"Ladies and Gentlemen... er ... ummm"

Last night I dreamed (and don't blame me for my dreams) that I was about to address a diverse audience. I wasn't nervous at all (hey, it was a dream), but I was anxious about how to address the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen" seemed wrong. What if there were people in the audience who were gay? "L" and "G" are are still "ladies and gentlemen," but what about "B," "T," and "Q" (bisexual, transgender, and questioning or queer)?

So in my dream I tried a more inclusive salutation: "Ladies, Gentlemen, and Honored Others."

I thought myself quite clever. But when I woke up I wondered why we make these distinctions at all. We don't address an audience of "Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and None-of-the-Aboves." Nor an audience of "Whites, Blacks, Browns, and Rainbows."

At the Oscars, they still have categories dividing actors and actresses, even though women who act have been identifying themselves as actors for quite these many years. I doubt they would want to compete for acting honors with men. So rather than nominate equal numbers of male and female actors, regardless of the quality of their work, and rather than force males and females to compete with one another, why not get rid of the competition element and just honor outstanding acting?

So, back to addressing the crowd. I thought of course that's why presidents and other politicians aim for inclusion by starting out, "My Fellow Americans" or what-not. But "fellow" still has maleness attached to it, so it still has some exclusionary properties. "Hey, Everybody" lacks appropriate dignity.

And then there's the problem we'll have in the Post-Singularity future, when we'll have cadres of technologically enhanced individuals clamoring to our speeches. I can't very well address my audience as "My Collegial Humans" without offending the honored cyborgs and transhumans at our meetings.

Last January I had the honor of attending a workshop of young people whose goal was to create a public awareness campaign for schools and other groups to support inclusion. The "inclusion" in the campaign project specifically was about including individuals with special needs, but really, inclusion is more inclusive than that.

The resulting I Am Norm project teaches us that, because we are all different, we are all "normal."



"Different" is not the same as "abnormal," so accepting people with differences normalizes differences. It doesn't make the differences go away, but it eliminates the values that are often subconsciously attached to those differences.

Back to my speech: I do think one of the best welcomes ever is the one the gang at Cheers gave their buddy when he arrived at the bar each night:

"NORM!!"

Right. I don't think I'll address my audiences that way (maybe in a dream). But how about a simple:

"Honored Guests: Welcome!"

A King's Christmas

Back from seeing The King's Singers perform their Joy to the World concert at Strathmore. All I can say is, I'll never listen to schlocky radio "Christmas" music again.

The program was based on their latest Christmas CD, a highlight of which for me was Stille Nacht (Silent Night). The song was preceded by a reading of a letter from a World War I British soldier marveling over the brotherhood of the German and British combatants during a too-brief Christmas Eve cease-fire. When the Singers began singing "Silent Night" in German, I couldn't hold back the tears.

My only complaint was that the final portion of the program featured non-Christmas songs (e.g., a new arrangement of Straighten Up and Fly Right and a cover of Michael Buble's Home). It just seemed weird to me and spoiled the Christmas feeling.

But then they brought it all back with the encore. There's a special tradition in D.C. that the King's Singers always give us New Day as their encore. Well, maybe they do that everywhere, but it feels special in D.C. because of WETA DJ Bill Cerri, who played it every morning as his theme song. After he passed away, the King's Singers paid tribute to him by singing it at their next concert here. The audience was so moved by it, I think we've come to expect it; so far, they have always delivered.

So tonight, as the concert ended and the audience drew the Singers back to the stage for an encore, the lady sitting next to me muttered, "I wish they'd sing New Day." I almost told her "They will" (but as you know, I don't like to make predictions. Heh). Then they did.

What I didn't know was that they had written special new lyrics for the Christmas version of "New Day," emphasizing that the birth of Jesus was the New Day that gave mankind hope. It was perfect for the concert, perfect for the audience.

And I am completely awestruck that these six men can blend their voices so perfectly together, their tenure with the company ranging from 18 years to six months. It must be magic.

love, hosaa
not rockin' around no Christmas trees, thank you very much

The Futurist Playlist

Music can express ideas and feelings both through the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies that evoke passions and through the words that distill complex thought into poetry.

The future has been the subject of awe, fear, hope, cynicism, and inspiration, reflecting our changing relationship with what may be ahead.

So here I humbly submit the Futurist Playlist, a collection of 20 tunes (available for download from Amazon.com), and a few thoughts on why these songs were selected.

