Charles T. Downey
@ionarts.bsky.social
Associate Editor and Lead Critic, Washington Classical Review; Founder of Ionarts; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology; Classical Music Fiend; Opera Addict; Baroqueux agréable and Public Musicologist (all views expressed are my own, not those of my employers)
Pinned
As a follow-up to the latest bad news, a reminder from Oreo to nap for 16 hours of every day
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
This is the saddest Kennedy Center "Honors" ever apnews.com/article/trum...
December 7, 2025 at 2:37 AM
This is the saddest Kennedy Center "Honors" ever apnews.com/article/trum...
If you see this, quote with your model of masculinity
December 7, 2025 at 12:55 AM
If you see this, quote with your model of masculinity
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
DC Public Library with a friendly reminder 📚
December 6, 2025 at 12:13 PM
DC Public Library with a friendly reminder 📚
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
How to Insult Like a Medieval Monk www.medievalists.net/2025/12/insu...
How to Insult Like a Medieval Monk - Medievalists.net
Learn how medieval monks at Cluny waged battles with words, using biting poetry, classical references, and cutting invective to uphold their spiritual legacy.
www.medievalists.net
December 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
How to Insult Like a Medieval Monk www.medievalists.net/2025/12/insu...
And carried out in a place not created to have anything to do with sports
Corrupt leader of corrupt organization that has nothing to do with peace makes up fake prize to suck up to corrupt narcissist and fascist after he unsuccessfully and ridiculously tried to coerce the real peace prize people to give him the real prize he could never, ever win.
Pathetic all around.
Pathetic all around.
this shit is just beyond parody, man
December 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
And carried out in a place not created to have anything to do with sports
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Perfect photo in every way.
Yo, I can't stop laughing at this
He "medaled" himself🤣🤣🤣
He "medaled" himself🤣🤣🤣
December 6, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Perfect photo in every way.
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
As a parent of a now middle-schooler, I'm really hoping and expecting that by the time she hits 8th grade she's reading novels in school. But that's not happening everywhere in D.C., as I learned from this informative op-ed in @51st.news: 51st.news/opinion-dcps...
Opinion: DCPS middle-schoolers should be reading novels
Many parents like myself were shocked by a recent change to the English curriculum at Alice Deal Middle School.
51st.news
December 5, 2025 at 2:41 PM
As a parent of a now middle-schooler, I'm really hoping and expecting that by the time she hits 8th grade she's reading novels in school. But that's not happening everywhere in D.C., as I learned from this informative op-ed in @51st.news: 51st.news/opinion-dcps...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
⚫ Figure de l’architecture, Frank Gehry est décédé dans sa maison de Santa Monica, en Californie, ce vendredi 5 décembre. Il avait 96 ans.
➡️ bit.ly/48S9IOy
➡️ bit.ly/48S9IOy
December 5, 2025 at 8:00 PM
⚫ Figure de l’architecture, Frank Gehry est décédé dans sa maison de Santa Monica, en Californie, ce vendredi 5 décembre. Il avait 96 ans.
➡️ bit.ly/48S9IOy
➡️ bit.ly/48S9IOy
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
“To deliberately kill ‘survivors on a vessel who pose no immediate lethal threat to our armed forces,’ Broglio said, is ‘illegal and immoral.’ He explained that ‘the moral principle forbidding the intentional killing of noncombatants is inviolable.’” www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
Catholic military archbishop calls 'intentional killing of noncombatants' illegal and immoral
Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said in a statement Wednesday (Dec. 3) that an order to kill survivors of an attack by U.S. forces on a b...
www.ncronline.org
December 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
“To deliberately kill ‘survivors on a vessel who pose no immediate lethal threat to our armed forces,’ Broglio said, is ‘illegal and immoral.’ He explained that ‘the moral principle forbidding the intentional killing of noncombatants is inviolable.’” www.ncronline.org/news/catholi...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Benjamin Britten, d. December 4, 1976
Britten - A Ceremony of Carols | The Choristers of Wells Cathedral
YouTube video by Wells Cathedral
youtu.be
December 4, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Benjamin Britten, d. December 4, 1976
Endorsed
#morninglistening to @yulianna.avdeeva, who impressed me in her Musikverein-recital recently, n her @pentatonemusic release of the sublime #Shostakovich PreludesAndFugues op.87. Sofia Sacco's is next.
