Month: June 2020

Carl Reiner, R.I.P.

My memories of Carl Reiner date from those 50s-era Saturday nights of my childhood (pretty much the highlight of each week) when we gathered around the TV to watch Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows.  We watched a lot of craziness, like this:

More recently was his series of “Dispatches From Quarantine”, like this example:

Here is Carl with his buddy, Mel Brooks, in a wonderful photograph, undated but in later years:

Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner (photographer unknown)

A great remembrance in a Twitter thread today, too.

You could spend the next week or maybe more checking out YouTube clips and more internet fare on Carl.  And it would be time well spent.

How Did We Get Here, Anyway?

Seems like a great question to ask at a time like this.  Some may recall my mention of Jill Lepore’s 2018 historical opus, “These Truths” in a post a few months ago.  My thoughts often return to her analysis and exposition of factors that figured centrally in the foundation and evolution of this country over the past 400 or so years, and especially now in the midst of pandemic-era protests and extreme racial tensions.  To get a flavor of Lepore’s take on things, spend some time on this introduction: