★History of 6/11: Declaration of Independence committee of five

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★History of 6/11: Declaration of Independence committee of five

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All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: House... Road House

Gwen Stefani

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Sherman Oaks, CA - Gwen Stefani steps out this afternoon with her boys Kingston and Zuma to pick up 4th of July party favors. The fashionable rocker family stopped at Party's Supplies for birthday balloons and spiderman pinata before making one last stop at CVS.

GSI Media July 4, 2010

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Roadside mural of Bashar al Assad along the Damascus/Aleppo highway

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Roadside mural of Bashar al Assad along the Damascus/Aleppo highway

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Bashar Hafez al-Assad, born 11 September 1965, is the current President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. His father Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria for 29 years until his death in 2000.
Al-Assad graduated from the medical school of the University of Damascus in 1988, and started to work as a doctor in the army. Four years later, he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital, in London, specializing in ophthalmology. In 1994, Al-Assad entered the military academy and in 1998, Al-Assad took charge of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. In December 2000, Assad married Asma Assad, née Akhras. Al-Assad was elected as President of Syria in 2000 and 2007, unopposed each time.
During the Syrian uprising, activists and protesters have called for al-Assad's resignation.
Early lifeBashar Hafez al-Assad was born in Damascus on 11 September 1965, the son of Aniseh (née Makhluf) and Hafez al-Assad. His father, Hafez al-Assad, born to a poor family of Alawite background rose through the Party ranks to take control of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in the 1970 Corrective Revolution, thus installing himself as president. Hafez al-Assad purged the Party, and introduced effective Alawite rule of Syria. His last name in Arabic means the lion;.
Unlike his brothers, Bassel and Maher, and sister, Bushra, Bashar was quiet and reserved and says that he lacked interest in politics or the military. He later said that he only entered his father's office once while he was in power and he never spoke about politics with him. He received his primary and secondary education in the Arab-French al-Hurriya School in Damascus. In 1982, he graduated from high school and went on to study medicine at Damascus University.
In 1988, Bashar Assad graduated from medical school and began working as an army doctor in the biggest military hospital, "Tishrin", on the outskirts of Damascus. Four years later, he went to the United Kingdom to begin postgraduate training in ophthalmology at the Western Eye Hospital, part of the St Mary's group of teaching hospitals in London. Bashar at the time had few political aspirations.[14] His father had been grooming Bashar's older brother, Bassel al-Assad, as the future president, but he never declared this intent. Bashar, however, was recalled in 1994 to the Syrian army, after Bassel's unexpected death in an automobile accident.
Death of Bassel
The Al-Assad family around 1994. At the front are Hafez al-Assad and his wife, Anisa. At the back row, from left to right: Maher (commander of the Republican Guard), Bashar, Bassel, Majid, and Bushra. Soon after the death of Bassel, Hafez Assad made the decision to make Bashar the new heir-apparent. Over the next six and half years, until his death in 2000, Hafez went about systematically preparing Bashar for taking over power. Preparations for a smooth transition were made on three levels. First, support was built up for Bashar in the military and security apparatus. Second, Bashar's image was established with the public. And lastly, Bashar was familiarized with the mechanisms of running the country.
To establish his credentials in the military, Bashar entered in 1994 the military academy at Homs, north of Damascus, and was propelled through the ranks to become a colonel in January 1999. To establish a power base for Bashar in the military, old divisional commanders were pushed into retirement, and new, young, Alawite officers with loyalties to him took their place.
Parallel to his military career, Bashar was engaged in public affairs. He was granted wide powers and became a political adviser to President Hafez al-Assad, head of the bureau to receive complaints and appeals of citizens, and led a campaign against corruption. As a result of his campaign against corruption, Bashar was able to remove his potential rivals for president.
In 1998, Bashar took charge of Syria's Lebanon file, which had since the 1970s been handled by former Vice President Abdul Khaddam, one of the few Sunni officials in the Assad government, who had until then been a potential contender for president. By taking charge of Syrian affairs in Lebanon, Bashar was able to push Khaddam aside and establish his own power base in Lebanon. In that same year after minor consultation with Lebanese politicians, Bashar installed Emile Lahoud, a loyal ally of his, as the President of Lebanon and pushed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri aside, by not placing his political weight behind his nomination as prime minister.
To further weaken the old Syrian order in Lebanon, Bashar replaced the long serving de facto Syrian High Commissioner of Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, with loyal ally Rustum Ghazali. Under Bashar, Syrian corruption in Lebanon, which was already estimated at billion per year in the 1990s, became more rampant and was publicly exposed with the collapse in 2003 of the Lebanese Al-Madina bank. Al-Madina was used to launder kickback money in the illegal gaming of the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food programme. Sources put the amount transferred and laundered through al-Madina at more than billion, with a 25 percent commission going to Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies, among the recipients of this money were Bashar Assad's brother Maher, Emile Lahoud's son-in-law Elias Murr, and Ghazali.
When the elder Assad died in 2000, Bashar was appointed leader of the Ba'ath Party and the Army, and was elected president unopposed in what the regime claimed to be a massive popular support (97.2% of the votes), after the Majlis Al Sha'ab (Parliament) swiftly voted to lower the minimum age for candidates from 40 to 34 (Assad's age when he was elected). On 27 May 2007, Bashar was approved as president for another seven-year term, with the official result of 97.6% of the votes in a referendum without another candidate.
In his domestic policy, he has been criticised for a disregard for human rights, economic lapses, and corruption.
In his foreign policy, Al-Assad is an outspoken critic of the United States and Israel. The Ba'ath Party remains in control of the parliament, and is constitutionally the "leading party" of the state. Until he became president, Bashar al-Assad was not greatly involved in politics; his only public role was head of the Syrian Computer Society, which introduced the Internet to Syria in 2001. Al-Assad was confirmed as president by an unopposed referendum in 2000. He was expected to take a more liberal approach than his father. In an interview he stated that he saw democracy in Syria as 'a tool to a better life' but then argued that it would take time for democracy to come about and that it could not be rushed.
