Word: purism
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What is to be done? Refusing to eat Whoppers or to skip that headache-filled stroll through Downtown Crossing simply translates into moral purism. Such acts might also lead the quasi-veggie to join a commune tucked away in a Vermont forest or isolated on a northern California sea-cliff. But a seclusion without frozen Swanson's brownies or the pulpy grease of Quarter Pounders also loses out on the potentially progressive parts of an often despicable society...
Balley's (21 Brattle St.): The only really old fashioned ice cream parlor around, Bailey's is quaint and a pleasant surprise. Tall sundae glasses filled with such antiquated joys as "Mocha Lace." None of those newfangled candy mix-ins. This is purism at its best. Brigham's (1420 Mass. Ave.): Chain-store decor aside, Brigham's boasts generous portions, thick frappes, and low prices, though sophisticates sneer. Steve's (34 Church St.): The original, legendary Steve's (in Somerville) was reputed to be worth the lengthy trek. The fun may have gone out of Steve's now that there...
Such legal purism may be appealing in the abstract, but it is both unrealistic and inadequate in the face of the reality of America's history of racism and sexism. And together with those whose distaste for affirmative action is less ideologically motivated, these objections indicate the limits of American commitment to full equality...
That delight in line continued. But after World War II, Aalto abandoned crisp functionalism-"inhuman dandy-purism," he called it. His freestanding works became more complicated and took on steadily more mysterious, evocative forms (TIME, Aug. 25). His grand public structures-most notably Finlandia House, Helsinki's conference and concert center-stir an exhilarating sense of place and occasion. Aalto's town halls, designed for Seinäjoki, Säynätsalo and other small Finnish cities, use light and space to create a kind of civic intimacy. No concept was too large for his attention...
...that certezza that was the goal of high Renaissance planning. When arguing that the ideal church plan should be circular-"the most proper figure to show the unity, infinite essence, uniformity and justice of God"-Palladio echoed a longstanding Renaissance fascination with absolute geometric shapes as metaphor. His purism was extreme. It is strange, for instance, to find an architect in 16th century Venice, a contemporary of Veronese (who frescoed the Barbaro villa), objecting to murals in churches-"Among all colors none is more suitable to temples than white; by reason that the purity of this color. . . is highly grateful...