The Ad Campaign: Thompson Turns Attention to Education

First aired: August 20, 2013

Produced by: Campaign Group

For: William C. Thompson Jr.

With three weeks until the Democratic mayoral primary, William C. Thompson Jr. is hoping to pivot the conversation to New York City’s schools, a topic he believes will allow him to rise above his rivals. In a 30-second advertisement, “Mother Teacher,” which began being broadcast on Tuesday, he uses the story of his mother, Elaine Thompson, a public-school teacher, to indirectly attack Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s record on education.

Fact-Check

0:09

“What would she think today? Neighborhood schools shut down.”

Mr. Thompson can rightly look to his mother for wisdom on the inner workings of schools â€" she taught in public schools for three decades, including at Public School 262 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. But his criticism of the state of schools is missing some nuance. It is true that Mr. Bloomberg has closed many neighborhood institutions â€" some 164 schools in total since 2002. But in those buildings, as well as in newly constructed ones, he has opened 656, though many of those schools were small in size and did not always serve the same student populations.

0:12

“Teachers not respected.”

On the question of teachers, it is correct that many educators â€" and the labor leaders who represent them and have endorsed Mr. Thompson â€" feel mistreated by Mr. Bloomberg. They point to the mayor’s efforts to weaken some union protections and his inability to negotiate a new labor contract (the old one expired in 2009). But things were not always so bad. Mr. Bloomberg won wide praise early in his tenure when, in 2002, he awarded raises to teachers of 16 percent to 22 percent over 30 months.

0:19

“Let’s teach for college and jobs, not just for tests.”

The idea that test preparation has replaced rigorous learning is a common complaint across the school system. And with test scores being used as an increasingly important tool in schools, some teachers and principals contend that the pressure to perform is too high. Mr. Thompson does not mention that in the last school year the state adopted a new set of tougher exams, meant to do away with rote memorization in favor of analytical skills.

Scorecard

Mr. Thompson has presented an endearing entree into education issues by using the example of his mother. But he does not always present a full accounting of Mr. Bloomberg’s educational policies. And by focusing on the mayor, rather than his rivals, he gives up an opportunity to explain how his approach to education would be unique.

@import url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/css/newsgraphics/2013/0712-nyc-ad-campaign/promo.css);

More from The Ad Campaign

The Ad Campaign: Thompson Turns Attention to Education

First aired: August 20, 2013

Produced by: Campaign Group

For: William C. Thompson Jr.

With three weeks until the Democratic mayoral primary, William C. Thompson Jr. is hoping to pivot the conversation to New York City’s schools, a topic he believes will allow him to rise above his rivals. In a 30-second advertisement, “Mother Teacher,” which began being broadcast on Tuesday, he uses the story of his mother, Elaine Thompson, a public-school teacher, to indirectly attack Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s record on education.

Fact-Check

0:09

“What would she think today? Neighborhood schools shut down.”

Mr. Thompson can rightly look to his mother for wisdom on the inner workings of schools â€" she taught in public schools for three decades, including at Public School 262 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. But his criticism of the state of schools is missing some nuance. It is true that Mr. Bloomberg has closed many neighborhood institutions â€" some 164 schools in total since 2002. But in those buildings, as well as in newly constructed ones, he has opened 656, though many of those schools were small in size and did not always serve the same student populations.

0:12

“Teachers not respected.”

On the question of teachers, it is correct that many educators â€" and the labor leaders who represent them and have endorsed Mr. Thompson â€" feel mistreated by Mr. Bloomberg. They point to the mayor’s efforts to weaken some union protections and his inability to negotiate a new labor contract (the old one expired in 2009). But things were not always so bad. Mr. Bloomberg won wide praise early in his tenure when, in 2002, he awarded raises to teachers of 16 percent to 22 percent over 30 months.

0:19

“Let’s teach for college and jobs, not just for tests.”

The idea that test preparation has replaced rigorous learning is a common complaint across the school system. And with test scores being used as an increasingly important tool in schools, some teachers and principals contend that the pressure to perform is too high. Mr. Thompson does not mention that in the last school year the state adopted a new set of tougher exams, meant to do away with rote memorization in favor of analytical skills.

Scorecard

Mr. Thompson has presented an endearing entree into education issues by using the example of his mother. But he does not always present a full accounting of Mr. Bloomberg’s educational policies. And by focusing on the mayor, rather than his rivals, he gives up an opportunity to explain how his approach to education would be unique.

@import url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/css/newsgraphics/2013/0712-nyc-ad-campaign/promo.css);

More from The Ad Campaign

Detroit Institute of Arts Could Lose Regional Tax Funds

Battle lines are being drawn over the fate of the Detroit Institute of Arts, whose encyclopedic collection of art has become a target of creditors seeking billions from Detroit in the city’s bankruptcy proceedings.

On Tuesday, officials in Oakland County â€" one of three Michigan counties that agreed last year to institute a property tax increase to save the Detroit Institute from devastating budget cuts â€" unanimously approved a resolution warning that any attempt to use the museum’s collection or budget to raise money for the city’s creditors would “terminate any obligation” of the county to continue to provide support.

