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CultureWatch: Jane Fonda and Red Grooms

In This Issue:

Books: In Jane Fonda; The Private Life of a Public Woman, Bosworth explores the ambivalences of Jane Fonda as artist, romantic, businesswoman, femme fatale, and partly finished intellectual.

And Consider This: Red Grooms’ Marlborough Gallery show, New York: 1976-2011, is a madcap collection of paintings, sculptures and walk-through “sculpto-pictoramas” depicting the high-life, low-life and in-between-life of the metropolis.

Books

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman
by Patricia Bosworth
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, © 2011; hardcover, 563 pp

Reviewed by Joan L. Cannon

Writing a biography is a singularly challenging task; writing a biography of a celebrity is almost impossible to accomplish without falling into various pits that open in the path of one pursuing the truth. In addition to research for facts and dates and verifiable data of all kinds, the biographer has to find a way to bring the subject to the page as a person — that is to say, as a character who will engage the reader. The picture has to be true, ought to be objective, must be engaging, cannot be servile, must dance through the legal niceties, and so on. Patricia Bosworth has done an extraordinary job.

The individual who emerges from this exhaustive study remains controversial, enigmatic, admirable and infuriating, strong and neurotic, talented and driven, empathetic yet self-involved. Those who despise Jane Fonda will probably not have their minds changed because Bosworth does nothing to hide the events and quotes that have made those people dislike Jane so much; she does point out both sides of several controversial events. Those with open minds will be pushed back and forth between admiration, incredulity, dislike, and frequent sympathy for a person who has spent an already long life as her own (sadly determined) worst enemy.

Much of this book has the artistry and suspense of fiction. A biographer who stood back and offered ‘just the facts, Ma’am’ would likely not hold readers’ attention long enough to get to the end. The sheer volume would be suffocating. Bosworth manages her material with intuition and skill.

She maintains not just a respectful presence, but injects an outsider’s sympathetic attempts at interpretation without intruding too much on the story she’s telling. Occasionally she allows herself to show her own reactions. This skillful straddle on either side of the facts and their effects on those closest to them was impressive. What led up to what happened is presented, as are the consequences.

The history of Jane’s professional acting career is but part of what made her famous, as is the Hanoi episode, her marriage to Tom Hayden, and her place as the leader of feminist fitness and rejection of age stereotypes. You’ll see the ambivalences of an artist, romantic, businesswoman, femme fatale, and partly finished intellectual. You may come away with an opinion different from the one you held before reading this book, or equally likely, with your original opinion reinforced.

Most of us have a hard time imagining the number of Jane’s liaisons and marriages that, even for Hollywood, are noteworthy. Bosworth makes it possible to understand how some of them came about without making Jane seem to be simply amoral. That question remains open by the end of the book. Bosworth didn’t pull her punches, though, when in the last few pages she quotes Jane’s comment about a breakup after two years of living with a much younger man, which is, “I got bored.”

October 17, 2011
Great Neighborhoods, Streets and Public Spaces

The American Planning Association designated the country’s 10 Great Neighborhoods, 10 Great Streets, and 10 Great Public Spaces for 2011 through the organization’s national program, Great Places in America.

Launched in 2007, Great Places in America recognizes unique and exemplary streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces — three essential components of all communities. These authentic places have been shaped by forward thinking planning that showcases diverse architectural styles, promotes community involvement and accessibility, and fosters economic opportunity.

“We’re recognizing 30 special and unique places this year located across the continent and on two islands — Nantucket and Maui,” said APA Chief Executive Officer W. Paul Farmer, FAICP.

“From Providence, Rhode Island’s historic College Hill neighborhood and St. Louis’s revitalized Washington Avenue to Tacoma, Washington’s Point Defiance old-growth forest and park and Colorado Springs, Colorado’s Garden of the Gods Park,” Farmer continued, “our 2011 Great Places reflect a tremendous amount of history, diversity and economic vitality. We hope they inspire others to envision, plan and create their own great places.”

