Tibetans' Struggle (how's your microwave?)

Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastary-IN-EXILE performed at Rollins. The performance ended with a monk's emotional statement about the purpose of the tour: 1) to raise money to support the monks in EXILE, 2) to raise awareness of the Tibetan struggle for human rights, autonomy, and, dare we hope, freedom. He reminded us that since the Chinese Communist invasion & occupation: 6,500 monastaries, libraries & schools were destroyed, 1.2 million Tibetans have been murdered or tortured to death, the Tibetan language is forbidden in schools, the Chinese language is the only legal language of commerce, & in the cities Tibetans are being relocated to ghettos as ancient neighborhoods are demolished to build high rises to house Chinese immigrants. This is GENOCIDE, and it is being perpetrated by our largest trading partner (how many things do you own that say "Made in China"??). There is only one way to escape from Tibet into exile: walk out over the mountains, risking frost-bite, starvation or execution. Last year Tibetan nuns were gunned down in a pass in front of German mountain climbers who filmed it. Why would the Chinese be so flagrant? Because they can, with no consequence, because we need their toasters. How can you help? I focus on two organizations: The Tibet Fund, which provides food, shelter, medical & education care for exiles, and Int'l Campaign for Tibet, which works hard to free thousands of political prisoners & to lobby for basic human rights in Tibet. I know, I know, there are plenty of horrors around the world. But, here's an ancient, peaceful, spiritual land that is being systematically obliterated by the people who make the appliances and clothes in your home. It's worth your attention.

Food for the Brain/Heart/Soul

Watching lots of movies on the small screen these days. The Lives of Others blew me away, about a Stasi agent & the artists he eavesdrops on. "That's the best acting I have ever seen", I said out loud when the credits rolled. Tell No One was cool: a French "Fugitive" with some extra plot layers. Angel-A was quirky & fun: a leggy angel, in high heels and mini-skirt, dogs a lost soul, well played by Jamel Debbouze, to teach him to open his heart to life. Directed by Luc Besson who did the original La Femme Nikita. The Love Letter, oops, a book not a movie ("When I was your age television was called books!" -- name that movie...) Wonderful drawing of the character of a middle aged control-freak flirt who owns a books store and receives a love letter that might not have been intended for her. Written by Cathleen Schine, whose Rameau's Niece I enjoyed years ago. Finishing up The Other Side of You, Salley Vickers, a psychiatrist learns about being true to self & life from a suicide patient. Interesting references to Caravaggio. I much prefer Vickers' Instances of the Number Three, which is on my top ten: well written, surprising plot, great characters.

Mom's Birthday

The sibs and Mom gathered to celebrate her 91st birthday at Snowbird Lodge in the Smokey Mountains of NC. Mom is doing great and bearing the burdens of aging with wonderful grace. The sibs had fun playing blackjack on the porch, counting on our fingers. Randy got her a digital frame which we loaded with lots of pix of grand children & great grand children. Randy has been doing a great job of keeping the wheels on the cart with Mom in SC. Snowbird has great food, by the way.

Steinway Re-born

My mother's old Steinway, 1898, was recently rebuilt by a great piano technician Debbie new in Aspen, Kevin Stock. It was the full Monty: new sound board, strings, a new Renner action. He also replaced the legs and the music stand with the style that was originally on the piano a hundred years ago! Most importantly, it sounds fantastic and the action is a dream. Debbie is breaking it in, practicing for three up-coming gigs!

Doc

We've had a couple of nice visits with our Santa Fe friends Doc & Lydia. Doc, a long time resident of Santa Fe, is a true raconteur, with great stories of the city and its colorful residents! He is also a wonderful artist, creating icon-like works of wood and hammered tin with enameled paintings. Lydia had an extraordinary career in show business in Russia and is a delight. They are true gems.

Graduation!

Hooray, Jessica graduated on August 16. Congratulations to Jessica for completing a long hard journey over the past two years.Two 40 day trips to Sagewalk Wilderness Camp, Oregon. 52 miles of hikes each time with backpack and sleeping in tents, the first trip in sub-freezing weather of January. Junior & senior year at Monarch: no proms, but farm crew, kitchen crew, & maintenance crew. We spent three days at graduation, lots of hugging, "sharing" and getting to know some of the other parents for the first time. It was a small group. Only five graduated from the original peer group of 14. Way to go Jessica! Each student made a presentation and Jessica sang an acapella duet, awesome. She sang a second duet with the same student. We are so proud of her hard work and all her accomplishments!

