{"id":100581,"date":"2021-03-22T12:18:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T16:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=100581"},"modified":"2021-03-22T19:10:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T23:10:19","slug":"nyt-magazine-ken-burns-still-has-faith-in-a-shared-american-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=100581","title":{"rendered":"(NYT Magazine) Ken Burns Still Has Faith in a Shared American Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve talked before about the connection between your work in bringing the past to life and your mom\u2019s death<\/strong> (Burns\u2019s mother died of cancer in 1965, when he was 11).<\/p>\n

Is<\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>the explanation for what you do that simple? That you\u2019re driven to make historical documentaries because it\u2019s a way of waking the dead? <\/strong>\u201cDriven\u201d sounds too easy, but you wouldn\u2019t be talking to me if my mom hadn\u2019t died. That\u2019s the truth of it. In April, I will have been without a mother for 56 years. That is way too long. Her name was Lyla. The half-life of grief is endless. But it has also been hugely productive. I remember being interviewed in the \u201990s by two sociologists about the early death of parents, and their last question was, \u201cWhat is your mother\u2019s greatest gift?\u201d And I said \u201cdying\u201d and then started to cry. I didn\u2019t want her to die, but I don\u2019t know what I would do without the loss as being the engine of exploration, of confidence, of bravery. What idiot would take on all of these things and think you could do it? It\u2019s pretty absurd. So there it is. But the good postscript to this: Near you in Brooklyn, David, is a little girl who is 10 years old whose name is Lyla. My oldest daughter named her first child after my mother, and a name that was never spoken except draped in black crepe now gets spoken all the time with joy and love.<\/p>\n

Do you wonder what your mom would make of your work? <\/strong>All the time. And it just \u2014 I\u2019ll start to cry right now. Only because I sort of feel that she must \u2014 she\u2019s present. There\u2019s not a day that goes by where I\u2019m not aware of her. But at the same time there has been that friction that has helped me to create, so I can\u2019t help but honor that. I feel very fortunate that I\u2019m doing what I\u2019m supposed to be doing.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Think of an iconic American historical figure or event, and there\u2019s a chance that Ken Burns has made or is currently making a documentary about it. @NYTMag<\/a> interviews the prolific documentarian.https:\/\/t.co\/yk6anc4Dxu<\/a><\/p>\n

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n