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« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »
Friday, February 29, 2008 - 11:26:32
Calling Diana Prince! And bring that Magic Lasso!
I’ve been reading the Crayola-wielding social critics in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s letters pages again - all right, every day - and have been reading letters that are quite wonderful in their childlike belief that water boarding (torture) is the magic pill that will break those smirking terrorists who would hide behind Americans’ civil liberties not to talk.
But, like on “24,” the clock is ticking - what is a citizen activist/medieval torturer to do? Get out the old pails of water!
Because, after all, once someone begins to be tortured, golly, they’ll just fold like a cheap suit and tell all - and what’s more, it will all be the truth. Actionable intelligence, as they like to say on the nightly news.
There is a sort of belief that water boarding - or any sort of torture - is akin to using Wonder Woman’s Magic Lasso. You know, the one she would throw around you and you would be compelled to tell the truth?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasso_of_Truth
Except that we don’t have a magic lasso, and human beings sort of tend to babble to get people to stop the pain. I know that I would. I’d be mixing in so much fact and fantasy it would take them weeks to figure out what was “actionable intelligence.”
Just thinking that I might be tortured wants to make me confess to half the crimes the Hardy Boys solved.
Oh, wait - maybe, just maybe, they are confessing because we are Americans, and have God on our side? Or because we are Americans we can tell the difference between hard truth and panicked babbling?
Is puzzlement, as Yul Brynner sang.
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Oops Department
Yes, it was the Fayetteville mayoral election of 1992 that I was writing about the other day, and not 1972.
1972 was when Goerge McGovern lost his race for president, and NBC canceled “Bonanza,” two traumatic events I have not yet fully recovered from.
*****
Quote of the Day
Don't we all know how relatively easy it has always been to lose at least the habit, if not the faculty, of thinking? Nothing more is needed than to live in constant distraction and never leave the company of others. - Hannah Arendt
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - 22:38:33
Gay adoption in Arkansas? Why not?
I’ve been reading a book by my old friend Gary Beuschel, “Papa and Daddy and Babies in Alaska.” Gary and his partner, who both live in San Francisco, have two daughters - born via surrogacy. I’m only halfway through, but it is a difficult book to put down.
The babies went through a period in NICU, and there are a lot of emotional ups and downs throughout the story. This isn’t meant to be proper review; I’ll write a full review later.
I just mention Gary’s book because it is an inspiring story, and is especially timely, now that the intellectual thugs at Families First Foundation are seeking to ban gay and straight unmarried couples from adopting, or to serve as foster parents.
Over the years I have known a lot of people who have related many horror stories about their experiences as foster children. All of the foster parents have, of course, been straight. Most foster parents are decent people, it should be noted, though there never enough of them to go around.
And I have known gay couples who have had children, usually from a previous relationship. I have only seen children who were loved and cherished.
I’ve been thinking about those children now, as I read “Papa and Daddy and Babies in Alaska.” I’m reading about two people who love these two little girls, and I think about the guy in Fayetteville who picked up a two-month old baby and smashed her into the wall to make her stop crying.
Making a child-sized dent in the wall, he covered it up with a dragon poster.
And the mother? Well, this charming example of humanity at its finest is accused of giving the same baby whiskey and Coke in order to make it stop crying.
Just four years ago, the “enlightened” voters of Arkansas decided that marriage should be defined as only between one man and one woman. Yet according to a recent UA poll, over 65 percent of Arkansans would be in favor of allowing a gay person to adopt a child.
I think that maybe - just maybe - in 2008 we can put some of that rancid old-time bigotry behind us, and take a bold step forward.
******
On the Air with Coralie Koonce
On Monday, March 3 (7pm) Coralie Koonce, author of "Models, Myths and Muddles," will appear as a guest on my show (Channel 18 - COX Cable, Fayetteville).