The Oakland County Art Institute Authority, created to oversee that county’s role in the tax, said in the resolution that it “continues to believe that the museum and its collections are important, irreplaceable and indivisible parts of the cultural fiber of the state and region.” Together, the three counties â€" Oakland, Wayne (which includes Detroit) and Macomb â€" expected to raise about $250 million over a 10-year period to support the museum’s operations and acquisitions.

L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland county’s executive, praised the decision to oppose any use of art as an asset, calling it “a shot heard around the world that we support keeping the D.I.A.’s world-class art collection intact.”

Minnesota Orchestra Postpones Sibelius Recordings

Matthew Murphy for The New York Times Osmo Vanska conducting the Minnesota Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2011.

The bitter labor dispute that cost the Minnesota Orchestra its entire 2012-2013 season has now forced the orchestra to postpone recording the next two symphonies in its critically-acclaimed Sibelius cycle, orchestra officials said.

The orchestra earned a Grammy nomination last year for its Bis recording of Sibelius’s second and fifth symphonies. The orchestra, and its Finnish music director, Osmo Vanska, had planned to record Sibelius’s Third and Sixth symphonies next month, with recording sessions scheduled for the week of Sept. 16.

But with the orchestra’s musicians locked out since October, when the players rejected a proposal for a 32 percent cut in base pay and declined to offer a counterproposal, the orchestra and the record label agreed that the planned recording sessions should be postponed until the contract is settled.

Mr. Vanska wrote a letter to the orchestra’s board in April saying that he considered it “extremely important to make the recordings in September as planned,” in part as preparation for the orchestra’s highly-anticipated concerts at Carnegie Hall this November. He threatened to resign as music director if the labor dispute forced the cancellation of the Carnegie Hall concerts.

Wynton Marsalis Taking ‘Abyssinian Mass’ on American Tour

Nicholas Roberts for The New York Times Wynton Marsalis, center, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Abyssinian Baptist Church choir in 2008.

Wynton Marsalis plans to take his “Abyssinian Mass” on the road in October, traveling to 16 cities with a 70-member gospel choir and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Mr. Marsalis, the jazz trumpet virtuoso who leads Jazz at Lincoln Center, composed the lengthy piece to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, mixing gospel and jazz idioms. An elaborate concert piece that traverses jazz history, from spirituals to hard bop, “Abyssinian Mass” was first performed in New York in 2008, with a 100-member choir from the Harlem church it celebrated, and then again in London in 2011.

But Mr. Marsalis and his 15-member orchestra have never tried to tour with the work, in part because it requires such a big choir. This week, however, officials at Jazz at Lincoln Center said plans for an American tour had been finalized: it will begin in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Oct. 3 and run through Oct. 27, with a final performance at Symphony Hall in Boston.

Along the way, the ensemble will perform in Washington, D.C.; New Orleans; Houston; Dallas; St. Louis; and Kansas City. The tour, titled “Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration,” will stop for for three nights in New York City at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th Street and Broadway, from Oct. 24-26.

Though most of the concerts are booked at theaters, concert halls, colleges and performing arts centers, a few will be held in Baptist churches, among them the Good Shepherd Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., and the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C.

Zooey T. Jones, a spokeswoman for Jazz at Lincoln Center, said the orchestra and the Chorale Le Chateau, a New York-based gospel choir led by Damien Sneed, will travel by bus between the cities. With more than 85 musicians to transport, the caravan will include four buses and an equipment truck. All told, the tour is expected to cost at least $2 million, she said.

La MaMa Announces Its Fall Season

An adaptation of the Flann O’Brien novel “The Third Policeman” and new works from the director Irina Brook and the playwright Chiori Miyagawa are part of the fall season at La MaMa, the downtown theater company announced on Tuesday.

The season begins with Ms. Brook’s production of “Shakespeare’s Sister (or La Vie Matérielle)” (Sept. 20 to Oct. 6), an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s “Room of One’s Own” and Marguerite Duras’s “La Vie Matérielle.” The piece is set at a fantasy dinner party where five women prepare food, sing and dance, and features the Obie-winning actress Winsome Brown as Woolf and the former French Vogue editor Joan Juliet Buck as Duras.

“I Came to Look for You on Tuesday” (Sept. 26 to Oct. 13), written by Ms. Miyagawa (“I Have Been to Hiroshima Mon Amour”) and directed by Alice Reagan, explores themes of loss and reunion during times of natural disaster and war. A production of the Re/Union Company, the piece was inspired by messages for missing family members left on a wall after the powerful earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011.

Nomad Theatrical Company’s “Third Policeman” (Dec. 6-15) is a stage adaptation of the surreal comic satire by Mr. O’Brien, an Irish author who died in 1966. Written between 1939 and 1940 and published after the author’s death, the book is set in rural Ireland, and is narrated by a man involved in a strange killing.

