ROBERT McNAMARA DIES

ROBERT McNAMARA DIES 

June 9, 1916-July 6, 2009 

A consideration of his life, and another photograph, here, and an appreciation by Walter Pincus, here: McNamara three months ago was "Hopeful about initial steps taken by President Obama on nuclear weapons, but fearful about the nation's growing involvement in Afghanistan -- a situation so much like Vietnam."

SALASPILS CAMP MEMORIAL, LATVIA

SALASPILS CAMP MEMORIAL

MEMORIAL TO THE VICTIMS OF A CONCENTRATION CAMP IN SALASPILS
IN THE RIGA AREA, LATVIA

Photographed in 1984 in the USSR

"HERE BE GIANTS"

GILDA RADNER & PAUL SIMON

GILDA RADNER

&
PAUL SIMON

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

A snapshot, just a quick grab shot, backstage at a New Jersey campaign rally for Bill Bradley in 1978, in honor of Gilda Radner, born on June 28, 1946, and lost to cancer twenty years ago.

One of a pair, this one somehow poignant, the other, sweet and flirty, for another time.

DUELING TVs #2: Warhol & Iran

DUELING TVs
#2


Photograph © Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

Andy Warhol ("one of the most famous people in the world") on PBS, and an Iranian woman on ABC, photographed simultaneously, September 24, 2006.

DUELING TVs #1: Electric Iraq, Bush/Maliki

DUELING TVs
#1

Photograph © Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

THE SEATS OF POWER, CHINESE STYLE

THE SEATS OF POWER
CHINESE STYLE

One of a Series

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

TIANJIN DUO

Zhang Lichang (left), then Tianjin Party Secretary, and Li Shenglin (right), then Tianjin Mayor, at the 16th Congress of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, November 2002.

AL PACINO IN "THE BASIC TRAINING OF PAVLO HUMMEL"

"THE BASIC TRAINING OF
PAVLO HUMMEL"


© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

STARRING

AL PACINO

There is talk of reviving David Rabe's play, The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, and a preliminary casting notice has been posted (June 24, 2009). Al Pacino starred in the Theater Company of Boston's production in Boston (shown here) in 1972, and in 1977 on Broadway. Leonard DiCaprio is said to be interested in taking on the role; Pacino won a Tony for it. Will it keep its setting in the Vietnam War?

CHINA THEN & NOW: ON THE GRAND CANAL

ON THE GRAND CANAL

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

HANGZHOU, CHINA, 1981

BARBAROSSA: Nazi Germany Attacks the USSR

OPERATION BARBAROSSA


© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

THE BREST FORTRESS MEMORIAL

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union at Brest, in what is now Belarus. The Nazis were surprised by the resistance, memorialized by the Brest Fortress monument pictured above.

"SIMPLY THE BEST"

RLS

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Right Reserved

"SIMPLY THE BEST"

In Honor of Father's Day

ST. PETERSBURG WHIMSY

ST. PETERSBURG WHIMSY

© Gwendolyn Stewart 2009; All Rights Reserved

DOWN BY THE RIVER SIDE

A bit of whimsy from Peter -- not Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, but Peter the second capital of Russia, the affectionate shorthand for St. Petersburg -- a riverside confection photographed in 2006, after the G-8 summit, held in Russia for the first time that year.