runt of the litter... I will survive

 
 

 
 

Patrick McDonnell is the voice of MUTTS

N PERSON; Where The Mild Things Are



By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES (NYT) 1551 words
Published: September 25, 2005

THE comic strip ''Mutts'' is a throwback. Its daily tales of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat ooze an archaic innocence (and sometimes an anarchic knowingness) that would not have been out of place in a Sunday comics supplement from the 1920's. It's easy to imagine Earl and Mooch rubbing panels with classic strips like George Herriman's ''Krazy Kat'' or E.C. Segar's ''Popeye.''

The award-winning ''Mutts,'' which appears in nearly 600 newspapers in 20 countries, is certainly one of New Jersey's sweetest exports.

The keeper of the ''Mutts'' menagerie is Patrick McDonnell, who lives in a large house in Edison with hardwood floors and teeming greenery, with his wife, Karen O'Connell; their dog, Earl, and the inevitable cat, MeeMow.

Sitting in his sparely furnished studio one day recently, Mr. McDonnell, 49, who has the gentle air of a favorite uncle, gazed out the window and said, ''The strip is about a quiet joy, so it's nice just to look out at the trees.''

Quiet joy aside, these are boom times in Muttsville. Mr. McDonnell's first children's book (starring Earl and Mooch) is about to be published, the strip's mini-merchandising empire is chugging along, and there is talk of a ''Mutts'' television cartoon.

The children's book, ''The Gift of Nothing'' (Little, Brown, $14.99; Oct. 5), is a project close to Mr. McDonnell's heart. ''It's something I wanted to do for a very long time,'' he said. ''It's based on a story that appeared in 'Mutts' a few years ago. It's about Mooch wanting to give Earl a gift.'' But when Mooch sees everything that Earl already has -- bowl, bed, chew toy and more -- he is forced to get creative. ''He decides to get him nothing.''

''But,'' he added, ''he's also giving everything of himself.''

While the children's book is a nice bonus, the most important thing to Mr. McDonnell is the comic strip itself. ''Mutts'' takes place in a winsome dreamscape reminiscent of the work of Mr. Herriman and Mr. Segar -- who are two of Mr. McDonnell's heroes -- and is populated by characters like a girl named Doozy, a tomcat named Noodles, and squirrel hooligans named Bip and Bop.

Mr. McDonnell's work on the strip has received many accolades. In 1999, he was presented the Ruben Award for outstanding cartoonist of the year by the National Cartoonists Society. The award is named for Rube Goldberg. Mr. McDonnell has also won the Harvey Award for best comic strip six times since 1997.

Collections of the ''Mutts'' strips sell well. Andrews McMeel has sold more than 325,000 ''Mutts'' compilations in paperback. And in 2003, Harry N. Abrams published ''Mutts: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell,'' a coffee-table book.

This year has been a particularly busy one for Mr. McDonnell. There is the daily strip -- with a deadline that is never tamed for long -- book signings to attend, forewords to write and charity work to tend to. He is on the boards of the Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals.

Earlier this year, Mr. McDonnell served as the guest curator at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif., for the exhibition ''Top Dogs: Comic Canines Before and After Snoopy.'' Mr. McDonnell is writing an essay about Mr. Schulz, another of his heroes, in connection with ''Masters of American Comics,'' an exhibition that is scheduled to open at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on Nov. 11.

One of the places where all these strands come together is on the ''Mutts'' Web site, www.muttscomics.com. For example, Mr. McDonnell said, ''We've been selling little 'Gift of Nothing' boxes.''

While selling empty boxes might sound like the ultimate example of capitalism gone amok, that is not the case here. ''All the money went to Toys for Tots,'' Mr. McDonnell said. Indeed, while product sales primarily help maintain the Web site, they also benefit many worthy causes, like the Wildlife Land Trust.

''Mutts'' products, including organic shirts and prints on recycled paper, are also environmentally friendly. Like the Web site, the comic strip is used to support animal-friendly causes, including pet adoptions and opposition to fur clothing. ''Nothing makes me happier than when I get letters from people saying they were moved to adopt,'' Mr. McDonnell said. In addition to dogs and cats, there are also buffalo and tigers to support.

''There's a little striped kitten named Shtinky Puddin in the strip whose passion it is to save tigers,'' Mr. McDonnell said. ''When I feel that it's right, I try to put that in the strip.'' Response to the tiger story has come from afar, including an e-mail message from Bittu Sahgal, the editor and publisher of ''Sanctuary Asia,'' a magazine published in Bombay devoted to India's environment and its endangered animals.

''We have a whole section of our Web site devoted to tigers right now,'' Ms. O'Connell said.

Mr. McDonnell is also doing his part to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, by auctioning original ''Mutts'' artwork on eBay.

The commercial aspects of ''Mutts'' are handled by King Features Syndicate, which distributes the strip. Mr. McDonnell's belief in conscientious living means that licensing deals can prove challenging. The licensing deals for ''Mutts'' are still in their infancy, but if other comic strip characters are any barometer, they could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nisreen Shocair, the director of marketing at King Features, said that while Mr. McDonnell admired the licensing of ''Peanuts,'' the marketplace is now different and Snoopy and friends had fewer restrictions. In 1990, for example, ''Peanuts'' was part of a Happy Meals promotion at McDonald's. Mr. McDonnell is a vegetarian, so most fast-food tie-ins are not options.

Instead, Ms. Shocair has focused on natural-food companies, apparel (like yoga outfits featuring Earl and Mooch striking various poses), pet accessories and stationery.

Licensing was probably the last thing on Mr. McDonnell's mind when, around age 4, he dreamed of being a cartoonist. ''Peanuts'' was a strong influence even then. The ultimate payoff is evident in a framed page from the San Francisco Chronicle that hangs in Mr. McDonnell's office. The page contains the first ''Mutts'' strip. Mr. Schulz mailed him the page, wrote ''Good start'' and signed it ''Sparky,'' his nickname.

''Probably the nicest thing about becoming a cartoonist was I got to meet and become friends with my hero,'' said Mr. McDonnell, who grew up in Elizabeth.

The first big move in Mr. McDonnell's career was illustrating Russell Baker's Observer column in The New York Times Magazine. ''I felt like I had a little weekly cast of characters,'' Mr. McDonnell said. One of them -- ''a guy with a big nose and mustache'' -- resembles Ozzie, the main human character in ''Mutts.''

''I did that for 10 years,'' Mr. McDonnell said, ''the whole time thinking, 'I'd really like to try a comic strip one day.'''

One source of inspiration for ''Mutts,'' which was first published in 1994, has been New Jersey itself. ''Even though I never gave the name of a town of where they live,'' he said of his characters, ''it's definitely a version of New Jersey.''

Mr. McDonnell and Ms. O'Connell have been married for 22 years and have been together for 26; they met as members of the Steel Tips, apunk band that opened for groups like the Ramones and Blondie. It was a good time, but the art world, they said, was slightly more sane and lucrative.

They ended up writing ''Krazy Kat: the Comic Art of George Herriman'' (Harry N. Abrams, 1986); a paperback version was released last year. These days, Ms. O'Connell is something of a communications director at ''Mutts'' central. Among other things, she is responsible for all e-mail correspondence, because Mr. McDonnell does not use a computer.

They make a good team. Nowhere is that clearer than when they discuss time management: ''We have no life,'' Mr. McDonnell said. ''When you do a daily comic strip, it really does take a tremendous amount of time. To a certain extent, it really is our lives.''

Ms. O'Connell said, ''He tells me it's getting easier, though.''

''It is getting easier.''

''So then he takes on more work.''

''Right. Then I take on more projects.''

One of those projects is exploring the possibility of a ''Mutts'' television cartoon. ''If I do it, I really want it to have the same spirit of 'Mutts','' he said. ''I'd want it to have the same social conscious message.''

What about the extra commitment of time? ''It's work. But it's nice when you love your work.''

good luck and good night

Good Night, and Good Luck

BY ROGER EBERT / October 21, 2005


Cast & Credits
Edward R. Murrow: David Strathairn
Fred Friendly: George Clooney
William Paley: Frank Langella
Don Hollenbeck: Ray Wise
Joe Wershba: Robert Downey Jr.
Shirley Wershba: Patricia Clarkson
Sig Mickelson: Jeff Daniels

Warner Independent Pictures presents a film directed by George Clooney. Written by Clooney and Grant Heslov. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated PG.

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"Good Night, and Good Luck" is a movie about a group of professional newsmen who with surgical precision remove a cancer from the body politic. They believe in the fundamental American freedoms, and in Sen. Joseph McCarthy they see a man who would destroy those freedoms in the name of defending them. Because McCarthy is a liar and a bully, surrounded by yes-men, recklessly calling his opponents traitors, he commands great power for a time. He destroys others with lies, and then is himself destroyed by the truth.

The instrument of his destruction is Edward R. Murrow, a television journalist above reproach, whose radio broadcasts from London led to a peacetime career as the most famous newsman in the new medium of television. Murrow is offended by McCarthy. He makes bold to say so, and why. He is backed by his producers and reporters, and supported by the leadership of his network, CBS, even though they lose sponsors, and even though McCarthy claims Murrow himself is a member of a subversive organization.

