Cornwall Halloween House Not to be Missed

This is Old West Point Road…


A forsaken, forgotten dead end road near Kendridge Farm.

















No one ever trick or treats here…so no one ever sees.

















HEY! Is that a witch in the trees?


Let’s get a little closer…



Yep, that's a witch, all right.



I wonder if Charlie Brown will be here later, waiting for the Great Pumpkin?




As darkness falls, the pumpkins glow, sparking to life.


The skeleton bones chatter in the trees...










Chris Kelly, take a bow!

Autumn in the Garden

Today is a chilly, grey day - it finally feels like Fall! I had expected to be writing this morning, but instead spent the entire morning poking around, raking and preparing the garden for the winter. While I was at it, I clipped armloads of dried hydrangeas to bring into the house. LOVE this time of year!

My Neopet's halloween costume

Yes, I actually spent $10 on PayPal to buy Halloween clothes and accessories for my NeoPet. I have one of the best Halloween collections in Neopia (I've been working on it for five years - takes time to earn the neopoints to buy those rare items!). And, since I hope people will come to see Halloween Gallery, I decided that Harper Lee (my neopet) simply had to be dressed for the occasion.

Click on this link to have a look. Cute, right?
Harper Lee's Halloween Costume

And by the way, if you want to see my Halloween Gallery on neopets (username is booradley2121), be sure to log in through Internet Explorer and have the sound UP, to get the full effect.

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Role for Al Gore in Obama White House?

I have to say, this is a very intriguing thought. I can't really get behind Gore as President, but wouldn't he be a fabulous vest pocket advisor? Or a senior cabinet role.....

Role for Al Gore in Obama White House? MSNBC.com

Lord & Taylor's Lily White World

Posted from my mobile phone

Every train station in New York is currently plastered with billboards for Lord & Taylor's fall campaign. The scenes are very Ralph Lauren - shot on the lawn of an elegant, imposing country estate, selling a nostalgic, British-accented, invitation-only world. Though this kind of tailored clothing is not my thing, I can appreciate the powerful art direction of the campaign. They are effectively marketing a lifestyle, not just selling another tweed jacket with a velvet collar.

What is shocking, however, is that there is not a single non-white person in any of the ads. In fact, not only is everybody white, they're all Northern European and fair-skinned. I've just walked the length of the platform, scrutinizing all 8 scenes, certain that I'd eventually come across a suitably snooty, long-necked, stunningly beautiful equestrienne of African-American descent...or a Latino rugby player handsome enough to rival Reynaldo...but no. Nada.

Who exactly do the geniuses at Lord & Taylor think lives in New York? Have they paid any attention to the list of young, affluent, minority professionals who contributed the initial cash that jump-started Barack Obama's campaign and vaulted him into the position of being a credible, national contender? For goodness sake - look at the cover of Oprah's "O" magazine. She's living the landed gentry lifestyle that they're simulating in their ads.

These billboards reek of nostalgia for the days when the "club" was exclusively White. They are an insult to everyone who lives in our rich, diverse city. I'm disgusted.

Toddlers Demand The Upside Down Show!

I have programmed a "Google Alert," so that I'm notified when items about The Upside Down Show appear on the Internet. I receive an average of two to three alerts daily, and almost always they are parents blogging about their toddler's connection to the show.

I thought this one was worth sharing. A Toddler Obsessed

My mediabistro Seminar is coming up

On November 6 I'll be teaching a 3-hour seminar on The Art of Executive Producing at mediabistro in New York. I really enjoyed the process of putting together this seminar, which I hope will function a bit like a toolbox for people at various stages of their careers. For those starting out, I'll address the kind of skills and experience one needs to accumulate in order to prepare for a career as an E.P. For those already moving down that road, I will be sharing tips and techniques for being most effective in the job.

Check it out (and refer your friends!) at How to Become an Executive Producer - mediabistro.com Courses and Seminars

Blogging from Havana

Interesting story about Cubans (less than 2% of whom have Internet access) who are finding ways around the system and managing to blog. Going to Unusual Lengths - MSNBC

Tough Day to be in Beantown

I have a business meeting this morning in Boston, and I just passed a car on the Mass Pike with a license plate reading "Beat NY." Ugh. Not a good day to be a Yankees fan heading north.....

Posted from my mobile phone

An Artist Encounters Censorship

I have been working on improving my photography skills during this "creative sabbatical" year, and have been toying with the idea of exhibiting some of my photographs. The opportunity arose when I saw a call for entries for the annual Cornwall Photography Show, held annually at Town Hall. My daughter, Jules Kelly, is a also a good photographer, and we decided that it would be fun to enter the exhibit together. So on Monday morning I took four of my photographs and three of hers into town.

The organizer took one look at Julia's photograph entitled "Bush Poster," and declared that it could not be hung, as "this is a government building." I asked her to check with the Town Supervisor Richard Randazzo, since Freedom of Speech is a fundamental right in our consitution. She did, and he also refused.

Granted, Julia's photograph is quite edgy, and it does represent her political point of view. On the other hand, art has long had an important function in our national discourse. The earliest recorded American political cartoon ran in Ben Franklin's newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754, accompanying an editorial by Franklin urging the colonies to unite against the British.


I was with Julia in Amsterdam when she took the Bush photograph, and I know that one of the things that struck her was how surprising it is to see the deterioration of the United States' relationship with the Netherlands. They have always been a staunch U.S. ally, and from our many visits to Amsterdam, we know that the Dutch people typically embrace Americans. To Jules, this photograph represents not only her own feelings about Bush, but also how far we have fallen in our relationships with our European allies.

To me, the knee jerk conservative reaction of Randazzo's Town Hall is simply an extension of the national atmosphere created by the Bush administration, which is filled with political appointees who, qualified for their jobs or not, were hired because they are in lockstep with the administration's positions. We observed the consequences in New Orleans, with FEMA headed by people who didn't know how to coordinate an emergency response, and in post-war Iraq, with the reconstruction staffed with Bush loyalists who neither spoke Arabic nor had any experience with restoring a country's infrastructure. It's been well documented that people were asked about political loyalty as a condition for receiving those jobs. Somehow, in our post 9/11 world, the only way to show patriotism is to stifle dissent. This is a condition we accept at our peril, for in fact, this is contrary to how democracy is meant to work. A healthy democracy is populated by engaged citizens who have a point of view, who challenge authority when they don't agree, and who vote. If we are lucky, we will find our way back to that place, where people don't define themselves as Democrats or Republicans, but as American citizens, with all the privileges and responsibilities that it entails.

Despite this disappointment, the photography exhibit was a success. At opening reception on Friday Jules got very positive feedback from many people on her photograph entitled BREAK CONFORMITY BREAK STEEL.

Break Conformity Break Steel by Jules Kelly

She was one of two teens exhibiting there. The other, a SUNY New Paltz freshman and photography major named Emily Waterfield, also had a striking series of photographs of Adirondack chairs, photographed at the Mohonk Mountain House. The organizer is considering mounting a show next year featuring just the two of them, which was a very exciting development.

And, Jules' Bush photograph will soon be hung at the 2 Alices Coffee Lounge, so her voice has not been silenced after all.

Building Leaders of the Future

My 16-year-old daughter is packing for a week in Washington, DC, where she will participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum on National Security. They've been given a significant amount of background reading as preparation for a simulation exercise in which they will role play and debate the United States' response to a hypothetical situation in the Eastern Congo.

The rape epidemic plaguing this region is on the front page of today's New York Times.

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War - New York Times

The whole story is horrifying, but for me, it was a tiny detail down near the end of the article that brought tears to my eyes. The U.N. peacekeepers have devised a new strategy to try to stop to the nocturnal raids on the villages. They go to a village and park their vehicles in the bush, headlights on all night, to signal that the peacekeepers are present. According to the article, sometimes in the morning they find 3,000 villagers curled up on the ground around them.

