Corita Kent & Learning by Heart

As a novice art fan and beginning artist, I can't believe I had never heard of Corita Kent and her book with Jan Steward Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit. But until I ran across a tweet and blog post from writer and ideas curator Austin Kleon, I just didn't know a thing about this incredible woman, art teacher, and artist. As an educator, I am constantly thinking about my practice and how I engage students in learning, and I like to incorporate ideas of art and views of artists in lessons when I can. So, I am currently reading Learning By Heart in preparation for the new year. And it's making me want to both teach English and create art with a renewed passion.

For both educators and artists, Sister Mary Corita is a subject worth learning more about. Corita was an innovative teacher and artist at the historic Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, where she taught art and pushed students to challenge themselves personally and artistically. In the stories I've heard, her true gift is her legacy in creating a new generation of art teachers through her unique approach to art and education. We could all benefit from the wisdom and guidance of Sister Mary.

The Keystone to Summer Fun

There's nothing better than summer days in Summit County, Colorado.

When the summer heat arrives in Denver, it's time to head to the High Country, and the Resort at Keystone is the perfect way to ride out July. Located right along the Snake River and offering easy access to all the best that Summit County has to offer, Keystone Resort has provided our family with a nearly perfect, relaxing summer holiday for years. It is our happy place, and the year would not be complete without our time spent there. For lodging we prefer to stay in a beautiful condo near Keystone Lake at the Keystone Lodge and Spa. This location provides us all the access and amenities we need. The Lodge and Spa provides a huge outdoor, heated pool and two hot tubs that provide endless hours of relaxing fun. Whether we're swimming laps or playing beach ball baseball or simply lounging around with the pool noodles, the spa is a perfectly relaxing scene surrounded by great mountain views. We go back and forth between the pool, the two hot tubs, the scented steam, and the dry sauna, and we always finish the day showering in the large locker room before heading out for a walk around town, if not out to dinner.

The Keystone Lodge and Spa is directly along the Snake River which provides immediate and easy access to fishing or simply sitting in the shallows watching the water roll by on its way to Lake Dillon. There is plenty of action for fly fishers up and down the river - and even a novice like me can pull out the occasional rainbow trout with a rod and reel. The river is bordered by a beautiful biking and walking trail that heads up to River Run or all the way down to Dillion. You could even head up and over Swan Mountain Road and into Breckenridge or Frisco. A great way to spend the evening - after a day on the river or at the pool - is to stroll over to Keystone Lake for dinner at Pizza on the Plaza. The kids will enjoy feeding the plentiful fish and ducks at the lake, or even taking a quick spin on the paddleboats. It's only bested by the calzones - which are certainly worth staying for dinner. - make sure to ask for a slice of orange. Basking on the plaza and watching the sun go down over the beautiful Keystone Valley is the perfect end to a perfect mountain day.

For other great recreational opportunities, consider scheduling some hikes such as the easy and accessible climbs on the Tenderfoot Trail or up to Lily Pad Lake. These hikes are doable for even families with young kids, and the views are truly breathtaking. On Fridays, it's worth taking a free gondola ride up to Keystone Summit - though prepare to stay a while if the summer monsoon storms move in. Nothing like enjoying a beverage while watching the fire on the mountain. Fridays offer live music and plenty of lawn games, and it's always fun watching the hard-core mountain bikers take off down through Keystone's bike park adventure. One of these days I will challenge myself on one of the green runs - and anyone can ride down on the dirt roads that wind around the mountain. Of course, simply strolling around the resort on the trails is great fun as well. The views of the valley are worth the time - and my time in Keystone is literally my most relaxing week of the year.

The Keystone Lodge and Spa is also a popular place for conferences, and we see plenty of people on working vacations each year. I know if I had to attend a conference in the middle of the summer, Keystone Conference Center is one place I'd like to do it.

Dabbling or Commitment in a time of browsing

All my life I’ve been a novice of many things -- at this point, I’m kind of like a master novice.

That statement, while actually quite true, was simply a quip I posted on social media recently. And the amusing thing about my thought was that while I was acknowledging and commenting on the pinball-like nature of my interests over the years I was, at the same time, reading a book about the contrary idea of commitment and dedication.

Pete Davis is a civic advocate who recently published with Simon & Schuster his first book Dedicated: the Case for Commitment in an age of Infinite Browsing. Davis has researched and is now commenting on the flitty nature of contemporary society which has been channel surfing for a few decades, and now spends endless hours scrolling. And, full disclosure, I sort of skimmed Pete's book .... because I had about three other books I was reading concurrently. 

I know. I know.

Pete may be onto something with his case for being more dedicated to fewer things with our attention spans. I know that I would like to commit more to my goals of playing the piano proficiently, drawing and painting adequately, re-learning my high school French competently, and a cultivating a few other lifestyle-oriented activities. So far my commitment to these activities has been a bit thin. But there's always tomorrow.