View the Futurist Playlist at Amazon.com, Permalink: http://amzn.com/l/RAFLG976G73DS

01 Also Sprach Zarathustra (aka, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Composed by Richard Strauss in 1896, this theme gave the idea of the future a sense of grandeur in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. At the dawn of the space age, it was time for humanity to look back upon its history and ahead to its potential with equal parts of humility and hope.

02 The Times They Are a-Changin’ (written and performed by Bob Dylan)

Bob Dylan’s 1964 release gave voice to the civil rights and war protest movements of the early 1960s, inspiring all who questioned authority and defied the status quo. The driving force for the changes Dylan described was the younger generation, and the song advises the adults not to stand in their way:

Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

03 A Change Is Gonna Come (written and performed by Sam Cooke)

More specifically focused on the changes in race relations, Sam Cooke’s 1963 piece is more personal than Dylan’s.

It's been a long
Long time comin'
But I know a change gonna come
Oh yes it will

But compare Cooke’s mournful optimism with the self-actualizing anger in Curtis Mayfield’s Future Shock.

04 Future Shock (written and performed by Curtis Mayfield)

(Warning, some language may be deemed objectionable by some listeners.) In 1973, an addition to concerns about civil rights and war came from the “future shock” of environmental degradation. Curtis Mayfield urged us not to “dance” but to take active control:

We got to stop all men
From messing up the land
When won't we understand
This is our last and only chance

05 In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus) (written by Rick Evans and performed by Denny Zager and Rick Evans)

Written in 1964 but not released until 1968, this song judges the very long-term prospects for humankind, as technological tampering begins to assert itself in the cultural landscape. “In the year 6565,” they warn:

You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

06 Imagine (written and performed by John Lennon)

Throughout history, culture feels the pulse of trends and countertrends, so this playlist reflects both pessimism and optimism. Of the latter sentiment, perhaps the most inspiring example I can imagine is John Lennon's Imagine, from 1971:

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world …

07 Space Oddity (written and performed by David Bowie)

We return to the theme of space exploration as the emblematic destination of the human future. David Bowie’s recording coincided with the U.S. lunar landing in 1969, but gave it a personal touch with “Major Tom." Bowie also gave a wink to the celebrity culture surrounding the astronauts of the era:

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear

For better or worse, the future now belonged to popular culture; compare the de-glamorization of the astronaut life in Elton John’s follow-up to Bowie, Rocket Man.

08 Rocket Man (written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John)

Though I tend to think this song is more about drug use than anything else (“Zero hour nine a.m., and I'm gonna be high as a kite by then”), the song was allegedly inspired by Bernie Taupin’s sighting of a shooting star. However, the 1971 song illustrates how quickly the future’s heroes became mundane to the general public:

And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week

09 Tomorrow (from the musical Annie, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin; performed by Andrea McArdle)

An anthem for the hopelessly hopeful, the congenitally uncynical, this scrappy little bit of American inspiration from 1977 was an oasis in the encroaching deserts of globalizing competition.

Just thinkin’ about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
’Til there’s none!

10 In the Future (written by Ron Mael and performed by Sparks)

For, despite Little Orphan Annie’s cheerful confidence in Tomorrow, society was growing increasingly skeptical of what futurists had been perceived as promising. In this 1975 song, one can almost hear the writer adding, “Yeah, right” after:

The sweep and the grandeur
The scope and the laughter
The future, the future
The future's got it covered
With what will be discovered

11 Road to Nowhere (written by David Byrne, performed by Talking Heads)

A decade later, the cynicism was considerably more overt:

They can tell you what to do
But they'll make a fool of you …
We're on a road to nowhere

12 The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades (written by Pat MacDonald, performed by Timbuk 3)

Like many people hearing this song, I mistook its upbeat flavor for a bright outlook expressed by a young scientist. Superficial research (i.e., Wikipedia) reveals the writer’s view of a more-sinister future during the height of the Cold War: the brightness of nuclear holocaust being the inducement for wearing shades.

Well I'm heavenly blessed and worldly wise
I'm a peeping-tom techie with x-ray eyes

13 Don’t Worry, Be Happy (written and performed by Bobby McFerrin)

Another tick of the countertrend metronome back toward optimism--or numbing complacency, some may argue. The 1988 song is said (by Wikipedia) to have been inspired by late Indian sage Meher Baba, and its laid-back, breezy Caribbean vibe offers a soothing balm against the stresses of the time.

