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Get STRONG + HEALTHY with Executive Moms Houston
- Health & Wellness
- 1953 West Gray Street, Houston, TX, 77019, US
Haven Happy Hour/Dinner - Last 2012 Event!
Executive Moms Society Houston
Thursday, November 8, 2012 from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM (CST)
Do you bring in business, bring home the bacon, and bring up healthy happy children? Then bring it to the Executive Moms Society's last event of the season: November 8, 2012 at Haven. Join us for a fun meet & greet and/or dinner on the patio, starting at 5:30 on November 8! This is our last "social" networking event of the year before the holiday madness begins. Please spread the word and bring your friends!
Thank you to Matson Driscoll, Martin Disiere, Maricarmen Dollar, Steely Plastic Surgery, Women in Power, and SEA Limited for sponoring, and we will have some great door prizes! Sponsorships still available.
Dear Hard Working Executive Mother:
We are a networking group for the professional woman. We understand that you are busy with work and kids but still need to build your business. Join us as we change the rules for networking. We are about creating fun and valuable events.
This networking group will focus on making business connections and long lasting friendships, and providing enjoyable events tailored toward mothers. We alternate between lunch events with speakers on topics from child development to business development, as well as hosting breakfast and evening social events. Part of the mission of EMS is to give back to the community by helping various local charities.
Another goal of EMS is to allow us to celebrate our roles as mothers and professionals, and to also hold events where our children are invited and welcome. We need to support and mentor ourselves, and we need to start by interacting with each other. Tell your friends to "bring it," and we'll be one step closer to achieving all that we aspire to be!
Join millions of people on Eventbrite.
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.

subset: commoncrawl


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I wouldn't have expected this big 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 hardtop to respond so well to a modest makeover, but this is one cool-looking... More
Great riding car. New reupholstered seats with original style cloth,new dash,arm rests,carpet,tires and great sounding new exhaust! Big 390 muscle motor moves this car... More
1964 Ford Galaxie 500 convertible. Needs work. Engine is 351 Windsor from 1976 Mustang with 4-barrel box carb. ET-II mags with 5-post caps. Original... More
1969 FORD GALAXIE 500 FASTBACK Great car for the weekend cruise or a daily driver this pure muscle car sounds great and runs as good... More
~CALL US FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE CAR! WE DO A 150+ POINT CHECK ON EACH VEHICLE AND ARE HAPPY TO SHARE... More
FORD: 1963-1/2 Galaxie 500 fastback, 390, 4-speed, original tin, no cuts, needs interior, all exterior trim with car, $7,000 obo. Dennis, 703-675-2650, VA.... More


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Intu Properties plc ("the Company") DIRECTORS' AND PDMRs' SHAREHOLDINGS AWARDS UNDER THE ANNUAL BONUS SCHEME AND THE SHARE INCENTIVE PLAN ("SIP") Under the Company's annual bonus scheme arrangements, conditional awards of the Company's ordinary shares have been made to certain employees including Executive Directors and PDMRs. The awards comprise Restricted shares which will be released two years after the date of the award, provided the individual Director or PDMR has remained in service. The Company also operates a Share Incentive Plan ("SIP") for all eligible employees, including Executive Directors and PDMRs, who may receive up to £3,000 worth of Intu Properties plc ordinary shares as part of their bonus arrangements. SHARE OPTION GRANTS On 7 March 2012, share options were granted to certain employees including two PDMRs at an exercise price of 335 pence per share. The options will be exercisable between three and ten years following the date of grant. Details of the awards of Restricted shares, SIP shares and (where applicable) options to Directors and PDMRs in respect of the year ended 31 December 2012 are set out below: Restricted SIP Unapproved Options Directors: David Fischel 123,283 895 - Matthew Roberts 94,626 895 - PDMRs: Mike Butterworth 55,335 895 - Martin Ellis 17,388 895 - Hugh Ford 56,753 895 - Susan Marsden 12,490 895 - Gordon McKinnon 5,549 853 40,000 Trevor Pereira 17,388 895 - Peter Weir 13,208 895 - Julian Wilkinson 8,582 746 35,000 Simon Maynard Assistant Company Secretary 8 March 2013 Tel: +44 (0)20 7887 7108 END -0- Mar/08/2013 15:40 GMT
Intu Properties plc: Director/PDMR Shareholding
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Thursday, November 29, 2012 - dark red-purple-black colour
Developed ripe aromas of dark currants, cedar box, tobacco, menthol, graphite, and a hint of stems.
Full body, black currants, tar, licorice, and earthiness.
Present round tannins with currants and plum flavours on the long finish.
Will reach its peak within 5-10 years.


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Kathy Bates Set for AMERICAN HORROR STORY Season 3
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|Related: AMERICAN HORROR STORY, FX, Kathy Bates
According to TVLine, the legendary Kathy Bates is nearing a deal to join Ryan Murphy's terrifying anthology series AMERICAN HORROR STORY.
Bates, who's no amateur when it comes to the grisly or gruesome (everyone remembers her performance in Stephen King's MISERY), is set to take on the role of Jessica Lange's new character's former best friend, and current nemesis.
For the full report, head on over to TVLine.
Though plot points are naturally being kept under wraps, as of now, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Lily Rabe, Taissa Farmiga, Evan Peters, and Sarah Paulson are confirmed to be returning for the post-ASYLUM outing of HORROR STORY. As BWW TV previously reported, Zachary Quinto will most likely not be apart of the next season.
Bates' stage credits include Broadway productions of 'night Mother, Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Fifth of July and Goodbye Fidel. She also played the role of Miss Hannigan in Disney's television version of the musical Annie.
The Academy Award-winning has also starred in TITANIC, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, and more. On television, Bates lead NBC's HARRY'S LAW, and appeared on THE OFFICE, as well as TWO AND A HALF MEN.
About Author
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Home > Lifestyle > Food > News
Monday June 2, 2014 MYT 1:50:00 PM
Monday June 2, 2014 MYT 2:11:00 PM
'Slippery Bob', a dish of kangaroo brains fried in emu fat, is included in 'The English and Australian Cookery Book'. - shutterstock/AFP
They are a native ingredient used in recipe published in 150-year-old book.
If you have ever wanted to prepare a meal of kangaroo brains fried in emu fat with a side dish of roasted wombat, there's a cookbook in Australia just for you.
The English And Australian Cookery Book – hailed as the country's first recipe book using native ingredients – has gone on show in the southern state of Tasmania, 150 years after it was first published.
One recipe reads: "Pan Jam: Roast kangaroos' tails in the ashes with the skin on; when nearly done, scrape them well, and divide at the joints. Then put them in a pan with a few slices of fat bacon, to which add a few mushrooms, pepper etc. Fry gently and serve. First-rate tack."
The recipe's author Edward Abbott compiled the book in the mid-1800s during a period of financial hardship in the hope it could earn him a quick buck, said Ross Latham, who manages the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
Other recipes in the book – which had the subtitle "cookery for the many, as well as for the 'upper ten thousand'" – included "Slippery Bob", a dish of kangaroo brains fried in emu fat, and one for roast emu, which Abbott said tasted like coarse beef.
But while Abbott was able to get the book published, it failed to generate any interest and he died soon after without the monetary gain he hoped for, Latham said.
He added that the book, which is on display at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts in Tasmania's capital Hobart until August, was a reflection of the challenges early settlers and convicts faced in Van Diemen's Land – Tasmania's original name.
"In the early days of white colonialism in Van Diemen's Land, because agriculture took a lot of time to blossom – as in be sustainable, the convicts for example were out there pretty much fending for themselves and so the whole notion of eating local wildlife wouldn't have been that uncommon," Latham said.
The Allport family, which bequeathed the building where the museum displaying the cookbook is based, were also pioneers of native cuisine, the archivist said, adding that the exhibition was named after one family recipe called "stuffing the porcupine".
"They cooked an echidna and Mary Allport wrote it in her journal as 'stuffing the porcupine'. She used a Scottish cookbook that she brought out from England with her and she described it as tasting like suckling pig," Latham said.
Australia is home to a unique array of animals not found anywhere else in the world, including koalas, echidnas, dingos, platypuses and wombats. – AFP Relaxnews
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It's a true love effect for Billie's stage debut
Piper: Keep taking the tablets
Billie Piper, a former companion of Dr Who, will play a star-crossed lover when she makes her debut at the National Theatre.
The actress will appear opposite Jonjo O'Neill; the pair will play volunteers who meet at a clinic where they're taking part in a pharmaceutical trial.
They will be joined by Tom Goodman-Hill and Anastasia Hille in Lucy Prebble's drama The Effect, which Rupert Goold will direct for his Headlong theatre company as a co-production with the National.
