I sat outside in the pleasant weather and read this book yesterday on my netbook. I downloaded it free from this web site.

It’s a cleverly constructed little mystery in which the story is told in a series of letters from one character to another. And of course it revolves around what was then known as “Agony Columns.” Agony Columns are personal ads sent anonymously in British papers of the early 20th c.

Trying desperately to get into a vacation mind set. I browsed other books and downloaded a few more for possible vacation reading.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume apparently inspired Arthur Conan Doyle and was a huge bestseller in its time.

This book is about the topography of California. Did you know there was a 400 mile long valley between the Sierra  Navada mountain range and the Coastal mountains?

From this map (not in the book) you can not only see that valley, but it is apparent that the L.A. area where I will be visiting is on the edge of the Mojave Desert. They talk about the desert out there but it was never clear in my mind exactly where it was before looking at this map.

Unsurprisingly, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is available in free ebook form. I recently read an essay in which the author points out that the character, Uncle Tom, was not an “Uncle Tom.” I found that interesting. Plus I like the fact that a book was important in raising consciousness about slavery.

I noticed that my netbook came with the Adobe book reader software already on it. I had been waiting on downloading July’s free ebook from U of Chicago because I thought I would have to add one more book reading software to my netbook. But lo and behold it was already there. So I downloaded The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery by Robert Van Gulik.

Pretty sure I have read a Judge Dee mystery before.

When I travel, I like to take some books with me. This time I’m hoping that most of them will be on my netbook. That way if I can’t get online, I can still read.

I recently downloaded and read most of the Kindle Single, “The Enemy,” written by Christopher Hitchens right after Bin Laden’s death.

I plan to check more of these “Kindle Singles” out.  They are novella length essays and are seeking to rekindle (sic) the idea of relevant pamphlet publication.

They are mentioned in N+1’s first podcast which I listened to yesterday.

This magazine is just publishing its 12th issue and looks very interesting.

Also ran across another magazine online yesterday.

Guernica, a magazine of art & politics…..

Yesterday’s poem of the day on The Writer’s Almanac site, impressed me. Here it is:

This is what you shall do:
Love the earth and sun and the animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labors to others,
Hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
Have patience and indulgence toward the people,
Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown,
Or to any man or number of men,
Go freely with powerful uneducated persons,
And with the young and with the mothers of families,
Read these leaves in the open air,
Every season of every year of your life,
Reexamine all you have been told,
At school at church or in any book,
Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
And your very flesh shall be a great poem,
And have the richest fluency not only in its words,
But in the silent lines of its lips and face,
And between the lashes of your eyes,
And in every motion and joint of your body.

by Walt Whitman, from the preface of Leaves of Grass

I admire the idealism in this poem. But it reminds me of Shirley Robin Letwin’s comments about the multitudinous criteria for being a gentleman “hardly distinguishes a gentleman from a saint.”

I interlibrary-loaned her book, The Gentleman in Trollope: Individuality and Moral Conduct, recently for giggles. I’m thinking of taking it along on my vacation to read.

Also have been reading Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas: A Short Companion by Charles Rosen.

I will probably take this on vacation with me as well. I have been consulting my two volume hard back scores while reading this, but will not take those with me. I figure I can find the scores online if I have a text question.

I’m planning to use my netbook to read fiction. I have The American Senator by Anthony Trollope and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky on it and have been reading both them via Kindle for PC software.

Traveling with this kind of access is like having a bookstore in your pocket. If I decide I want to read something I can always buy it and download it. This feels like luxury to me. Amazing.

I’m still wondering how I will do without daily practice. This is always the question for a musician. We don’t really take a vacation from our vocation, only the circumstances of work. Ideally I would maintain access to an instrument even when relaxing. In fact, it’s HOW I relax most of the time.

But it seems to work out just fine even if I don’t have access to a piano or a guitar.

I know I am looking forward to time off, that’s for sure.

*********************************************************************

An African Adventure, and a Revelation – NYTimes.com

NYTimes columnist Nicholas Kristoff has been running contests the past few years. I think they are essay contests. Anyway, the winners get to go to Africa with him and see poverty and other problems up close and personal.

This year he took a student and a teacher. His essay describing it is excellent. Recommended.

********************************************************************

E.J. Dionne, Jr.: What Our Declaration Really Said – Truthdig

Dionne points out that modern “conservatives” who claim precedent for their privatizing anti-government anti-tax theology from the American Revolution, specifically the Declaration of Independence are mis-reading it.

Note that the signers wanted to pass laws, not repeal them, and they began by speaking of “the public good,” not about individuals or “the private sector.” They knew that it takes public action—including effective and responsive government—to secure “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” from the linked article

*******************************************************************

Book Review – Bright’s Passage – By Josh Ritter – NYTimes.com

reviewed by Stephen King. Josh Ritter is a musician who has gone from writing songs to writing a novel. King thinks he’s good enough to keep trying.

Book Review – Conscience – By Louisa Thomas – NYTimes.com

This non-fiction book sounds like it would appeal to me. It’s the story of two brothers who work their way through religion and the problem of war in early 20th c. USA.

*******************************************************************

Corporate Cash Con – NYTimes.com

Those dang liberals at the NYT point out that corporations already have tons of money. Their sitting on it and waiting for consumers to regain their confidence and begin buying. Not gonna happen.

I also think Robert Reich succinctly explains the economic mess we are in in this video:

******************************************************************

Free Speech and the Internet – NYTimes.com

Editorial supporting freedom on the Internet.

********************************************************************

Online Scandal Underscores Chinese Distrust of Charities – NYTimes.com

This is an unusual look at China’s domestic  charity giving.

********************************************************************

Gauging Consequences for Republicans Who Backed Gay Marriage – NYTimes.com

profiles several Republicans who broke ranks on this issue. I keep thinking that Gay issues are moving away from the usual U.S. partisan rancor. Being gay has nothing to do with being conservative, liberal or what have you.

*******************************************************************

July 4th is often a time of family and family reunions.

My brother, Mark, and his wife, Leigh, just visited us. Leigh gave me a bunch of photos she had scanned into her laptop.  Above,  second from right is my grandmother, Dorothy Roeder Jenkins. Not sure about anyone else in this pic, but it has a summer feeling.

Correction: S(taff?)/Sargent William A.P. Jenkins was my Father’s cousin.  According to Dad’s memoirs he was called Phil (for Phillip) and served in the Marines in the above story. After his discharge he re-enlisted and made the Air Force his career. I would guess the A initial might stand for Alexander.

I think of the Jenkins family more like this pic of Granpap (my Great Grandfather) probably with one of his sons.

