Bookworm

Rest in peace, Bobby, and God Bless You

"Bobby Murcer, a personable, popular five-time All-Star who went on to a successful broadcasting career with the New York Yankees, died Saturday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 62." [YESNetwork.com: News]

"Michael Kay:  I have never in my life met a famous person more down to earth and more real than Bobby Murcer. He was my idol growing up, and he lived up to everything a young man could dream his idol could be. To get a chance to work with him was one of the great joys of my career. I miss him already and I'll miss him always. God got a good man in Bobby today." [Yes Network]

R.I.P. Tim Russert

"Tim Russert, the host of “Meet the Press,” and NBC’s Washington bureau chief, has died. He was 58. Mr. Russert was a towering figure in American journalism and moderated several debates during the recent presidential primary season. Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, came on the air at 3:39 p.m. and reported that Mr. Russert had collapsed and died early this afternoon while at work. . . “Our beloved colleague,” a grave Mr. Brokaw called him, one of the premier journalists of our time. He said this was one of the most important years in his life, with his deep engagement in the network’s political coverage, and that he “worked to the point of exhaustion.” . . . He said he loved his family, his Catholic faith, his country, politics, the Buffalo Bills, the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals. “This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice,” Mr. Brokaw said. . . [T]he network switched to Brian Williams, the anchor of the NBC News, who is reporting from Afghanistan this week. Mr. Williams broke down as he tried to describe what the loss meant to his network family." [New York Times Blog]

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his colleagues, his friends.

Requiascat in Pacem, Madeleine L'Engle

Writer, actress, pianist, teacher, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Madeleine L'Engle passed away on Thursday at the age of 88.  She loved her family, her friends, her work, music, books, God, and life.   I barely knew her "in real life" -- I was blessed to meet her and be at Holy Cross monastery for a writer's workshop and silent retreat she led in January 1998 -- but I love her.  She shared so much of herself in her books that you almost feel as if you know more about her than some of your own family members.

Newspapers, etc.

• New York Times Arts section article/obituary: “At dinnertime, you look and see which pot smells best and pull it forward,” she was quoted as saying in a 2001 book, “Madeleine L’Engle (Herself): Reflections on a Writing Life,” compiled by Carole F. Chase. “The same is true with writing,” she continued. “There are several pots on my backburners.”
• Washington Post obituary:
• Associated Press: "Although L'Engle was often labeled a children's author, she disliked that classification. In a 1993 Associated Press interview, she said she did not write down to children. "In my dreams, I never have an age," she said. "I never write for any age group in mind. ... When you underestimate your audience, you're cutting yourself off from your best work."
• Episcopal Life: "In November 2000, she told an interviewer for Religion and Ethics Newsweekly that suffering and grief are a part of life.
  
  • "In times when we are not particularly suffering, we do not have enough time for God," she said. "We are too busy with other things. And then the intense suffering comes, and we can not be busy with other things. And then God comes into the equation. Help. And we should never be afraid of crying out, ‘Help!' I need all the help I can get."
• Slate: "The final tesseract: Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, has died. Although L'Engle worked at various times as a stage actress, playwright, and librarian, she was best known for her dark and beautiful children's novels, which were predicated on the author's "faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically." Her books matter cosmically to most everybody who is lucky enough to have read them."

NPR

• 1998: Susan Stone interviews the author prior to the debut of the television movie of Wrinkle
• 1998: Margot Adler has a profile with the author.
• 2007: Janice Voss talks about how reading A Wrinkle in Time at age ten inspired her interest in space travel; Dr. Voss is now an astronaut.
• 2007: An appreciation/remembrance on All Things Considered (includes snippets from above linked S. Stone interview with Ms. L'Engle):
  
  • "I frequently write about myself 'cause that's how I discover who I am.  So I'm asked if I'm like Meg as a person, I am like Meg.  I am Meg." 
  • When it was published, it was uncommon to have a female heroine in a science fiction book.  A Wrinkle in Time is "a smart girl's book but it's about a girl who isn't yet smart, so a lot of people can identify with her."
  • "Read any daily paper.  You've got to survive.  You've got to walk through the dark to get to the light; it isn't free.  It takes courage to walk through the dark."
  • "It gives a human being an incredible responsibility when you consider that the smallest thing you do can have enormous consequences."