There are times when it is argued within CBS that Murrow has lost his objectivity, that he is not telling "both sides." He argues that he is reporting the facts, and if the facts are contrary to McCarthy's fantasies, they are nevertheless objective. In recent years few reporters have dared take such a stand, but at the height of Hurricane Katrina, we saw many reporters in the field who knew by their own witness that the official line on hurricane relief was a fiction, and said so.

Murrow is played in "Good Night, and Good Luck" by David Strathairn, that actor of precise inward silence. He has mastered the Murrow mannerisms, the sidelong glance from beneath lowered eyebrows, the way of sitting perfectly still and listening and watching others, the ironic underplayed wit, the unbending will. He doesn't look much like Murrow, any more than Philip Seymour Hoffman looks much like Truman Capote, but both actors create their characters from the inside, concealing behind famous mannerisms the deliberate actions that impose their will. In that they are actually a little alike.

Clooney co-stars, as Fred Friendly, Murrow's producer, who remained active into the 1990s. He also directed and co-wrote the movie. Because Clooney's father was a newscaster, he knows what the early TV studios looked like, and it is startling to see how small was Murrow's performance space: He sits close to the camera, his famous cigarette usually in the shot, and Friendly sits beside the camera, so close that he can tap Murrow's leg to cue him. They are also close as professionals who share the same beliefs about McCarthy, and are aware that they risk character assassination from the Wisconsin senator.

The other key character is McCarthy himself, and Clooney uses a masterstroke: He employs actual news footage of McCarthy, who therefore plays himself. It is frightening to see him in full rant, and pathetic to see him near meltdown during the Army-McCarthy hearings, when the Army counsel Joseph Welch famously asked him, "Have you no decency?" His wild attack on Murrow has an element of humor; he claims the broadcaster is a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, the anarchist "Wobblies" who by then were more a subject of nostalgic folk songs than a functioning organization.

The movie is entirely, almost claustrophobically, about politics and the news business. Even its single subplot underlines the atmosphere of the times. We meet Shirley and Joe Wershba (Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr.), who work for CBS News and keep their marriage a secret, because company policy forbids the employment of married couples. Their clandestine meetings and subtle communications raise our own suspicions, and demonstrate in a way how McCarthyism works.

Apart from the Wershbas, the movie is entirely about the inner life of CBS News. Every substantial scene is played in the CBS building, except for a banquet, a bar, a bedroom and the newsreel footage. Murrow and Friendly circulate in three arenas: Their production offices, the television studio and the offices of their boss William Paley (Frank Langella), who ran the network as a fiefdom but granted Murrow independence and freedom from advertiser pressure.

The movie is not really about the abuses of McCarthy, but about the process by which Murrow and his team eventually brought about his downfall (some would say his self-destruction). It is like a morality play, from which we learn how journalists should behave. It shows Murrow as fearless, but not flawless. Paley observes that when McCarthy said that Alger Hiss was convicted of "treason," Murrow knew Hiss was convicted not of treason but of perjury, and yet did not correct McCarthy. Was he afraid of seeming to support a communist, Paley asks, perhaps guessing the answer. He has a point. Murrow's response indicates he might have been a great poker player.

There are small moments of humor. After one broadcast fraught with potential hazards, Murrow waits until he's off the air and then there is the smallest possible movement of his mouth: Could that have been almost a smile? David Strathairn is a stealth actor, revealing Murrow's feelings almost in code. Clooney by contrast makes Fred Friendly an open, forthright kinduva guy, a reliable partner for Murrow's enigmatic reserve.

As a director, Clooney does interesting things. One of them is to shoot in black and white, which is the right choice for this material, lending it period authenticity and a matter-of-factness. In a way, b&w is inevitable, since both Murrow's broadcasts and the McCarthy footage would have been in b&w. Clooney shoots close, showing men (and a few women) in business dress, talking in anonymous rooms. Everybody smokes all of the time. When they screen footage, there is an echo of "Citizen Kane." Episodes are separated by a jazz singer (Dianne Reeves), who is seen performing in a nearby studio; her songs don't parallel the action, but evoke a time of piano lounges, martinis and all those cigarettes.

Clooney's message is clear: Character assassination is wrong, McCarthy was a bully and a liar, and we must be vigilant when the emperor has no clothes and wraps himself in the flag. It was Dr. Johnson who said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." That was more than 200 years ago. The movie quotes a more recent authority, Dwight Eisenhower, who is seen on TV defending the basic American right of habeas corpus. How many Americans know what habeas corpus means, or why people are still talking about it on TV?

joan baez review from birchmere

Baez at the Birchmere: Still Plenty to Protest

By Dave McKenna
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, November 4, 2005;

After flubbing some words to her biggest hit, a 1971 cover of the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Joan Baez wondered if she was getting enough gingko extract to keep her brain young.

But the years haven't damaged the voice or relevance of Baez, who appeared with a backing duo at the sold-out Birchmere on Wednesday. And while she's doling out homeopathic advice, fans would rather hear what sort of extracts keep Baez, 64, so cool and beautiful.


It helps, of course, that the times really haven't a-changed things too much. As she must, Baez did several tunes she got from her old muse-with-benefits, Bob Dylan. He's never gone away, but the recent Martin Scorcese documentary and our country's recent foreign and domestic foibles have made Dylan's old material, so much of which is joined to Baez's hip, seem contemporary. During an otherwise reverent version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," she mocked Dylan's voice for a verse. "With God on Our Side," a onetime Dylan and Baez duet that chronicles America's history of aggressive behavior, begged for an update. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," a song from the last time our country was as afraid of being attacked as it is now, was sad only for its relevance.

Baez also sang "Scarlet Tide," a dose of lefty idealism from Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett, a pal from the mid-1970s barnstorming Rolling Thunder tour backing Dylan. And more of the same from Steve Earle: "Jerusalem" and "Christmas in Washington," the latter of which begs for the return of Martin Luther King Jr., Woody Guthrie and Gandhi.

Given her life story, Baez doesn't need somebody else's lyrics to drop names. She told many tales about Being There for moments everybody in the crowd wished they'd been there for. Before an a cappella version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot," she recalled singing that same tune to wake a sleeping King while both were in Mississippi to march. She remembered getting "The Long Black Veil" from Johnny Cash when he was "cuter than hell." She spoke of going to Crawford, Tex., over the summer and learning that Cindy Sheehan, the face of the newest antiwar movement, has a favorite Joan Baez song: the labor anthem "Joe Hill."

Near the end of her two-hour set, Baez gave her fans the song they wanted most, "Diamonds and Rust." The autobiographical tune tells of her inability to get over a former blue-eyed lover from the Midwest who was good with words and insults ("My poetry was lousy, you said"). She never gives the fellow's name.

the weather in Chicago ...

Chicago SUN TIMES WEATHER REPORT

"fleeting"

CNN boots My Boy

Brown Exits CNN as Cooper Gains Slot
By Paul J. Gough, Reuters

NEW YORK (Nov. 3) - After days of rumors and an uncomfortable pairing on the late-night cable news schedule following Hurricane Katrina, CNN parted ways with Aaron Brown and gave Anderson Cooper sole possession of the flagship news time slot.

Out With the Old, In With the News


How will i know the weather in chicago or the morning papers. CNN should have booted themselves for changing their format to a magazine of the news and having Brown do fluff stories for an hour on topics like strip clubs and violence in america. They should have let him do his job and report the new. He is a great interviewer and one of the only casters to talk about the war honesty and lists the casualties. Who will ever forget Christine reporting from Bagdad on her video cellphone.....

I will miss aaron brown.....



CNN boots Aaron Brown after seeing a ratings spike in Anderson Cooper's broadcasts.



The announcement brings an end to Brown's job at the network and further raises Cooper's profile to the face of the new CNN. The new "Anderson Cooper 360" will run from 10 p.m.-midnight beginning Monday, with executive producer David Doss and a crew that will include staffers from "360" and "NewsNight With Aaron Brown."

Brown had once been the star of primetime for CNN, anchoring much of the breaking-news coverage and hosting "NewsNight" at 10 p.m. ET. But after Hurricane Katrina brought further attention to Cooper, Brown had been reduced to the role of in-studio host while showcasing his younger colleague. In an interview Wednesday, CNN-U.S. president Jon Klein said CNN decided to build its primetime schedule around "the two tentpoles that have the greatest potential and the greatest momentum": "360" and "The Situation Room."

"When you look at that landscape, there was little opportunity for Aaron," Klein said, adding that it was a "mutual decision." Efforts to reach Brown weren't successful Wednesday, but he was on vacation this week. Brown, who signed a new contract in the fall, reportedly was signed through 2007. Klein declined comment on contractual matters.

"There's no reason to delay making this move. We've got the pieces in place," Klein said. "We've got a two-hour show up and running that Anderson has been co-anchoring, and we've got 'The Situation Room."'

"Situation Room," anchored by Wolf Blitzer, takes over the 7 p.m. hour once occupied by "360." It will remain a three-hour program but begin at 4 p.m. instead of the 3 p.m. slot that it debuted in against Fox News' "Studio B" in early August. After two hours, Blitzer will throw to "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and then return for the last hour at 7 p.m.

"It gives us a four-hour block of real news and information, and you cannot find four hours that will make for a more satisfying meal than that on television," Klein said.

Klein sees a real opportunity for CNN between 10 p.m. and midnight; he said that the extension of "NewsNight" to two hours showed there's an appetite for news in the time period, particularly after 11 p.m.