I emailed the story to Jules with this note. Honey, since your case study is about the Congo you should read this story. I am sorry to say it is very disturbing. but we need to know these things because we need to be part of figuring out a solution.
xo
mom

I'm proud that Jules is thinking about a career where she can make a difference in foreign affairs and human rights. Juxtaposed with this tragic story today is an Op Ed piece by Thomas Friedman Charge It to My Kids - New York Times. He puts an historical perspective on the Bush administration's free-spending approach to the war on terrorism, which is pushing the entire cost of the war onto future generations, with no sacrifice required of us today. As I urge my daughter to be a leader and make a difference, our commander in chief sends an entirely different message about turning a blind eye to consequences and accountability. It's an outrage.

Meez: Your 3D I.D.

You have to check out meez.com, Meez: Home
where you can quickly and easily create a 3D avatar. Jules turned me onto it (of course) and we've been sitting here all evening creating "ourselves."

I have to say I'm quite pleased with my avatar, Lisabet1212.

Going Against History

One of the classes I visited at Parents' Night this week was AP American History, taught by family friend Nancy Larkin. She told us that her class was going to debate the Articles of the Constitution the following day. My daughter Jules loves history, and she really gets into these situations where history is dramatized, so I was curious, the following afternoon, to hear how it went. Here is a report, in her own words.

Everybody was lining up on the “FOR” side of the room, and all of a sudden I yelled “I AM OPPOSED!” And I ran across the room to the other side. People know I’m a good debator, so five kids followed me. When we got over there, they all said “Jules, what are we doing?!”

I asked Mrs. Larkin, since we were on the tough side, if she could find out who was doing the opening argument for the other team. So she casually went over, asked them, came back and told us it was Jack. I said “Michelle, do you still want to do our opening?” She said “No, if it’s Jack, you’d better open, Jules.” So I did. I raised my voice big and strong and dramatic, and did the opening argument. We had plenty of facts to support our position.

We went against history and we tied the debate, 5-5!

Mrs. Larkin (who married into a family of powerful NYS legislators) said, “Jules, you’re going to be a politician.”


It's no wonder I occasionally get a little discouraged with the teenage battles that go on in our house. I'm living with a naturally contrarian personality who never saw a debate she didn't believe she could win.

Columbia Controversy: Call for Humility

My friend Daoud Kuttab (Executive Producer of Hikayat Simsim, the Palestinian "Sesame Street" production) is a guest professor in residence at Princeton this year. His perspective on the controversy surrounding the appearance of the Iranian President at Columbia University caught my attention because of my experience as an American visiting the Middle East last year. The Arab culture is unfailingly courteous, and I enjoyed repectful courtesy and hospitality throughout my visit, despite the fact that Americans are not exactly favorites these days. Daoud's perspective on the fiasco at Columbia likely reflects the way this incident was perceived throughout the Middle East.

We have to do better than this kind of shallow posturing if we want to reclaim the high road as champions of human rights and dignity.

A LITTLE HUMILITY

By Daoud Kuttab
Guest Columnist, Daily Princetonian
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The controversy surrounding an academic invitation to the Iranian president reflects one of the more serious problems that is
negatively affecting the image of the United States around the world.

It was clear that Columbia president Bollinger and his staff wanted to boast that their university respects freedom of expression by inviting a controversial head of state. But when this academic exercise was challenged (mostly by radical pro-Israeli elements), he was forced to tweak this right in order to satisfy his critics and more importantly, the university donors. The way in which this problem was handled (nasty irreverent and unprovoked attack at a guest you invited) made the Ivy League university lose any credit it could have gained by what was otherwise a courageous decision.

The funny thing is that it didn't have to be like this. Columbia didn't have to invite Ahmadinajad even if he expressed interest in speaking at a U.S. school of higher learning within the 25-mile radius of the United Nations. But once the invitation was made, Bollinger should have had the decency to deal with this guest as they would any other guest. There is no evidence that Iran's human rights record has worsened in between the invitation and the speech. If anything, a few academics were released a few days earlier.

It is easy to be for freedom of expression when it is convenient and when everyone agrees with you. The problem is when one simply wants to have it both ways: wanting the appearance of defending freedoms yet intervening the moment it starts to hit your pocket. Serious students of U.S. foreign policy regularly feel this American schizophrenia. Take the case of Iraq and Palestine. The United States went to Iraq to free its people from a tyrant dictator only to find itself stuck in the middle of a civil war. Instead of letting the people of Iraq decide their fate, America decided to stay in order to protect its longterm interests in the region.

Instead of practicing the Wilsonian doctrine that guarantees the rights of peoples to determine their future, America approaches the issue very selectively. For example, the Kurdish people's right to determine their future is sacrificed to please America's powerful Turkish NATO member and ally.

The Palestinians' decades-long quest for freedom and independence is pushed aside because of domestic pressures from the pro-Israel and Christian right lobbies. Other examples abound. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, President Bush has taken taken rightly up the case of the people of Myanmar, but Taiwan is not memtioned because of America's interest in China.

It is natural for countries to defend their interests. It is also fair for a university president to try and respond to the desires of
his donors. But such posturing lacks the "intellectual courage" ( Bollinger's words) to pretend you are doing it in the name of
people's freedom (as in the case of Bush) or freedom of expression (as in the case of Bollinger.)

200 years ago, Voltarie said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Last century, the American Civil Liberties Union defended the right of a neo-Nazi group to demonstrate in the predominantly Jewish city of Skokie, Illinois. The Executive Director of the ACLU was Aryeh Neier who is Jewish and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Neier is today the president of the Open Society Institute, George Soros's foundation which supports freedoms around the world. One of the people working for the society is Dr. Kian Ajbakhsh, an Iranian American social scientist and urban planner, who a few days earlier was released from an Iranian jail but has not been allowed to leave Iran. Bollinger
announced that Ajbakhsh has been invited to teach at Columbia next year and called for his freedom of movement. It is unlikely that such a call will have much effect following the unwarranted, humiliating and disrespectful statement Bollinger made. Clearly, the university president was more interested in pleasing his university funders than in securing the professor's exit visa.

It is difficult to expect genuine fighters of freedom such as Neier and Kian in today's political and academic world. If living up
to such ideals is difficult, a little humility would serve all of us well. It would be more honest for the presidents of countries and universities to be truthful about the challenges of balancing interests and values rather than attempting to paint themselves as the heroes of freedom — which they are not.

Daoud Kuttab is a Ferris Professor of Journalism and an award-winning Palestinian columnist. He can be reached at dkuttab@princeton.edu.

The Ugly Side of the G.O.P. by Bob Herbert

This powerful Op Ed piece by Bob Herbert was in yesterday's New York Times. Herbert - New York Times

It makes me think of the opening of Michael Moore's flawed but fascinating documentary Fahrenheit 911. I sat and wept as I watched his montage of one after another African-American member of the House stood to try to convince the Senate not to ratify Bush's 2000 election, because Black voters in Florida had been denied their right to have their vote counted. No one was willing to take a stand. As a child of the 60s, when blood was shed to gain African Americans' right to vote, it broke my heart to watch it.

Herbert points out in this powerful piece that it is not only not getting better, it's getting worse. How do people of conscience vote for members of this party? It's beyond me.

Barack Obama's Fascinating Electronic Campaign

Barack Obama is pursuing an interesting campaign fund-raising strategy this week. Between now and Sept. 30, they are recruiting new donations, which will then be matched by an Obama supporter. You have the opportunity (optional, of course) to be in email correspondence with the person you are matched with. BarackObama.com | Contribution Matching

I did both this week - I donated, and was matched by a man in Ohio. The site gave me the opportunity to sign up to match someone else, so I matched B. Todd Jones, in St. Paul, Minnesota, sending him this message. Hi. I first got excited about Barack Obama when I read his book "Dreams from my Father." I was inspired by the young man who wrestled with his lack of a father figure, and pursued his destiny as a community organizer despite many setbacks that challenged his youthful idealism. I believe our country needs a real leader - someone who, like FDR or JFK, is not afraid to tell us what we really need to know, and challenge us to do what we need to do to pull ourselves out of our national malaise. I believe Obama is the only candidate in the field who has this ability. Thank you for supporting him - I am happy to match your donation.