'It's a got a hint of Romeo And Juliet, in that there are star-crossed lovers, played by Billie and Jonjo, and it's about how and why people fall in love,' Goold told me.
Along with showing 'love at its purest', Goold said, the play will feature the kind of 'intellectual fireworks' that Prebble included in her previous play Enron. Piper was last on stage in Michael Attenborough's production of Reasons To Be Pretty at the Almeida. 'She's got a very contemporary, emotionally real feel about her,' Goold added.
The Effect will begin performances at the Cottesloe Theatre on November 6. Next, Goold, who won praise recently for directing Richard II in the BBC's acclaimed Hollow Crown Shakespeare film series, will make his feature film debut directing Jonah Hill and James Franco in a thriller called True Story.
He will then direct Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's musical adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis's bloody satire American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre in the 2013 autumn season. The show, which like The Effect will be for Headlong, will feature music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik.
Spidey's looking for another London lair
The Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is looking for a home in London, but so far all doors are closed.
It's not that theatre owners here don't like the geeky webslinger — it's just that the show is too big.
Producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris were on a recent scouting trip and visited, among other venues, the Palladium and the Drury Lane.
I should make it clear that, in any case, those theatres aren't available — even though Spidey wouldn't zoom in for a couple of years.
Spider-Man spokesman Rick Miramontez said there wasn't a theatre able to accommodate such an enormous physical production and added: 'Short of building a theatre, there doesn't seem to be a solution.'
Unless, of course, they can do a long-term deal with the 02.
Or pay Phil McIntyre a trillion bucks to move We Will Rock You out of the Dominion Theatre.
Stephen Daldry, the cultural czar overseeing the opening and closing ceremonies for the London Olympics and Paralympics, will be taking part in When Stephen Met Haile on Tuesday at 1pm, when he will interview Olympic long-distance superstar Haile Gebrselassie on stage at the Criterion Theatre, as part of that theatre's Playing The Games season.
Some of the actors from Ed Hall's gripping production of Chariots Of Fire at the Gielgud — which has had its own running track installed — are planning to pop over for inspiration.
Watch out for...
...Louise Dearman who will return to the London production of Wicked at the Apollo Victoria from October 29 playing Elphaba, the so-called Wicked Witch of the West.
Ms Dearman played Glinda, the good witch (or so she said . . . we know better) for a long spell until last December.
The producers say this is the first time the same leading lady has played both star roles in Wicked, which all of you in Wicked-land know imagines the origins of the witches from The Wizard Of Oz.
As Idina Menzel, who originated Elphaba here and on Broadway, once told me: 'Wicked is a plea for understanding and asks you to see the person, not what colour she is.'
Louise Dearman will return to the cast of Wicked but not in her former role of Glinda the Good, but as Elphaba
Heather Headley will play Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard musical at the Adelphi Theatre, played on the silverscreen by Whitney Houston
...Heather Headley who will fly in from Chicago early next month to start rehearsing her role in the musical version of The Bodyguard.
She will take the part of pop diva Rachel Marron (created on the big screen by Whitney Houston) opposite Lloyd Owen as the former Secret Service agent hired to protect her from a stalker.
More from Baz Bamigboye for the Daily Mail...
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Michael's having a ball with Mabel, the queen of silent film 02/07/15
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: National Theatre brings Pinocchio back to life on stage 02/07/15
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Cyndi Lauper tells me the booty secrets of her new musical 25/06/15
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- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Harry Potter and the biggest West End show EVER: Spellbinding drama about the fate of young wizard's parents is coming to London's theatreland 25/06/15
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: A Fiennes match for Sarah... 18/06/15
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Why Sheridan's a VERY Funny Girl 18/06/15
- BAZ BAMIGBOYE: The Mission Impossible star with REALLY killer thighs 11/06/15
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Debbie Kurup will play Rachel's sister Nicki, with other feature parts to be played by Mark Letheren, Ray Shell, Nicolas Colicos and Mark McKerracher, along with Sean Chapman, David Page and Oliver Le Sueur. Director Thea Sharrock, who directed Tom Hiddleston in Henry V on BBC TV, will oversee rehearsals next month for producers Michael Harrison and David Ian.
The show will be packed with numbers associated with Houston including I Will Always Love You. Performances start November 6 at the Adelphi Theatre.
...Tom Bennett, Florence Hall and Marc Pickering, who will lead Kieran Lynn's play Incident At The Border from the Finborough Theatre, where it's running until Tuesday, into the Trafalgar Studio 2 from August 20 through September 15.
Lynn's play looks at what happens when a country's border is re-drawn . . . right through the middle of a park bench where two lovers are sitting.
It's directed by Bruce Guthrie, one of Sam Mendes's legion of former associate directors making their mark on the stage.
...Paul Reid, Rory Keenan, Valerie Lilley and James Hayes, all superb in Lyndsey Turner's heartfelt production of Brian Friel's powerful play Philadelphia, Here I Come!, on now at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre.
I recall seeing Friel's wistful tale, set in an Ireland where fathers and sons can never say what's on their mind or in their heart, before I'd experienced fatherhood.
It spoke to me in a completely different way this week, now that I'm the father of a hip-hopping lad (all 6ft 8in of him) myself.
At the end of the Donmar run, Keenan will head to the National Theatre, where he'll appear in Damned By Despair, which begins previews at the Olivier from October 2.
The show will also feature the award-winning Bertie Carvel.
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text: Peter Clothier 2015-07-05T01:01:06-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=peter-clothier Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Peter Clothier Good old fashioned elbow grease. How to Change Your Mind tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.7103240 2015-04-20T17:01:37-04:00 2015-06-20T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ You'll note that Carm seems a jovial enough fellow, Miles a bit of a curmudgeon; Carm a free spirit, Miles clearly academic. Which seems to be how they work, not so much in collaboration as in friendly (?) contention with each other. They make their appearance at art openings and receptions -- these are sometimes called "performances" -- but, despite promises for public debate, never both at the same time. Carm seems the more active and creative of the pair, Miles more the critic. Carm specializes in the design and creation of covers for found books, which are the objects on display on the walls at Future Studio, the offbeat gallery in Highland Park where Stuart Rapeport and Amy Inouye hold court with a pair of rather oddly assorted dogs and a plethora of also oddly assorted collectibles. (Disclosure: Amy, a book designer by craft, designed my own two most recent books.) Their current show is "Thirty-Nine Books, Part II." Was there a Part I? I don't know. It's possible. Is there a sly reference in the title to John Buchan's "Thirty-Nine Steps"? I don't know, but given the bibliophile bent of Goode/Forthwrighte, that too is possible. For Goode, books are clearly a source of creative joy. He plays with the relationship between the content of old volumes -- picked up, I can only imagine, in some esoteric bookstore -- and the covers he creates. Of particular appeal to The Buddha Diaries, for example, is "Buddhabux: The Currency of Spiritual Wealth" -- a spoof not only on the spread of popular "spiritual" fads but also on the power of money in today's political and social culture. The front cover offers the display of two elaborately-designed Buddhabux banknotes, while the back cover blurb (as is the case with all Goode's covers), is an elegantly-written satirical passage about the relationship between said spirituality and cold hard cash. And... "How To Change Your Mind" is a spoof on pop psychology, specifically the Gestalt variety that blossomed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "The Seven Lost Muses" lists the inspirational (but hitherto neglected) Inne-Briana, Errora, Mortislina and others... Philosophical and psychological studies blend the serious with the hilariously absurd. Fiction blends cheerfully with fact, and actual "literature" with pure invention -- and we never know quite where we stand between the two. The ground shifts constantly. And Miles is sure to poke his nose in here and there with a wry, acerbic comment on Carm's work, or a book of his own ("The Third Person, In the Shadow Of..." -- presumably Carm Goode). As always, satire has a serious purpose. We are asked to consider the injustices of our society, the absurdity of a good deal of popular belief, the pretensions of science and religion. What's astonishing is the encyclopedic nature of Goode's reach. His "Official Catalogue of The Aperion (look it up!) Bibilotheque" is a "Library of Actual, Theoretical, and Partial Books (...) devoted to exploring the prior conditions for understanding The Human Condition." It's the product of a rich and infinitely curious imagination, as is the collection of samples offered on the Future Studio shelves. Go see for yourself. You might even change your mind. though I'm not sure about what.]]