The Flames of Notre Dame

Paris is burning.

At least, Notre Dame was.

The cathedral, as synonymous with the city as the Eiffel Tower, was undergoing much-needed renovation when the blaze started. It quickly spread, causing the rooftop spire to collapse.

The 800-year-old stained glass windows melted from the heat, molten glass mixing with molten lead.

A video posted to Twitter showed a group of Parisians kneeling on the ground singing hymns, including Ave Maria, as they stared at the flames.

Things that were saved:

The twin bell towers and bells

The priceless relics and works of art housed in the cathedral

The copper statues of the 12 apostles that were removed from the roof on Thursday due to renovation efforts

The fire comes on the second day of Holy Week, leading up to the most important Catholic holiday - Easter. It's also seven months after a fire at the National Museum of Brazil gutted the entire building, destroying most of the 20 million object collection, and three months after a government shutdown caused irreparable damages to United States National Park Service units.

This is what makes the fire so heartbreaking. Not that the cathedral is one of the most visited sites in the world, not that it has played a huge role in French history - but that it's meeting the same fate as so many other historically, culturally, artistically, religiously significant sites. Notre Dame, the cathedral, isn't safe from the consequences of overuse and underinvestment.

There is a silver lining to the inferno, as many have pointed out - it will be rebuilt, just as it has been for the past eight centuries. It offers some hope, too, for other cultural sites similarly destroyed.

Photos my own, July 2015

My Dear Aloushka...

The two holidays this week - Galentine's Day and Valentine's Day - have me thinking about my favorite historical gal pals.

Alice Longfellow and Fanny Coolidge Stone were as tight a pair as two gal pals could be. The daughters of prominent men - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Republican politician Eben F. Stone - Alice and Fanny occupied elite roles in Gilded Age Massachusetts and Washington D.C. Fanny accompanied her father to Washington and served as his secretary during his three terms in the House of Representatives. Alice traveled Europe and kept the family home in Cambridge in order. The two maintained their friendship through correspondence, and of course visits.

The National Park Service holds about 70 letters from Fanny to Alice from 1875 to 1889 at Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site. They detail life in Washington, the day's politics, and the "exceedingly stupid" receptions. But most interestingly, they show the depth of the two's friendship to be...more than friendship?

Most of Fanny's letters begin with a variation of "My dear Aloushka" - a nickname that seems to have only been used by Fanny. Other letters address "My dearest Aloushka," "My beloved Aloushka," or "My darling Alice." They are signed "Always and always your loving Fanny" or "with a loving heart."

The bodies of the letters contain bits and pieces of things that can be interpreted as romantic. Letter 36 declares how Fanny "wish[ed] I were going up the stairs of Craigie House, with the tea-kettle and some claret and sugar and spice, a couple of tumblers and you." In letter 22, Fanny writes about her distress upon losing a bangle Alice gave her, "for it has contained the comfort that I think a wedding ring must contain."

Neither Alice Longfellow nor Fanny Coolidge Stone ever married. When Alice passed away in December 1928, Fanny was the only non-relative mentioned in her will. Fanny died three years later. Her obituary noted that in the three years prior to her death, she was an invalid.

#ShutdownStories

Three weeks ago, on December 22, the United States government shut down. Among the affected agencies are the National Park Service and the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian, using excess funds from a prior year, remained open until January 1. The Park Service ceased operations, but kept some sites open as per the current administration.

The effects on our nation's parks has been devastating. Already underpaid rangers are furloughed, with no indication when they will be back to work. Some Americans are using the shutdown to avoid paying entrance fees in western parks. Trash is overflowing. A campground at Joshua Tree National Park was shut down because of human excrement.

This afternoon, the National Park Service announced it would use money held in reserve from visitor fees for park upkeep during the shutdown. This money, reserved for future park projects (possibly including the $11 million maintenance backlog) will instead go to upkeep - meaning trash collection, restroom cleaning, and snow removal.

The National Parks Conservation Association estimates that over $6 million in entrance fees has been lost due to the shutdown, about $400,000 per day. Three people have died.

The line to peek in at the Liberty Bell around 3pm on Sunday, January 6. Photo my own

Here in Philadelphia, foot traffic in Old City is lighter than usual for a sunny Sunday. A small line extended into Independence Mall from tourists peeking into the Liberty Bell pavilion through a window. Two Philadelphia police officers are stationed in front of Independence Hall.

Visit Philadelphia donated $32,000 to reopen Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center for three days between Christmas and New Year's Eve. A youth group cleaned up the Mall yesterday, before continuing to the National Mall today.

A few attractions in the immediate area are still open - Carpenters' Hall is operated by the Carpenters Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, and the Museum of the American Revolution, National Constitution Center, African American Museum in Philadelphia, and the National Museum of American Jewish History are privately operated. However, these don't drive tourism. Independence Hall does.

Few people in Philadelphia will die because Independence Hall is shut down. But the damage being done to the Park Service by the current administration may be impossible to bounce back from.