This New England

-- Irving B Haynes

Untitled, 1978
Watercolor on paper, 14 x 20 inches

(Courtesy of Newport Art Museum)

You don't see as much abstract art out there any more. One New Englander (from Maine originally) who stuck with it was the unforgettable Irving Haynes (1929-2005) -- architect, teacher, historic preservationist and a raconteur possessed of a smokey voice that seems to have characterized many men of his generation.

The Newport Art Museum is having a show of his work, Irving B. Haynes: Abstractions 1960-2005. Museum Curator Nancy Whipple Grinnell will lead a gallery discussion about Mr. Haynes's work Thursday, May 14 beginning at 5:30 pm., at the museum, 76 Bellevue Ave., Newport.

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-- Pierre Mignard, Fortune (1692)

It's that time of year when shareholders around America get proxy statements from companies in which they own stock. This mail includes recommendations from senior management to vote for this or that corporate change.

Shareholders should note that these recommendations are just about always favorable to the personal economic interests of senior management -- but not necessarily to the interests of the mass of the current shareholders or the long-term interests of the company.

Read these documents carefully, although managements usually don't want you to, and be ready to vote "reject'' instead of just going along.
I

ndeed, it's not a bad idea from time to shoot a warning shot over the bow of an imperial, self-aggrandizing CEO.

Meanwhile, I hope that in the next generation, there is commensurately more reward for real invention of real things -- say of wonderful new machines -- and less for financial manipulation.

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Sadly for Nantucket, Aviation Technologies will start new jet charter service this summer between Groton-New London Airport and the island, putting even more long-term population pressure on that high-end glorified sand bar.

But maybe not this summer, because of the bad economy, especially that of the financial-services trade, which may mean that there will be fewer than usual visitors to that stressed and fragile isle than usual from New York. They'll have to stay in Larchmont.

However, the number of day trippers from New England may increase. They don't have the money to go farther afield.

You can already fly to Nantucket directly from New York, Boston or New Bedford.

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Bravo to Rhode Island Episcopal Bishop Geralyn Wolf for defrocking an Episcopal priest who said she was a Muslim but wanted to remain a priest. To have let her stay would have stretched ecumenicalism to the point of meaninglessness. It was a circle that couldn't be squared.

That Ann Holmes Redding thought that she could be both Muslim and Christian illustrates the inane trendiness and murkiness of religious and philosophical thought in our time.

G.K. Chesterton take note!

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New England is still doing well in the prestige-higher-education business, but there are some new shadows.

While the biggest names -- Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown and MIT -- all saw increases in applications this year, applications at such smaller but very prestigious places as Williams and Bowdoin had falls. Presumably the economy is to blame.

These places cost about $50,000 a year to attend, and that can be particularly daunting in a recession.

The winner-take-all psychology for the most celebrated individuals and institutions seems to be intensifying.

With so many institutions competing for students, and most of them a lot cheaper to attend than Williams or Bowdoin or Amherst, I wonder if the region will soon find itself less competitive in the race for students' tuition money, grants and other money flowing to higher education.

Certainly the fame of the region's Big 5 won't be enough in themselves to maintain the region's allure as one of the world's higher-education centers. It also rests on the success of its numerous small colleges.

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As the economy crashes and publications fold or shrink, paper mills in Maine are not doing well at all these days. The mill towns continue to fade and the nature lovers don't seem to be able to take up the slack.

 Tags  Ann Holmes Redding Aviation Technologies Dartmouth Geralyn Wolf Irving B. Haynes Newport Art Museum

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