My father’s oldest brother, David, served in WWII.

I think both of my uncles served in the military.

As the fourth of July approaches, I am reminded of how much I love the American music tradition. Although,  I love our tradition and I love lots of other kinds of music traditions as well, of course. I notice that in reality I am a “both-and” kind of person instead of an “either-or” one in many things.

This may be related to the fact that I have always prized my ability to move easily from one musical style to another. Consequently, I’m not a musical virtuoso at any particular style. In my own mind, I’m relatively accomplished in a few (classical, jazz, popular, church music) and competent in some others.

My love of music began in the pews of the churches my Father served as minister.

My family had a tradition of singing a different part in the four part harmony on each verse, at least I remember doing this as a kid.

I’m pretty sure that’s how I learned to read music.

Then I was also very influenced by recordings as I grew up.

When I was still living in Tennessee, the young woman who baby sat us gave my parents Charlie Parker’s “Night and Day” album. I still have it.

Then there was this album, “60 Years of ‘Music America Loves Best’.” Released in 1959, I remember listening to this collection in the early 60s after we moved to Flint, Michigan.

It doesn’t just contain American music, but the guiding aesthetic behind the choices on it is definitely eclectic and had a big impact on me.

It was my first exposure to much great music from Caruso to Harry Belafonte. Styles on it range from classical to jazz to popular.

As I grew up I discovered more and more great American music.

I developed an appreciation for the tradition of Southern church and folk music.

I started examining the history of Jazz and discovered many great composers including the progenitor, Jelly Roll Morton.

I began to understand how Delta blues informed a lot of the music of the so-called British Invasion (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton). It felt like a bonus to have both styles in my brain.

And of course many, many others:

Copland, whom I heard lecture in person at Wayne State during my studies there. I remember his comment that the historical composers of America that we studied were people to him, people he knew.

John Cage had a huge influence on me, musical and otherwise. I ate up his books full of anecdotes, history and Zen Buddhism

Hard to say when I first heard Bernstein’s work. Possible in my studies at Ohio Weslyan. I have never stopped admiring it.

Zappa continues to have a huge influence on me. Of course the music that I love and admire is not limited to people born in this country.

But it is the lens through which I see a great deal of my own American identity. Consequently I’ve never been one of those lefties who hate or dislike America. Not just because of the music, of course. But turning away from the blessing of these seminal influences and continuing passions is, for me, unthinkable.

********************************************************

Long After Piano Triumph, Russian Crowds Still Swarm Cliburn – NYTimes.com

Van Cliburn at 76 is still much beloved by music lovers everywhere. I like the story in this article about how the organizers of the 1958 Soviet Union Tchaikovsky Piano competition warily approached Kruschev with the idea that an American from Texas was the winner.“Is he the best?”

Khrushchev is said to have asked, and when Mr. Gilels allowed that he was, Khrushchev said, “In this case, give him first prize.”

Americans would have been astounded to know this. I know I was pleasantly surprised.

*********************************************************

Here’s a little update on my reading about Michigan controversies about our present government.

Blackwell ordered to pay back Highland Park | Michigan Messenger

Pontiac EM hires accused felons to run water dept. | Michigan Messenger

AG refuses to respond to request for legal opinion | Michigan Messenger

If these reports have any basis in fact, I am disturbed by them. Ideology is one thing, corruption another. I am especially unhappy that the Michigan Attorney General might have failed to exercise his duties in what looks like a partisan and/or corrupt manner.

The Emergency Manager law from A to Z | Michigan Messenger

Interesting recap of this.

********************************************************************

Americans are mad as hell

This article by Jack Todd for the Montreal Gazette articulates something I have been thinking about for quite a while, namely the prevalence of anger in American politics and society.

I come from an angry tradition. My father had all kinds of anger in him, as do I. It’s something I have tried to tone down and control so that I am a better person.

There is a place for anger. But Todd describes not only its prevalence in American identity but how it is being exploited to make money. Ay yi yi.

It’s a good article. One Americans should read.
********************************************************************

I have been thinking about being an informed citizen of the State of Michigan this morning. It appears that the movement to recall the governor of Michigan is based on his Emergency Financial Manager law. I am opposed to this law and would support it’s repeal. But I am also reluctant to support the recall of the governor at this point on this one issue.

The website for the Committee to recall Rick Snyder. I can’t seem to find names of people or organizations that are behind this movement on this web site easily. This makes me nervous.  This doesn’t pass the intitial smell test (crap detection 101).

But I did consult and bookmark a lot of state and local online news information sources.

Here’s some of my sources:

Can’t resist proudly adding this one:

I played well last night. I don’t always feel that way after a gig with the Barefoot Jazz Quartet. But it really helped me to have a playlist going in to the gig. I reviewed the tunes, photocopied them and put them in order. Even when we inevitably departed from the order, we mostly played those tunes. I had a better understanding of these tunes since I was forewarned. I am feeling more confident about what I play when called on to play from the Real Books I and II especially when I have a little warning about which tunes to play.

Unfortunately, it rained on and off for the whole two hours.  The manager’s wife was kind enough to hold an umbrella over my electric piano for much of the time it was raining. I hope I didn’t ruin any of my equipment.

Today we drive over to Lansing and meet my nephew for lunch. My brother and his wife will then proceed on from there to the next phase of their vacation.

I’m still pretty much at my wit’s end with burnout.

When I was rehearsing for my recent “beach ballet” gig (the Global Water Dance thingo), I was approached by one of the dancers to sign a petition to recall the present governor of Michigan. I declined.

I’m not a supporter of our present governor. I didn’t vote for him. Nor do I agree with most of his policies. But they do strike me as policies. I can’t understand why exactly this movement to recall him has formed.  It seems to be primarily about governor Snyder’s tax reform and his emergency financial manger law.

I definitely disagree with the latter. And don’t completely understand the former. But I think that Michigan is in trouble. It seems to me that Snyder understands that and is trying to come up with solutions. My inclination is to not step outside of the system unless an injustice has been done or corruption is pretty obvious.

I have an extreme reluctance to shoot at public leaders these days. I think we need and are lacking in real leadership. I see a lot of this as simple bad mental health and lack of education. We have incredible free floating anxiety in the US culture.  This anxiety is then amplified by TV and talk radio which seems to intentionally stoke the situation for ratings.

I read Obama’s Wednesday press conference while treadmilling. Then I read reaction to it. There seemed to be a disconnect from the ideas of the president and the reaction of people who disagree with him.

I am especially unimpressed by anger and fallacious argument techniques such as vilifying (ad hominem), and vapid emotional appeals, and the phrase “most Americans/people feel this way” (appeal to popularity fallacy).