Other works coming to La MaMa this fall include Maureen Fleming’s “B. MADONNA” (Oct. 17 to Nov. 3), a multimedia piece inspired by the myth of Persephone, with text by David Henry Hwang and music by Philip Glass; “The Schizophrenic Hamlet,” (Oct. 17 to Nov. 3), a new work by the Italian director Dario D’Ambrosi and his Teatro Patologico; “The Republic” (Nov. 29 to Dec. 15), an interdisciplinary adaptation of Plato’s text from the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater; and Lee Breuer’s pop opera “La Divina Caricatura Part 1, The Shaggy Dog” (Dec. 6 to 22), a co-production with St. Ann’s Warehouse.

Empty Prison in Chelsea Is Now a Valuable Piece of Real Estate

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times The view from the roof of the former Bayview Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in Chelsea that was evacuated before Hurricane Sandy struck. The state has closed the jail and is planning on selling or leasing the building.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times A cell inside the prison, which was built in 1931 and provided cheap lodging for seafaring merchants

The views from the roof of 550 West 20th Street are lovely: Hudson River vistas down to the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan’s twinkling nighttime lights all around. Until recently, residents of the 82-year-old Art Deco building could watch strollers on the Highline Park and golf balls flying into netting at Chelsea Piers.

But those who lived inside the eight-story building were limited in how much they could enjoy their enviable address. The building was a medium-security women’s prison housing inmates convicted of crimes like assault or theft. For a short time each day, the women were permitted to relax and exercise on the caged-in roof. Looking down, they could see the city bustling around them, freedom just out of reach.

Days before Hurricane Sandy struck, the Bayview Correctional Facility, which had operated since 1974, was evacuated and 153 inmates were sent to jails upstate. Fourteen feet of water destroyed boilers, corroded electric equipment and required over $600,000 in repairs, according to state corrections department officials.

The building is now in working condition, but the inmates are not coming back. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo included the closing of the prison in the 2013-14 state budget, citing a high per-prisoner cost and an excess of prison beds in the state.

But some people are lamenting the loss of the prison, even in Chelsea, where the prison opened when the neighborhood was far from the posh place it is today.

“I consider it a tragedy that the prison is lost,” said Pamela Wolff, a member of the local community board. “The amount of recidivism was minimal. For those women, for this community, which for 35 years has been in perfect harmony with the use of that facility, the repercussions will never be measured.”

Among other things, the women imprisoned at the jail now find themselves, Ms. Wolff noted, far from their families.

But the state is proceeding with its plans to sell or lease the jail, which was operating at less than half its capacity when it was emptied. The process of deciding the future of a valuable piece of real estate has only begun, but differing visions have already emerged.

Built in 1931 by the same firm that erected the Empire State Building, 550 West 20th Street first served as a lodging house for seafaring merchants. Known as the Seaman’s House Y.M.C.A., single occupancy rooms, about the size of a walk-in closet, were available for rent.

“It was a refuge for them in their travel hardships,” said Joe Doyle, a Chelsea historian who lives in the neighborhood. “The depression years were ghastly for sailors â€" they were often looking for work. A big ship would come up to the dock, and they’d be begging the first mate for a job. This gave them a place away from the cold.”

Some nights, movies flickered onto a screen set up in the white-tiled gymnasium â€" entertainment for the guests. In a small chapel off the main lobby, sailors may have said a prayer for safe passage, bathed in the colorful light of biblical scenes frozen in stained glass.

As the shipping industry declined, the Y.M.C.A. fell out of use and about the same time, tougher state drugs laws were increasing the demand for jail cells.

During the building’s conversion, gates and locks were added but few changes were made to the tiny spaces where sailors lived. Inmates held in those same chambers were sometimes treated to front-row views of the Fourth of July fireworks over the Hudson River.

An indoor pool on the fourth floor was drained and covered to provide storage space. Though filled with shelves and boxes, the walls of the pool are still adorned with colorful mosaics of fish and crabs.

As news has spread about the state’s plan for the site, neighbors worry that the building, which does not have official landmark status, will be torn down.

“There is concern in the community that the property will be sold to the highest bidder,” said State Senator Brad Hoylman, whose district includes Chelsea and who has met with representatives of the state agency responsible for selling the building. “But I’m hopeful that the future of the site involves substantial community use.”

The local community board has submitted a letter to state officials outlining preferences for historic preservation, affordable housing and community access to the pool and the gym, though in the end it is unclear how much sway the board will have.

“Developers are circling the skies like vultures,” said Joe Restuccia, the housing committee chairman on the local community board, who says real estate company representatives have contacted him about the building. “They look at this not as any sort of public resource, but a piece of property and that’s it. It’s just the next available site.”

No decision has been made on the building’s fate, said Cassie Harvey, spokeswoman for Empire State Development Corporation, the agency that will oversee the disposition of the building.

“We’re on a listening tour, engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the community, elected officials and other stakeholders,” she said. “We’ve asked for their feedback and advice and are taking the time to understand what their priorities are, what their concerns are, and the various reuse possibilities they have in mind.”

Elmore Leonard’s Life in The Times

Dan Borris for The New York Times Elmore Leonard

The oldest reference I could find to Elmore Leonard, the master crime novelist who died on Tuesday at 87, in The New York Times’s online archive was a “Western Roundup” column from May 6, 1956: it “just doesn’t jell,” Hoffman Birney wrote of Mr. Leonard’s novel “Escape From Five Shadows.”

