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Recently, The Museum of Modern Art director Glenn D. Lowry, a man I interviewed several times in my career as a cultural writer, announced that he will step down from his post after 30 years in September of 2025.
As much as his counterpart Philippe de Montebello at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who left that post in 2008 after more than 30 years as its longest-serving director, Lowry really shaped the New York City cultural scene at the twilight of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st. He could’ve stayed on.
But he told The New York Times: “I didn’t want to be the person who stayed too long.”
In that, however, Lowry is a rare bird.
Former President Donald J. Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance blame the alleged second assassination attempt on Trump’s life on the Democrats “hateful” rhetoric. But the Democrats aren’t the ones who called Mexican immigrants “rapists,” instituted a Muslim travel ban, put babies on the border in cages, referred to women as “dogs,” “nasty” and “four out of 10” and disdained American P.O.W.s as “losers.”
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell has said Trump possesses “the most hateful mind in presidential history.” This after Trump tweeted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” all because she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president after the debate in which Trump went on a tangent about pet-eating Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.
The US Open began on a brilliant August day (the 26th) that hinted at autumn and ended on a brilliant September day (the 8th) that delivered it.
In between, there were upsets — women’s No. 1 Iga Swiatek, last year’s women’s winner Coco Gauff, last year’s men’s winner Novak Djokovic and the No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz — and some insightful tennis as Taylor Fritz and Francis Tiafoe squared off in a semifinal that gave hope to American fans of a possible U.S. champion.
But only false hope. I saw men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner practice with Paris bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti on Media Day — Friday, Aug. 25 — and thought Sinner would win the men’s final, which he did, beating Fritz in straight sets 6-3. 6-4. 7-5.
Well, the Democratic Convention has me feeling a lot better about the Democrats’ chances in the November election and Kamala Harris’ chances to be the first woman — and woman of color — to become president of the United States. To says she has surprised me with her sheer focused magnificence is the understatement of the year.
Did the first couple of nights run long? Sure, but then it’s always prime time somewhere in the world. Do some politicians love the sounds of their own voices? Always.
At the convention, though, we got not only joy — in short supply in the “American carnage” years — but the sorrow of officers assaulted in the Jan. 6 insurrection, parents waiting for the American hostages of Hamas to be released and women whose health was risked by abortions denied. And we got the sobriety of what we’re up against — the autocracy of the Republicans’ Project 2025 and the lunacy of former President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs. As former President Bill Clinton — still as shrewd a pol as they come — said, we underestimate the opposition at our own peril.