Is it a Fact or an Opinion?

It is so hard to be reliably informed these days.  When I think about 'news', I actually visualize myself standing in a meteor shower.    I'm starting to try and find NEWS sources which deal in facts rather than opinions as the real election season is kicking off.

The media changes in this country in the past 60 years have been like covered wagons to rockets.  In the olden days of my childhood if you lived in a 'city', television consisted of one independent channel to go along with the three network channels.  TV ended at midnight when they played the national anthem and went off the air.  (FYI - my ass was supposed to be inside my house by the time the last note of the anthem ended or it was grass, and not in a good way.)  

Almost everyone I knew had the same news day. You woke up to the radio to listen to tunes and find out the weather and latest sports scores.  Then, you read the morning newspaper to find out the local news (mainly) either over breakfast or on the way to work.  In the evening, if you hadn't read a paper yet, you read the evening paper. Around dinnertime you tuned into the news:  30 minutes of national news and 30 minutes of local news.  Done.  Finished.  For the true news junkies who thought the rest of the world was important, they subscribed to Time or Newsweek magazine which was delivered to their mailboxes once a week.  Sounds unreal, doesn't it?

It was a completely reasonable expectation every journalist who produced ANY of the above news presented facts unless the story was on the editorial page, then it was editorial opinion.  Period.  The only up front analysis of the news (OPINION) took place on Sunday morning.  Meet the Press started on radio, began on TV in 1947, and was pretty quickly copied by the other networks.

What upset this neat little package?  Ted Turner started the Cable News Network as a way to bulk up cable programming.  Of course, there were a zillion other factors that caused the upset, but here's my point:  There's not enough news Americans are interested in to fill 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  By news I mean FACT REPORTING. So, how is all that airtime being filled?  With analysis (OPINION) and filler about subjects which are called news but aren't. And we were off to races.

The whole definition of what is news has changed.  Not only is opinion presented as fact, but there's wholesale dumping of factoids, gossip, and outright lies surrounding the cult of the entertainment figure all of which is being presented to us as news.  Cult worship not news.  I was really floored when I realized there's a significant number of people who get their 'news' playing around on Facebook or Twitter parroting what they see posted there and passing it on as fact.   

We also have bloggers whose sole desire is to make a living by typing an article once a day and acquiring enough readers, so they can sell advertising and pay themselves a salary.  Many of them will write anything.  An alarming number do NOT uphold the rigorous journalistic standards taught in journalism schools (because they've never been) and, thus, are accountable only to themselves.  There's no journalistic community overlord upholding standards anymore not only for their own integrity, but also so the public can trust what they say or write.

Does anyone who is presenting what is labelled as news today ever say as a disclaimer, "Notice:  The fact is the first sentence and everything after that is opinion."  No, of course not.  Then the whole problem of who to believe and what are the actual facts (I refuse to use the word 'truth') is additionally compounded by is it 'red news' or 'blue  news'.

I guess what's confounding me this election season is where can I find unbiased news.  I'm looking for the actual facts not drowned by hyperbole, vitriol, screaming talking heads interrupting one another, or modified by an agenda.  If you flip through the news channels at the top of the hour, it's fascinating to see the lead story isn't usually the same on each channel.  Actual falsehoods do not even have to be uttered; instead, it's just a matter of parsing the sound bites and time allocation.

This is a call for you to think for yourself and question the sales techniques manipulating you.  Question who's reporting, how much time is given to an issue, and how quickly are you hearing talking heads.  Are you only seeing a fact wrapped in an opinion on a crawler at the bottom of the screen?  Take all bloggers who are 'sharing the facts' with a large, large grain of salt.  And, for Pete's sake, anything on Facebook or Twitter is not news.  Use more than one reputable source of news. Always watch Fox News?  Switch to CNN, or even NPR for a few days.

I have a few trusted news sources, and I ignore everything else.  I immediately tune out the talking heads.  After I've heard the facts, I will make up my own mind, thank you.  I neither need nor want the 'spin' or the 'slant' or the opinionated expert.  All those tactics to shape news just leave me seething.  