That judgment was not, obviously, an accurate harbinger. In 1969, Martin Levin called “The Moonshine War” a “near-perfect shotgun opera,” and said, “Mr. Leonard has a sense of place as keen as James M. Cain’s and a flair for timing to match.”

By the time Ben Yagoda profiled Mr. Leonard in The New York Times Magazine in 1983, the author’s M.O. was firmly established. “A typical tale,” Mr. Yagoda wrote, “populated by lower-depths denizens pursuing treacherous (and occasionally unintelligible) scams, has a lot in common with Hamlet’s view of the earth. It could be described as ‘a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.’ ” Reviewing “Freaky Deaky” in 1988, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote: “One takes his skill at plotting for granted by now,” and, “Some day Elmore Leonard’s novels are going to be cited in dictionaries of slang.”

Twenty-two years later, Janet Maslin reviewed “Djibouti” and expressed the consensus about Mr. Leonard, calling him “America’s hippest, best-loved, most widely imitated crime writer” and a “national treasure.”

In addition to his famous rules for writers, which appeared in The Times in 2001, Mr. Leonard also serialized a novella, “Comfort to the Enemy,” in The Times Magazine in 2005, and spoke to John Hodgman about the project on a podcast around the same time.

Below are links to more reviews of Mr. Leonard’s work in The Times:

“Raylan”
“Road Dogs”
“Up in Honey’s Room”
“The Hot Kid”
“Mr. Paradise”
“Tishomingo Blues”
“Out of Sight”
“Be Cool”
“Get Shorty”

Deitch Takes Another Look at ‘Calligraffiti’ for New York Gallery

Chad Batka for The New York Times Jeffrey Deitch

Last month Jeffrey Deitch resigned as the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Although he won’t step down immediately, the art world is abuzz with rumors about what he’ll do next. Perhaps a clue to his future interests may be found  in “Calligraffiti: 1984-2013,” an upcoming show at the Leila Heller Gallery in Chelsea opening Sept. 5.

It will explore the relationship between graffiti and calligraphy with the work of nearly 50 artists, from Jackson Pollock and Jean-Michel Basquiat to Keith Haring and his protégé “LA II” (as Angel Ortiz is known). Many of the artists are Middle Eastern, including Shirin Neshat and Hossein Zenderoudi, and several are street artists, like the French-Tunisian star eL Seed.

The show essentially updates “Calligraffiti,” an exhibition that he and Ms. Heller collaborated on in 1984, back when he was a Citibank art adviser with a passion for street art, and she was an Upper East Side dealer specializing in art from the Middle East, primarily Iran.

Curated by Mr. Deitch, the 1984 show juxtaposed graffitists like Fab Five Freddy with Mr. Zenderoudi and modernist scrawlers like Cy Twombly and Jean Dubuffet. (Mr. Deitch came up with the idea, he said, while he was between apartments and sleeping in Ms. Heller’s gallery.)

This time, Mr. Deitch served as Ms. Heller’s sounding board, rather than curator. But he is excited about the new possibilities for street art offered by the turmoil in the Middle East, especially as exemplified by eL Seed, who started as a street artist and is now working on a major commission from the Qatar Museums Authority to paint a series of tunnels in Doha.

“He is in a very genuine way working in this fusion between a calligraphic technique coming out of Arabic script,” Mr. Deitch said, “and an awareness of international graffiti language. When we did the show originally in 1984, there wasn’t anyone like this.” But now, he added, “there is this actual fusion of the two traditions.”

In the catalog he wrote that, ”Graffiti has become an important part of the imagery that has defined the Arab Spring.” While New York’s early taggers had to rely on subway cars to carry their messages, he added, “today new communications platforms like Instagram and YouTube have given street art a new resonance,” instantly communicated around the world.

Mr. Deitch is already at work on several independent projects beyond the one or two he intends to complete for the Museum of Contemporary Art. He would not talk about them until he had “concrete plans with the dates, space.” But yes, he confirmed, they will be in New York.

Q. and A.: Gidon Kremer on Freedom and Human Rights in Russia

Karsten Moran for The New York Times Gidon Kremer performing at Alice Tully Hall in 2011.

Russia’s freedoms and human rights record will be the focus of a concert that Gidon Kremer, the Latvian-born violinist and the founder of the Kremerata Baltica chamber orchestra, plans to hold in Berlin on Oct. 7 â€" the anniversary of the killing of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and critic of the Kremlin who was slain in 2006.

Mr. Kremer said in an e-mail interview that his concert, which is to be called “To Russia With Love,” was in the works before Russia’s recent law restricting the discussion of homosexuality was passed. He said that the concert was intended as “a kind of a personal statement against injustice,” and took issue with recent descriptions of the concert as an “anti-Putin” event. Here are edited excerpts from the interview.

Q.

What motivated the “To Russia With Love” concert in Berlin?

A.

I had my chance to spend my childhood in an authoritarian country. The trends Russia is heading in now make me worry and reminds me of those times. I do really believe that people who suffered a lot in the past century deserve respect and freedom in all senses. Our days the opposite happens: many citizens again become scared and insecure.