Politically and economically, Syrian life has changed only slightly since 2000. Immediately after he took office a reform movement made cautious advances during the Damascus Spring, which led al-Assad to shut down Mezzeh prison and release hundreds of political prisoners. However, security crackdowns commenced again within the year. By July 2012, according to analysts, Assad had amassed for himself, his family and associates a fortune of perhaps .5bn, which is held in Russia, Hong Kong and offshore tax havens to spread the risk of seizure.
EconomySee also: Economy of Syria
Economic liberalization in Syria has been limited, with industry still heavily state-controlled. However some changes have occurred including the introduction of private banking and the encouragement of foreign involvement, most notably in the oil sector. The need for a diversification of the economy has been pressed for by some as it has been predicted that Syria will change from exporting to having to import oil by 2015. The reliance upon oil is reflected by manufacturing exports representing only 3.1 percent of Syria’s GDP. These issues are especially relevant as Syria’s population is predicted to more than double to over 34 million by 2050. There have been mild economic sanctions (the Syria Accountability Act) applied by the United States which further complicate the situation. Of major importance are the negotiations for a free trade association agreement with the European Union.
A 2007 law required internet cafes to record all the comments users post on chat forums. Websites such as Wikipedia Arabic, YouTube and Facebook were blocked intermittently between 2008 and February 2011.
Human Rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have detailed how Bashar's regime and secret police routinely tortured, imprisoned, and killed political opponents, and those who speak out against the regime.
Since 2006 it expanded the use of travel bans against dissidents, a practice that is illegal under international law.[citation needed] In that regard, Syria is the worst offender among Arab states.
In an interview with ABC News in 2007 he stated: "We don't have such [things as] political prisoners," yet the New York Times reported the arrest of 30 political prisoners in Syria in December 2007.
Foreign Policy magazine editorialized on his position in the wake of the 2011 protests:
During its decades of rule... the Assad family developed a strong political safety net by firmly integrating the military into the regime. In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father, seized power after rising through the ranks of the Syrian armed forces, during which time he established a network of loyal Alawites by installing them in key posts. In fact, the military, ruling elite, and ruthless secret police are so intertwined that it is now impossible to separate the Assad regime from the security establishment.... So... the regime and its loyal forces have been able to deter all but the most resolute and fearless oppositional activists. In this respect, the situation in Syria is to a certain degree comparable to Saddam Hussein’s strong Sunni minority rule in Iraq.
Foreign relations
Assad with Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Assad's first official foreign trip was to meet Jacques Chirac in France, who had warm relations with him. The Middle Eastern Quarterly noted that "As in the case of Iraq, there are lingering questions of Syrian payments to French politicians. Many French politicians join associations and charitable boards both for financial and political gain."
The United States, European Union, the March 14 Alliance, Israel, and France accuse Assad of providing practical support to militant groups active against Israel and against opposition political groups. The latter category would include most political parties other than Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad. According to MEMRI, Assad claimed the United States could benefit from the Syrian experience in fighting organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood at the Hama Massacre.
Assad opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq despite a long-standing animosity between the Syrian and Iraqi governments. Assad used Syria's seat in one of rotating positions on the United Nations Security Council to try to prevent the invasion of Iraq. Following the Iraq invasion by US and allied forces, Assad was accused of supporting the Iraqi insurgency. A US general accused him of providing funding, logistics, and training to Iraqi and foreign Muslims to launch attacks against U.S. and allied forces occupying Iraq.
Former President of Brazil Lula da Silva and Bashar al Assad.The February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the accusation of Syrian involvement and support for anti-Israeli groups, helped precipitate a crisis in relations with the United States. Assad was criticised for Syria's presence in Lebanon which ended in 2005, and the U.S. placed sanctions upon Syria partly because of this. At Pope John Paul II's funeral in 2005, Assad shook hands with the Israeli president Moshe Katsav.
In the Arab world, Assad mended relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization but relations with many Arab states, in particular Saudi Arabia, have been deteriorating. This is in part due to Assad's continued intervention in Lebanon and his alliance with Iran. Around the time of the 2008 South Ossetia war, Assad made an official visit to Russia. In an interview with the Russian TV channel Vesti, he asserted that one cannot separate the events in the Caucasus from the US presence in Iraq, which he condemned as a direct threat to [Syria's] security."
After the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, many media outlets accused Syria of being involved.[citation needed] as Hariri was anti-Syrian. However, Assad argued that Syria's gradual withdrawal of troops from Lebanon, beginning in 2000, was precipitated as a result of the event and ended in May 2005.
In 2011, Assad told the Wall Street Journal that he considered himself "anti-Israel" and "anti-West", and that because of these policies he was not in danger of being overthrown.
Involvement in LebanonDespite gaining re-election in 2007, al-Assad’s position was considered by some to have been weakened by the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following the Cedar Revolution in 2005. There has also been pressure from the U.S. concerning claims that Syria is linked to terrorist networks, exacerbated by Syrian condemnation of the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah military leader, in Damascus in 2008. Interior Minister Bassam Abdul-Majeed stated that, "Syria, which condemns this cowardly terrorist act, expresses condolences to the martyr family and to the Lebanese people.”
Arab-Israeli conflictIn a speech about the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict in August 2006, Bashar al-Assad said that Hezbollah had "hoisted the banner of victory," hailing its actions as a "successful resistance." He claimed that Arab resistance was growing stronger, and warned Israel that "your warplanes, rockets, and your atomic bomb will not protect you in the future." He called Israel an enemy with whom no peace could be achieved as long as they and their allies (especially the U.S.) support the practice of preemptive war. In the same speech, he also called Arab leaders that have criticized Hezbollah "half-men."
