Ted’s Hands
April 28, 2010
The other night I drove up to Garnerville, N.Y. to tape an interview with sculptor Ted Ludwiczak—the “Rock Star” of “What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life?” for the GAGA Arts Festival this weekend, May1-2, when some 5,000 people are expected to visit artists studios in the reclaimed pre-Civil War factory buildings there. When I got home, I posted some photographs of Ted, his beguiling sculpture, and his stone carver’s hands.
I was about to write a guest post for the lovely Eliza Fayle’s blog, silverandgrace.com, expanding, as we had discussed, on the subject of how mental and social stimulation contribute to living a life of passion. But when she messaged to tell me how much she loved Dorice Arden’s photo (above), and I felt compelled to switch focus. To see that post, go to: http://silverandgrace.com/teds-hands-by-author-bruce-frankel.
ere are photos of Ted and one of his heads, take by Arden, and picture I shot of two of Ted’s head in the Minisceongo Creek.
Anna Halprin Is Breath Made Visible
April 23, 2010
If you want to see what a life infused by dance looks like, take a look at this this trailer of “Breath Made Visible,” the film tribute to nearly 90-year-old West Coast avant garde choreographer Anna Halprin. The adoring documentary directed by former student Ruedi Gerber “captures both the passion and the pioneering spirit” of her revolutionary performances, writes New York Times reviewer Jeannette Catsoulis.
“Inhaling nature and exhaling it in dance, she follows her bliss with whimsical, soul-stirring expressiveness,” according to Catsoulis. She writes that the film “portrays a woman with angels in her feet and innovation in her blood. Long may she rock.” Even this trailer will have you saying, “Amen.” (The complete review: )
” title=“Anna Halprin”>Breath Made Visible
Lower Flags for “Queen” Dorothy Height, 98, Civil Rights Matriarch
April 20, 2010
Flags should fly at half mast. The nation should stand for a minute in silence. And children who never heard the name Dorothy Irene Height should learn it now and in the future, for her critical role in leading the nation toward racial and gender equality, and doing so as a model of dignified determination to win civil rights for all Americans. She died Tuesday at 98.
A high school valedictorian denied acceptance to Barnard College because it had surpassed its quota of two African Americans, she distinguished herself at New York University. After, she went from working as a welfare caseworker in Harlem to the YWCA, where an early assignment to escort Eleanor Roosevelt on a visit brought her to the attention of her future mentor, educator and early civil rights advocate Mary McLeod Bethune. She would go on to serve for 40 years as the president of the National Council of Negro Women.
During that time, she worked tirelessly for equal opportunity in the work place and on voter registration drives, on development projects in the U. S. and Africa, and fought for women’s equality before it was fashionable to do so. She once said, “If the times aren’t ripe, you have to ripen the times.” (See Bart Barnes thorough obit in The Washington Post @ Dorothy Height Obit
Height first met Martin Luther King when he was 15, and would one day stand on the platform next to him when he gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. “I call Rosa Parks the mother of the civil rights movement,” said activist C. Delores Tucker. “Dorothy Height is the queen.”
President Obama, in a statement Tuesday, called Height “the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans.”
She credited Bethune with being a model of steadfast assertiveness with humor. She firmly believed in dressing for success. “I came up at a time when young women wore hats, and they wore gloves. Too many people in my generation fought for the right for us to be dressed up and not put down.”
$25K “Champion in Action” Award For Barbara and Ira Smith’s HGRM
April 17, 2010
With his usual modesty, Ira Smith messaged, “Good things just keep happening up here.”
Translation: Household Goods Recycling of Massachusettts (HGRM), the all-volunteer agency that was the brainchild of Ira’s wife Barbara Smith (profiled in “What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life?”) was awarded $25,000 this week by Citizens Bank and NECN as a “Champion in Action,” for what the organization has done for families.
The Acton,MA-based HGRM is now the largest provider of direct household assistance in New England. It distributes more than 31,000 pieces of donated furniture to more than 4,000 families in need per year. Its clients, including victims of fires or floods, women and children escaping abusive domestic situations, people coming out of halfway houses, war veterans, refugees and recent immigrants, come from more than 40 communities in Eastern Massachusetts.
