In Honor of Sam's 100th

A fun Onion article.

Post 9/11 Syndrome

George Lakoff discusses, among other issues, how the language and visual imagery of 9/11 frames our experience (acceptance) of the War on Terror.

BLVR: Can you explain to me in layman’s neuroscience terms how September 11 changed the way we think?

GL: It reshaped our brains. That’s why they had to keep showing the towers falling over and over and over again. The imagery meant that the towers were people. The planes going in are like bullets going through your brain, the people falling are you falling. Here’s a picture of you dying. The other thing was it was framed in terms of war, instead of crime. Then it was not just war, but metaphorical war, where the enemy is this abstract thing: terror. Terror, which is in you. That’s what’s sort of weird. The enemy is inside America. It’s terror, not terrorists, the outside guys. Of course, by saying ña war on terrorî you can never feel safe. The locus of the war is in you.

BLVR: Are the conservatives who formulated all of these terms aware of these other meanings?

GL: Yeah. I suspect Karen Hughes is smart enough to understand that.

BLVR: Really?

GL: Sure. Think about the image of those towers falling. Think about your empathic response. What you see there you feel in your body. You feel that the terror is in you. You feel that the destruction is in you. Just by looking at it over and over and over, it’s come into you, it’s changed your brain. And so you become the war. It’s not over there in Iraq. Now, you justify the war by saying, “It’s better that it’s fought there than here,” which is the relief. But of course, metaphorically, it’s here. There are people all over the Midwest worrying about the war, especially women, who are empathic, feeling it themselves, worrying that the war is going to come to Peoria, Illinois.

Full article at Believer Magazine.

Tangled Up in Bob

Writer Nathalie Goldberg travels to Bob Dylan's hometown, Hibbing, MN, and discovers how place informs creativity and artistic vision. A new film by Mary Feidt.

Crisis of Leadership

In today's NY Times, younger officers discuss war in Iraq, whether Rumsfeld should go, and what responsibility Bush shares in this mess. Looks like there's enough blame to go around.

"The Army, however, went gently into that good night of Iraq without saying a word," he added, summarizing conversations with other officers. "For that reason, most of us know that we have to share the burden of responsibility for this tragedy. And at the end of the day, it wasn't Rumsfeld who sent us to war, it was the president. Officers know better than anyone else that the buck stops at the top. I think we are too deep into this for Rumsfeld's resignation to mean much.

"But this is all academic. Most officers would acknowledge that we cannot leave Iraq, regardless of their thoughts on the invasion. We destroyed the internal security of that state, so now we have to restore it. Otherwise, we will just return later, when it is even more terrible."

The debates are fueled by the desire to mete out blame for the situation in Iraq, a drawn-out war that has taken many military lives and has no clear end in sight. A midgrade officer who has served two tours in Iraq said a number of his cohorts were angered last month when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "tactical errors, a thousand of them, I am sure," had been made in Iraq.

"We have not lost a single tactical engagement on the ground in Iraq," the officer said, noting that the definition of tactical missions is specific movements against an enemy target. "The mistakes have all been at the strategic and political levels."

More here.

Piefurcation Recommends

Our Town

Directed by Warren David Keith
University Theatre
San Jose Sate University

April 22, 27, 28, 29 at 7pm
April 26 matinee at 11am

Tickets: $15 General Admission
$10 for students, SJSU staff and faculty, and seniors
Available at the Event Center, online and at the door.

The University Theatre is located next door to the New MLK Library at 5th & San Fernando.
Park free after 6pm across the street at the new 4th St. City Garage.

Deborah Slater Dance Theater's
Hotel of Memories
More Furniture Dances
"Pay what you can" Previews: May 13 & 14, 2006 | 8:00pm
Studio 210
3435 Cesar Chavez (at Valencia)
San Francisco, CA
For reservations and information call (415) 267-7687


May 18 - June 3, 2006 | Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8:00pm
CounterPULSE
1310 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA
For reservations and information call (415) 435-7552
Tickets available online at http://artofthematter.org through Paypal

Landslide

An evening length site-specific work
presented by Company Chaddick

Fridays & Saturdays May 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 and 20, 2006
2 performances each night
8PM & 9:30PM
Tickets/$20 general admission
ArtsSFest Arts Pass accepted
Reservations/(415) 435-7569

Danzhaus
1275 Connecticut Street (at Cesar Chavez)
Directions to Danzhaus

The Faith Project

May 11 – 20 at 8pm/May 21 at 2pm
The Studio Theatre
Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
Davis, CA

$8 for students and $12 for the general admission
Purchase tickets at http://www.mondaviarts.org or call 530/754-2787toll free at 866/754-ARTS.

A multi-disciplinary theatre piece that follows one fictional congregation as they struggle to find answers from an elusive God and a conflicted country. The production draws on the multi-ethnic ensemble’s personal stories and research into various faith practices, and incorporates audio-taped interviews with clergy, scholars, and people on the street.