Indie Folk and Country Music

What is the difference between Indie Folk music and Country?

Other than the classic and easily understood "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" response, it's tough to distinguish the key factor that separates a song or an artist into one of these genres. I enjoy listening to both genres, but I instinctively know what each is, which I want to hear, and where to find it. And, I guess I should really acknowledge that this is a discussion of folk vs country, as opposed to simply indie folk, which technically came about in the early 90s, I believe, with the rise of bands like Uncle Tupelo.

So, here's a question:  is it the twang?

The twang is the distinctive factor for my daughter, who is sixteen and has a broad musical interest range, but doesn't listen to country. But when I'm listening to indie folk, I hear her singing along to people like Gregory Allen Isakov or Whitley or Lord Huron. She doesn't have the same response to when I'm listening to Luke Coombs or Brett Eldridge or Scotty McCreery. And, regarding the twang, I think she is on to something with that descriptor. The twang is present not just in the lyrics, but also in how the chords of the songs are played.

I think storytelling has a lot to do with it as well, and in this regard, Luke Coombs is a great example. Country has always thrived with the art of the narrative, and there is always a literalness to the plots and characters. Indie folk and folk, from my experience, is going to be a bit more driven by imagery and metaphor with the lyrics being somewhat more poetic than they are a story.

I don't know if there is a definitive historical and stylistic distinction between the two genres, and the question is not meant to diminish either. It's just a curiosity for me, kind of like my other questions such as:  Why is Nirvana grunge as opposed to punk?

But that's for another day.

Andrew Carnegie & the Art of Giving

With all the hype and the gripe about billionaires heading into space on their own privately funded rockets, I'm thinking about Andrew Carnegie. 

Discussions about wealth, science, and philanthropy are certainly reasonable and valid topics for commentary, but oversimplification is always a problem. While I understand the comments from critics of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson spending their billions on vanity thrill rides, I don't agree that these trips and the companies that made them happen are simply a waste of money that should have been spent on any number of other causes. I've been a minor critic of the space race in the past, but I don't consider this advancement of science a waste. 

That said, the vast billions of dollars in the hands of private individuals these days bares scrutiny of these tech and finance titans. The Giving Pledge is an admirable and appropriate decision by people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, among many others, to give away the vast majority of their wealth. While I have my reasons to criticize Bill Gates and even his philanthropy, there is no doubt the Gates Foundation, and many like it, is doing great things. And I firmly believe the world could use a lot more of Mackenzie Scotts. Which leads me to Carnegie:

Arguably the richest man of his era, and by some measures one of the richest still, Andrew Carnegie used his massive wealth to build libraries and museums. By the time he died, he had given away 90% of his fortune. I'm not sure what leads some people to be so generous and others to ... well, not. So many of us, when we fantasize about winning the MegaMillions or PowerBall, talk a big game of how we would do so much good with the money. 

Let's hope a few more people who achieve such fabulous wealth start thinking the same way.

An Elliptical for "on the go"

I'm a runner, and I loathe the treadmill. And for one of my gym workouts, I also use the elliptical machine, though I can use it for about ten minutes because going nowhere just doesn't work for me. My wife loves using the elliptical machine, but at one time tried to become a runner because she wanted to be outside in the summer. Now, we can have the best of both worlds, I think.

On my walk this morning, I happened upon a neighbor who was just taking off for a ride on one of these bad boys:

It's called an ElliptiGO, and it looks like a heckuva lot of fun, as well as a great workout. Now, I haven't used an Elliptigo yet, but I'm definitely going to check it out. My neighbor happens to be a local rep for the company, though he started out just using one for recreation and fitness. He does demos for people and offers a chance to test it out, and the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

This particular model also offers a kit for an electric motor as well. And the handlebars are all tricked out to hold his phone and other accessories. From what I understand, these new road-ready ellipticals are popular with many different athletes, including Olympic triathletes. They're popular with current runners and bikers, as well former runners and bikers who can't handles the stress on their joints or time in the saddle anymore.

So, just passing on the info. I understand there is also a Facebook Group with owner feedback.

 

Who Knew Badminton was so Awesome?

Wait a minute. So, an Olympic badminton shuttlecock has sixteen goose feathers all from the left wing of the goose? Has anyone noticed some geese out there listing to one side?

The Olympics always brings some exciting sports moments you never knew you'd be interested in, and it also is a source of some of the most unique sports commentary you'll hear all year, or in four years for that matter. Case in point: badminton.

An old friend was commenting on social media about the Olympics and admitted that his interest always outweighs his original expectation. "I always tell myself," he wrote, "that I'm not that interested in the Olympics ... and then I find myself up at two in the morning, glued to the TV and yelling enthusiastically about badminton." 

