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On my wedding day–May 28, 2005–I met a very sweet lady: Miriam’s aunt, Adora.  She had been been diligently helping Miriam assemble the final touches to make the wedding come off perfectly, and that it did is in no small part thanks to Adora.  Flowers and decorations, and hours and hours of hard work, and Adora seemed to do it all happily.

Aunt Adora died tonight in Los Angeles where she lived alone.  God bless her.

I read tonight that the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments against the use of lethal injection this term. It has been well over a hundred years since a death penalty case of this sort has been argued before the court. Back then the court held that the use of firing squads did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Considering the exceedingly conservative makeup of the present court, I have no doubt that lethal injection will be deemed neither cruel nor unusual. It wouldn’t surprise me if Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia brought back the guillotine.

I consider this rather bad news, actually, given the timing. It seemed as though capital punishment was beginning to be seen by more and more states as inhumane, and a moratorium has been initiated in some places. Alas, once the court gives lethal injection its seal of approval, it’ll be open season on state-sanctioned murder.

So, you “culture of life” conservatives: WWJD?

What must it be like to live in a city with two major opera companies, one of which is among the best known in the world? Well, judging from these photos from the New York Times (some of which depict  the spill-over audience) from last night’s sold-out season opening at the Metropolitan Opera, it must be pretty good. The Met presented Lucia di Lammermoor in a new production (conducted by James Levine!) which starred Natalie Dessay. Since the Met, large as it is, cannot hold all the people who want to see such a performance, screens were set up at Lincoln Center and Times Square.