They are defined by many characteristics including architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement. To date 140 places have been designated in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Great Places in America APA recognizes and celebrates National Community Planning Month (www.planning.org/ncpm) each October. The special month is designed to recognize and celebrate the many residents, leaders, officials, and professionals who contribute to making great communities.

The 2011 designees, listed below, are not ranked. Additional details about each designee are available at www.planning.org/greatplaces.

Illustration is from Wikipedia of the Grizzly Bear Cubs, The Fountain, at the Circle, Berkeley, 1911. Sculpture by Arthur Putnam. Photograph by Allison Welch.

Great Neighborhoods, Streets and Public Places designations follow:

October 12, 2011
Celebrating Dickens’ Bicentennial at the Morgan Library

by Val Castronovo

It seems fitting that a 200th anniversary tribute to Charles Dickens (1812-1870), above all a great wit, would open with a cartoon. The sketch in The New Yorker by J.B. Handelsman features Dickens sitting opposite his editor, who is holding a manuscript of one of his novels. “I wish you would make up your mind, Mr. Dickens. Was it the best of times or was it the worst of times? It could scarcely have been both.”

A Tale of Two Cities does not otherwise figure in this meticulous presentation of manuscripts, books, letters, photos, original illustrations and caricatures at The Morgan Library & Museum, now on view until February 12, 2012, Dickens’ bicentennial birthday. But it serves to whet the appetite for this fascinating sampling of Dickensiana. The Morgan boasts the largest collection of Dickens material in the US, second only to the holdings of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Each display case serves up a treasure and sheds light on a different facet of the life and career of Britain’s “first true literary superstar.” Dickens’ novels, and the films and theatrical productions made in homage to them, are well-known. Less known are his penchant for hypnosis and some of his philanthropic endeavors, the latter of which this exhibit uses as a starting point for its examination of Dickens as social reformer.

In collaboration with British heiress Angela Boudrett-Coudetts, Dickens founded Urania Cottage in 1847, a shelter for “fallen women” — that is, prostitutes and low-level criminals, though he never used the word prostitutes. Letters to Boudrett-Coudetts at the beginning of the show, dated 1846 and 1847, reveal a compassionate, hands-on manager intent on offering a safe haven to, and rehabilitating, the residents of the “Asylum,” beginning with the clothes on their backs: “I have laid in all the dresses and linen of every sort for the whole house . . . I have made them as cheerful in appearance as they reasonably could be — at the same time very neat and modest.”

The show is organized around half a dozen themes — America, Philanthropy, Collaboration, Mesmerization, Christmas Books and Story Weaver. Visitors thrill to the sight of the original story manuscript of A Christmas Carol, 66 pages of heavily revised scrawl, completed in 1843 in a mere six weeks time owing to the author’s “acute” financial woes and the need to publish by Christmas.

October 11, 2011
Sexual Assault, Next Steps for Peace Corps, Subjects of Senate Hearing

From Women’s Policy, Inc:

On October 6, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs held a hearing, “Peace Corps: The Next 50 Years.” This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ establishment by President John Kennedy.

“The Peace Corps, as an agency and as a family, is committed to providing the highest quality support and service to volunteers who have been the victims of sexual violence or other crimes,” said Aaron Williams, director of the Peace Corps. From the moment a volunteer first reports a rape or sexual assault we must be ready, willing, and able to provide compassionate and effective support and assistance … As part of the Peace Corps’ victim-centered approach we have put in place systems to allow victims to report sexual assaults and obtain prompt, compassionate assistance without fear of being judged. Dedicated specialists from the medical, mental health, security, and legal fields are available from Peace Corps headquarters to help volunteers, as needed, with the response and recovery process. The Peace Corps’ Counseling and Outreach Unit at headquarters is key to our victim-centered approach to responding to an emergency. Mental health counselors are available to all volunteers for any of their needs, ranging from routine check-ins to coping with major traumatic events. The Counseling and Outreach Unit is trained to deal with emergencies and offers support to both victims and their families. The unit trains Peace Corps medical staff at posts to provide initial emotional support services to all volunteers, including victims of sexual assault. Should a volunteer need specialized care that is beyond the expertise of Peace Corps medical staff, the Peace Corps will provide access to medical professionals who can effectively support the volunteer’s needs…In addition to providing support to victims, the Peace Corps makes every effort to protect volunteers from sexual violence. Both staff and volunteers participate in regular training on safety and security. This training covers a variety of topics related to sexual assault, and other risks that volunteers may face while serving. The Peace Corps has a reporting system to track and analyze safety and security incidents and the data collected is used to instruct our operations and improve volunteer and staff security. When an assault occurs, we work with our partners in host countries to bring perpetrators to justice. Seventy percent of the rapes, attempted rapes and major sexual assaults of Peace Corps volunteers that took place in 2009 and 2010 and were reported to local authorities resulted in arrests. Forty-six percent have resulted in convictions, and a number of other cases are scheduled for trial or still under investigation.”