My humble attempt is to do something good for people in trouble and to raise awareness among those who otherwise would remain silent.
I do see our concert “To Russia With Love” as a kind of a personal statement against injustice, expressed together with friends and everlasting music.

Q.

What, particularly, are you hoping to draw attention to about Putin’s Russia?

A.

Humanitarian issues. Everything that contradicts our understanding of freedom and human rights. I care about humanitarian issues, about feeling safe and being sure that a country will respect you, your family, your freedom.

Q.

Who has signed on?

A.

Many of my personal friends, among the best artists in the field of classical music. Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Pahud are among them and, of course, the orchestra I founded 17 years ago â€" the Kremerata Baltica.

Q.

Was the concert planned before Russia signed the recent antigay laws, or is it intended in part as a reaction to them?

A.

It was scheduled to take place before that bad news became known to the whole world. At the same time we do not see ourselves as “fighters” against a political system, its ideology or its rulers. Our support goes to all those who unjustly became or become victims. We do not … identify the goal of this event with any group or movement, while having sympathy with all discriminated people in Russia.

Q.

I read that a new piece at the concert will be dedicated to Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky â€" the former oil tycoon and political opponent of President Vladimir V. Putin who was imprisoned after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005 and money laundering and theft in 2010 â€" whose cause you have championed in the past.

A.

I do identify myself with artists and composers, like Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli, who are for decades my personal friends and whose compositions I many times premiered and always championed. They are the “authors,” the creators of scores related to Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

While Arvo Pärt dedicated his Fourth Symphony, “Los Angeles,” to the former entrepreneur, Giya Kancheli wrote his newest compositions “Angels of Sorrow” having in mind all innocent victims in the world and “connected” his dedication to the 50th birthday of Mr. Khodorkovsky, who still remains in prison.

Q.

What is it about his case that moves you?

A.

I am looking at his whole case as an example of a fight between a personality against a “system.” And this is only one example among many.

This subject as such always interested me, since I did grew up in the totalitarian Soviet Union and always followed up those unique people who were able to stand up against “everybody” motivated by search of truth. Those who were not afraid to go against power and prescribed “ideology.” Those who were not silenced by fear, censorship or their own striving for comfort. (Alfred Schnittke, another important Russian composer and close friend of mine, said once to me, that “self-imposed censorship is even more dangerous than the official one.”)

Q.

What do you think of Russian artists, such as Anna Netrebko and Valery Gergiev, who have been vocal supporters of Putin? Let me clear one misunderstanding. I have to repeat myself â€" these two names (and a number names of other artists, like Yuri Bashmet) were never mentioned by myself as “opponents.” The same way journalists made up a very readable cliché about our Berlin event as an “anti-Putin” concert.

Our event â€" and I want to underline it again â€" is set on a positive note. We want to play, to perform as a sign of support for those in trouble.
I myself am not denying the obvious high artistic qualities of Anna Netrebko or Valery Gergiev, but I do feel a certain discomfort observing them offstage. The identification with one’s own country is more than honorable and understandable. Never would I criticize a real patriot nor deny that patriotism is a very natural attitude. We all should be able to love our native country.

What makes me feel odd is the way these feelings are presented, the way artists become “spokesmen” for politicians and those who are in power.

Very well-known photographs of Herbert von Karajan (and even Wilhelm Furtwängler) greeted by (or greeting) German rulers come to my mind. We are talking about some kind of arrangement some artists or politicians are seeking for their own profit, the companies (or even states) they lead…Mephisto-like “deals” are well known in history. Regrettably they continue to tempt some of our contemporaries too.

Q.

There have been some calls here in New York for the Metropolitan Opera, which is opening its season with Ms. Netrebko and Mr. Gergiev in a new production of “Eugene Onegin,” to dedicate the opening night performance to the support of gay people.

A.

For me “Eugene Onegin” as a piece of great art has nothing in common with any social movements we are discussing. Being myself fully in support of all human rights â€" be it social or gender orientation, freedom of expression or travel â€" having respect for individuals and their ways of life, I still want to feel that matters of art are of “higher value.”

What matters are not operas or symphonies, but artists themselves. Their attitude and their reactions, their ability to show solidarity or incapacity or unwillingness to take a stand.

We should not use festive occasions â€" like the opening of a season or a concert â€" to demonstrate our disagreements, but we should for sure lend support to all discriminated people worldwide in peaceful actions using our abilities and art. I am sure artists can as well be part of such a movement. After all, art is designed to bring people closer to each other and not to split them.

Q.

What do you make of the Met’s response that it would be “inappropriate for our performances to be used by us for political purposes, no matter how noble or right the cause”?

A.

I do perfectly understand the wording and can sign off on it, but any institution â€" even the Met â€" must understand that there are more important issues around than supporting a star-oriented system, or the expectation of a success with a premiere or production. Artists on- and offstage can’t be seen completely isolated from all those problems, and here and there must be given a chance to raise their voice against any humiliation. As long as it doesn’t become a matter of “destroying” an opera or an event, artists should be free to emphasize their ability to show solidarity, and not just their “bel canto.”

