George Rosen, M.D., Ph.D. M.Phl ...: in memoriam, 1910-1977, 17 July

a mere 67 years, actually not even 67 allotted to my father. He was barely 67 when he died in Oxford on his way to a meeting in Edinburgh, where he was to deliver a lecture for the international historians of medicine. He drove north from London, but when he reached Oxford, his pains were so great that he had to stop. There he was put into the hospital and died a day or so later. I was not at his bedside, indeed, the physicians who were trying to save him would not allow his wife, Beate Caspari-Rosen to enter the room, even though she was a physician. Until the day she died she regretted their abrupt separation. I was reminded of this event this summer, in July when I drove  to the perimeter-or more correctly-my husband Harold Olejarz- drove to a stop on the highway at Oxford. I did not have a computer to put up a commemoration of this admirable man; were he not my father, nonetheless I felt that his achievements and his plans were owed their due. Here I merely want to show some pictures, most have have been used already; others exist that have not yet been scanned. (Fathers are always older than their children, but when a child lives beyond the years of a parent's life the world is upended. Of course this applies equally to one's mother).  My father George--actually Joseph on the birth certificate--was born at home in Brooklyn. He was to live in the Bronx, Manhattan, and eventually in Connecticut in North Haven. He taught the history of medicine at Yale and also Public Health, and before leaving for Yale, he taught at the Columbia School of Public Health, now renamed in honor of its principal donor. My father never stopped working: he researched topics and wrote papers; he translated books into English; he edited various journals, including the Journal of the American Association of Public Health and the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. These are but a few of his institutional accomplishments. George Rosen was an artist too; his skill in rendering nature was rational yet beneath the "true/natural" lay a wealth of emotional content. His experiences in WWII were in the images he painted whilst in England during the Blitz and in Versailles, at the American Headquarters. Being a specialist in occupational diseases, he was able to apply his knowledge to the interviews that he held with members of the German High Command who were charged with  carrying out experiments on captured soldiers, the "unfit," including Jews and more. My father never talked about the harrowing information he learned; it was secret government data. But to carry this burden of tragedy with him surely affected him deeply. The odd paradoxical aspect of this facet of my father's life was that he acquired his degree in medicine in Berlin, at the University. It accepted Americans of Jewish background or practicing Jews in their classes despite their plan of the final solution. My father became utterly fluent in German during his student years in Berlin and when he left Germany he took with him his bride, Beate Brigitta Caspari. That was 1935. Thereafter he worked in NYC's Department of Health; later at HIP, fashioning educational programs for physicians and for patients. He was to have

my father, a thoughtful pose, but a sunny disposition

in the army and presenting to the forces

my mother Beate Caspari-Rosen, in the Bronx

my father's water color painted close to the US headquarters in London at St James' Palace

my father attends a meeting of the American Association for the History of Public Health

entertaining his grandchildren in Canterbury Connecticut, where my parents had an unpretentious but lovely summer cottage. The population consisted mainly of framers, many had emigrated from Finnland;  today, dark dismal woods and  boom-town houses when the housing bubble occurred. Gardening and farming is a thing of the past ,as are farm animals, such a chicken whose eggs were still warm when I went to fetch some. How much has been los.t

 

 

two children with Beate, the world-famous breast pathologist, and Susan Joan Rosen (aka Koslow) who received a doctorate in the history of art. Both children, myself and my brother are immensely indebted to our parents from whom we learned so much. Curiosity was always valued highly and with it a world filled with wonder, natural history and the arts. Many were the days we went to dance performances directed by Balanchine and and also museums. where we were exposed to the greats of the days and from the past.
The gifts bestowed on us are legion and have shaped my life for the good. To both of my parents I am especially grateful; without their presence, my life assuredly would have been infinitely poorer. Thanks to my father I was given serious art instruction and my brother as well was regarded with as possessing unique skills.
So I lift my glass to Joseph/George Rosen whose ability to stay the course, his perservance in the face of adversity, whose kindness and sharpness were  critical for each child. Nor should I omit our dachshund ''schatzi" , our levely dacchshund who feel in love with my father and was most attached to him. Too brief was his life, but within it he accomplished so much and helped guided others too find their way too.