I got an email back inviting me to be "B. Todd's Friend" - there is a full-fledged social network on obama.com.

They've also been very savvy re mobile communication. He registered the text address is 62262 (OBAMA), and you can sign up not only to receive text when there is Obama news on specific issues, you can also download ringtones with his voice/speeches.

Whether all this will pay off is a question - this kind of approach appeals to younger voters, who are notoriously difficult to get to the polls. No matter what, it is fascinating to watch a Web 2.0 campaign gathering steam.

Fracaswell Hyman directs brilliant "To Kill a Mockingbird"

My friend Cas Hyman is working in the theater again - and are we lucky to have him back in that genre! Cas directed a stage adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," which opened this past Wednesday night at the Intiman Theater in Seattle (Intiman wins Tony as best regional theater). I traveled to Seattle mid-week, arriving in time to catch a preview performance as well as opening night, before hopping on a red eye and heading back to NY.

I have worked with Cas on and off for many years in children's television, and one of his great strengths has always been casting and working with child actors. That talent was critical in this production, since the story is told from the point of view of 8-year-old Scout, along with her brother Jem and friend Dill. Young Kealon Whittaker shone in the role of Scout - she convincingly portrayed the cocky tomboy to frequent laughter from the audience, and was heartbreakingly bewildered as she tried to understand what was happening when the lynch mob threatened Atticus as he sat guard outside the jailhouse where the accused rapist, the Negro Tom Robinson, was being held.

Cas and scenic designer Alec Hammond went way out on a limb with the set, which was a heightened, symbolic representation of small town Maycomb, Alabama, dominated by a blood red tree and red kitchen chairs, of all shapes and sizes, suspended from the ceiling by nooses. The dangling, "lynched" chairs overhead served to pull the audience straight into the drama, which we were to be anyway, as the lawyers argued their cases to us, the jury.

I was particularly moved by the musical choices he made for the play. Hyman opened up the script to include the hymn "Blessed Assurance." We first hear it when Calpurnia (in a warm and nuanced portrayal by Josephine Howell) sings it under her breath as she folds laundry on the front porch. Rev. Sykes (William Hall Jr.) arrives to ask for extra donations to help Tom Robinson's family, and he joins in. Then the white neighbor, Maudie Atkinson (Patti Cohenour, known to Broadway theatergoers in the role of Signora Naccarelli from The Light in the Piazza), joins in from her nearby porch. Both women are powerful singers, and the moment is transcent - until they are angrily shushed by Mrs. Dubose for making so much confounded noise! Later in the play Calpurnia reprises a halting, poignant version of the song, her arms sheltering the children, when they hear the terrible news that Tom Robinson has been killed.

I asked Cas how he had chosen this piece of music, and he said that he'd been listening to his iPod on "shuffle," and Blessed Assurance came on, sung by Gladys Knight. "I listened to the words," he said, "and I knew that I had to use this song." He went on to say that he believed that the promise in these words would have enabled Calpurnia and other Negroes in Maycomb to endure the daily injustices and cruelty of life in the Alabama in the 1930s.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angles descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

In addition, Cas asked composer and harmonica virtuoso Grant Dermody to write an understated "Scout's theme" and other incidental music for the production. Sean Phillips, the actor who played Tom Robinson, also appeared as an anonymous harmonica player, who casually played from various spots (up in the tree, leaning on a fence) at critical moments in the story. Talking to Dermody later, I was stunned to learn that he taught Phillips how to play harmonica for this production! To hear his haunting, soulful playing, one never could have guessed that he's only been playing for a few weeks.

A word here about the Intiman Theater and its relationship to the greater Seattle community. I was invited to the opening night, pre-theater dinner, where I was seated next to actor Tom Skerritt ("A River Runs Through It"), a longtime Seattle resident and charming, if somewhat ascerbic, dinner companion! Of course, all the theater's patrons and sponsors were being feted. But also present were the members of the "Community Committee," a number of whom spoke to the assembled group. The Intiman is particularly proactive, with each of their plays, in trying to discern the core message of the work, and then reaching out to try to bring that message (along with the production) to numerous schools and other community groups. In the case of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Atticus' admonition to Scout and Jem that they need to "walk in the other person's shoes" before criticizing them is a powerful community rallying message. The passion and diversity of the committee members was moving and inspiring. I filled out my card and became an Intiman supporter right at the table.

Cas has many friends in the television industry in both NY and LA. Most of them will probably not see this production, but they would not be surprised at its excellence. I hope he is able to work in the theater again and often.

Mourning THE UPSIDE DOWN SHOW

One of my most enjoyable creative experiences in recent years was traveling twice to Australia to oversee production of the pilot and then the early episodes of The Upside Down Show. This extraordinary show teaches creativity via imaginary play (with powerful literacy, vocabulary, and mathematical concepts thrown in along the way) for preschoolers. Actually, describing the audience as "preschoolers" sells it far short. Creators and performers David Collins and Shane Dundas are so uniquely talented that these episodes tickle older brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents as well! And the awards reflect this success. The Upside Down Show has won an Emmy Award, a Parents' Choice Award, and Australia's Logie (the equivalent of the Emmy) for "Best Children's Program."

Sadly, although at its debut it was instantly one of Noggin's top-rated shows, this brilliant program is caught in the politics and economics of the increasing consolidation of the children's media industry. Nickelodeon/Noggin do not own the show outright, as it is partially financed and owned by the company that created it, Sesame Workshop. My hunch is that Nick is simply not willing to put their powerful promotional machine behind making a hit out of a property that they do not own outright. Sesame Workshop, on the other hand, is too uncomfortable with any kind of conflict to take the kind of aggressive approach that I believe it should to reclaim those rights and find another way to finance and continue to produce the show. And so, this exceptional piece of educational programming (in my opinion as radical and ground-breaking as Sesame Street was back when it was created back in 1968) will disappear with just the barest hint of a whimper.

The Upside Down show airs on Noggin daiily at 7:30 am and 3pm ET/PT. Since the folks at Nickelodeon show no sign of getting it out on DVD, I'd strongly advise that you tape it and keep it for posterity (as well as any occasion when you might want to entertain and stimulate the imaginations of young children).

I recently stumbled across this long chain of parents talking about the show and how it has benefitted their children. In particular, check out the July 8 entry re child with Asperger's Syndrome. Although the show is not going to have the longevity it so richly deserves, at least, reading these words, I know that we accomplished what we set out to do.
UpsideDownShow Parent Chat Boards

Iraq Through China's Lens: Thomas Friedman

This is a very insightful piece. And, I think when even Tom Friedman has conceded that we can't win in Iraq, it's time to throw in the towel.

Read this column. Iraq Through China's Lens - New York Times

Love This Global Village: : Messaggio da YouTube

I opened my email and was intrigued to find a message from You Tube, written in Italian (although, as we decided years ago with "MTV," "You Tube" is iconic and stays in English, regardless of the language).

From: service@youtube.com
Subject: Messaggio da YouTube: women in art elektro
Date: September 11, 2007 11:39:41 AM EDT
To: liz@liznealon.com

Riogoldriver ti ha inviato un messaggio

Fai clic qui per passare direttamente al messaggio, oppure controlla la tua Posta in arrivo su YouTube per visualizzare tutti i tuoi messaggi.

Arrivederci su YouTube!

— Il team di YouTube

So, I clicked on the link ('clic qui per passare') and found this message from a user that I had queried the day before (in English) about the source of the music on his video.

Messaggi inviati: 11 settembre 2007
Oggetto: women in art elektro
Messaggio:
hi liz
the music is "Narita made" by tujiko noriko
thanks for your comment and if you can help me to diffuse that video I really appreciate it
ciaoooooo
rio

I am happy to direct you to Rio's video, search "Women in Art Elektro." But before you go there, his video is a response to one called simply "Women in Art." It is stunningly animated - my only quibble is that a visitor from Mars would think that only white women have ever been seen as beautiful enough to feature in art.

