By Morris Dean
Rila Music Exchange is a joint project of the Ardenza Foundation and the Municipality of Rila, in Bulgaria. The most recent Exchange took place August 31-Sept. 8, with workshops bringing young ethno-musicians of all nationalities to the Rila mountains of southwestern Bulgaria to learn and perform together with local amateur folk music ensembles, enlivening village squares in the region with celebrations of folk music from around the world.
But you can't satisfy them all
By Morris Dean
Christopher Hitchens, dying, did as he did in living;
gathered his wits and understanding and wrote
publishable lines he hardly ever blotted, giving
us thoughts that I for one oft find apt to quote.
About being occupied with celebrities
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why do people have to be so occupied with celebrities? –Deborah
Yeah, funny, right? And a relatively recent phenomenon from my generational perspective.
It just seems to be one of those things that happen in a culture...Connecting talented and totally untalented, but “famous” creatures with constant pictorial and internet-communicated coverage.
I daresay the “tulip mania” of the 1600s was no more or less sane. If you are unfamiliar with this “fashion/passion,” please consult Wikipedia.
The Cameraman
By Ed Rogers
The sun: its light filtered by the cloud of war. You: seeking the reason for the contamination, raise your camera. The camera’s eye captures the visualization of life and death as the beams of light slide in and out of the smoke and dirt. Each click of the camera highlights the destruction; each turn captures new horror.
Rock ’n Roll
By Jim Rix
Nature dictates the first two pleasures of life. These primal pleasures are the same not only for us humans but for all living creatures. The hunger drive is necessary to provide the energy for life to procreate. That’s right—from the perspective of survival, life is all about food and sex. That’s why they’re so much fun. We humans with our superior intelligence (I use this term loosely) are able to satisfy these two primal pleasures with relative ease, and we are therefore left with significant free time. It’s this free time that allows us to engage in individual third pleasures. Some enjoy reading, writing and editing. Some enjoy riding motorcycles. Some enjoy traveling. For me it’s Rock ’n Roll.
The Passage of Power
By Jonathan Price
Lyndon Baines Johnson was our 36th President and held office for five years—from the assassination of John Kennedy in November 1963 until 1969 and the inauguration of Richard Nixon. Those of us who, like the writer of this review, lived through that period, do not on the whole, I think, remember Johnson fondly, for he was so intimately associated with the continuation of the Vietnam war and the apparent intransigence with which he pursued its policies and managed to alienate previous supporters and allies, including many of our international allies.
...of a predator
By motomynd
As the plane taxied toward the terminal I turned on my phone. A text message immediately lit the screen: “Be careful when you go home. I drove by a few minutes ago and there were cops and animal control trucks all over the place.”
Edited by Morris Dean
[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]
Big Moments in Small Lives. Thanks to all of you, I got to talk to Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC on Saturday. I had the honor of being her Foot Soldier of the Week. You can read my full interview and watch my interview here: "Meet Madison Kimrey, 12-year-old voting rights activist."
I'm still knocking on Pat McCrory's door. I'm also working on the goal of trying to get the ability for teens to pre-register to vote back before I turn 16. I realize I'm knocking on a very big door and my goal is a very big goal. This is why I'm so thankful for all your help.
We are going to make a difference here in North Carolina and for our country no matter what. Forward together, not one step back.
A sheep's head and a pig
By Morris Dean
Chapter 21 of Hugues de Montalembert's 1985 book, Eclipse: A Nightmare, opens:
About a difference between men and women
By Susan C. Price
[Questions are followed by answers and then, inevitably by ADVICE...you DID expect that...didn’t you?]
Why can so many men eat the same as their wives but not gain weight? Is it their metabolism? Women’s hormones? –Kathleen
First, this is absolutely a fact, and it sucks. And the answer to both of the following sub-questions is also, yup.
I am not qualified, nor inclined to give you lots of science. So, we’ll stick with the simple stuff, and a few gross generalizations.
Moral Monday
By Jim Sadler
The editor asked me to write a reflection on Moral Mondays, presumably with some reference to a recent comment on Friday’s “Fish” column:
Since you mentioned Moral Mondays: How about asking someone from that group to write a Moristotle post article explaining what that was all about? While many of us applaud their willingness to carry “ridiculous signs,” as writer Allan Gurganus put it, we would like to know if there was ever a plan to actually accomplish something? Was this protest with a purpose, or just performance art?
Edited by Morris Dean
The Neumanns, at anchor
The Pineapple people have had a very busy month, what with the football preseason, a trip to Sonoma County to see Yo Yo Ma on his "Goat Rodeo" tour and a little bit of boating thrown in. We haven't taken the big boat out all month and hope to make up for that in September, starting with being anchored out for the four-day weekend ending today. This is our three-year anniversary of owning Pineapple Girl II, and what a great three years it has been. We are really looking forward to relaxing and sure feel like we need it after the hectic summer we've had.
When there were unions
By Ed Rogers
My father was in the military. Therefore, growing up, I had no idea what a union was. The rest of my family were from Mississippi and so afraid a black man would take their job if the unions ever came to the south, they voted to make Mississippi a right-to-work state.
The first time I can remember hearing about unions was on a vacation back to Aberdeen, Mississippi. This was in the early fifties. It was some time after my family and I came back from Alaska in 1950.
Why does Jasmine have the blues?
By Jonathan Price
Woody Allen’s new film, Blue Jasmine, is his best in the last decade, perhaps a return to the heights of emotionally and intellectually challenging films like Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Its title is both name and comment on its central character, played powerfully yet subtly by Cate Blanchett: a character whose given name was Jeanette Francis, but who changed it, like Allen himself changed his, to alter her sense of herself, to create a new identity.
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