Table of Contents

Message from the Editor

Umbrageous Brutalism

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed many public spaces: Delaware Park in Buffalo, Parc du Mont-Royal, UC Berkeley, and, of course, New York’s Central Park. The beautiful sidewalks encircling the perimeter of Central Park are deteriorating. Someone needs to fix them. Stones are set in beautiful herringbone and basket weave patterns and patchwork asphalt. As Olmsted himself said, “The sidewalks are there to ensure the umbrageous horizon line.” What does this mean?

Well, let’s start with “umbrageous.” I did. I’d never heard the word. I read it in an article in Artdaily entitled “Smoothing the path to green, block by block” (which originally appeared in the New York Times entitled “Fixing Central Park’s Bumpy Sidewalks ”). When one encounters a word they don’t know, one can either move on or stop. I stopped. Umbrageous: “filled with shade.” Olmsted had the sidewalks constructed “for the purpose of concealing the houses on the opposite side of the street from the park and ensure an umbrageous horizon line.” He added the intricate patterns of the sidewalks so the denizens of NYC felt they were somewhere else when walking on them. Experience another mindset, another point of view. Isn’t that what we do every day when we care for patients. And isn’t that what we strive for every year at our annual meeting. Our society is a forum to exchange ideas and different points of view without brutalism. More on the brutalism later. Now, how about our annual meeting?

This issue provides highlights and analyses of our best-attended meeting ever. If you weren’t there, you missed a lot of info and a lot of fun. New things were instituted. Read about “The Day of Service” by Misaki Kiguchi. It’s a great concept to help the public who don’t know much about vein disease. Rob Attaran summarizes the deep venous session. Our keynote speaker was longtime-and-very-involved member BK Lal. His enthusiasm and commitment regarding high-quality data were evident. There are also many articles not necessarily annual meeting related: cybersecurity, AI, Medicare reimbursement, etc. Finally, our new president, Ruth Bush, and our outgoing president, Glenn Jacobowitz, are both highlighted for different reasons. But without brutalism.

Brutalism is a misunderstood term. Most think it is about being nasty and brutal. Not so. The concept started out as an architectural style. Think concrete, brick, monochromatic. Institutional and egalitarian. Begun in the UK in the 1950’s as a reaction to the ornate architecture of the 1940’s and before. WW II does that to a country. It then became very popular in Eastern Europe. It implied equality, workers united, and socialist principles. Bare, exposed bricks, beams, etc. Nothing fancy. Many public buildings were erected in the brutalist style: FBI Headquarters, Alumni Memorial Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago by Mies van der Rohe, Unite d’Habitation in Marseille by Le Corbusier, and other 1950’s institutional buildings.

AVF does not educate us or have an annual meeting that is brutal, basic, or bland. Brutalism is more than an architectural style. It is a concept. It strives for a simple, honest, and functional approach to life. And that’s what we do when we care for vein patients. We try to be honest, straightforward, and help them back to living their lives. We aren’t brutal, but maybe we adhere to some of the principles of brutalism. We don’t sit in the shade and be umbrageous. We look at vein disease in a bright, direct light. VENOUS 2024 definitely accomplished this.

Introducing Ruth Bush:
A Leader with a Vision for the Future