Blogs

• John Podhoretz (The Corner: The National Review online): "Madeleine L'Engle At Home": "I wrote her the first fan letter of my life and, heart pounding, rode the elevator to 9 and slipped it under her door. Within hours a package was left at our door with an inscribed copy of its recently published sequel, A Wind at the Door, a box of baked chocolate chip cookies, and a response that was so appreciative I could hardly believe it, it was so gracious and thoughtful."
• Scheiss Weekly: "These books teach us that if we wait and work and strive and refuse to give up, we can change our own world which, of course, changes the whole world. Thank you, Madeleine. I've loved you since the day I discovered that first book, and I've loved you more with each additional discovery. You made the world better. I'll miss you. Thank you. Thank you so very, very much."
• John Scalzi at Whatever: "What great books, and what a great writer she was. Her books remain; in fact, they are on my daughter's bookshelf right now, waiting for her. I envy her that she gets to read them for the first time."
• Thread on Metafilter with many comments (most are respectful)
• Michael Melcher, at the Huffington Post: What I Learned From Madeleine L'Engle: "Focusing on what we can do in our lives - as they are now -- rather than endlessly wondering why we are here, or why we're not somewhere else - opens up possibilities. Maybe you can write a book that goes into (literally) 69 printings. Or maybe you can just bounce your ball to your own personal rhythm."
• Blogcritics: R.I.P. Madeleine L'Engle: "Thank you for the great stories that transported us into your world, making us feel like we were getting to know you through your characters."
• Blog post on the San Francisco Bay Guardian site: ". . . no one but L'Engle could make a mitochondrion the scene an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. Plus: damn good writing."
• Amazon.com Bookstore's blog: "It's been many years since I read A Wrinkle in Time, but that doesn't make the news of Madeleine L'Engle's passing sting any less. When I look back on my childhood reading, it's her books I see stacked on my shelf within easy reach."
• About.com Classic Literature quotes and remembrance: "In A Severed Wasp, she wrote: "There's a theory which I take seriously... that we live until we do whatever we're meant to do." That statement seems appropriate now, as we say farewell to Madeleine L'Engle."

Other online sites, articles, and interviews of interest

• The official site, with complete bibliography
• Christianity Today (originally published in 1979): "Supernatural Sagas of Good and Evil"
• New York Times, 2001: Busier Than Ever at 82, and, Oh, Yes, Still Writing
• Wheaton College: About the Author: "In the city, L’Engle involved herself with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where she assumed the position of church librarian while enjoying a challenging tutelage under her spiritual advisor, Edward Nason West, the Episcopal cathedral’s extraordinarily learned subdean. Subsequently, West was honored in several novels as a character called “Canon Tallis.”
• St. Anthony Messenger magazine (1999): Madeleine L'Engle: An Epic in Time: “Have courage and joy. Sometimes our moments of greatest joy come at [the] times of greatest courage,” she says simply. “Our children need to hear over and over again that there is no such thing as redemptive violence,” she adds. “Violence never redeems. And what we do does make a difference!”
• Religion & Ethics Newsweekly (interview took place in 1999, was published in 2000): Profile: Madeleine L'Engle: "In spite of her losses, and in spite of the world's wars and atrocities, L'Engle insists that, in the end, life and the universe are good."

R.I.P Luciano Pavarotti

I will update this post later with more details and links, but ran across this great story about Pavarotti and wanted to share.

"I expected Pavarotti to listen to them, say a thing or two, then pick a winner and head off to the next party. But he surprised me. He was deeply involved in each singer's performance. And he got onstage and worked with EVERY one of them, offering suggestions on everything from practice regimen to fashion. He was occasionally blunt, but he was never cruel, and these singers were in heaven. He was actually interested in helping them become better singers in the short time he had with them." [LiveJournal: deadmoviestar: Lucky Luciano]

R.I.P. Scooter [Updated 8/15/07]

I am so sad to hear of Phil Rizzuto's passing.  I read about it in a comment thread on Bronx Banter and confirmed it elsewhere.  I spent many hours watching games on WPIX and enjoying Scooter's vibrant personality.  The Yankee fans and family will greatly miss him.  My sympathies to his loved ones.

Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto, who overcame his diminutive size to become a key contributor to numerous New York Yankees championships and followed his playing career with a lengthy and entertaining stint in the team's broadcast booth, died Tuesday. He was 89. [Major League Baseball]

