I just returned from a fascinating nine-day trip to Cuba, a place that I have wanted to visit for 50 years. In 2000, the Minnesota-based Cass Gilbert Society newsletter explored the possibility that U.S. architect Cass Gilbert (1959-1934) had at least consulted on the National Capitol building in Havana, Cuba. Gilbert was known for his […]
The Creation of the Champaign County ACLU in 1940
In 2016, I came across an old letter from a long-time family friend, Mulford Sibley, among my father’s papers.[1] Mulford, writing on May 29, 1940 from Urbana, Illinois, to his sister Margaret, pinpointed the beginning of the Champaign County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Mulford Sibley (1912-1989) was a professor of political […]
Keeping Quiet
My father, Don Irish, died one year ago at age 97. He was not one to keep quiet or to stay still. Even so, this Pablo Neruda poem has me thinking about him, and how we might all benefit from not rushing around so much. The next-to-last verse below is especially compelling: It does seem […]
Wings/Swing: A Vehicle Offering
I have been lucky to know Sabra Moore since 1990, when I met her at a Women’s Caucus for Art meeting. I was so pleased when her wonderful memoir about her roles in the women’s art movement in New York City, Openings, came out in 2016. Over the years she has sent me many beautiful […]
Countering Pusillanimosity
I’m reading Ali Smith’s Autumn: a novel (Pantheon Books, 2016). The main character is an art historian (and she’s employed!) But it is really about deep relationships among a few people across a number of decades. This excerpt made me sad, angry, sympathetic, and distressed, because it captures my swath feelings as we start 2018: […]
A Tribute to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
My father, Don Irish, died in April of 2017. For the last five years of his life, many of us helped him write his memoirs. We self-published the book in 2015. I share an excerpt here that seems particularly relevant to the harassment of untenured professors (often people of color) that is occurring across the country […]
Don Irish, Rest in Power
Donald Paul Irish, 97, died on April 14, 2017, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Don loved life: a deeply committed, intense, and energetic man, he joined countless causes for human betterment and fought despair in the face of many intractable forces. He put his body where his words were and he put his money where he […]
Gliding into the Unknown
The Swan, by Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. by Edward Snow This heaviness, toiling on as if in bonds Through a landscape of things still undone, Is like the makeshift walking of the swan. And dying–to feel slowly giving way That ground on which we daily stand, Like his uneasy lowering of himself–: Into the water, […]
What’s Next with “No Budget”?
The president of the University, Tim Killeen, just sent an email to everybody in the University of Illinois system called “No state budget.” I do not want to minimize the enduring damage that has been done to programs and services that have benefited many people in the state and that have had to close due […]
Joliet Wedding at the Henry Mansion
In July 2016, Renner Larson and Audrey Schlofner got married at the Jacob Henry Mansion in Joliet. I wrote up this long-ish version of the place where the event happened, for those who want more than the short insert in the program! So, who was Jacob Henry? Jacob Apgar Henry (1825-1908) made his substantial wealth […]