Koonce's book asks the question, "Can we survive stone-age thinking?" As the human race encounters a vast array of problems - ranging all the way from global warming to oil addiction and a host of other problems in between - Koonce makes the observation that all too many of our responses are knee-jerk quick fixes, resulting from a poor approach to thinking about the problems.
Koonce says, "We seem to be moving backward just when we need to take a giant step forward."
Koonce, who holds a Master's degree in Comparative Literature, is a former writer for Grapevine, and has also written a science fiction novel, "The Youtopia Game."
Show dates and times:
March 3 - 7pm
March 4 - noon
March 8 - 6pm
Arkansas Music Pavilion - there's a good reason why it is a "non-profit"
New blood is being pumped into the Arkansas Music Pavilion!
Life is good.
I dunno - maybe they should start by just moving the damn thing out of the Mall parking lot?
******
Wow - 20 debates already? Let’s have some more!
Well I’m all debated out - how about you?
I have to admit, though, that the national debates are a little more exciting than our local debates manage to be. Ours have always been a little too calm. Is it the format, the questions, or do we have candidates who aren’t used to being on television?
For the last few years most candidate debates have been on Fayetteville Government Channel, which does an admirable job of putting them on. But that shouldn’t preclude anyone else from organizing a debate on Community Access Television if they so desire.
If there is a camera and a microphone, candidates will show up.
I, for one, would love to see more spirited discussions on the local level than the often flat answers we so often get. Yes, okay, I like to see the snarls, the rejoinders, and the “But I need to respond to that last remark!” we so often see in national debates.
And when I write that anyone can put a debate on C.A.T., that is literally true; all you need is a crew. Which I suspect wouldn’t be that hard to find. A church, a political party, the Boy Scouts, a human rights group or a Neighborhood Association could come down and organize a debate dealing with the issues they care about.
It’s never too early to start thinking about this stuff. Even though election season in Fayetteville doesn’t “officially” begin until September, several candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring for mayor, and folks are being approached for aldermen seats.
I’ve even been approached. Sometimes I think bout it, and then I remember my three failed attempts in the past - a true “mandate from the people.”
*****
Fayetteville mayoral debate - 1972
1972 saw six candidates running for mayor of Fayetteville. There wasn’t a lot going on in the way of televised debates at the time - FGC was not in the business of putting them on yet - and so we devoted an hour of my show to a live mayoral debate.
We sent out press releases, and got a special moderator to ask the questions that my crew spent all week working on. When the evening arrived newspaper reporters came, TV news crews were there, and five of the six candidates showed up.
By everyone’s reckoning, the evening was a Grand Success.
The candidate who didn’t show up?
Fred Hanna, who won the election. Yes, I know it was after a run-off, and after Comrade Coody was smeared by the NWA Times, but still, you have to appreciate the irony.
****
Quote of the Day
It’s not easy taking my problems one at a time when they refuse to get in line. - Ashleigh Brilliant
Monday, February 25, 2008 - 23:40:48
What are you thinking, Hillary?
Now I could stand up here and say, ‘‘Let’’s just get everybody together. Let’’s get unified. The sky will open. The lights will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.’’
““Maybe I’’ve just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear,”” she said.
To read more:
www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/clinton_raps_obamas_celestial.html.
So when you attack Obama’s passion and eloquence, by some extension you are also attacking those who that believe in that passion, and support the man and his campaign.
If by some miracle - or political chicanery - Ms. Clinton gets the nomination, how will she then go about appealing to the Obama supporters she has so arrogantly dismissed?
Or will they be so disgusted they will just sit this election out?
I just don’t think anyone in the Clinton camp has even thought about this one.
******
Is the music somehow a clue?
That background music on the ads for “The Other Boleyn Girl” - is that the theme from “Cold Case”? I guess they couldn’t get “Stargate SG1".
KFSM Junior Varsity garbles Fort Smith story?
Watching KFSM (Channel 5) tonight about the power play between the Fort Smith police department and the city board. Nary a word was spoken about threats being made to board members. If any words were spoken, they were spoken very quickly indeed, and not elaborated upon.