In April 2008, Assad told a Qatari newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year, with Turkey as a go-between. This was confirmed in May 2008, by a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. As well as a peace treaty, the future of the Golan Heights is being discussed. Assad was quoted in The Guardian as telling the Qatari paper:
. . . there would be no direct negotiations with Israel until a new US president takes office. The US was the only party qualified to sponsor any direct talks, [Assad] told the paper, but added that the Bush administration "does not have the vision or will for the peace process. It does not have anything."
According to leaked American cables, Bashar al Assad called Hamas an "uninvited guest" and said "If you want me to be effective and active, I have to have a relationship with all parties. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, but we have to deal with the reality of their presence.", comparing Hamas to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood which was crushed by his father Hafez al Assad. He then claimed Hamas would disappear if peace was brought to the Middle East.
Assad has indicated that the peace treaty that he envisions would not be the same kind of peace treaty Israel has with Egypt where there is a legal border crossing and open trade. In a 2006 interview with Charlie Rose, Assad said “There is a big difference between talking about a peace treaty and peace. A peace treaty is like a permanent ceasefire. There’s no war, maybe you have an embassy, but you actually won’t have trade, you won’t have normal relations because people will not be sympathetic to this relation as long as they are sympathetic with the Palestinians: half a million who live in Syria and half a million in Lebanon and another few millions in other Arab countries.”
During the visit of Pope John Paul II to Syria in 2001, Bashar al-Assad requested an apology to Muslims for the medieval Crusades and criticised Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Comparing their suffering to that believed to have been endured by Jesus Christ in Palestine, Assad claimed that followers of Judaism tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad."
Responding to claims that his comment was antisemitic, Assad said that whereas Judaism is a racially heterogeneous religion, the Syrian people are the core of the Semitic race and therefore are opposed to the term antisemitism. When offered to retract his comment implying that the Jews were responsible for Jesus' suffering, Assad replied, As always, these are historical facts that we cannot deny; and stressed that his remarks were not anti-Jewish, synagogues in Syria, which had a Jewish community numbering 30,000 in 1947 but has only 200 Jews today.
International public relationsIn order to promote their image and media-portrayal overseas, Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad hired American-based PR firms and consultants.
Notably, these liased with, and secured, photoshoots for Asma al-Assad with fashion and celebrity magazines. Firms such as the Bell Pottinger Group were also hired and helped to advise them on how to shape their image.
2011–2012 Syrian uprising
Following anti-government demonstrations in some other Middle Eastern countries, protests in Syria started on 26 January 2011. Protesters called for political reforms and the re-instatement of civil rights, as well as an end to the state of emergency which had been in place since 1963.[69] One attempt at a "day of rage" was set for 4–5 February 2011, though it ended uneventfully.
Protests on 18–19 March were the largest to take place in Syria for decades and the Syrian authority responded with violence against its protesting citizens.
On 18 May 2011, Barack Obama, the U.S. President, signed an Executive order putting into effect sanctions against Bashar al-Assad in an effort to pressure his government "to end its use of violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system that protects the rights of the Syrian people." The sanctions effectively freeze any of the Syrian President's assets either in the United States proper or within U.S. jurisdiction.
On 23 May 2011 EU Foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add President Assad and nine other officials to a list affected by travel bans and asset freezes. On 24 May 2011 Canada imposed sanctions on Syrian leaders, including President Assad.
On 20 June 2011, in a speech lasting nearly an hour, in response to the demands of protesters and foreign pressure, al-Assad promised a national dialogue involving movement toward reform, new parliamentary elections, and greater freedoms. He also urged refugees to return home from Turkey, while assuring them amnesty and blaming all unrest on a small number of saboteurs.
In August 2011, Syrian security forces attacked the country's best-known political cartoonist, Ali Farzat, a noted critic of Syria's government and its five-month crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators and dissent. Relatives of the severely beaten humorist told Western media that the attackers threatened to break Farzat's bones as a warning for him to stop drawing cartoons of government officials, particularly the President, Bashar al-Assad. Ferzat, who recently celebrated his 60th birthday, was hospitalized with fractures in both hands and blunt force trauma to the head.
By the end of January 2012, it was reported that over 5,000 civilians and protesters had been killed by the Syrian army, militia (Shabeeha) and security agents, while 1,100 people had been killed by the anti-regime forces.
On 10 January 2012, Assad gave a speech in which he accused the uprising of being plotted by foreign countries and claimed that victory was near. He also said that the Arab League, by suspending Syria, revealed that it was no longer Arab. However, al-Assad also said the country would not "close doors" to an Arab-brokered solution if "national sovereignty" was respected. He also said a referendum on a new constitution could be held in March.
Bashar and first lady Asma al-Assad.On 27 February 2012, Syria claimed that a referendum on an update to the nation's constitution, hailed as 'a showpiece of reform' received 90% support. The referendum imposes a fourteen year cumulative term limit for the president of Syria. The referendum has been claimed as meaningless by foreign nations including the US and Turkey, and the European Union announced fresh sanctions against key regime figures. On 16 July 2012, Russia voicing concern at the blackmail on Syria by the western nations, laid to rest any speculations that it was distancing itself from Bashir Al-Assad. Moscow also vowed not to allow UN pass resolution aiming at sanctions against Syria.
Personal lifeAssad speaks English and basic conversational French, having studied at the Franco-Arab al-Hurriyah school in Damascus. In December 2000, Assad married Asma Assad, née Akhras, a British citizen of Syrian origin, from Acton, London. On 3 December 2001, they became the parents of their first-born child, named Hafez after the child's grandfather Hafez al-Assad. Zein was born on 5 November 2003, and Karim on 16 December 2004.