> Record of Miraculous Events... Book Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.7093480 2015-04-18T17:46:11-04:00 2015-06-18T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: the Nihon ryoiki, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press. Writes Haruo Shirane in his "Introduction" to Burton Watson's translation of this Record of Miraculous Events..., it was "compiled in the early Heian period (794-1192) and is "Japan's first anecdotal (setsuwa) literature." It therefore occupies an important and influential place in Japanese literary history--and, since these are Buddhist stories, intended to be instructive of the dharma, in the history of Buddhism as it came to be practiced in Japan in later centuries. As such, its place in the canon of Japanese literary and religious studies is assured. That said, let's look at it from the point of view of the lay reader--one who is not principally a student of either of those areas of scholarship. In this light, my first observation is that this is not a book to be read from cover to cover. Its many parables--teaching stories--risk losing their charm and become repetitive if you read too many of them in succession. They were passed on in an oral tradition, and eventually written down (by the monk, Kyokai) for the edification of people at a time, and in a culture, very different from our own. Much of their charm, to the contemporary reader, lies precisely in their evocation of so foreign and formal a cultural environment. They read, in a sense, like fairy tales. To read of gods and devils, of magical powers and the casting of spells is for us a very different experience than for those for whom the stories were intended. We read them without fear and trembling, but rather for their literary charm, for their metaphorical delights, their seductive quaintness, and no longer to be instructed in the Buddhist values they embody. The lesson of these tales is a simple and repeated one: it is the law of karma. No good deed goes unrewarded, no bad deed unpunished. The good deeds most frequently include filial duty and acts of kindness, as well as the more conventional recitation or copying of the sutras, fasting, and sacrifice; the bad ones, acts of violence and cruelty, disrespect for parents, adultery, theft and murder. Visions of paradise alternate with visions of hell--the familiar fires, for the most part, and the burning of the flesh. Souls, upon death, transmigrate into new and different life forms--animals, plants, and existence in different social status. Some for the better, others... not so much. Class hierarchy is strictly observed, and the rehearsal of heritage and family associations an important part of each story. For the lay reader, then, these stories amuse, enchant, sometimes delight, but eventually, even in their drama, there is a sameness to them. The book is a wonderful addition to the bedside table, to be picked up from time to time to indulge in the pleasure of a couple of stories, picked at random, to be transported into a magical world far from our own, but a world that operates according to its own laws, its own social mores, its own logic. It also reminds us, importantly, to renew our awareness of the way that karma operates in our own lives and our contemporary world, though perhaps generally with less dramatic distinctions between good and evil than we find here. The simple lesson that what we prefer, these days, to call "skillful" actions lead to results that bring greater happiness into our lives, and that unskillful ones invariably land us in trouble, is a truth that bears repeating.]]> Correction: Mass Murder tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.7019928 2015-04-07T15:29:33-04:00 2015-06-07T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Erik Larson's Dead Wake, I was guilty of an error that leaves me feeling foolish and abashed. I wrote it a few pages before reaching the end of the book, confident in my knowledge of European history. As I discovered in reading to the end of this fine book, that "knowledge" was faulty: I made the mistake that many make, believing that the sinking of the Lusitania led directly to America's entry into World War I... Well, no. As Larson makes clear, there were another two years of hesitation and denial on the part of both America and its President Woodrow Wilson before joining the allied effort in 1917. It took more torpedoes from German U-boats, the sinking of more American vessels and the loss of more American lives. The incident that finally broke America's resolve to remain neutral was the revelation of a ridiculously miscalculated German outreach for an alliance with our neighbor to the south, in exchange for the proposed return of American lands to Mexico after the war was won. That did it. Wilson rallied a now wildly aroused Congress, and America stormed across the Atlantic, as it was to do again in World War II. The interesting but unanswerable question, also broached by Larson, is whether British authorities stood by and allowed the sinking of the Lusitania and the loss of all those lives, in order to assure the awakening of the sleeping giant on the far side of the ocean. The same question persists, of course, in relation to Pearl Harbor... My apologies, anyway, for the mistake. The lesson is never to respond until you've listened carefully to the whole story.]]> Mass Murder tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.7004408 2015-04-04T15:06:50-04:00 2015-06-04T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Dead Wake, Erik Larson's gripping account of the 1915 Lusitania atrocity, in which the Cunard ocean liner, with nearly two thousand passengers and crew aboard, was torpedoed by a German U-Boat. One thousand one hundred and ninety-eight people were killed, virtually all of them civilians and many of them women and children. The Germans were elated; until the incident brought America, finally, into the war. Larson's account is at first meticulous, and then harrowing in its detail. Dead Wake is a compelling read from start to finish, its narrative alternating in point of view between those on the liner, particularly its captain, the crew and captain of the German sub, and the secret office (under a young Winston Churchill) where the British planned the naval strategy that left the great liner completely unprotected in submarine-infested waters--and forbade naval ships from going to the rescue of any torpedoed vessel for fear that German submarines might still be lurking. Many lives might have been saved had a faster rescue ship not been returned to port on the strength of this standing order. In the light of recent events, though, a broader question came to mind: what does it take for a man to look through his periscope and give the order to torpedo a huge civilian passenger vessel, in the sure knowledge that hundreds of innocent lives will be lost? By the same token, what does it take to fly an airliner, deliberately and at high speed, with one hundred fifty passengers and crew, into the rocky face of a mountain, assuring the death of all aboard? And what does it take for a small group of armed men to invade an undefended college campus and methodically shoot to death one hundred and forty-seven students whose only crime was the religion that they practiced? I suppose it must take the suspension of the normal functioning of the human heart, an absence of the compassion that allows us to feel for our fellow beings and respect the life they share with us. For whatever reason, whether by military training, by emotional disorder, by religious fanaticism... These things all serve to dehumanize the men who are driven to commit these atrocities, to disconnect them from the empathy that prevents us from doing unto others that which we would not wish to have done unto ourselves. Aside from its compelling narrative, then, and the universal appeal of a disaster tale, Larson's book invites us to contemplate these questions about war, and the mass murder it has now inevitably become; and about the morality of those who lead us into it, and through it, with necessarily little regard for the individual human lives caught up in it. Horrific events like these should surely teach us how little there is to gain, and how much to lose, in this dreadful theater of death. Update: I wrote this a few pages before reaching the end of the book, confident in my knowledge of European history. As I discovered in reading to the end of this fine book, that "knowledge" was faulty: I made the mistake that many make, believing that the sinking of the Lusitania led directly to America's entry into World War I... Well, no. As Larson makes clear, there were another two years of hesitation and denial on the part of both America and its President Woodrow Wilson before joining the allied effort in 1917. It took more torpedoes from German U-boats, the sinking of more American vessels and the loss of more American lives. The incident that finally broke America's resolve to remain neutral was the revelation of a ridiculously miscalculated German outreach for an alliance with our neighbor to the south, in exchange for the proposed return of American lands to Mexico after the war was won. That did it. Wilson rallied a now wildly aroused Congress, and America stormed across the Atlantic, as it was to do again in World War II. The interesting but unanswerable question, also broached by Larson, is whether British authorities stood by and allowed the sinking of the Lusitania and the loss of all those lives, in order to assure the awakening of the sleeping giant on the far side of the ocean. The same question persists, of course, in relation to Pearl Harbor... My apologies, anyway, for the mistake. The lesson is never to respond until you've listened carefully to the whole story.]]> 'The Voices' by Michael Dennis Browne: An Appreciation tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6949140 2015-03-26T00:39:54-04:00 2015-05-25T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ So I've been wandering -- with all the pleasures of the wanderer, and none of that awful sense of obligation to read from beginning to end -- in his fine book of poems, The Voices. I have talked with him in the past about our mutual love of short poems. I find them quite lovely, especially when they are as well done as Browne's, because they are so delightfully precise; and because the aging, wandering mind can actually grasp them in a breath. There are many of them here, and they are beautifully "sufficient unto themselves." I love, too, his title, The Voices; it rings true. I hear many voices as I wander through these pages, and all of them distinctively the poet's. He has many. Some of them are raised in anger or in celebration, some are no more than whispers. Through them, though, I also hear echoes of the voices that he hears, and listens to; those of his family, of friends he loves, the voices of the choirs that sing the many liturgical songs he has written for musical performance, the voices of Shoah survivors, the many voices of the dead. Amazing, how he manages to give these latter ghostly, resonating voice. I also hear -- because I am the reader; well, the wanderer -- certain voices that are familiar to me. In particular, poignantly, I hear the voice of my father, in poems that have clear Christian intonations; I hear his intense, personal, sometimes difficult struggle with God, along with Browne's; and of course my own, the struggle of both the believer and the non-believer that I am. In which context, I am particularly moved by the sequence "Seven Last Voices," reflections on the seven last words from the Cross. They take me back to those three-hour services on Good Friday, with my father's church stripped of all decoration and trappings of the usual ("high church") pomp, with my father in the pulpit or at the lectern reading, ceremoniously and with reverence, those same words to the congregation. For some reason -- I must certainly explore this further -- I am especially moved in this sequence by that great, agonized cry: Eli, Eli, lamma sabachtani, (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?) though as I recall, in my father's voice, the name of God was Eloi, Eloi... So, there's a great resonance for me in these words. Is it perhaps my own sense of abandonment? By God? By father? In any event, the words resound at a deep level of consciousness. "Why, then," Browne writes, "this heartlessness?" Yes! So hard to get past the notion of an all-powerful, all-loving, all-merciful God who "allows" such disasters as the tsunami (the subject of this poem) to happen. And wars. And hunger and poverty. And heartless political systems. And, in the next poem, thirst: "Cracked the lips of the children; the lips of the mothers, the lips of the fathers." It's this sense of compassion that the poet projects so well -- his own compassion for the suffering of others, yes, but also the compassion he elicits compellingly in our response. I'll continue to wander amongst The Voices. As with all good books of poems, there will always be many places to visit, some of them quite dense and difficult thickets, others -- suddenly, surprisingly -- quite transparent and clear. I like when I reach those clearings, places I recognize, where I can feel for a moment totally at peace. At home. And say simply, yes, in recognition of the fact. I trust that other readers will manage, for one reason or another, to find their way into this book and wander there. May they be many! Our species has much yet to learn about compassion, and this is one place where they will be able to hear its many "voices."]]