Today is Monday, March 21, 2022. Today the Senate began confirmation hearings for the first Black woman nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in which more than four hours of speeches from senators were delivered, Jackson was introduced by her colleagues, and the nominee got to introduce herself to the committee. This historic moment for the country was reported in an online CNN article by Tierney Sneed and Lauren Fox entitled “Takeaways from Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings.”

As would be expected, “repugnicans” behaved repulsively as ever, with some odious members like Senator Josh Hawley who should have been expelled after the January 6th insurrection, who chastised her for allegedly being soft on child pornographers, which is a disgusting Q-Anon talking point for the redubbed “Government of Putin (GOP)” ever since Dumpf was in office. Another Senator, John Cornyn of Texas, said he was “troubled” by Jackson’s advocacy on behalf of Guantanamo Bay detainees and the arguments Jackson “made representing people who have committed terrorist acts against the United States and other dangerous criminals.”

The loopiest opening statement from a GOP senator was Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn who suggested that Jackson had a “hidden agenda” that needed probing, as she listed vague concerns about critical race theory, which is the new GOP bugaboo, school mask mandates, and letting “violent criminals, cop killers, and child predators back to the streets.” Blackburn’s comments were repulsive and embarrassing for her in particular.

Jackson’s opening statement touched on her modest background and the gratitude she felt toward those who have boosted her legal ascent. She and her supporters emphasized the “independent” approach she brings to the bench, while Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats argued her confirmation will make the high court more reflective of the country it serves, something ugly repugnicans are still trying to deny with all the force they can muster.

Republicans shined in whining about how Democrats have handled the confirmation of GOP nominees that have really not been as qualified as Ketanji Brown Jackson, people like Brett Kavanaugh and the final nominee under the last president, Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed in a blink of an eye after beloved jurist Ruth Bader Ginsburg died before Biden could be inaugurated. Jackson expressed her gratitude toward her parents as well as her faith.

She provided information on what her name “Ketanji Onyika” means, which translates to “lovely one,” as she told the committee, which is an expression of her parents’ “pride in their heritage and hope for the future.” Jackson also recounted the interest in law she developed from watching her father study law, while praising the “excellent mentors” she had in high school and in the judges that she clerked for.

The historic Supreme Court nominee expressed her appreciation of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer whom she clerked for and would be his replacement if she is confirmed. Jackson went on to say “if confirmed, I would hope to carry on his spirit.” She also vowed to be independent while taking “very seriously” her responsibility to defend the Constitution. She added, “I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath.”

Even if Jackson were to be confirmed, her appointment on its own will not likely change the 6-3 conservative-to-liberal vote count on cases heard before the high court. Democrats stressed, however, other ways that Jackson – through the demographic and professional diversity she’d bring – will give the court new perspectives and enrich the confidence that Americans place in it. I doubt that Americans have little faith in the Supreme Court as it is now constituted, with three appointed judicial choices of the last disgraced president sitting on it at the present moment. With the confirmation of this breath of fresh air to the Supreme Court, maybe Americans’ confidence in the body could be restored to some degree.

From what I could see of the hearings, which wasn’t that much, since I was out most of the time, I particularly was impressed by Jackson’s demeanor toward the repugnican attacks on her. At least, she didn’t cry like a bawling baby when Kavanaugh was grilled by Democrats in his confirmation hearings. She had the poise that this unqualified jurist certainly lacked all throughout his proceedings. I’m sure she will successfully deflect this criticism of her “deficient” record much better than Kavanaugh did on full view before the entire nation. I wish Jackson good luck on her confirmation hearings before the country.

The weather today was more springlike than yesterday’s weather, which was cloudy and chilly. The high was about 63 degrees and sunny. Our contractor called today before 9 to say that he would come around 9:30, and he did. I work up around 7:45 to get ready for “Cameron.” This time Elliot and I went out together for breakfast at the Austin Street Diner, where I ordered a bowl of oatmeal for the second time. I should have remembered that the oatmeal was too watery and not too satisfying, but I had forgotten. Elliot went light: he ordered fruit salad with cottage cheese.