Kathy Buller, inspector general for the Peace Corps, said, “In response to a 20/20 broadcast earlier this year and a previous congressional hearing, OIG [Office of the Inspector General] has initiated a review of the agency’s guidelines for responding to rape and major sexual assault, which is ongoing. For the purpose of this review, sexual assaults include incidents in three categories: rape (including attempted rape), major sexual assault, and other sexual assault. Our review is assessing: agency guidelines and protocols for responding to a volunteer sexual assault, including the support provided to volunteer survivors; staff training, roles, and responsibilities for responding to volunteer sexual assault; [and] best practices in responding to sexual assaults that would improve the way Peace Corps responds to volunteer sexual assaults and supports victims.” Ms. Buller continued, “The agency has initiated the following:

October 11, 2011
Progressives Talk Politics, and Protest Politicians

by Jo Freeman

What a difference a little opposition makes.

Last year’s progressive conference was down in the dumps – disappointed by Obama and without direction. This year’s progressive conference, held October 3-5 in Washington, DC, was girding for battle.

For years it called itself Take Back America. After the Democrats captured the federal government in 2008, many thought progressives had done just that. But after calling itself “Our Future, Now” for two years it has returned to oppositional mode with a demand to Take Back the American Dream.

The motivator was the Tea Party – seen as a grass roots social movement that stands for almost everything progressives are against. Impressed with how the Republican candidates for President pander to its power, progressives displayed a grim determination not to let them take over all branches of government.

The inspiration was Occupy Wall Street, which was into its third week. This spontaneous uprising by young people which has filled the streets of lower Manhattan prompted a bad case of protest envy among the older crowd attending the DC conference. Pretty much everyone wished they were there.

The heros of the conference were the public employees of Wisconsin and Ohio, several of whom told a couple hundred attentive listeners what they were doing to take back their state governments.

Last August Wisconsin voted to recall two Republican state legislators for voting for a law to limit the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers. In November the unions will start petitioning to recall Governor Scott Walker.

In Ohio, where a similar law was passed, 1.6 million people signed a petition to put a repeal measure on the ballot. Voters will decide its fate in November.

There were a lot of speeches on what the American Dream meant, with one common theme – this isn’t it. Like the Tea Party, the torpid economy is seen as the primary problem. Unlike the Tea Party, the cure is seen as “Jobs, Not Cuts.”

This year, conference organizers did not have to cope with disruptive protests from the floor, as has happened in the past.

President Obama and his promises were among the missing. Robert Reich, Clinton’s first Labor Secretary, told everyone that they need to re-elect Obama and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said he approved of the Obama jobs bill. Those were among the few mentions the President got.

In 2008 progressives were giddy with anticipation; in 2010 they were depressed with disappointment.

In 2011, President Obama wasn’t even present as a ghost. No one from his administration was invited to speak and his policies weren’t discussed. This year’s cheers for public officials went to half a dozen members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Wisconsin firefighters in their dress uniforms.

October 11, 2011
Why Worry? Relationships and GAD

Most people worry from time to time. A new research study, led by a Case Western Reserve University faculty member in psychology, also shows that worrying can be so intrusive and obsessive that it interferes in the person’s life and endangers the health of social relationships. These people suffer from what’s called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), says Case Western Reserve psychologist Amy Przeworski.