> Brian Ransom: Art Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6834518 2015-03-09T17:42:21-04:00 2015-05-09T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Ceramics, of course, are elemental by nature: the act of their creation combines earth, air, water and fire. They require the action of the human hand, whose touch is evident both on their surface and within. At their simplest level they are vessels, as we are, fundamentally, ourselves, with resonant spaces contained within their walls. Their art and technology both are ancient, an essential to the evolution of our species, a profoundly necessary accompaniment to our human history. All of which is relevant to Ransom, whose research has taken him to Asia and Europe as well as to the pre-Columbian Americas, and whose current series is inspired by the jarros silvantes, the whistling jars that were created and used by ancient cultures on this continent. Ransom, Brian, Snake Women, 2014 15" x 10" x 6", soda vapor fired stoneware (all images courtesy of Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles) The works in Ransom's current series are composed of a pair, sometimes a triad of vessels, elegantly formed to echo -- though without duplicating -- each other's shape, and conjoined at the base by a hollow passage between them. They are designed to hold water so that, when lifted and tilted, the expulsion of air from one chamber to the next creates the "whistle" -- hardly a whistle, but a deeply resonant tone that speaks to us in a voice that seems to emanate from some ancient spirit contained within. Each work is embellished around the top with tiny, naked figures engaged in playful, explicitly erotic acts -- the most primitive, essential and instinctual of all human activities. The female figures, "muses" as the artist calls them, are represented in natural human form... Detaill, Spurge, 2014 15" x 9" x 5", soda vapor fired stoneware The males, for the most part unabashedly priapic... Detail, Serenade, 2015 30" x 10" diam, soda vapor fired stoneware ... are represented with a row of horns that reach from the back of the head to the base of the spine, giving them an alien, slightly satanic appearance. Ransom, Brian, Pandora's Box, 2015 22" x 11" x 6", soda vapor fired stoneware What these figures add is not only a contemporaneity, but also an element of sheer, exuberant joy to the otherwise profound and resonant experience of Ransom's creations, whose glazes are as earthy as the acts in which the figures are engaged, and indeed as the medium in which they are created. It should be noted that this current series of musical vessels joins an existing veritable orchestra of ceramic instruments made earlier by Ransom -- strings, horns, percussions -- with which the artist creates hauntingly strange and beautiful musical compositions that evoke the primeval landscape of early human life. (I heard only a part of one such composition at the gallery; other samples can be heard online at the artist's website). The experience, as I said before, both visual and aural, is utterly enchanting. And not to be missed.]]> No Bird? A Film Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6804226 2015-03-04T18:57:49-05:00 2015-05-04T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Whiplash, jazz teacher Terrence Fletcher nurses a core belief in the myth that it was only after escaping decapitation by a cymbal thrown in anger at his head that Charlie Parker became the Bird. That it was out of this ultimate threat to his very life that the phoenix who was to become the jazz great was born. No cymbal, no Bird. Hence, for Terrence, the sadistic need to inflict emotional humiliation and physical suffering on the young man, Andrew, an aspiring drummer, who becomes his student and the target of his deepest inner reserves of wrath. Whether or not you subscribe to the essentially Romantic belief that greatness comes from suffering, Whiplash is a compelling teacher/student story and an intense study of the discipline and training that it takes to become a top-ranked musician. At its heart is the question: do you have to give up literally everything else in life in order to achieve greatness as an artist? It's what Andrew has been led to believe; he acts out increasingly as an arrogant and pompously self-important jerk, much in need of the lessons in humility that his teacher is eager to hand out. His own ultimate humiliation comes when he is invited to perform in front of the most important audience of his life, only to find himself seated at his drum kit without script or score and with no prior knowledge of the piece he's being required to play. Forced to improvise, he fails; but out of failure is born a renewed determination to succeed -- leading to the "Bird" performance of his lifetime. We learn little of the source of Fletcher's sadism. We see him mostly angry, impossibly demanding, insatiable. He yells at his students, verbally assails and insults them, crushes their ambitions, leaves them trembling and in some cases utterly destroyed in his wake. We learn that his ambition is to force them to transcend their self-limitations, to go beyond what they believe to be possible and to fly eventually like the Bird who is his hero and his mentor. But we are also led to believe that he is not, himself, the Bird he would have wished to be. When we see him play, at last, in a downtown New York jazz club, he seems to be a competent but not inspired pianist. He excels only as the conductor of other musicians -- a skill he scorns as the mere ability to wave his arms about and waggle his fingers at the band. In this way, we come to suspect that Terrence's perverted drive is to live his lost personal ambitions through his students -- and none of them quite live up to his exacting standards of perfection. The roots of his motivation remain unexplored, but his refusal to face up to some painful inner truths about himself is revealed in the lie he tells his band in the one scene where he allows himself to betray some emotion other than rage: that his star student -- a horn player who went on to brilliant success -- had been killed in a car accident. Only later do we learn that in fact the student died by his own hand, hanging himself in a desperate act of surrender and despair. It's a tragedy for which Terrence is unwilling to contemplate responsibility, though his reluctantly shed tears suggest inner acknowledgment. I was captivated by this movie, even though I felt that there was a certain dishonesty in its message. The final, tacit, eye-to-eye acknowledgment of mutual forgiveness and respect between student and teacher seemed to suggest a confirmation that it had all been worthwhile, all the pain and suffering, the humiliation and rejection; that this was the true path to an artist's education, as though it were rooted in aesthetic necessity rather than in the twisted emotional history of this particular teacher -- a history we were never privileged to learn. Still, with outstanding performances and spot-on camera work and direction, I found this to be a film of unusual quality and depth.]]> Jim Morphesis 'Wounds of Existence': Art Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6747840 2015-02-24T18:37:29-05:00 2015-04-26T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ "Jim Morphesis: Wounds of Existence" at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. In part, it's the sheer, intense, sometimes massively over-the-top materiality of many of these "paintings," with their surfaces of nailed broken planks that might have been rescued from a demolition site, or the ooze of concrete and magna (acrylic resin paint), the sparkle and gold and glitter. In part, it's the purposefully broken quality of composition, line and texture. In part the physically explicit passion for the fleshy human body, both male and female... Female Torso with Green Doors, 1989 Oil, acrylic, gouache, charcoal, and collage on wood panel with wooden doors, 71 x 83 inches Collection Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; Gift of John and Phyllis Kleinberg ... in part the obsession with entropy and death; in part the emotional energy that reaches out from the surface of these artworks and grabs the viewer with its peculiar intensity. Morphesis has been exploring such things for a good number of years now, and it's good to see that dedication rewarded with a solo museum exhibition. (My only wish is that it could have been a more extensive one than this...) Even at a time when it ran counter to the mainstream, his art was unafraid to take up the challenge of those issues that confront us simply at the level of our existence as mortal human beings: such things as pain and vulnerability, love and sex, the metaphysical struggle between belief and disbelief, religion and existential doubt; and, eventually, between the light side of our nature and the dark. If we can bring ourselves to gaze with sufficient attention into its disquieting depths (and this is sometimes, truthfully, no easy task) his work is powerful enough to overcome any reserve we might bring to it. The artist's process requires him to look fearlessly within; it invites us to look with equal fearlessness into our own inner lives. Emotional intensity aside, Morphesis is an artist who pays serious attention to the work of those who preceded him, and who grounds himself firmly in the authority of tradition. In the series of crucifixion paintings in which he addresses his childhood associations with the Greek