We also drove to Metropolitan Avenue to get a piece from a spigot that accidentally fell down the drain last night when I was getting ready for bed. The other extensions from the “hot” spigot do not detach as this one does, so when I went to brush my teeth, I accidentally brushed against the silver knob and – whoosh – the piece flew out and down the drain before I could grab ahold of it. So I informed Elliot today of this mishap from last night and we decided to drive to the store where we bought the hardware. Unfortunately, the store was closed!

So we drove back to Forest Hills and parked the car where we walked to Gotta Getta Bagel to have a light snack. After our repast, we walked to a bench to sit for a brief while before Elliot’s manicure appointment at 3. We sat outside Chateau Jewelers and enjoyed the warming sunshine. Then it was my duty to drive the car home and park it. I lucked out and found a parking spot on the street.

Cameron was a real trooper: he came at 9:30 and left at 6:45 p.m. We actually joked as to when he was leaving. Cameron confided in me that he had only three hours of sleep today, as he went to bed at 1:30 a.m. and got up at 4:30 a.m. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I complain if I have less than 7 hours of sleep and here is a man, 62, who has only three hours in him. I don’t know how he functions. I must make a number of cups of Peet’s coffee for him during the day then. And he does say he likes my coffee. Today he probably needed more than three cups to energize him throughout the day. I’m happy to oblige him when I’m home.

As for books I’m reading presently, I’m almost finished reading John Gunther’s heartrending memoir of his son’s battle with brain cancer, Death Be Not Proud, published in 1949. You can imagine my surprise when I opened my latest issue of The Atlantic (April 2022) and discovered an essay by Deborah Cohen on the groundbreaking personal memoir written by respected journalist John Gunther on his remarkable son who battled brain cancer for a year, dying in 1947, at the horribly young age of 17. I have not read anything by the paterfamilias Gunther, but his books were on the bestseller lists as early as 1936 with his Inside Europe. This fact, from Cohen’s essay was unknown to me: “From the mid-1930s through the 1950s, no one, save for novelist Daphne du Maurier, had produced more American best sellers than Gunther.” The essayist details how the book was translated into Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Swedish, Hindi, and Portuguese, among other languages. Gunther’s book was also required reading in many high schools. Cohen writes that her own mother read the memoir in 1960 in her tenth-grade civics class in Louisville, Kentucky. “It is the only one of Gunther’s books that has remained continuously in print,” Cohen writes.

The long essay analyzes the zeitgeist of the time when Gunther’s book came to be published and how this book paved the way for other personal memoirs throughout the years. Gunther’s publisher, Harper & Brothers, originally objected to the manuscript because no one wanted to read an intimate story of suffering in public at that time. Boy, how things have changed over the years, folks. But in 1949, “stringent rules of reticence still reigned.”

The essay details how Gunther took elaborate notes as he was experiencing the horror of his son’s diagnosis and subsequent surgeries, treatments, and eventual succumbing to brain cancer before he was to enter Harvard. The book is divided into three parts: his own narrative, Johnny’s lightly edited letters and diaries, and an afterword by his wife, Frances. Gunther’s job as a reporter prepared him well for the task of keeping a blow-by-blow account of the one year of Johnny’s living with the brain tumor that would eventually claim his life. After receiving the terrible news of their son’s condition, the Gunthers consulted more than 30 specialists in treating Johnny. It’s reported in the book that “Johnny was the first brain-tumor patient in the United States to be treated with mustard gas, an early form of chemotherapy.”

I’m sure many of you might wonder about my choice of reading material here, but I’ve always had some interest in reading it. So now I’m finally reading it. I may skip the second section, which is composed of Johnny’s own letters and diary entries, to concentrate on France’s afterword. After this, I’ll try to read something that is lighter in nature.

Tomorrow is another day.

Stay safe and be well.