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We lost a great artist this week, Sonny Rollins. More on him below.
The current Pope is kind of great. In a recent address, he apologized specifically for the Vatican’s role in the slave trade. In the same breath, he spoke at length about the dangers of AI. In a report from AP News, the Pope’s sweeping “manifesto” is about safeguarding humanity in an era of increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. Leo raised the slave trade in relation to what he called the new forms of slavery and colonialism that the digital revolution is fueling. This is incredibly forward thinking, and just what we need. I am not a religious person, but this to me is the perfect blend of religious belief and contemporary problems.
Another big shift happened last night in primary elections, this time in Texas. In the GOP Primary for the Senate, Texans decided they would rather have a scandal-plagued, corrupt candidate backed by Trump than the incumbent John Cornyn. Cornyn was an old-fashioned Republican who worked to negotiate with the other side. I am not saying this form of legislative work is gone forever, but under Trump it is dwindling. It’s my way or no way is the MAGA moto. From Politico:
“Paxton’s supporters have long shrugged off his long trail of criminal and ethics investigations, impeachment by the state legislature and ongoing divorce, complete with accusations of infidelity, believing that his commitment to carrying the MAGA torch was more important than corruption allegations or a messy personal life.”
Analysts are trying to gage whether or not last night’s election of Paxton is a good thing for Dems. He will be up against Rep. James Talarico, a faith-on-his-sleeve politician who has been campaigning with the likes of Barack Obama. Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. The Democrats need to keep all their Senate seats and win four new ones to take back control of the Senate from the GOP. We shall see, it’s going to be nasty leading up to November.
But I think Trump Effect, his influence on these races, will fail.
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Rep Al Green was defeated last night, ending his 20 years in the House. Rep. Christian Menefee defeated Green on Tuesday in the Democratic runoff for Houston’s newly redrawn 18th Congressional District. The above is a drawing I did of Green during one of Trump’s State of The Union Addresses, when Green was escorted out for being loud and passionate about his hatred towards Trump.
Sonny Rollins died at age 95 this week; he was one of the jazz giants. Here is a good piece in The New Yorker about him, and here is the NY Times Obit. While I don’t pretend to know a lot about him, I have been aware of Rollins all my life. I love his work.
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Rollins seemed to be someone who was always searching, experimenting, which speaks to me as an artist. Reading his obit, I learned that as a young man, he considered being a painter, even while playing music also at an early age. The arts are not as different from one another as we want to believe sometimes.
“The music I play is too big to be put into any one style,” he told an interviewer in 2002. “Every time I pick up the horn, I want to hear something fresh.”
In 2017, a bill was introduced in the New York City Council to rename the Williamsburg Bridge in his honor, a bridge he spent a lot of time practicing under. The bill did not pass, but the campaign to have the bridge renamed has continued. Hope it happens, that would be so great.
I bought the poster of this historic photo years ago. I grew up with jazz, and became a huge fan of Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner and other pianists—because I played the piano as a kid. I told my patient teacher I did not want to play classical so he taught me ragtime. Rollins was someone I admired, the saxaphone being my second favorite jazz instrument after the piano.
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