Fallacious and specious rhetoric is not the exclusive province any of the current political persuasions in the USA right now. I fear that the movement to recall politicians in Michigan is guilty of utilizing these as much as the national anti-President Obama group.

I get on a plane to California a week from today.  I’m looking forward to some badly needed time off.  Tuesday evening I received a package in the mail from Zingerman’s.

Zingerman’s is a wonderful deli in Ann Arbor. I mean a spectacularly wonderful deli. They are running a summer sale so I bought several of their $8 loaves of bread for $4, some fancy olive oil and a cheese making kit.

Zingerman’s recommends freezing loaves you are not going to eat immediately. Also they recommend heating the loaf in the oven for 20 minutes. This does bring out flavor and crustiness.

We have already finished one of the loaves. The bread is all hard crust wonderful rye and pumpernickel.  This is bread that I enjoy but Eileen doesn’t. So it’s fun to have people (Mark and Leigh) around to share it with.

Yesterday Mark, Leigh and I did the local farmer’s market. I was unable to resist purchasing some cherries (which are just coming in here), smoked fish, raspberries and pumpkin butter. Having company gives me an excuse to buy some great stuff, I guess.

We had lunch with my Mom (without Eileen who was  at her job). Then supper at the pub outdoors. Life is good.

This evening I play with Barefoot Jazz Quartet on the street. Got up and plugged in all my batteries to charge in the hopes that I will be able to keep my amp and keyboard working for the time needed tonight.

I have been having serious thoughts about jazz and its place in my head. I have been thinking of it as an historical academic style like baroque music or romantic music.  I guess I think of it as a historical style (as opposed to a living tradition) because in my head when I think of jazz I think of people who are dead like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington.

There are certainly some good living players. But few of them seem to me to be doing what Keith Jarrett has done and continued to push back the borders of this particular style even as he performs in traditional jazz piano styles. In my understanding this pushing back of borders was stylistically essential to the great jazz composers and players.

I am critical of jazz as an academic style because even though the pedagogy is codified it relies too  much on recordings for my taste. If indeed it has evolved (devolved?) into a literate academic style, the people who are trained to play it are fully capable of utilizing clear notational practices. But this is not the case with the Real Books we play from in the Barefoot Jazz Quartet.

The music barely sketches out the pieces with a melody and some chord shorthand. It is designed as a reminder of a recording or recordings of pieces. I have encouraged my little jazz band to think about repertoire and developing play lists. This would help me narrow the field of the tunes so I could learn them better.  But this doesn’t seem to be the modus operandi of this group.

So often I find myself sight reading pieces not carefully notated in a live situation. This is not a problem for me, but the players who call the tunes might have a specific interpretation in mind (usually from a recording), so that my sight reading and “on-the-spot-free-interpretation” might seem to them to be “wrong.” In fact, I enjoy making little tunes my own through on the spot playing.

I also get quickly bored by trying to ape recordings. I always have. But what the heck. I’m the old guy and glad to be asked to play. And I specifically do not want to be the “old-guy-in-charge” since that is my usual role in music. More fun to follow the lead of others if I can. So far so good.

Okay, here’s another short blog. My brother and his wife are visiting and it looks like maybe my nephew will even stop by. So I have plenty of people to listen to my rants other than Eileen (who is my listener extraordinaire). So I have less time and words for the blog.

But I do have to remark that the secretary of the dance department at Hopeless college emailed me and asked for my ID number so they could pay me for the Global Water Dance gig.  She didn’t mention how much and I was afraid to jeopardize the situation by acting anything other nonchalant and didn’t ask. More on this as it develops.

Links:

********************************************************************

Brooke Gladstone’s Graphic Commentary of Media’s ‘Influencing Machine’ | Art Beat | PBS NewsHour | PBS

I’m a fan of “On the Media” buy valium egypt which is the show Gladstone is on.

*********************************************************************

Some laws shielded from voter referendums | Michigan Radio

Heard this story go by briefly and then wanted a little more info on it. Michigan Radio has improved their local coverage in my opinion.

*********************************************************************

Convener in Chief – NYTimes.com

Brooks describes differing leadership styles.

************************************************************************

Fred Steiner, Television and Film Composer, Dies at 88 – NYTimes.com

I think this guy has influenced me. He wrote the theme song for Rocky and Bulwinkle, did background music for Star Trek and Gunsmoke. I wrote a piece in school in which I stole the ending from the Bullwinkle theme.

********************************************************************

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

Mark mentioned this report. It is very funny.  Probably mostly for liberals.

*******************************************************************

I am still exhausted mentally and physically. Here are some links I have been looking at with commentary.

**********************************************************************

Afghan Girl Was Tricked Into Carrying Bomb, Officials Say – NYTimes.com

Hard to know whether to be angry or heart broken when reading reports like this. If true, it is unspeakable.

***********************************************************************

160 Million and Counting – NYTimes.com

This article by Russ Douthat struck me as reveling in the conclusions of Mara Hvistendahl that abortion has done some serious damage to the balance of the genders world wide.  Women are way behind in population.  And the reason is gender specific abortions of females.  This is alarming.

more links about this:

Where Have All the Girls Gone? – By Mara Hvistendahl | Foreign Policy

Mara Hvistendahl

*********************************************************************

Human Relations Commission’s Jim Larkin resigns over Holland City Council’s ‘no’ vote – Holland, MI – The Holland Sentinel

It is interesting to watch the local struggles around gay issues. I have suspected that among educated conservatives there is a shifting attitude in the US on this issue. There is no inherent political persuasion in sexuality.

On the other hand, Holland is a reactionary provincial place where there is growing movement toward the ignorance of Christian fundamentalism.  I had a prof at Hope college recently observe that she thought the leaders there want to make it a “Bible” college.  Others I ask about this concur.

I keep meeting students who are lovely people but shockingly ignorant and naive. At least when I was at Notre Dame, South Bend, in the late 80s the kids were very smart in their conservative politics. Give me a smart educated conservative any day, one with some self awareness.

I share Jim Larkins confusion that people who oppose adding sexual orientation to local discrimination laws in Holland insist that they are not acting in a way that is anti-gay.   This is a position that I’m sure could be defended, but I just haven’t read anything that makes sense to me.

********************************************************************

Our Untransparent President – NYTimes.com

Critique of Obama by a former supporter.

*********************************************************************

New Statesman – The Joy of Secularism: 11 Essays for How We Live Now

This is a troubling article to me. The author of the review, Terry Eagleton, seems as confused about religion as the people he criticizes.

