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Volume 20 Number 1: Winter 2018/2019 St. BotolphBulletin From the Editor Bill Taylor According to the astronomers, the vernal equinox is fast upon us: the earth has turned and tipped since the last issue of the Bulletin, but you wouldn’t know that from the sidewalks. Here in Boston, despite Punxsutawney Phil, we’re still Bill Taylor whining away our winter weather. However, one measure of springtime cheer appeared yesterday evening at 199 Commonwealth. Arriving for a club night punctually at 6 PM, it was still light as we walked up the stairs. Astronomically speaking, in Boston in early March, the end of civil twilight (the time when the geometric center of the sun’s disk is at most 6 degrees below the horizon) was 6:05 PM. Daylight with 5 minutes to spare! Even better, daylight at the start of a club evening anticipates the summer, when there is nearly daylight at the end of the evening as we walk down the stairs. No time for a drink in the Library however, and leave a minute early because at its very latest in the middle of June in Twelfth Night: Abbot Michael Robbins ringing Boston, civil twilight ends at 8:59 PM. Summoning Bell on stairway More than simply raising our spirits at the end of the day, civil twilight is a functional concept. Indeed, the practical description of civil twilight is illuminating. Literally. From Wikipedia (so you know it’s true), “Under clear weather conditions, civil twilight approximates the limit at which solar According to the astronomers, the vernal equinox illumination suffices for the human eye to clearly distinguish terrestrial objects. Enough illumination renders artificial is fast upon us: the earth has turned and tipped sources unnecessary for most outdoor activities.” since the last issue of the Bulletin… Which introduces the main subject of this column. Across the street from 199 Commonwealth sits a renowned historian, man of letters and distinguished Botolphian, day in and day out, in snow, or rain, or heat, or gloom of night. One impertinent wag says he sits outside the Club for want of a necktie. IN THIS ISSUE: (Continued on page 3) 1: From the Editor 4: Fake News – Factions and Fictions 10: New Fellow 2: Upcoming Spring Fling 5: Burns Night 11: Shakespeare, Tyranny & Tyrants View from the Kitchen: Ragu? 6-7: St. Botolph Club Fellows History Book Reception 3: From the Editor (Continued) Fanfare Biennial – 2019 12-16: Photo Gallery 8-9: New Members Acknowledgments Upcoming Spring Fling Editor Bill Taylor One of the joyous events of spring at St. Botolph is the Easter Brunch, this year on Photographers April 21. A sense of the occasion is provided Peter Van Demark by the accompanying picture from last year’s Buell Hollister Brunch, featuring children from the families David Wells Roth of Solomon and Sarah Garber, Friedrich Lohr and Angela Zhang, and Alexandra Marshall Contributors and James Carroll. Tim Fulham Chef Brad Hall Barbara Lucas View from the Kitchen: Ragu? Announcements Chef Brad Hall Calling All My parent’s house was a popular place when I was a child. Not Botolphians – quite museum status but it approached that. My father is an We Need Reporters enthusiastic hunter and fisherman, and the house was a constant and Photographers! reminder of that. A black bear rug with full head hung on the wall as you went down the stairs. A mule deer head greeted you The editor welcomes stories and articles from members. as you came in the front door. As you went through the house, Help us define and celebrate other mounts were spread throughout, including antelope, doll our Club with your contribu- sheep, moose, caribou, pheasant, ptarmigan, largemouth bass tions, both written and and lake trout. pictorial. Give us your thoughts and suggestions. From a young age, I remember learning how to gut and clean Email me at wtaylor276@ trout. As I got older, I helped in the butchering of moose, deer, and Chef Brad Hall gmail.com. caribou, and we always ate well during hunting season. I can re-call – Bill Taylor making large batches of something we called ragu: tomato, onion, garlic, meat Editor (bear, moose, and caribou) olive oil and seasonings, all simmered for hours. I have always been a brave eater and my surroundings had a lot to do with that. One of my favorite meals I had from my father’s hunts was moose heart. The heart was cleaned and the ventricles were stuffed with cooked onions and mushrooms. The Club Attire entire heart was put into a roasting bag with some broth and cooked. That may have been my first and last moose heart but I will always remember how juicy and Members are reminded that flavorful it was. St. Botolph Club scarves, My love of the outdoors has been passed onto me from my father. I feel there are ties and other accoutrement far fewer people hunting