Why did board members resign or retire?
KFSM didn’t know, and didn’t care.
Do you guys not even read newspapers?
This goes far beyond bad journalism, or even plain laziness.
******
Quote of the Day
While he intellectually understood the value of digital recording, the death of the vinyl record had seriously messed with the ability of artists to create cool album covers. No booklet in a dinky CD jewel case was ever going to match the artistry of the woodcut in Stand Up or the complexity
of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Would anybody have remembered the prism on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon if it had only been a few inches big? - Keith R.A. DeCandido, "Supernatural: Nevermore"
Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 10:52:23
Fort Smith - City of Fear?
The number of city officials who have resigned in the battle over Police Chief Kevin Lindsay’s job is now up to three.
The reason they are resigning? Threats against themselves and their families from “supporters” of Chief Lindsay, whose job was in jeopardy until this week.
It’s a pretty sorry situation when this is how a law enforcement official is kept in his position - by his supporters making death threats against elected officials.
If Kevin Lindsay doesn’t publicly repudiate the thugs who think it is their civic duty to threaten the lives of elected officials - and their families - then the Fort Smith Board of Directors should send him packing.
One likes to think that one of the first things that Lindsay, should his job future be secure, would tackle are these death threats. But didn’t we see him on TV, expressing gratitude for all the public support?
Maybe this is a situation that needs some higher authority - Arkansas State Police, or maybe the FBI - to look things over?
******
The Party of Family Values? Yeah, right . . .
Pundits were on TV last night explaining yet again that the GOP was the party of “Family Values,” and that folks might be upset if McCain really had had been involved in an extramarital affair.
Given all the moral scandals that folks in the GOP have been involved in, you pretty much have to concede that the Family Values Train left the station a while back.
*****
Shiloh Museum vs Springdale City Council
The folks at the Shiloh Museum presented a proposal for roof replacement and new foam installation to the Springdale City Council this week, at a price tag of $269,000.
Oh, no, cried some aldermen, who claim that all the museum roof needs is foam installation and repainting, rather than replacement. Estimated cost is closer to $69,000, claims Alderman Jim Reed.
Quite a cost difference. Is Springdale perhaps being penny-wise and pound-foolish?
****
Courtroom 302
One of the staples of television around the world is the drama about lawyers and courtrooms. Whether it be from the point of view of prosecution or defense counsel, such programs are fascinating to watch.
They are also pretty unrealistic, as many have had occasion to learn over the years. For those who may think that "Twelve Angry Men" and Perry Mason are the height of reality programming, Steve Bogira's excellent "Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse" will prove to be an excellent dose of cold water.
Bogira, who has been a writer for the Chicago Reader since the 1980s, spent a year in one courtroom - 302 - in Chicago's Cook County Courthouse. For those who watch the antiseptic world of television courtroom dramas, this book is likely to be an eye opener.
***
This is almost too silly for words
Looking for a book yesterday, I glanced at the spine of one novel, and was assaulted (well, it felt that way) by the words:
Leisure Fiction
What in God’s Green Earth is that, and how do you approach it? The mind boggles with the image of the leisurely reader slipping into some comfortable clothes, putting some sappy New Age music on the old stereo, mixing a lovely fruit drink - no caffeine for a Leisure Reader - and hurling oneself upon the couch, clutching their Leisure Fiction.
Leisure Fiction. I suppose that is different from Fiction with Too Many Big Words In It, or Fiction For Airplane Travelers.
All books are now banned from my bathroom until the creative folk - using “creative” in its loosest term possible - come up with an adequate term for that sort of reading.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - 23:39:13
A Conversation with Catherine Reed
What do you mean you don’t have any Catherine Reed CDs in your collection? Get thee to a music store!
Catherine Reed: Rising Star
Singer entertains Northwest Arkansas
Written by Richard S. Drake
Catherine Reed has a laugh which can dominate a room. She also has a talent which can completely seduce anyone fortunate enough to be exposed to her singing, whether it be live, a television appearance, or listening to her CD, Can You See It, released earlier this year.