Santuario de Chimayo

We also visited Santuario de Chimayo, the "Lourdes of North America". Debbie quickly became best friends with the priest who rescued this old church. In a tiny chapel next to the altar there is a hole in the floor. People come from all over the world to scoop out the "miraculous healing dirt". So, I scooped and brought some home for my dear friend Angela, who is in the early stages of her journey of healing.

Santa Fe!

Another wonderful visit to Santa Fe. Heard 2 operas (I only slept through one of them!). It was fun to see cellist Lynn Harrell give Debbie a big hug after a SFe Chamber Music Festival concert. I went to a labyrinth walk at St. Francis Cathedral, and and got my picture in the paper. If you look really really close, you can tell it's me! Here's a first: I helped make a sand mandala with a Tibetan Lama at the Stupa outside of town. I am enjoying getting to know Dorjee, a wonderful Tibetan who has a shop next door and at the Tesuque Flea Market. Another reminder of: "when you think you are having a bad day, it's really not so bad." Brother Al & Anne came to town for the opera & stayed with us for a couple of days, and we had a nice time together. On the next to last day we had a big event. I had my mother's old Steinway rebuilt by a great technician that Debbie knows, and he delivered it on my last day there! Wow, it looks great, plays beautifully and sounds wonderful!!

Finally Quest Pix

We also finally got some photos from Jessica's winter Quest trip in the Canadian mountains, 11 days of backpacking on skis and living in the snow.

Jessica's Birthday

We enjoyed a great visit with Jessica, her second time home in 18 frakkin' months! She looked great, very healthy, and very mature. We had a nice gathering for her 18th birthday. She's completed her high school academics but returned to school to finish "the program". This week she does the five day Pinnacle, which is an intensive group with lots of emotional work and little sleep. Then, she is off for the Gift Trip, which is two weeks of community service at a facility for adults with mental handicaps. In mid-August we gather in the little town-next-to-the-middle-of-nowhere for her graduation, hooray! We are all glad this journey is coming to an end, and proud of Jessica for all her hard work. The adjustments to college life should be a snap, and in fact day-to-day life a lot easire: no kitchen crew, no farm crew, no barn crew!

Luna di Miele

D & I took our belated honeymoon to Italia and had a great trip. Picture perfect weather for all day walking tours of Firenze & Perugia. D's favorite was San Marco's frescoes by Fra Angelico, gems of the early Renaissance. In Perugia she encouraged me to explore the school I attended in 1973, L'Universita per Stranieri, and we found my classrooms, wow, memory lane!! We both loved the magical narrow streets & steps of medieval Perugia. Trip highlights: the Uffizi, Brunelleschi's S. Spirito, Perugia's Arco Etrusco (oldest known arch in Europe), S.S. Apostoli (a tiny OLD church in Firenze), S. Trinita's Ghirlandaio, S. Lorenzo's Michelangelo sculptures, S. Michele Arcangelo (an ancient church in Perugia, converted from a Roman temple, which I have dreamt about for 35 years!), Brunelleshci's Pazzi Chapel, S. Maria Novella's wild Fillipino Lippo frescoes, Brancaci chapel's Massacio & wandering up down the steep stairs of Perugia's narrow streets.

Bebe's Opening

We went to Santa Fe in April for Bebe Krimmer's opening at Chiaroscuro Gallery. Bebe is a great collagist and wonderful friend who we treasure. These pieces are based on images from astronomy and are a fabulous development for her work. The opening was a big success for Bebe, hooray! We had a lot of fun at dinner at Bebe's home afterwards with lots of her friends. And we added to our Bebe collection, buying a wonderful piece called Velocity of Rotation.

Commission

I have commissioned my first piece of music! It is a trio by Andrew List, a Boston composer who teaches at the Berklee College of Music, and it is for the Montage Music Society (www.montagemusicsociety.org). You might know their pianist, Debra Ayers. The piece is based on a Gaugain painting at the Boston MFA and will become part of Montage's repetoire related to the visual arts. Montage is working is on recording these pieces, hopefully this year, and support of this project is most welcome! I heard Montage play a preview of the piece in Boston and it is wonderful. The official premiere will be at the St. Botolph arts club in March (an organization with quite a history and membership).