This is and remains the goal of our concert in Berlin on Oct. 7, the day Anna Politkovskaya was murdered…The message is and will remain a positive one: “To Russia With Love.” “Love must prevail” on- and offstage worldwide. We artists are “carriers” of this message, and we do have a mission. This means we should feel a responsibility â€" be it in Berlin or in New York. Everywhere!

Aug. 20: Where the Candidates Are Today

Planned events for the mayoral candidates, according to the campaigns and organizations they are affiliated with. Times are listed as scheduled but frequently change.

Nicholas Wells contributed reporting.

Event information is listed as provided at the time of publication. Details for many of Ms. Quinn events are not released for publication.Maps of all campaign events since April »

Events by candidate

Catsimatidis

De Blasio

Lhota

Liu

Thompson

Weiner

Group event

John A. Catsimatidis
Republican

8:15 a.m.
Attends an invitation-only breakfast “friend-raiser,” at the Harvard Club on West 44th Street.

11:30 a.m.
Meets privately with Citizens Union, a good-government watchdog group, at the offices of Proshauer Rose, L.L.P. in Times Square.

7 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Bill de Blasio
Democrat

1 p.m.
Holds a news conference to announce the new legal actions he has taken to prevent the shutdown of Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, outside Federal Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn.

6:40 p.m.
Calls voters with his wife, Chirlane McCray, at a Dial for de Blasio phone bank, at Southside Coffee in Brooklyn.

John C. Liu
Democrat

7 a.m.
Greets morning commuters at the 205th Street D train subway station, in the Bronx.

11 a.m.
Visits with seniors at the Atlantic Adult Day Care Center, the first of three senior centers he intends to visit in Brooklyn on the day.

11:45 a.m.
Visits with seniors at the Brooklyn American Chinese Association Senior Center, the second of three senior centers he intends to visit in Brooklyn on the day.

12:30 p.m.
Visits with seniors at the Homecrest Community Services Senior Center, the third of three senior centers he intends to visit in Brooklyn on the day.

5 p.m.
Greets evening commuters at the 23rd Street C/E train subway station, in Chelsea.

6:45 p.m.
Participates in a candidate forum, sponsored by the LGBTQ Community Services Center of the Bronx, giving candidates running for a number of city offices the opportunity to answer questions affecting the LGBTQ community, at the Bronx Library Center on East Kingsbridge Road.

7:15 p.m.
Attends a rally to save Interfaith Medical Center, at First A.M.E. Zion Church, in Brooklyn.

7:30 p.m.
Addresses the congregation of Love Fellowship Tabernacle, on Liberty Avenue in Brooklyn.

9 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Joseph J. Lhota
Republican

4:20 p.m.
Meets privately with N.Y. Tech Meetup, a networking company for the tech industry, at the offices of Thoughtworks on Madison Avenue.

7 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

William C. Thompson Jr.
Democrat

7:30 a.m.
After hosting a breakfast for Caribbean Americans on Monday, Mr. Thompson hosts the Haitian Leaders for Bill Thompson Breakfast, on Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn.

10 a.m.
Holds a news conference to unveil his specific plans to fix the police tactic known as stop-and-frisk, outside 1 Police Plaza in downtown Manhattan.

12 p.m.
Addresses the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, as part of the organization’s series of mayoral forums on issues of importance to the Jewish community, at the O.U. Center on Broadway in Manhattan.

Anthony D. Weiner
Democrat

11:45 a.m.
Visits with seniors at the Queensbridge North Senior Center, in Queens.

12:45 p.m.
Visits Newtown Creek, the site of one of the world’s largest underground oil spills and the waterway between Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and Long Island City, Queens, on the second day of his “Delivering for New York” tour â€" part of his larger “Keys to the City” tour â€" to talk about the recent cleanup efforts in the area.

7 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Sal F. Albanese
Democrat

7:15 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Adolfo Carrión Jr.
Independent

7:30 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

George T. McDonald
Republican

7 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Erick J. Salgado
Democrat

4 p.m.
Campaigns from the bed of a pick-up truck, along with his wife, Sonia, in Queens.

7 p.m.
Participates in a mayoral forum, hosted by the Queens Bar Association and the Presidents Co-Op Condo Council, which represents the co-op and condo community in Queens, at North Shore Towers in Queens.

Overheard on the Train, a Familiar Soundtrack

Dear Diary:

I’m on a packed No. 1 train when suddenly I hear “Tobacco Road” by the Blues Magoos, playing loud. I know the record â€" it’s on the classic “Nuggets” garage-rock compilation â€" and I wonder who on earth would be blasting it on the subway. I look around, but nobody has a boom box, or even the kind of headphones that might bleed this much sound.

Then the next song starts, and it’s “Sit Down, I Think I Love You” by the Mojo Men. Yup, it’s definitely “Nuggets.” I watch as various suspects leave the train â€" but each is acquitted, since the music continues. I decide that it has to be the conservatively dressed woman who had been fooling around with her laptop, although she certainly doesn’t look like the Nuggets type.

Finally, I reach my stop and get out, sad that I’ll never learn the answer â€" except I do.