Much of her work seems to arise as a result of her ongoing spiritual quest.
The Texas native has been singing since a child, spending a decade playing and singing backup in country bands, but her first love is acoustic music.Her particular idols have been Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor, though she also has high regard for Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman.
As a young girl, she had fantasies of becoming a member of the Carpenters duo.
Though quick to tell you of her musical favorites (particularly James Taylor), she is loathe to single out any musician or genre for criticism. "A true musician looks at everything, and finds something that they can learn from it," she says. "A musician is constantly a student."
After learning to play the keyboards, she joined several bands, receiving "on the job training" as she played in small bars and honky-tonks. As much she enjoyed playing with the bands, she felt stifled, almost like a factory worker doing the same work all the time. It was time for the world to meet Catherine Reed, singer and songwriter in her own right.
Guitar in hand, she began playing in restaurants, playing her favorite songs. She has found the response more than gratifying. Even so, she says that insecurity is a continual companion. "The only time I'm not nervous is when I realize I'm not in charge . . . if you are just a vessel, and you are doing it for a good reason, there is much more willingness to relax and enjoy what I'm doing."
Writing songs since the mid-1970s, some time ago Reed began to look more closely at her efforts. Where she would often just "blurt out songs," she came to feel she had to take responsibility for her work, saying that she feels she is "about being an example."
Turning serious, she says, "It slowed my writing down, because all of a sudden I was taking responsibility for my words, and could I honestly live with what I was singing?
"As a writer or performer, there is always a spiritual side to our job." She notes that much of mainstream society is also actively interested in spiritual matters.
Reed had long wanted to put out an album, but always managed to find an excuse for not going into the recording studio, even after many at her performances would ask her if she had tapes available. Finally, last year she embarked on the nine-month journey that would lead to Can You See It.
With the help of several seasoned producers (Eric Shabacker, Darren Novotny), and accompanied musically by Melody Ackerman she produced her CD, which has been available in several area stores. "I've learned that having a CD really aids your career. It is an indicator of accomplishment. Promo packages are great, but manufactured work for distribution or sales leaps over the fence for a lot of folks. "I absolutely recommend it for those musicians still questioning the expense . . . it is income producing."
Fayetteville audiences became accustomed to hearing Reed sing during Saturday brunch at Tuesday's Restaurant until it recently closed. Lately, she has appeared at Powerhouse in Fayetteville, and Fat Tuesdays's in Eureka Springs. Audiences have also been treated to another side of Reed's talent; she composed an improvisational instrumental piece for DanScape Movement Theater, which was well received at their dance performances.
Reed has also discovered a change in her own performances of late.
"I feel like I'm ‘‘showing up' more in my performances and participating more with the audiences, the more inclusive the better. What's the common thread in the room that we can all be with? Whether you are gay or straight or young or old or male or female . . . I am developing more of that skill an artist ultimately should have, that ability to inspire similarity and oneness, as opposed to separateness and difference."
Reed has a new CD, "Denim Angels," coming forth in the spring, and she is excited about it. "I've been taking a poll on what people like and want more of. They definitely want me to do more of ‘‘Joni Mitchell sounds' in my material, and more originals, and they want me to play the piano on some songs. . . guess what? They want what I want."
More audiences in Northwest Arkansas are discovering that the entertainerthey want is therine Reed.
Ozark Gazette - November 17, 1997
KNWA - renting out the news?
Fayetteville and hybrid cars - Animal Farm revisited?
Legacy Building - the "crown jewel" in downtown Fayetteville?
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: the 2008 Telecomm Report to the City Council
KFSM tries to get the attention of Lou Dobbs
That's just a little bit too pretentious, Fayetteville Public Library
Yeah - this will play well with folks who punch a time clock
Why emphasis only on home ownership?
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and "America's Phony"
Working class? You've got nothing to say!
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