Orthodox church, for example, he evokes the images of Matthias Grünewald and Velasquez... Jim Morphesis, No Sanctuary, 1981. Oil, acrylic, wood, nails, wire, tape, and gold leaf on wood panel, 26 1/2 x 29 inches, Collection of Ray Mnich. The raw impasto of his wounded, sometimes tortured naked human figures recalls the disturbing paintings of Chaim Soutine. He mines the deep well of archetypal images from the history of art and poetry--the rose, the skull... Skull and Red Door, 1987, oil, magna, enamel, charcoal, paper, wood, and gold leaf on wood panel with wooden door 83 x 76 1/4 inches Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Gift of Jacob and Ruth Bloom ... and of motifs and themes--memento mori, the pietà... Jim Morphesis, Destiny, 1982. Oil, magna, alkyd resin, and wood on wood ... that have for centuries resonated in the human consciousness, creating a powerful subtext of cultural reference that enriches these paintings with echoes from the past. Similarly, the written words and texts that lie half-buried in their surfaces bear witness to the artist's restless inquiry into the ageless philosophical questions they address. The seriousness and profundity of this inquiry is what sets Morphesis's work apart from that of many of his contemporaries. In a culture that often seems content to skirt the surface of those things that affect our inner lives, I find his work to be not only emotionally provocative and intellectually engaging, but also remarkably courageous. panel, 68 x 64 inches. Collection of Laifun Chung and Ted Kotcheff]]> Leave Them to It: Some Geopolitical Reflections tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6636260 2015-02-07T11:43:40-05:00 2015-04-09T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ I'm no military expert, but it seems clear that the only military way to defeat the worst of the aggressors in various parts of the Middle East is by dint of that increasingly irritating phrase, "boots on the ground." There is no shortage of nitwits who seem to think that we ought to bomb the daylights out of the terrorists/rebels/opposition forces everywhere they pop up, destroying them before they can do their damage and spread their poison. Could action from the air have preempted what has turned into a catastrophic civil war in Syria? Whom should we have bombed? Do we know the good guys? And what, in that general region, constitutes a good guy anyway? Even our good friend Israel, let's face it, acts in ways that simply provoke and promulgate more violence. It seems simple-minded to say this, but... it's complicated. And yet, to walk away from it all does not seem to me an act of wisdom, nor the better part of valor. And I'm not one to believe that it's exclusively about the oil. The broader reality is that the social and political turbulence in the Middle East affects not merely the region, but the globe. We are long past the time when regional problems could be contained within the region. Borders are porous--not only to ill-intentioned individuals, but to vast armies of refugees and shifting populations. The ease and speed of physical movement around the world, along with the ability of a single individual or small cell to create chaos, makes a mockery of isolationism. And masses of refugees, no matter how much to be held in our compassion, will readily destabilize those areas where they seek refuge. In search of better opportunity, a more secure existence, and simple human dignity, whole populations of non-refugee communities are on the move. If Americans fret about their immigration "problem," they should take a look at Europe. There's no nice, humanitarian solution to all this. There's not even a viable nasty one. With people and peoples in constant motion around the globe, containment is a pipe-dream. The seemingly attractive option to "leave them to it" is, in the real world, no option at all. And we have not even begun to stir into the mix the added complication of 21st century communications, the lightning speed of the Internet and its impact on the rushing current of international events. We are not just implicated. Willing or not, we are involved. We are engaged in situations from which we would clearly rather distance ourselves, if we were able. Our "power" -- our military might, our economic weight, our global influence -- allows us no escape from the responsibilities it incurs, simply by reason of being power. That is its nature. It is engaged. It is a necessary and inescapable part of the engine of a world in motion. Given all of this, I think Obama is doing well to maintain his precarious balance. The caution for which he is much scorned by those on the right is exactly what it needed. He's a skillful, agile and attentive participant in the continuing and often unpredictable action. We are, unfortunately, in a situation in which steady observation and sober consideration is needed; in which it is wise to be long on patience and slow to action. We have already proved -- surely to ourselves as much as to the world at large -- that we are unable to control the turbulence. Nor are we able to ignore it. Willy-nilly, we're along for the ride, and our vaunted power, unless we wield it with circumspection, compassion and control, is likely to be more of a hindrance than an asset. The feeling of impotence in the face of the appalling brutality that is casually practiced by the so-called Islamic State is galling. We need to ask ourselves: what does power look like, in such a circumstance. Does it look like aggression? Does it look like retreat? Neither one, I'm tempted to think. Power in this circumstance has to reside in wisdom, restraint, resilience and patience. And the sacrifice, on America's part, of some unhelpful national ego.]]> Night Will Fall: Film Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2015:/theblog//3.6581192 2015-01-30T14:37:05-05:00 2015-04-01T05:59:01-04:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Night Will Fall, aired last week on HBO. It's a documentary about a documentary. The original, produced by Sidney Bernstein for the British Psychological Warfare Division in 1945, had the working title, German Concentration Camps Factual Survey -- a purposefully non-dramatic title. It was never finished or released, for what might seem to be largely cynical political reasons. It was based on a compilation of footage shot by mostly British and American soldiers present at the liberation of several of the Nazi death camps. It was made because military officials were convinced that the world would not be able to believe what happened in these places unless they saw it with their own eyes -- and in prophetic anticipation of later deniers. It was the genius of Alfred Hitchcock, who was brought in to assist in the direction, that called for the kind of long, unbroken panning shots -- some with recognizable officials and trusted figures -- that would be impossible to accuse of exaggeration or fakery. Much of the footage is familiar: the haggard faces and the skeletal bodies of survivors, the piles of naked bodies stacked up like cord wood, the long trenches filled with the remains of the thousands who died, the camp guards, male and female, and the SS officers and men forced to engage in the disposal of the corpses of their mass murder victims, the German civilians from neighboring towns lined up by Allied forces and required to witness what had been perpetrated in their name. We have seen these images, and each time we see them we are repulsed by the barbarity of the Nazis -- and are called upon to reflect upon that sad but unavoidable old phrase, "man's inhumanity to man." What is new -- and, to me, surprising -- in the original footage are the follow-up scenes, taken two or three weeks later, which show the remarkable resilience of human beings who had lived through hell, had suffered from rampaging typhus and other camp illnesses and had nearly starved to death. The scenes show women sorting through clothes and trying them on ("as women like to do" the commentary noted! Not something any documentarian would dare to say today!) They show survivor couples strolling down tree-lined country roads with every appearance of good health and cheer. The reality, of course, went far deeper than this, after so terrible a trauma. But still, it was a refreshing addition to the visual record. Liberation, which to so many had become an impossible mirage, had in fact arrived. Andre Singer's Night Will Fall does not attempt a reconstruction of the original film, but it does include an extensive amount of the footage -- mostly in black and white but some, from American photographers, in the newly available medium of color. Singer uses the perspective of a number now-aging survivors, their liberators and responsible officials of the time to describe the experience of that moment in history at first hand; to explain both the purpose of the original film and the reasons for its non-release (some believed at the time that it would have a negative impact on the "de-Nazification" process then in hand); and to detail its subsequent history, most notably its effective use in the war crimes trials at Nuremberg. Singer's documentary is a heart- and gut-wrenching reminder of that thing that we must "never forget." It is timely, coming at a moment in history where we will soon no longer have either the last of the survivors or their rescuers to bear witness, and will need to rely more heavily on documents such as this. It is thorough and clear in its purpose to carry out the intention of the original, to create the kind of record that would withstand every attempt to deny or minimize this most appalling and sickening event in human history. Because of its historical, and sometimes perversely political perspective, it should be a part of every 20th century history class. There is one proviso -- one I confess would not have occurred to me until I read this excellent review by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin, "Auschwitz Was About the Jews" and realized there was justice to his complaint: that the words Jew and Jewish were almost entirely absent from the film and that, as his title suggests, Auschwitz was about the Jews. There were other victims, who should not be forgotten. There were gays and communists, there were gypsies and (as one commenter points out in the lively and fascinating discussion that follows the Rabbi's review) Jehovah's Witnesses. There were people of all faiths who dared to oppose the Nazi regime. But to make such a film with no mention of the Jews as the primary targets of Nazi hatred and brutality is to do a disservice to the truth. That said, this is an important, compelling, often enraging and immensely saddening documentary. Each one of us owes it to himself or herself to know about these things, and there is no better way of knowing than to watch it.]]