After you've enjoyed "Women in Art," check out Rio's response, "Women in Art Elektro." He needs to spend more time on the visuals, but the music mix and overall mood are quite captivating.

I really love the way the internet connects us with kindred souls everywhere. What a wonderful world we're living in!

My Little Town

People in the city often ask me "Where do you live, again?" Not too many people have heard of tiny Cornwall-on-Hudson, but we're featured today in this New York Times article. I guess is is a small town - I know nearly everyone quoted in the article!

Worried Town Recalls a Young Petraeus - New York Times

As Gen. Patraeus Testifies, Join the SURGE of PRAYERS

Jim Wallis, on his "God's Politics" blog, is organizing a surge of prayers directed to members of Congress. See his rationale (and join in if you wish) at: God's Politics - Jim Wallis blog

My prayer?

Almighty God, we beseech you to kindle in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love.

Lord, guide those who serve in Congress in the ways of your justice and peace, grant them wisdom and courage as they make their decisions and take action so that the death and suffering in Iraq might come to an end.

9/11 - Where Are We Now?

I've decided to mark this sixth anniversary by going back just three years, to the day I met a New York City cop-turned-flight attendant named Patrick Marcune. His perspective on 9/11 is personal, powerful and painful. Here, in his own words, is his story.

"The aircraft door is closing. Please be sure that all cell phones are turned off, and any electronic equipment should also be turned off at this time. My name is Patrick and I just retired after 22 years as a New York City police officer. I’m having a ball with Continental – thanks for flying with us."

I see heads pop up all the way down the aisle when I say it. People are talking, reading their magazines, not really listening because it’s the same old routine. And then their heads pop up and they clap. I walk back because I have to do my inspection, make sure everybody’s seat belt is on, and everybody offers a handshake and congratulations.

After 9-11, and after I’d gotten my friends out of the rubble that was down there, I retired and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I went to visit a friend down in Florida and on my return trip I was speaking to a flight attendant. I asked her “How do you like the job?” She said, “It’s a wonderful job. You get to see the country, it’s exciting, you get to meet a lot of people.” And those are things that I like. So, when I got home I went online, put in an application, and they called me a few days later. That’s how it started.

The pilots like the idea that I’m on the plane….it makes them feel more at ease. I watch who comes on the plane. The pilot comes out and wants to use the lavatory, I go right in the middle of the aisle, making sure everyone is sitting down, no one is going to threaten the pilot while he’s walking around the cabin. That’s a natural instinct. So far, I haven’t had a problem. But I watch.

The first month I became a flight attendant I had an emergency landing. Some flight attendants don’t go through that in their whole career. It happened to me in one month. I was sitting in the jump seat, we just took off from Newark. As we were going up, the chimes started – the signal that tells me that there’s a serious emergency. I’m thinking “Oh, no. I just became a flight attendant…one month.” (laughing) “I can’t go now. I don’t want to go now.”

So, I pick up the phone and say “Cap, what’s up?” He says “it’s showing that we have a fire in the cargo. Go back there, check it out.” People hear the chimes going off, they see me jump out of my seat and run to the back of the plane. They’re looking at me, scared. This lady starts crying – she has three young children with her and she says “We’re going to die… Mister….are we going to be okay?”

It felt like I had my firearm out as a cop and somebody was looking to shoot me. You get the adrenaline flowing and your heart is pumping and you just have to calm yourself down. It was the same feeling I had. But, you learn how to say “All right. This is the problem. Let’s see how we’re going to fix it.” That’s what the police department trained me for. I brought it right into the airline. And it works.

I get those four chimes, I was nervous. I thought about my family, too…what’s going to happen here? But I had no time to think about that. I had to worry about making sure those people were safe, and that I’d do the proper procedures if we have to make an emergency landing. The whole point of that job is safety and to protect everyone’s life. God forbid.

I got to the back, and didn’t smell any smoke. I went up and tried to calm that lady down. “Everything’s going to be ok, it’s probably just a malfunction – there’s no smoke.” I held her hand and said, “Don’t worry. I’m a New York City police officer, the pilot’s got 35 years of flying experience, everything’s going to be fine.” Turned out the problem was somebody had a can of hairspray in the cargo. And the smoke detectors don’t just pick up smoke – they pick up any particles in the air. That’s what it was – just a can of hairspray.

~
I was off on 9-11. The precinct called, they wanted everybody in. I saw what happened on TV – I was already getting dressed. I got into the precinct and they shipped us down to the World Trade Center. I remember walking down Washington Street, and the only thing I was finding was body parts – four blocks away. I found out later on that two close friends of mine were in there and they got killed.

I ended up working there for six months. We were called the Bucket Brigade. Any time the front-end loaders were digging, we were standing right there watching the debris being picked up. If we saw anything we would stop the bulldozer from working, and then we would dig by hand to get the people out.

Then I was transferred to the Staten Island Landfill. We sifted through the debris with our hands, looking for body parts and pieces of the aircraft ⎯ any evidence we could find. We worked up there for about a month, and then Flight 580 crashed in Rockaway. And all of us from the World Trade, the guys are there. That was just as horrible cause there was about five children on that plane. Women and children.

I saw a firefighter pick up a lady with a shovel (long pause). I said “Don’t do that. Don’t pick her up with a shovel.” I mean, if that was my Mom, or somebody else’s mom, you don’t want to pick her up with a shovel. So, I picked her up with my hands, and I put her in the bag. That’s uh…you know, you think those things don’t bother you, and I always thought I was okay.

Then I got very sick after that. I was stressed out. You never know. I thought I was fine. But, it stays up in that brain of yours. You don’t realize how it affects you. I mean, so much stuff you see. God. Two good friends. One was a firefighter. One was a police officer. That’s when I said, “I think I’ve been around too long.”

And I retired, one year after.

~
The guys tease me about being a flight attendant. By the same token, they realize that it’s such a great job. I have my pension and now I can go anywhere I want, like I have my own private plane. They tease me about it, but then they say, “You know what? It’s a great idea. It’s a perfect job for you.”

I always liked to fly as a kid, and I always was infatuated with the planes and travel. But I never had dreams of being anything but a New York City police officer. I went to John Jay College of Criminal Justice and my Master’s degree was in Public Administration, so I devoted my whole life to public service.

I loved being a cop. (long pause) You know….I wanted to stay. It was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life, to retire. I miss all my friends. When you have a partner, you’re like brothers. You spend most of your life together.

I made the leap. I miss it something terrible. People tell me it gets easier. You get to adjust.

Yeah. At least nobody’s shooting at me any more.

Madeleine L'Engle as Poet

I honestly don't think that L'Engle was as powerful a writer of poetry as she was of prose.

Yet, I read her poems, because in her poetry she gamely wrestled with God, in all the joy and pain that comes with trying to be a person of faith.

Late tonight I pulled down yet another book, THE WEATHER OF THE HEART, a book of L'Engle's poems published in 1978. This one is a beauty, and particularly appropriate at the moment of her death. It is titled LOVE LETTER.


I hate you, God.
Love, Madeleine.

I write my message on water
and at bedtime I tiptoe upstairs
and let it flow under your door.

When I am angry with you
I know that you are there
even if you do not answer my knock
even when your butler opens the door an inch
and flaps his thousand wings in annoyance
at such untoward interruption
and says that the master is not at home.

I love you, Madeleine.
Hate, God.

(This is how I treat my friends, he said to one great saint.
No wonder you have so few of them, Lord, she replied.)

I cannot turn the other cheek
It takes all the strength I have
To keep my fist from hitting back
the soldiers shot the baby
the little boys trample the old woman
the gutters are filled with groans
while pleasure seekers knock each other down
in order to get their tickets stamped first.

I'm turning in my ticket
and my letter of introduction.
You're supposed to do the knocking. Why do you burst
my heart?