 I'll leave you with this one thought - Do a check:  Ask yourself,  Is this a 'fact' or an 'opinion' as you read or listen to news.  Sometimes you actually have to listen carefully to each sentence uttered or written.  You'll be amazed at the result.  (For those of you who have forgotten:  a fact is something that can be proven by empirical evidence, experimentation, and/or consensus observation.)  I could give a little quiz at this point, but I have faith in you.  

[Was that last sentence a fact or an opinion?]  See what I mean......            

The Route to an Orchestra

(This blog is dedicated to my son-in-law, an amazing piano player.)

We've been attending the Colorado College of Music Festival.  It runs the 30 days of each June, and there's generally some kind of performance every day.  A substantial number of the performances are free.

This is how it's set up.  The Director of the Music College at Colorado College, Dr. Susan Grace, and her minions (just kidding) comb through about 400 audition tapes from the best amateur musicians in the country.  These people are not pimply faced teens larking about at 'music camp'.  These are serious musicians who attend the top music colleges and universities from all over the country. What Ms. Grace does in conjunction with colleagues such as the Conductor of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic is pick the people she hopes are the 52 best musicians from the audition tapes.  She in essence builds an orchestra.

However, that's just the first part.  Next, she invites top professional musicians to give intensive classes to which of the 52 students play their instrument.  We are talking principals in major symphony orchestras all over the country, as well as concert artists such a Jon Nakamatsu, a Cliburn Gold Medalist.  I could bore everyone (except my son-in-law) with name after name and accomplishment after accomplishment.  The resumes of all the Festival Artists (pros) is a dense, long paragraph in six point type for each one of them.

Finally, Dr. Grace arranges for these amazing musicians to play a long list of concerts. These include seven  mini-concerts at mid-day  (free), three hour long free concerts before a Festival Artists ticketed concert, a full orchestra children's concert. a donor's concert, and finally an entire symphony evening with a full orchestra of both the Festival Artists (pros) and Festival Fellows (amateurs).

The people of Colorado Springs love Dr. Grace.  All she has to do is step on stage and there's wild spontaneous applause.  She keeps the ticket prices down ($30) for the ticketed events, and the movers and shakers of the Springs make up cost difference. Before each concert she named some person who had underwritten what we were going to see that evening.

If that wasn't enough, she arranges for sponsors for each of the 52 chosen.  The sponsors underwrite the room, board, reeds, music and anything else the students will need in this month long intensive learning process.  AND, she also performs during the festival!

How do I know all this?  Well, standing in the courtyard outside of the performance hall between the free concert and the ticketed one, I walked up to a group of "Fellows" (amateurs), and interviewed them.  That was a novel experience for most of them.  Press coverage!  (Even if it is just my blog.)  It helped to break the ice that I had seen all of them perform in various concert we attended.

Notice how they are each listed under their instrument as well as a nascent string quartet

Oddly, these guys and one girl were all complete conformists with the exception of this guy (who is pursuing his doctorate at the Peabody Conservatory).  He was a free spirit and if you will excuse the pun - marches to the beat of this own drum.  His play was outstanding in one of the pieces he participated in.

Three of them were extremely personable, and had already learned being people others want to be around is a skill which will take you far in the orchestra world.

He's already into orchestras - sub at North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and second  French Horn in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra

Master's Degree- Michigan State University - he likes to commission new music and play it.  He played the percussion in a free jazz concert with two Festival Artists.

Master's Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
This guy attended every concert we did - 6 in all

It turns out these people are competitive, but they're not.  They compete with themselves to be the best french horn player, percussionist or trombone player. They all definitely see their lives as full time professional musicians, but in our artistically dumbass country, (my words) they shared how hard it is to make a decent living playing serious music even when you've trained for years.  (The earliest guys started playing was in the 5th grade, and one other in the 8th grade.)

They shared there's not a lot of turnover in symphony orchestras.  When a slot opens up in a medium sized city, it's an open audition behind a screen.  When slots open up a major city (like NYC), then it's audition by invitation only but still behind a screen.  The Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic makes 6 figures a year, but he's an exception.  The third violist player doesn't make nearly that salary.  Catching onto a symphony orchestra is the goal of each of these pictured guys, but some of them are doing arrangements, commissioning 'new' music, and participating in small units (like a chamber group).