bloody path even in a peaceable setting.inexorable

and the earth trembled

blood rained down

and then the earth became what it once had been

 

 

Beate Brigitta Caspari-Rosen, 1910- 5 July, 1995, in memoriam

My dearest mother who was born in Berlin during very troubled times.  Her father was a physician Paul Caspari, her mother, Flora Caspari, a beautiful blond blue-eyed woman who lived for the care of her family. Caught in the ,maelstrom of the Nazi seizure of power, Flora and Paul feared the worst, yet after visiting the United States, returned to Berlin in 1936. He feared that Jews whose ills would be ignored needed care, and even though seriously warned about what might occur returned  to Berlin. He died during an operation in 1936, leaving his wife Flora alone in Berlin. After hesitating for a short time, she fled to the United States where her daughter awaited her. Her daughter was my mother, Atta as she was called by close friends. In 1935, Beate had received her degree in medicine, and became an ophthalmologist. Since she married an American, albeit a Jew too, she was able to become an American citizen, She set off with George Rosen, her husband to the United States. Her life was devoted to her medical practice, to her husband, children Paul Peter and Susan Joan and her mother of course. Flora was  to sicken from colon cancer and breast cancer and died in the summer, when I was about twelve. Few members of my mother's family survived, be it the Caspari or Arnswalder side. (The Arnswalder family as I learned recently went to Isrrael. But this is painting a rosy picture. In fact only two children were sent to Palestine which was not yet divided into two parts, a largely Jewish state, Israel, and a Palestinian state. The children lived though horrors and poverty and wars; now today the younger members of this branch have become learned and active and accepting their full identity. Of course the parents who sent their children to Israel knew that they would never see them again. The Nazis killed them in their vile program of purification.

My mother followed her husband of course to New Haven where he became a professor of Public Health and in the Department of the history of science. His death in England in 1977, was shocking George was barely 67. For years after his death my mother missed him and grieved. They had both been looking forward to his retirement, a retirement that my father saw as giving him more time to carrry on his writing, to travel and to paint. My mother hoped that their life together would give them more time to relax  and enjoy the "oyster of the world." But that was not to be. Yes, my mother did find various opportunities to engage her intellectual capacities, but in time and due to heart disease she was increasingly removed from the active person who she was, a woman who was always curious about what was happening in her world, in the world. She enjoyed life and now that I am approaching her later years myself, I recognize how extraordinary she was in surmounting difficulties due to declining health. She was remarkable. A person to emulate, an idividual with winning laugh and smile, whose mind and heart worked together.
I was recalling her the other day, not even thinking about this anniversary, and wishing that she was still alive and that I could converse with her, tell her what I was doing and also explain some of the difficulties I faced. Her advice was sage; I do wish that I had heard her when she spoke to me so many years ago. But the young do not listen carefully to their elders.
Tomorrwo I set forth to Belgium , to Antwerp, to the city where I learned that she had died in the presence of a childhood friend from Berlin. One moment she was there , the next her soul had fled. To Aranka and Dorothy Kaplan I owe more than this terse statement allows. It was just because they were present that her joy caused her heart to beat to fast and brought her life to a close. Love and joy  it was that snipped her thread.

