The Politico –

The Plot Twist: Pelosi compromises on abortion to pass healthcare.

I know I’m late, but I can’t get over this:

 

 

 

This woman is fascinating.  Would a male politician risk this maneuver?

The Citizen

Rocky Mountain High

HA!

Apparently the altitude isn’t the only thing that’s high in Breckenridge.

I love it.  In my sheltered upbringing, I never considered the association skiing and mind-altering substances. Even in freestyle, where serious jumpers popped advil to alleviate the change in air pressure, I thought that drugs were present (and explained such lapses in judgement as attempting backflips in a mogul course) but not an integral part of the “lifestyle.”   I mean, combating changing air pressure while doing uprights at the base of a mountain in New Hampshire?   Clearly the actions of hardcore stoners…

But then I went to Colorado, where more terrain and less congested trails enable a very different culture.  And although I never skied there, I spent a summer in Steamboat Springs with the Forest Service checking out pine beetles at the ski resort and, well, we found just as much evidence of weed as bugs (I’m trying so hard to resist the bad pun on roaches…) Anyways, one day I asked my friend why he always close to hike straight up the slopes under the chairlift instead of taking the switchbacks.

His reply: “I can’t tell you how many bags I’ve dropped off of chairlifts.  I’m hoping to score, man.”

I fully expect that he now lives in Breckenridge.

The Naturalist

Another foe for Western forests

As if the pine beetles weren’t enough:

 

Aspen forests in Rockies are being hit by a disease that is killing groves of trees, according to an article in the Wall St. Journal.   Sadly, the article reports that biologists are unsure of what is causing this die-off.

Scientists are very concerned as aspen are being pressure by several other factors.

The Politico: Nancy Pelosi – Am I missing something (cont.)

Perhaps not just paying close enough attention…

A close friend (and brilliant political analyst who will hopefully soon claim her seat at the virtual table… although that would also require that I tell her the address of this site…) and I have had occasional discussions about Pelosi and how/if she handled misogyny and sexism as the Speaker of the House.  We all know it exists; but is it most effective to avoid it, address it, or ignore it?  I argued that she initially succeeded in subtly yet unmistakenly asserting both her feminity and her power.

But I think she shied away from the issue – and sexism has crept back in…how can somebody possibly consider this (see last sentence) acceptable, or the above cartoon so profound?

So what happened?

Was the prevalence of sexism  (indiscriminently used) in Hillary’s campaign make Pelosi to shy away from the issue? Is the fact that I am so ignorant about Pelosi’s accomplishments a result of her trying to downplay her accomplishments because she is burdened with having to navigate sexism?

Cartoon source:

(click here to view)

Signe Wilkinson Philadelphia Daily News Oct 16, 2009 EditorialCartoonists.com

The Musician

Alicia de Larrocha

Tribute to Alicia de Larrocha

Stuart Isakoff writes a lovely piece on Alicia de Larrocha, my favorite Mozartist in the Wall St. Journal

As musicians know, Mozart is incredibly, incredibly difficult.  While perhaps not requiring the technical gymnastics of playing Rachmaninoff or Liszt (although as an amateur with horrible attention to fingering, I have difficulty with the more technically difficult aspects that he does include) every note is incredibly exposed.  Put simply, it’s easier to cover-up a mistaken note when you’re playing Liszt then when you’re playing Mozart. Rubinstein, famously, said he approached Mozart “on my knees.”

But the most difficult aspect of Mozart is that, with these exposed notes, you have to make them perfect in tone and color.  The fact that he composed on a very different piano (the modern piano was largely spurred by Beethoven’s banging) makes it even more difficult to capture this tone.  Pianists go overboard in two directions.

Some treat Some treat Mozart like a “pretty, rococo porcelain figurine on a pedestal,” as Vladimir Horowitz once said.

Others treated him almost as a Romantic composer.   Sometimes this works –Pablo Casals told Horowitz that “Mozart should be played like Chopin and Chopin like Mozart,” and Mozart’s piano concertos preceding Don Giovanni (particularly the III movement Rondo of the 20th when it changes to D major) can get away with this.  However, it is a less appropriate strategy for solo piano works.

De Larrocha was the perfect balance of restraint and embellishment.  She was a perfectionist, and this made her recordings the aural Wiener Urtext for phrasing, pedaling – never obscuring, always clarifying – and all the idiosyncrasies that musicologists argue about in playing 250-year-old music.  She never muscled through the cadenzas or runs to create extra texture like many more romantic interpreters; the virtuosity was there but it was concurrent, not in contrast, with the simplicity of the melody.

She will be missed.

The Journalist

I Interviewed Dan Rather!

No, not really.

But guess who did?  Using some of my questions.   That I began at midnight the night before when he was finally able to talk (but only briefly, he was really tired) after his “urgent” call that afternoon.

The story of my life.   You just have to laugh, right?

The Naturalist

More Bad News from the Aral Sea

Gas Exploration in the (former) Aral Sea

Russian Ecologists Say All Fish Dead in South Aral Sea

Scientists at the Russia’s Institute of Oceanology blame high salinity for the die-off: dropping sea level leaves behind a crust of salt (akin to the ring of soap scum in your bath tub) that then dries and blows away to surrounding land and water.  The sea level has receded another 1.5 meters in the last year!

The North Aral Sea, however, is benefiting from restoration efforts spurred by a dam project called Dike Kokaral (pdf). In this portion of the sea, the “Small Aral,” water level has risen by 2 meters since 2005.  Some fishing is even taking place.

What’s most interesting is the different political approaches to the problem.  Kazakhstan controls the northern and rising part of the Aral, while Uzbekistan controls the southern portion. It’s a great example of these countries’ priorities:  Kazakhstan is trying to rebuild their fishery and ecosystem with a dam.  Uzbekistan is opening the exposed sea bed to drilling for natural gas.