Return to the Merrilltown Cemetery

 

Having stopped at the old Merrilltown Cemetery on March 19 to photograph wildflowers and tombstones, I returned 11 days later. The expanse of wild garlic flowers (Allium drummondii) seemed even lusher than on my previous visit. In particular, I’d gone back to see if the rain lily (Zephyranthes drummondii) leaves I’d noticed the first time had been followed by flowers. Though not nearly as many had come up as I’d wished, enough had for me to make portraits of some buds and flowers.

 

 

As I was finishing up my photographic business, several men with weed whackers walked in from an adjacent property and began to go about their different sort of business. My hope was that they’d clear a few paths and leave most of the wildflowers alone. Ah, of course I should have known better: when I drove past the cemetery a few days later I couldn’t see a single wildflower.

 

 

 

 

❦

❦     ❦     ❦

❦

 

   

My commentary three days ago described how Uri Berliner, a “progressive” who has worked at NPR (National Public Radio) for more than two decades, wrote an article criticizing how politically one-sided the organization, which gets part of its funding from American taxpayers, has become. For example, he described how,

… Concerned by the lack of viewpoint diversity, I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None. 

So on May 3, 2021, I presented the findings at an all-hands editorial staff meeting. When I suggested we had a diversity problem with a score of 87 Democrats and zero Republicans, the response wasn’t hostile. It was worse. It was met with profound indifference. I got a few messages from surprised, curious colleagues. But the messages were of the “oh wow, that’s weird” variety, as if the lopsided tally was a random anomaly rather than a critical failure of our diversity North Star. 

 

Well, yesterday “diversity” won out: NPR suspended Uri Berliner for five days.

 

© 2024 Steven Schwartzman