Are you ready? Well, you'd better be if you live in a "swing state". It turns out most of the country is, once again, going to be shut out of the political process due to our electoral college system of deciding the Presidential election. For those of you, which, let's face it, is most of us, who've forgotten exactly how that electoral college thing works, here's a quick tutorial:
First, it's a process not a place. Thus, there are no school colors, no mascot, no teams. The Electoral College is a system which goes into effect every four years to elect the President and Vice President and is actually a provision of the Constitution. It was a compromise hammered out by the FF's (founding fathers) so neither the popular vote nor the votes of Congress would elect the top two Federal offices. (In my opinion, it's one of those 18th century ideas that needs to change.)
Second, 'electors' (these are actual people who cast each state's votes) are chosen in various ways, and state law binds how the state's electors vote. The most common is: 'winner takes all electors' based on which candidate wins the popular vote. There are still a couple of states that have proportional electors. (Maine and Nebraska)
So, how many electors does each state (plus the District of Columbia) get? It's one for each member of a state's congressional delegation plus 2 (for their Senators). Thus, there are 435 members in the House of Representatives, plus 100 Senators, plus the District of Columbia has 3 electors = 538 electors. Divide 538 by 2 = 269. Add '1' for a majority and thus, you arrive at that 270 number the media talks about the Presidential/VicePresidental candidates need to be elected.
What's evolved in the 21st century is certain states depending if they vote 'red' or 'blue', will determine the election due to the electoral college. It's why the Presidential/VP candidates can get less than 50% of the popular vote, and yet, are still elected because they accrue 270 electoral college votes.
Thus, if you live in a 'swing state', expect to see the candidates, hear the candidates, and have all forms of media bombarded with advertisements not only by the candidates, but by their political party, as well as PAC's (political action committees which can consist of lone individuals with $$$$ as well as corporations/unions/non-profits, etc). This is going to go on from August 1 until November 7.
If you have not figured this out yet, candidates actually fudge the truth and outright lie. Political party ads and PAC ads are even less truthful than the candidates. Even if you have made up your mind about who you're voting for, may I suggest you look at the following two websites and use them this election season. Politifact is a Pulitzer Prize winning site which tells you what political statements are true or false. Pew Research is a non-profit site which uses statistical analysis to break down what all types of citizens are actually thinking about various issues.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/
http://www.pewresearch.org/
Finally, what are the 'swing states'? Both parties agree on: Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Colorado. These four states, and it's 'winner take all electors' in these, will determine who wins this election. There are others which are 'in play' (meaning, they may switch from red to blue or vice versa) - such as North Carolina, Arizona, and a couple of others.
All I can say is, boy, am I glad I'm going to be out of Colorado on September 23rd.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Thursday, July 21, 2016
County Fair Time, Colorado Style
Colorado Springs in 1950 was a town of 45,000 in El Paso County, Colorado, nestled right up against the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The town's main claim to fame was having the most famous of the 14'ers (Pike's Peak) in its back yard. Then came the United States Air Force Academy with the first Academy class graduated and commissioned in 1959. By 1965 the town had almost tripled in size. By 2015, Colorado Springs was ten times bigger than it was in 1950, and had morphed into a major city of more than one-half million with an urban area population of 675,000.
However, the rest of El Paso County remained what it was and has always been: cattle country. You only have to drive 30 miles east of the center of Colorado Springs for the landscape to completely change its features. Eastern El Paso Country is rolling, grass covered hills dotted with a series of ranches. The most legitimate contain more than 1000 acres and are being worked by the same families for the past four generations. The least legitimate are the 40 acre (or less) ranchettes which are too small to actually sustain meaningful livestock production, but have proximity to 'the city' for weekend want-a-be's. These ranchettes seem to be the 'big chunks' left over from the urban housing division sprawl which is creeping eastward out of Colorado Springs and laying concrete and houses over prime cattle ranching land..
Thus, the El Paso County Fair should have been entitled the One-Half of El Paso County Fair.
The El Paso County Fair was a celebration of rural accomplishments centered around the next generation as embodied by the 4H organization. These types of county fairs are quite rare these days. As the USA has urbanized in the 20th and 21st centuries, agriculture now comprises only a 4.8% share of the gross domestic product (GDP) down from 20% in 1950. State Fairs are generally located in big cities and, while still having their roots in agriculture, are really now more about big entertainment than rural achievements. There wasn't much 'big entertainment' at the El Paso County Fair unless you counted the Aussie Kingdom which contained a smattering of birds and animals from 'down under'. Or, you might be thinking of the 'duck races'.
We didn't see a 'pure breed' cat among the contestants unless you count Barn Cat as a registered cat breed. We did see some beautiful cats paired with some young girls getting rewarded with attention and ribbons for learning about the care and raising of an animal. My favorite cat was only a little over 4 months old. The youngest owner was only about seven years old. The blond haired, tattooed judge was imported from the Cat Fanciers Association of Denver. This was seriously fun stuff.
