Month: September 2024

Project 2025: LGBTQ rights

Climate change

“Project 2025 takes extreme positions against LGBTQ rights, seeking to eliminate federal protections for queer people and pursue research into conversion therapies in order to encourage gender and sexuality conformity. The policy book also lays out plans to criminalize being transgender and prohibit federal programs from supporting queer people through various policies.”

From GLAAD: The Heritage Foundation’s “stated support for freedom and limited government does not extend to LGBTQ Americans, as evidenced by decades of waging losing battles against:

“Project 2025 aims to gut protections for the LGBTQ community, which its organizers believe exists in opposition to the ‘traditional American family’ and its Christian nationalist underpinnings. The Project would prioritize families ‘comprised of a married mother, father, and their children’ and would eliminate any federal policies that promote LGBTQ equality or that assist single mothers.”

From GPAHE: “Under the banner of “Restoring the Family,” Project 2025 aims to gut protections for the LGBTQ+ community… The Project would privilege ‘family authority, formation, and cohesion as their top priority and even use government power, including the tax code’ to favor traditional families…  Unfortunately, family policies and programs under President Biden’s HHS are fraught with agenda items focusing on ‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage. These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.'”

Of course, you don’t have to read the document to know the position of the National Republican Committee. Just watch Day 1 of the convention.

Climate change

“Project 2025 would eliminate environmental protections and further delay climate action. In the foreword, Heritage President Kevin Roberts calls environmentalism a ‘pseudo-religion,’ claiming ‘environmental extremism is decidedly anti-human’ because it promotes ‘population control and economic regression’ by ‘regarding human activity itself as fundamentally a threat to be sacrificed to the god of nature.'”

From The Hill: “The project… proposes chopping up several agencies. It called for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the nation’s oceans, weather, climate, and fisheries science agency, to be ‘dismantled.’

“NOAA is home to the National Weather Service (which the plan says should henceforth focus on commercial operations), as well as the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (which the plan says should be ‘downsized,’ with much of its climate research “disbanded”).

“The plan would also eliminate offices within the Energy Department that focus on renewable energy, climate technology and energy technology research.”

Watch the Legal Eagle piece on Project 2025: A Hellish Legal Vision For America ft. Liz Dye, which touches on the whole 900-page document.

CHQ: Ballet, opera, and more music

Hansel and Gretel

Angel Kotev

Ballet is not something I attend very often. But when in Chautauqua, do as the Chautauquans do.

My wife and I attended a musical event at 8:15 p.m. each weeknight except for the Wednesday opera at 7:30 p.m. (The music I linked to is NOT the performances we heard.)

Monday, July 22

“The Music School Festival Orchestra and the School of Dance come together for an amazing night of song and dance under the baton of guest conductor Rebecca Tong.” The orchestra is more or less below the dancers, though people in the front row can see them.

Rhapsodic Dances – Choreography by Sasha Janes

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 – Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) -Sean Yang, pianist

This looks like what I expect ballet to look like.

Summer Camp – Choreography by Sasha Janes

Symphony No. 38 in C major, Hoboken I/38, 1768 – -Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) I. Allegro di molto II. Andante molto

This does NOT look like what I expect ballet to look like. The dancers are wearing contemporary clothes. Someone’s even riding a skateboard. This was a lot of fun.

For the Trees – Choreography by Kara Wilkes

Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 – -Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) II. Allegretto

This expresses the natural motif of the title, with lots of greens and browns and dancers portraying seed, soil, sand, mycelium, and other elements. Effective. And the music is among my favorites of all time.

Intermission

Rubies – Choreography by George Balanchine; Staged by Patricia McBride

Capriccio, 1929 – Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) I. Presto II. Andante rapsodico  III. Allegro capriccio so ma tempo giusto. Spencer Myer, pianist

“This performance of Rubies, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust.”

The lead male’s face was very expressive.

Dvorak 8
Tuesday, July 23.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra:  Chia-Hsuan Lin, conductor

Program

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912): [Not to be confused with Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Petite Suite de Concert, Op. 77 (1911) La Caprice de Nanette; Demande et réponse; Un sonnet d’amour; La tarantelle frétillante

Tyzen Hsiao (1938–2015): The Angel from Formosa (1999)

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904): Symphony No. 8 in G major, B. 163, op. 88 (1889). Allegro con brio; Adagio; Allegretto grazioso; Allegro ma non troppo

“Hailed by the Virginia Gazette as a ‘rock solid’ and ‘animated’ conductor, Chia-Hsuan Lin (pronounced ‘jah-shwen’) delights audiences throughout the world with her trademark energy and command. The Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony, Lin also debuted in 2023 with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and returns to conduct concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic this year.”

Opera!