EDWARD STOURTON SIGNING

Image by summonedbyfells
Edward Stourton is one of my favourite BBC Radio 4 voices and his was the first "show" I went to at the festival on Friday evening 26/04/2013. The lecture took place in the Forum Cinema which to my amazed appreciation is upstairs from Hexham's Wetherspoons pub (also named from the old Forum cinema).
Edward Stourton's latest book is: Cruel Crossing - Escaping Hitler Across the Pyrenees, and is the record of one of the toughest escape routes of the second world war. This is his sixth book and I think he is quite wise to get a Second World War title out now. Next year the country will be awash in World War One titles, in fact its started already!
As expected Mr. Stourton is a commanding speaker, engaging and interesting, he wears his celebrity lightly and of course I would guess the audience was 100% Radio 4 listeners, so naturally enough we all loved him. As today is 26th. April I had my copy of his book inscribed "Happy Birthday Freddie" Why, thank you Edward.

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SQUIRTMAN @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS AND MORE

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Squirtman's 40th birthday soon! :-)

SQUIRTMAN @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS AND MORE

Image by rbatina
Squirtman's 40th birthday soon! :-)

Week 3, 52 Weeks: The Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge is just a few days off - with Flickr notes!

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Week 3, 52 Weeks: The Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge is just a few days off - with Flickr notes!

Image by Earl - What I Saw 2.0
Maybe it will be this warm? This Saturday I'll be doing my third one - and it's great! So far over 0,000.00 has been raised this year for Maryland Special Olympics, and that doesn't count what all of us will bring in with our sponsorship envelopes to check-in on Saturday.

Last year - the 10th anniversary plunge - was the highest amount donated in one day to Special Olympics. It was something I had talked about doing for a long time, but in 2005 I decided to put my body in the Chesapeake Bay for the cause.

A group of my friends and I go in together, and we all go all the way under the water. The first year I did it the water was 28 degrees and the air was 32. They had rescue divers break up the ice so we could go in. It was like going into a bay-sized slurpee! Last year wasn't nearly that cold, and I'm not sure what this Saturday will be like, but there's snow on the ground now, so it will definitely be interesting.

It's a day-long event - bands, costume contests, free lunch for the plungers, and as many, if not more, spectators come out to see it. It is right at the Annapolis side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

Last year I had fractured my shoulder in two places and cracked a few ribs just over a month before the plunge, and it was the first week I had my sling off. This year looks to be a lot easier! Last year, my friends were great. They stuck close so I didn't get bumped in the rush, and they helped me change into dry clothes, too. Good friends wll do that kind of stuff for you.

The tag is one that corporate event sponsors get. One of our friends is a corporate sponsor again, and he mailed us this extra pass for my wife, Debbie to use, which was really nice. She'll get to go into the celebrity tent and meet all of the VIP's. Pretty cool!

I'm still wearing my LiveSTRONG bracelet - I bought them for all of our group the first year, and I haven't taken mine off for 15 months now - they even let me wear it when I had surgery, which I thought was really nice. I wear it for my mom, who had cancer before she died, for my father-in-law who we lost to cancer in 2006, and for my good friend, Larry, who is undergoing treatments for multiple myeloma right now, and for everyone who is fighting cancer and for their friends and families, too. Stay strong and keep fighting your cancer, all of you - a lot of people care and love you.

I'll post some pictures next week after the plunge. Please think about ways you can help support Special Olympics where you, live, too - you will make a difference!

52 Weeks - Week 3.

One of the last photographs of Lucille Ball (hi-res scan)

Image by Alan Light
Lucille Ball on the red carpet at the 61st Annual Academy Awards, 1989.

Photo taken at 61st Academy Awards 3/29/89 at Lucy's last public appearance. She died less than a month later on 4/26/89. At the time I took these photos of her I wanted to say hello, but she was already being approached by several other people and looked confused, so I stayed back. I didn't want to add to her disorientation.

One of the coolest things about this day was, as I was putting on my tux at the hotel getting ready to go to this Oscars show, an old black and white I LOVE LUCY episode was playing on the TV. I knew Lucy was scheduled to be at the show and I looked forward to seeing her in person. It was a bit surreal.

- Permission granted to copy, publish or post anywhere but please credit "photo by Alan Light".

High resolution scan of the original 35MM film negative - 256 pixels/inch.

Lxx_046_003

Image by Antichristhk
hk.myblog.yahoo.com/leo_new363/

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willie nelson at the hollywood bowl

Image by emdot
Really fun night last night: Hollywood Bowl. Neko Case. Ryan Adams. Willie Nelson.

Celebrity siting: Ron Jeremy.

I think Steve is still bummed I wouldn't ask El Hedgehog if we could pose with him for a photo. But no no no. Uh-uh.

Very fun concert. Very fun venue. Picnic baskets and bottles of wine. Total coincidence that one of Steve's good friends (and former housemate from Boston) sat right in front of us. I'm going through a pretty big Neko Case phase right now (girl can sing), but c'mon, a chance at seeing Willie? You gotta go. You gotta go.

Lighting the Balloons

Image by sisterbeer
The event was a surprise birthday party, and after dinner, everyone went out to the front field to release some neato hot air balloons (powered by candles.) Not sure what happens to them after they've dripped screaming hot wax on unsuspecting wildlife/livestock/neighboring farmhouses, but hopefully no fires will result. I guess we'll find out on the news Sunday morning!

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1-Minute History | 6/10 | Judy Garland

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★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: Jun 10: Ray Charles Dies, Pink and White Terraces, AA, Benjamin Franklin’s kite, Judy Garland, Sopranos last episode View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 6/10 | Judy Garland

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1-Minute History | 6/17 | MC Escher

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1-Minute History | 6/3 | Curtis Mayfield

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1-Minute History | 6/3 | Chinese Opium

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1-Minute History | 6/10 | Benjamin Franklin’s kite

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★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: Jun 10: Ray Charles Dies, Pink and White Terraces, AA, Benjamin Franklin’s kite, Judy Garland, Sopranos last episode View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 6/24 | Royal Blue

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1-Minute History | 6/24 | Royal Blue

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1-Minute History | 5/27 | Chris Colfer

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1-Minute History | 5/20 | Cher

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ROBIN ARCURI'S Fourth Annual Birthday Pajama JAM

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ROBIN ARCURI'S Fourth Annual Birthday Pajama JAM

Image by Y0UNG HOLLYWOOD
Robin Arcuri's Fourth Annual Birthday Pajama Jam on November 12, 2011
2011-11-12 - Private Residence in Beverly Hills, CA, USA Beverly Hills, California.
Celebrities:
Robin Arcuri

Born on 6/11: Joe Montana

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All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: House... Road House

Stephen Colbert

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Stephen Colbert

Image by Reid Rosenberg
Stephen Colbert leaves the FEC after filing papers for his PAC. It was also his birthday. May 13, 2011.

Stephen Colbert

Image by Reid Rosenberg
Stephen Colbert leaves the FEC after filing papers for his PAC. It was also his birthday. May 13, 2011.