Hooray! -- Updated

Jessica made it safe and sound from The Quest! I talked with her briefly and she said, "I never thought I'd be glad to be back at this school, but I am! This was the hardest thing I've ever done, even harder than wilderness." That's saying something, since she spent 40 days camping & backpacking in Oregon last winter in sub-freezing temperatures. Hopefully a stronger, more self-aware and self-confident young woman came down from the mountain! The details: backpacked 30 miles up the mountains on telemark skis, climbing 12,000 feet. It snowed everyday, including 30 inches during the 3 day solo.They carried all their gear, cooked all their meals in the snow, & slept in tents and hand-made shelters. We can guess on the hygiene!!

Architectural coincidence

Just finished reading Female Ruins by Geoff Nicholson, the story of the daughter of the deceased "most famous British architect never to have built a building". She ends up on a quest to see the one building he actually did build, which is unknown to scholars. Many years ago dad abandoned his family and stayed in contact with them, ....a la Louis Kahn, the American architect featured in the film My Architect (see below). Strange to stumble on both accidentally. If you like architecture, you might enjoy this quirky book, a fast read.

Quest

Jessica is in the middle of her eleven day Quest trip into the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia. The photo is from the area they will be in, taken by the guy who is leading them. She and nine other students are backpacking on telemark skis and eating & sleeping in tents. They get one night in a yurt in the middle of the trip! She is doing a three day solo, which would give anyone plenty to time to reflect on life and on staying warm! Today's high there is five degrees! We understand that the scenery is spectacular, and the only way to see it is to ski in. We hope she is having fun in addition to building self-awarness and a large amount of self-confidence.

Christmas With Bebe

Jessica has been away, so I was going to cancel Christmas. Debbie vetoed that idea, which was good, since no Christmas was even more depressing. So I put up most of my decorations, but not the big tree. Even that was depressing so, I bought a tiny pre-lit artificial tree, and decorated that. Much better. But, for the first time ever I did not want to be at home. So, our friend Bebe invited us to stay with her, and there wasn't anywhere else I'd rather have been for Christmas. She is a true joy, and we had a ball. She just got a new gallery, a really good one, and a show in April. So, for the first time, she let me help her in her studio, WOW! It was great! Bebe is amazing. So much energy, passion, fun, and a huge heart. Thanks for a great Christmas!

Another cool indie

We recently watched two cool indie films. Guaranteed Enlightenment is a quirky, hand-held video, natural light film. Two very different brothers head off from Germany to a Zen monastary in Tokyo. The first half of the movie explored how annoying & self absorbed they both were, although in completely different ways. It was so effective that Debbie walked out of the "theater"! The second half was filmed in the monastary. I was going to say "staged", but it wasn't staged at all. We see how the brothers slowly collide with the disciplines of this world, adapt to it, and learn a lot about themselves. The film gives a very real picture of a novice's experience in the monastary, as opposed to the glossy portrayals one might see in prettier films or coffee table books. Watching the sweating, overweight Gustav polish the hallways on his hands and knees really honed in on a big part of the monastary's message. Test your quirkiness and give it a look!

Delightful Movies

My Architect is a documentary by the "illegitimate" son of the renowned architect Louis Kahn. You could not have written a stranger and more touching tale, in the truth is stranger than fiction category. Kahn was 5'6" tall, had an odd voice, and his face was covered with scars from a childhood burn. He was a terrible businessman, had few clients, and few buildings despite enormous talent and vision. Knowing all of this, it seems unlikely that in addition to his marriage with one child, he also had two other families, with women who worked with him. Despite the odd, and seemingly heartless, treatment by Kahn, the women were still totally in love with him thirty years after his death. The film is his son's attempt to discover his father, his art, and his life. For architecture buff's there are some fabulous interviews with biggie 20th century architects and clients. The film is touching, beautifully photographed, and very much worth seeing.

Jessica!!

We visited Jessica last weekend, it was great to see her after four months!! These trips are emotionally exhausting, even when they go well, as this one did. We got to spend some time chillaxing like in the good old days, which was really nice. And, it was chilly, so my new winter coat came in handy. She gets up at 530 am and has morning chores on "farm crew" outside most days of the week, so the Florida girl is getting her second dose of real winter! We have all been working hard on her college application, and she is excited about it. If all goes well we will have two B.F.A.'s in our household in 4 years, and I believe my father would get quite a chuckle out of that!! She has been training for the school's annual Quest trip. This will be 11 days and nights of skiiing, backpacking and camping in the Canadian mountains. Oh, yes, it will be in February! We are very proud and excited about how hard she is working and impressed with the strong emotional footings she is learning at the school.