Being one of the '52' is a huge deal.  A couple had sent in their audition tapes in previous years and been rejected.  Acceptance means they get to rub shoulders and network with an entire range of professional musicians.  And, there's always more to learn.  My take on this whole thing is the Festival Fellows are in Triple AAA trying to move up to the majors.  They all agreed that was a good analogy. They're right on the cusp of the professional world, but only a few will actually make it.

We've been able to immerse ourselves in this strange world.  Complimenting  the professionals on their performances still makes their faces light up.  Even the pros have to scramble in the summer to make a living.  Like teachers, most of them don't make a salary that stretches over the dormant symphony summer.  

We were really excited by this Festival.  Without a doubt it was the best one we've ever seen because it's so intimate.  The performance hall (which is almost brand new) seats about 300 people in super comfortable seats with plenty of leg room.  No matter where you sit, you can actually see these people play their instruments.  If you're ever here in the 'Springs' in June, drop by, there's probably an amazing concert happening.

(FYI - sorry about the qualities of the pictures, but I had to leave the last concert early because it turns out I arrived home from Oklahoma with the flu.  I've been running a significant temperature with chills, sweats, and body aches for the past two days.  Damn that sickness tube {airplane}, but my flu shot is holding down the symptoms.)      

I'm Steeping Myself

Colorado Springs is ideal for steeping yourself like a tea bag in what is disdainfully called CULTURE.  First, it's inexpensive, second, it's accessible with ease, and third, it's first rate.  OK, is this New York City or Washington D.C.?  No, but it's very worthwhile to pursue.  Americans have been sold a shoddy bill of goods which says enjoying art or serious music or performance dance is not worth the expenditure of time.  What a load of crap.

If creativity wasn't important to us as a species, why do ordinary people so avidly pursue it?  Oh, true, we are steered away from being creative sometime in our elementary school years.  Can you still remember the thrill when you finished your first 'real' painting or fired your carefully constructed clay pot in art class? Then, subtly, the products were ranked, and if your flower painting wasn't one of the best, you quickly got the message you should turn your activity and attention somewhere else.

Creativity is marketed to the masses as hobby, and it is big business.  The creative urge is still there in each of us.  We knit, sew, woodwork, quilt, decorate, journal, cook, and garden with passion trying for the thrill being creative flames in each of us. Drake and I have never apologized, and we even proselytize the real benefits of going to museums, ballets, symphonies, the theater, and yes, even operas.

I have great admiration for one of my friends who buys season tickets to a different cultural venue each year and insists her grandsons accompany her to the performances.  At least they are getting the opportunity to be carried away by creativity.  Some folks are so shortsighted, they don't give their children even exposure.  Yet, they will spend the same dollars an annual membership to a museum costs to take them to one professional sports venue.

In Colorado Springs we became members of the Fine Arts Museum in part

"Study for a David & Goliath" by Paul Cadmus

because we were blown away by the quality of the art.  Is the art "highbrow"?  No, not particularly.  The place is chock full of really wonderful stuff which is interesting to look at and think about.

Additionally, we've been attending performances of the Colorado College School Music Festival.  We've seen the very creme de la creme of American musicians - prestigious contest winners (a Van Cliburn gold medalist!), the lead clarinetist of the American Ballet Theater,  as well as lead musicians of the other instruments from various symphonies from around the country.

Next month there's a month long dance festival.  Ansel Adams, a universally acknowledged master photographer, has an exhibit just down the road.  There's a thriving music scene here, and I haven't even scratched the surface of the museum opportunities.  There are garden concerts, jazz concerts, and the Philharmonic comes out of summer hiatus over the 4th of July.  I'm gleefully rubbing my hands together anticipating all the enjoyment the dreaded CULTURE is going to provide during this stay.


  

Was it a Rip-Off?

Have you ever gone to a movie, and as it's playing, you know, you just know your spouse hates it.  Well.....  First of all, I pick 90% of our movies.  One of Drake's expectations is I will keep up with all the movie releases, sift through the reviews, and then suggest what I think we should see.  Of course, I know the odds of getting him to an animated movie or a highly rated children's movie are about 20%.  We both agree there's never been a horror flick we EVER want to see.