I couldn't agree more, especially about the badminton excitement. It's a sport everyone has played (badly in the backyard), and it's also a competition we know almost nothing about. Hence, the trivia and snarky comment I opened this piece with. However, as badminton commentary goes, there is truly nothing quite like the bit from NBC's Mary Carillo at the 2004 games. It still might be the "best sports commentary of all time."

Check it out if you haven't seen it before, or even if you have. You won't be disappointed. Also, check out some badminton matches, and watch out for those lopsided geese in the neighborhood.

Leonard Cohen & Marianne Ihlen in Greece

When Leonard Cohen was living on the Greek isle Hydra in the 1960s with his lover Marianne Ihlen, he was bothered by installation of electricity, particularly the telephone pole and power line visible from the window of his little bungalow. As he told Marianne they would need to move to a more rustic place, a bird alighted on the wire. She told him, “If the bird can get used to it, Leonard, so can you.” That’s the story of his well-known song “Bird on a Wire.”

This great story comes from Judy Scott, a writer who spent many summers in Greece in the early 1960s hanging out with an eclectic community of artists which included the iconic Leonard Cohen. Scott recounted those years in a book, Leonard, Marianne, and Me.

Tom Brady Shills for Subway, but won't eat it

Most sports fans know that the most valuable piece of sports memorabilia is the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card.  Like most commodities, the card's value is a result of its scarcity. It's believed that fewer than sixty of the cards exist despite the general rule that thousands of them are made. The reason T206 is so rare is that after the cards were created and packaged, as was standard at the time, to go with cigarettes from the American Tobacco Company, Wagner refused to allow continued production and demanded the cards be recalled. His reason was that he did not want children buying cigarettes to get the card. And, of course, Honus Wagner was one of MLB's greatest and most popular players, so his card would have been a real prize for kids.

Wagner's decision, folks, is what we call integrity. 

Now, it sounds like another great athlete could take a lesson in character from ol' Honus Wagner. The news has reported that future Hall of Famer and iconic NFL quarterback Tom Brady has signed on to do commercials for Subway. Athletes taking endorsement deals is, of course, not news or a big deal. But the world has taken notice of this one because everyone knows what an all-natural, organic nutrition freak Tom Brady is. Thus, we can be fairly certain that Tom Brady does not eat Subway sandwiches, and has probably never been in one of their restaurants. Thus, it's a bit sketchy that he is endorsing and taking money from a company and product that he is personally philosophically opposed to.

It can't be about the money, right?

Come on, Tom.

Existentialism & the Itsy Bitsy Spider

A question on a text thread from a college-age former student:  "What would you say, colloquially speaking, makes a work existentialist?"

My initial response: "Working from the premise that life is inherently absurd and meaningless, and, thus, the only meaning to a man's life is that which he defines and creates for it, dealing with existence as it is, rather than some arbitrary, contrived, pre-established notions of how things are supposed to be and what they really mean."

The conversation that followed veered into distinctions from nihilism, which I feel is ultimately pessimistic in a way that existentialism isn't, or at least doesn't have to be. As the discussion veered off, I begin thinking about some of the ways I have introduced my students to the concept with the study of and references to literature and pop culture such as Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, Hemingway's Code Hero in The Old Man & the Sea, the contemporary films Groundhog Day and Stranger Than Fiction, and even the story of the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

It's a big topic, existentialism, which is also a rather simple and straightforward idea, which can often be explained through some of our most familiar stories. Amusingly it was in a short essay by Robert Fulghum and on a CD of children's songs I had for my kids in the early 2000s which talked about the existentialist nature of the story of the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

This fact is indeed the interpretative key to the whole puzzle: Camus’ Sisyphus climbs the hill because his live has no other meaning, but Jacques’ Sisyphus climbs the spout because he lives in ignorance of his life’s meaning. Spiders, after all, make webs and catch insects, and we have no reason to believe that a spider doing so will face anything like the existential emptiness of Sisyphus. A spiderweb made, for example, next to the water spout, will certainly be able to withstand the coming rain. This subtle change allows Jacques to reframe Camus’ existential dread not as the desperate cry of a man in an absurd world, but merely as the confused ramblings of a spider who has seen that he was not meant to climb water spouts and concluded that he must not be meant for anything.

It's Time for Permanent Olympic Sites

I blogged about this idea earlier, but now I have revised and developed the position for my column in The Villager. Now that the IOC has extended the problem for four more years with the announcement that Brisbane will be the site of the 2032 Summer Olympic Games, let's put an end to the bidding and instead work on a plan to establish a permanent home for the Games.