In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double

14 Year 3000 (written by James Bourne and performed by Busted)

By 2002, pop culture seems to have shrugged off the futurists’ “promises” but embraced the fantasy and fun of such films as Back to the Future, which inspired these lyrics.

I took a trip to the year 3000
This song had gone multi-platinum
Everybody bought our seventh album
It had outsold Michael Jackson

A few years later, popular boy band the Jonas Brothers covered Year 3000, substituting Kelly Clarkson (of American Idol) for the Michael Jackson reference in the lyric.

15 The Futurist (written by Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Hudson and performed by Robert Downey Jr.)

Okay, this is just my opinion, but I suspect Robert Downey Jr. titled this song and his album The Futurist to get my attention. :) It worked. I just don’t see what the song really has to do with the future. But he has a lot of fans, and I hope our including The Futurist on the Futurist Playlist will get their attention. After all, the future is now about social networking, right?


That said, I will give RDJ credit for keeping a personal perspective on the future, as the song is about commitment and fidelity:

It'll be like lovers
For the rest of our lives
No run around
Think twice... Twice

16 Falling (written by Martin Hansen, Magnus Kaxe, and Fred Alexander; performed by Clay Aiken)

This 2008 pop-rock song (egregiously overlooked by radio) explores an aspect of futurism that is not often considered, which is the uncertainty and confusion of living in times of rapid change. Unlike Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, the narrative here is a more specifically personal one, but it is no less poignant and urgent:

And I'm falling, I am falling
From the world I used to know
Been trying to hold on
To something for so long
Now this never-ending dream won't let go

17 100 Years (written and performed by John Ondrasik, Five for Fighting)

Here is a reflection on a personal future and the expression of awareness for how short our time really is (though not using the brevity of life as an excuse for self-indulgence).

Half time goes by
Suddenly you're wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone

18 Kids of the Future (performed by the Jonas Brothers; originally “Kids in America,” written by Ricky Wilde and Marty Wilde)

This 2007 remake produced for the film Meet the Robinsons embraces the exuberant spirit of youth, perhaps an “Annie” for the twenty-first century:

There's no time for looking down
You will not believe where we're going now

19 One Child At a Time (written and performed by Nnenna Freelon)

The Nnenna Freelon song that inspired the Futurist Playlist in the first place, the witty Future News Blues (1992), is unfortunately not available as an mp3 download. But I recalled from my interview with her at the time that a sense of the future was very much embedded in her writing. As a mother and an educator, Nnenna knows how much the future matters.

These ideas are even more vivid in the earnest One Child At a Time, written in 2000, urging all of us to take responsibility for the future:

We all have a part to play
Teacher, friend, or mentor
We’ll make it a brighter day
With children at the center

20 Over the Rainbow (written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg, performed by Eva Cassidy)

There’s so much I love about this particular version of the song made famous by Judy Garland for the 1939 film, Wizard of Oz. This 1998 arrangement illustrates that what is old can be made new again with a new voice, newly inspired. Tragically, Eva Cassidy died of cancer before this recording was released to British radio and became a mega-hit.

The lyrics, of course, speak to the daydream that inspires us to pursue a better world, even if the journey ultimately brings us back home again, as it did in the movie:

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Our musical journey to the future takes us through fear, anger, inspiration, cynicism, idealism, and courage. The essential truth is this: There is always hope.

View the Futurist Playlist at Amazon.com.

Lyrics quoted and album art posted for illustrative purposes only; ownership belongs to the respective copyright holders.

The Futurist Playlist was compiled by Cynthia G. Wagner, with the input of @WorldFutureSoc Twitter followers: Richard Yonck, Anthony Michel, and John Cashman. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Future Society or, to be honest, those of most real music experts. *g*

Feets of Clay

a little story(board), for your entertainment.

Once upon a time, Clay had a little problem. Well, a big problem, to be exact. So he turned to his good friend, the Reverend Doctor Ruben Studdard, for advice and some healin’.

Reverend Studdard kindly accepted a generous fee from Clay’s worried mother, and proceeded to investigate Clay’s little problem. Well, big problem, to be exact.

Your Feet’s Too Big
Written by Fats Waller
Performed by Ruben Studdard
Inspired by Clay Aiken

What’s that runnin’ ‘round here?
Oh. Hm.