and fishing now than from his generation. And a good are displayed in the ragu is hard to find. Hawthorne Room. 2 | ST. BOTOLPH BULLETIN From the Editor (Continued from page 1) I speak of course of Samuel Eliot Morison and his statue on the Commonwealth Mall. Installed in 1982, the work in bronze by sculptor Penelope Jencks places Professor Morison informally, (no necktie), invoking his love of the sea rather than his role as a naval historian and academic. In addition to his many achievements, Morison’s statue celebrates a Boston legend: at Harvard as the last professor to arrive for lectures on horseback and among proofreaders for having no double letters in “Eliot Morison.” But back to gloom of night. For large stretches of time, (in early March, from 6:05 PM until 5:47 AM), solar illumination is insufficient for the human eye to appreciate important terrestrial objects such as statues. At worst, in December, daylight is inadequate after 4:43 PM. At best, in June, civil twilight ends at 8:59 PM. Barely Morison Statue tolerable for us Botolphians who seek our beds at reasonable hours, this ill-lumination is a disgrace in a student town like Boston, where life in the summer begins at 10 PM. In the ringing words of a previous Boston civic crisis: “These are the times that try men’s souls. In the course of our nation’s history, the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened.” In that spirit, the Friends of the Public Garden have rallied around a plan to design and install permanent lighting for the statues in each block of the Commonwealth Mall. The work will involve repointing the stonework, restoring granite surrounds, walkways and turf as needed, in addition to installing permanent lights. Importantly for us, the first project will be the Samuel Eliot Morison statue this spring. See the before and after picture below. As always, money is necessary. For more information, email Botolphian Margaret Pokorny at [email protected], or call the Friends at 617-723-8144. The plan is described at the website: https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2019/01/17/ commonwealth-avenue-mall-lighting-january-15-2019/ . Elves So after you stumbled up the stairs without natural light this winter, what did you experience at the Club that was memorable? For me, the traditional seasonal High- Five – the Christmas Concert, the Children’s Holiday Party, the Christmas Lunch, New Years’ Eve and Twelfth Night – is still the best reason for spending winter in Boston. In preparation for the season, see the Clubhouse elves work their decorating magic on December 3 (picture below). n The Concert traditionally features the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline, its Botolphian conductor Lisa Graham and Julia Scott Carey, its accompanist who makes a 10-fingered piano sound like an orchestra. The setting at the Gordon Chapel at Old South Church was festive and sonorous, the walk back the Club was brisk, and much more holiday music sounded at 199 throughout the evening. n The Lunch: the boar, the martini fountain and for the first time in memory, the nametags. An excellent idea: I always remember your name, but at this Lunch I often forget mine. n We missed the Moroccan-themed New Year’s Eve but from the picture below, it looks just like Rick’s in Casablanca, only in color instead of black and white. See if you can spot Sidney Greenstreet! n And Twelfth Night! Lutes and guitars with Fellows Carl Straussner and Jonas Kublickas, the American songbook from Nancy Armstrong and Louis Raymond, a spirited election for Holy Prior – Hale to the Chief! – and a rollicking reading of a Christmas Carol, featuring Jeremiah Kissel, Deborah Wise, and a cast of bit players throughout the room. New Years Eve (Continued on page 4) VOLUME 20 NUMBER 1 | 3 From the Editor (Continued from page 3) And there’s more! We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of of Picasso’s famous Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, from Matisse, Stanley Kubrick’s blockbuster 2001 with an update on artificial Cézanne, French colonialism and roots in African masks. (Fun intelligence from Professor David Jensen that put Kubrick’s fact: the Avignon in question is not the French town with the famous computer HAL (IBM displaced by 1 letter) in the shade. famous bridge but a disreputable street in Barcelona.) Professor Professor Annette Gordon-Reed reminded us how religion has Ned Friedman’s spectacular pictures of the Arnold Arboretum’s shaped constitutional law in the United States regarding sex, sin mutant eastern redbud, (one branch of white flowers among the and shame and induced concomitant effects on issues of race red) knocked our socks off, and vividly illustrated his story of the and gender.

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