How can I write you
to tell you that I'm angry
when I've been given the wrong address
and I don't even know your real name?

I take hammer and nails
and tack my message on two crossed pieces of wood:

Dear God
is it too much to ask you
to bother to be?
Just show your hindquarters
and let me hear you roar.

Love,
Madeleine

Madeleine L'Engle on Writing for Children

There is nothing that annoys me more than how little respect people have for children's media. I will meet someone at a cocktail party, and when they ask me what I do, and I reply, "I'm a television producer." That always elicits a bright, engaged reaction, "REALLY? What do you produce?"

When I say I make television for kids and teens, the response is a dull "Oh." End of conversation. As if great story-making for kids is any easier than it is for adults, especially because the budgets are exponentially smaller! I am proud of my craft and resent the assumption that because I try to change the world for kids with meaningful media, I'm somehow not "in the game."

The brilliant writer Madeleine L'Engle wrote books for both audiences. Her adult books, both prose and poetry, explore issues of faith and spirituality. I have been thinking about her work all day, and tonight I pulled one of her books, WALKING ON WATER: REFLECTIONS ON FAITH AND ART, from the shelf. It has a wonderful passage about this topic.

One summer I taught a class in Techniques of Fiction at a midwestern university. About half way through the course, one of the students came up to me after class and said, "I do hope you're going to teach us something about writing for children. That's really why I'm taking this course."
"What have I been teaching you?"
"Well - writing."
"Don't you write when you write for children?"
"Well - but isn't it different?"

No, it is not different. The techniques of fiction are the techniques of fiction. They hold as true for Beatrix Potter as they do for Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Characterization, style, and theme are as important in a children's book as in a novel for grown-ups. Taste, as always, will differ (spinach vs. beets). A child is not likely to identify with the characters in Faulkner's "Sanctuary." Books like "A Wrinkle in Time" may seem to difficult to some parents. But if a book is not good enough for a grown-up, it is not good enough for a child.

Farewell, Meg Murry

It is 6am, and I write this with tears streaming down my cheeks as I've learned of the death of the brilliant writer Madelaine L'Engle, author of my favorite book, "A Wrinkle in Time." It will not have escaped discerning readers that this blog, Tesseractive Pictures, derives its name from that book and the tesseract that allows Meg and her baby brother Charles Wallace to time travel as they try to save their father. I remember myself as a child, arguing vehemently with my own father, an eminently practical engineer who had no use for science fiction or fantasy. I insisted that the idea of time as the fourth dimension, accessed by "wrinkling" time, was certainly true. It had to be. The way L'Engle wrote about it in the book was so logical and compelling, I was certain that it could be proven to be true (as indeed it still may be). And besides, Mrs. Whatsit said so.

The last time I cried over Madeleine L'Engle was eight years ago, when I was reading "A Wrinkle in Time" aloud to my daughter Jules, then a second grader. We got to the part at the end when Meg is steeling herself to take on the all-powerful IT, who has captured the brain of her beloved little brother, Charles Wallace. Meg knows she has to go, but is terribly afraid, as she cannot imagine how she can overcome his power. She is a crusty underachiever who is struggling with self-esteem issues - hardly the person who is likely to be a hero, and she knows it. The stubbornness that often infuriates the people who know Meg is an asset at this moment - she simply refuses to give up.

As I was reading, I started to cry. My daughter looked at me curiously. "Mommy, why are you crying so hard?" she asked.
"I am crying because I am being Meg, and she is very afraid," I replied, and kept on reading aloud and crying.

Meg gets closer and closer to the moment of truth, still not able to think of anything that she could possibly have that would defeat IT. "WAIT! I know...I KNOW!" Jules said excitedly. "It's LOVE." Which of course, made me break down in sobs.

The climax of the final Harry Potter book turns on this same realization, as Harry defeats Voldmort through the power of love. J.K. Rowling has been widely praised for creating a mythology based on a rich and nuanced presentation of the battle between good and evil, even touching occasionally on theology. I like this very much about her writing. But, Madeleine L'Engle did it first, and she did it better.

I once attended a reading by L'Engle, in the old Brentanos Bookstore, on Fifth Avenue. I perched on the edge of a bookcase in the children's section, behind the kids sprawled all over the floor, listening to her read from her latest story. When she finished reading she talked to the children about the process of writing, and described an incident that is quoted in today's NY Times obituary. She was in the habit of reading aloud to her son whatever she had written while he was at school each day. On this particular day, she was reading the chapter from "The Arm of the Starfish" in which the character Joshua dies. Her son started to cry, and insisted that she needed to go back and re-write it so that Joshua wouldn't die. She told him that she couldn't - "that was simply what had happened, and there was nothing I could do to change it."

L'Engle's writing had a searing, enduring impact on my way of thinking about myself, first as a young girl who was often as complicated and prickly as Meg, then as a woman and mother (Meg's mother, a beautiful scientist absent-mindedly cooking dinner on a bunson burner, has long been my idealized role model!). She also inspired me to continue to be a dreamer, a woman of faith, and to eventually become a writer. As I learn of her death, I thank her, once again, for these gifts.
Madeleine L'Engle - New York Times Obit

Thinking about Civic Ministry

I write a monthly column for my church newsletter. Occasionally, I like to share a topic that seems suitable for general consumption.

A BEACON OF CIVIC MINISTRY
By Liz Nealon

This month we would like to consider two promises in our parish Vision Statement as they each relate to our obligation to reach outward to the community around us.


We are a center of civic ministry. We need to be a beacon, open in ever expanding ways to our community.

and,

We are a place of compassion, a congregation whose mission is deeply rooted in concern, care and action to the needs of others.


Each of us has something to offer to others. We can give our money and our time to charity, be a friend to someone who is sick or lonely, do volunteer work, or be a peacemaker, teacher or lay minister. We may give unselfishly of our time to our spouse, children or parents. We might choose a service-oriented occupation, or we may just do our everyday jobs with integrity and respect for others. At St. John’s, our civic ministry includes our support of feeding programs like the Good Shepherd Soup Kitchen, our willingness to allow community groups involved in self-help to use our facilities, and our openness and willingness to support one-time and recurring civic concerns such as the Communities That Care program.

Logic dictates that the more we give to others the less we have, but in fact, the opposite is true. Service to others and spiritual leadership in our community bring meaning and fulfillment to our lives in a way that wealth, power, possessions and self-focused pursuits cannot.

The idea that St. John’s should be a place of civic ministry, a beacon of God’s love and compassion in our mid-Hudson community, made me think about the book GOD'S POLITICS: WHY THE RIGHT GETS IT WRONG AND THE LEFT DOESN'T GET IT (HarperCollins, 2005), written by Jim Wallis, publisher of Sojourners magazine, God's Politics Blog, and a public theologian, preacher, speaker, activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life.

Wallis objects to the idea that any political institution, Conservative or Liberal, Right or Left, can claim to have a monopoly on representing God and His wishes. Instead, he evokes Jesus’ continual reminders, throughout the Bible, of our obligation to serve the Poor. In his book Wallis writes: I am always amazed at the debate about poverty, with one side citing the need for changes in personal behaviors and the other for better social programs, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Obviously, both personal and social responsibility are necessary for overcoming poverty. When this absurd bifurcation is offered by ideological partisans on either side, I am quickly convinced that both sides must never have lived or worked anywhere near poverty or poor people. That there are behaviors that further entrench and even cause poverty is indisputable, as is the undeniable power of systems and structures to institutionalize injustice and oppression. Together, personal and social responsibility creates the common good. Because we know these realities as religious facts, taught to us by our sacred Scriptures, religious communities can teach them to those still searching more for blame than solutions to pressing social problems.

Wallis goes on to say that: Recovering the faith of the biblical prophets and Jesus is not just about politics; it also shapes the way we live our personal and communal lives. How do we live a faith whose social manifestation is compassion and whose public expression is justice? And how do we raise our children by those values? That may be the most important battle of spiritual formation in our times… Our religious congregations are not meant to be social organizations that merely reflect the wider culture’s values, but dynamic countercultural communities whose purpose is to reshape both lives and societies.