Brown was joined by Cooper, reporting from the hurricane zone, in the aftermath of Katrina. Cooper's impassioned reporting from the Gulf Coast won a number of viewers, and it showed between 10 p.m. and noon -- 2.8 million viewers tuned in from Aug. 29-Sept. 4, according to Nielsen Media Research. Those numbers remained strong (1.1 million-1.9 million through September) but, as the expanded "NewsNight" continued, fell. Brown's last week of "NewsNight" averaged 782,000 viewers.


Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Shirley Wilder caused Marcia Lowry to demand change in the NYC child welfare system

A Perfect Test Case Shirley Wilder sued New York over its foster care system; the case was settled in her favor, but by then she was dead.


One of President Bush's first official acts was to propose that religiously sponsored organizations should get public money to provide social services. In ways this is an admirable proposal. Religious organizations can count on motivated participants, and those in need of help often trust religious charities more than the agencies of the local government. But there is always the danger that the religious organizations will favor their own, or impose their own moral views on their clients. ''The Lost Children of Wilder'' is a brilliantly researched account of an attempt to make the New York City foster care system fair for all its children. Obviously Nina Bernstein's book was written before George W. Bush took office; but it provides a vivid argument against his plans.

Since the 19th century, New York's foster care system had handled its needy children by contracting with private agencies to care for the children at public expense. Many, perhaps most, of the agencies were Jewish and Roman Catholic charities. The law allowed them to give preference to children of their own faith. In 1972, 90 percent of all foster beds were in the hands of these agencies, which could pick and choose among the children the city tried to place. Black children, of course, were mostly Protestant.

That was the year Shirley Wilder entered the foster care system. She was 13. Her mother had died when she was 4, her grandmother when she was 11; when she turned to her father, whose name she did not bear, he threw her out. Over the next 10 months, every religiously sponsored foster agency the court approached turned her down. But her lawyer really liked her, and didn't want to send her to the Dickensian reformatory at Hudson, N.Y., for children convicted of criminal offenses, then the last resort for children rejected by foster care. The lawyer came back to the court 12 times, as Shirley shuttled among relatives, shelters and jail-like detention centers, to find some alternative. None were available.

When Shirley arrived at Hudson she was raped by one of the girl gangs. She fought back, and the staff punished her for fighting by locking her in solitary confinement. When she was released, she ran away; she was caught, returned and placed in solitary confinement for three days. Then she was transferred to the Behavior Modification Unit, where the toilet paper was doled out one roll a month, the staff hit the kids, and to eat in the dining room you needed the tokens that were given out for good behavior. Shirley became rebellious and difficult. And yet a lawyer who visited her recalled: ''She had the most beautiful smile, a smile that lit up her face. She was pretty and she was funny. She had this great sense of humor.'' She was the perfect test-case plaintiff.



"'Being in foster care shouldn't mean that you grow up to die alone,' Ms. Lowry said, obviously fighting back tears. She told the judge that the new settlement was 'the best chance for making sure that other children don't have the experience Shirley had.'"

-- Nina Bernstein's New York Times article about the Marisol vs. Giuliani decision, Jan. 23, 1999.
The lawyer was Marcia Lowry, a fierce Jewish misfit who for years kept a tattered poster quoting Eugene V. Debs on her office wall: ''While there is a lower class / I am in it / While there is a criminal element / I am of it / and / while there is a soul in prison / I am not free.'' She had been hired by the New York Civil Liberties Union after working within the city's administration on foster-care issues; she was shocked by the fact that over half of the city's many thousands of wards were, like Shirley, black, but in the Catholic and Jewish agencies that received most of the public's dollars, fewer than a quarter were black. Bernstein, who wrote a series about the Wilder case while a reporter for Newsday and is now a reporter for The New York Times, tells us that in Lowry's view ''the city had delegated the public good wholesale to a collection of sectarian agencies with a license to discriminate.'' When Wilder was filed in federal court on July 14, 1973, it named as defendants six state and city officials and 77 voluntary agencies and their directors, and asked the courts to declare unconstitutional the entire statutory basis for the provision of child welfare services to New York City children.

''The Lost Children of Wilder'' describes the 26-year history of the case that was at last settled, more or less in Shirley Wilder's favor, in 1999. Its legal analysis is rich, but as in Jarndyce and Jarndyce the drama is human. People who saw themselves as genuinely committed to these difficult kids suddenly found themselves attacked for racism and in effect asked to turn their services over to the forces who had created hellholes like Hudson. The judge who first heard Shirley Wilder's plea had struggled to make wise choices within limited options for decades, and had been denounced in tabloid headlines: DAUGHTER OF RABBI WISE GIVES CHILD OF CHRIST TO THE BLACK BEARDED PROPHET OF MOHAMMED. She came from an unbroken lineage of rabbis stretching back 19 generations, and when the American Civil Liberties Union was prepared to settle the lawsuit with the city -- the settlement included a ''specially designated'' status for Orthodox Jews -- she fought against it with outrage and elegance. The man who became the city's corporation counsel was an heir to F. A. O. Schwarz, and yet somehow managed an austere authenticity sufficient to persuade opponents who hated each other to come to terms. And around these stories, bureaucracy becomes character, stage setting and plot, as the case drags through postponements, delay, appeal and absurdly irrelevant adjudications.

Above all, ''The Lost Children of Wilder'' tells the story of these abandoned kids. At 14, Shirley Wilder had given birth to a son, Lamont. (She herself would die from AIDS at 39, three weeks before the lawsuit was finally over.) ''It is almost boring to read her case record,'' one of her many caseworkers recalled, ''because you have read it so many times, in so many kids.'' While still in the maternity ward she was talked into signing her baby over to the state: she had no place to live, and she was too young for mother-child placement. She could visit him no more than once a month.

Lamont was lucky at first. He was placed with a Hispanic family in the Bronx for his first five years. The father sexually fondled him, but the mother loved him -- and then they were divorced, around the time that Shirley's parental rights were officially terminated, and, encouraged by caseworkers, his foster mother gave him back to the state. He was placed in a white family in another state, the only black child he knew. He didn't adjust. They gave him up within a year. Another white family took him on, but his behavior was worse. Transferred to a home for disturbed kids, he tried to make friends with various volunteers. They were kind for a while, and then moved on. He was classified as psychotic; he could have been going through normal but frustrated mourning for his losses. He entered the real world in his late teens without a high school diploma and with few skills.

This book makes two things clear. First, it is foolish to separate parents from children with the ease that our current system encourages. Our policies assert that it should be less comfortable to be on welfare than to work, which is sensible. They also assert that a mother who cannot feed and house her child should not raise him, which also is sensible. The consequences are not. Lamont's care cost the city half a million dollars, far more than it would have cost to support his mother, and it repeatedly and traumatically severed him from an enduring human relationship, as crucial to a child's development as food and heat.

Second, the problem is poverty. This is perhaps not a novel insight, but this history makes it sickeningly clear that the state cannot solve the problem of needy children without doing something about the conditions that produce them. There are so many children, so few resources -- in this stunningly prosperous age -- and, repeatedly, solutions born of crisis and good intention create disasters of their own. Children who enter the system tend to exit it as poor and unskilled as the parents who bore them, and the cycle grinds painfully on.

Indeed: on Jan. 22, 1999, the day Wilder finally ended, in the same courthouse a judge was deliberating over a class-action lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid Society, charging that new tough welfare practices endangered needy children. Unbeknown even to the Legal Aid lawyers, the child who stood at the center of the lawsuit was Shirley Wilder's grandson, Lamont's little boy.

As they say, it's better than the movies.

Mary Ellen Wilson, the first child abuse case in the US

The Real Story of Mary Ellen Wilson

The sufferings of the little girl, Mary Ellen, led to the founding of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the first organization of its kind, in 1874. In 1877, the New York SPCC and several Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals from throughout the country joined together to form the American Humane Association.

The following is Mary Ellen’s story, which marked the beginning of a world-wide crusade to save children. It is extracted from American Humane’s Helping in Child Protective Services: A Competency-Based Casework Handbook.

Over the years, in the re-telling of Mary Ellen Wilson’s story, myth has often been confused with fact. Some of the inaccuracies stem from colorful but erroneous journalism, others from simple misunderstanding of the facts, and still others from the complex history of the child protection movement in the United States and Great Britain and its link to the animal welfare movement. While it is true that Henry Bergh, president of the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), was instrumental in ensuring Mary Ellen’s removal from an abusive home, it is not true that her attorney—who also worked for the ASPCA—argued that she deserved help because she was “a member of the animal kingdom.”

The real story—which can be pieced together from court documents, newspaper articles, and personal accounts—is quite compelling, and it illustrates the impact that a caring and committed individual can have on the life of a child.

Mary Ellen Wilson was born in 1864 to Francis and Thomas Wilson of New York City. Soon thereafter, Thomas died, and his widow took a job. No longer able to stay at home and care for her infant daughter, Francis boarded Mary Ellen (a common practice at the time) with a woman named Mary Score. As Francis’s economic situation deteriorated, she slipped further into poverty, falling behind in payments for and missing visits with her daughter. As a result, Mary Score turned two-year-old Mary Ellen over to the city’s Department of Charities.