Some pictures of my mother Beate Caspari and then Beate Caspari-Rosen

molten matter that is in the throes of creation

what once was likely will not reoccur. snowflakes are individual, unique

what was

is this the point of no return? am I there yet or soon to arrive?

the damaged heart; how many times until it finally gives way, and flesh falls away revealing the skeletal structure and from there it is fire and cinder, vapor and a few bone fragments, Aftwards, no heaven, no hell, no purgatory, nowhere erewhon, bla

ck before my eyes, but eyes can not see they are no more. shades wandering aimlessly unable to talk but only an occasional squeak. What a view of mortality. Now only, this instant, gone, irretrievable and the  beads of life sparkle and then the next bead, dimmer yet until finally darkness, no motion, no swirling and wandering , no walking sound, sight, taste, smell, touch no longer exist for that little scintillating little glint and then a mere particle that sinks to the ground or rises in a droplet forever passing through the cycle of nature, earth's nature until the universe explodes and then there is no more perhaps never again or possibling reconfigured. a particle, so small it cannot be seen but it has ways on its unscripted path


 

The New York Public Library , Research Branch, for staters, stags have now been emptied; demotion about to occur

SAVE THE 42ND STREET LIBRARY
The Committee to Save the New York Public Library
SAVE THE 42ND STREET LIBRARY
The Committee to Save the New York Public Library
PLEASE SEE FOLLOWING URL

http://www.savenypl.org

 see above URL for a readable and well designed version of the same material as below. In either case, we-ALL- are about to lose a huge factor in NYC, its principal research Branch. But that is only the beginning. The little branch libraries will be mice for the rats to cat and excrete in the form of slender glass receptacles for the half of one percenters. Why should they care? Did the barbarians, so-call care, when libraries were torched. Remember Bimyan Buddhas? a comparable mindset is at work here.

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STOP THE CENTRAL LIBRARY PLAN

SAVE THE 42ND STREET LIBRARY
The Committee to Save the New York Public Library

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DON’T GUT THE 42nd STREET LIBRARY!
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STOP THE CENTRAL LIBRARY PLAN



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Skip to secondary content
Home
The Truth About the Central Library Plan
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DON’T GUT THE 42nd STREET LIBRARY!
Rally at the 42nd Street Library Wednesday May 8th!
3:30-5:30PM Rain or Shine More info

STOP THE CENTRAL LIBRARY PLAN

The Central Library Plan (CLP), at enormous cost to New York City and its taxpayers, would irreparably damage the 42nd Street Research Library – one of the world’s great reference libraries and a historic landmark. The CLP would demolish the library’s historic seven-story book stacks, install a circulating library in their stead, and displace 1.5 million books to central New Jersey. The new circulating library would replace the Mid-Manhattan Library (at 40th and 5th Avenue) and SIBL (Science, Industry and Business Library, at 34th and Madison), which would both be sold off.

• It will be hugely expensive, costing a minimum of $300 million (probably much more), of which $150 million will come from New York City taxpayers. There is great concern that the Library’s focus on a highly-complex construction project will absorb desperately-needed funds which might otherwise pay for renovations of branch libraries, and replenish slashed curatorial and acquisitions budgets.

• It will radically reduce the space available for the Mid-Manhattan and SIBL.

• It will threaten the 42nd Street Library’s status as one of the world’s great research libraries.

• It will threaten the architectural integrity of the landmarked 42nd Street building.

• It does not take into consideration more efficient and less destructive alternatives, such as combining SIBL and the Mid-Manhattan into a rehabilitated and expanded building on the Mid-Manhattan site.

Underlying the widespread concern is the closed process through which the Library administration has made its decisions. Despite the fact that the 42nd Street building is owned by the city and is one of our most iconic structures, the plan was formulated with minimal public notification and no public input. The $150 million that the city has earmarked for the project was awarded without oversight by the City Council and with no public hearings. If alternatives have been considered they have never been disclosed, and no cost-benefit analysis or detailed budget has ever been presented.

Famed architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, writing in the Wall Street Journal, attacked the Central LIbrary Plan as

a plan devised out of a profound ignorance of or willful disregard for not only the library’s original concept and design, but also the folly of altering its meaning and mission and compromising its historical and architectural integrity. You don’t ‘update’ a masterpiece.

