Three Beautiful Things 12/19/17: Countertops In, Appliances Arrive, *The Bronx is Burning* Done

1.  Our gray quartz countertops went in today. We like the way they look with the color of the kitchen wall and the warmth of the hardwood floor. The kitchen will be cluttered another day with paint cans, tool belts, and other things belonging to Shawn and Trevor. Once cleared out, I'll take pictures.

2. The pictures will also include our appliances because Sherri and Brock from Watts Appliances delivered them today. On Wednesday, Shawn and Sherri and Brock will finish placing and installing them, but we can use our refrigerator now. Our appliances are stainless steel so the kitchen has a partly industrial look. We hope the warmth of the wood floors offsets the coolness of the stainless steel and we are scheming ways to bring even more color into our kitchen with hangings on the wall and other additions. This project is nearing completion.

3. While work was going on all over the house with countertops, appliance delivery, electricity, light covers, further clean up, and other assorted tasks, I finished reading the splendid book Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics and the Battle for the Soul of a City. 1977 was a wild, dangerous, frightening year of upheaval in New York City: the Son of Sam killer shot several young people, the July blackout led to widespread looting and arson, apart from the blackout, arson was on the rise, racial tensions increased, tabloids screamed frightening headlines; several candidates ran for mayor in three sharp-elbowed races, the Democratic primary, followed by a runoff between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo when no candidate won 40 percent of the primary vote, and finally the mayor's race itself, won by Koch.  The city was in the throes of a fiscal crisis.

Where could a person find some respite? Well, many followed the day to day melodrama in the New York Yankees divisive clubhouse where Reggie Jackson and manager Billy Martin were at the center of one controversy after another and many followed the Yankees' dramatic exploits on the baseball field which climaxed in a thrilling World Series victory for the Yankees, topped off by Reggie Jackson catapulting three home runs in Yankee Stadium on three consecutive pitches from three different pitchers, bringing the season and the World Series to a thundering conclusion.

Jonathan Mahler's book weaves all of these stories and more together into an enthralling work of political and cultural history, one that helps us see that much of what we currently see in the worlds of journalism, politics, sports, and social conflict is a continuation of what was occuring forty years ago in 1977 -- and what was happening in 1977 was a continuation of what was happening in the decades leading up to it.