The Department made a decision that would have grave consequences for little Mary Ellen; it placed her illegally, without proper documentation of the relationship, and with inadequate oversight in the home of Mary and Thomas McCormack, who claimed to be the child’s biological father. In an eerie repetition of events, Thomas died shortly thereafter. His widow married Francis Connolly, and the new family moved to a tenement on West 41st Street.

Mary McCormack Connolly badly mistreated Mary Ellen, and neighbors in the apartment building were aware of the child’s plight. The Connollys soon moved to another tenement, but in 1874, one of their original neighbors asked Etta Angell Wheeler, a caring Methodist mission worker who visited the impoverished residents of the tenements regularly, to check on the child. At the new address, Etta encountered a chronically ill and homebound tenant, Mary Smitt, who confirmed that she often heard the cries of a child across the hall. Under the pretext of asking for help for Mrs. Smitt, Etta Wheeler introduced herself to Mary Connolly. She saw Mary Ellen’s condition for herself. The 10-year-old appeared dirty and thin, was dressed in threadbare clothing, and had bruises and scars along her bare arms and legs. Ms. Wheeler began to explore how to seek legal redress and protection for Mary Ellen. Click here to read Etta Wheeler’s account of Mary Ellen.

At that time, some jurisdictions in the United States had laws that prohibited excessive physical discipline of children. New York, in fact, had a law that permitted the state to remove children who were neglected by their caregivers. Based on their interpretation of the laws and Mary Ellen’s circumstances, however, New York City authorities were reluctant to intervene. Etta Wheeler continued her efforts to rescue Mary Ellen and, after much deliberation, turned to Henry Bergh, a leader of the animal humane movement in the United States and founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). It was Ms. Wheeler’s niece who convinced her to contact Mr. Bergh by stating, “You are so troubled over that abused child, why not go to Mr. Bergh? She is a little animal surely” (p. 3 Wheeler in Watkins).

Ms. Wheeler located several neighbors who were willing to testify to the mistreatment of the child and brought written documentation to Mr. Bergh. At a subsequent court hearing, Mr. Bergh stated that his action was “that of a human citizen,” clarifying that he was not acting in his official capacity as president of the NYSPCA. He emphasized that he was “determined within the framework of the law to prevent the frequent cruelties practiced on children” (Mary Ellen, April 10, 1976, p. 8 in Watkins, 1990). After reviewing the documentation collected by Etta Wheeler, Mr. Bergh sent an NYSPCA investigator (who posed as a census worker to gain entrance to Mary Ellen’s home) to verify the allegations. Elbridge T. Gerry, an ASPCA attorney, prepared a petition to remove Mary Ellen from her home so she could testify to her mistreatment before a judge. Mr. Bergh took action as a private citizen who was concerned about the humane treatment of a child. It was his role as president of the NYSPCA and his ties to the legal system and the press, however, that bring about Mary Ellen’s rescue and the movement for a formalized child protection system.

Recognizing the value of public opinion and awareness in furthering the cause of the humane movement, Henry Bergh contacted New York Times reporters who took an interest in the case and attended the hearings. Thus, there were detailed newspaper accounts that described Mary Ellen’s appalling physical condition. When she was taken before Judge Lawrence, she was dressed in ragged clothing, was bruised all over her body and had a gash over her left eye and on her cheek where Mary Connelly had struck her with a pair of scissors. On April 10, 1874, Mary Ellen testified:

“My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. …. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip—a raw hide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by mamma, and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one—have never been kissed by mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma’s lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did I would get whipped…. I do not know for what I was whipped—mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with mamma, because she beats me so. I have no recollection ever being on the street in my life” Mary Ellen, April 10, 1874 in Watkins, 1990).

In response, Judge Lawrence immediately issued a writ de homine replagiando, provided for by Section 65 of the Habeas Corpus Act, to bring Mary Ellen under court control.
The newspapers also provided extensive coverage of the caregiver Mary Connolly’s trial, raising public awareness and helping to inspire various agencies and organizations to advocate for the enforcement of laws that would rescue and protect abused children (Watkins, 1990). On April 21, 1874, Mary Connolly was found guilty of felonious assault and was sentenced to one year of hard labor in the penitentiary (Watkins, 1990).

Less well known but as compelling as the details of her rescue, is the rest of Mary Ellen’s story. Etta Wheeler continued to play an important role in the child’s life. Family correspondence and other accounts reveal that the court placed Mary Ellen in an institutional shelter for adolescent girls. Believing this to be an inappropriate setting for the 10-year-old, Ms. Wheeler intervened. Judge Lawrence gave her permission to place the child with her own mother, Sally Angell, in northern New York. When Ms. Angell died, Etta Wheeler’s youngest sister, Elizabeth, and her husband Darius Spencer, raised Mary Ellen. By all accounts, her life with the Spencer family was stable and nurturing.

At the age of 24, Mary Ellen married a widower and had two daughters—Etta, named after Etta Wheeler, and Florence. Later, she became a foster mother to a young girl named Eunice. Etta and Florence both became teachers; Eunice was a businesswoman. Mary Ellen’s children and grandchildren described her as gentle and not much of a disciplinarian. Reportedly, she lived in relative anonymity and rarely spoke with her family about her early years of abuse. In 1913, however, she agreed to attend the American Humane Association’s national conference in Rochester, NY, with Etta Wheeler, her long-time advocate. Ms. Wheeler was a guest speaker at the conference. Her keynote address, “The Story of Mary Ellen which started the Child Saving Crusade Throughout the World” was published by the American Humane Association. Mary Ellen died in 1956 at the age of 92.

Man sues after getting stuck on toilet

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Home Depot was sued by a shopper from a Colorado store who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue.

Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding.

"They left me there, going through all that stress," Dougherty told The Daily Camera, of Boulder. "They just let me rot."

The lawsuit, filed Friday, said Dougherty was recovering from heart bypass surgery and thought he was having a heart attack when he got stuck at the store in Louisville, Colorado, on the day before Halloween 2003.

A store employee who heard him calling for help informed the head clerk by radio, but the head clerk "believed it to be a hoax," the lawsuit said.

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said she could not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit said store officials called for an ambulance after about 15 minutes.

Paramedics unbolted the toilet seat, and Dougherty, "frightened and humiliated," passed out as they wheeled him out of the store, court papers said. The toilet seat separated from his skin, leaving abrasions.

"This is not Home Depot's fault," Dougherty said. "But I am blaming them for letting me hang in there and just ignoring me."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

the mother of the settlement movement

my friend Chris recently went to Chicago and he went to hull house, the place where the settlement house movement began. this woman Jane Addams is considered the mother of modern social services and social worker, opened a home where immigrants and needy chicagoan could get a vast number of needs met. it was the original One stop of services. day care, education, after school, recreation, literacy, vocational...etc
so i decided seeing Chris went there to look up the website for HULL HOUSE

Hull House has a website

so i decided to blog about jane addams

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JANE ADDAMS
Born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1860 and graduated from Rockford College in 1882, Jane Addams founded the world famous social settlement Hull-House on Chicago's Near West Side in 1889. From Hull House, where she lived and worked until her death in 1935, Jane Addams built her reputation as the country's most prominent woman through her writing, her settlement work, and her international efforts for world peace.

Around Hull-House, which was located at the corner of Polk and Halsted Streets, immigrants to Chicago crowded into a residential and industrial neighborhood. Italians, Russian and Polish Jews, Irish, Germans, Greeks and Bohemians predominated. Jane Addams and the other residents of the settlement provided services for the neighborhood, such as kindergarten and daycare facilities for children of working mothers, an employment bureau, an art gallery, libraries, and music and art classes. By 1900 Hull House activities had broadened to include the Jane Club (a cooperative residence for working women), the first Little Theater in America, a Labor Museum and a meeting place for trade union groups.

The residents of Hull-House formed an impressive group: Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Dr. Alice Hamilton, Julia Lathrop, Ellen Gates Starr, Sophonisba Breckinridge, and Grace and Edith Abbott among them. From their experiences in the Hull-House neighborhood, the Hull-House residents and their supporters forged a powerful reform movement. Among the projects that they launched were the Immigrants' Protective League, The Juvenile Protective Association, the first juvenile court in the nation, and a Juvenile Psychopathic Clinic (later called the Institute for Juvenile Research). Through their efforts, the Illinois legislature enacted protective legislation for women and children and in 1903 passed a strong child labor law and an accompanying compulsory education law. With the creation of the Federal Children's Bureau in 1912 and the passage of a federal child labor law in 1916, the Hull-House reformers saw their efforts expanded to the national level.

Jane Addams wrote prolifically on topics related to Hull-House activities, producing eleven books and numerous articles, as well as maintaining an active speaking schedule nationwide and throughout the world. She also played an important role in many local and national organizations. A founder of the Chicago Federation of Settlements in 1894, she also helped to establish the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers in 1911. She was a leader in the Consumers League and served as the first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections (later the National Conference of Social Work). She was chairman of the Labor Committee of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, vice-president of the Campfire Girls, on the executive board of the National Playground Association, the National Child Labor Committee and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (founded 1909). In addition, she actively supported the campaign for woman suffrage and the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union (1920).