Example:

“Salvation is a matter of feeding the hungry and caring for the sick, not in the first place a question of cult and ritual. There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem, we are told, as all that religious paraphernalia is finally washed up and superannuated.”

This is not totally accurate as a generalization. It is definitely an evangelical understanding of Christianity…. which is itself kind of new from the long perspective of history.

*********************************************************************

From Abbottabad to Worse | Politics | Vanity Fair

Another essay by the dying Christopher Hitchens.

Pakistan Unhitches Hitchens « TheSouthAsianIdea Weblog

A refutation of Hitchens . I find the metaphor this writer chooses troubling.

There’s something insultingly reductive about painting Pakistan as the “spouse that makes one foam at the mouth” and Hitchens as her angry husband.

**********************************************************************

U.S. Support for Pakistan: A Long Messy History : The New Yorker

Another essay about Pakistan.

********************************************************************

Johann Hari: How to survive the age of distraction – Johann Hari, Commentators – The Independent

Not sure I buy this writer’s take on ebooks. I think he is describing his own failing abilities to concentrate.  When I read ebooks I do not go back and forth to my email any more than when I’m reading a real book.

I finally might be to the point that I am able to do some badly needed summer relaxing. In fact it may already be happening. I usually remember my dreams. But when my stress goes up, I notice that I do not remember them as much. The last two evenings I have remembered them. I think this may be a good sign.

Late last century when I was still working for the local Roman Catholic church, I was feeling a lot of stress about my work. I had a lot of anxiety dreams. In one of them, someone calmly looked me in the eye and asked me, “What’s at stake?” I awoke with this thought. It was a turning point in my attitude toward my work. I think it led me to change my life. I quit my job. I began spending more time doing what I wanted to do with the time left me to be alive.

I am still processing my recent experience writing and performing a work for the Global Water Dance on Saturday. This project began as a passing remark by Linda Graham the chair of the dance department at the local college.  I was finding my work with her teachers in the department very rewarding. When Linda asked me if I would write something she could choreograph for an upcoming event, I said I was interested. Originally she said that I would be one of two composers and she was directing two simultaneous local expressions of this world wide event: one to be held on the beach of Lake Michigan and the other just north of the city on Lake Macatawa.  Also that there was money to pay for my work.

I put the date on my calendar and briefly glanced at the web site of the event and put it out of my mind.

After the semester ended this year, I confirmed with Linda that the event was still on. She said yes. She called a meeting of people interested in dancing which I didn’t attend since I was composing.

The date of the performance continued to come nearer and Linda had not told me much about what the music should be. I contacted musicians and wrote a movement for her to hear. I took it to her and, unsurprisingly, her choreography was completely different. I was intrigued to write something for her dance design, so I went back to the drawing board and wrote a piece that fit her choreography. I emailed her my understanding of the choreography which I used in my piece, even notating it right in the score.

I, also, had sent her both the score and an mp3 of the MIDI (shudder) version of each piece I composed, so she would have some idea of what I was coming up with.

The day before the first rehearsal of my musicians and her dancers, I was copied on to a mass email which had an outline of what the dance looked like now. Not only were there now six sections (originally there were four), but Linda put another musician’s name on the outline besides mine.  This threw me off. I immediately emailed her back.

Linda,

I have looked at your updated choreography and passed it on to my players. I am surprised that the new choreography seems to interrupt the continuity of my (carefully worked out) composition and interleaves it with music written and performed by other musician(s) who I do not know.

I was prepared for cuts or whatever, but not what feels like blind collaboration (a blind musical date?). My skepticism comes from witnessing previous less than desirable results from of this sort thing.

I tried to write something that reflected our discussion and that would be flexible and hold together despite shortening or lengthening or even cutting. But that doesn’t appear to be what you wanted. This looks like it will possibly alter the basic meaning of my piece. But at this late date I will do my best to make it all work.

No worries.

See you tomorrow,

S

Linda wrote me back apologizing and giving me a bit more information. It turned out the musicians were drummers, so that was a bit of a relief. My skepticism mentioned above, however, was warranted.  In practice, it turned out these added musicians were not very sophisticated or skilled.

I was feeling a bit anxious about pulling this all together in the last week before the performance. Linda seemed to be evolving the choreographing, responding to the site and the dancers. I tried to adapt the music to help her as we went. It ended up working just fine. But during the evolution of the music and the dance I saw a lot of change. Some of these versions did in fact do violence to the music I wrote. In the end after experimenting and adapting, we only ended up cutting one of the original four sections I wrote. This changed the way the music worked of course, but I had written a sectional piece with the idea that sections could be cut.

I learned that I need to stipulate some timing if I am expected to compose something for a specific event.

Also I am also wondering if I will get paid. I try to talk money early when I agree to something in music. I neglected to do this in this case, so I’m partly responsible for the lack of clarity.  Next time, I will probably try to avert this if asked to do something like this. I have discussed pay with my players, of course. They are reluctant for me to pay them if I myself do not get paid. I am planning to mail them each a small check within the week whether I get paid or not.

***********************************************************

Sympathetic Serial Killers – NYTimes.com

Article about the topic by Jeff Lindsay, the creator of Dexter.

*************************************************************

Senoi, Kilton Stewart and The Mystique of Dreams: Further Thoughts on an Allegory About an Allegory, G. William Domhoff

I stumbled across this writing this morning’s blog. I was looking for more information on the Senoi whom I have read about. I have some ideas about dreams that I think may have come from an essay I read years ago on these guys. Domhoff essay, linked above, seems to refute some of the charming ideas in that original essay. I am planning to read this article and think more about the ideas. Nevertheless, the idea that dreams are important to communal psychological health still holds charms for me.

************************************************************

Them That’s Not Shall Lose – NYTimes.com

Charles Blow points out that “…according to the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly half of all members of Congress are millionaires..” Ay yi yi.

************************************************************

A List of Fallacious Arguments

I keep returning to this list. It helps me sort through the fuzzy thinking that dominates much of public comment and rhetoric.

When I was a high school student, I used to wander the halls after school bullshitting with teachers, mainly English teachers. At the time, I used to say that was when my real daily education began.

I am thinking mainly of my last few years when I attended a brand spanking new school with a formidable array of newly hired talented teachers.

One of them used to pontificate at length about poetry, literature and what have you. I can’t remember this guy’s name, but I do remember one thing he said about poetry: that it was more essential and pertinent to life than what was in newspapers.

He was preaching to the converted when he talked to me. I loved poetry then and I love it now. I read it. I wrote it. I sent my poems to be considered for publication to many magazines and journals. I managed to get a few poems published. I even won a poetry contest with a pretty bad poem called “Dame Flint.”