Which is your favorite and why is it KeithJarrett?
Amzn: amzn.to/449w2AG
Which is your favorite and why is it KeithJarrett?
Amzn: amzn.to/449w2AG
December 4, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Endorsed
About Last Night: Shaham helps Wolf Trap celebrate a barn tricentenary with well-balanced program (Photo: Chris Lee) washingtonclassicalreview.com/2025/12/03/s...
December 4, 2025 at 2:05 AM
About Last Night: Shaham helps Wolf Trap celebrate a barn tricentenary with well-balanced program (Photo: Chris Lee) washingtonclassicalreview.com/2025/12/03/s...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
That the Nuzzi book isn't selling well isn't a surprise, but it is a disgrace given the fact that its advance probably dwarfed that of many much better books that also sell more copies. Get out of the city more often, NYC publishers. You'll stop wasting quite as much money on trash nobody wants.
December 3, 2025 at 7:01 PM
That the Nuzzi book isn't selling well isn't a surprise, but it is a disgrace given the fact that its advance probably dwarfed that of many much better books that also sell more copies. Get out of the city more often, NYC publishers. You'll stop wasting quite as much money on trash nobody wants.
Uh, yeah
BREAKING: Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth's use of Signal to share details of airstrike posed risk to U.S. personnel, AP sources say.
Pentagon watchdog finds Hegseth’s use of Signal posed risk to US personnel, AP sources say
The Pentagon’s watchdog has found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.
bit.ly
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Uh, yeah
"The best prices of all, totally unbiased sources told the Post, come from ordering everything on Amazon"
December 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
"The best prices of all, totally unbiased sources told the Post, come from ordering everything on Amazon"
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys
“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."
time.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Philip Larkin started writing ‘Aubade’ in 1974, & finished it in 1977 after his mother’s death. It was published in the TLS on 23rd December, apparently ruining a number of people’s Christmases. Larkin, terrified of death all his life, died on this day 1985.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/...
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/...
Aubade
Not in remorse —The good not done, the love not given, time Torn off unused—nor wretchedly because An only life can take so long to climb Clear of its wrong beginnings, and may never; But at the total...
www.poetryfoundation.org
December 2, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Philip Larkin started writing ‘Aubade’ in 1974, & finished it in 1977 after his mother’s death. It was published in the TLS on 23rd December, apparently ruining a number of people’s Christmases. Larkin, terrified of death all his life, died on this day 1985.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/...
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I have given a Capitol Hill Books stack to a few different people, and they make excellent choices - highly recommend
Holiday gift idea: our staff will personally select books based on your loved one’s literary interests. You can pick them up or have them shipped anywhere in the U.S.
Order by Dec. 15 if you want it by Xmas.
Just fill out the form at the link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Order by Dec. 15 if you want it by Xmas.
Just fill out the form at the link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Capitol Hill Books Grab Bag Order
Tell us a little about you and we'll put together a stack of books! When it's ready, you'll receive an email from [email protected] with a picture of the books for you to confirm/remov...
docs.google.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I have given a Capitol Hill Books stack to a few different people, and they make excellent choices - highly recommend
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Look around. The case for more, not less, liberal arts education - actual, real education in reading, writing, thinking, arguing, analyzing, & synthesizing by doing the actual hard work for which there is no substitute - is stronger than it’s ever been at any point in human history.
November 30, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Look around. The case for more, not less, liberal arts education - actual, real education in reading, writing, thinking, arguing, analyzing, & synthesizing by doing the actual hard work for which there is no substitute - is stronger than it’s ever been at any point in human history.