In the early years of the twentieth century Jane Addams became involved in the peace movement, becoming an important advocate of internationalism. This interest grew during the First World War, when she participated in the International Congress of Women at the Hague in 1915. She maintained her pacifist stance after the United States entered the war in 1917, working through the Women's Peace Party, which became the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919. She was the WILPF's first president. As a result of her work, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Jane Addams died in Chicago on May 21, 1935. She was buried in Cedarville, her childhood home.

more on jane addams

i woke up singing "when heros go down"

When Heroes Go Down"
suzanne vega

When heroes go down
They go down fast
So don't expect any time to
Equivocate the past

When heroes go down
They land in flame
So don't expect any slow and careful
Settling of blame

I heard you say
You look out for the feet of clay
That someone will be falling next
Without the chance
For last respects
You feel the disappointment

When heroes go down
Man or woman revealed
You can't expect any kind of mercy
On the battlefield

I heard you say
You look out for the feet of clay
That someone will be falling next
Without the chance for last respects
You feel the disappointment

When heroes go down
Man or woman revealed
Do you show any kind of mercy
On the battlefield?

When heroes go down [X3]

Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 3, 2005

Capricorn Horoscope for week of November 3, 2005

Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker recently told the San Francisco Chronicle about her new perfume, Lovely. It's "a fragrance that has social skills," she said. "It doesn't dominate a room. It doesn't cling to a person who hugs you. It's sexy, but not 'of-the-moment.' It's a timeless thing." This is a perfect description of your assignment in the coming days, Capricorn. Be like a memorable but subtle fragrance that has social skills. Work every room you're in, but do it with understated grace. Give every person you encounter a strong impression of your uniqueness, but without hitting them over the head with it.

to blog or not to blog

there have been so many things that i could be blogging about...

do i want to blog about the how the legal system in Philly revictimized me as an accident victim ( remember i was the passenger) or i chose to get up at 4am and leave Brooklyn at 6am and get to Philly by 8am. and how glorious the world looked as it waking up on the NJ turnpike. or how i was done at 2pm and nothing was done so i came home to go to bed at 830pm only to do it all over again the next day. Then there was the matter of waiting all day and picking a jury and deciding not to exercise my rights for a few grand and go home. Its all so scripted and a charade between lawyers. Except for mine, i really hated one of them. I didnt let my stubborn feelings guide my actions and didnt take a risk, i just took the thoughtout calculated route and went home.


I went to see Suzanne Vega last week at Zankel Hall and i love the poetry of Suzanne Vega. On the way, i saw Huey Lewis and thought what the hell is he doing in NY coming out of whole foods. Sunday i saw in the paper that he was playing in Chicago. I went to Zankel and i turned around and there was lou reed. little did i know he and suzanne go way back to 1987 when she said at the Bottom Line "sometimes i wish i was lou reed"

Suzanne is a poet who uses words and sounds to create pictures. her direct songs or her more metaphoric ones just kept me captivated- she did a setlist of standards SV songs- Caramel, pentitent, gypsy, in liverpool, queen and the soldier, luka, tom's diner with a reluctant NY audience singing along, marelene on the wall, solitaire, i wont be your maggie may, when heros go down, left of center, small blue thing and then she did My favorite plum, sand and song, and have your seen sir jones.
i just wanted more suzanne..

Suzanne Vega's website

saturday, i got a much needed oil change and went up the hudson to see the leaves of gold and red and brown and yellow and ended up in peekskill. On the way, i heard a tale on the radio about paul robeson and the Peekskill riots and how he was stoned out of peekskill and there i was going to that town to see the peace loving, joan Baez

i met a man with two women from ireland and i had coffee with them before the show and then i took my seat. I spied a small grey haired man go talk to the tour manager and lo and behold it was Mr Williams, Dar's dad. I went over and got my hug and Mrs W was at the merch table so i missed her. the lights started to dim so i went to my seat

Joan sang Drove old dixie down, joe hill for cindy sheehan, xmas time in washington, Finlandia, jerusalem, caleb meyer, diamonds and rust, gracias de la vida, baby blue,
hard rain is gonna fall, Long black veil, Carrickfergus, with g-d on our side, silver dagger, stand by me, coconuts, scarlet tide by elvis costello and tbone burnett,

joan had Graham Maby on bass and erik della pena on everything else. and the set list was great, Joan was relaxed and asked for scarves so she got some from teh audience and wore her winter coat, a great military style coat with gold styling. SHe read poetry when her guitar was having problems.. it was a great show that left me flat.

i dont know if it is because i have lost interest in her music for music that is more meaningful or cutting edge. I am not sure why i did get jazzed for the show or left fulfilled

i went back to the DR yesterday and i am released from his care. I dont have to ever see my surgeon again. he hugged me and i thanked him and he told me that i had to SUNSCREEN my scar for a year. Whenever i went out in the sun, SUNSCREEN the SCAR or i will have a black line down my arm...

so festivals, daily travels.... sunscreen the arm....the banter of the summer, sunscreen the arm

i got a call that a far away friend is sick and has been in the hospital and has recently also lost one of her dogs.. I was called because this friend wanted me to know directly. i am awaiting a return call so i can provide this friend with some support and try to help her through a trying time..

i am sick of my staff skirting around the issues adn doing the minimum or not acting or not taking responsibility. its time that they move forward and not wait for me or allow me to take the heat... i am working harder than i have worked at CMS, pulling up two computer systems similateously.

my students are not bright. Their midterms were below my expectations. THeir grades reflect it. I am worried for them as professionals. i teach again tonight..

fall is in the air and i love autumn, the chill, the leaves, teh need for a jacket and heat..

sunday, i went to queens to get a hair cut...and then walked to park slope and the park to see more leaves..

soon it will be thanksgiving

i guess i have lots to be thankful for this year

it used to be Gershwin

i used to be all about George Gershwin. I loved the idiosyncratic piano stylings of George and IRA and now i am all about rogers and Hart

i listened to John Platt pitch for $$ on the sunday morning breakfast and he played
trios today.. all about the THREE

We're about 9 followed by Girlyman
doing covers but none the less WA9 and Girlyman on FUV

have you seen Sir Jones ????

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 27, 2005

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 27, 2005

Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
"Happy the person who can endure both the highest and the lowest fortune," said the Roman writer and orator Seneca. "He who weathers such vicissitudes with equanimity has deprived misfortune of its power." According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Capricorn, you are currently having an encounter with the first thing mentioned in Seneca's formula--the highest fortune. May you navigate your way through this phase of lucky abundance without falling victim to arrogance, carelessness, or insensitivity. Halloween costume suggestion: a lottery winner doling out gifts.

third according to the NY TIMES

As Feminism Ages, Uncertainty Still Wins

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By BEN BRANTLEY
Published: October 25, 2005

An urgent bulletin for baby boomers who regard the work of Wendy Wasserstein as their own personal timeline: Heidi is having hot flashes.

O.K., so the name of the brow-mopping heroine of "Third," the thoughtful and imbalanced new comedy by Ms. Wasserstein that opened last night at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, is not the same as the title character of "The Heidi Chronicles," Ms. Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winner from 1988. But it's easy to see Laurie Jameson, the lovably perplexed 54-year-old college professor portrayed by Dianne Wiest in "Third," as a reassuringly familiar cousin to Heidi, the lovably perplexed 40-ish college professor first played by Joan Allen 17 years ago.


Like Heidi, Laurie is a strong and vulnerable, independent and emotionally needy woman. She is, in other words, a feminine feminist of the stripe that has endeared Ms. Wasserstein to many theatergoers over the years, starting in 1977 with her "Uncommon Women and Others," a portrait of bright college chums contemplating their place in a world where fixed gender roles are coming unglued.

Since then Ms. Wasserstein has shepherded her fearful brave new women (who have usually been roughly the ages of their creator when she conceived them) through single motherhood (with "Heidi"), lonely peaks of success ("The Sisters Rosensweig") and the fishbowl of national politics ("An American Daughter"). Now this cozy alter ego to the generation of women who came of age amid the tumult of the late 1960's is hitting menopause. And she's still having problems figuring out who she is.

It's the certainty of uncertainty in life that makes "Third," directed by Daniel Sullivan, so affecting despite itself. Using the hot button of academic plagiarism to trigger the plot, "Third" suffers from problems common to Ms. Wasserstein's plays: an overly schematic structure, a sometimes artificial-feeling topicality and a reliance on famous names and titles as a shorthand for establishing character. Less typically, this play's central figure is its least believable, both as written and as acted by the wonderful but miscast Ms. Wiest.

Yet "Third" exhales a gentle breath of autumn, a rueful awareness of death and of seasons past, that makes it impossible to dismiss it as a quick-sketch comedy of political manners. A gracious air of both apology and forgiveness pervades its attitude to its characters, as Ms. Wasserstein, who has described herself as a typical "New York playwright liberal," dares to wonder if liberals now require a few lessons in tolerance.

Like "Heidi," "Third" begins with a teacher putting forward views with a corrective feminist slant. "Rest assured this classroom is a hegemonic-free zone," Laurie announces to her English literature class. In introducing "King Lear," she states that the play is less the tragedy of its title monarch ("the ultimate privileged paternal white male") than that of Goneril and Regan, the "girls with guts." Cordelia is just a girly wimp.

