I don’t know whether it is technically possible or acceptable to “sit Shiva” (mourn) for a building or an institution. But that is how I am feeling today: in mourning for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Because I know that, as long as this defilement remains in existence, I will not set foot inside the Kennedy Center that I have loved and supported since its opening in 1971. And at my age, that may be never.

Donald Trump’s sycophantic Kennedy Center Board of Directors voted this week — without the requisite Congressional approval, and by blocking any and all dissenting votes — to add Trump’s name, ahead of Kennedy’s, to the cultural institution that was created and named for the slain 35th President of the United States. And — still without approval — workers have already begun applying the lettering to the exterior of the building.

Trump’s repurposing of the Kennedy Center as his personal billionaires’ club and “Peace Prize” venue wasn’t enough for him. Nor was his reimagining of what constitutes “culture.” He had to deal the final blow to the dignity of the institution, and to the honor of the Kennedy family name, by proclaiming to the world that he, and only he, had “saved” the “failing” Center.

My withdrawal will mean nothing. But if enough lovers of the arts — and particularly the regularly-subscribed patrons — follow suit, the message will become clear:

Enough.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/19/25