These hit my sweet spot since they are personally created items by both children and adults. They encompass cooking, sewing, quilting, painting, photography, and sometimes other creative categories. In Skagit County I saw flower arrangement. In New Hampshire, there were maple syrup based products. In El Paso County, I loved the impromptu category of 'Potato Dressing'
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| Above Colorado Springs |
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| Ranch 30 miles east of Colorado Springs |
We all know I'm a total sucker for county fairs. I've been to half a dozen in all parts of the United States. Perhaps my love of these rural celebrations has its root in the Tulsa County Fair of my childhood which was one of the very, very few times in which sugar was on my mother's menu. I looked forward to the pink froth of cotton candy for weeks leading up to our family's day at the fair. And, Tulsa was the Colorado Springs of Oklahoma at the time, voraciously growing and paving over the rich, black farming land which surrounded it. One thing I've learned in my adult county fair attendance: The agriculture in the county of the fair stamps it.
The El Paso County Fair was a celebration of rural accomplishments centered around the next generation as embodied by the 4H organization. These types of county fairs are quite rare these days. As the USA has urbanized in the 20th and 21st centuries, agriculture now comprises only a 4.8% share of the gross domestic product (GDP) down from 20% in 1950. State Fairs are generally located in big cities and, while still having their roots in agriculture, are really now more about big entertainment than rural achievements. There wasn't much 'big entertainment' at the El Paso County Fair unless you counted the Aussie Kingdom which contained a smattering of birds and animals from 'down under'. Or, you might be thinking of the 'duck races'. 
Then, there was the daily 'headliner' from "America's Got Talent", Loop Rawlins, the One Man Wild West Show doing gun tricks, rope tricks and bull whip cracking. Evenings presented rodeo performances together with a headliner musical act.
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| Mr. Rawlins has been twirling, throwing, and catching his 6 shooters, winding up by catching and balancing one gun atop the other |
The real star attractions of the El Paso County Fair were the 4H kids. These were ranch kids from ages 5 to 18 who raise animals and learn about both the animals themselves and how to care for them. We attended one presentation entitled Grain Fed vs. Grass Fed Beef. It was startling to discover our presenter was a 14 year old rookie cattle rancher. We knew all about horses, cows, pigs, llamas, goats, and rabbits from previous fairs, but what caught our eye at this fair was the first El Paso County 4H Cat Showmanship event. The all female 4Her's, in three age categories, brought their cats to the fair and had their ability to show their cats to a judge and answer questions about cats evaluated. This wasn't exactly a show with high end production values, but I admired the choice of Mark Twain and his quote about cats as one of the two decorations.
We didn't see a 'pure breed' cat among the contestants unless you count Barn Cat as a registered cat breed. We did see some beautiful cats paired with some young girls getting rewarded with attention and ribbons for learning about the care and raising of an animal. My favorite cat was only a little over 4 months old. The youngest owner was only about seven years old. The blond haired, tattooed judge was imported from the Cat Fanciers Association of Denver. This was seriously fun stuff. 
In the same area, just about 20 feet from 'Cat Showmanship' was 'Cavy Showmanship'. (If you don't know what a cavy is, the picture will make it clear.)
Every country fair needs its Creative Arts exhibits.
Of course, the serious needlework crafters whose entries sometimes take years to complete always have me in awe. This is ONE of those types of entries from the above pictured volunteer. Rightly, her knitted sweater won 'Best in Show'.
The El Paso County Fair was obviously a labor of love and commitment from the eastern half of the country. It squatted on the local fairgrounds in Calhan, Colorado, and covered perhaps three football fields. Every presentation and every contest was all about showcasing 4H achievements. This county fair was a 'throw-back' in the best possible way.
As always, if you want to see more cats, quilts, and other fair pictures, click on the link:
Monday, July 18, 2016
Numismatic News
See, you opened this up to find out what numismatic means. Let's just say, Colorado Springs is the headquarters of a whole bunch of weirdo outfits such as: Bristol Brewing Company (the Beehive is very tasty), the 5th Best Zoo in the USA, Wild Fire Tees, the Broadmoor Resort (founded 1918), Borealis Bikes, and TA DA! The American Numismatic Society - (Coin Collectors!)
I discovered a Texas link... Harry Bass, yes, of the Texas Basses', who turns out to be a world famous (literally) coin collector. His family has graciously loaned out his amazing coin collection as an exhibit in the Numismatic Museum. I learned there's a 'rarity' scale based on how many of a type of coin are still available to collectors.
If you want to see some cool coins (even some Olympic Medals), as well as how the rarity scale is calculated, then click on the following pictorial tour of the Money Museum:
https://goo.gl/photos/HFahibS1EEyQvhGn8
I discovered a Texas link... Harry Bass, yes, of the Texas Basses', who turns out to be a world famous (literally) coin collector. His family has graciously loaned out his amazing coin collection as an exhibit in the Numismatic Museum. I learned there's a 'rarity' scale based on how many of a type of coin are still available to collectors.
