"I'll show you how to observe a strange event."
-Titus
Timon of Athens
Act 3, Scene 4
Where, oh where art thou, Westboro Tennisx? They couldn't make it here last week, as planned and they now tell us that the earliest that they can visit is Tuesday, April 17. That means that the earliest the courts will be open is Wednesday, April 18, or more likely, Thursday, April 19. (We often have to wait a day or so for the courts to firm up.) Last year the courts opened on April 28.
You might want to come to watch Westboro build, or re-build, our courts. They come with an army of very strong men and one very strong woman, and many, many wondrous machines. And they work very fast. The coming of Westboro is a spectacle. An event.
(The drought, of all things, is causing problems for Westboro and for tennis courts everywhere. Usually, here in Cambridge where the sun never shines, rain and wetness cause problems in laying clay. But the courts, good Har-Tru courts that ours are, need water for the new clay to bind and become part of the courts. This year even court 5 is cracked and dry.)
And, oh yes, the club is going to feature on-line reservations through a program some of you might know from the Mt. Auburn Club, Bookings Plus. What fun, what excruciating fun! Yup, no more painful dialing and re-dialing and hoping against hope that you can get that prime-time court. You will still be able to call the clubhouse between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. and talk to a friendly, playful staff-person who can enter your on-line reservation for you, but doing it yourself will be so much more gratifying and easier. And did we say fun? The on-line reservation system, as well as our regular phone reservations, will go live when the courts are open. We hope to post a tutorial for members before that.
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The second Meet & Greet for prospective new members will be held on Monday, April 30th, 6–8 p.m.
In order to meet the membership quota and this year’s budget, we are relying on all members for help. We have wait list spots for this season, and we are working to fill them in the next few weeks! Please reach out to friends and co-workers who are Cambridge residents and who would enjoy tennis and the unique experience of the CTC. We’ll be serving food and drink, and membership committee members will be available to go over the simple process of introducing prospective members to the Club. The Membership Proposal Application can be downloaded from the Membership page on the website. Please join us to make the 2012 season successful and fun! If you have any questions, please email the Membership Committee Co-Chairs, Donna Gordon or Lucinda O’Neill |
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(from John Lam:)
Hello I am writing you on behalf of my mom to tell you that Bill Lam passed away peacefully at home last week. The memorial service is at MIT may 14th Link to Bill Lam Photo: http://www.kwailam.com/Family/Lams-November-2008/6744564_NpQk6V#!i=430799722&k=SQYUT&lb=1&s=X3 To send remembrances, rememberbillam@gmail.com William Ming Cheong Lam, 87, of Cambridge MA died on April 6th in his sleep at home. Bill Lam is survived by his wife of 58 years Dianne Jones Lam, sons John Lam & his wife Luanne Stiles of CT and Kwai Lam of CA; granddaughter Sylvie Lam of MA. He is also survived by a brother Dr. Fred Lam Jr. of HI, sister Genevieve Fraiman of VA, and many wonderful nieces and nephews. Bill was born in Honolulu, HI in 1924, son of Dr. Fred Lam and Ah Chin Loo. Bill Lam graduated from Punahou School in 1941 and received a BA in Architecture from MIT in 1949. His studies at MIT were interrupted by service in the Army Air Corps as a B-25 co-pilot. After graduation he formed Lam Workshop, which manufactured furniture and lights of his own design, one of which was included in a traveling exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art. In 1951 the business became Lam Inc (Wakefield MA) and focused on manufacturing architectural lighting fixtures. The company is now a division of Phillips. In 1959 Bill Lam changed his role from designer/manufacturer to consultant to architects. He was a pioneer in the integration of lighting-, day-lighting-, and building systems. He quickly coined the slogan “Lighting by Design, Not Engineering.” Bill's goal was buildings that were comfortable, functional and sustainable. He was active in creating standards and >> His firm: William Lam Associates, consulted/collaborated with architects, urban planners and governments on more than 2000 projects of many types on several continents. A notable early project was the design of the Washington Metro subway system. Key to the collaborations were an innovative team-design process, where lighting, structural, mechanical and architectural aspects were coordinated from the beginning of design. The firm became Lam Partners in 1980 as his associates took on larger roles. Lam Partners continues as an active and thriving consultancy. Bill 'retired' to solo practice in 1995. In 2000 the American Institute of Architects honored Bill Lam with the Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement. Quoting from the award: "Sought nationally and internationally by the world's leading designers, his lighting completes rather than competes with architecture, supporting his strong conviction that the best lighting results from the integration of all design elements through team collaboration." Bill influenced the emerging field of lighting design through teaching generations of students at Harvard, MIT and elsewhere. His articles and books were also influential. His first book Perception and Lighting as Form Giver for Architecture, serves as both a manual for architects, lighting designers and planners and also a manifesto advocating comfort over numbers. A later book, Sunlighting as Formgiver for Architecture, advocated natural lighting, energy efficiency and solar architecture. In 2001 Architectural Lighting Magazine chose Bill as one of their 6 inaugural "Living Legends" saying: "A pioneer in the field of lighting design and consultation, Lam enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years as a designer, consultant to architects, teacher and author." Bill had many pleasures in his life: tennis, early music, travel, opera and exquisite food. Services will be private. A memorial celebration will be held on May 14th, 2pm at the MIT Chapel, 48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA, 02139. Donations may be made to Boston Baroque or a charity of your choice. |
Craig Lambert wrote a must-read article for Harvard Magazine about Bruce Wright's take on the 'high set' stance and movement in tennis. Take a look: High Set The article is accompanied by a separate video demonstrating the technique. High Set Video Thanks, Craig, for sending this nifty technical riff along to us.
