Old Lady College Program

“…what Streisand accomplishes in Funny Girl is at once a redefinition of what a musical star can look like as well as a reconfirmation of what so many of us return to the movies to find: pristine encapsulations of talent in motion. Such talent, as exemplified in Streisand’s performance and throughout her peerless career, is indeed, as Kael declared, its own form of beauty. But with the lights low and the screen bright, it can also be its own elusive form of magic, as pure and pleasurable as any ever captured on film.”

Washington was a slave owner who came to have mixed feelings on it later in life, but at one point he was literally the only thing standing between democracy and a military dictatorship (immediately after the Revolution the army hadn’t been paid in years and they were talking of storming the capitol and taking over, Washington defused the situation).

I don’t think I have to list all the things Jefferson did, but he did still also write the Declaration of Independence.

Madison was a slave owner but he and Hamilton were instrumental in the Constitution being ratified and he also worked on the Bill of Rights.

Hamilton was a temperamental asshat who cheated on his wife repeatedly and would destroy people for petty grievances. He was also an abolitionist.

They all did good things and bad things and it’s really hard to wrap your mind around the vast gulf that should come between “literally owned people” and “set up a form of government that protected the rights of its citizens against the power structures for basically one of the first times since antiquity.” (edit because I forgot about the Iroquois Confederacy) And most people will choose one extreme or the other. Either they were all universally terrible for slavery (which was terrible) or they were brilliant defenders of the people (which they were for certain people). The best you’ll usually get is an acknowledgement that they were “complex” but that doesn’t really mean much when we’re talking about these extremes.

The truth is that ultimately they did both and we have to at some point learn to accept that there were no demons or saints. Some were worse than others, but they all did awful things because they were ultimately fallible humans and by trying to reduce them to caricatures we turn them into talking points (“what did the Founders MEAN by ‘bear arms?’”) and these strange sort of deities whose words we have to interpret as best we can or else as devils who need to be conquered. They were literally just people who did fucked up things that they thought were okay and did some pretty cool things that we should try to hold onto.

burr historians: also hamilton was petty and held a grudge against burr and forEVER tarnished his reputation, hamilton was a dick

hamilton historians: hamilton had such a moral and good and honest character, he worked harder than anyone else and everyone but jefferson and the antifederalists liked him and his legacy has been obscured and tarnished

hamilton historians: also burr was a shifty asshole who doesn’t deserve to be counted among the company of the other founding fathers

Angelica Hamilton, the second born to Eliza and Alexander Hamilton, named after Angelica Schuyler. She was said to be very outgoing and charming, and while Phillip learned to play piano from Eliza, Angelica and Alexander were really really close, and Alex taught her to play piano himself. The piano they used was given to her by the original Angelica, and is still is around today. 

But the thing people remember her most for, was her breakdown.

She and Phillip were the best of friends growing up, and when Phillip died in the duel, she had an CATASTROPHIC mental breakdown. Her brain was altered and she had the mind of a child for the rest of her life.

When this happened to her, Alexander was horrified. It’s said that at Phillip’s funeral, he was so sad he couldn’t even stand, yet for that entire fall, he bought everything to make Angelica comfortable and doted on her every whim to see if they could help her.

Angelica wouldn’t recognize any of them at all, and would frequently speak of Phillip as though he was still alive.

Eliza took care of her for many years until it got to be too much for her and Angelica was placed in the care of a doctor.

She lived to be 73, and outlived her mother by 2 years.

Charlie Davoli snaps pics of everything that interests him through the day and blends them together with several apps on his phone to create surreal worlds and landscapes. 

On the Radio: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Marc Maron, and the Broads of “Broad City”

This week’s episode of the “New Yorker Radio Hour” is a Festival special. Marc Maron tells Kelefa Sanneh why talking into a mic saved his life. The magazine’s TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, speaks with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer about their raunchy and joyful TV comedy “Broad City.” And Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of “Hamilton,” takes comfort in knowing that dirty politics are as old as America.

Listen in.

“So perhaps it just speaks to the heartiness of women, that put on your boots and put your hat on and get out, slog through the mess that is out there.” - Senator Lisa Murkowski (R - AK)

I need yall to know I flipped this in my head at the store and thought it was a burr dog joke

Hamilpup