Written & directed by Susannah Martin
Choreograhpy by Kristin Heavey
Music composed & directed by Dave Malloy
Written & performed by Jennifer Arnoth, Samantha Blanchard, Christopher Maikish, Karen Marek, Ashanti Newton, Michael Ortiz, Karuna Tanahashi, Natasha Tavakoli, Carolyn Thomas, & Rosa Threlfall

No Pulitzer For You!

Denied. Denied. Denied. No Pulitzer Prize for a playwright this year.

From LA Times

Adam Rapp, who was among the three finalists for his play "Red Light in Winter," said Tuesday that the lack of a drama award was like "a year without a Santa Claus" for playwrights.

Rapp would have been happy if either of the other finalists, Christopher Durang for his play "Miss Witherspoon" or Rolin Jones for "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow," had won. (Jones' play premiered at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa.) But Rapp added: "Not to name a winner when there are three plays worthy of being finalists is a little obnoxious. I feel like our vocation is a dying species in America. We need everyone supporting us as much as possible. Telling stories in the theater is an important thing. Playwrights are moving to the West Coast to do TV and film just to stay solvent."

From Bloomberg.com

The omission of a drama award, for the 15th time since the inception of the prizes in 1917, denies prestige, $10,000 and a key marketing tool to an American playwright. It also sends an implicit message that 2005 was an off year for new U.S. plays.

``We're not in the business of sending signals,'' said Sig Gissler, administrator of the awards and an associate professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. ``We let the decisions speak for themselves. Sometimes you don't get a winner in a category.''

What A Splendid Pie

The history of Pizza in America.

"Everybody likes pizza. Even those who claim to be immune to its charms must deign to have the occasional slice; a staggering 93 percent of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. According to one study, each man, woman, and child consumes an average of 23 pounds of pie every year."

Once a month? Are you kidding? More like once a week. Frozen pizza (no matter how good) does not count toward the quota. Yes. Obviously I'm consuming more than my fair share.

Safe Haven

Eleanor Bader writes about the Haven Coalition, an organization that provides shelter to women going to NYC for a late term abortion.

Celestial Seasonings

SIX INSPIRATIONAL

SAYINGS I'VE YET TO

FIND ON THE SIDE OF
A BOX OF TEA.

BY Dan Kennedy

- - - -

1.

When life is seen to flow slowly, like a deep river content in its path, the journey is a certain pleasure. But, God damn it, life's not always a big party, now, is it?

Get the rest here.

Beware "The Decider"

George Bush defending Don Rumsfeld.

"I'm the decider, and I decide what's best," Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden. "And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."

I mean, at least he hasn't shot anybody in the face.

Thought for the day still applies.

Lemon Creme Brulee Tart

I made this tart for the Staff Appreciation Luncheon at my son's school. This is the stylized version that appeared in the April 2004 issue of BON APPÉTIT . Needless to say, mine doesn't look exactly like this, the crust shrunk in the tart pan and I haven't yet carmelized the sugar on top. Delicious none the less. It's pretty simple to make. I didn't have the will for it at midnight, although I managed to get the crust prepared. It takes two hours to chill, you know, the butter and fats thing. Get the recipe here.

Thought for the Day

Is George Bush a sentient being?

SOS: Different Century

"Democracy having lost all significance in the minds of most statesmen and politicians, that is why such abundant use of military secrecy is being made in our time. It may be said in fact that the right to withhold information from the people on the basis of security reasons is the greatest loot the winning democracies have taken over from the totalitarian countries. And, most unfortunately, the people in our age having become so dejected, so unwilling to assert any right other than that of existing materially, the statesmen get away with the most incredible nonsense." Niccolo Tucci, The Fallacy of Constructive Criticism, Partisan Review, 1949.

What would Jesus Do?

Dear George:

If God is on your side, whispering in your ear, are you sure he said "Nuke Tehran?" Maybe what he was saying was make them a nice cucumber salad? As in: "Cuke Tehran." Better make sure. They're kinda different.

Sincerely Concerned for the Safety of All Sentient Beings,

Put This Bunny Back in the Box. Come On, I Dare You.

Sure, I'll be eternally grateful for the Marshmallow Peeps, but I'll never get past what you did to that poor chicken! The secret life and times of the Easter Bunny.

A Blank Check

Wonder how much the Iraq war is costing you right now! See a running total here. Caution: This baby moves fast! You can also see how much of the bill your particular community is footing.

Birth was the death of him.

To be an artist is to fail, as no other dare fail, that failure is his world and to shrink from it desertion, art and craft, good housekeeping, living. I know that all that is required now, in order to bring even this horrible matter to an acceptable conclusion, is to make of this submission, this admission, this fidelity to failure, a new occasion, a new term of relation, and of the act which, unable to act, obliged to act, he makes, an expressive act, even if only of itself, of its impossibility, of its obligation.

Happy Birthday, Sam.