An Anthem of the Mind

Reflections on the National Anthem and the Trump presidency.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Three Flags by Jasper Johns from 1958.
Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In the last 24 hours of the never-ending cycle of news, tweets and sloganeering that has come to characterize American politics since the elevation of one Donald John Trump to the highest office in the land, another firestorm has erupted. The subject: Mr. Trump's decision last night to attack currently unemployed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his protest gesture of taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem at NFL games.

The Super Bowl National Anthem

or, yes it's time to write about Renée Fleming.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Renée Fleming at the Super Bowl.
Image © FOX Sports and the National Football League.

So, on Super Bowl Sunday, the partner and I trekked on the subway to Carnegie Hall to see the English Concert perform Handel's Theodora.. There's a review of that performance to follow later today but first, let's talk about the Super Bowl and Renée Fleming's performance of the National Anthem.

Friends of this blog and those of you who've seen me show up at Carnegie Hall in a warm Green Bay Packers jacket know that I'm not only a football fan, I'm a huge football fan. But because the Handel oratorio was four hours long we didn't make it home in time to see the start of the game. In fact, we watched the first quarter (in Spanish on Fox Deportes Español) at our local taqueria while demolishing delicious (and authentic) burritos.