Hansel and Gretel, an opera by Engelbert Humperdink (English), [not to be confused with Engelbert Humperdink]

It was more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Even though the dialogue was in English, it was superimposed onto the screens above. The screens also showed scenes of moving through the forest from nightfall to daybreak, looking like a large Jacquie Lawson ecard. It was also used to great effect to show the terrified cookies. 
The program, which I failed to copy, noted that the woman playing the mother would also play the witch. However, the woman playing the witch was not the woman playing the mother; the mother in Act 1 differed from the mother in Act 2. I THINK the woman playing the mother in the first act sang the witch part in the second act offstage while the original witch pantomimed the role.
Living composer

Thursday, July 25

Rossen Milanov, conductor

Program

Samuel Barber (1910–1981): Essay No. 1, op. 12 (1937)

Angel Kotev (b. 1951): Rhapsody No. 3 ‘Fateful’ –  American premiere

It was lovely to see Kotev beaming after the performance. He and his wife have been coming to CHQ for 5 or 6 years

Béla Bartók (1881–1945): The Miraculous Mandarin Suite, BB 82, op. 19 (1927)

1 act in 8 sections:
Beginning—Curtain rises
First seduction game
Second seduction game
Third seduction game—the Mandarin enters
Dance of the girl
The chase—the tramps leap out
Suddenly, the Mandarin’s head appears
The Mandarin falls to the floor

This time, we decided to sit behind the orchestra. It was great to see the conductor’s face and to note that 47 of the 50 musical scores I could see were paper, not electronic. The downside is that we could not see the horns or percussion.

Movie review: Sing Sing

Unlocked

Since I saw the trailer months ago, I’ve been eager to see the movie Sing Sing. “Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.” My wife and I attended a Monday night showing at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany.

From RogerEbert.com: “Writer-director Greg Kwedar and his script partner Clint Bentley developed the project after buying the rights to the 2005 Esquire article ‘The Sing Sing Follies,’ by John H. Richardson. But they didn’t just shrink-wrap a true story in Hollywood cliches. They did what good journalists would do and re-reported the entire thing by interviewing people from the story as well as various participants in the Sing Sing correctional facility’s theater program.”

Acting!

One interview of the directors of Ghostlight [a movie I highly recommend] and Sing Sing on their cinematic explorations of empathy via theater notes: “{Sing Sing] revolves around an original production called Breaking the Mummy’s Code, most closely following founding member John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield (Domingo) as he prepares for an upcoming clemency hearing. Divine G soon finds himself challenged, then befriended by newbie Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin (as himself), a lone wolf selling drugs who can intimidate someone in the yard one minute, then casually quote King Lear the next.” Mummy’s Code, BTW, is a wildly fascinating production, evoking, among others, Robin Hood, Freddy Krueger, Hamlet, and a Roman citizen.

The movie had the opportunity to be a canned feel-good story, but it didn’t because of the persona of the Domingo character and verisimilitude of the theater director (Paul Raci from Sound Of Metal); Divine Eye (Maclin), a newbie would-be actor in the play; and the other actors.

RTA

Hmm. Maclin’s IMDb includes Unlocked: The Power of the Arts in Prison, which “captures the unsparingly honest stories of formerly incarcerated men and women who participated in RTA’s prison arts program. The film offers a different model for criminal justice, emphasizing life skills that lead to success after prison.”

What is RTA? Rehabilitation Through the Arts. “RTA helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on human dignity rather than punishment.” Oh and here’s the Unlocked short film, which features Maclin and others I recognized from the movie Sing Sing! 

“Founded at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 1996, RTA has provided arts-based workshops to thousands of incarcerated men and women, transforming lives and breaking the cycle of incarceration with proven results: less than 3% of RTA members return to prison, compared to 60% nationally. To learn more about our work, ask questions, or provide support, please contact us.”

The fact that this is based on a true story – clips from the original Breaking the Mummy’s Code shows up in the end credits – makes this even more compelling.

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 98% positive rating with critics, 93% with audiences. One of the three negative critics’ takes misses the point completely: “The story itself presents a flawed notion of ‘serving time’ and becoming ‘reformed’ as a result of incarceration without unpacking the institutional violence that lands Black men behind bars at a disproportionate rate.” It’s just not THAT movie. The one that it is suffices.

Albany Med picketed over contract

long eR wait times

I missed the announcement until too late, but Albany Med nurses picketed over their contract.

“On Tuesday evening, Aug. 20, nearly three weeks after their contract expired on July 31, New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses at Albany Medical Center [held] an informational picket and candlelight vigil to demand a fair contract from hospital management and bring attention to the safety issues that currently plague the hospital. Nurses [were] joined by community members, patients, and elected leaders…

“Nurses pressed hospital management to continue bargaining with a mediator, and they continued to work under the expired contract. Although hospital management agreed to mediation, they have only agreed to one bargaining date so far, Aug. 26, nearly four weeks after the contract expired. Nurses demand the hospital return to the bargaining table and deliver a contract that will recruit and retain nurses. They maintain that patient safety is at stake.” 

Ongoing battle

This is not a new issue, and New York State is a major player in the conversation. “The state Department of Health is investigating conditions at Albany Medical Center after nurses complained for months that management wasn’t meeting new state standards, set in 2022, for nurse-to-patient ratios, according to the New York State Nurses Association.

“NYSNA maintains that contract negotiations must address turnover to ensure patient safety. NYSNA has developed a safe staffing plan that Albany Med administrators agreed to and submitted to the New York State Department of Health. This plan, if accepted by the administrators, would be enforceable in the contract. NYSNA wants a pay offer that addresses the nurse staffing crisis that has left patients vulnerable after more nurses leave the hospital than they can retain. NYSNA also wants to include union rights in the contract, but administrators do not.”

