayJunJune116/1/2006 3:02:09 PM632847565290000000200661110209AMThursdayJunJune116/1/2006 3:02:09 PM632847565290000000cultureboxFight SnubDavid FellerathHow Cinderella Man sucker punches the Jewish boxer Max Baer.noFight SnubHow Cinderella Man sucker punches the Jewish boxer Max Baer.noAttentive viewers of the climactic fight of Cinderella Man, Ron Howard's Depression-era crowd-pleaser, will notice a Star of David on the red trunks of Max Baer, the lethal opponent of Jim "Cinderella Man" Braddock. The star is significantly less prominent than the one that the real Baer wore in the 1935 fight. It's no surprise that Howard would obscure this detail, as it would complicate his film's Rocky-meets-Seabiscuit narrative. What's funny, and ironic, is that by downplaying Baer's Star of David, Howard may be making an accurate historical comment: Baer was the only self-proclaimed Jew to ever claim the heavyweight crown. But was he really even Jewish?truenotochyperlinkno20056235122PMThursdayJunJune156/2/2005 7:51:22 PM63253324282000000020056235122PMThursdayJunJune156/2/2005 7:51:22 PM632533242820000000cultureboxTowering BabelAlex AbramovichA new translation makes the mighty author stoop.noTowering BabelTowering BabelnoTranslating one of Isaac Babel's stories is no easy task. Translating all of them is less a task than a calling. So while neat, two-volume editions of Babel's collected works have circulated in Russia since the waning days of Perestroika, English speakers have had to stitch together more than a dozen translations, some out of print since the 1930s, to get a full sense of his range. The discrepancy between Babel's influence and the availability of his work has always been striking.truenotochyperlinkno20011024123401PMWednesdayOctOctober1210/24/2001 4:34:01 PM6313952364100000002001102925014PMMondayOctOctober1410/29/2001 6:50:14 PM631399638140000000200311442640PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:40 PM631781584000000000200311442640PMTuesdayJanJanuary161/14/2003 9:26:40 PM631781584000000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue20011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM63139043683000000020011029115031AMMondayOctOctober1110/29/2001 3:50:31 PM631399530310000000The Cultural UnconsciousLawrence WeschlerspacerLawrenceWeschlerfalse13856914-738-4078103 Highbrook,Pelham,NY10803USA549-72-1288 SS#111209720011018111443PMThursdayOctOctober2310/19/2001 3:14:43 AM6313904368300000002001101875453PMThursdayOctOctober1910/18/2001 11:54:53 PM631390316930000000leftyesspacer/Slate247/Monica-nyer.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediafalse200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488471581200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488471581200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488471581Pfalse2001101930155AMFridayOctOctober310/19/2001 7:01:55 AM6313905731500000002001101930155AMFridayOctOctober310/19/2001 7:01:55 AM631390573150000000leftyesspacer/Slate247/990304_Monica-Barbara.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediafalse200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488627837200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488627837200962322408AMTuesdayJunJune26/23/2009 6:24:08 AM633813206488627837Pfalse2001101950846AMFridayOctOctober510/19/2001 9:08:46 AM6313906492600000002001101950846AMFridayOctOctober510/19/2001 9:08:46 AM631390649260000000After The New Yorker ran Dean Rohrer's melded image of Monica Lisa (or the Mona Lewinsky) on its February 8th cover, there sprang up a fierce little boomlet in letters to the editor from, and feature stories about, other artists who claimed to have harbored virtually the same idea considerably earlier on. Richard Alden, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, claimed to have assigned precisely such a blended image as a project for the eighteen students in his visual communications class last October and had consistently been selling out T-shirt versions of the most successful rendition (by a sophomore named Alysia DeAntonio) at a local bagel shop ever since. John Cuneo, who had indeed published an ink-sketch cartoon of a mustachioed Monica as Mona Lisa a month prior in the Wall Street Journal, faxed a friend in The New Yorker 's art department, "If this was my concept, and if she didn't have a mustache, and if you could copyright ideas, you people would be hearing from my lawyer (if I had a lawyer)."Rohrer, for his part, insisted, entirely credibly, that the idea had occurred to him independently (sparked, he explained, by the naggingly familiar smile plastered across the face of a single particular newsphoto of Ms. Lewinsky). "It's one of those ideas," he assured a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, so obvious "that, when you think of it, you say, 'Why didn't I think of it before?'" Evidently many people had, though David Remnick, The New Yorker's editor, insisted this was the first version he'd ever encountered. And anyway, as Remnick noted, "The only artist with any claim here is Marcel Duchamp, who started the whole joke of messing around with the Mona Lisa a long time ago."Remnick's comment reminded me of a recent spate of research by the artist Rhonda Roland Shearer (detailed in the February 1999 Art News). Shearer has fairly conclusively shown that Duchamp's infamous gesture in affixing a mustache to the Mona Lisa was never as simple as it first appeared; that in fact Duchamp had subtly superimposed a photo of his own strangely feminine face onto Da Vinci's portrait, before penciling in the wicked little mustache and goatee. Shearer's intuition in turn dovetails neatly over decades of prior academic speculation to the effect that Da Vinci had superimposed a version of his own face (minus the beard and mustache) onto that of his mysterious female sitter.All of which is kind of neat. But here's where things get really weird. Because The New Yorker's cover had already been on the stands for almost a month when the real Monica Lewinksy, the actual person, was required to sit for a sort of official portrait, alongside Barbara Walters, as advance publicity for their celebrated televised interview of March 3. That photo in turn ran in newspapers and newsweeklies around the country. And look at the part in her hair, look at the slope of her shoulders, the dark dress, the conspicuously Monaesque smile. Look at those hands!Years ago, the British art critic John Berger pointed out how the Bolivian officers and soldiers who captured and slew Che Guevara all subsequently knew exactly where to stand in relation to their felled prize for the photographer; and the photographer in turn knew precisely how to frame them: the authority figure and his cohort arrayed officiously behind the naked corpse, which was spread along a slab. The proper postures had been hotwired, as it were, into their consciousnesses by their exposure to Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson--a painting so famous even a Bolivian peasant would know it. An almost identical process--a sort of cultural/journalistic feedback loop--would seem to be at work here as well.--Lawrence Weschler(Photograph of Barbara Walters and Monica Lewinsky by Virginia Sherwood/Reuters.) 10ArtArtA10Wall Street JournalWall Street JournalW10PhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaP10ShearerShearerS10David RemnickRemnick, David People10EditorEditorE10Letters to the editorLetters to the editorL10Monica LewinskyLewinsky, Monica People10MonicaMonicaM10Barbara WaltersWalters, Barbara People10The Wall Street JournalWall Street Journal, TheW1After The New Yorker ran Dean Rohrer's melded image of Monica Lisa (or the Mona Lewinsky) on its February 8th cover, there sprang up a fierce little boomlet in letters to the editor from, and feature stories about, other artists who claimed to have harbored virtually the same idea considerably earlier on. Richard Alden, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, claimed to have assigned precisely such a blended image as a project for the eighteen students in his visual communications class last October and had consistently been selling out T-shirt versions of the most successful rendition (by a sophomore named Alysia DeAntonio) at a local bagel shop ever since.0000false2310falsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalsefalse247199931145326PMThursdayMarMarch163/11/1999 9:53:26 PM630567680060000000199931145326PMThursdayMarMarch163/11/1999 9:53:26 PM630567680060000000