If you want to see some cool coins (even some Olympic Medals), as well as how the rarity scale is calculated, then click on the following pictorial tour of the Money Museum:
https://goo.gl/photos/HFahibS1EEyQvhGn8
Friday, July 15, 2016
Pueblo, Colorado
The first thing I heard about Pueblo was, "It's a blue collar town; they made steel there for a long time. The first thing I knew about the town was it had four Medal of Honor recipients. It is hotter and flatter than Colorado Springs even though the towns are only 45 miles apart. I was vaguely interested in the town, but what really focused my interest was an Ansel Adams exhibit at their fine arts museum. Ansel Adams is the iconic American photographer of the 20th century. We headed out thinking we were going to be seeing a rather run-down town with little to offer beyond this art exhibit.
It was a real surprise to find this extremely friendly, vibrant small town with so much to see and do. While the Ansel Adams photos were everything I expected, what really fascinated me was a photographer, John Suhay, who has been documenting Pueblo over seventy-five years. He also did side by side photos showing old and new Pueblo. Pueblo has been a crossroads for thousands of years. Where there's a river, people will come. In the dry, hot high plains, Pueblo is located on the banks of the Arkansas River
Pueblo considers itself the town of Medal of Honor Recipients. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration of the United States and is always awarded by the President to the recipient. They began to be awarded in 1861, and of the 3514 medals slightly less than half of them were given between 1861 and 1864. Slowly, the Medal began to be all about heroism above and beyond the call of duty during wartime, and awarding it began to be very, very selective. To have four recipients call a tiny town like Pueblo home is, as Drake would say, "a statistical anomaly".
While all Medal recipients show extraordinary valor under horrendous conditions, I think this one Pueblo recipient touched something in me
Then, we trooped down the street to the Organization for American Values. Oh, Drake was so skeptical. To him it sounded like every ultra right wing, we are the only patriots in the entire country group. Instead, we discovered this amazingly moving picture gallery of the living Medal of Honor recipients. Most were photographed over a six year period beginning in 1999. Under each picture was a quote chosen by the recipient to accompany his picture. Amazing, and so moving.
Our final stop was the Pueblo Historical Museum which told the history of the town of Pueblo from the three cultural perspectives which make up the town. Finally, I turned as we left the museum, and took this picture of the last steel mill in town.
If you want to see more of Pueblo, and specifically to see my favorite Medal of Honor pictures and quotes, well, you know, click on the link.
https://goo.gl/photos/dAVA8EjUi5wzUfsj8
It was a real surprise to find this extremely friendly, vibrant small town with so much to see and do. While the Ansel Adams photos were everything I expected, what really fascinated me was a photographer, John Suhay, who has been documenting Pueblo over seventy-five years. He also did side by side photos showing old and new Pueblo. Pueblo has been a crossroads for thousands of years. Where there's a river, people will come. In the dry, hot high plains, Pueblo is located on the banks of the Arkansas River
Pueblo considers itself the town of Medal of Honor Recipients. The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration of the United States and is always awarded by the President to the recipient. They began to be awarded in 1861, and of the 3514 medals slightly less than half of them were given between 1861 and 1864. Slowly, the Medal began to be all about heroism above and beyond the call of duty during wartime, and awarding it began to be very, very selective. To have four recipients call a tiny town like Pueblo home is, as Drake would say, "a statistical anomaly".
While all Medal recipients show extraordinary valor under horrendous conditions, I think this one Pueblo recipient touched something in me
Then, we trooped down the street to the Organization for American Values. Oh, Drake was so skeptical. To him it sounded like every ultra right wing, we are the only patriots in the entire country group. Instead, we discovered this amazingly moving picture gallery of the living Medal of Honor recipients. Most were photographed over a six year period beginning in 1999. Under each picture was a quote chosen by the recipient to accompany his picture. Amazing, and so moving.
Our final stop was the Pueblo Historical Museum which told the history of the town of Pueblo from the three cultural perspectives which make up the town. Finally, I turned as we left the museum, and took this picture of the last steel mill in town.
If you want to see more of Pueblo, and specifically to see my favorite Medal of Honor pictures and quotes, well, you know, click on the link.
https://goo.gl/photos/dAVA8EjUi5wzUfsj8
Friday, July 1, 2016
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 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......
Saturday, June 25, 2016
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.
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| Notice how they are each listed under their instrument as well as a nascent string quartet |
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.
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| He's already into orchestras - sub at North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and second French Horn in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra |
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| 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. |
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| 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.)
Friday, June 17, 2016
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
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.
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
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| "Study for a David & Goliath" by Paul Cadmus |
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.
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