The book? Membership for the coming year hasn't been settled, so the book will be a while in the making. In the meantime, the website will be updated as data dribbles in.
We are going to try out a new feature on the newspage. Let's call it The Book Blurb. The Blurb will note books not necessarily about tennis, but authored by CTC members. So, if you members have recently, or maybe not so recently, written a book that you'd like blurbed, please let us know.
Let's start with:
In the midst of renovating garages and ruling vast sectors of cyberspace, Bob Doyle wrote a bit of a magnum opus: Free Will: The Scandal in Philosophy by Bob Doyle. "The fundamental question of information philosophy is cosmological and ultimately metaphysical. What is the process that creates information structures in the universe?"
We have a new book by a club member, Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports, by club member, Susan Ware. The book is: A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Sports Book.
We have some new books from club member, Julie Baer:
Love Me Later
Julie Baer presents us with a unique book. Her fantastic artwork depicts nature and people in a special way. -- Bookreviewcafe.com
I Only Like What I Like
"CHILDREN BEWARE –will have you trying the untried, 'cause it's FUN! The collages fill you up to the eyeballs."
Take a look at: William P. Homans, Jr., A Life in Court, by Mark S. Brodin. Bill Homans was a long time member of the club with "a storied legal career." A lot of folks at the club knew and liked Bill. He could tell a story or two, couldn't he?
We want to mention New Classic American Houses, a book by Dan Cooper about the architecture of Albert, Righter, and our own John Tittmann. "New Classic American Houses is an architectural page-turner brimming with creative interpretations of traditional forms."
Hot off the presses, a new book by Faith Moore, Celebrating a Life, Planning Memorial Services and Other Creative Remembrances. "Celebrating a Life" provides the ideas, inspiration, and how-to advice needed for creating a meaningful memorial service. Light-hearted but sensitive, this thoughtful guide covers it all."
While We Were Sleeping by David Hemenway.
"This book powerfully illuminates how public health works with more than sixty success stories drawn from the area of injury and violence prevention."
The Parents We Mean To Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children's Moral and Emotional Development by Rick Weissbourd.
The New Yorker review said, "In this ardent and persuasive inquiry, Weissbourd, a Harvard psychologist, warns that 'happiness-besotted' parents do children a disservice by emphasizing personal fulfillment over empathy."
The club directory for 2010 should be in your hands or by your side all day, every day. But, should something untoward befall you and the directory isn't handy, all of this year's information is available on the website, except for membership information.
Some useful links:
Here's a link to the espn site, with pro ranking.
And a club member (let's call him Sol) suggested a link to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. The site is rich.
"On the court, tennis players exchange not only ground strokes but lots of information. It's a richly interactive sport, both verbally and non-verbally. If players communicate clearly, simply, and consistently, the game will proceed more quickly, and with less fuss and misunderstanding. Here are a few guidelines that can make the game more fun, friendly, and fair for all...."
We've had some requests to run Craig Lambert's piece, sampled above, on Tennis Communication. (We'd better leave this link up on the newspage permanently.)
Take a look
The Yearbook link will take you to the last newspage from 2011. From there you can see the whole of the Persistent Archive of last year's news.
Website Note: The time and temperature icon below is a link to a Boston weather site.
Joe DeBassio, Webmaster.
Website Note II: The honey-comb icon is also a link. It takes the clicker to an archive of all the past news pages so that said clicker can read the news pages for the whole year (2012). The less-than link (<) next to the honeycomb icon will take clickers to the previous issue of this year's newspage.