Cool Celebrities Birthdays images

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1-Minute History | 5/27 | Vincent Price

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: May 27: Golden Gate, Chris Colfer, Wild Bill Hickok, Vincent Price, Jack McBrayer, Christopher Lee View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 5/13 | Steven Colbert

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: May 13: Stephen Colbert, Dennis Rodman, Bea Arthur, Pope John Paul Shot, War on Mexico, Velcro trademarked View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 5/13 | Dennis Rodman

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: May 13: Stephen Colbert, Dennis Rodman, Bea Arthur, Pope John Paul Shot, War on Mexico, Velcro trademarked View the BdayBlog Calendar

SQUIRTMAN @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS AND MORE

A few nice celebrities birthdays images I found:

SQUIRTMAN @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS AND MORE

Image by rbatina
Squirtman's 40th birthday soon! :-)

SQUIRTMAN @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS AND MORE

Image by rbatina
Squirtman's 40th birthday soon! :-)

Born on 6/11: Jacques Cousteau

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Born on 6/11: Jacques Cousteau

Image by CassAnaya
All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: House... Road House

Born on 6/11: Jacques Cousteau

Image by CassAnaya
All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: House... Road House

20080917_014

A few nice celebrities birthdays images I found:

20080917_014

Image by Kevin Goebel

front

Image by Matthew Sheean
I found a bunch of celebrities who have december birthdays, like my wife, and then made caricatures of them for a funny card for her birthday.

Nice Celebrities Birthdays photos

A few nice celebrities birthdays images I found:

One of the last photographs of Lucille Ball (hi-res scan)

Image by Alan Light
Lucille Ball on the red carpet at the 61st Annual Academy Awards, 1989.

Photo taken at 61st Academy Awards 3/29/89 at Lucy's last public appearance. She died less than a month later on 4/26/89. At the time I took these photos of her I wanted to say hello, but she was already being approached by several other people and looked confused, so I stayed back. I didn't want to add to her disorientation.

One of the coolest things about this day was, as I was putting on my tux at the hotel getting ready to go to this show, an old black and white I LOVE LUCY episode was playing on the TV. I knew Lucy was scheduled to be at the show and I looked forward to seeing her in person. It was a bit surreal.

- Permission granted to copy, publish or post but please credit "photo by Alan Light" .

High resolution scan of the original 35MM film negative - 256 pixels/inch.

Cool Celebrities Birthdays images

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1-Minute History | 7/1 | Princess Di

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: Jul 1: Princess Di, Zip Codes, Estee Lauder, Alice Guy-Blache, Sony Walkman, Liv Tyler View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 7/1 | Liv Tyler

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: Jul 1: Princess Di, Zip Codes, Estee Lauder, Alice Guy-Blache, Sony Walkman, Liv Tyler View the BdayBlog Calendar

1-Minute History | 7/1 | Princess Di

Image by CassAnaya
★If you learn fast, 1-minute history is all you need★ All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. We are advocates of the Free Culture Movement and reform of copyright laws. Feel free to use our content, if you will profit from it, let us know and we will work out a license. Click to watch this episode: Jul 1: Princess Di, Zip Codes, Estee Lauder, Alice Guy-Blache, Sony Walkman, Liv Tyler View the BdayBlog Calendar

★Born on 5/14: Cate Blanchett

A few nice celebrities birthdays images I found:

★Born on 5/14: Cate Blanchett

Image by CassAnaya
All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: Founder of Facebook?

★History of 5/14: Camels penis face

Image by CassAnaya
All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: Founder of Facebook?

Cool Celebrities Birthdays images

A few nice celebrities birthdays images I found:

Carnegie Hall -- Venezuelan Brass Ensemble Concert 12-7-2012

Image by hammondcast
Carnegie Hall -- Venezuelan Brass Ensemble Concert 12-7-2012 - attended with birthday boy Joe Berger and friends - 5+ Stars to the Musicians...Bravo!!! Jon Hammond
www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2012/12/7/0800/PM/Venezuela...
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
BLAZING BRASS MEETS BERNSTEIN'S MAMBO

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, drawn from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, opens the Venezuelan celebration at Carnegie Hall with an evening of exuberant music making that features works from Latin America and beyond.

Con el Ensamble de Metales de Venezuela, cuyos integrantes fueron seleccionados de la Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, comienza en el Carnegie Hall la celebración a Venezuela con una velada en la que destaca una creación musical exuberante de América Latina y más allá.

O Conjunto de Metais da Venezuela, da Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, abre a celebração venezuelana no Carnegie Hall com uma noite de música exuberante que exibe trabalhos da América Latina e de outros lugares.
Performers
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
Thomas Clamor, Conductor
Program
GIANCARLO CASTRO Grand Fanfare
BERNSTEIN Selections from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
GIANCARLO CASTRO Llegada de un noble maestro
CALDERELLA AND SCARPINO Canaro en Paris (arr. José Carli)
ABREU Tico-Tico no fubá (arr. Jhon Iveson)
AGUIRRE Amalia (arr. Fernando Ruiz)
GIANCARLO CASTRO Walking Faster
FÉLIX MENDOZA Guerra de secciones
Bios
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble came into being in 2003 under the patronage of Dr. José Antonio Abreu and Thomas Clamor as part of the orchestral academic program of Venezuela's El Sistema.

Across Venezuela, El Sistema currently involves 400,000 beneficiaries-75 percent of whom live below the poverty line-in a system that includes more than 1,550 music groups distributed among 286 academic centers. As a result of this work, numerous successful youth ensembles have emerged. Leading the way is the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (formerly Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela), now one of the most famous and best orchestras in the world. Most of the musicians in the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble are also members the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

With its mixture of a classical and South American repertoire, the musicians of the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble impressively show their diverse skills. The first international tour under the direction of Thomas Clamor in 2005 took the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. In September 2005, the ensemble performed as part of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra's third major tour of Germany; its program complemented works by Byrd, Bernstein, and Gershwin with the first performance of the Grand Fanfare for brass instruments by ensemble member Giancarlo Castro.

