By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB, 15, 2022 | When writing about diversity on the Supreme Court in the most previous issue, we failed to address one topic: the religion of the U.S. Justices.
Six of the court members are Catholic: John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Two are Jewish: Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Neil Gorsuch was raised a Catholic, but now attends an Episcopal church in Colorado.
In 2021, 60 percent of Americans identify with the Christian religion, and that includes 35 percent who are Protestant, 22 percent who are Catholic, and 12 percent who identify themselves simply as “Christian.” (Gallup poll.)
So….when talking about the Court and diversity, why is there only one Protestant (new Episcopalian Kavanaugh) on the Court?
Delta Air Lines flies the majority of flights out of Atlanta. What is its longest scheduled flight? It’s the longest of any airline, from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa, a distance of 8,439 miles. It takes 16 hours and 48 minutes! (Hope they carry enough fuel.) Delta also flies the third longest (Atlanta to Shanghai, 7,659 miles), and the fifth longest, (Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, 7,486 miles.)
And where does Delta fly the shortest flight? To Columbus, Ga., 83 miles. That’s short enough that they might just use a majority of fuel fumes on that flight!
Top wine-producing states: What is the third largest wine producing state in the nation? It might surprise you. No, it’s not Georgia.
California, of course, tops the winemaking list, with 680 million gallons, followed by the State of Washington. Washington recently outranked Oregon, which is now fifth, after Pennsylvania.
But then the third largest producer of wine? Believe it or not, New York State? They produce a lot of wine up there, 27.9 million gallons.
Georgia ranks 27th, producing 276,144 gallons. (That level of production in Georgia somewhat surprised me.) All these figures from the source Wine of the United States as of 2020.
The author Judy Budnitz was born in Atlanta on April 24, 1973. Her 1998 debut book, Flying Leap, was published when she was only 24. Budnitz’s stories have been described as “modern fables or fairy tales” in the vein of Franz Kafka. Her characters are ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances that stretch the bounds of reality. Her most recent collection is Nice Big American Baby, published in 2005.
Classical music lovers know that Ludwig Beethoven composed nine symphonies, and we like every one of them. The conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow (1830-1894) was moved in 1877 to call the Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 “Beethoven’s Tenth”, because he perceived similarities between the work and various compositions of Beethoven. We happened to hear that Brahms Symphony the other day, and yes, it sounded very much like music Beethoven would have composed. Not that I am an expert; I just enjoy that full-orchestra classical sound. What’s your favorite classical piece?
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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