From The Attic — for a kinder, cooler America

CAMBRIDGE, MA, 1952 — In a padded room deep in the bowels of a Harvard lab, the composer steps into silence.

He expects to hear. . . nothing, and for a few moments, he does. But then his own body — the beating of his heart, the rush of his flowing blood — becomes the music.

FROM: The Attic — “for a kinder, cooler America”

SOUTH CHICAGO — Like Harlem before it, Chicago had its Black Renaissance. During decades of Depression and war, the neighborhood folks called Bronzeville blossomed with art, literature, and music. Louis Armstrong was blowing his horn. Richard Wright was writing Black Boy and Native Son. Community art centers welcomed young talent. Poetry and prose boosted pride.

TINKER CREEK, VA — The creek flowed for millions of years but the world beyond its banks was too busy to notice. Then in 1971, a young woman from nearby Roanoke began dropping by.

YANKEE STADIUM, JULY 4, 1939 — Throughout this cathedral of baseball, patriotic bunting suggests a World Series, but it’s just a routine doubleheader. Until the first game ends and the crowd stirs.

Dignitaries and former player fill the infield. Mayor LaGuardia speaks, then Babe Ruth. But the crowd chants “We want Lou! We want Lou!”

Wiping away tears, Gehrig begins. “For the past two weeks you’ve been reading about a bad break. . .”

GREENSBORO, NC, FEB 1960 — Four black men sat at the all-white lunch counter, refusing to move until served. When Woolworth’s closed, they left, then returned the next day with a dozen friends. Within a week, “sit-ins” started in Atlanta, Nashville, Durham, Raleigh. . . The Movement was galvanized. But one woman knew that freedom meant “more than a hamburger.”

From The Attic — For a Kinder, Cooler America

AMERICA 1920s — When the roaring began, not everyone roared along. For every flapper, hundreds were housebound. For every Hemingway hero, thousands were chained to jobs. But in the spring of 1921, a young Princeton student hit the road and took America along for the fun.

FROM THE ATTIC — FOR A KINDER, COOLER AMERICA

BERKELEY, CA — 1903 — Einstein was tinkering with the universe, the Wright Brothers tinkering at Kitty Hawk when a UC physics professor debuted the Barolik. Designed to measure the weight of the earth, the Barolik was big enough to fill a lab. With tubes and springs, pipes and wires, it reminded students of “a dumping ground for outmoded dentists’ furnishings.”

SPRINGER MOUNTAIN, GA, MARCH 1948 — On a sunny morning, as Americans elsewhere revved up big Buicks and Chevys, a WW2 vet shouldered his pack and hit the trail “to walk the war out of my system.” His destination — Maine.