[This portion originally published: 08-14-2007 at 11:53 AM.] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Not that the detail matters greatly, but it now appears that Phil Rizzuto departed this life Monday night, and not Tuesday, as was originally reported. The Times notes that: "Monday was the 12th anniversary of the death of Rizzuto’s teammate, Mickey Mantle." [NY Times]
• Last night on the YES network broadcast of the Yankees/ Orioles game, the announcers spoke of Mr. Rizzuto (as Jeter endearingly referred to him), Joe Torre and Yogi Berra spoke of him.  Yogi was emotional, but mainly composed.  At the start of the game, Bob Shepherd called for a moment of prayer and spoke about him.  There was a color guard for the National Anthem.  Before the bottom of the 1st inning, there was a video tribute shown up on the scoreboard. After the game (and during the day as well) the Yankeeography of Rizzuto was shown multiple times. 
• The YES website has some text and video content of interest.
• The National Baseball Hall of Fame has a front page montage (one of four featured rotating stories, which seems a little cheesy -- come on, give the guy a few days of being the only front page story) and links to content.
• NPR had a nice story on All Things Considered yesterday.  I see, checking the NPR site, that there were segments on other shows, too: Talk of the Nation yesterday and Morning Edition today.
• "Phil was a gem, one of the greatest people I ever knew — a dear friend and great teammate," said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who frequently visited Rizzuto in his later years. "When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big — actually, small — brother to me. He's meant an awful lot to baseball and the Yankees and has left us with a lot of wonderful memories." [NPR]
• From today's NY Times obituary: In a memorable play in 1951, "Rizzuto, a right-handed batter, was at the plate facing Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians.  It was the bottom of the ninth inning, in the middle of a pennant chase, the score tied at 1-1. DiMaggio was on third base. Rizzuto took Lemon’s first pitch, a strike, and argued the call with the umpire. That gave Rizzuto time to grab his bat from both ends, the sign to DiMaggio that a squeeze play was on for the next pitch. But DiMaggio broke early, surprising Rizzuto. Lemon, seeing what was happening, threw high and behind Rizzuto, to avoid a bunt. But with Joltin’ Joe bearing down on him, Rizzuto got his bat up in time to lay down a bunt. “If I didn’t bunt, the pitch would’ve hit me right in the head,” Rizzuto said. “I bunted it with both feet off the ground, but I got it off toward first base.” DiMaggio scored the winning run. Stengel called it “the greatest play I ever saw.”
• Baseball blogger Cliff Corcoran has a short post up at Bronx Banter, and although I didn't look to confirm this, I'm sure the comment thread will be full of remembrances as well.

R.I.P. Brooke Astor

Mrs. Astor  ". . .was. . . named a living landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, which said in 1996 that “a list of the city monuments is incomplete without her name alongside.” The Astor Foundation’s annual reports had become a Baedeker to the city, showing contributions to what she called New York’s “crown jewels”: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library and the New York Botanical Garden, as well as Cornell University Medical College, Rockefeller University, the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society), the South Street Seaport and others.

In 1977, when Mrs. Astor made the New York Public Library her primary cause, the Astor Foundation offered a $5 million matching grant if the library could raise $10 million. She then went out to help raise the $10 million. The main entrance of the research library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street was named Astor Hall in her honor. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she took a particular interest in the construction of the Chinese courtyard and scholar’s room, which was named Astor Court.

Foundation money often went for necessities the public never knew anything about. There was no Astor name affixed to things like air-conditioning or a staff lunch room at an institution.

Astor money went to provide new windows for a nursing home on Riverside Drive, fire escapes for a homeless residence in the Bronx, a boiler for a youth center in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and vest-pocket parks around the city. The foundation was among the first to support neighborhood and community-based development projects as well as jobs programs. Grants, to name a few, also went to institutions then known as the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the National Academy of Design and Columbia College as well as Carnegie Hall, Central Park, the Museum of Natural History, Ellis Island and the Animal Medical Center, to care for the pets of the elderly poor." [New York Times]

R.I.P. Aura Estrada

I don't know Aura Estrada, but I almost feel as if I do after reading this beautiful and poignant tribute written by her husband: “Mi Aura”.  From all accounts she brought a brilliant and unique mind and voice to the world and her passing at the absurdly young age of 30 in a swimming accident is something to be mourned.

R.I.P., Kurt Vonnegut

"Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.

Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?" [Link: Kurt Vonnegut, Counterculture’s Novelist, Dies - New York Times]

R.I.P Louise Will, mother of writer George Will

"All that we can know about those we have loved and lost," Thornton Wilder wrote, "is that they would wish us to remember them with a more intensified realization of their reality. What is essential does not die but clarifies. The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude." Louise, released from the toils of old age and modern medicine, is restored to clarity." [Washington Post]

R.I.P Jessica

"She was thirty-three.

Her name was Jessica."  [Cancer, Baby: Goodnight, sweetheart] 

I did not know this woman and didn't encounter her blog until after she passed away.  I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting a link. . . her writing is vivid and sad as she writes about her journey toward motherhood that turned into a cancer battle.  She wanted what so many of us want -- a family, a long, healthy life full of the things long dreamed of.  But on Mother's Day weekend, she passed away.