I don’t remember when this passion began or even clearly understand its roots. My parents were not that fond of poetry.

I suspect a couple of things. When I was toddler there was a woman who “watched me” as we said. She was important in teaching me to see the beauty around me. Nature walks were part of the deal. I’m not sure I can actually remember this. Probably it is just my mother’s description later.

I trace my love of music and poetry possibly to this kind of eye opening guided perception as a child.

The other thing, oddly enough, is probably exposure to lots and lots of Bible. In my early youth this would mean, the King James translation which is indeed full of beauty and poetry.

I also suspect that my predilection to see life not as transaction (the pervasive point of view of my society) but as experience may relate directly to my early love poetry. In my case this experience is full and satisfying.

When I see art, music and poetry reduced to commodity I am saddened and if possible demur.

I was pleasantly surprised recently when looking at a new (to me) aggregate filter blog called 3quarksdaily.com. They occasionally feature a  recommended poem along with their links.

That got me to thinking that I often use the internet not only as the greatest reference library imaginable

but as a source for new poems and new poetic thinking.

I know my brother has told me that he begins each day with a visit the Writer’s Almanac which features a daily poem.

I try to check it out daily. Also both of us make use of the Poetry Foundation site which features tons of poets and poems.

Historical poetry is rampant online. If I’m looking for a certain poem I often google the first couple of lines and can find the whole thing.

And then there are the free ebook websites which are good sources for out of copyright poetry. Manybooks.net is one that I use frequently but there are others.

My high school teacher’s comment about poetry and the newspaper has an element of truth to it. But it is also extreme and shortsighted. I need both poetry and the news. I need ideas and ideas explained and proposed. I need historical background and the results of scholarship.

For me, it’s all there on the interweb. Life is good.

Again I find myself pretty busy. Too busy to blog for long this morning.

Eileen and I bought her a Blackberry Playbook yesterday. She seems happy with it. She’s still figuring it out.

An old friend of mine, Ken Near, put this video and several others up on Facebook recently. The beginning few minutes is Willan improvising. I quite like it. Ken sang in the ritual choir at Willan’s parish, St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto. Of course, Willan was long dead.

Ken also pointed me toward this web site:

Sheet Music, Chant Books, Hymns — MusicaSacra

It seems to have free copies of modern adaptations of Gregorian chant in English. Very cool.

********************************************************************

Hackers release Arizona state files – Americas – Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera released this story recently. Haven’t noticed much in the American press yet. Could be I just have missed it.

*******************************************************************

Will Japanese Virtual Performers Hurt the Music Industry? – Technorati Blogging

Tecnorati opens very slowly on my little net book. Nevertheless, they seem to have some interesting articles.

More:

A Joint Venture That Aims to Prevent Illegal Downloads of Copyrighted Material – Technorati IT

Obama Signals Era of Permanent War – Technorati Politics

Wyoming Has Moved to the Cloud – Technorati Technology

********************************************************************

20 obsolete English words that should make a comeback | Matador Network

I love words. Here are 20 I never heard of before!

*********************************************************************

Seeking to perpetuate my attempts at “vacation” mentality oddly enough found me sitting at the organ at church yesterday. My prelude and postlude for Sunday are ones I know very well, so they are not requiring a lot of rehearsal. So I turned to stuff for fun and interest.

I began with Mendelssohn’s Preludes and Fugues for organ. I am easing into a deep appreciation of this composer, shedding the prejudices of my teachers and some musicologists. I increasingly think Schumann was not mistaken in his estimate of Mendelssohn as the “Mozart” of his time.  His music is clear and classic, Apollonian not Dionysian.

It is ironic that he is stereotyped as ephemeral, trite, kitschy (Charles Rosen) when in fact I find his music to be timeless, eternal, calm and rigorous in its craft and beauty.

So I return to his organ works which so many organists deem as not “romantic” enough preferring the works of Vierne and Widor which I myself actually often find a bit cloying.

After some Mendelssohn I spent time with Bach’s G minor fugue.

I have a memory of this piece being taught in a Music Appreciation class when I attended middle school (Junior High we called it then). I can picture the overweight huffing teacher trying to engage a room full of boys (I think it was something that alternated with gym class) with organ music. It seems so outrageous to me now. I’m not even sure how accurate the memory is. But, I love this piece and periodically work it up. The video above is a dramatization of it with midi and visuals. I think it explicates the way the piece works quite nicely.

The irony of me seeking to relax with the very stuff of my work is not lost on me. But actually it makes sense. I have been stressing out over the Barefoot Jazz Quartet and even more so the Global Water Dance rehearsals and performances. This is good stress about things that interest me. But returning to the solitude of the organ bench and the solace of my craft as an organist is soothing and logical.  I do love the music. And I love my work.

I just need to give my self some space and quiet to gain perspective and get my “groove” back. I guess I haven’t entirely lost my groove since I am composing, learning and performing  music which is basically how I want to spend my time.

My friend, Jordan V., emailed me yesterday that he had found on Lemonjello’s web site an announcement that they were not hiring music acts for the summer. Usually by this time the owner has asked me to consider playing a gig there. I figured maybe he finally decided to give in to my lack of popular appeal. Jordan kindly disagreed with this and insists that I have a kind of appeal. I am flattered that he says this. It’s not an inconsiderable compliment coming from an adept musician.

But I do notice that I’m not immensely popular and my gigs are sparsely attended. Which is not to say that I don’t appreciate the people who value my work. I long ago figured out that my art appeals to a minority of listeners. I live in an area in which the intellectuals are conservative and a bit provincial. It is absurd for me to expect a large following.

If I lived in an urban area or a less provincial one (say Ann Arbor) I would still appeal to a minority but I think I would get a bit larger following because what I am doing would be understood better.

But I could be wrong about that. And it is something I’m not too concerned about since I get my basic pleasure from writing music and then somehow having it performed. It is the “doing of it” that appeals to me.  Of course, part of this process is the work of the listener. Which is why I come out of my hole and perform occasionally.

And of course people can and sometimes do listen to my work at church.

*********************************************************************

Wal-Mart’s Authoritarian Culture – NYTimes.com

Some interesting background on the situation recently highlighted in a Supreme Court decision.

********************************************************************

Huntsman Enters Race With Promise of Civility – NYTimes.com

Public promises of civility always get my attention. I remember when George W. Bush made the same promise. I even wrote him a letter when he was president thanking him for his efforts in this area……

*********************************************************************

Recipe – Pan-Roasted Spiced Cauliflower With Peas – NYTimes.com

Last night I kind of made this for myself, chicken-mushroom-pea pasta for Eileen and messy but excellent strawberry pie for both of us. Mmmmmm.