Here’s a NECN’s news report:
With the help of 250 volunteers and in partnership with more than 300 social service agencies, HGRM distributes more than 31,000 pieces of furniture and appliances to 4,000 families per year. Since 2004, HGRM has collected and recycled nearly 100,000 items of furniture that would have otherwise gone to landfills and transfer stations.
“HGRM provides furniture and household goods to help individuals and families who are transitioning through a difficult time. These items not only make a home – they provide a sense of hope and dignity, and the courage to move forward towards a brighter future,” said Stephen R. Woods, President, Citizens Bank, Massachusetts.
HGRM began in 1990 when Barbara Smith placed a notice in her Catholic parish’s newsletter requesting help furnishing an apartment for a woman fleeing violence in El Salvador.
The non-profit started its operations out of the Smith’s house, then moved to a barn, and now uses a 10,000-square foot warehouse. It will celebrate its 20th anniversary on Sunday, May 2 outside its facility in Acton. For the event, designers will transform storage pods used to keep overflow household goods using donated furniture. There’ll be food and music, and I’ll be on hand to sign copies of “What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life,” which includes a chapter on the Smiths.
To learn more go to: 20th Anniversary
Where Did Watson’s Touch Go At The Masters Tournament?
April 10, 2010
Quips about bad backs, replacement hips, and AARP golf pros abounded at the Masters Tournament in Augusta Georgia yesterday after veteran golfers Tom Watson, Fred Couples and others struggled through the second round.
With 60-year-old Watson grimacing his weathered face as he stumbled through five bogeys, golf writers defaulted to blaming age. And as Couples, 50, winced and gripped his back as he fell from the leader board perhaps that was understandable. But Watson’s own words after he fell to three strokes off the lead and struggled to make the cut, point to a failure that afflicts us all, regardless of age: human insconsistency.
“I didn’t chip the ball well and hit a couple of poor iron shots, and that was the difference between yesterday and today,” Watson said, Helen Ross reported at PGATOUR.COM. “Yesterday I chipped the ball beautifully, got the ball right up by the hole. Today the touch wasn’t there.”
Why? Where did it go? Here’s the answer provided by Stanford University electrical engineers Krishna Shenoy and Mark Churchland, who posed the question why Boston Celtics legendary Larry Bird once made 71 consecutive free throws but missed the 72nd:
Age, of course, may have little to do with it. The wind was up and the pin placements were more challenging. As a result, the scoring average rose for the field to 74.512, more than a stroke over the first round. Then, too, something even more fundamental may be at work: “The main reason you can’t move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can’t plan the swing the same way each time,” explained Krishna Shenoy, one of two Stanford University electrical engineers who studied the the phenomenon of inconsistency of movement in 2007.
“The nervous system was not designed to do the same thing over and over again,” added co-author Mark Churchland. ” The nervous system was designed to be flexible. You typically find yourself doing things you’ve never done before.” Here’s their short video:
Focusing on the period of planning before a movement, the researchers designed a test in which monkeys would reach for a green dot or a red dot. If green, they were trained to reach slowly for the dot; if red, to reach quickly. By monitoring the areas of the monkeys’ brains through fMRI, they observed activity in the AON prior to the move and during the move. Over repeated trials, changes in reach speed were associated with changes in pre-movement activity. So, instead of perfectly consistent reach times by the monkeys, they saw variation, like we might see when trying to throw strikes with a baseball many times in a row. Their conclusion was that this planning activity in the brain does have an effect on the outcome of the activity. Previously, research had focused only on breakdowns during the actual move and in the mechanics of muscles. This study shows that the origin of the error may start earlier. (See Stanford University story @ http://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/january17/movement-011707.html)
As for Watson, he will no doubt be bathed in cheers in round three today as the patrons at the Master hope he can recover his touch and offer them hope by turning back the clock. After all, as Watson said, “They’re all my age.” His strategy is simple: “Playing my butt off and not making the same mistakes as I did today, the same attitude today I had 37 years ago when I first played here.”
Watson Tees Off Against Age At The Masters
April 9, 2010
My adrenalin is kicking up as tee-time for Tom Watson approaches in the second round of the Masters in Augusta, Ga.