In 2006, the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble released its first CD, We Got Rhythm, on EMI Classics. Since then, the ensemble has toured extensively, performing at many of the world's greatest venues and festivals, including Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, Beethovenfest Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Royal Festival Hall, and Salzburg Festival.


Thomas Clamor

Thomas Clamor studied trumpet and percussion at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. By the time he was 23, he became the youngest musician in the Berliner Philharmoniker. Mr. Clamor also performed as a soloist and chamber musician with various ensembles. He has since taken part in numerous recordings, and also performed on many television and radio programs.

Mr. Clamor's conducting and teaching activities have played important roles in his musical creativity. Beginning in 1987, he has enjoyed guest professorships at music schools throughout Germany, during which he led many international master classes. For 10 years, Mr. Clamor was a professor of chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler and later an honorary professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Guest conducting engagements have taken Mr. Clamor to the most important European festivals, including the Beethovenfest Bonn, Salzburg, and BBC Proms. He has also conducted in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Tokyo, Beijing, Rome, Madrid, and many other cities.

Mr. Clamor's work with the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble is highly acclaimed by both audiences and critics alike. Internationally, he is considered to be one of the most successful specialists in the genre. Mr. Clamor is also the primary conductor of the Saxon Wind Philharmonic and art director of the German Brass Academy.
About the Program
The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble kicks off tonight's concert with a high-energy fanfare written by one of the ensemble's own trumpeters Giancarlo Castro. Opening with pealing trumpets, Grand Fanfare showcases all the instruments in the ensemble to generate an exuberant energy, as well as to paint dramatic vistas of the Venezuelan countryside. The ensemble also performs two other pieces by Castro: Llegada de un noble maestro and Walking Faster.

Following the brilliant opening are selections from Bernstein's West Side Story. A musical retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this timeless tale of young love set against a background of spectacularly choreographed gang warfare in New York City has found a place at the core of popular culture. About three years after the show began its Broadway run, the composer revisited the score and extracted nine sections to create what he called the Symphonic Dances; the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble performs selections from this instrumental arrangement.

The program includes a bracing tango by musicians Juan Caldarella and Alejandro Scarpino. After having written this piece together in Buenos Aires, Caldarella and Scarpino were struggling to come up with a title. As the story goes, they saw the headlines of a local newspaper that praised the success of tango celebrity Francisco Canaro in Paris. Inspired by this headline, Caldarella rushed to inscribe the score with the title Canaro en Paris.

Tico-Tico no fubá is one of the most well-known songs from Venezuela's neighbor, Brazil. Made famous when Brazilian film star Carmen Miranda sang and danced to the catchy tune in the 1947 movie Copacabana, Zequinha de Abreu's song has since been featured in Disney film segments and even in Woody Allen's Radio Days. With a name that means "sparrow on the cornmeal," Tico-Tico no fubá is written in the signature Brazilian style called choro, featuring upbeat rhythms, virtuosic improvisation, and jaunty syncopation.

This is followed by the nationalistic joropo titled Amalia by Venezuelan composer Francisco de Paula Aguirre. With robust folk rhythms and lyrical melodies, joropo music is strongly identified with Venezuelan culture. Born in Caracas, Aguirre composed works that disseminated into Venezuelan popular culture; his piece Amalia is one of his most well-known works today.

A flamboyant piece by Venezuelan Brass Ensemble percussionist Félix Mendoza brings tonight's program to a close. Opening with sweeping orchestration and dramatic fanfare, Guerra de secciones breaks out into intense drumming and aggressive brass lines. Bringing together a wealth of genres and overflowing with impressive energy, this flashy showstopper is a thrilling end to the evening.

Lead funding for Voices from Latin America is provided by grants from the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Sponsored, in part, by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mercantil Servicios Financieros.

Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Consulate General of Brazil in New York.
This performance is part of the The Originals Voices from Latin America - Students Voices from Latin America and Voices from Venezuela series.
— at Carnegie Hall.
Carnegie Hall -- Venezuelan Brass Ensemble Concert 12-7-2012 - attended with birthday boy Joe Berger and friends - 5+ Stars to the Musicians...Bravo!!! Jon Hammond
www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2012/12/7/0800/PM/Venezuela...
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
BLAZING BRASS MEETS BERNSTEIN'S MAMBO

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, drawn from the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, opens the Venezuelan celebration at Carnegie Hall with an evening of exuberant music making that features works from Latin America and beyond.

Con el Ensamble de Metales de Venezuela, cuyos integrantes fueron seleccionados de la Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, comienza en el Carnegie Hall la celebración a Venezuela con una velada en la que destaca una creación musical exuberante de América Latina y más allá.

O Conjunto de Metais da Venezuela, da Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, abre a celebração venezuelana no Carnegie Hall com uma noite de música exuberante que exibe trabalhos da América Latina e de outros lugares.
Performers
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
Thomas Clamor, Conductor
Program
GIANCARLO CASTRO Grand Fanfare
BERNSTEIN Selections from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
GIANCARLO CASTRO Llegada de un noble maestro
CALDERELLA AND SCARPINO Canaro en Paris (arr. José Carli)
ABREU Tico-Tico no fubá (arr. Jhon Iveson)
AGUIRRE Amalia (arr. Fernando Ruiz)
GIANCARLO CASTRO Walking Faster
FÉLIX MENDOZA Guerra de secciones
Bios
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble

The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble came into being in 2003 under the patronage of Dr. José Antonio Abreu and Thomas Clamor as part of the orchestral academic program of Venezuela's El Sistema.

Across Venezuela, El Sistema currently involves 400,000 beneficiaries-75 percent of whom live below the poverty line-in a system that includes more than 1,550 music groups distributed among 286 academic centers. As a result of this work, numerous successful youth ensembles have emerged. Leading the way is the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (formerly Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela), now one of the most famous and best orchestras in the world. Most of the musicians in the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble are also members the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra.