In 1972, via a statewide referendum, the people of Colorado rejected funding for the 1976 Olympic Games, becoming the only city ever awarded the games to turn down the chance to host. While that decision shocked the rest of the country, as well as many around the world, it wasn't a surprising move for anyone who knows the taxpayers of the Rocky Mountain state. In fact, knowing what we know now about the structural challenge and fiscal nightmare the Games can be for some cities and countries, it was a surprisingly prescient and prudent move.

Hosting the Olympic Games is an incredible honor and opportunity for a country to shine on the international stage, but it’s also a significant financial and structural investment saddled with huge risks. The Olympics generally cost tens of billions of dollars to stage while providing only a fraction of that in terms of revenue. Host countries must invest heavily in building a vast infrastructure of sites to hold the events, housing for the teams and guests, and transportation and security systems to manage the people. While these can certainly upgrade a city, they are rarely necessary to maintain following the games and often end up in disuse and decay.

Additionally, any benefit from the event is often overshadowed by the corrupt history of the bidding process at the International Olympic Committee and the potential for bloated budgets prior to the event followed by blight afterwards. The scandals plaguing the entire hosting process are extensive, ranging from bribes and extortion to graft and highly orchestrated doping programs which have tainted vast numbers of events and athletes. It often seems the Olympic Games, an international institution intended to honor the individual pursuit of excellence, are more trouble than they’re worth. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Instead, the international community should establish permanent locations for the Olympics, where all countries contribute to maintaining the sites as the premier athletic facilities in the world. The fields and tracks and stadiums could serve as hosts for an endless number of world championships at all levels, and they could also serve as training grounds and research locations to serve all manner of individuals and organizations committed to honoring and promoting the highest levels of athletic achievement.

Choosing permanent locations would obviously be a significant challenge, though certainly not more problematic than the current bidding process. It’s reasonable to have host cities across multiple geographic regions, and it makes sense to consider places which held successful games and maintained some of the original infrastructure. Athens is the obvious choice for one permanent summer location, while Barcelona, Seoul, and Sydney are solid choices as well. Salt Lake City and Lillehammer are good bets for the Winter Olympics, though a strong case can be made for both Vancouver and Turin. Obviously the city and host country must want the honor and responsibility and be willing to trust the rest of the world to support the plan.

This idea is not new, having been discussed for years among commentators, athletic groups, and political leaders. In fact, at the end of the 1896 Games, which launched the modern era, King George of Greece called for Athens to be the permanent “peaceful meeting place of all nations,” and many delegations signed a letter endorsing the idea. Now, news out of Tokyo indicates nearly 80% of Japanese people oppose holding the Olympics there next week, as the surge in Covid cases unsettles residents even as officials still consider allowing fans to attend. Obviously, the pandemic which delayed the Games for a year is a huge factor in the national sentiment of Japan, though it’s worth noting that in 2016 nearly two-thirds of Brazilians worried the Rio Olympics would bring more harm than good to the country.

Currently, host cities are already established through 2028 when Los Angeles will host its third Olympic Games. And perhaps that’s enough. Before any more bidding happens and planning begins, the public should discuss the idea of permanent host cities. Once the idea is floated to athletes and voters, political and business leaders should take the discussion to the IOC and make it happen. With many future games already assigned and planned, there is plenty of time to develop and implement this logical change to the Games.

The Rich & Taxes

Nothing is for sure except for death and people complaining or disagreeing about taxes. This week the Washington Post Editorial Board weighed in with some thoughts on "The Smartest Way to Make the Rich Pay ..." (and it's not a wealth tax; looking at you, Senators Warren and Sanders). 

The basic gist of it is this: "it's the capital gains, stupid."

Fortunately, legitimate goals of a wealth tax can be achieved through other means, as the OECD report indicates. This would require undoing not only some of the 2017 GOP tax cuts, but much previous tax policy as well, which has produced a top federal marginal tax rate on capital gains of 23.8 percent — far below the top rate on ordinary income, which is 37 percent. The Treasury Department has aptly summarized the effect of this differential: “Preferential tax rates on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends disproportionately benefit high-income taxpayers and provide many high-income taxpayers with a lower tax rate than many low- and middle-income taxpayers.” The disparity “also encourages economically wasteful efforts to convert labor income into capital income as a tax avoidance strategy.” A notorious example of the latter is the “carried interest” loophole that enables hedge fund managers to characterize their multimillion-dollar annual compensation as lightly taxed capital gains.

I recall years ago that on a trip with our Debate team to Cal-Berkeley, one of our PF pairs was raising a heckuva ruckus in the early rounds by arguing from the position that if the United States eliminated the tax on capital gains it would not simply go to zero, but would instead shift those earnings to income, where the "gains" would be taxed at the individual's marginal rate. It was a brilliant curveball in the tournament, which flustered a lot of teams not ready for it. But at the same time, it made perfect economic sense to many of us. Capital gains should simply be taxed as income, for that is what they are.