When he was younger, I confess I wasn’t much of a fan, probably for some of the same reasons I wasn’t a New York Yankees fan as a boy. Watson, like Jack Nicklaus before him and Tiger Woods after, was just so dominant. I craved the eccentric, not the expected. But now that we’re both 60, my interest in his success is keen.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Round 1 leader Fred Couples, age 50 and playing in his 26th Masters, too. He put it well yesterday after finishing with a personal best six-under par 66. “It’s a great start for the older guys,” Couples said. He attributed his success to knowledge of the course. “I knew I could be patient. I wasn’t expecting to shoot four under on the back nine, but I did.”
Putting aside all the hoopla surrounding Tiger’s return to golf after a brief season of ignomy, the drama picks up where last year’s British Open at Turnberry ended when he came within one shot of winning the title for the sixth time. But after he missed his par putt from eight feet on the final hole, Stewart Cink, who had birdied the 18th, went on to beat Watson in a four-hole playoff. Watson hardly counted the near-victory success. His goal, undiluted by age, was to win. “It would have been a hell of a story, wouldn’t it?” he said. Conceding nothing to age, he’d dearly like to complete the story at the Masters.
“It’s a long shot for somebody, still, honestly, of our age to do it,” Watson said, referring to the four golfers over 50 who are under par at Augusta National. “But still, they can do it.”
Happiness At Any Age
April 8, 2010
April 4, 21010 ~ The Boston Globe
By Caroline Leavitt
“Sometimes the pursuit of happiness can feel like a rat race, but a spate of new books can show you better routes to finding your bliss. Journalist Bruce Frankel’s “What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life?’’ ebulliently argues that joy doesn’t have an expiration date. At 53, Frankel got his master’s degree in fine arts and went on to become a poet, and his book is filled with inspiring stories of after-60 successes. From an 89-year-old psychologist to an 87-year-old woman who became America’s oldest park ranger, the stories celebrate people who refused to let illness, stereotypes, and assumptions about aging stop them from realizing their dreams. Our brains are plastic and can change at any age, studies show, and working longer and having a purpose not only can have a profound impact on happiness but can make you feel as if you’ve tapped into a fountain of youth. Even better, this wise and inspiring book hands down an important message: Happiness is abundant at any age, and only you can limit your options.”
Dance Confronts Coal Country Mountaintop Removal
April 7, 2010
Last night was memorable. Elder dancer Thomas Dwyer and “youngers” Sarah Leavitt and Ben Wegman performed a riveting excerpt of Cassie Meador’s “How To Lose A Mountain,” a dance-in-progress about chance, startled humanity, and mountaintop removal. (And then, stranded in New York, they had a sleepover at my apartment.)
Leavitt, Dwyer, Wegman, and Martha Wittman, in Jan. 2010, in study of "How To Lose A Mountain."
As part of "Dance Conversations" at the Flea Theater in Manhattan, choreographer Cassie Meador, of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, talked about the genesis, environmental issues, and elements of human behavior braided into the work. The opening scene, with Dwyer sitting on a small grade-school chair and peering intensely at a fanned handful of cards and Leavitt grabbing and flinging them, was inspired by family lore in which Meador's grandfather lost ownership of a mountain in a game of poker.
While cards are flying, Joffrey Ballet-trained Ben Wegman explodes around the rest of the space in Meador's exploration of what it means to be startled repeatedly -- as by TNT explosions used in the coal-mining practice of mountaintop removal. The excerpt ends with Dwyer and Leavitt struggling and ultimately embracing atop the little chair, which becomes representative of what little mountain remains.
The dance reminded me of Mari-Lynn Evans’s bluegrass-powered, Emmy-nominated documentary “Coal Country,” which premiered last fall and will air again on Planet Green, on Saturday, April 10, at 6 p.m. ET.
When I told Evans about Meador’s exploration of startling in “How To Lose A Mountain,” she said, “Well, they drop the same amount of TNT onto the Appalachia each week as was in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. It makes a whole lot of shaking.”