We love independent films, and here in CS, we were thrilled to discover there's an independent films theater right in the middle of downtown - it's in the old 'downtown' theater, there was one in every decent sized town - and the downtown theater of my Tulsa youth ran 'Sound of Music', 'The 10 Commandments', and every Disney movie of the 1950's and 60's both live action (think Hayley Mills) and animated (think Sleeping Beauty).  Colorado Springs is valiantly trying for a downtown revival similar to Fort Worth's, so surrounding this revamped downtown theater, "The Peak", - yes, you can see Pike's Peak from the entrance,  there are clubs, happy hours with cute cheap snacks, as well as several decent restaurants.

This has been our 'go to' movie theater since we arrived in town.  First, we went to see "A Hologram for the King", then we went to see "Love and Friendship" which I loved, and Drake liked.  (This movie is based on an early Jane Austen novella, and it helps if your ear can hear and decipher upper class English accents.)   Then, it was the new Susan Sarandon movie, "The Meddler", so today I suggested we go see "The Lobster".

This is a highly rated movie with big time actors.  Every critic's review I read suggested this is one bizarre movie, but worthwhile.  In essence, the screenwriter creates a society in which it is a moral and legal imperative to be part of a couple; no exceptions.  I won't go any farther than that about the plot line.

Drake's position when we walked out was he got ripped off for $14, but then we proceeded to discuss themes and aspects of the movie for a solid 40 minutes. That doesn't seem like a rip-off to me.  Can you imagine having a 40 minute serious discussion about any of the comic book movies so prevalent these days at the multi-plexes?  Drake finally, finally grudgingly agreed the resulting discussion was the only redeeming value in his eyes of "The Lobster".

I think movies are a part of the American cultural fabric, and the last thing I am is a movie snob.  I'm a pretty all-inclusive viewer.  I like westerns, comedies, rom-coms, thrillers, murder mysteries, musicals, vintage films, silent films, bio-pics, fantasy films, comic book movies, animated flicks, clay-mation, documentaries, and cartoons (old time or new fangled).  Horror is really the only thing I can't get into.

We have a running 'list' of our worst ever films.  The rules are:  You paid to see it, and you stayed for the whole thing.  As discussed above, I pretty much filter out the crappy movies from the get go, and we won't go to the movies just to go to the movies. My point is, to make our list is a perverted honor.  Here are the ones which come to mind instantly:  #1 'Clockwork Orange' - this movie's extreme violence, especially for the time period, turned both of us off.  #2 'Barry Lyndon' - what a waste of film; but it was beautiful and completely utterly boring.  #3 'Chariots of Fire' - what I remember most is legs running.  Anyway, you get my drift:  highly rated movies, the darlings of the critics, that we just completely disliked.

According to Drake 'The Lobster' belongs on this list.  I disagree.      

Mining Paint and Pottery

Today we went to a most unusual place.  It was called 'Paint Mine Park', owned by El Paso County which is the Colorado Springs county, but it is also on the National Register of History Places.  The Paint Mine is outside of Calhan, Colorado which is the poster child for cattle country and about 30 miles east of Colorado Springs.  It was quite warm today, and there was exactly one tree and very little shade on this hike.  The brilliant sunshine made for nice pictures this morning.  

This landscape is just west of the Rocky Mountains

The Paint Mine is similar in geology to the South Dakota Badlands, and to the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.  There are hoodoos and petrified sands.  It is almost completely hidden by the surrounding landscape.  It differs in that it contains brilliantly colored clay and petrified sand deposits and has been visited and 'mined' by Native Americans for thousands of years.  It where colored clay was dug for pottery and for the raw materials to make brightly colored ceremonial paint.  The formations in the following pictures are almost invisible from this viewpoint even though they are less than a quarter of a mile away.

As always, and particularly in this case, the pictures tell the story:

https://goo.gl/photos/oYoLkjMuVJ8Amneq5

Hiking Before Breakfast, Really

We came to Colorado Springs because there were so many things to do; each day there's a possibility of something new.  Unfortunately, there are also trips to the grocery store, the post office (I go through stamps like a mad woman.), the gas station, and getting hair cuts.  Then, there's the vacuuming, car washing, bathroom cleaning, and general maintenance.  So, today, we decided to just jump into our hiking clothes and check out the Bear Creek Regional Park which is spitting distance from our front door.  I didn't even drink a CUP OF COFFEE. Afterwards, it was chore day.