New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman derided the design for the new circulating library which would replace the book stacks in the 42nd Street building as having “all the elegance and distinction of a suburban mall,” and called it an

awkward, cramped, banal pastiche of tiers facing claustrophobia-inducing windows, built around a space-wasting atrium with a curved staircase more suited to a Las Vegas hotel.

The Committee to Save the NYPL calls for a halt to the CLP until an independent agency can conduct a detailed cost analysis. This analysis should also evaluate the costs of an alternative proposal suggested by both Huxtable and Kimmelman that the 42nd Street building be left intact and attention directed instead to a renovation of the Mid-Manhattan building. As Kimmelman writes, “A new Mid-Manhattan branch should cost a fraction of gutting the stacks and could produce much better architecture.”

For an in-depth analysis of the Central Library Plan, please see The Truth About the Central Library Plan.

We are investigating all avenues of opposition to the Central Library Plan and we need your help! All donations are fully tax-deductable.




It has become increasingly apparent that the CLP is part of a larger effort by New York City’s public library systems to shrink their capacity and sell off valuable real estate, which started with the controversial sale in 2008 of the beloved Donnell Library to real estate developers.  For more information, visit the site of our allies at Citizens Defending Libraries: http://citizensdefendinglibraries.blogspot.com/

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April 1st, 2013: The Feast of Fools

"The Ship of Fools," 

Sebastian Brant
in the year 2013, the fools rushed to the ship heading to Narragonia; one fool called out the other: "The Ship is leaving, the ship is leaving." Some managed to swim and some took taxis, but all the fools in the world could not fit into the glorious ship which had already taken off to its destination.
Poor fools.
Does anyone recognize a fool anymore?
Doubtful.  

Richard Brignoli: in memoriam, 1-29-1939--2-14-2006

entering into the unknown

the endless order

 the spirit lives but  the finest is transmuted into gold

the sun sets

light is weightless

Richard and the book of life

Green Acres, Tenafly, N.J.: a letter to the editor of the Suburbanite, Tenafly

 To the borough of Tenafly and its residents concerning the construction of a science center, to be located in what has come to be known as Green Acres. 

When the land was set aside, the state of New Jersey and residents of Tenafly pooled resources and established a "park" that was to remain pristine in perpetuity. No construction, parking lots and other additions were to destroy the wildness of nature. That was in the 1970s, when a "green movement" was becoming a force in this country. Today environmentalism is recognized and is regarded as essential to the well-being of the United States of America. As Climate Change occurs with increasingly destructive events, such as the behemoth storm "Sandy," the environment is recognized as in need of protection. A tract of pristine forest, a habitat for fauna indigenous to this region as well as its flora, is seriously being considered for destruction through construction that is masked under the rubric "education." What has been overlooked in this discussion, among many other matters, is the importance of forest land to cleanse air. The mayor of Tenafly and its Council members may argue that there are a considerable number of trees in the borough and in the county of Bergen, but the landscape of trees and lawns and bushes have been sprayed with so many chemicals that it is not safe to inhale the air. "Pretty as a picture" to some, but to health educators the air is polluted. More people than ever before in this region have developed rashes and asthma due most likely to the increasing use of herbicides and chemicals. Green Acres obviously cannot stop this health problem, but it does ameliorate it. Do not flagrantly tear up an agreement that is inviolate. The costs of such an action will be felt immediately. Tenafly does not need this expensive shell which does not have a constituency. It does not have ccurricula for all its residents, old, young and in the middle. It does not have degreed environmentalists or even a rigorous process to hire them, and the costs of constructing and maintaining the structure, anticipated programs-(no curricula have been presented)-and salaries for the persons who are in this new bureaucracy are not announced. 

Enough said. Pictures to follow.  

