obama never supported the public option – in fact, it was squashed by the white house.
Even while Obama was saying that he thought a public option was a good idea, he had promised for-profit hospital lobbyists that there would be no public option in the final bill. Full article.
Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.
Hafiz
saw zakir hussain perform last night at the center for the arts, university at buffalo. yes, zakir hussain – simply the greatest tabla player to ever walk the earth.
WOW is all i can say. thick mop of curly hair, beaming smile, charismatic presence and absolutely insane tabla skills. flying fingers, thumping hands, sliding wrists – it was all a blur. the man has to be watched in slow motion to try and wrap one’s mind around the speed and precision with which he plays the tabla. after watching his solo, my husband and i were in full agreement: zakir hussain is not human. no one can highlight the tabla’s versatility and expressiveness, its ability to be a lead instrument, more than him.
masters of percussion was a powerful blend of melodic (raga) and rhythmic (tala), hindustani and carnatic, traditional and contemporary, classical and folk. the show started with an explanation (and demonstration) of how the human breath is the most basic beat. later hussain explained how indian classical music is a language and can be used to illustrate the most spiritual or pedestrian of stories: planets orbiting at different speeds around the sun, krishna gtting an earful from radha for coming home late (krishna is a busy god), the structure, paraphernalia and final boom of a cannon (not the one in western classical music, the ugly one). hussain’s brother taufiq qureshi plays a variety of percussion instruments and did a fantastic rendition of a train speeding up, passing another train going in the opposite direction, chugging along over a bridge and finally reaching its destination.
the ensemble included violinists ganesh and kumaresh, sabir khan on the sarangi, sridhar parthasarathy on the mridangam, navin sharma on the dholak and the motilal dhakis from bengal. loved the interplay between the different musicians and their instruments. the motilal dhakis reminded me of pakistani weddings where the bridegroom’s family comes prancing around to that same beat. amazing show, amazing energy, amazing talent.
can’t help being soppy – it was deeply satisfying to see an ensemble that was half muslim/half hindu make such beautiful music together. i felt lucky to belong to the indian subcontinent.
v interesting analysis.
the situation in pakistan is complicated but if u want some basic understanding of the underlying issues, here’s an interview with robert fisk.
a clear-cut, well-articulated statement on the war in afghanistan and pakistan by action for a progressive pakistan. read full statement here.
THE MOMENT
by Margaret Atwood
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
la la la human steps – dance like u’ve never seen before: Exaucé / Salt is a multimedia performance employing live music, film, video and dramatic lighting and decor to convey the emotional and dramatic dimensions of the choreography. The multidimensionality of Édouard Lock’s imagination draws the spectator into a performance world where sweat and muscle interact with the ephemeral.
“This precisely drawn piece, with its total concentration on pointe dance, sustains a remarkable tension. Shorter dance sequences build a chain of movement that evolves to a poetic river, aided by live music for cello, piano and electric guitar (courtesy of David Lang and Kevin Shields). Projected on the back wall of the stage, images by Lock himself lend this otherwise abstract piece a touch of warmth.”
a bunch of texans decide ur kids’ school curriculum. they’re not educators, they’re dentists and lawyers, and they want to correct the “liberal bias in academia.” how come no one even talks about this?
The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. “We are adding balance,” said the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “Academia is skewed too far to the left.” Full article.
love this…
Israel’s announcement of plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem was not only an “insult” to the United States but “destructive” of the Middle East peace process, a top White House official said Sunday. “We have just started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy, between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and for this announcement to come at that time was very destructive.” Full article.
Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires. (Edward W. Said)
A MOMENT
i stand still, gently, silently
in measured quietude,
proportioned gratitude,
concentrated sharply on diffusion –
transport to another state,
another aspect, another day.
a voluptuous breeze slings by:
touching, caressing, inviting,
blending in lazy sunny ways
with little insistence on etiquette –
even-keeled and pleasant,
careless of its fluid seduction.
light enters into the cave,
a stranger in the cloud forest –
sliced, transmuted by giant fronds,
disembodied, unrepentant –
it tricks the eye, sheds bulky heat
to slyly mix with ribboned leaves.
i close my eyes and breath, deeply,
the rich verdant aroma of the forest,
the balmy breeze, the stunted heat,
the coqui’s song, shimmery and sweet,
i feel profoundly present, yet ethereal,
unbound by time-space coordinates
no mental maps, obsessive turns,
no skipping to predestined stops,
no clogged mind or arteries –
brain flushed of uneven thoughts;
clean, clean, clean and sparse
transfixed by a nascent star –
a concept, a prophesy,
caught in a fishing net, redeemed
from the spiral arms of galaxies,
the sheer folds of dusty dreams,
instinct a vestigial muscle no more
preens the feisty notion, attentively.
ah, i can breathe again,
yes i can truly breathe:
each gulp of air, squeeze of the lung,
each rise and fall, crest and trough,
timed to sweet perfection –
life is mysterious, magnificent.
connectedness, that weathered word;
brainwave to beating heart to ligament,
wind to tree, root to leaf, rich scented soil
to restless deeds and grounded feet –
absolved, absorbed and softly grieved,
maternal womb to earthy tomb.
connectedness, as sweet as cake,
muddies the water of time’s parade
the stagnant mix of past and present
holds court with future’s regal arc –
time dwells in synchronous bent,
a mobius strip of dawn and dusk.
if silence is the medium of poesie
then let me be fully soundless today
let me stand still in muted humility,
and partake of this soulful solitude
let me be one with the forest’s gravity,
i close my eyes to capture a moment.