********************************************************************

Technorati

Crooked Timber

n+1

3quarksdaily

I created a new folder of bookmarks called “filter blogs.” These links are all in it. I think of them as “aggregate sites” but “filter blogs” sounds cooler.

*********************************************************************

Why Masturbation Helps Procreation – Newsweek

Fun little article about the evolutionary adaptive reasons for masturbation.

*******************************************************************

This Youtube video is a recording of my prelude Sunday, Prelude: Voluntary in D minor, Opus V, No. 8 by John Stanley, all 3 movements. The player is Tibor Pinter.

I am trying to sort of pursue a vacation mind set this week.  I have spent some time in my favorite local coffee shop, Lemonjellos, just goofing off. Yesterday I had lunch there.

There are two locally owned coffee shops in Holland, Michigan where I live. JPs

and Lemonjellos.

They both seem a bit uptight and religious to me. Holland is the birth place of the split between two conservative denominations: the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Reformed Church of America (RCA). The RCA is a tad less reactionary than the CRC.

Lemonjellos is definitely more like the RCA in my mind. Its owner and clientele are younger and have a bit rougher edges. I have watched it evolve from a vision in a young coffee barrista’s brain to a sort of upstart local savvy business. In the past they have invited me to play there about once a year. So far this year, the owner hasn’t indicated a continued interest in having me play again. The last time I played the crowd was small. Since there was a cover, the young people stayed outside and I lost any chance for them to hear my work.  If I get invited back, I will definitely ask that there be no cover.

I am interrupting my attempted vacation mind set to work on music for the local expression of the upcoming Global Water Dance. I have mentioned it here I believe. Yesterday morning Keith Walker, Jordan VanHemert and Nathan Walker dropped by my house to rehearse “Ebb and Flow.” The rehearsal went well and I was gratified to begin to hear this piece take shape. They agreed to run “Easy on the Water” which relates to “Ebb and Flow” as a first movement of two so far but is not part of the upcoming performance. It was my first attempt to write music for Global Water Dance performance.

These two pieces make a decent beginning at a multi-movement piece. The players seem enthusiastic and interested in the work. Nathan the bass player asked me once again when I am playing at Lemonjellos this year indicating that he would like to be part of it. I had to tell him I haven’t been invited and actually might not be invited. Nathan said the trio we were rehearsing would be a good addition any playlist at Lemonjellos. I find this flattering. If asked I would definitely invite these players to participate.

As my conviction about my compositions and music grows I notice that my music has more and more limited appeal to anyone who might happen to hear it.  It would be foolish not to notice this. But equally foolish from my point of view to pay much attention to it.

I’m pretty clear in my own mind about why I do what I do.  Most of what I do grows out of a passion for sound. Of course the people involved are constitutive. Music in my mind does not exist without people whether that’s the composer, the performer or the listener.  All three are essential.

But I notice how so many other things sort of accrue around music in many people’s experience. The music itself is overwhelmed by less crucial things like immediate appeal of the appearance of the performers. The entertainment value can drown out deeper meaning. What is happening in the music and interaction between the sound and the humans seems to be less and less and  important.

Instead music is too often reified from an  activity of profound human making of meaning to a commodity of reduced meaning and quick surface appeal.  I am sorry to see this happen. I think it sells short the point of music. Something is definitely lost when this happens.

On the other hand my conviction that I am meant to be a music maker has strengthened with each passing year I get to stay alive.  I love making music. I love being in a room with other people making music. This is one of the reasons I continue to enjoy church music.

A 20th century convention of congregational participation as a norm means that it’s my weekly job to get a bunch of people to make music in song together. This is challenging in a time when so many people do not feel capable of making music except by turning on an ipod. But it is gratifying to me when I can hear the counter cultural sound of a group of ordinary people singing in harmony…

*********************************************************************

Stereotyping Patients, and Their Ailments – NYTimes.com

Dr. Danielle Ofri writes about an amazing patient, Mr. S. After reading this article I kept thinking about Mr. S. He was a criminal and drug addict whom people continued to misread and stereotype. In Dr. Ofri’s words, “he didn’t fit the picture.” His personality comes through vividly in this essay.

I love his Buddhist like acceptance and embrace of the life he has found himself living.When asked  about “how he felt about the misdiagnosis of H.I.V., he simply shrugged: “It is what it is.”

I heard this exact phrase come out of the mouth of a world-renowned dancer recently.  In both cases it strikes me as something to ponder.

********************************************************************

In Celestial Twist, Black Hole Swallows a Dying Star – NYTimes.com

Sci fi for real.

********************************************************************

The Vegas Valley Leopard Frog Is Endangered, but No Longer Extinct – NYTimes.com

The mysterious disappearance of frogs and bees strike me like canaries in a coal mine.

*********************************************************************

Using Forensic Sculpting to Solve Cold Cases – NYTimes.com

I sent this link to my wife. It reminds me of TV shows she likes to watch. Only real.

**********************************************************************

Roundworm Could Unlock Secrets of the Human Brain – NYTimes.com

Another vivid portrait of a person, this time a young determined brilliant scientist, Cornelia Bargmann.

********************************************************************

Last Saturday night was the Grace Music Ministry party. It was a small gathering of mostly people who have been in the program for decades.  It was held at a member’s home. At one point he brought out a lovely Kentucky dulcimer to show me.

When my father was minister of a Church of God congregation in Flint Michigan in the sixties, I remember a pale young woman who came to us from Berea College in Kentucky. She brought with her a dulcimer which I remember she played and sang. Her song was a lovely gentle addition to our community. She sounded a bit like this video.

My choir member asked me if I could show him something on the dulcimer. I vaguely remembered that dulcimers are mostly drone and have one melody string. I glanced at the pitch pipe he had and attempted to tune the first, highest, string to the highest pitch on the pipe. It immediately broke. I felt embarrassed. The owner assured me that he himself often broke strings trying to tune it. He even had an extra string handy.

So we restrung it. This time I pulled out his handy dandy “how-to-play-the-dulcimer” book and figured out exactly what pitches the strings should be. They had nothing to do with the notes on the pitch pipe which I noticed were the first four strings on a guitar or the strings of an electric bass.

With a little finagling, I managed to tune it up and play a few tunes on it. I showed the guy who owned it how easy it really was to follow the numbers written over the pitches in the book. He seemed pretty happy about that.

I also showed him carefully which pitches were needed to put the thing in playing tune.