With its mixture of a classical and South American repertoire, the musicians of the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble impressively show their diverse skills. The first international tour under the direction of Thomas Clamor in 2005 took the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble to Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. In September 2005, the ensemble performed as part of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra's third major tour of Germany; its program complemented works by Byrd, Bernstein, and Gershwin with the first performance of the Grand Fanfare for brass instruments by ensemble member Giancarlo Castro.

In 2006, the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble released its first CD, We Got Rhythm, on EMI Classics. Since then, the ensemble has toured extensively, performing at many of the world's greatest venues and festivals, including Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, Beethovenfest Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Royal Festival Hall, and Salzburg Festival.


Thomas Clamor

Thomas Clamor studied trumpet and percussion at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold. By the time he was 23, he became the youngest musician in the Berliner Philharmoniker. Mr. Clamor also performed as a soloist and chamber musician with various ensembles. He has since taken part in numerous recordings, and also performed on many television and radio programs.

Mr. Clamor's conducting and teaching activities have played important roles in his musical creativity. Beginning in 1987, he has enjoyed guest professorships at music schools throughout Germany, during which he led many international master classes. For 10 years, Mr. Clamor was a professor of chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler and later an honorary professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Guest conducting engagements have taken Mr. Clamor to the most important European festivals, including the Beethovenfest Bonn, Salzburg, and BBC Proms. He has also conducted in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Tokyo, Beijing, Rome, Madrid, and many other cities.

Mr. Clamor's work with the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble is highly acclaimed by both audiences and critics alike. Internationally, he is considered to be one of the most successful specialists in the genre. Mr. Clamor is also the primary conductor of the Saxon Wind Philharmonic and art director of the German Brass Academy.
About the Program
The Venezuelan Brass Ensemble kicks off tonight's concert with a high-energy fanfare written by one of the ensemble's own trumpeters Giancarlo Castro. Opening with pealing trumpets, Grand Fanfare showcases all the instruments in the ensemble to generate an exuberant energy, as well as to paint dramatic vistas of the Venezuelan countryside. The ensemble also performs two other pieces by Castro: Llegada de un noble maestro and Walking Faster.

Following the brilliant opening are selections from Bernstein's West Side Story. A musical retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, this timeless tale of young love set against a background of spectacularly choreographed gang warfare in New York City has found a place at the core of popular culture. About three years after the show began its Broadway run, the composer revisited the score and extracted nine sections to create what he called the Symphonic Dances; the Venezuelan Brass Ensemble performs selections from this instrumental arrangement.

The program includes a bracing tango by musicians Juan Caldarella and Alejandro Scarpino. After having written this piece together in Buenos Aires, Caldarella and Scarpino were struggling to come up with a title. As the story goes, they saw the headlines of a local newspaper that praised the success of tango celebrity Francisco Canaro in Paris. Inspired by this headline, Caldarella rushed to inscribe the score with the title Canaro en Paris.

Tico-Tico no fubá is one of the most well-known songs from Venezuela's neighbor, Brazil. Made famous when Brazilian film star Carmen Miranda sang and danced to the catchy tune in the 1947 movie Copacabana, Zequinha de Abreu's song has since been featured in Disney film segments and even in Woody Allen's Radio Days. With a name that means "sparrow on the cornmeal," Tico-Tico no fubá is written in the signature Brazilian style called choro, featuring upbeat rhythms, virtuosic improvisation, and jaunty syncopation.

This is followed by the nationalistic joropo titled Amalia by Venezuelan composer Francisco de Paula Aguirre. With robust folk rhythms and lyrical melodies, joropo music is strongly identified with Venezuelan culture. Born in Caracas, Aguirre composed works that disseminated into Venezuelan popular culture; his piece Amalia is one of his most well-known works today.

A flamboyant piece by Venezuelan Brass Ensemble percussionist Félix Mendoza brings tonight's program to a close. Opening with sweeping orchestration and dramatic fanfare, Guerra de secciones breaks out into intense drumming and aggressive brass lines. Bringing together a wealth of genres and overflowing with impressive energy, this flashy showstopper is a thrilling end to the evening.

Lead funding for Voices from Latin America is provided by grants from the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Sponsored, in part, by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mercantil Servicios Financieros.

Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Consulate General of Brazil in New York.
This performance is part of the The Originals Voices from Latin America - Students Voices from Latin America and Voices from Venezuela series.
— at Carnegie Hall. Leyxer Cardoza

107/365: 1988-1989

Image by bloody marty mix
Wednesday, 10 September 2008.

40 Years in 40 Days [ view the entire set ]
An examination and remembrance of a life at 40.

For the 40 days leading up to my 40th birthday, I intend to use my 365 Days project to document and remember my life and lay bare what defines me. 40 years, 40 qualities, 40 days.

Year 21: 1988-1989

In the fall of my junior year, I started dating the lead trumpet player. I was a little starstruck. I couldn't believe that I, this lowly unknown who toiled away in the tenor section, was dating That Guy (had it been 15 years later, I probably would have been thinking "ZOMG! ZOMG! ZOMG!") It seems hilariously absurd to me now -- Jared, the super celebrity. He was just this smart, lanky, awkward, kind, sweet, unassuming, dorky kind of guy. But on the field, he'd stand in front of the band and wail away on the trumpet like a monster, hitting high notes others just dreamed of, and filling the stadium with clear, piercing sound. He'd hit the final note, snap his trumpet down, and the crowd would push to its feet and roar. When he played, it was pure magic.

In early November, after we'd been dating for just about a month, I discovered that I was pregnant. I agonized over what to do. Jared was supportive, telling me that he would be there for me whatever I chose to do. I knew I could not support or raise a child and still finish my degree, and I knew that I was not mature enough to handle the molding and shaping of another small person's psyche. And yet, I felt oddly connected already to the thing inside me. I would put my hand on my belly and close my eyes, listening, waiting for it to tell me what to do. I cried, and raged, and took long, thought-filled walks along the length of of the campus lakeshore. I was scared and lost. After a couple of weeks of searching my conscience, my mind, and the silent mystery in my body, I told Jared that I wanted to have the child and give it up for adoption. It was the best of all possible worlds at that moment. I could honor the connectedness I already felt, give some other couple the gift of a child they couldn't otherwise have, and continue building a life of my own at a pace that made sense for me. As Jared and I walked into town for dinner that night, I felt buoyant, as if I were floating weightless through the crisp fall air. A sense of peace ran through my body and into my fingers and toes. I laughed for the first time in weeks.