To the Editor of the Suburbanite, "Tenafly Edition" 

I am opposed to building a new Nature Center for several reasons. First: the new plan erases the intent of the founding document-- Green Acres, as it is referred to-- is intended to be pristine, undisturbed nature. Trees are to be left in place; habitats for fauna and flora are to remain untouched. Only marked trails guide the visitor through the landscape. The original agreement did not allow for the construction of a new structure and expanded  parking lots.  Nature itself was to be the instructor, as is the norm in national and state parks, for instance,  Tallman State Park, 20 minutes north of Tenafly and directly off 9W. Second: For those who have argued that a large Nature Center is imperative at the Green Acres site have not given an outline  or curriculum of the subjects that will be taught or how the forest, as it is currently--nature pure-- , will contribute to instruction. And additionally, no mention has been made of what plants and animals would be impacted by this structure. Whenever roads and structures are built, states and the federal government require impact studies. This issue has not yet been addressed. Bona fide scientists are called in to advise in this matter. To my knowledge none have been hired to write reports. 

To date, in the more 40 years that I have resided in Tenafly, no consistent coherent program was in effect. All members of the community, from the oldest to the youngest, would have to be included in instructional matters. In all the arguments for new construction, there has not been an explication of what will be taught in the hollow shell of a new structure and who would teach curricula, to whom, and for what purposes and goals. Furthermore, it is obvious that no thought has been given to who would hired, and what degrees would be required, and what application and selection process would be used to hire instructors. And salaries? Who would pay for the personnel? Third: costs of maintenance have not been cited; so far unnamed contributors have paid for aerial surveys and other actions, such as clearing trails. Here is where government transparency is required. Who is paying for what now, and who will pick up costs in the future, such as annual salaries, maintenance, and whatever else is needed? For the sake of open good governance, transparency is required. Unnamed donors should be named; if such persons exist, their identity should be declared to the voters of Tenafly to determine if  a conflict  of interest exists, and this information should be given to the public to make informed decisions. Green Acres rightfully does not exclude persons from outside the borough of Tenafly, nor should it. All persons, be they borough, state or out of state visitors are welcome to visit Green Acres. After all, state funds were contributed to the acquisition of the lands when these lands came into being. Therefore, it follows that Green Acres is open to the curious who want to experience and learn about "pure"nature. 

A fable for the moment

 "Trust me said the fox in the hen house. I am only interested in benefitting you. And then the hens went to sleep certain that their interests would be protected. In the morning the fox was gone and so were the hens."

I am opposed to building a new Nature Center for several reasons. First: the new plan erases the intent of the founding document that Green Acres, as it is referred to, is intended to be pristine, undisturbed nature. Trees are to be left in place; habitats for fauna and flora are to remain untouched. Only marked trails guide the visitor through the landscape. The original agreement did not allow for the construction of a new structure and expanded  parking lots.  Nature itself was to be the instructor, as is the norm in national and state parks, for instance,  Tallman State Park, 20 minutes north of Tenafly and directly off 9W. Second: For those who have argued that a large Nature Center is imperative at the Green Acres site have not given a coherent outline of the subjects that will be taught or how the forest, as it is currently--nature pure-- , will contribute to instruction. And additionally, no mention has been made of what plants and animals would be impacted by this structure. Whenever roads and structures are built, states and the federal government required impact studies. This issue has not yet been addressed. Bona fide scientists are called in to advise. 

To date, in the more 40 years that I have resided in Tenafly, no consistent coherent program was in effect. All members of the community, from the oldest to the youngest, would have to be included in instructional matters. In all the arguments for new construction, there has not been an explication of what will be taught in the hollow shell of a new structure and who would teach curricula in there and to whom, and for what purpose and which goals. Furthermore, it is obvious that no thought has been given to who would hired, and what degrees would be required, and what application and selection process would be used to hire instructors. And salaries? Who would pay for the personnel? Third: costs of maintenance have not been cited; so far unnamed contributors have paid for aerial surveys and other actions, such as clearing trails. Here is where government transparency is required. Who is paying for what now, and who will pick up costs in the future, such as annual salaries, maintenance, and whatever else is needed? For the sake of open good governance, transparency is required. Unnamed donors should be named; if such persons exist, their identity should be declared to the voters of Tenafly to determine if  a conflict  of interest exists, and this information should be given to the public to make informed decisions. Green Acres rightfully does not exclude persons from outside the borough of Tenafly, nor should it. All persons, be they borough, state or out of state visitors are welcome to visit Green Acres. After all, state funds were contributed to the acquisition of the lands when these lands came into being. Therefore, it follows that Green Acres is open to the curious who want to experience and learn about "pure"nature. 