> ROLAND REISS: Art Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6358294 2014-12-19T21:59:14-05:00 2015-02-18T05:59:01-05:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ To judge by his current exhibition, "Floral Paintings and Miniatures," Reiss has been working hard to extend the boundaries he himself had begun to establish in those early floral paintings. These new, large-scale works are painted with the same meticulous attention to detail and the same exemplary skill. Formally, they create the illusion of symmetry without being exactly symmetrical... Sunflowers After Dark, 2013, oil and acrylic on canvas, 68 x 52 inches (all images courtesy of the artist and Diane Rosenstein) Formally, too, they work as exhaustive exercises in the delicate art of color composition. Lilies, sunflowers, birds-of-paradise, roses, these floral images float against flat, monochrome backgrounds enhanced with cut-outs and stencils that contrast their natural beauty, with quiet irony, with cultural icons of the contemporary world: the silhouettes of cityscapes, for example, or images that seem to reference the familiar excesses of the art market. In a nod to Manet -- and perhaps, to this viewer, to the meditative serenity of Buddhist practice -- one quartet of paintings depicts the lovely form of lotus blossoms and the outline of lily pads, seen directly from above; and beneath, or perhaps more accurately behind them, as though in the water of a pond, lurk the barely discernable forms of variegated koi fish. Lilies in Blue, 2014, oil and acrylic on canvas, 44 x 44 inches As I perused the surface of these paintings, I was struck quite unexpectedly by their aesthetic continuity with the other components of this exhibition: a handful of the exquisitely constructed miniature dioramas that brought the artist considerable renown some decades earlier. F/X: In Search of Truth, 1990, mixed media, 14 x 24 x 24 inches Wrought with the same passionate dedication to detail and the same exacting craftsmanship, these three-dimensional mini-dramas required (and continue to require, in the examples included here) the same kind of exploratory looking: the two-dimensional surface of the paintings offers the same kind of visual complexity and invites the same kind of pleasurable detective work as the dioramas. The viewer's eye and mind are drawn into an act of (act-ive) contemplation, moving through surfaces and between objects in a constant voyage of discovery. When I used, above, the word "delight," I intended it as an accurate description of the actual physical sensation that this artist's work arouses. As viewers, we feel constantly invited in, in a way that makes the work, beyond its intellectual engagement, a rare experience of sheer, genuine pleasure. If the paintings glow with their own peculiar serenity, we find ourselves irresistibly glowing with them. In today's troubled world, such a gift is not to be taken lightly.]]> Ashes Rain Down: A Book Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6272646 2014-12-04T19:07:58-05:00 2015-02-03T05:59:02-05:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Sound familiar? This is the world of William Luvaas's Ashes Rain Down, a collection of 10 interconnected stories that was published in 2013 and should, by rights, have been received with far greater acclaim. I suspect it might be in danger of slipping below the literary horizon line, which would be a shame and an injustice. It should be read. Unhappily, it is a totally believable world. Happily, for us, as readers, it is part tragedy -- but also part tell-all reality show and part sheer, exuberant, uninhibited farce. Luvaas peoples his world with a ragtag bunch of survivors, some hold-overs from the hippie days of the 1960s, some Jesus freaks and biker gangs, some redneck hillbillies, along with a handful of wandering tribes of ne'er-do-wells and marauders. Psycho- and sociopaths, bipolar paranoids and schizophrenics all, they squabble over the meager living to be scratched out amid the intolerable heat and drought that alternate with the disastrous wind-, dust- and rainstorms that result from a rapidly deteriorating natural environment. Lacking much in the way of drugs or alcohol -- let alone food -- their chief distraction is, well, fornication. And they do a lot of that, in sweating desperation. Reading these stories, we begin to sort out individuals who pop in and out of the events in no particular sequence. Luvaas proves a master of colloquial voices, each one of them different and distinguishable, and we enjoy the constantly shifting tone of the narrative as much as the frequently outlandish events. In a world gone so very much awry, what remains is the oddly surviving nobility of which our species is capable, even in desperate times. This is a world in which humanity is in extremis, clinging on to survival by its ragged fingernails. We are left with a remnant of hope -- but with the knowledge that we are already too far along this path to a bleak, perhaps inevitable future. We are surrounded by constant and ubiquitous evidence of a changing global climate. We are entangled in seemingly endless wars abroad, and at home our social fabric shows increasing signs of wear and tear. Our infrastructure is on the verge of collapse. We dispense with common civility in favor of a crass me-firstism that threatens to destroy all sense of mutual responsibility and care for the well-being of our fellow humans. And we are too easily distracted by popular culture, sensationalism, and the melee of social media from powerfully thoughtful voices like William Luvaas', whose wildly creative cautionary tale is so relevant, so urgent, and so timely, and whose literary spunk and sparkle should assure it a place on everyone's bestseller list.]]> Mark Strand tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6258142 2014-12-02T18:38:34-05:00 2015-02-01T05:59:01-05:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ This is not an obituary. Others will do a better job of evaluating this Poet Laureate's life and work. His contribution and his place in American literature is assured. For me, it is the memory of a simple act of generous friendship that endures. The year was 1963, and I was living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I had been drawn across the Atlantic for the first time by a job at a grammar school, teaching French and German, and Mark's mother was a colleague on the staff. I was never happy as a teacher. It's a profession I admire greatly, but for me it was not a good fit. I have known since the age of 12 that I wanted to be a writer, a poet, and teaching was no more than a way of earning a living. Mark came to spend that summer in Nova Scotia. His sister and brother-in-law were there too. Theatrical folk from Toronto, they opened the Neptune Theater in Halifax, bringing culture to the provinces, and hired me, during my summer break from teaching, as their house manager. A new world began to open up. And knowing Mark to be something of a poet -- his first book, Sleeping With One Eye Open, was published the following year -- I ventured to ask him to look at a handful of my poems. Kindly, he read them. And more kindly still, suggested I'd do well in the Poetry Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he had recently graduated and was teaching at the time. He would help me. I applied. With his support, I was welcomed with a grant and a teaching assistantship, and moved to Iowa the following year. Lived there for four years, and completed a doctorate in Comparative Literature before moving to Southern California to teach in academia. I spent some time with Mark at Iowa, but he was already by then in a different league--one of the teachers at the workshop, and on the way to becoming the justly celebrated poet he became in later life. I was in awe of him. The man projected a self-confidence I had never felt. His quiet, even gentle exterior belied, I knew, an inner strength that I could only aspire to. His every move expressed a confidence and self-assurance I wished I shared. It would be some time before I could begin to find my own path, and it would prove quite different from his. We met once more in New York, years later. I'm no longer sure quite how it happened, but, generous as ever, he invited me warmly to visit him in his apartment. By this time, I had moved on from writing poetry to writing about art, and what I remember most about that visit was the impressive library of art books he had assembled. The apartment, it seemed to me, was a true poet's lair, a place where inspiration lurked in every corner and on every tabletop. That visit was a short one, and was not to be repeated. But it was pleasure to follow his successes from a distance, and with gratitude for the change his generosity brought into my life. I read of his death with sadness and, despite the fact that we never knew each other well, a very personal sense of loss.]]> 'Rosewater': A Film Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6209012 2014-11-23T20:37:26-05:00 2015-01-23T05:59:01-05:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ Daily Show. I love that your satire holds the feet of politicians to the fire. But your film... well, someone needs to say this: it's not what it's cracked up to be. I think that, because you're "Jon Stewart," those who write about film have not been honest about this movie. Perhaps, like me, they're simply enamored of the work for which you're justly famous and see the film in that light. Perhaps they honestly believe that it's terrific. It's not. It's a well-intentioned effort to throw light on the plight of journalists everywhere whose brave work in "bearing witness" to the abuse of power is rewarded by imprisonment and torture. An important message. But the film's most fatal flaw is that it lacks the fundamental ingredient of any good film: drama. Drama happens through building tension, but nothing builds here. The initial scenes are promising enough, as the protagonist, the journalist Maziar Bahari, falls into the hands of the Iranian political police. And the interrogations begin with an appropriate sense of threat. But from the moment of the first interrogation scene, there's no development, no action, just more words. You don't want the poor guy to suffer more, of course, but there's no delivery on the threat of worse to come. The scenes become repetitive, and predictable, and frankly boring. They go on far too long. By the same token, simply numbering the days of solitary confinement -- inhuman though this treatment is -- does not make them more dramatic. Even the initially effective visual contrast between blinding white cells and black blindfolds remains somehow undeveloped. The eye longs for more interest and variety. Advance publicity for the movie suggested, slyly, an important link between the satirical Daily Show skit with Jason Jones posing as an American spy in interview with Bahari. In fact, very little was made of this intriguing possibility, and the dark, absurdist humor I was somehow expecting was so low key, I might have missed it altogether if I hadn't heard about it in advance. All in all, at the end, Bahari's release came as something of an anticlimax. He did not, as the film's protagonist, seem to have undergone the change we would expect. He has suffered, yes. But what has he learned, other than that torture is evil and torturers humorless and inhuman? How has he grown? So we were left -- I, as a viewer, was left -- with little to have engaged me but the film's message: reporters should be free to bear honest witness to the truth of the abuse of power. An important, even pressing one, but not enough to make a good movie.]]