Today is really my first day off in two weeks. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m a bit behind in my planning for church so I will definitely have to do some of that today.
Yesterday I agonized over a few measures in the piece I am rewriting. This took quite a bit of time in my already busy schedule. My daily regimen of improvising for ballet class has, I think, increased my melodic skills if only in the realm of the simple (which is where I usually like to work).
So given enough time to ponder I am reasonable confident I can write something that is pretty decent by my standards and represents what I mean to compose.
Re-writing is always harder. And I have given myself the added pressure of composing something in time to rehearse it with my choir and perform it well by March 20th (Lent III). I would dearly like to have it done and duplicated for tomorrow’s rehearsal, but we’ll have to see if the muse is friendly today or not.
The following week (March 27th, Lent IV) I want to perform my transcription of Chanticleer’s “Woman at the Well.” This transcription is basically finished, I just have to add the rest of the alto and tenor parts. This is also on my mind today.
In addition I have to submit hymn recommendations for Ash Wed and Lent. Sheesh.
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*****All my links for today are from the New York Times.******
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New Anti-Immigration Bills in Arizona – NYTimes.com
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Zimbabwe – TV Viewers Charged With Treason – NYTimes.com
Short story of people jailed for watching the wrong televisions shows. This kind of futuristic expression of tyranny boggles my mind.
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Shock Doctrine, U.S.A. – NYTimes.com
Krugman says Wisconsin is not Cairo, it’s Baghdad.
From Chile in the 1970s onward, [Naomi Klein]… suggested, right-wing ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society.
Which brings us to Wisconsin 2011…
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Years ago, Ed Friedmann described the effect the hostile environment has on potential leaders, discouraging them before they accept leadership. This story is about a politician I disagree with, but what discourages me is that he sounds like a leader backing away from leadership.
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As Mental Health Cuts Mount, Psychiatric Cases Fill Jails – NYTimes.com
This is in Texas, but we can look forward to more of this nationwide as our increasingly reactionary leadership attempts to dismantle the government and social services.
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Discovery Shuttle Heads for Space One Last Time – NYTimes.com
I always feel like I’m in an old science fiction novel when I read stories like this
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