"Lear" hovers over "Third" the way Chekhov's "Three Sisters" haunted "The Sisters Rosensweig." Laurie has an aged, senile father, Jack (a bracingly humble Charles Durning), given to Lear-like rantings (including a scene set during a rainstorm). And since the role she plays to Jack's Lear is basically that of Cordelia, she would seem to suffer from a Lear-like lack of self-knowledge.

Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy is also the subject that jump-starts the play's pivotal confrontation - between Laurie and Woodson Bull III (Jason Ritter), nicknamed Third, a Groton graduate on a wrestling scholarship whom Laurie instantly classifies as a child of patrician privilege and a distasteful emblem of the age of George W. Bush.

As Third says, he is in her eyes "a living dead white man." He would seem to threaten every victory Laurie has won as a pioneering female professor at the small New England college she had joined three decades earlier. And when Third turns in a well-written, intelligently argued paper on "King Lear," Laurie is quick to accuse him of plagiarizing.

This face-off never gathers much dramatic tension. First of all, it taxes credibility that an academic standards committee would pursue such charges without evidence. More important, though, Ms. Wiest is simply too much of a sweetheart to convey the requisite hostility.

Hers is, by nature, a melting presence. (Think of her delicious studies in crinkly-eyed insecurity in Woody Allen's movies.) And she is truly touching in the scenes that show Laurie's inner anxieties about her place in a world in flux, especially in a bravura monologue on a psychiatrist's couch. But it is essential that the outer Laurie be a woman of steel and of a willful shallowness, evident in her exaggerated obsession with intellectual brand names. ("How could you have a problem with Rena? She's a Guggenheim poet.")

The supporting characters feel more convincingly drawn. Amy Aquino is terrific as Laurie's sardonic, cancer-plagued best friend and fellow academic, a finely gauged portrait of wryness as the best defense in the shadow of death. Mr. Durning movingly underplays geriatric dementia.

Ms. Wasserstein's younger characters also register with impressive restraint and credibility. Mr. Ritter's scenes with the disarmingly dry Gaby Hoffmann (as Laurie's younger daughter, a student at Swarthmore, natch) and Ms. Aquino are the play's sharpest and most subtle.

Indeed, such an appealing case is made from the beginning for Third's not being the "walking red state" Laurie mistakes him for that she seems grotesquely deluded. And while "Third" would seem to be striving for the he-said, she-said ambiguity of John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt," the easygoing direction of Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Wasserstein's frequent collaborator, lacks the tautness to sustain any suspense.

Yet "Third" ultimately registers as more than the fractured sum of flawed parts. And on one level, its defects - Ms. Wiest's palpable soft-heartedness, Mr. Sullivan's contemplative pace - work to its advantage. For Ms. Wasserstein is politely asking audiences who have grown older with her to acknowledge their fears, their limitations and the possibility that they might be wrong on subjects they were once sure about. In taking her uncommon women through the decades, she sweetly but shrewdly suggests that life is an unending identity crisis.

Third

By Wendy Wasserstein; directed by Daniel Sullivan; sets by Thomas Lynch; costumes by Jennifer von Mayrhauser; lighting by Pat Collins; original music by Robert Waldman; sound by Scott Stauffer; stage manager, Roy Harris; director of development, Hattie K. Jutagir; director of marketing, Linda Mason Ross; general manager, Adam Siegel; production manager, Jeff Hamlin. Presented by Lincoln Center Theater, under the direction of André Bishop and Bernard Gersten. At the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center; (212) 239-6200. Through Dec. 11. Running time: 2 hours.

WITH: Dianne Wiest (Laurie Jameson), Jason Ritter (Woodson Bull III), Gaby Hoffmann (Emily Imbrie), Charles Durning (Jack Jameson) and Amy Aquino (Nancy Gordon).

People who use fruit stickers and crops for art

Fruit sticker artist ANDY SINGER

when its great to be a teacher

i returned to my class last night after a two week absences ( we had a jewish holiday break) and i was surprised to find almost all the students there. I began with a discussion of Capote as a study of Narcissism and other students piped up with Movies they have seen and could explain how they fit in the field of social work. They are able to apply the theory to practice. I remarked, "look how far you have come in a few weeks?" " when we started this class, you scoffed at me when i applied social work to popular culture, now you are bringing me instances where social work is found."
"congratulations, you are seeing the world differently and i must have done my job"

i then pulled out some articles from the two weeks- One on the child welfare system in NJ, a few on medicaid cuts, some on the custody battle over the 4 year old left on the streets of Queens, only known as VALERY, and other assorted related articles. One student brought her own in to share. " again, i said when we started this class, you scoffed at me when i applied social work to the news paper, now you are bringing me articles where social work is found."
"congratulations, you are seeing the world differently and i must have done my job."

i left school knowing that i have changed the way they see things, how they view the world and will have a greater impact on their seeing things than before they took my class. They may not learn a whole lot about Children and Adolescents, though i think they will, they have begun to learn how to view the world as a social worker. I guess, i have taught them some thing.

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 20, 2005

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 20, 2005


To be completely aligned with cosmic rhythms in the coming weeks, you'd arrange for rose petals to be thrown at you each time you opened a door. A gourmet cook would provide a steady stream of tastes you've never experienced before. A great band or chamber orchestra would come to your home to play for the best party you've ever thrown. A friend would read you stories that deepened your appreciation for how courageous you've been in dealing with your own struggles. And you would enlist the services of your own royal fool, who'd be responsible for telling you jokes, identifying incongruities, and keeping you flexible.

dreams

my dreams have been all over the place in the last few weeks. There are themes of moving, dreams of moving, Dreams that contain steak vs Boca burgers. i have had dreams about packing my belongings and moving. There was a dream with two cats, one being mine and a jet black pug. i dreamed of having one jewel earring and one gold earring. More than once i am moving in the dreams

Last night, i had a dream that i was driving a car not my own and i was with william ferebee- the building manager that i work with who is an ex vietnam vet and junkie and a chronic liar who robs peter to pay paul - william was in a different car on the left with an older woman. I was in another car, a beat up light blue car. we both went forward going about 40 and rammed our front ends into a post office. but the building was protected by cardboard. I knew i did some damage to the car in the dream but i kept going. I was dragging cardboard but rode on. i knew i would look at it later. it was not my car. I saw william on his cell phone making a cocaine deal. or was it the next scene

i also dreamed that i got a call about two jobs that i applied for. One located in a library and the other as a senior analyst. I tried to explain to the man on the phone that i had no experience as a libarian or paralegal as the clerical job was law related. I kept telling him,"as you can see from my resume" he was trying to make it fit.

i told him to submit my resume for both jobs and if i needed to send him another i would and i took down the name and address. as i was writing it down in the dream, my alarm clock rang. i knew in the dream that if i didnt have a job that this job would be great but i have a job therefore i need to take care in taking a new job

a positive review of Capote

Reviewed by Lexi Feinberg: 2005-09-28



The thin line between right and wrong is examined in Capote, a compelling biopic about the famous author during the time he wrote “In Cold Blood.” Truman Capote, played to perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman, was a fascinating figure with equal layers of talent and flaw. He could own the spotlight and make anyone laugh with his effeminate nature and clever jokes, but underneath he was a truly tortured and dependent soul. The world loved him after “Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and he became an accomplished writer that yearned for a change of pace. After reading an article about a slain family of four in Kansas, his life and the face of American literature were forever altered.

“In Cold Blood” is a non-fiction novel about 2 scumbags that murdered a family in their own home in 1959. The killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) committed the crimes for thousands of dollars, which they never actually found. They ended up leaving with $50 in their pockets, not quite the big lottery they were looking for. Capote goes to research the case, and along with him is his childhood friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. He’s drawn to and bewildered by the violent murders, noticing in the crime scene photos that the young boy’s head was tucked nicely onto a pillow, before being blasted off by a shotgun. Why would someone care enough to make someone comfortable before sending them to an early resting place?

Perry Smith is not your average criminal, and that is part of the horror of the whole thing. He likes to read, keeps personal diaries, and has the soulful eyes of Robert Downey Jr. Capote (a gay man), in his own way falls in love with Perry, but his desire to spend time with him is at constant odds with the need for him to be executed so he can finish his book. He finds the killers a lawyer, delaying their death sentences, and he visits regularly, even feeding Perry baby food when he is starving. They have an extraordinarily moving and confusing bond, leaving Capote torn between caring for Perry and wanting to exploit him for a story.

Capote is the best movie I’ve seen so far this year, and there is not enough praise to shower upon it. It works on every possible level, with strong performances and believable dynamics that creatively bring a tragic story to life. Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the most talented actors working today, and if his performance in the film doesn’t earn him an Oscar, then the voting committee has clearly undergone a lobotomy. Rather than doing a deadpan impersonation, Hoffman encompasses Capote’s every movement and emotion, from his flamboyant persona to the wounded, spoiled child inside of him.

Unlike most biopics that scan the course of a person’s life without ever allowing us to truly know them, Capote revolves around a few crucial years in the turning point of Truman’s life. Not since Dead Man Walking has a movie been able to delve as deeply into the lives associated with a horrific criminal act, and realistically show the impact it has on the people involved. Different angles are told, but there is not a clearly mapped out path of who to like or dislike. These are well-rounded, flawed, real people, without a caricature in sight. Nothing is black and white as Capote beautifully expresses the multiple shades of grey people try to ignore. It’s more than just a movie; it’s an experience, and one you won’t want to miss.

capote

i want to see the movies that will showcase the "oscar" award winning performances. Phillip Seymour Hoffman will be nominated for his portrayal of CAPOTE.