Up in Harlem
At a table for two
Well there were four of us, baby,
Me, your big feet, and you.

From your ankles up
I’ll say you sure are sweet
But, uh, from there down, baby,
You’re just too much feet.

Oh, your feet’s too big
Don’t want you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
Mad at ya
‘Cause your feet’s too big
I really hate you
‘Cause your feet’s too big.

Nah na na na, Na na na na
Where’d you get ‘em?
Na na na na

Your girl she likes you
Says she thinks you’re nice,
Says you’ve got what it takes
To take her to paradise

Well she likes your face
Says she loves your rig,
But, uh, look at ‘em, look at ‘em -
Your feet’s too big!

Aw, your feet’s too big
Don’t want you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
Mad at you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
I really hate you
‘Cause your feet’s too big!

Oh,
Your pedal extremities are colossal
To me you look just like a fossil.
You got me walkin,’ talkin’, and squawkin’
‘Cause your feet’s too big!

Can’t go nowhere wit’ you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
Can’t get in the bed next to you
‘Cause your feet’s too big

Look at ‘em, look at ‘em
Spread all across the floor.

When you go and die,
Ain’t nobody goin’ to sob
The undertaker’s going to have quite a job
You goin’ to look real funny
When they lay you in the casket -

Look at them big feet
Stickin’ up out the basket!

Aw
Your feet’s too big,
Don’t want you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
Mad at you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
I really hate you
‘Cause your feet’s too big.

Oh,
Your feet’s too big
Don’t want you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
Can’t use you
‘Cause your feet’s too big
I really hate you
‘Cause your feet’s too big!

Your pedal extremities are
Ob-NOX-ious!
Yeah!

... Unfortunately Reverend Studdard was not able to heal Clay of his affliction. And poor Clay Aiken is hopelessly, incurably adorable, forever more.

Amen.

Screencaps from a montage banned on YouTube, “Feets of Clay (Your Feet’s Too Big”), lovingly compiled by hosaa from the clack of the Timeless Tour, 2010, and the cast recording of Ain’t Misbehavin’. (It was free advertising, ya’ll!)

Buy the album from Amazon:Ain't Misbehavin (2009 Cast Recording)

Clay's Web site: http://www.clayaiken.com/
Ruben's Web site: http://www.rubenstuddard.com

Love, hosaa
Misbehavin' (lovingly)

"Sorry"

Sorry really is the hardest word.

I think I figured out why people don't say they're sorry. I kind of do it a lot, even when it's not really my fault. I just don't want people to feel bad. Especially me.

The problem is that saying you're sorry to people gives them permission to feel aggrieved.

"Yeah, you should be sorry! I hope you feel bad!"

Life really is like the fourth grade.

And the other problem is that, if I apologized for losing my temper with someone, my apology gets that person off the hook for the thing that made me lose my temper in the first place. And I will never get a reciprocal apology from that person.

Personally, I would never take back an apology. And I would never demand one. If I choose to forgive someone, whether he or she has apologized, it's to take myself off the hook of feeling victimized.

love, hosaa
apologetically

Ameriville: If We Had a Hammer

Back from "Ameriville" at Round House Theatre, a moderately populated Sunday matinee.

I can't easily describe this production - it's sung-through, woven with narrative and dance, but you can't exactly call it a light opera. It is built on the voices of Katrina Hurricane victims/rebuilders.



The four performers (members of the Universes Theater Company) open with a chanting/stomping ode to hammering, kicking off the production with the motif of building. This sets the tone of hope for the 100-minute, no-intermission mutli-voiced "rant" on everything that's wrong with America. They weave the many frayed threads of stories told by mothers, fathers, vets, sons and daughters searching for their parents, barbers and beauticians, stand-up comics.

The stories move well beyond the Katrina disaster and its long-term repercussions to address systemic inequities and institutionalized bigotries.

Theatrically, it was much more entertaining than that sounds. Four strong, textured voices, harmonizing through diversity; lighting and projections bringing static imagery to life; and the dance, stomping out the dimensions of conveyed reality in four corners, collapsing and expanding the limited space into new tempest-tossed worlds.

