Happy Wednesday

Just a note, I've edited the previous post to include the desc. for the poster @ the bottom of the msg. Continuing with the pix from 6.Jan.2011 - gosh I took a lot of 'em (these are the last). As I recall they from a gallery of AIDS-inspired art and include works by a Canadian cooperative "General Idea," Bruce Nauman, and the first is from a subway platform taken by mom-meme. Looks lovely, though, doesn't it?

Andy toddled off to work today (it's bagel Wed. so when he has to go to the office 1x/week, he picks Wednesday).

Forecast to be very humid the next couple days. I hope they're wrong.

BP TAX BREAK?

One year ago, on April 20, 2010, BP's oil began to pour into the Gulf of Mexico. It did not stop for 87 days.

Today, economic and environmental devastation remain. Thousands of Gulf Coast residents cope with massive health problems from oil and toxic dispersants.

BP, on the other hand, just scored a nearly $10 billion dollar credit on their 2010 federal tax return, by writing off their "losses" incurred from the tragedy.

That's the equivalent of the entire annual budget of the EPA, whose funding was just slashed in the continuing resolution. It is almost one third of all the cuts in the continuing resolution.

We shouldn't have to endure budget cuts because BP had to pay to clean up their oil spill.

I just signed a petition demanding that BP amend their tax return to take out the $10 billion tax break. Sign the petition and call on BP to pay their fair share:

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/bp_tax_break/?r_by=-2456527-mnHbv1x&rc=paste1

Halleluia!

Since it's Holy Week, I thought I'd forward this (ir)reverent take on a holiday classic. I'm rooting for the short one.

Right now I'm waiting for the P.O. to deliver the Burkart flute that I sent off to OH (their repair guy lives there). They promised it by noon today. He said it was playing like a Gemeinhardt when he got it. I didn't think it was _SO_ bad so am really looking forward to seeing what it's like now.

Meanwhile a whole pile o' laundry sits in the kitchen waiting to be done.

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

Well, not Mulberry St., exactly, but I was at our neighborhood food emporium, where I don't usually go, but the car's in the shop for at least the next 2 weeks for repair of damage from one of the January blizzards when a branch fell on it. Just there for butter & brown sugar (which was on sale, yay). They do have interesting other items in the store including this unusually-flavored soup mix pictured below.



Two students for lessons today. Pooped, but am dragging myself by what little hair I have to go through at least some of the Melrose stuff now.

Raindrops on roses

Well, no roses blooming yet, though we do have some early daffodils blossoming & other things on the way. Today's rain will surely help, though I'm glad it had abated a bit when I had to go out to teach my last lesson of the semester today. A couple weeks' downtime & then one of my students is coming back for "Summer I" from mid-may to the end of June. Didn't feel like I could say no since she was so enthusiastic & I need the extra pennies.

Shots today _still_ from my last day in NYC @ Moma. Joan Mitchell (not the singer Joni), Paul Tworkov (neither of whom I know a lot about) and one of my favorites, Clyfford Still. Hope you enjoy.

Silver white winters that melt into springs

Potter's blood work came back all OK, thank goodness. @ $170/visit for a blood draw, we might forgo the followup & maybe just schedule her annual physical a little early to make up for it. Thought you might enjoy this Bach au naturel video.

Off soon for an Alexander lesson & lunch with a friend.

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Ah, schnitzel. Speaking of which, my feline companion is tapping my arm asking for a lap. Just a minute. OK. Heading out soon for a Cambridge grocery run. Planning to give a listen to the latest On Being episode I caught a part of last Sunday morn, an interview with "Ghanaian-British-American philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah. His parents' marriage helped inspire the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "Sidling up to difference." A highlight: "If you have that background of relationship between individuals and communities that is in that sense conversational, then when you have to talk about the things that do divide you, you have a better platform. You can begin with the assumption that you like and respect each other even though you don't agree about everything, and you can maybe build on that. And you can know that, at the end of the conversation, it's quite likely that you'll both think something pretty close to what you both thought at the start. But you might at least have a deeper appreciation for the other person's, um, point of view, and that turns out to make it easier to accept the outcome, whether it's the outcome you favor or the outcome the other person favors."

Photos again from my last day @ MOMA in January. Toward the bottom - talk about a prepared piano. The final image is Still's painting credo, the image of which was in my previous posting.