I went to the angelika to see this movie. I walked in at 150pm for a 2pm show and there was almost an empty theater.

The movie depicts Capote, after he wrote Breakfast at Tiffanys, but while he was writing for the NEW YORKER. Nellie Harper Lee has not completed To kill a mockingbird and then the movie covers the next 5 years.

Capote find a TIMES article about the killing of the Cuttler family in Kansas and goes to Holcolm Kansas to write about the impact on this small town. This article becomes a book and becomes an obsession. This movie is actually about a Narcisstic man who had tremendous demons and the other people around him. The two killer, one who he befriends and uses to get his book. HIS book, he is destined to write. The Book that he will be his downfall. the movie is a character study and a historical biopic of Capote taken from the Book of the same name.

the movie, interrepts capotes role in NYC literary community and how IN COLD BLOOD changes the way books are written and adds a new genre to Literature, Fictional nonfiction. or historical fiction. the book, the making of the book. Capotes relationship to his editor, his partner (though its not specific) to Harper Lee and to Perry Smith, the killer is explored in length leading the audience to interrept them for themselves..

Capote has some precious lines, like when he enters the police station in this small town and swing his scarf and annouces it is a Bergdorfs.. One policeman gets it and responds, tipping his hat- sears and robucks. Capote is always out of place or the center of his place.

In cold blood destroys him and watching this is as disturbing as watching the crime. The movie is disturbing but so isnt the book and movie. the crime is heineous and only Capote can write it without camp or scare. He reports the destruction and the violence. He makes its as disturbing as it was was.

the performances are excellent. It was hard to remember Phillip Seymour Hoffman was capote and his clothing is impeccible. the character is a liar and manipulative and Hoffman has captured his mannerisms to a tee. Hoffman nails it.

Capote is about capote as was Truman Capote.

third

I got a chance to see the newest offering by wendy wasserstein last week. Kol Nidre is hte best time to see the hardest ticket shows in NYC. Thanksgiving weekend, fridays in summertime,superbowl sunday and jewish new year.

i went to Lincoln center to see another Production that they put on. Dianne Wiest plays a college professor at an IVY league New England School. She is teaching Shakespeare from a feminist perspective and speaks some of Wasserstein's best and witty lines. The college professor meets a Midwest wrestler who went to Groton, who refers to himself as Third. As he is one. This young man challenges her sense of balance, even though he doesnt do anything directly. Except write a midterm. His midterm is on Lear and she questions whether he wrote it or plagerized it. She confronts him and he reports he is the author. She takes him up on charges and loses.
he believes she is discriminating against him because he is a jock and her steroetype that he is a rich kid from a private school who plays sports cant possibly write a publishable paper on LEAR.

THird is not wealthy, his grandfather was and he is a wrestler and challenges the establishment in his vegan, bisexual, global issue, protesting college campus. he is white boy from the midwest that takes all the Transgendered, gender bending courses
to expand his horizons and for the love of learning. he works his way through school and eventually transfers to Ohio State.

THere are other plots. Her struggles with her daughter, her absent non accomplished professor husband. Her references to her Lesbian daughter who lives in Vermont making organic cheese with her rhodes scholar, fullbright partner ( who cheats on her). the tension with her family is around her father, Played brilliantly by charles durning who has alsheimers and her daughter who wants to leave swarthmore and run off with a bankteller from trenton.

then there is her peer professor played by Amy Acquino. i am not sure why this character is there. her cancer comes out of remission and after the Main character, calls her doctor to control her treatment, they part ways. they are reunited at the end of the play.

this is an overcomplicated play that tried to do too much. There are too many conflicts, too many topics. The main character is addicted to watching CNN and cursing out the current administration. Though it makes for some good lines, it will date the play and the whole scene is needless. There are other scenes that dont move the play forward.

the tension builds like a Mamet play in the first act and really tried to do too much.
I love wendy wasserstein but this play does quite meet her usual standards. AR Gurney was in the audience the night i was there and my seatmate and i wonder HOW different authors would handle the same characters and topics.

i wanted to love this wasserstein but liked it well enough....but couldnt like the main character.
____________
from Playbill

Third is a full-length expansion of a one-act that had its premiere at Theatre J in Washington, DC, in early 2004. At the time, it was paired with another one act, Welcome to My Rash. In the one-act version of Third, Laurie Jameson, a veteran professor at a private liberal arts college, and Woodson Bull III (as in "the Third"), her conservative, wrestling-jock of a student, face off in a series of confrontations over politics, Shakespeare, and campus culture. Meanwhile, Laurie fends off hot flashes as well a challenging relationship with her college-age daughter.

maybe this one... hey thats jane too??? 

or do you like this one better  

amy whipple, this one is for you  

As cool as i am not

atlanta home by way of takoma park

i didnt sleep well again and got up and showered adn went for coffee. the breakfast buffet was worse than the day before. there was more more more food and more temptation. I ate scambled eggs, grits and fresh fruit and split about 930

i was so tired on my way that i stopped almost every hour to stretch my legs. I had been dreading the drive from atlanta to takoma park where i was staying with sally green..

it was a long ass ride and longer all alone as i heading home. i wanted to go home and see my cat.

i got to sallys after a subway sandwich on the way and was greeted with homemade oatmeal cookies.. they were great, laura and i ate two .. THANK YOU laura for the cookies

i generally dont even eat one.. they had to be good if i ate two

sally and laura are great and i love their home. its comfortable and reflects them.
we talked for a good while and i crashed.

i slept well at sallys, better than i slept all week... Thanks sally and laura i needed to be at your house, i need to sleep, and i needed hte cookies..well maybe not the cookies..Thank you again sally

i passed on sally's famous french toast.. see her live journal for the rocking recipe and drank coffee to get me started again

i got back after teh friggin staten island expressway was backed up.. i did my wash, unpacked and went to the grocery store and it was time to eat and get to bed.

my cat was skinny and fared better than i expected.

Bipolar cat girl didnt care for her, her mother did and she did a great job at caring for my kitty o'love

kitty o' love was glad to see me has been connected to my hip ever since. she watches me leave the house and is excited when i come home..

i ams still tired from my travels

this was a hard trip... lots of rain, lots of driving and lots of sleepless nights..

i did get to the post office in asheville and mailed some packages and i bought some cool stuff in asheville. there was little room for wandering because of the time i left one city for another and needing to get to the next stop...

asheville to atlanta

susan picked hotels with breakfast available for free. these are pretty dangerous for me but i negotiated that first one pretty well. I drank coffee and ate oatmeal, resisting the waffles, powdered eggs, and juice...

the moss van hadnt really seen asheville so i went along to shop in the same stores that i was in the day before. the group also shopped in the indian clothes stores that didnt interest me. i thought htey were overpriced indian goods that were too hippy like so i wandered down to CVS to get a soda and i took peggy to mast to look at sweaters..

i had been in mast the day before and bought a hat like Chris Chin's patagonia sun hat..it was on sale.. i bought a columbia sweater on sale and some karen neuberger socks like lynn got for me in oregon. I love those socks..

finally when they were all done getting coffee and pastry and shopping, we got on the road

we then headed toward atlanta.. I didnt sleep well the night before and was squirmy all night, so i asked susan's friend susan to drive my car. I bought apples at a road side stand and kept away from teh fritos and chips.

we checked in to our hotel and got lost lost lost getting to the venue.. I found the trail mix in teh van and ate the M&Ms out of the mix and ate peanuts, and almonds..and
didnt go for mexican food and headed to the venue to count in ..

i got a greek salad and pita from the place next door and at the merch table, gettin oil on my new OM shirt..

the show was great. we stood right up front and i had to move around, sit down and stand when i wanted to..

Jelesa crawford merched and she was great. she carried hte weight and helped me count out..

i got a soda and headed back to the van. we went for an old night diner and i ate grits and poached eggs. I had 1/2 a piece of toast and tasted nancy's pancakes.

a day in asheville

i got up and check out of my hotel. I packed the car and headed downtown. Asheville reminded me of Eugene oregon.. there were more junkies on teh street. there were methodone maintenance junkies and Crystal meth junkies with their silver pin point pupils.

i wandered the street shopping. I went to two or three cd stores and found and American apparel store and bought some shirts. I went to TOPS the shoe store to look around and ended up with leather Keens. I was happy walking around asheville in the drizzle with no where to be til later.

I couldnt access my messages so i couldnt get susan moss's message. I didnt wnat to take my car outta the garage where i was parked because the meters were 30 minute meters that are monitored, so about 3pm i was hungry so i went to a salad bar and had black bean soup and two plates of salad.. i was stuffed on greens and beans..
even though it looked like a chain place.. souper salad, the food was fresh and tasty and i had a soda all for 9.00.. i was overstuffed and continued to walk around town.

i headed towards the venue and shopped my way down to the venue....

i met up with dar who asked me to take her nanny back to the hotel for her. I agreed as long as i could park. Megan sheridan who merched for me the night before took over the reigns when i was getting my car and getting the cargo back to the hotel...

the show was a benefit with christine kane and then girly man. Girlyman was heading over to atlanta after their set so i had to move my car to let em out.

christine had a great set. susan dedicated "woman of steel" to me as i got my plate out and i missed most of Girly man.