The four performers/creators stayed for an audience Q&A and confessed what wouldn't be hard to guess - that they don't always "preach to the converted" as they had just done in a liberal Montgomery County theater and that on several occasions they have watched their audiences react with open hostility. (I was angry, and I'm a Democrat; but I think I was angry for the reasons the production wanted me to be - I doubt many Republicans would stick it out.) Though it's disconcerting to hear that the actors on stage are observing their audiences, it's human and understandable, especially when the audience behavior can itself be theatrical.

If I'd been brave and raised my hand, I would have complimented the creators for providing the solution to the problems they sang about, though it was subtle and metaphorical. It was the hammer. If there are problems in the world, you don't solve them by moaning about it. You do what all survivors do: build.

Ameriville, Round House Theatre, Bethesda, MD
Directed by Chay Yew
Written, created, and performed by Universes:
Steven Sapp
Mildred Ruiz-Sapp
Gamal A. Chasten
William Ruiz

Down the Up Staircase

This is another little bit of a catch-up post - I went to see Waiting for Superman a couple of weeks ago, despairing of the U.S. education system. Unqualified, disinterested teachers are kept in the system, while interested students are ignored, abandoned.

What can we do to make education interesting to teachers, accessible to students?

I hate to give credit to Arianna Huffington for much of anything, but many years ago in The Futurist magazine we gave her credit for authoring a singular formula for success: Celebritizing.

This evening I had a yen to watch one of my favorite movies on DVD, Quiz Show. The story involves the corruption of a young, ambitious intellectual, Charlie van Doren, by the glory of fame and fortune. Television just wanted to sell Geritol, but was attempting to do so at a time of a national U.S. crisis in the education system.

The movie opens with the Sputnik crisis of 1957: The Soviet Union was beating the United States into space, and to remedy the situation, America needed a boost to math and science specifically, and Education generally. The role of television as a "national classroom" was driven home time and again in the mind of van Doren - he could serve as a glamorous role model to the nation's youth, generating excitement in learning and general knowledge.

It was the right idea, but with the wrong motivations.

It is a factor of my years, my distance from the real-world education system, that forces me to refer to cultural artifacts like this. My first memory of educational role models were the Sandy Dennis film, Up the Down Staircase, and the Sidney Poitier film To Sir, with Love. Of course, there is no dearth of films and television series featuring inspiring teachers, ranging from Goodbye, Mr. Chips (take your pick, Robert Donat or Peter O'Toole) to Mr. Schue in Glee.

Teachers inspire us; education is dramatic. Why don't we see more of it on TV now? I could envision something on prime-time TV that honors learning and knowledge, but without the numbing superficiality of quiz shows. A professor or teacher who inspires with ideas and connections to real-world problems. I'd watch that show. I'd want to be like that teacher.

I don't necessarily think this is a panacea, but to get young people interested in learning and in teaching. it couldn't hurt to give them more of those role models once again.

But it still seems it's the Geritol sellers of the world in charge of the image-distribution system.

Anyway, there you have it. How to inspire: Celebritize. Not far off from "celebrate." I remain optimistic.

love, hosaa
tripping down an Up staircase

ETA: So I guess there is a celebrity teacher out there now: Tony Danza on A&E's Teach. Watching now...

ETAA: I liked it. It's more about Tony Danza's self-discoveries (at least in the episode I watched last night), but I think this could be good.



The other idea I had was for a behind the scenes look at how a show like "Jeopardy" gets put together. What kind of conversations go into the dumbing down of information, how do they come up with the clues that allow people to answer questions they don't really know? In Quiz Show, they got it right - people just want to follow the money. You don't have to cheat to win, you just have to have easier questions.

Dancing as Fast as I Can

This is a bit of a catch-up post. Got to see the So You Think You Can Dance Tour come through Baltimore on October 5, along with a couple of friends. Photos follow. (I did take video, but the spotlight ghosted out the dancers quite a bit; my camera isn't sophisticated enough to resolve complicated lighting issues on the fly - nor am I.)

Full cast as appearing in the last photo (left to right): Courtney Galiano, Ade Obayomi, Ashley Galvan, Kent Boyd, Kathryn McCormick, Adechike Torbert, Lauren Froderman, Russell Ferguson, Robert Roldan, Billy Boyd, Allison Holker, Jose Ruiz. Photos by C. G. Wagner

The show was loud and exciting, short on traditional ballroom, long on hip-hop and contemporary. The crowd favorites were clearly Lauren and Kent, the most recent season's number one and number two "favorite dancers." I kept my eye on adorable Robert and incredibly gifted Allison, whom I've now seen perform live three times. (See "Ooo That Kiss," below.)