Emotions are running high in West Virginia after a traumatic week in which twenty-five miners died in a mining disaster in the Upper Big Branch Mine-South in Montcoal, W.Va.—a mine cited more than 3,000 times for federal safety violations. It is operated by Massey Energy, the company on which Evans’s film focuses.
http://www.coalcountrythemovie.com/trailer_page.html
For a closer look at the events on the ground in West Virginia check out Evans’s blog at http://coalcountry.wordpress.com/ or for what is arguably the best reporting on the state’s coal mining go to Ken Ward’s “Coal Tattoo” blog at The Charleston Gazette at http://bit.ly/dbKxre.
The Cost of Commuting, Mood and Movement
April 2, 2010
The other day, New York Times columnist David Brooks, summarizing recent research into happiness, wrote that while “the relationship between money and well-being is complicated, the correspondence between personal relationships and happiness is not. The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting.”
According to studies, joining a group and going to just one meeting a month produces happiness equivalent to doubling your income, while being married is equal to adding $100,000 to your annual earnings, Brooks writes.
In his blog, The Frontal Cortex, neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer delves more deeply into studies that suggest that when purchasing homes people regularly underestimate the pain of a longer commute in favor of the seduction of getting a larger house. “The commuters paradox,” as it was called by Swiss economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer, found that this miscalculation leads people to mistakenly believe that the big house in the exurbs will make them happier, even though it might force them to drive an additional hour to work. Frey and Stutzer also found that a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40 percent more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office.
The reason commuting is so painful, says Lehrer, citing other research, is that traffic inherently unpredictable and therefore we can’t habituate ourselves to it. “Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day,” says Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. Nonetheless, our commutes get ever longer, with more than 3.5 million Americans now spending more than three hours each day traveling to work and home. The reason why it has such a depressing effect on us, I would speculate is different: Sitting. Not moving our bodies, that is. Muscular inactivity.
A newly-released study by Indiana University researchers (and reported on the university website @ http://bit.ly/bJH0Y3) found that physical activity throughout the day—simply moving—is related to positive feelings.
“In the study, if people are more active, they tend to report a more positive mood,” said Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU Bloomington’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER). “Really low levels of activity are related to lower levels of positive affect.”
Physical activity was considered any movement beyond resting, not formal exercise.
“People often see physical activity as having to be exercise, but it doesn’t have to be exercise,” McCormick said. “Physical activity beyond a resting state does appear to be related to mood.”
The Indiana study tracked moment-by-moment physical activity throughout the day and compared it to reports study participants made of their activities and feelings each day. The 25 study participants wore uniaxial accelerometers during waking hours for seven days so their physical activity could be recorded. They also wore wristwatches with pre-programmed alarms that signaled them seven times per day to remind them to fill out brief reports. If they responded more than 20 minutes after the alarm, their report was disregarded to eliminate the ambiguity of “recall.”
Add to this recent findings about a possible connection between long bouts of television watching and a shorter lifespan. In a paper, released earlier this year, the journal Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, found that every hour spent watching television was associated with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer. The link between TV watching and death from cardiovascular disease existed not just among the overweight and obese, but also among people who exercised and were at at healthy weight.
Those findings prompted Swedish exercise experts from Karolinska Institute and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences to write an editorial published in January online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine about establishing a new way of thinking about sedentary behavior. They suggest abolishing “sedentary behavior” as a synonym for not exercising. Instead, sedentary time should be defined as “muscular inactivity” to distinguish it from not doing any exercise at all.
Underlying their recommendation are four principles:
1. Just sitting and not moving throughout the day may in itself increase the risk of disease.
2. Sedentary behavior is a separate kind of behavior with its own effects on the risk of disease, and is different from leisure-time exercise.
3. The molecular and physiological changes that occur from sitting too much are sometimes different from the body’s response to a period of physical activity.
4. Those already too inactive are increasing their health risks further by sitting for long periods of time.
They suggest abolishing “sedentary behavior” as a synonym for not exercising. Instead, sedentary time should be defined as “muscular inactivity” to distinguish it from not doing any exercise at all. While they encourage people to continue regular exercise, they recommend increasing muscular activity throughout the day by taking a 5 minute break every hour from sedentary behavior. And while they urge people to continue regular exercise, they warn that the body can’t just be planted for the other 17 hours a day. More on the issue of mood and movement later. But first, I’ve got to get up and move!