We all know this from Jesus’ words in Matthew Chapter 25 – “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Or as James Forbes, the pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, put it, “Nobody gets to heaven without a letter of reference from the poor!”

Dan Perjovschi - Temporary, Timely Art at MOMA

I happened upon a curious scene on the 2nd floor of New York's Museum of Modern Art yesterday. A worker on a crane was painting over a huge art installation that had been created directly on the wall. In the corner, a young man stood guard over a camera on a tripod, documenting the artwork's disappearance with time lapse photography. Curious, I approached and asked him whose art this was.

The mural was painted by Dan Perjovschi, an artist from Bucharest, Romania. Although this is his first American solo show, he is known the world over for his witty and incisive social and political images, which he creates in response to current events. Hence the fleeting nature of the art. When it ceases to be timely, it is gone.

I particularly loved these two images - one of a man peeking through the stripes of the American flag to see what is behind, and next to it a shadow casting a man (as opposed to a man casting a shadow). His work, at first glance, is simple and funny. On further observation, it is uniquely thought provoking.

There is a clip on YouTube of the artist describing his work on this piece. Click on the link below to see Perjovschi at work and hear him talk about creating this piece in front of an international audience in New York.

YouTube - Dan Perjovschi at MoMA

O.C. RAGE SOFTBALL TEAM ADVANCES TO THE FINAL EIGHT OF THE SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES.

Dateline: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The Orange County Rage celebrate after beating the Pennsylvania Hurricanes 6-1 to advance to the Final Eight in the Class-A Softball World Series.

The Orange County Rage, a 16 & Under Fastpitch Softball Travel team, overcame relatively poor initial seeding (20th out of 22 teams), and blisteringly hot weather conditions today, playing their way through the “loser’s bracket” to advance to the Final Eight of the 2007 Softball World Series. The prestigious Myrtle Beach tournament has drawn teams from all up and down the East Coast, as well as a number of premier Midwest teams.

Four of our local Cornwall girls are playing for the Rage: 2nd baseman Amy Lindland (Cornwall H.S. JV), 3rd baseman Erin Miller (Cornwall H.S. JV), pitcher/first baseman Kelsey Hand (Cornwall H.S. Varsity), and left fielder Jules Kelly (Cornwall H.S. JV). The rest of the team is composed of players from all over the county (Goshen, Burke, Tuxedo, Chester, Monroe/Woodbury, Minisink, and Otisville).

The temperature was 104 and the heat index was at 120 degrees at game time on Friday – Myrtle Beach’s hottest recorded temperature since 1953. The Rage had already lost one game in the double elimination semifinals, so they needed to win both games today to stay in the tournament. They easily won their first game, 7-2 over the South Carolina Fusion. The second game was closer, with the Rage clinging to a slim 2-1 lead through the first four innings. Jules Kelly capped a four-run rally in the fifth inning with a 2 RBI single, and the Rage beat the Pennsylvania Hurricanes 6-1.

Manager Jim Lloyd feels good about the team’s chances in the final, and says they have played much better than their 3-3-1 tournament record indicates. “This team is as good as any team down here. The games that we have won have been by wide margins, and our losses have been one run games.”

The scrappy Rage team faces a new challenge as they look ahead to tomorrow’s final. They will need to play (and win) four straight games to win the tournament, and they are down to just nine players. They had already lost their regular first baseman to mononucleosis and the second catcher has a shoulder injury that has left her unable to throw. In today’s opener, centerfielder Rebecca Monteith dove for a fly ball and broke her collarbone, taking her out of the lineup. The nine remaining players include the two pitchers, who alternate playing first when they are not pitching.

Despite the heat, the Cornwall girls feel they are up for the challenge.

“We’re playing really well. If we stick together and continue to hit the way we have been, we can do it,” said Kelsey Hand. Erin Miller chimed in. “And if we all stay hydrated, we can do it.” The Rage play their first game Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

Silence

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We're wrapping up - checking out of rooms, returning music, exchanging addresses. It is going to be very hard to go back to my regular choir. I have loved working with such an accomplished group of singers...and what a joy to rehearse without all the parts being banged out on the piano.

I know it sounds crazy, but I loved the precision of the diction. The air was full of spittle as we enunciated the concentrated words of the Miserere....and 59 singers articulated two precisely placed "t"s in the phrase "et tibi dabo" from Tu Es Petrus.

After the concert last night, we walked back to the chapel to sing Compline for the last time. At the end, Andrew asked us to sing the 8-part Crucifixus again. It was far better than what we did in the concert - powerful and charged with emotion. Omar and I talked about it later, and he put it best: I left my heart there, with the Crucifixus.

I think we all did.

Tallis Scholars Summer School Gala Concert

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

It's hard to give an actual review, since I was one of the performers. But I can say that the concert was very well received, we felt as though we did very well, and our tutors were smiling. It was actually easier to sing the new music that we've learned in the last few days than it was to sing the Mass, which we hadn't sung since Tuesday. It was solid, but I will admit to having a few "where are we again?" moments!

Paula (one of the sopranos who sang with us on "In Pace In Idipsum") and I were talking this morning about coming back next year. The best way to describe this remarkable week is that it's a once in a lifetime experience that you can repeat over again. I can't wait.

The Pilgrim's Progress

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Tutors Summer School

At the beginning of the week, I was counting madly to find my entrances, just trying to stay alive in the flood of polyphonic sight singing. By mid- week, I was a better reader and counter than I’ve ever been before. Now, at the end of the week, I’m working on doing less counting and more listening. I am familiar with these compositions now, and if I listen to the singers around me and watch the conductor, I should know where to come in as part of the musical line moving forward.

This means, ironically, that I’m making more mistakes now than I was a few days ago, when I was counting every bar very precisely. But, I know that I am singing more musically. I’ll try to keep the mistakes to a minimum tonight!

Final Concert Tonight

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've all been remarking that our sense of time is completely off this week. Often, when you're doing something really pleasurable, time just flies by. This is different. Although we all are certainly enjoying the experience, time moves very, very slowly. Perhaps because the days are so full, things that happened in the morning feel like days ago by the time we reach Compline in the evening.

So, as we come to Friday evening and our final performance, we're all feeling as though we have been here forever. And, although it seems impossible that we would have learned that huge folder full of music, we have. I am really looking forward to singing tonight.

Notes from Rehearsal

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've been working on a second arrangment of the Lotti piece, Crucifixus à 10 (ten separate voice parts). Peter Phillips was very excited - well, excited is not quite the word for this very measured and thoughtful man - but he was eager to hear us read through it. He had just found this version, had never heard it performed nor found a recording of it. So we sang it aloud, allowing everyone to hear it for the first time. Phillips decided that it is interesting enough to perform along with the 8-part version. "I think Lotti was having fun when he wrote this - it sounds like an experimental piece."

Yesterday, as we rehearsed it, Peter was conducting and tutor David Woodcock was observing and listening from a seat behind him. Finally, his face like a storm cloud, David strode to the podium and whispered furiously to Peter. Phillips turned to us and said "He's really cross. He doesn't like the crescendo/decrescendos in the brackets, nor the ritard marked at the cadence." Woodcock retorted "It goes against everything we have been saying all week. Where's the phrase going?!" Peter said plaintively, "Well, it's the only edition I could find, anywhere in the world."

I had not understood, before working with them, why this group calls themselves the Tallis Scholars. In fact, these kinds of passionate but good-hearted debates go on all the time, as they struggle to determine what is truly an "authentic" score as the composer would have written it, and which are "unauthentic" markings that have been added later, by editors. Several of the pieces we will be singing in the concert are editions edited by Peter Phillips or Andrew Carwood, who have researched the pieces and reached a determination of how they believe the score should read.

Twice today, Peter said "Well done." High praise. We're getting there.