My friends had treated me to dinner before the show, and it would have been thoroughly delightful if we hadn't had to go through the ritual of dissatisfaction - we were seated in the bar rather than the upstairs dining area; the garlic-free menu was limited (girlfriend's severe allergy is a handicap in happy dining); the service was slow, though to my mind quite friendly; the portion for the dish gf's hubby ordered was ridiculously small for the price, whereas mine was ridiculously large. In short, my hosts were aggravated, but I was delighted.

Then there was the issue with not knowing how to do the pay-on-your-way-out parking machines. It would help if the driver would (a) remember where he parked and (b) read the instructions.

Those were their problems, I figure. I can usually drown their bickering out. But the bummer for me was, again, listening to gf try to itemize the gay versus the non-gay dancers. What was the bloody point? Even gf's hubby couldn't get her to see why it was so offensive to bring up the dancers' sexuality. GF keeps saying she doesn't have anything against gay people, but she keeps bringing it up!

I finally called her a bigot. Not a nice thing to do in the back seat of someone else's car, but I couldn't help it. We didn't continue the conversation, except in my own mind, which is where I silently lecture the world... (until I blog about it, that is!) The next time this happens, I will just ask her to repeat the exact same conversation, but instead of saying "gay," substitute the word "Jew." She might get it then.

For the next couple of days I stewed a bit, then felt bad that I called her a bigot. It wasn't nice. Anyway, we got together just two days later for another concert at Strathmore, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's tribute to dance, where we were joined by another couple.

This time we just focused on the show, which was a little lighter on the actual dancing than we expected - only six of the 16 numbers were accompanied by dancers, ranging from classical ballet to a couple of performances by the Lombard Twins, Facunda and Martin, amazing tango-tappers dancing to Astor Piazzolla. (A total of three Piazzolla pieces were on the program, compared with two Tchaikovsky pieces; the other composers covered included Dietz and Schwartz, Khachaturian, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and Ronan Hardiman).

This afternoon gf and I went together to see "Sabrina Fair" at Ford's Theatre, which has already received a rave review from WaPo, so I won't be redundant. The nontraditional casting (an African American Sabrina) was the twist to this production, and gf questioned whether it would work. I believe she accepted it but felt it ought to have been addressed in the script somehow. Apparently, even the playwright had suggested addressing the race issue if directors chose to cast the show this way, but it didn't happen.

The result of that ignoring the elephant in the room, to me, made the story more focused on the essential issue of class distinction (and incidentally whether money can buy your way into an elevation of class). I think a lot of other things could have been done with nontraditional casting, including making the Larrabees African American and the Fairchilds white. Or make the Larrabee brothers sisters instead, and the chauffeur's daughter a son.

Or you could even go nontraditional in the gender casting too. But it was set in the 1950s, when such a love story was even more unthinkable than cross-racial pairings.

The first comment gf had was that she thought one of the Larrabee characters was miscast. I won't say which one. She just said she thought he was too obviously gay.

Sigh. At least she stifled herself before the second act and didn't bring it up again afterwards.

Social progress still has a long way to go, ya'll.

The show ended with a glorious dance to Nat King Cole singing "LOVE," and you couldn't pry the grin off my face! What joy!

love, hosaa
dancing in my heart

"Commit" Is a Verb

I'm "stuck" with an extra ticket to see Sabrina Fair at Ford's Theatre in a couple of weeks because an acquaintance who said she wanted to see it with me suddenly remembered a prior commitment with her daughter.

I'm clear on the concept of family coming first, but unclear on the concept of making a commitment you can't keep.

At first she just wanted me to change the date. Sorry, honey, Ticketmaster doesn't do exchanges. That's why being a subscriber and buying from the box office makes a difference. I have to exchange dates at Round House Theatre at least twice a season.

Anyway, in the process of apologizing and proclaiming how much she loves Ford's Theatre, she said (for about the eleventeenth time) that she is going to join Ford's as a member.

Commit to join or not to join. It's a commitment either way. Just saying you're going to do it doesn't count.

As I was walking to work today, I started counting some of the organizations I currently support (mostly arts and culture). In addition to the nonprofit association I work for, World Future Society, there are my alumni associations, Grinnell College and Syracuse University.

