William T. Coleman Jr., then the secretary of transportation, testified in 1976 before a Senate subcommittee. (Credit: Harvey Georges/Associated Press)

article by Dennis Hevesi via nytimes.com

William T. Coleman Jr., who championed the cause of civil rights in milestone cases before the Supreme Court and who rose above racial barriers himself as an influential lawyer and as a cabinet secretary, died Friday at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 96.

His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the international law firm O’Melveny & Myers, where Mr. Coleman was a senior partner in its Washington office. He lived at a care facility with his wife of more than 70 years, Lovida Coleman. A lifelong Republican, Mr. Coleman was as comfortable in the boardrooms of powerful corporations — PepsiCo, IBM, Chase Manhattan Bank — as he was in the halls of government.

He was the second African-American…

“The time of the singing of birds,has come.”  It is officially spring.  I do not consult a calendar to know when the seasons change.  I watch the landscape and note the changes.  I understand the science of how humans interpret the arrivals of seasons, but the cherry trees really have “the say”, I think-along with the songbirds.  Blackbirds fly when they ought to and bluebirds set up housekeeping without needing consultation.

Frost covered the fields and pastures this morning, so my geraniums still sit in the windowsill, of the old house at the rabbit patch.  My winter coat remains in a handy location and just might til mid April.  

The purple Martins have yet to return. No other bird sings like the Martins.  Martins winter in South America and there they learn to sing  songs like the tropical birds, with all sorts of trills.  Daddy has had Martin houses…