Smithsonian articles from November 1994

Smithsonian archives from November 1994

Smithsonian perspectives. (address by Smithsonian Institution Secretary I. Michael Heyman) (Transcript)
November 1, 1994... This column is adapted from I. Michael Heyman's remarks to the institution's staff and friends during his installation as tenth Secretary on September 19. Every Secretarial era reflects unique circumstances and poses its own opportunities...

Around the mall and beyond. (National Football League 75th anniversary)
November 1, 1994... At the 'Gridiron Gala,' a lot of humongous former football players hobnobbed beneath the gaze of the Natural History, museum's African elephant in celebration of the NFL's 75th anniversary Joseph Henry might well have been incredulous. Last...

Phenomena, comment and notes. (Mexican coffee industry)
November 1, 1994... The agribusiness approach to coffee-growing in Mexico is shutting out campesinos, such as the Tzotzil Indians, and destroying the biodiversity migratory birds require Gunshots shattered the peace of the Ocosingo night. It had been three days...

A harvest of holiday titles.
November 1, 1994... From Norway's mountain fastnesses to the canyons of Navajo country, these books will transport children--anywhere On a hilltop in Vermont stands a white frame house. The prospect from that farmstead, of meadow and upland and birch forest, is...

Life among the whales.
November 1, 1994... For 15 years the author has been following pods of wild killer whales as she tries to understand their complex behavior I sat next to the aquarium tank in the warm California night in 1978 and watched the two killer whales below me. The...

There was too much Jonah in Brunel's hapless leviathan. (19th century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's steamer 'Great Eastern')
November 1, 1994... The realized dream of an engineering genius, the Great Eastern was the biggest, fastest steamer afloat--and a maritime nightmare It was November 1857. As high tide approached on a gloomy London afternoon, the Eighth Wonder of the World was...

Impressionism's hard yet glorious formative years.
November 1, 1994... The 1860s were a lean decade, but the artists found their inspiration in outdoor light, Japanese prints and the world as it really was In our time, they are household familiars, their artistry instantly recognizable, unfailingly alluring. We...

Carillons: making heavy-metal music with staying power.
November 1, 1994... Once a town's news network, early-warning system and entertainment all in one, the 'bells without fear' still stop us in our tracks At the top of a tower at the University of California at Berkeley, someone is howling. Ripples of silvery...

The G.I. Bill may be the best deal ever made by Uncle Sam.
November 1, 1994... Also known as Public Law 346, it did a lot, including help millions of veterans to an education they would otherwise have missed On that humid evening in May 1944, a reminiscent Les Faulk was saying nearly five decades later, he could see his...

Lofty perspectives: the silk batiks of Mary Edna Fraser.
November 1, 1994... Using aerial photographs, satellite images and other aids, a bold artist creates works that capture the essence and palette of place On a flight over Georgia's Sea Islands in 1980, textile artist Mary Edna Fraser discovered the "endless...

The art of wishful shrinking has made a lot of people rich. (fad diets)
November 1, 1994... But it has not made many thin--or at least not for long. Diet sensations come and go, but excess weight seems to hang on forever Any day now it's coming, you can bank on it--the ultimate no-pain, no-sacrifice, no-hunger, eat-all-you-want...

'No revolution ever produced a nobler or purer spirit.' (Englishman Erskine Childers)
November 1, 1994... The extraordinary life of Erskine Childers led him far from the sea he wrote about, and loved, to execution as a member oj the IRA Except for a faint, pencil-line smudge of sandspit islands off to the left, the boat is alone on an empty...

I must have achieved something impressive to deserve preapproval.
November 1, 1994... When I look these days at the political polls, on television or in the papers, that give approval ratings to the President or my Senators, I feel very smug. Clinton and Congress have to fight uphill all the way to keep up their ratings. I...