Looking up toward the 'rim'

There's a regional hiking trail which circles the park.  Then, there are a series of interconnecting hikes in the center of the park.  This park includes a deep ravine as well as the rim around it.  One of its most popular features is the 'dog park'. This is dog country.  Bear Creek runs through the park, and this park is very popular, but not overcrowded because there are better hiking parks within five miles.  Today we did a 2.5 mile hike on the interconnected trails.  Then we went to eat the free breakfast at the dining room at the 'home'.  Boy, did we get the hairy eyeball striding into eat in our hiking boots.  

Apparently, the coyotes own Bear Creek Park because there are all kinds of signs up warning people about how to handle an encounter.  I'm covered there since there are packs which live in Sun City.  Coyotes really don't want to deal with people, just live around them.  Did you know coyotes and rock doves (city pigeons) are the two wild animals which have adapted best to co-existing with humans in an urban environment?  Some cities (like NYC) have actually imported coyotes to control the rat population.  In New York each one has a radio collar, so the parks department can actually track them. Coyotes also keep the Canadian Goose in check in some urban parks making them much nicer for people to use.  Coyotes have taught themselves how to cross busy urban streets.  They know how to look both ways and wait to cross.  Today, while hiking I spotted coyote tracks a couple of times on the trail, but we didn't see hide nor hair.

Spring has really just started arriving here in the past 10 days.  Today, I spent a lot of time photographing wildflowers.  I'd really, really like to know some of the names.  So, if you know the monikers of any of the flowers in the pictures, let me know.  If the picture label just says 'wildflower', then I don't know the name.
https://goo.gl/photos/zYDFCtZ6BBy1tpT57


      

Hog Heaven

It seems like we are going and doing something every day.  I'm in hog heaven. Even though the weather was really nice today, we try to stay off the hiking trails on the weekends, especially on Saturdays.   This Saturday we were sorting through possible things to do, and we decided to take in the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Museum.  Good choice.  We were practically the only people there.  Not surprising since the winter is long, and now is the time the native 'Springers' want to be outdoors.

Now, we all know I love museums, and I can generally find SOMETHING interesting to see in each one even if I have to look really hard.  My expectation of 'fine art' in this relatively small town (500,000) was pretty low.  As we entered, I immediately was transfixed by the introductory piece in the lobby, and I began to get the sense this museum was going to be quite special.

One of three Dale Chihuly glass chandeliers owned by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Museum

Doesn't this lovely glass chandelier make a great impression?  Ought to; it's from the premier world glass artist, Dale Chihuly.  The art museum is between 'downtown' and the southern edge of the Colorado College, founded in 1874.  The college is full of lovely Victorian buildings and is a lovely campus.  The art museum, while more modern, seems fresh and attractive.

One of the things I'd admired while looking at the museum's website was one building but three functions:  Fine Art, School of Art, and Performing Arts Theater.  In 2005, the museum brought in a major Chihuly glass exhibition which revitalized interest in the museum, sparking the 2007 expansion and remodel. The theater was especially upgraded, but the non-profit museum purchased some major glass pieces to enhance the new portions of the building.  Here's the second chandelier purchased from Chihuly.  It took two days to install.

There is actually a Chihuly 'room' in the museum

One of the concepts which impressed me about this museum is their commitment to buying excellent art.  There are no second rate 'old masters' here.  Instead, there is a wonderful assembly of Hispanic and Western art as well as some excellent modern abstract art and a couple of magical realism paintings which took my breath away.  Here's one.

This is called "David and Goliath"

As we went from gallery to gallery, we were just marveling at what was being exhibited, and we started talking about our next visit to see the new exhibitions opening in a week.  It dawned on us perhaps we should become members of the museum.  So, before we left today, we bought a membership, and we will be attending the member's cocktail reception and preview next Friday night for the new major exhibitions of the summer.  

I had such a good time today.  I hope you enjoy my pictures of this great museum.

https://goo.gl/photos/5tXa21QKkoeKGybi9