Arts Ballet Theatre Review, "Nutcracker," 12/15/11

Falling For Dance Now - Artburst Miami, 11/04/11

Want to Get Ahead?  Go Last! or Right of Way Doesn't Mean Right Away

They ran out of numbers at the deli counter today.  I could feel the collective tension of muscles ready to spring from the people left waiting to order as if they were on the promenade deck of the Titanic as the last life boat was manned.  This frantic woman who came after me asked me as I was poised to be served, "Are you ahead of me?"  She knew I was as I had been standing there already when she arrived.  I said, "Yes, but I am in no rush.  Please go ahead."  To which she replied, "I will.  Maybe in my next life I can be like you."  And she didn't risk losing her new spot by saying thank you.  That came after she placed her order.  By the time someone was free to serve me, she was already a pound of salami ahead of me.  And guess what?  My clerk finished both my orders while the woman was still waiting for her roast beef and I left before she did.  By waiting I actually got the faster clerk that could have been hers.  Being gracious or yielding your right of way doesn't meant you end up last.  And waiting can actually get you ahead.  I think this story should be mandatory reading at all DMV's in Miami-Dade.

Forget the Noise

I've come to the belief that the greatest sin, whether self inflicted or inflicted by others, is noise.  A real and figurative noise that intrudes upon your mind - the senseless ideals of others; the facade and the mask; the constant demand without giving; the forced conscription of what you should feel, what you are told should be important to you; and self preservation at the subjugation of others.  I find that the older I get the more intolerable I become of donning the mask.  To be less literary....I can't put up with the bull shit anymore.

Once upon a time I found it necessary to deconstruct and live in the abstract; to rebel; to find the timbre and depth of my own voice.  I now find my greatest strength is in my silence, in my resilience against the noise.  It is the only road to a precious self possession which is a gift not given but fought for.  And it is fought for within a slither of truth wedged between the noise of two historical extremes.   One the one hand the self important narcissists puffed up by their own sense of self worth, immodest altruism and intellectualism dangling loose from practicality.  On the other the self righteous ideologues promoting dogma and adherence to discipline for the sake of maintaining but not advancing.  Both of them draw lines in the sand.  And as much as they wish the lines to be unyielding we have seen abundant proof that in the end nature will ignore it.  Nature will ignore us.  It will shake, storm, blow, rupture, rip and rend despite us.  And ultimately nature will forget us.  So in our brief lives we must do as nature and ignore the noise that divorces our mind from our inner truth.

Were You There?


A guide at NASA tells a group of kids that a moon rock on display is 3.5 billion years old. Kid asks: "How do you know? Were you there?" Similarly, a minister tells his Sunday school kids that Jesus did this or that miracle. And a kid asks "How do you know? Were you there?" I think the kids have the answer in their question: the power of now. History, science and books of religion can be guides or a matter of record, or possible record. But you weren't there. Why must our time on earth, NOW, be enslaved to matters of consequence that no longer apply to the world we live in.  Instead, let's be dedicated to matters of relevance.  Let's keep the universal laws and truths that transcend time: Like "love and treat your neighbor as you would have them love and treat you," and yes damn it, the Earth is round and orbits the Sun (for now).  But the rest of it, I don't care.  I don't really know or care why Sodom burned.  I wasn't there and neither were you.  I don't care if we descended from apes or Adam and Eve.  Because we are here regardless and it doesn't change the fact that we have to live with each other.  Proving evolution or having faith in creationism doesn't change where we are today, or address our very current global problems. I don't care if dinosaurs were on Noah's arc or if they lived millions of years.  All I know is their remains fuel our cars and it won't last forever. I don't care if science can prove I was born gay or if people think I chose it.  Cause even if I did choose it, I promise I can and have done a lot better and no worse than many straight married and divorced people.   There is no heaven or hell beyond the heaven or hell we create on earth today.  Any religion, science or ideology that tells you that you and yours are the chosen one over any other group and uses that as a means to fight wars, kill or subjugate others different in any way...I promise you, that is not the word of God nor the evidence of study.  That is the faith in prejudice and the truth of greed.  So base your truth or your faith on the real live people, actions, mysteries, facts, problems, solutions, joys and sorrows you know of and live through everyday.  One day a kid might ask you "How do you know? Were you there?"  Well...were you?

Review of Adrian Bewley's CD, Guilty White Boy

Futility of History

Originally posted on Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 1:51pm

Our Histories are scattered like granules of sand at the bottom of the ocean.  Not lost, but unremembered.  No less real....yet no more important than any other sedimentary evidence of others who created; who fought; who breathed; who toiled; who loved; or who died.  The vastness of the sea and the void of space remain the only timeless, remarkable and steadfast witnesses to our fractional existence.  What a burden for an Historian to carry - to care beyond remembering what everyone else chose to forget and what the universe itself makes, if not insignificant, than at least no more brilliant than a burning flame against the sheen of dying stars.