Because the music is coming from my own iPhone.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

Branagh’s ‘Macbeth’ Coming to New York’s Park Avenue Armory in 2014

Johan Persson Alexander Vlahos as Malcolm in “Macbeth” at the Manchester International Festival.

Fresh off a highly praised run at the Manchester International Festival in England, a new production of “Macbeth” directed by Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford is coming to Manhattan next year. First mounted in a deconsecrated church with the audience seated in long pews, the play will be reimagined in June for the 55,000-square-foot space in the Park Avenue Armory’s Drill Hall.

In reprising the title role, Mr. Branagh will make his debut on the New York stage. Alex Kingston, who played Lady Macbeth in the festival production, will also make her New York debut. Additional casting and performance dates will be announced later.

Johan Persson Kenneth Branagh in the title role.

Also joining the New York team are Christopher Oram, the set and costume designer, and Neil Austin, the lighting designer. Their distinctive work on the Manchester production left a vivid impression on audiences, who were warned that they might get dirty during a show with rain effects that turned the stage’s dirt floor into mud, and a kinetic opening fight scene depicting a battle that occurs offstage in Shakespeare’s text.

The Times’s Ben Brantley wrote of the Manchester production:

Mr. Branagh asserts his claim to the usurped throne of Scotland with an utterly assured and intelligent portrait of a desperate and less-than-brilliant man, in a production that steers clear of topical flourishes and postmodern interpolation. Like Mr. Branagh’s most appealing film, “Henry V,” this “Macbeth” is a crowd pleaser in the best sense.

In a statement, Rebecca Robertson, the president and executive producer of the Park Avenue Armory, said, “We are ecstatic to collaborate with Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh, combining their incredible vision with our unconventional space and military history to allow audiences to relive this timeless story in a remarkable new way.”

More information about tickets and scheduling will be made available at armoryonpark.org.

In Performance: Eric Anderson and Amber Iman of ‘Soul Doctor’

The real-life folk-singing Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach is the subject of the new Broadway musical “Soul Doctor,” which opened last week at the Circle in the Square. In this scene, the rabbi, played by Eric Anderson, sings the number “Always With You,” about his friendship with the singer Nina Simone, played by Amber Iman.

Recent videos in this series include Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez singing the duet “First Impressions” from the new Broadway musical “First Date,” at the Longacre Theater, and the playwright Young Jean Lee in a scene from her show “We’re Gonna Die,” at the Claire Tow Theater.

New York Today: A Struggle Far From Home

Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press The bloodshed in Egypt has reverberated in New York, dividing and uniting local Egyptians.  Supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi demonstrated near the Egyptian mission to the United Nations last week.

The unrest in Egypt may feel far off for many New Yorkers.

But for the more than 14,000 Egyptians living in the city it is ever-present.

And at Casa La Femme, in the West Village, a two-decades old grande dame of Egyptian restaurants, it is the topic of choice in the front of the house, says the co-owner, Medhat Ibrahim - and in the back.

The Egyptian kitchen staff discuss it while making warak enab, Egyptian style grape-leaves, and the subject, the owner says, bounces around the dining room.

One angle: how different is the tenor of relations among Egyptians in New York.

Last week, said Remon Fanouse, 24, a chef at Casa, his sister’s house in southern Egypt was attacked. He believes it is because they are Coptic Christians.

Shortly after, in New York, Mr. Fanouse’ phone rang; it was an Egyptian Muslim acquaintance with whom he had hardly ever spoken. The man asked how he was holding up.

“In my mind Egypt is like a beautiful girl,” Mr. Fanouse said, waiting for the people to embrace her.

“Now the girl is crying,” he said. “She’s crying. She’s feeling alone.”

Here’s what you need to know for your Tuesday.

WEATHER
Nice, nice and nicer. Blue skies and a warm 87 degrees today. Stay cool and enjoy.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit: Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: Traffic moving well. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Blue moon tonight! Ok, just a full moon of August known as the Corn Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon. But close.

- There is a rally to ban plastic bags at City Hall at 11 a.m.

- DJs, Djs, Djs at this jam in St. Nicholas Park in Harlem from 4 p.m. to 8p.m., 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. [Free]

- “Caddyshack,” on Red Hook’s Valentino Pier, on the Brooklyn waterfront at sundown. [Free]

- Go to “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At 8:30 p.m at 54 South 3rd Street. It’s free, but R.S.V.P. here. [Free]

- Secret Science Club (not so secret now, sorry) offers a free lecture on decision-making by a neurophysicist at the Bell House, 149 7th Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn at 8 p.m. [Free]

- Don’t worry, be happy. Bobby McFerrin takes Central Park Summerstage, 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- Take a free walking tour of Harlem at 2 p.m. Reservations required. [Free]

- See a contemporary circus in Marcus Garvey Park at 7:30 p.m. in Harlem. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- Al Jazeera America launches. Fewer commercials and opinion, more straight news and documentaries, according to officials. It’s headquarters will be in New York City, and there will be 12 bureaus nationally for the Qatar-based news organization. [Al Jazeera]

- A statue of Jackie Robinson was rededicated after it was vandalized. [CBS]

- Guns, 254 of them â€" including military-grade weapons modified to improve aim and avoid detection â€" were part of a cache in what officials are calling the largest seizure of illegal guns in the city’s history. They came via a pipeline from the South. [New York Times]

- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed a bill to ban a controversial therapy aimed at converting gay people to heterosexuality. [Wall Street Journal]

- The publisher of a community newspaper slapped an intern and a state senator who were supporting City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn at a mayoral rally over a closed hospital. The man, a widower, expressed grief about not being able to visit his dying wife near his home because the local hospital had closed. [New York Times]

- A 3D interactive map has been built showing the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. [New York Daily News]

- A man hung himself on Friday in Prospect Park. [The Brooklyn Paper]

AND FINALLY…
Usually we can find a New York City connection to just about anything, but this time, we can’t. Nevertheless, it needs to be said.