Individuals with GAD frequently put social relationships with family, friends, or coworkers at the top of their lists of worries, but the negative methods they use to cope — from over nurturing to extreme detachment — may be destructive.

Przeworski and colleagues at Penn State University observed that people in therapy for GAD manifested their worries in different ways based on how they interact with other people. In two studies the researchers found four distinct interactive styles prominent among people with GAD — intrusive, cold, nonassertive and exploitable.

Both studies supported the presence of these four interpersonal styles and their significant role in how people with GAD manifested their worrying. “All individuals with these styles worried to the same extent and extreme, but manifested those worries in different ways,” Przeworski said.

Take the examples of two people with similar worries about someone’s health and safety. One person may exhibit that worry through frequent intrusive expressions of concern for the other person. Think of the parent or spouse who calls every five minutes to get an update on what’s happening. Another person may exhibit the worry by criticizing the behaviors that the person believes to be careless or reckless.

“The worry may be similar, but the impact of the worry on their interpersonal relationships would be extremely different. This suggests that interpersonal problems and worry may be intertwined,” Przeworski says. She suggests that therapies to treat GAD should target both the worry and the related interpersonal problems.

Most treatments for GAD rely on cognitive behavioral therapy, a treatment that is usually successful for about 60 percent of people, a percentage considered successful in therapy. However, one way to improve therapy for worriers may be to integrate techniques that target the interpersonal relationship problems.

The researchers published their findings in the article, “Interpersonal Pathoplasticity in Individuals With Generalized Anxiety Disorder,” in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and called for integrating the therapies for worrying and relationship issues.

In addition to Przeworski, contributing to the study were Pennsylvania State University researchers: Michelle G. Newman, Aaron L. Pincus, Michele B. Kasoff, Alissa S. Yamasaki and Louis G. Castonguay. The research was part of larger study supported by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Click on the link below to download a brief sound bite from Amy Przeworksi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi1MYVDwBp8

The National Institute of Mental Health has posted sources and an article for those who have GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): When Worry Gets Out of Control).

October 10, 2011
As States Cut Aid, Localities Learn to Do Less With Less

By Rob Gurwitt, Special to *Stateline, The Pew Center on the States

You can get accustomed to hard times, and over the last few years Ohio’s towns and cities learned to scrape by. Faced with the long-term decay of Rust Belt manufacturing and the financial travails of homeowners, banks and businesses of all sorts, they watched their tax revenues shrink and did their best to adjust. They deferred road maintenance. They laid off employees and delayed new hires. They reorganized departments, merged positions, and generally looked for any means of saving a few dollars.

Then, this past summer, the state decided to step in. Only not with a helping hand.

“Local governments need to change the way they do business,” Republican Governor John Kasich announced. And in the budget that took effect July 1, he and the GOP-controlled legislature made sure that if towns, cities and counties hadn’t already changed their ways during the Great Recession, they would have no choice from here on out.

The state’s leaders cut what is known as the Local Government Fund — a Depression-era vehicle through which the state sends a portion of sales and income taxes back to the communities that provide them — along with two other funds local governments relied on heavily. In the case of the Local Government Fund, a quarter of the $665 million handed out last fiscal year will remain in Columbus this fiscal year; next year it will be half. That move is expected to save the fiscally strapped state some $400 to $500 million over the biennium.

The state’s gain, though, is local governments’ loss. In the words of Tim Riordan, the city manager of Dayton, “We took it on the chin.”

At least local government aid in Ohio merely got lopped in half. In Nebraska, Republican Governor Dave Heineman and the legislature erased state aid to cities and counties entirely. That move, which helped the state close its budget gap to the tune of $44 million over two years, blew a $3.3 million hole in Omaha’s municipal budget this year and cost Lincoln $1.8 million — not devastating for Lincoln, which has a $140 million general fund, but part of an overall revenue decline that has forced it to raise taxes and fees.