The Sharing

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

I had been feeling very nervous about the Sharing, where we all gathered in the Chapel and sang the "small group" pieces that we have been rehearsing on our own this week. I was worried that our two pieces were imperfect, not musical enough, not "ready for primetime."

In fact, there was a wide range of pieces, some much more difficult than others, some more polished than others. The room was unfailingly supportive. It truly was a non-judgmental "sharing" among people who have worked together all week and who appreciated each piece for the accomplishment it represented.

And "Duo Seraphim," which we just started rehearsing this afternoon, was very well-received. Click on this link to hear the performance. Duo Seraphim

I've had very different experiences in the past. The classical music world can be very competitive and terribly unkind, and this is a roomful of high achievers. I shouldn't have worried. The warm acceptance of all of us, warts and all, was wonderful.

I really hope that I can come back next year (and ideally, for years to come). This is a rare musical experience.

Random Bits Part 3

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

• A Palestrina discussion, after a question from the 2nd Altos about whether they could move the syllable “num” to a different note, putting them in synch with the rest of the choir. Peter Phillips finally said, “Feel free to ignore that because I’m here now……” His voice trailed away as we all mentally finished the sentence, “….and he’s not.”

The printed music comes with little or no dynamic markings, and the performance notes I’ve marked in my copies say things like “gentle,” “suppressed excitement,” “very, very spacious,” or at one particularly big moment, “pile in like a rugby scrum.” This is something that Peter Phillips feels quite strongly about. In his words: I don’t like the rigid thinking that goes along with dynamics. You go suddenly into a 19th century sound world when you start thinking about the music that way.

• On our struggle to maintain the pitch as three separate units (the 5-part choir, the 4-part small group, and the men doing the chant) rehearsed the Miserere: I’m sorry about the pitch crisis that just infects this piece. When Mendelssohn heard it performed at the Vatican, he recorded the fact that the soprano was singing high “C”s, and he also noted that it sank a minor third – so we’re in good company.

Desert Island Disks

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've had an informative lecture each afternoon from one of our tutors. Today was something different. Andrew Carwood and Janet Coxwell did a live version of the venerable BBC 4 Radio programme, Desert Island Disks. The format of the program is simple - the interviewer (played by Jan) asked the guest (played by Andrew) to imagine that they are going to be left on a desert island. The guest plays excerpts from the ten recordings he must have with him, as well as naming the book he would take (in addition to the Bible and complete works of Shakespeare, which are already magically on the island!), and a single inanimate, totally useless item.

We learned a lot about Andrew and his journey to where he is today, and the end was quite bittersweet, as he is leaving the group to take the post at St. Paul's.

Andrew Carwood addresses the group. (Photo by Bill Pannill)

The exercise got me thinking about my own choices. My ten disks would be:

1. Monserrat Caballé 's recording of Puccini's Tosca, so that I'd have the heartbreaking aria "Visi D'arte."

2. The Fauré Requiem. The imploring lines of "In Paradisum" are so powerful. Can't sing it without crying.

3. Traffic’s 1972 album John Barleycorn Must Die so that I can dance to “Glad.”

4. The Who: The Ultimate Collection so that I can sing “Who Are You?” when I want to get my circulation going.

5. Benjamin Britten The Ceremony of Carols. I love the mix of Medieval and Contemporary in this cycle.

6. Mendelssohn Elijah. What great drama in this oratorio! And, I love to sing the a cappella SSA trio “Lift Thine Eyes.” Guess I'll have to do one part at a time on the desert island.

7. Stravinsky Oedipus Rex. I know this isn’t his most brilliant work, but what a dark, moody, brooding choral piece. Love it.

8. Chopin Nocturnes, as recorded by Artur Rubenstein. Sometimes you just need to weep, and this will do it.

9. Leonard Bernstein’s Chicester Psalms. For me, Bernstein is the quintessential American sound (and will endure better than Aaron Copland, whom I also love, on my desert island).

10. The Theme from Peter Gunn, by Henri Mancini. Absolutely killer. One of my favorite pieces of music to drive by. This masterpiece was our inspiration for the theme song of The Upside Down Show, a preschool television series that just won the Emmy for best title sequence.

My Book: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. This remarkable book has been described a transcendent novel about fathers and sons, loneliness and love, faith and family. I see it as an exploration of what it means to be in a state of grace. Every word is chosen with care – worth reading and re-reading.

An inanimate, absolutely useless object: A tiny Miraculous Medal, given to me by my grandmother. The edges are beveled in alternating directions so that the metal glints in the light. When I was little, I thought the Blessed Virgin was surrounded by jewels.

A Gathering of Different Lights

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

When we gather to sing Compline at the end of each evening, we sing in the Chapel of St. Ignatius, a unique space designed by architect Steven Holl. His guiding idea for the design of the chapel was “A gathering of different lights."



He has also described it as “seven bottles of light in a stone box.” Fortunately, it sounds as good as it looks.

Small Groups and "The Sharing"

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Tonight is the “Sharing,” in which all the small ensembles which have been forming all week will sing for each other. I am in two of these groups, one a mixed (SATB) group doing ‘s “Ave Regina Coelorum,” and I also formed an all-female, SSA group (that’s my passion – I sing a cappella with two good friends back at home). The SSA group is doing Orlando di Lasso’s “In Pace In Idipsum” (In Peace I will Sleep) and because the text is about sleeping peacefully knowing that the Lord protects us, we’ve been invited to sing at Compline (the chanted Evensong) tonight. Jan coached us last evening, and was a tremendous help in shaping the lines of this hushed, gentle piece.

At the last moment this afternoon, our SSA group was asked to join another group of four women who had been working on Victoria's "Duo Seraphim," and felt they needed more voices. So, with just two rehearsals before and after dinner, we will sing that, too.

Last evening, a tenor came up to me and said “If I come back next year, I’d like to sing in one of your small groups.” Flattered, I thought that perhaps he liked my singing, or had heard that we are making beautiful music. Instead, he added, “I hear your groups are really well-organized.” Ah, well. Props for being a good producer.
Figures…….

Janet Coxwell: Bright Vowels, “Brighter” Warm-Ups!

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Jan has started us off at 9:00 every morning with a warm-up that includes not only stretching and vocalizing, but also dancing….this morning we were grooving to the Scissor Sisters. Nothing like a little disco to get your body into gear! Her energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and since she’s a singer who clearly knows what shes doing, it seems crazy not to jump in and dance along.

She has been giving individual voice lessons all week, and also has been coaching the choir as a whole. Her particular challenge has been to get us to sing “bright vowels.” We’re getting better, though shaking off years of American training in "proper" vowels sounds is quite a task.

More Random Bits

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

• Peter Phillips conducted the rehearsals this morning, as we worked on new music including Palestrina's "Tu est Petris" ("You are Peter and upon this rock....."). We were reading through and he stopped us, saying "Basses, you are leading us into a new section of the text and I can't understand you. The words here are important - et portae inferi non praevalebunt (and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it). Cheerful voice from the bass section: "Gates of Hell coming right up, sir."

• (Pleadingly) "Sopranos, there was a sound in the middle of my daylight moment....."

Minor Regret

Dateline:Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

I had hoped there would be more interaction between the “young” (under 25) students and the rest of us. When I’ve been able to grab one-on-one moments I’ve enjoyed each of them, and they are certainly holding their own as members of the choir. I understand how difficult it is - they’re feeling the hip peer pressure – that they’ll somehow be uncool if they’re seen consorting with us old folks. And, I think we (the older ones) could have reached out more.

It’s a missed opportunity, because there are some fascinating people here this week – a Law Professor from Columbia University, an astrophysicist who just spent 2.5 months living at the South Pole installing a new telescope, a physician who specializes in high risk pregnancies, an engineer who is filing for a patent on a wind turbine that he has invented…..the list goes on and on, through all sorts of fascinating people at the top of their professions.

It’s not surprising, when you think about it. I mean, how many people would choose to spend 13 hours a day sight reading 8-part, polyphonic, sacred music, in Latin? It’s a unique group of people who seek out intense creative challenges, not only for this “vacation,” but also in the work that they do.