Later his wife brought out her collection of drums and percussion instruments. They were mostly things they had picked up on missionary trips to reservations.  They mentioned Lakota and Pueblo tribes.

After being invited, the crew sitting around at the party gamely took them up and began gently banging on them. They even had an Indian flute which I managed to get working. It had an ornamental buffalo tied to it which was blocking the whistle hole. After I moved it, it played more easily although with limited range. One of the choir members is a recorder player and he goofed around on it.

It was a relaxed moment.

Floating over the drum and flute sound I heard the sound of birds singing as the sun was setting. I was reminded of Messiaen’s contention that birds are the musical geniuses of the planet. I couldn’t disagree.

********************************************************************

http://www.ebrary.com/

A few days ago, I stumbled across a service that Hope College (the college where I sometimes work as ballet accompanist) was temporarily trying out an online academic book service.  It took me a couple days to get it to work on my netbook off campus but I managed to do so last night.

According to the library web site, the trial period ends this Friday.

I have been thinking more about Mendelssohn and I immediately began reading this biography on ebrary. It reflects more modern scholarship and I am relieved to find that it agrees more with my assessment of Mendelssohn as a good composer.

The preface even outlined the history of his reputation. It peaked at his death when he was considered a tragic loss for beauty. His work was immediately attacked by Wagner and others. Wagner himself wrote anti-semitic diatribes about Mendelssohn.

Mendelssohn’s relationship to his own considerable heritage is complex. His grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, is an important philosopher who once beat Immanuel Kant to an important philosophy award. Moses was Jewish. Part of his philosophical contribution was to raise the then radical notion that Jews and Christians could co-exist beneficially for each other.

Mendelssohn’s parents raised him Lutheran. They themselves secretly converted abandoning their own Jewish heritage for Chrisitan.

This kind of “assimilation” looks almost embarrassing from the 21st century. Nevertheless it made sense to the people at the time.

Mendelssohn was aware of and appreciated his heritage.

Wagner attacked him posthumously because of it.  The Nazis tried unsuccessfully to expunge his music and memory because of it.

Later the 20th century’s view of Victorianism in general was another blow in the distortion of Mendelssohn’s work.  His work was lumped together with much lighter music of the Victorian era  was seen as “effeminate” and not profound.

It is only post-modern scholarship that has sought to understand him more clearly and appreciate his musical contribution.

I find all this pretty helpful.

********************************************************************

My Ex-Gay Friend – NYTimes.com

Benoir Denizet-Lewis, the writer of this article, goes to visit Michael Glatz,  an old friend of his. They were both gay activists together as young men. Michael went from articulate calm spokesperson for queer theory and sane gay stuff to a pretty conservative fundamentalist Christian who denies that homosexuality is at all genetic and can be “cured.”

It’s a sad fascinating even-handed telling of the story.

********************************************************************

90 Years After a Bloody Race Riot, Tulsa Confronts Its Past – NYTimes.com

Only ninety years ago,  America suffered it’s mostly bloody ethnic cleansing.  For years the memory of it was buried. Even now, it’s only taught in a few US history books.

********************************************************************

Finishing my second thought from yesterday regarding “the conversation around the algorithms used by search engines and companies tracking online use to facilitate less aggressive users of information on the internet,” there are two things that strike me about this discussion.

First complaining about Facebook algorithms that respond to your behavior and don’t expand your world is kind of an odd criticism. It assigns too much responsibility to something that is a mechanism that reflects your online behavior. So if you profess to want to have Facebook “friends” with whom you disagree (as Eli Pariser the author of the recent book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You does) but neglect to actually connect with them, the algorithm that puts them lower on your radar simply identifies the difference between what you profess and what you do.

And getting around such things is often a matter of using the options available. On Facebook I have a list that overrides what Facebook wants to put on my list and will simply show me recent posts and links that people in the Jenkins family have put up. Twitter doesn’t use that kind of algorithm but I have a similar lists including one for conservatives, one for liberals, one for musicians and one for book people. This allows me to see the activity of those people.

Secondly, complaining that algorithms tailor search results to the point that one searcher looking for links to Obama gets New York Times links while another gets Fox News links is also a bit short-sighted. Adding a few words to “Obama” will definitely get either searcher a broader result which as it broadens is likely to get more and more similar.

In other words, the more passive you are about this shit, the more you deserve how it limits you. Howard Rheingold has called it”information literacy.” I like that quite a bit. For a good introduction to how to be more adept at evaluating the results of your online search see Rheingold’s essay “Crap Detection 101.”

Here are couple more articles by Rheingold I bookmarked to read:

Wired 7.01: Look Who’s Talking (amish and tech)

howard rheingold’s | tools for thought

Even though they are old, they look pertinent.

Incidentally I basically stole these insights from people interviewed in “The Echo Chamber Revisited” a segment in this past weekend’s “On the Media.”

*****************************************************************

The Atrophy of Private Life by Jennifer Moxley : The Poetry Foundation

A poem I ran across this morning and kind of liked. It’s a bit preachy. But I like what it’s preaching.

******************************************************************

Haiku Journey by Kimberly Blaeser : The Poetry Foundation

Another poem I ran across and liked.

*********************************************************************

137 Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)

Found this essay as an old bookmark. Not sure how I came to find it, but enjoyed reading it.

*********************************************************************

Lawyers and Accountants Once Put Integrity First – NYTimes.com

An interesting insider look at this.

**********************************************************************

Disability and H.I.V. – I Had Polio. I Also Have Sex. – NYTimes.com

Had to read this just from looking at the headline. Good stuff.

*********************************************************************

Book Review – The Secret Knowledge – By David Mamet – NYTimes.com

This fascinates me because it is written by Christopher Hitchens, an excellent writer who went from being a dedicated socialist to a spokesperson for the right wing’s ideas about Iraq.  Mamet’s new book outlines his own move into conservative ideology. Hitchens rips him to shreds. I like Mamet’s plays as I suspect Hitchens does. But fuzzy thinking is fuzzy thinking.

I have a couple things on my mind this morning. First, the use, coherence and critical thought about what people think they are doing when they do music.

Secondly, the conversation around the algorithms used by search engines and companies tracking online use to facilitate less aggressive users of information on the internet.

First the music one. This basically boils down to the lack of articulated vision and thoughtful understanding of what music is and what it is for. I am admittedly thinking of musicians. Especially educated ones right now. I think I am being drawn back into contemplating levels of quality in music. I resist this. I found a reinvigorated sense of my own musicality early this century by turning down my so-called objective evaluation of musical quality especially that which had been taught to me in my education and subsequent reading. Instead I started listening harder to my own heart about music.