Of course, even cities and towns in Nebraska might look with compassion on their counterparts in Michigan. Since 2000, that state has cut almost $5 billion in spending that used to go to local units of government. There, too, cities have cut back on services, laid off workers, put off hiring, merged departments and positions, and renegotiated labor contracts. But now, in a state where local governments have long had only limited means of raising revenue, the GOP-led legislature is considering repealing the personal property tax, about 80 percent of which goes to local governments and the rest to school districts. This move could cost Detroit some $51 million, and other cities and towns anywhere from 17 to 57 percent of their revenues. “I don’t think there’s a good sense in Lansing for the impact of what they’re doing to local government,” says Gretchen Driskell, the mayor of Saline, a town of about 9,000, south of Ann Arbor. “We’re getting by, but I just don’t know how much longer we can go on.”

Plenty of other states this year, including Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, cut direct state aid, revenue sharing, or funds for specific local services. That’s on top of big local-aid cuts in other states over the past few years. “Over the last three or four decades, every time there’s been a recession and states have made cuts, those aid programs have taken the hit,” says Chris Hoene, director of the Center on Research and Innovation at the National League of Cities. “Often they were replaced or backfilled, but then, over time and with the next recession, that reimbursement piece has gotten yanked.”

October 10, 2011
Making the Macintosh, Stanford Library’s Electronic Archive

Historiographic Approach

Making the Macintosh is principally an effort at documentation. Its electronic archive consists of material from collections at Stanford, and newly-published material from the private collections of people involved in the history of the Macintosh. But even archival projects have historiographic assumptions: in making choices about what facts and materials are worth preserving, archivists make judgments similar to those made by historians while writing. The reasoning behind the specific choice of subjects covered in Release 1.0 is discussed elsewhere; the purpose of this document is to explain the theoretical premises underlying this project.

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

One basic premise of this project is that technologies must be understood as devices that have social, cultural, and symbolic lives. The history of a popular technology like the Mac has to include the perspectives of its designers; the people who write about it; its early users; and creators of supporting technology, like software and peripherals. This means that many different kinds of documents need to be preserved: technical specifications, project reports, source code, drawings and schematics, but also marketing plans, focus group studies, commercial storyboards, product reviews, and user manuals.

The project is a social history in another respect. Since the 1960s, social historians of work, warfare, and gender (among others) have proven the value of paying attention to people who had not traditionally been included in academic history. Military historians John Keegan and Steven Ambrose have shown that it is impossible to understand the nature of combat — and hence the essential nature of warfare — without writing about soldiers in the field as well as the generals. Labor historian E. P. Thompson’s classic studies of the English working class not only revealed much about the dynamics of the Industrial Revolution; they also uncovered rich intellectual traditions from (as Thompson put it) “the enormous condescension of history.”

Earlier work on the Macintosh has focused on Steve Jobs and a small group of software and hardware developers who were featured in the computer’s advertising campaign. Everyone who received attention deserved credit; but there were others who contributed to the project who have been overlooked. This project seeks to tell the stories of people who have not been included in earlier account: technical writers who created the documentation for the Mac; marketing people who developed the advertising messages for Mac promotions; enthusiasts who organized user groups around the Mac; industry analysts and journalists who wrote about it; and others. By doing so, we will learn things about the way the Macintosh evolved.

AN ELECTRONIC HISTORY

The exhibit also uses the multimedia capacities of the World Wide Web to present the diversity of sources and voices available to historians writing on the recent past. This gives readers the chance to see the primary materials for themselves, and allows the sources– both the artifacts and the people who created them— to speak for themselves. It also provides a chance to experiment with ways historical practice can be improved by giving readers access to primary material along with finished analyses.

Home | Approach | Credits | Feedback
Archive: Primary Documents | Images | Interviews
Subjects: Counterculture | Early Mac | Mouse | Technical Writing | Marketing | User Groups

(Document created on 26 July 2000; This version published on 10/07/2011 18:43:25)

Illustration © Matthieu Riegler, CC-BY, Wikimedia Commons

October 7, 2011
Daphne Guinness at FIT’s Museum

While there have been many exhibitions devoted to great fashion designers, only a few have focused on individual women of style. Yet certain singular women play a crucial role in fashion. Known as fashion or style icons, they are a special type of fashion insider, one who not only inspires designers and brings their clothes to life, but actually creates a look that affects the way other people dress and/or think about dressing.