In the adventure of being a Clay Aiken fan, I have also supported the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, now known as the National Inclusion Project (NIP), as well as Unicef USA. I've gone along with a lot of Clay's "asks," including donating to Unicef recently for aid to children victimized by the floods in Pakistan.

I also went along with that Cookie company promo last year, wherein you rounded up as many of your e-mail addresses as possible to vote for NIP in a competition among thousands of nonprofit groups. The good news is that NIP won $10,000. The bad news is all the e-mail spam I get from the Cookie company.

I chose not to participate in this year's corporate scheme (Pepsi's) to collect active e-mail addresses, in spite of the fact that NIP and other worthy organizations had the potential to win some money. I also chose not to attend this year's gala "Champions of Change" fundraiser, because when I did so last year, it was a lot of money that I could not divert to the other organizations I've committed to.

Again, these are my choices. Other people have committed to these activities. Good! I'm certainly not saying other people shouldn't do it. I'm just saying I'm not doing it.

Anyway, here's my own little roundup of current commitments (not just Facebook fandoms):

World Future Society (where I've worked for 29 years)
Grinnell College alumni
Syracuse University alumni
USS Emmons Association (my father's shipmates)
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Theatre Communications Group
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Round House Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Phillips Collection
WETA (Public Television and FM classical music)
MPT (Maryland Public Television)

love, hosaa
committing

Musical Landscapes (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra)

Back from the BSO's performance at Strathmore. The pieces under the authority of conductor Marin Alsop's robustly light touch were:

1. "Doctor Atomic Symphony" by John Adams.
2. Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, with guest violinist Stefan Jackiw.
3. Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, "From the New World," by Antonin Dvorak.

It was for the third piece in the program that my friend particularly wanted to go out on a schoolnight, in the rain, to hear. I agreed to go because her husband would not, and after all the Sunday "family" dinners she's had me over for, I figured my companionship was the least I could offer.

"New World" is a good draw and a great end to an evening out. It'll keep all us oldsters awake. But more than that, the piece is an exploration of a landscape in musical tones, shades and contours, lights and earthy darks.

It was the second piece that got the biggest applause, though, thanks to the pyrotechnics of the guest hunk. Oh yeah, baby, the 25-year-old Korean-German wunderkind looked about 15, so it seemed to me the enthusiastic standing ovation may have been on the patronizing side. Maybe not. He really was quite fantastic.

For me, the first piece was worth the price of admission, though my friend said it was too "modern" for her taste.

Here is where I remind myself not to call this stuff "classical music." When you tell your friends you're going to a concert and it's not Lady Gaga or even Coldplay, you can usually just get away with saying it's classical music. But I guess the correct term is "symphonic" or "orchestral" concert. Anyway, the "Doctor Atomic Symphony" ain't "classical" no-way, no-how.

Having spent the afternoon listening to my CD of Philip Glass symphonies (conducted by above mentioned Alsop, that dinky little force of nature), I was probably in a better mental position to accept the less-melodically inclined Adams piece than my friend was.

Typically when at an orchestral concert, given little else to look at besides the clarinetists cleaning out their instruments every chance they can, I visualize dance, movement, and even a narrative. That was not the case with Adams. Instead, I was visualizing the landscapes of the dread, barren Southwest, and rhythms of dawn and decay. It was both fracturing and refreshing.

Because my friend and I had been yammering away before the program began, I didn't get to read about what I would be hearing this evening. So in the interval before the orchestra and hunky guest launched into the Mendelssohn, I glanced at the program and saw that "Doctor Atomic Symphony" was actually inspired by Robert Oppenheimer, dirctor of the Manhattan Project, which of course was set in the New Mexico desert and, according to the program notes, was "ripe for mythic treatment."

For some reason that made me very happy. That I "got" it. Listening to something I knew nothing about, not exactly prepared for, and feeling what the artist wanted me to (I think).

Love, hosaa,
getting it (I think)

My Invention

Last week when I went to the Round House Theatre, I noticed that they still hadn't repaired the stall doors in the restroom. Metal fatigue in the doors means that they don't latch securely into the supporting column and they fly open when someone else down the line rattles the structure a little. Like by opening or closing their own door.

I e-mailed the theater about the problem, but they didn't respond. :(

I just wanted someone to invent something to hold the door closed. So I did. :)

The only problem is that the little magnets I used hold 35 pounds each. I may accidentally lock myself in! But at least my privacy will be secure.

Love, hosaa
modestly inventing stuff