> Men and War: Art Review tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2014:/theblog//3.6123296 2014-11-07T16:40:17-05:00 2015-01-07T05:59:01-05:00 Peter Clothier http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/ The fact that this substantial body of work spans only two years, from 1913 to 1915, is staggering in itself. That they were made in Germany just before and at the start of World War I gives them a special historical significance. That many of them were made in bereavement, as a memorial tribute to the gay artist's gay lover, killed during the first year of action, gives them a particular emotional poignancy and social significance. That they are amazing paintings, as rich in symbolic value as in color, form and texture, makes this an absolute must-see exhibition. What struck me most was the courage and defiance of these paintings. Though set against a sheer, funereal black ground, the color of mourning, their painterly exuberance constitutes a not-so-covert thumb-in-the-eye not only to disparaging social attitudes about gay men and homosexuality, but also to the patriotic triumphalism that led so many European countries blindly into a disastrous and particularly pointless war. The inclusion of a contemporaneous film of public military events, with troops strutting proudly on parade, reminds us of the absurdly reactionary, puffed-up image of chivalrous masculine valor that compares tragically to what we know of the ignominious slaughter in the trenches of that shameful "war to end all wars." Stand back a ways from "Abstraction (Military Symbols)"... ... and you'll perhaps see, as I did, the ironic image of a knight on horseback, armed with lance and sword, surging forward towards the viewer. But it's no diminishment of the courage of the millions of men whose lives were needlessly sacrificed to say that these were no knights in shining armor; they were simple canon fodder. Add in the almost excessive exuberance of color and the emotional intensity in so many of these paintings, and the viewer comes away overwhelmed by the sheer waste and sadness of it all. So with all their evocation of military decorations and other references to Germany military power, Hartley's paintings seem to me to carry a satirical subtext: the outward display of masculinity, the pomp and circumstance, is barely disguised vanity. The howl of pain and outrage is as powerful, but also as restrained and subversive as it is in the poems of Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, and others who experienced the brutal reality of that war. It is of special interest, I think, that this two-year body of work also incorporates the formal patterning and symbology of American Indian artifacts... ... evoking, to my mind, the aggressive wars conducted by the American military in the course of the previous century, and the enforced cultural assimilation that followed. Both these wars, let's face it, were the work of men, politicians and generals, and the cavalrymen and foot soldiers enlisted in their cause. The Hartley show leads into a neighboring gallery, where we find the contemporary sculptor, Sam Durant's proposal for a poignant, if austere national memorial to those who died in the wars against the American Indians... Proposed for installation in the national Mall in the nation's capital, it consists of two long rows of bland, monochrome gray reproductions of otherwise widely scattered 19th century monuments to the dead. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the vast majority of them memorialize the white soldiers who died. The handful of smaller monuments for the Native Americans killed in these actions is clustered separately, between the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool, marking the melancholy distance between victims and aggressors, and the historical prominence of the latter. Dominance, dominion, colonization, these are the deplorable traditions of power established by Western civilization. For an antidote, be sure to visit the galleries at the opposite end of the same floor of the Broad building at LAMCA. Here you'll find a solo exhibition devoted to the work of the Chicago-based African American artist Archibald Motley, another early 20th century painter, and one inspired in part by by the Harlem Renaissance to celebrate all aspects of black culture. Though they, too, have a satirical edge, his paintings are for the most part wild and joyful. He is fascinated by the diversity of shades of black... ... as well as by the teeming social strata within the black community: his life-affirming pictures feature frenetic jazz musicians and dancers... ... card sharps and criminals... ... as well as high society African Americans, ecstatic church worshippers, and the underclass of working stiffs and bums. Motley has fared better than a number of talented African American artists of his generation, many of whom have been marginalized by the great, sweeping tide of (Anglo-American!) mainstream art. It's good to see his work justly celebrated in an exhibition such as this.]]>


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9/10/2012 (2 years ago)
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
This wonderful Cardinal rose to the call and invitation of history. He was faithful to his episcopal office once more. He did not let his detractors distract him from doing what was right. On the closing evening of the Democratic nominating convention he stepped up to that microphone and prayed a prayer that not only was heard in heaven but is still reverberating on earth.
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
9/10/2012 (2 years ago)
Published in U.S.
Keywords: Cardinal Dolan, Democratic Convention, Benediction, Charlotte, pro-Life, Pro0Family, Timothy Dolan, Obama, Romney, Deacon Keith Fournier
CHARLOTTE, NC (Catholic Online) - Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and President of the United States Catholic Bishops Conference, closed the Republican Convention with a prayer of Benediction. The prayer was theologically rich, sincerely devout and verbally beautiful. In the aftermath of the balloon drop and fanfare, this prayer did not receive the attention it deserved in the media.That is why we presented it in full for our readers immediately after it was offered.
His offer to lead the Benediction at the Democrat's Convention surprised some of the faithful. It also brought a massive "discussion" in the blogosphere, some of which was not only uncharitable but reflected, in this writers opinion, a misunderstanding of the role of a Bishop in the public square. After his initial offer was refused, the discussion died down a bit. However, a group of "blog pundits" in the Catholic blogosphere continued to verbally berate the very fact that the Cardinal had even offered to pray.
The refusal then led to another round of verbal fire, this time against the Democratic Party, for rejecting the offer. It certainly did not help their standing in the public eye. So then, the "surprise" happened. The Convention leaders changed their mind. They asked the good Cardinal to come and pray after all.
The prayer at the conclusion of the Democratic convention was beautiful and filled with the fearless sincerity which lies at the core of Cardinal Dolan's leadership of the Church and service to the Nation. Its content raised an interesting quagmire, coming as it did at the end of a party convention which not only promoted but celebrated intrinsic evils such as abortion on demand and the elimination of the special place given to true marriage in America.
In his usual brilliance, it was Catholic Princeton Professor Robert George who raised the obvious question the invitation raised. He did so in an article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal just prior to the evening of the actual Benediction:
"If, as the Obama-Biden campaign alleges, there is a "war on women," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, is its field marshal. If opposition to same-sex marriage is "bigotry," as many on the left insist, then Cardinal Dolan-as the most prominent defender of marriage as the union of husband and wife-is the country's leading bigot.Yet Timothy Dolan will be appearing at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C., to invoke divine blessing on the proceedings. So what's going on? "
This wonderful Cardinal rose to the call and invitation of history. He was faithful to his episcopal office once more. He did not let his detractors distract him from doing what was right. On the closing evening of the Democratic nominating convention he stepped up to that microphone and prayed a prayer that not only was heard by in heaven but is still reverberating on earth. There are several matters which need to be considered now that the prayer has been offered -and its effects are still being demonstrated.
Cardinal Dolans Prayer at the Democratic Convention
With a "firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence," let us close this convention by praying for this land that we so cherish and love:
Let us Pray.
Almighty God, father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealed to us so powerfully in your Son, Jesus Christ, we thank you for showering your blessings upon this our beloved nation. Bless all here present, and all across this great land, who work hard for the day when a greater portion of your justice, and a more ample measure of your care for the poor and suffering, may prevail in these United States. Help us to see that a society's greatness is found above all in the respect it shows for the weakest and neediest among us.
We beseech you, almighty God to shed your grace on this noble experiment in ordered liberty, which began with the confident assertion of inalienable rights bestowed upon us by you: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thus do we praise you for the gift of life. Grant us the courage to defend it, life, without which no other rights are secure. We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected. Strengthen our sick and our elders waiting to see your holy face at life's end, that they may be accompanied by true compassion and cherished with the dignity due those who are infirm and fragile.
We praise and thank you for the gift of liberty. May this land of the free never lack those brave enough to defend our basic freedoms. Renew in all our people a profound respect for religious liberty: the first, most cherished freedom bequeathed upon us at our Founding. May our liberty be in harmony with truth; freedom ordered in goodness and justice. Help us live our freedom in faith, hope, and love. Make us ever-grateful for those who, for over two centuries, have given their lives in freedom's defense; we commend their noble souls to your eternal care, as even now we beg the protection of your mighty arm upon our men and women in uniform.