Special Moments from the Palestrina Mass

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

The day that we sang Palestrina's Missa Laudate Dominum was the Feast Day of St. Ignatius Loyola. The Priest declined to give a homily, saying that he would let the music of Palestrina speak instead. He told us briefly that St. Ignatius traveled to Rome shortly after his ordination, and said Mass in the Sistine Chapel. One of the choir boys would have been Palestrina, who was 10 or 12 years old at the time. And in subsequent decades, Loyola certainly would have known and heard the work of the great polyphonic composer, Palestrina.

Knowing this made singing the work, in this beautiful cathedral and on this specific day, even more special.

One of my fellow altos, Joseph Adam, is also the organist at the cathedral. He played a spectacular postlude, Widor's "Allegro maestoso" from his Symphony #6 in G Minor. Dark, rolling fireworks....a fantastic ending to the evening.

Singing at the Cathedral

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Oh my goodness – what a building to sing in! Our sixty voices, a cappella, ringing out in that space were simply breathtaking, if I do say so myself. ☺

We did very well last night. Not perfect, of course, but we did a good job considering that we’ve only been singing this Mass for 3 days, and we performed Palestrina’s Motet on the same theme after having first seen it yesterday morning!

I am a believer in singing out, doing everything you can to make the words come alive in performance. This is a little scary when you don't know the music terribly well, but I decided to just go for it. I missed some spots, but nothing major. Walking back from the cathedral, I was talking with Denise, a soprano who is doing this workshop for the fourth time. She concurred. "Even the best singers around you are going to miss an entrance. You need to be brave and sing that entrance, even if others around you are not." She's right - although sometimes the people around you are not singing because you are coming in at the wrong place!

The alto section propels the drive to the climax in the Benedictus with a series of running quavers (the British term for eighth notes). If I do say so, we kicked butt on our quavers - solid as a rock.

David Woodcock conducted tonight (I was surprised – I guess Peter Phillips will do the “big” concert on Friday). He was very good, and inspired confidence – all we had to do was keep your eyes on him to know we were in the right place. He made a bold move, changing the tempo and picking up speed during the “Hosannas” at the end of the Sanctus, and we were right with him.

Our tutors had smiles on their faces, and that’s what meant the most to me.

First Public Performance Tonight

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

We're singing the Palestrina Mass tonight at St. James Cathedral, so that will be our focus in rehearsal today. We haven't even sung the Credo yet. I would guess that will be first up in rehearsal this morning.

It was interesting, yesterday, running through other segments (Kyrie, Gloria, etc) that we already "know." We've had so little rehearsal time and covered so much new music (at least compared to what I'm used to) that it almost felt as though we were doing new pieces rather than ones we have already worked on. This will be the biggest challenge for me, I think - singing out confidently in performance when I'm still very reliant on the score to simply find the notes and rhythm. Fortunately, there are many singers here who are much more experienced than me, and I know they will carry us through. Still, there are only six of us in the First Alto section, so you can't exactly disappear into the crowd!

David Woodcock is our rehearsal conductor, and Peter Phillips has been sitting quietly behind him during these rehearsals. You almost forget that he is there until he hears something that he is unhappy with. Then, Phillips stands very quietly and gradually makes his way to the podium, very slowly as we keep rehearsing. Though we do our best to keep singing away and fix whatever we're struggling with, once he's on his feet it won't be long until he takes over to work on a point that he finds particularly important.

It will certainly be interesting, tonight, to be singing in a totally different venue (cathedral acoustics, rather than the dead room we've been rehearsing in at the University), with a new conductor (Peter Phillips will conduct in concert). We have one hour of rehearsal in the Cathedral before the Mass, so I guess we'll figure out the transition then.

Antonio Lotti's Crucifixus à 8 Voix

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

This is another amazing piece of choral music that I have only heard on recordings, and never thought I would have the opportunity to sing. It was composed around 1718, decades later than the Palestrina works we've been singing, and I must say, it was a pleasure to dig into the lush dissonances in this piece.

We're working terribly hard, and the concentration required to keep sight-reading all this new repertoire a cappella is really draining. Despite how tired my brain is, I find myself in a continual state of exhilaration. One transcendent musical experience after another.

And, Kathleen (my choir director) will be happy to hear that my sight-reading, and in particular my counting, get better every minute. Improve or die!

Random Moments from Tallis Tutor Sessions

Dateline: Seattle: Tallis Scholars Summer School

• After working for ten minutes on a single phrase ("et tibi da bo," meaning "and I will give unto you"), Tutor David Woodcock finally seemed satisfied. "That is absolutely....." (loaded pause) "......nearly very good."


• "Polyphony requires that the quavers be strictly in rhythm, absolutely together." This is British for talking about eighth notes. "Crotchets" are quarter notes. We're in another world here, and we're spending a lot of time on our quavers.


• Peter Phillips worked with us on a Gesualdo motet for an hour after dinner last night, 'just for fun." Actually, sight-reading Gesualdo a cappella is kind of fun - the kind of satisfaction you get from finding your way through a very dark forest. At one point, Phillips cautioned: "Tenors, you're flat. Singing out of tune in Gesualdo is a dangerous game."

Mt. Rainier Rises Above Seattle University

Dateline: Seattle: Tallis Scholars Summer School

We've had gorgeous weather, atypical for Seattle, all week. The days are crisp and sunny - cool enough for a jacket in the morning and evening, getting up into the seventies during the day.

As Seattle natives are wont to say when they have clear weather: "Oh, look - the mountains are out!"

The Allegri "Miserere"

Dateline: Seattle. Tallis Scholars Summer School

Last night we all attended a concert at St. James Cathedral here in Seattle, where our teachers (the Tallis Scholars) sang along with a local professional group, Peter Phillips conducting. It was amazing, and enlightening to see all the things they keep haranguing us about put into practice. In particular, they are all over us about brighter vowel sounds (much brighter and more forward than the way we have all been taught to sing by choir directors here in the U.S.). Hearing this very small group create such a full, sparkling sound pretty much convinced me.

They did a stunning performance of Allegri’s famous Miserere. It is one of the most famous pieces of a cappella religious music performed today. I have heard recordings, but never heard it live before last night. It was gorgeous – the main, 5-part choir in the center of the cathedral, the small, 4-part “chant” choir (with Jan as the soprano soloist doing all the famous High Cs) up at the altar, and Andrew at the back of the aisle singing the lines of the psalms (which fall in between the chorus bits). To think that we’re going to perform this same piece on Friday night….can’t imagine it.

They were singing from an version of the piece that is Peter Phillips’ own edition – he has worked hard to try to restore it to what he believes is something close to the original, mid-17th century edition. Earlier in the afternoon, he gave us a brief lecture about the history of this piece. It was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to be sung in the Sistine Chapel during matins on Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week. At the end of the Tenebrae service, 27 candles would be extinguished one by one, and at the end, the pope would kneel in prayer as the Miserere was sung by the Cappella Sistina (the Vatican Choir) in an embellished, improvisational style that included improvised counterpoint. The piece was so highly valued that it was forbidden to be copied or performed outside of the Sistine Chapel – under penalty of excommunication!

Several copies were smuggled out, but none included the signature improvisations, so it was hard to duplicate the magic of the Vatican choir. Then, during Holy Week, 12-year-old Mozart was taken by his father to the Vatican for services. He listened, and went home and wrote the whole thing down from memory! That copy has unfortunately been lost, and there have been many, many versions over the centuries (including Mendelssohn’s, who also listened to a performance and then attempted to capture it on paper). The one we will learn this week is the Phillips edition, and he was quite passionate in talking about what he believes was authentic, and why. As he admitted, “It’s not Renaissance, it’s not polyphony, and it’s nothing at all to do with the Sistine Chapel.” But it certainly is beautiful.

Such an interesting week this is. I am off to dive into another morning of rehearsal. We will finish learning the Palestrina Mass today (and a good thing, since we’re performing it tomorrow night).