The Obamas got a new dog.

Her name is Sunny, she is a 1-year-old Portuguese water dog, just like Bo, the dog the Obamas already have, according to the White House website.

Her head is kind of like a giant pom-pom.

Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.

We’re testing New York Today, a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, e-mail Sarah Maslin Nir or reach us via Twitter at @nytmetro using #NYToday. Thanks!

New York Today: A Struggle Far From Home

Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press The bloodshed in Egypt has reverberated in New York, dividing and uniting local Egyptians.  Supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi demonstrated near the Egyptian mission to the United Nations last week.

The unrest in Egypt may feel far off for many New Yorkers.

But for the more than 14,000 Egyptians living in the city it is ever-present.

And at Casa La Femme, in the West Village, a two-decades old grande dame of Egyptian restaurants, it is the topic of choice in the front of the house, says the co-owner, Medhat Ibrahim - and in the back.

The Egyptian kitchen staff discuss it while making warak enab, Egyptian style grape-leaves, and the subject, the owner says, bounces around the dining room.

One angle: how different is the tenor of relations among Egyptians in New York.

Last week, said Remon Fanouse, 24, a chef at Casa, his sister’s house in southern Egypt was attacked. He believes it is because they are Coptic Christians.

Shortly after, in New York, Mr. Fanouse’ phone rang; it was an Egyptian Muslim acquaintance with whom he had hardly ever spoken. The man asked how he was holding up.

“In my mind Egypt is like a beautiful girl,” Mr. Fanouse said, waiting for the people to embrace her.

“Now the girl is crying,” he said. “She’s crying. She’s feeling alone.”

Here’s what you need to know for your Tuesday.

WEATHER
Nice, nice and nicer. Blue skies and a warm 87 degrees tomorrow. Stay cool and enjoy.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit: Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: Traffic moving well. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Blue moon tonight! Ok, just a full moon of August known as the Corn Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon, Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon. But close.

- There is a rally to ban plastic bags at City Hall at 11 a.m.

- DJs, Djs, Djs at this jam in St. Nicholas Park in Harlem from 4 p.m. to 8p.m., 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. [Free]

- “Caddyshack,” on Red Hook’s Valentino Pier, on the Brooklyn waterfront at sundown. [Free]

- Go to “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At 8:30 p.m at 54 South 3rd Street. It’s free, but R.S.V.P. here. [Free]

- Secret Science Club (not so secret now, sorry) offers a free lecture on decision-making by a neurophysicist at the Bell House, 149 7th Street in Gowanus, Brooklyn at 8 p.m. [Free]

- Don’t worry, be happy. Bobby McFerrin takes Central Park Summerstage, 6:30 p.m. [Free]

- Take a free walking tour of Harlem at 2 p.m. Reservations required. [Free]

- See a contemporary circus in Marcus Garvey Park at 7:30 p.m. in Harlem. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- Al Jazeera America launches. Fewer commercials and opinion, more straight news and documentaries, according to officials. It’s headquarters will be in New York City, and there will be 12 bureaus nationally for the Qatar-based news organization. [Al Jazeera]

- A statue of Jackie Robinson was rededicated after it was vandalized. [CBS]

- Guns, 254 of them â€" including military-grade weapons modified to improve aim and avoid detection â€" were part of a cache in what officials are calling the largest seizure of illegal guns in the city’s history. They came via a pipeline from the South. [New York Times]

- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed a bill to ban a controversial therapy aimed at converting gay people to heterosexuality. [Wall Street Journal]

- The publisher of a community newspaper slapped an intern and a state senator who were supporting City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn at a mayoral rally over a closed hospital. The man, a widower, expressed grief about not being able to visit his dying wife near his home because the local hospital had closed. [New York Times]

- A 3D interactive map has been built showing the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. [New York Daily News]

- A man hung himself on Friday in Prospect Park. [The Brooklyn Paper]

AND FINALLY…
Usually we can find a New York City connection to just about anything, but this time, we can’t. Nevertheless, it needs to be said.

The Obamas got a new dog.

Her name is Sunny, she is a 1-year-old Portuguese water dog, just like Bo, the dog the Obamas already have, according to the White House website.

Her head is kind of like a giant pom-pom.

Nicole Higgins DeSmet contributed reporting.

We’re testing New York Today, a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, e-mail Sarah Maslin Nir or reach us via Twitter at @nytmetro using #NYToday. Thanks!