The Union

Getting a nurses’ union at Albany Med was a battle.  Back in 2021, Albany Med nurses voted to “accept the first union contract… after three contentious years…

“According to the New York State Nurses Association, nurses voted to approve their first union contract at the hospital with a 97 percent  ‘yes’ vote. This comes after three years of tough talks that included very public disputes, including demonstrations, a one-day walkout, and charges of union-busting.”

Working too hard

So, getting unionized was only the first step in what has been an exhausting odyssey. “NYSNA nurse at Albany Medical Center, Jessica DeStefano, RN, recently wrote an opinion editorial in the Times Union explaining how patient care suffers when hospitals overburden nurses with too many patients. Patients have longer wait times and nurses resort to relying on family members to assist in some of their critical tasks in the absence of sufficient staffing support.

“Albany Med has the highest ER visit times in New York state, and nurses say that’s largely because hospital management is not doing what it takes to hire and retain enough qualified nurses at the bedside. NYSNA nurses received data from the hospital during negotiations that show that approximately 50 percent of Albany Med nurses have less than five years of bedside experience at Albany Med. There are currently nearly 600 vacant nursing positions. Albany Med’s nurse vacancy rate is nearly 25%, while a study found that the average national vacancy rate is 10%.”

As is often the case, there would have been no need for unionization had the employer done right by its staff. Check out Albany Med’s 2022 tax filings. 

Happy Labor Day!

Sunday Stealing: ice cream

Who put the rum in the rum raisin?

Sunday Stealing celebrates ice cream.

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Of the readily available flavors, I lean towards strawberry—strawberries and sometimes even strawberry syrup on top of strawberry ice cream. If it’s available, I like black raspberry or black sweet cherry. On the next tier are chocolate-infused items: mint chocolate chip and chocolate swirl. I did a quiz in 2010, and I named Orange Pineapple, which I hadn’t eaten in a long time. For soft ice cream, I usually pick a chocolate/vanilla twist.

2. If you could invent a new flavor of ice cream, what would it be?

I don’t think I need to invent a new flavor. Our local Stewarts stores create new short-term flavors, usually during the summer. I’ve tried a few.

3. Who do you like to eat ice cream with?

I like to eat it with children because kids seem to get great joy, which also gives me pleasure.

4. If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be?

It has to have more than one word. It couldn’t be vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry; it could be something like Mint Chocolate Chip or Rum Raisin.

5. Does your family eat ice cream regularly, or just for a special treat?

Unfortunately, I can only eat it occasionally. If I ate it as often as I would like, it would be daily, and I’d weigh 500 lbs.

6. What is your favorite treat from the ice cream truck?

I associate ice cream sandwiches with ice cream trucks.

7. Does frozen yogurt taste different than ice cream?

Oh goodness, yes, they’re not the same at all. According to my taste buds, it’s inferior.

Nostalgia

8. If you could make a super sundae, what would it have?

In college, I used to go to the local shop and have a banana split. It had chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, strawberry ice cream with strawberry sauce, vanilla ice cream with pineapple sauce, and whipped cream. I feel like I didn’t need it very often, but the specificity of my recollection suggests that I did have it more frequently.

9. Can ice cream make a bad day better?

It can make a bad day better if it’s good ice cream. When I was growing up, there was this brand called Fro-Joy, which was marginally better than the store brands, which were meh.

10. Have you ever had homemade ice cream?

Yes, I have had it, but I don’t have any strong recollection of when or where. It seemed like it was A) pretty good and B) way more labor-intensive than I wanted to experience. It could have been at an Olin family reunion.

11. When is your favorite time to eat ice cream?

In the afternoon, between lunch and dinner. You don’t want to ruin your dinner, and you don’t want to have it after dinner and feel a little bit bloated.

12. What is the best kind of ice cream you ever had?

It was almost certainly Rum Raisin. I don’t remember the where or the when, but I do remember that it was so rummy that I thought I was going to become drunk. It was tasty but also quite potent.

Depends

13. Do you prefer your ice cream in a cone or in a bowl?

In general, I prefer it in a cone, but I’ve been in situations where it was so hot, and the person serving had many people to serve. I’d try to be polite and wait for them, but mine started melting on my hand, so I had to eat it faster than I wanted. On a scorching day, a bowl might be a better choice, but on a fall or spring day, the cone is probably a fine choice.

14. Is there such a thing as a bad flavor of ice cream?

I don’t think so. I don’t like peanut butter, so I dislike peanut butter ice cream, but it doesn’t make it bad. One flavor tasted like cotton candy, not my cuppa. I’ve had many exotic fruit things in ice cream that I did not enjoy.

15. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. What does an ice cream a day do?

Adds a pound this way.

16. Is ice cream better when it’s fresh or slightly melted?

A cone should be fresh; a bowl could be slightly melted.

17. What is the craziest flavor of ice cream you’ve ever seen?

I’ve seen plenty of odd flavors, but the names and descriptions don’t stick to my brain.

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