On the heels of my recent trip to the Hamptons, the issue of overdevelopment, in which landscape is sacrificed for structure, re-surfaced on my arrival home. Washington Post culture critic Philip Kennicott weighed in on four proposed sites on or near the National Mall for a new museum (“In Siting a National Latino museum, the best view is the long view,” July 18, 2010).

The nation's designed landscape heritage is rich, varied and fascinating—and often undervalued—especially in our cities where the Harvard educator and landscape architect Hideo Sasaki saw a great design opportunity for the "betterment of [the] human environment."

With the expected announcement of a new Supreme Court nominee, the phrase Litmus Test will get a healthy airing. Rulings and opinions about abortion, gun control and other issues are each a “litmus test” for a nominee’s qualification to sit on the bench.

One of my favorite Western flicks is William Wellman’s The Oxbow Incident. In this 1943 film, two drifters pass through a western town and what transpires over the ensuing 75 minutes is serious trouble-making . . . in this case a mixture of heavy drinking, lynching and gun fighting. The film starring Henry Fonda was not considered a success during its initial release, but according to Internet Movie Database, it is today “safely ranked as one of classic cinema’s greatest treasures.”