We praise and thank you for granting us the life and the liberty by which we can pursue happiness. Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature's God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community. May we welcome those who yearn to breathe free and to pursue happiness in this land of freedom, adding their gifts to those whose families have lived here for centuries.
We praise and thank you for the American genius of government of the people, by the people and for the people. Oh God of wisdom, justice, and might, we ask your guidance for those who govern us: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Congress, the Supreme Court, and all those, including Governor Mitt Romney and Congressman Paul Ryan, who seek to serve the common good by seeking public office. Make them all worthy to serve you by serving our country. Help them remember that the only just government is the government that serves its citizens rather than itself. With your grace, may all Americans choose wisely as we consider the future course of public policy.
And finally Lord, we beseech your benediction on all of us who depart from here this evening, and on all those, in every land, who yearn to conduct their lives in freedom and justice. We beg you to remember, as we pledge to remember, those who are not free; those who suffer for freedom's cause; those who are poor, out of work, needy, sick, or alone; those who are persecuted for their religious convictions, those still ravaged by war.
And most of all, God Almighty, we thank you for the great gift of our beloved country.
For we are indeed "one nation under God," and "in God we trust."
So dear God, bless America. You who live and reign forever and ever.
There are several matters which need to be considered now that the prayer has been offered - and its effects are still being demonstrated. I will end with two. First, we all need to join our continued prayer to the Cardinals prayer. Second, those who were so quick to verbally berate the Cardinal for even accepting the invitation to pray might want to pause and reconsider their own words and actions. Maybe they should write to thank this great Churchmen for demonstrating true Christian leadership.
St. Gerard
St. Barbara
St. Joseph
St. John the Baptist
St. Matthew
St. George
St. Clare
St. Isidore the Farmer
St. Anthony
St. Francis of Assisi
St. Christopher
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Brigid of Ireland
St. Florian
St. Mark
St. Benedict
By Deacon Keith Fournier
The Declaration of Independence was the birth certificate of the United States of America, a Nation often called the American Experiment because of the very fact that it was founded upon principles. The words are still memorized by schoolchildren and can bring a ... continue reading
By Deacon Keith A Fournier
What conclusion, dear brethren, do you come to? Surely it was not by chance that this chosen disciple, was missing in the first place? Or that on his return he heard, that hearing he doubted, that doubting he touched, and that touching he believed? It was by ... continue reading
By Matt Hadro, CNA/EWTN News
As bishops warn of current threats to religious liberty in the United States, Catholics can take heart that such challenges have faced them before, and they have persevered, one Church historian says. Washington D.C. (CNA/EWTN News) - "It's okay to realize that ... continue reading
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
It was bound to happen. After the Supreme Court ruled same-sex unions legal in all 50 states, other proponents of non-traditional arrangements are clamoring for equality under the law. Nathan Collier, along with his wives Victoria and Christine have applied at ... continue reading
By Talia Ramos (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
To kick off the summer break and celebrate Father's day, a family went aboard a cruise that ended with a traumatizing accident. As the cruise started to sail back to the harbor, a group of dolphins started to swim alongside the boat. However, as the passengers started ... continue reading
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly this week to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples. The Episcopal Church has long been on the forefront of equal rights for homosexuals, ever since electing it first openly gay bishop 10 years ago. LOS ANGELES, ... continue reading
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
It appears that an important bit of counter-terrorism may have landed into the wrong hands. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI is installing command centers around the nation to prepare for possible terror attacks for the coming Fourth of July holiday ... continue reading
By Linky C. (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
A total of 10,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan. These troops believe they have been forgotten by the Obama administration, as the US Government shifts its attention to ISIS. MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The US Troops, 10,000 men and women left ... continue reading
By Talia Ramos (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Researchers recently discovered helium leaking from a giant fault in the Earth's crust near Los Angeles, as well as discovering an increase in chance for California to have an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - They did not expect the ... continue reading
By Linky C. (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Three days before the United States' Independence Day, the FBI has already began setting up command centers in all of the 56 field offices across the country prior to the fourth. The U.S. Government is preparing for possible terrorist attacks and terrorist threats that ... continue reading


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Piratemunkee and I had finally gotten the chance to return to our home, Aptos/Santa Cruz. This trip was very special since my dad was inducted into the Aptos High School Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. He finally got kudos for all of his hard work of the last 34 yrs. Our destination was condo on the beach. It was great to be back where I grew up and spent the majority of my life. I only wish we had longer than 4 days.
We were in the pink one that had three stories. My mom wanted a mini family vacation, so my parents rented this little beauty.
The rental property was one of the many that are listed through (shameless plug)
Our daily view consisted of the beach, seagulls, and the occasional seal.
Piratemunkee in a quiet moment
The Cement Ship at Seacliff State Beach, Aptos. I used to work at the Safeway that is down the road. This is where I used to take my lunch break and just walk.
Ever since we've moved, I haven't been able to find a Chinese restaurant that measured up to The Panda Inn, at the Rio Del Mar Shopping Center, Aptos. They are a little pricey but it is very much worth it.
#49 lunch special. Sweet and Sour Chicken with fried rice. Yummy! I was in heaven.
Later that evening we got ready to attend the banquet to induct the Hall of Fame recipients. This was held at the Seascape Golf Course.
Piratemunkee and I
Us with my mom
The links
The inductees
My paparazzi shot of the inductees
My dad, Bobby Salazar, finally being inducted in after years of hard, tireless work.
We also had to visit my high school. I grew up living on campus. Oh the memories.
Aptos High School, home of the Mighty Mariners.
I do not see any schools in SoCal that have this many trees. I miss all the trees.
During our visit, we went to the neighborhood were Piratemunkee and I used to live. Pleasure Point. This is what we moved away from
Since the Munkee and I love horror films, we had to drive by the house that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's movie Psycho. Now it is a retirement villa. Did I forget to mention that the place is haunted and a serial killer once lived there.
The Munkee has been craving fresh raw oysters on the half shell, ever since we entered the area. Next stop the Santa Cruz Wharf.
To be continued...


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OC3D Reviews ›› Cases & Cooling
be quiet Dark Rock TF Top Flow Review
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Let's take a long awaited look at the new Phanteks Enthoo Evolv
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Let's take a look at the Aeneas, the striking new cube case from German company Raijintek
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Phanteks announce two new CPU Coolers.
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MP, Oldham West and Royton
See full list of topics voted on
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Michael Meacher never rebelled against their party in this parliament
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the briefing packs received by John Kerr, Rona Fairhead, Ed Balls and himself at this year's Bilderberg Conference.
Will the Minister give way on that point?
Will the Minister give way?
More of Michael Meacher's recent appearancesRSS feed (?)
Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton
Entered the House of Commons on 18 June 1970 — General election
Also represented Oldham West
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By the time of this publishing the people of the United States will have made their choice as to who will be the President of this great nation.
Regardless of whom is chosen, we who are called by the Name of Christ must remember that God remains in control, and the man who occupies the Oval Office for the next four years is of God's plan begun before the foundations of the Earth were laid.
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, addresses this issue with these words found in Chapter 13, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."
As such we of Christ's Church, over whom the Word of God represents our sole means of guidance, must make certain that we don't allow our political persuasion to corrupt our trust in God.
If you believe, as I do, that God's promise to "work all things together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28) is true, we must then in faithfulness to His Word do what it commands.
First, we must submit to that authority in as much as it does not violate God's Biblical standards. No President, no Congress, has the authority to subvert God's authority.
Secondly, we must respect the office of the Presidency and pray for whomever God places in that office. Over the past four years I have received an almost constant flood of e-mails concerning President Obama, many of them derogatory to his person. This kind of disrespect has no place in the life of anyone dedicated to Christ Jesus.
We may disagree with with a political point of view. However, we do not have any right to cast stones at anyone as to their person.
God has chosen, we must trust Him enough to trust His decisions no matter of our personal political leanings. Do you who profess His Holy Name have confidence to trust Him in all things? Will you spend the next four years demeaning whomever is President, or will you follow Christ's commands to live your lives according to His Word?
I pray that we can show our faith to a lost world by showing our trust in God, and by so doing draw others to Christ and His salvation which is God's greatest desire for all mankind.


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Registration now open for Safety Congress
Buckeye Farm News
The Ohio Safety Congress & Expo will be held March 31 to April 2 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Visit the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation Web site at www.ohiobwc.com for complete information about the event including registration, educational sessions, hotels and more. A policy number is required for registration. Students and federal government employees must register by phone.