The next morning, I started bleeding heavily. Jared was in class, unreachable, so I called Sherman at work. He told me not to move, and that he would be over immediately to take me to the hospital. In the ER, a flurry of activity ensued. They drew vials of blood, and I was wheeled into an examination room and propped into stirrups. The doctor performing the exam enigmatically exclaimed, "You have a beautiful cervix! Just textbook!" As I was pondering how one is supposed to respond to such a compliment, I was also imagining a small ball of cells hurtling through a sewer pipe to a filtration plant somewhere, its matter pummeled and pulverized, and its molecules finding their way someday into the cold, expansive waters of Lake Michigan. They wheeled me back into my curtained cubicle, and I stared off into space while Sherman held my hand. It was just not meant to be, he whispered as he gently brushed the hair away from my wet and swollen eyes. I could not deny that my life had suddenly gotten much easier, but it had also taken on a kind of pain, the depth of which I feared to plumb.

Sherman stayed with me throughout the day in the ER, then took me back to his apartment to rest. The doctors wanted someone with me, and I did not yet have the energy to recount the day's events for Jared. I called my mom from Sherman's apartment and told her what had happened. I had no choice. The insurance claim was going to show up at their house, and the jig would be up. I cried, and she said she would pray for the lost child. I did not particularly believe in prayer, but I felt comforted by the thought. The next day, I returned to campus to find Jared, and we cried together. He held my hand and said he was not going anywhere without me.

Jared and I became fiercely attached to each other. I spent every night with him in his room at his fraternity house, wedged between the bed and the wall, suspended over the narrow gap, because the long, thin dorm beds weren't big enough for two people. In the mornings, I would leave for my job, opening and monitoring the Macintosh lab for the early risers. Later in the morning, Jared and I shared a class, and he would bring me buttered bagels so that I could get something to eat. On Sundays, we would sit in bed and do the crossword puzzle together until it was finished, or until we were stumped, and when evening came, we would walk hand-in-hand to Subway for sandwiches. We were an old, married couple at 20.

In the spring, Jared auditioned for the Disney All-American College Band, an elite group of the best collegiate musicians in the country, and a plum summer gig. He was accepted, and was assigned to the Anaheim band. At the same time, I began to toy with the idea of accompanying my best friend, Mark, on his summer trip down to Florida. Mark had worked at Disney World in Orlando the previous summer, and was going to do so again. I had not yet lined up a job for the summer, and it sounded like fun, so I decided to go, despite having no guarantee of a job once I got there.

Mark and I rented a cheap apartment in Orlando for the summer, and I applied at Disney's casting office. I was told I might be too big for their Attractions (i.e., rides) costumes, and so I might have to work in Food Service or Sanitation. I was crushed and then angry. I had self-esteem issues, but even I knew that this was ridiculous. I was only a size 11, though I was extraordinarily busty, and might have given the impression of being larger than I really was. As it turns out, there were a few rides with costumes that "big," and so I was assigned to the Grand Prix Raceway.

For the first week, I was herded around the property with a bunch of other new hires for orientation. We learned the history of the company, and the layout and functioning of the park, but more importantly, we were drilled on the company's customer service philosophy. We were told that we were part of a perfect, immersive fantasy for our guests, and that we were to do nothing that interrupted that fantasy. That meant we were absolutely not allowed to walk through the park in costume, lest you be seen in Frontier Land wearing a costume from Tomorrow Land, thus destroying the frontier fantasy. We were to use the system of underground tunnels to get anywhere we needed to go. There were unmarked doors hidden all over the park, into and out of which, Disney cast members would quietly slip, like elfin phantoms. This orientation process was colloquially known as "pixie dusting," and it was very effective.

Once I was thoroughly "pixie dusted," I picked up my costume, my steel-toed boots, and my name tag, and went to work for the Mouse. It was an interesting, creepy, and wonderful place. Giant costumed characters roamed headless in the dark, underground tunnels, carrying their plastic faces under their arms. Crusty, old, cranks swore and smoked behind the scenery, then returned to the public areas, only to kneel down and gently comfort a lost and crying child. There have always been jokes about the rigid sweetness of Disney and its almost totalitarian insistence on the veneer of innocence, and there is truth in those jokes. But there is also a kind of truth in the fantasy. People come there because they want to be immersed in innocence. If they just wanted to ride rides, they would go to an amusement park with roller coasters and wild, spinning things. At Disney, they can pretend for a few hours that the world is actually a simple and good place, where adults kneel to speak to children, and fairies slip in and out of view through doors and portals you never quite see.

Who am I?

I am a strong advocate of choice.

Many people will read my story and think that I must have emerged from that time committed to the idea that life begins, and the connection between mother and child is sealed, at conception. This is not the truth I carried out with me, when I stumbled, wounded, out of those experiences. What I remember is the agony of the decision process, and the care and totality of physical and emotional energy with which it was carried out. I recognize that there will be people reading this who disagree with my conclusions, and I respect their right to their opinion, but I can not possibly fathom taking that choice out of someone else's hands. The devastation would be too complete.

[ view previous | view next ]

Texture Credit

Fairy dust texture is "Snow Falling at Night" by Crystal Writer.

Big Meal at Spoonbread Two

Image by gwdexter
Famous musicologists eating soul food on 110th St.

Immediately prior to this meal, we had seen celebrities going into Elton John's birthday party, which was taking place across the street. Seriously!

Cool Celebrities Birthdays images

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Born on 5/14: Jabba the Hutt

Image by CassAnaya
All art produced by the BirthdayBlog with @CassAnaya and TyAnaya is Attribution-NonCommercial Creative Commons. Click to watch this episode: Founder of Facebook?

Fuel 005

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Fuel 005

Image by Frances Hui
Photo credit: Duke Stevenson

Fuel 001

Image by Frances Hui
Photo credit: Duke Stevenson