Daphne Guinness, one of today’s most original fashion icons, is the subject of the exhibition Daphne Guinness at The Museum at FIT. On view through January 7, 2012, the exhibition will feature approximately 100 garments and accessories from Guinness’s personal collection, plus films, videos, and images of and by her.

From her platinum-and-black striped hair to her towering ten-inch heels, from her to-die-for couture collection to her amazing jewelry, Daphne Guinness completely embodies the rarified personal style of a fashion icon. “She is one of the — if not the — most stylish women living,” says designer and film director Tom Ford. Her fans in the blogosphere describe her as “the ultimate fashion fantasy.”

Shirt and jacket by

Guinness

Red suede shoes by Nina Ricci

Dress by Alexander McQueen

Daphne Guinness will reveal how she is only a serious collector of couture but also a creative force in her own right and how she uses fashion to transform herself. As her friend art historian John Richardson, puts it: “She’s the object of her own creativity. Her persona is her own masterpiece.”

Coat by Valentino

Dress by Alaia

Coat by Lacroix

October 6, 2011
GAO Investigates Instances of Questionable Access to Prescription Drugs

Why GAO Did This Study

In 2009, GAO reported on doctor shopping in Medicaid, where individuals see several doctors and pharmacies, receiving more of a drug than was intended by any single physician. Questions have been raised about whether similar activity exists in Medicare Part D.

GAO was asked to (1) determine the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries obtained frequently abused drugs from multiple prescribers, (2) identify examples of doctor shopping activity, and (3) determine the actions taken by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to limit access to drugs for known abusers. To meet the objectives, GAO analyzed Medicare Part D claims for calendar year 2008 to identify potential doctor shoppers. To identify examples, GAO chose a nonrepresentative selection of 10 beneficiaries based on a number of factors, including the number of prescribers. GAO also interviewed policy officials from CMS and from prescription drug plans that administer the drug benefit program.

What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that CMS review its findings and consider steps such as a restricted recipient program for identified doctor shoppers and seek congressional authority, as appropriate. CMS agreed with the overall recommendation to improve its efforts to curb overutilization in Part D, but disagreed that a restricted recipient program is necessarily the appropriate control for the Part D program.

What GAO Found

GAO found indications of doctor shopping in the Medicare Part D program for 14 categories of frequently abused prescription drugs. About 170,000 beneficiaries (about 1.8 percent of beneficiaries receiving these 14 categories of drugs) acquired the same class of frequently abused drugs, primarily hydrocodone and oxycodone, from five or more medical practitioners during calendar year 2008 at a cost of about $148 million (about 5 percent of the total cost for these drugs).

About 120,000 of these beneficiaries were eligible for Medicare Part D because of a disability. There may be justifiable reasons for receiving prescriptions from multiple medical practitioners, such as visiting specialists or several prescribers in the same medical group. However, one individual received prescriptions from 87 different medical practitioners in 2008. In such situations, there is heightened concern that Medicare beneficiaries are seeing several medical practitioners to support and disguise an addiction.

GAO judgmentally selected 10 beneficiaries and found that they were doctor shopping for prescription drugs. These cases are among the more egregious and cannot be generalized beyond the examples presented.

CMS has systems in place to identify individuals with doctor shopping behavior; however, according to CMS policy officials, federal law may not authorize them to restrict these individuals’ access to drugs, including highly abused drugs, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone. One option to control doctor shopping used by Medicaid and some private sector plans is the restricted recipient program. It limits individuals identified as doctor shoppers to one prescriber, one pharmacy, or both for receiving prescriptions. There are issues to consider with a restricted recipient program, such as potentially denying legitimate drug needs and unknown administrative costs. These issues should be balanced against the potential protections such a program can provide. Doctor shopping for frequently abused drugs can increase the cost of the Part D program and jeopardize patient care. Controls proven to reduce doctor shopping could be considered by CMS.

October 5, 2011