A fable for the moment

 "Trust me said the fox in the hen house. I am only interested in benefitting you. And then the hens went to sleep certain that their interests would be protected. In the morning the fox was gone and so were the hens."

a storm that stirred ocean and sky

The Cosmos Roared and Blazed when it burst

 cosmos

into being at the beginning, at the beginning of our time

when 

earth and water

air and fire

separated

Leo Steinberg: abstraction without gravity

ceaseless motion

a lesson learned from a friend and mentor

the eye of the whale

for R

the final performance

beautiful but dangerous

Zeus's eagle taking flight: cloud gazing

let imagination take flight

the arts and craft of nature: symmetry, contour lines

protective hair to shield the young growth

the sublime: humankind's fate

Birds of Paradise

Lonsdale had to wait today. Tomorrow without fail.

an Orwellian future is fast upon us stop radio commentators imagine libraries without books or to be fair with few stop literacy learning and social exchange stop no stacks no books stop stop and museums without art stop the justice has spoken after holding his peace for seven years. stop sounds biblical stop

red, white, and blue: it, too, no longer exists

Columbia University and Fairway

Paradise before The Fall: Adam and Eve

Eve

Adam

Paradise

like a dream: once upon a time . . .

Learn from France: dogs and their output

seen in Narbonne, a city in south-west France on the coast of the Mediterranean

instructions: text and illustrations

a pup in distress

Tenafly, Bergen County 07670: Possible pollution and vandalism

Twenty thirteen has just begun, a new year, 2013, but Tenafly's Roosevelt Commons aka The Commons  still appears to have polluted water that flows directly into the Tenakill Brook, a feeder to United Water, that supplies Tenafly (zip code 07670) with its tap water. Where does the glistening matter that floats on the top of the water come from? Most seem to come from vehicles that leak gasoline and other chemicals on roadways. The roads are washed by rain and other forms of precipitation. This waste runs into road drainage, the grills that you see alongside roads. In turn this liquid waste leaks into the Roosevelt Commons' pond and from there through a connector to the Tenakill Brook. As more and more vehicles drive through Tenafly, be they cars or trucks, the matter dripping from the vehicles is greater than in the past. What measures should Tenafly take in order to clean up its act? Could the leaky system be routed through another pathway? Certainly Tenafly is not the only borough in Bergen County that faces this problem. But it is very disturbing to see yet another asset befouled. 
Vandalism is on the rise in The Roosevelt Commons, as more and more trees are silently denuded of their branches.  Today, walking along its paths I encountered several branches that were cut off from  trees, one a fir, the other a birch. You might ask how do I know that these were cut rather than damaged in a storm? Ends are neatly cut, a cut that only a blade could make. I can make up several scenarios to explain the tree vandalism, but I would rather know the truth. Who is doing this and why? 

For those who never lived in Tenafly and are new arrivals, the borough may seem to be a Tree City, but this is not the case. In fact the designation should be removed. All the trees in the so-called Green Acres, the wild forest land set aside in perpetuity, to insure that nature is pristine, not developed, do not make up for the growing loss of trees in the borough's heart. The Roosevelt Commons' water is not a delight to look at anymore, and the land surrounding it has become a thicket of wilderness, rather than a garden or  nature cultivated intended to please the eye and a site for relaxation.