I think this was a good thing for me. In retrospect I can see that I never really dropped my educated discernment. Only added to it, the necessary brutal harsh light of honesty. This is a reason I was attracted to Ellington’s comment that music is good, if it sounds good.

Contrary to the way many of my music appreciation students probably understood Ellington’s idea (despite my attempts to clarify), this does not mean that music is good if I like it. It means that music is coherently understood and evaluated by how it is done. What it is like in the moment it exists as well as historical context.

So I can see easily that music is understood by many listeners as simply a form of entertainment and distraction.  This is part my of how I do music.

I also see many educated musicians struggling with two abhorrent extremes of understanding. First a sort of platonic cave understanding that there is great music and trivial music. Great music is made only in the context of the academy and sanctioned historical evolution. Secondly, educated musicians (especially performers), so cowed by this, simply avoid the whole question and deny their understanding except in technical aspects of music. If this last group is lucky, they embrace their love of it. If they are unlucky, they are unhappy people who have forgotten their first love.

So entertainment,  academic, and technical.

I have a relationship to and appreciation of all three of these understandings. But I think it’s the blend of these with honesty and intuition that I require of myself.

Recently I have been suffering from some burn out. I found myself drawn into the music of Bach, Bartok, Mendelssohn, Bessie Smith, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson and some church music composers I admire like Piet Post (I’m playing a set of variations by this guy this morning for the prelude), Jan Bender, Healey Willan.

There is a profundity in all of this music that draws me in at all levels: the lighter level of immediate attraction (similar to entertainment), the historical context and implications (academic), and the doing of music by these people on piano and organ (technical).

In my piano trio rehearsals we have been delving deeply into Mendelssohn. I come out of these refreshed and convinced by the music.

Working with my little jazz group, I have questions about the honesty of the music. It’s a bit like church music where I also ask these questions. The difference is that I’ve only been invited to come and play piano. Fair enough. But I would benefit from conversation on why we do what we do or even what should we do as a group. But this kind of talk isn’t on the agenda. I think I make this more difficult by being such an outlier to my fellow musicians: older, unpredictable, verbal and analytic in a way that defies local male stereotypes,  confusing in my embrace of so many musical styles, and other aspects of my personality and skills that I’m suspect simultaneously intrigue and repel local musicians.

I have questions about academic  jazz I keep wondering about. Like what is exactly is the purpose of an academic replicating of style that is pretty much historical at this point?

I can think of it like my skills in baroque music on harpsichord.  I don’t feel like my connection with either jazz or baroque either is “museum-like” in nature.  For me they are living breathing traditions. When I do either music, I can feel the profundity and meaning that is important now.

However the breath of the history of jazz is a free one. I suspect it has merged with other musics like rock and classical and has emerged as simply music.  This was my reaction to a public performance by Dave Holland’s band. Their music went way beyond the codified understanding of jazz as a branch of historical academic music.

Like all good music it was being born and reborn in the moment defying categorization.  I think that the great musicians like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and others I admire embraced their music in a freedom that is contradicted by reduction to a pedagogy and limited style.

I think jazz lives in free music not recorded historical music.  In my own work, I see a relationship to myself as a young inexperienced uneducated keyboardist improvising on the tunes of the Doors and other popular music of my youth to the 59 year old educated, experienced musician who still seeks the freedom of honest music with his skills.

In both cases I resist the tyranny of the recording and try to rebirth music in the moment I make it.

I can see I have let this turn into a reflection on improvisation and music. The second thing on my mind will have to wait for tomorrow.

My little town is driving me nuts right now. I need to get on a plane and fly away.

I found the music of Mendelssohn quite consoling yesterday.  Downloaded several recordings by Andreas Pfaul (link to page of free MP3s of piano music byMendelssohn). I alternated between playing Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words and listening to Pfaul’s recordings.

In the meantime, here’s links.

*********************************************************************

Radish Basil Pesto Recipe: A basil pesto recipe with a bite! | Suite101.com

interesting concept… I might try this sometime.

************************************************************************

Exit Near, Gates Speaks Bluntly of U.S. Allies – NYTimes.com

When I went to click on this article the day it was published it was a dead link. A few days later it was fixed.

**********************************************************************

Remembering a Pioneer of Folk Music and Blues – NYTimes.com

New bio of Big Bill Broonzy. I think I might like to read it.

***********************************************************************

Seeking a Balance – Part-Time Doctor and Mom – NYTimes.com

These are letters in response to an article I found a bit troubling in which a woman doctor said that women should put their doctoring before their own private life and not be part time doctors. I agree with these two doctors who wrote in response to the article.

*********************************************************************

Call Off the Global Drug War by Jimmy Carter- NYTimes.com

I am fascinated to watch the continuing evolution of Jimmy Carter. Also the changing way he is viewed by pundits.  I think his post-presidency has been a constructive in many ways.  I especially like the fact that he gets down and dirty with Habitat for Humanity and works alongside other people.

*********************************************************************

How’s the Weather on the Sun? – NYTimes.com

Space weather. It’s important. Who knew?

***********************************************************************

Since the above are all NYT links (Hey, it’s what I read when I treadmill), here’s some “Fair and Accuracy in Reporting” links critical of the NYT

Bachmann Comes Across as Less of a Nut–Thanks to Some Tactful Editing

NYT’s Greenhouse vs. ‘Generous’ Public Worker Compensation

NYT Quotes a Social Security Defender, Only Bashes Him Indirectly

*********************************************************************

http://paper.li/

Apparently this web site allows you to make your own daily newspaper. Jesse Jackson Sr. has been doing this for 8 months. Hmmm.

My piano trio played straight through the first three movements of Mendelssohn’s D minor piano trio yesterday.  This weekly rehearsal is an oasis of calm and beauty.

Then I had a brief meeting with my boss. She was recovering from this:

Sexual orientation equal rights amendment fails on split vote in Holland – Holland, MI – The Holland Sentinel

She has spear-headed the local Holland is Ready campaign.

She told me that the two hours of public comment were overwhelmingly positive and supportive. She even confessed that when the first four votes came in as “yeses” she thought for a minute it was going to pass.

Her nephew is visiting her and consoled her on the walk back to the car afterwards, telling her that “they were just idiots” and that eventually it would pass.

It’s tough to watch people you care about go through stuff like this. But she is doing okay with it, I think.

Both of us were pretty exhausted for our meeting.

I practiced organ a bit afterwards and then came home and started working on supper.

I made pesto and grilled a bunch of veggies including egg plant, asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, and peppers.

I keep feeling like a lucky guy even though I’m pretty drained and ready for some R & R.