"Spilling Seed" in Sunsentinel's CityLink, April 15, 2011

"A Jewel in Our Own Backyard," review of Dance Now Ensemble in Miami Art Guide, April 12, 2010

"500 Miles" cover on Youtube

Wasn't it just last year that DC published DC Legacies?  Makes me think that this new DC concept is new even to the editorial staff.  Why toot your legacy horn if you are planning a relaunch that does away with more than a few generations' worth of characters?  I know that as a kid I knew of superheroes, DC specifically, before I knew they were comic book related.  At age four I was watching the first year of Superfriends in 1973 and I owned a couple of early Mego dolls, my favorite being 1974's introduction doll of Green Arrow.  The earliest comic book I remember reading was DC's Limited Collector's Edition #39 (1975) presenting the origins of the villains of the DCU.  I can't remember the contents but I remember the cover of the heroes on one side facing off their counterpart villains.  It's an image that imbues Alex Ross' Justice series' covers with nostalgia.  That was when I realized superheroes were in comic books not just TV and toys.  I didn't buy comics though until I was about ten and would pick up a comic off the rack at the local 7/11 store with my weekly $1 allowance.  The oldest books I still own which were amongst my first were the yearly JLA/JSA Earth 1 and 2 crossovers from '78 and '79 (the latter being the story line that includes the death of the original Mr. Terrific, Terry Sloane) and All Star Comics that introduced Power Girl and the Huntress in 76 and 77 respectively.  I loved the idea of these team ups between worlds and generations with each character having an alternate in a parallel earth.  I didn't really feel I needed the linear clean up of COIE which essentially put the JSA in publishing limbo until the wonderful revival in the late 90's.  But it wasn't until my teens that I became a fan and collector and like many of those in my generation it was Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans and the Levitz/Geffen Legion that made it happen.  As Julian Darius makes clear in his article "Erasing the Justice Society" (http://www.sequart.org/magazine/1396/erasing-the-justice-society/) it appears in the new DCnU we are losing something by shelving the JSA and all history of The Golden Age.  But I want to add it's not just the JSA we will be missing in this new revamp.  We are losing the original sidekick generation's team history of the first Teen Titans and New Teen Titans.  Although some of the NTT seem to have found prominent places in the DCnU, some favorites remain MIA and it seems uncertain if the first sidekick generation ever met and had a team together either in the 60's or 80's.  This probably more than the JSA makes me feel the loss.  I think the psychology of comic fandom is 90% nostalgia, remembering what excited our imagination in the first place.  I can understand younger readers today needing an entry point whether that was Young Justice or the latest Teen Titans.  ToB states in her blog "The Art of the Retcon..." (http://historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com/2011/06/art-of-retcon-1-dc-does-time-warp-again.html) that the DCU had become an increasingly crowded place with four generations of heroes that included three legacy generations appealing to a target audience about every 20 years (JSA 40's, JLA 60's, NTT 80's and Teen Titans (volume I don't know) 00's.  So I can understand this in some way but I do feel, well, sad, that the entry point of my generation in the 80's is the one that seems will be retconned out of continuity.  And why should people be so attached to a fictional character.  To quote and give credit to ToB from the blog "Erasing the fictional history of characters, or a group of characters, is like erasing parts of the actual, personal histories of the readers themselves, when they read those original stories, many years ago."  And to some degree despite an almost 30 year loyalty in the face of one too many LSH reboots, and one too many crisis, retcons, revamps, re-whatevers, to some degree, although not explicitly stated, I feel DC just said to me, "Thanks - now goodbye!"  There are many parts of this relaunch that I am excited about. I can forgive many things for good stories and good art.  That is the meat of this after all.  I just would like a little friendly nod in this new landscape that I can identify as an affirmation "I was here."  And it feels with JSA and NTT possibly retconned out this isn't my DCU anymore.  Well, they did give me back the original LSH I guess; and that seems to be sticking around.
[Images are copyright of DC Comics/DC Entertainment/Warner Bros.  Articles quoted here and linked are intellectual property of ToB and Julian Darius.]

Dear Brown Rice

Dear Brown Rice,

I'm breaking up with you and going back to my ex, White Rice. I really tried. For 6 months I tried. Ever since we met at Wholefoods. And all my friends kept telling me you were good for me.  And I ignored the protests of my  Cuban family who couldn't understand why I renounced my Latin ways for you. Ours was a kind friendship. You were good to my body but there was no passion. Ours was a relationship with no flavor. I know you are good and I am sure there is some granola gringo boy who would love you like you deserve. But I am going back to White Rice. She's not as picky as you are. She's happy with olive oil, a little garlic and salt. I tried my best with you but no matter what I gave you (remember the coconut milk) you just wouldn't give. And White Rice takes barely anytime to get ready whereas you took forever. Yes, 3/4 of the world loves White Rice also. But I would rather be one of many lovers than no lover at all.