Dar was on and she played to the house. Jules shear was in the house and there were owls brought by the WILD FOR LIFE people. I bid on the silent auction and was gald that i didnt win. I would have spent too much money for the artisan items.

the shows stared to be a blur and without a setlist i cant really remember what was played. I have setlist for all teh venues except asheville. there were slots for dar's solo without a song filled in..

after the show, i followed susan moss to the hotel and i snacked on yogurt and went to sleep

raleigh to Asheville

the rain poured down as i left raleigh and headed down the same long long long highway to asheville, i stopped along the way many time. Once for gas, once for get my brother a blue ridge harley shirt, once for shopping for a toy for stephen, once to a bank to get 5.00 bills.

it was raining so hard it was a strain to drive so i took it slow and steady...

i checked into my hotel and headed to asheville to me up with steven Holley who asked me to dinner. I made no definate plans because i didnt know what time i would be around. I ran into dar a few times, but not Steve so after trying to walk to downtown asheville, i got in my car and parked downtown and went to look for food.

i found a noodle shoppe that had a special of stir fry tofu, broccoli and brown rice..
all for 7.95.. I sat down and the waitress brought me an appetizer of marinated cabbage
and then split a spring roll with me..
My body absorbed the veggies and i ate too much food. I should have saved some for later because i wanted it again late. The restaurant reminded me of Zen Palate and the food was awfully good.

i then went to the coop for coffee and drove around til i found Marapos, the best bookstore in asheville. for a few dollars, i could check my email and spend some time in this great store so i did

i then went back to my hotel and caught the news on CNN that NYC subway is on security alert. I tuned in for as much news as i could get and fell asleep with the Tv on..

i was missing my cat and worried about her and i called my mom to remind her i was in asheville.

farmville to raleigh

amy and i got up and i showered.. i wanted amy to take a picture of my with my teeshirt on and NO pants but i couldnt coax her into it. she was more concerned that i didnt have any pants on..
she called me to meet her friend walter and told me to put my pants on..i was playing with may camera and finally put on my pants.

in the mist, we toured Longwood and then met Mary for coffee. I really liked Amy's teacher and i think that she is a good role model for amy. she professes tough love and nurtures the students at the same time. She is as cool as i am .. she is alot like me.
we talked for about an hour and 1/2 over coffee with amy there.

i then went back to my car and started out for raleigh. I hit the back roads and saw some of hte most beautiful farm land. it looked alot like IOWA...

i stopped at a country store to go to the bathroom and the women behind the counter serving fish sandwiches where nice. I stopped to ask a guy with a spotty beard cuz he didnt have enough hair to fill in his beard for directions. he gave me some backwoods wise ass answer and I reminded him that because i was from out of town that i was not stupid and i left there with my hair standing up...so i followed my directions to route 85.

i stopped again at a gas station where the woman behind the counter was a love but in the parking lot, i felt myself put my menorah necklace in my shirt. I was heading into the Bible belt and i wasnt feeling safe.

My massachusetts plates and NY accent clearly were a liability on this trip.

i landed in raleigh with enough time to check into my hotel, unpack the car, change my clothes and head over the venue.

i found the band walking around town.. i met up with megan sheridan and we went to dinner. I wanted a salad because i was going to WW the next day and i couldnt get any protein on the salad... the salad was the salad in a bag with 1/2 lb of shredded cheese on it.

i took it to go and scraped off the cheese....

i ate it at the venue while we merched...

the venue was a rock club where there were stools and some bannister for drinks. it was a rainy night and no one expected the club to be full.

I met up with a woman who did body work in DC who knew Mary Chapin Carpenter and was orginally from the North hampton area. i sat with her and her partner for a while and wandered around. I was tired and the show was a blur. Dar was in great voice and this was the second of her rocking out shows...she was loving her new Huss and dalton and announced she played OLD MCDONALD for Stephen when she got it.
( amy and i witnessed it at Starr HIll)

after the show, i went for an ice cream cone and went shopping at an old night supercenter that i found in the same mall as the Weight watchers i needed to go to the next day.

I got up with time to spare to get to WWatchers for teh early meeting and i weighed in and stayed for the meeting. WWatchers are the same all over but this center had the points for the STate Fair that was happening the next week. WOW, State Fair food has Lots of points. The regional nature of the place, the women, the food they talked about was interesting for me...

i ended up with a Bad cup of coffee after the meeting and another bad one on the way to asheville.

leaving NY ro charlottesville.

last week, i split this city for the open road. i left NY on tuesday and headed towards charlottesville, va. As i headed down the NJ turnpike, i left the layers of stress start to be shed from my skin. I stopped for gas and the gas station attendant on the pike. In NJ, you cannot pump your own gas, the attendants do it for you. So the attendant looked in my car and asked if i found...Fiona.. it took a while for me to understand what he was saying..

he looked at My shrek and donkey key chain that hang from my rear view mirror. I then understood, he was asking for Fiona. i told him that i hadnt found fiona. he told me that he goes to the 99 cents store and paid a dollar for Donkey and Shrek for his daughter. I asked him the age of his daughter and he said 2. i took off my donkey and gave it to him to take home to his kids.

heading into charlottesville, i found a 7-11 where i got a crystal light mango passion slurpee. this is the sister to the Diet Pepsi slurpee that i had after i went to the goodwill with my clothes a few weeks ago... i drove happily through the farm land of virginia, drinking my slurpee in the summer sun beating down..

i got gas at about a 1/4 tank down all the way so i wasnt hit with a large gas bill. the whole trip must have cost me about 200.00 in gas for 2500+ miles..

in charlottesville, i went to Staples and whole foods and met up the dar tour at STarr hill. i met up with amy at starr hill and Amy and i had dinner, after we watched the delivery of the new Huss and dalton guitar...

amy and i walked for coffee and checked out the stores on the avenue til we had to get back to the show..

the show was great. the girlymen sounded great and Dar and band were in a tiny stage space and had to cramp together.

after the show i followed Amy to farmville, at one point i thought she took off down the road, knowing that i didnt have directions, and no cell phone service in the farmland of virginia on roads i didnt know , i just kept driving.. lucky for her, her
tail lights appeared and her license plate appeared in front of me..

soon enough we were in farmville and i curled up on the couch.

AMY's room has susan werner pix everywhere. She can see susan's face from any angle in her room...its all susan werner.
Amy's room is a recreation of her room in springfield only in farmville..

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 13, 2005

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 13, 2005

Verticle Oracle card Capricorn (December 22-January 19)
My friend Glenn suffered a thumb injury while playing softball a few years back. Though it eventually healed, the scar tissue made the thumb less mobile than it had been before. Three weeks ago, he got stung by a bee in the exact spot where the original wound occurred. It swelled up for a couple days, then receded. Since then, he has enjoyed a dramatic upgrade in the thumb's freedom of movement. I predict a comparable scenario for you in the coming days, Capricorn. A fresh booboo won't last long, and--wonder of wonders--it will ameliorate an old booboo.

sage advisor does weary mean wiser? 

dar's new huss and dalton guitar 

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 6, 2005

Capricorn Horoscope for week of October 6, 2005


In his poem "Jerusalem, Easter," Stanley Moss writes, "On this bright Easter morning / smelling of Arab bread, / what if God simply changed his mind / and called out into the city, / 'Thou shalt not kill,' and, like an angry father, 'I will not say it another time!' / They are praying too much in Jerusalem . . ." With this as your inspiration, Capricorn, I'd like you to meditate on two themes: 1) What crucial message do you keep getting from God or life but continue to ignore? 2) Is there a certain ideal you say you believe in but sometimes neglect to carry out in your day-to-day encounters?

what they hell did bobby do? take a picture of me??? me on my own blog...down at the twist and shout 

chapin put on this Junk baseball cap.... too bad its not a red sox cap.... 

dar at boston tower 

dar tells boston a story 

mary chapin carpenter rocks out central park 

mary chapin carpenter in central park  

if i dream it, i must blog it

i was hella tired last night after the dar williams Town Hall show and getting to sleep after 2am and after coming in after 2am from the Keswick Dar williams show.. I woke up at 7am and went to Weight watchers and then rushed to central park to see Mary Chapin Carpenter..
i then had an overpriced dinner at Lori Schwabs... everyone paid 15 dollars. I ate salad and fruit for 15 dollars but i met some incredible people and spent time with others.

i took the train home and after an hour or so i was utterly exhausted- i went to sleep and found the dylan documentary and feel alseep promptly..

i woke up in the night for a drink and at 6am to go to the bathroom.. i had a dream where there was a woman like Julianne Moore or Marcia Cross who lived in the area where the dream took place and she had complained that she becomes impatient around me. Her complaint of becoming impatient about my behavior caused me to tell a guy who looked like TOM on the dar tour that i would leave. I had no permanent place and if she was uncomfortable and impatient, even though its her problem, i took take the hint and leave.

i woke up in the middle of this dream and went back to sleep and fell into the same dream.. i had a dream continuation that included the scene of my telling TOM that i was leaving. I was holding a piece of paper. the emotions in the dream were mild anxiety but really no connection to the feeling of the marcia cross woman who was uncomfortable. I reiterated that i would accommodate her but it was her problem that she become impatient wiht me and cannot tell me what specific behavior make her that way...