Add this to the Bucket List

A few nights ago I watched a Netflix film "180 Degrees South" http://www.180south.com/. All I can say about this is "Wow"!!.

Have you ever bought some outerwear from The North Face or Patagonia? Their stuff is terrific even if a bit pricey.

And what does this have to with anything you may ask?

Turn the clock back to the sixties when a couple of surfer, climber, hippie types decided to get in their van and drive the 10,000 miles or so to Patagonia Chile. Their adventure inspired another young man to retrace their journey more than 40 years later and put it to a documentary film with clips of the original trip thrown in.

The original twosome, Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins went on to found the aforementioned outdoor clothing brands. That's right, Patagoina and The North Face respectively. Having sold their companies years ago, today the duo have not lost their passion for the outdoors and protecting the environment. In fact, they founded an organization, Conservacion Patagonica, whose goal is to put more than 2 million acres in Patagonia into a permanently protected state. They have funded and set aside almost almost a half million acres already. For more http://www.conservacionpatagonica.org/ .

Patagonia for those of you not familiar with it's location is on the far tip of South America straddling both Argentina and Chile. It is not an easy place to get to, but the stunning beauty of this unspoiled wilderness has to be worth the trip. Tompkins and Chouinard, now both in their seventies, clearly have Patagonia in their blood. Both told of the profound effect the journey, taken so many years ago, had on their lives subsequently, especially at this point in their life.

Now here comes the interesting part. I watch the film and am immediately struck with an urge to go there, or at least put it on my "bucket list". But how practical is it to go there? Fly forever to get to Buenos Aires (already checked off my bucket list in 2002) and then another 4 hour flight to get close to Patagonia. But, the very next day I get an e-mail from REI announcing their

adventure tours now being offered to Patagonia. Coincidence, or are the gods at work trying to manipulate me again? Best of all the trip is rated "moderate" by REI standards so I figure I can easily handle this and we do get to sleep indoors. I think I can get P to come on this journey if I persist on convincing her that as long as were are in good shape, we can save the less exerting trips for later. But, it sure would be great if we could get some other friends to take the plunge with us. Here is the site for more information. http://www.rei.com/adventures/trips/latin/argentina.html

By the way, I can speak and understand enough Spanish to keep us out of trouble but I can't defend anyone against lizards who bite. Our guide can do that!

Feeling like you need to get away? Really far far far away? You know where to reach me..just post a comment and I will get back to you.

Discovering the Zen of Skiing

Eden Utah January 30, 2011

Once again the annual Guy's Trip to Utah has come and gone. Travel this year, unlike last year's cluster-F, travel to Salt Lake City was uneventful and the group assembled from Seattle, Scottsdale, Burlington Vt., Portland OR, Missoula MT and Philly.

The four days of skiing were terrific with the first two in great snow and brilliant sunshine. Day four was spent in a steady snowfall (see pic) with powder conditions that got better as the day went on. Jon and Ethan put together a terrific video which can be seen on you tube..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XrDG6dXt1s .

An often repeated cliche is "The journey is the destination". The obvious meaning here is to take the time to enjoy yourself along the way and not be so destination or goal oriented. For most of my years skiing (so many years that the boys say I knew the guy who invented the sport), I have always focused on improving my style and or getting down the hill as fast as I can. For the past few years as my skills and stamina have diminished and the skills and speed of the boys have improved, I have found myself having a difficult time keeping up and dealing with the challenging terrain they love to ski. This trip has set me off in a different direction and has reinvigorated my interest and enjoyment in the sport and I now look forward to putting on the boards for as long as I am physically able.

This time around, with few exceptions, I let the expert group head off on their own and got into my solo skiing mode. I was immediately freed from the pressure of keeping up and facing down some slopes that want to make you throw up. Instead, much like my solo hiking, I now had the opportunity to often stop and take in the magnificent mountain vistas and enjoy the quiet solitude. Powder Mountain is a huge ski area covering almost 13 square miles. But because it lacks the hi-tech new lift systems and fancy apre-ski amenities at the better known resorts like Deer Valley and Snowbird, PM gets hardly any skiers.

After these four days, I have come to the conclusion that for me skiing is a social activity after the boards come off, not while they are on. Let me put on my helmet, turn on my music and head down the hill at my own pace without any distractions. I want to be put into a "white trance", I want to be as one with my surroundings and I want the time to think about all the good things in my life and how lucky I am to be where I am at that exact moment. I do not need anything to disturb the great high I am getting by feeling my skis gliding over the fresh snow.

Skiing by myself also affords me the opportunity to meet some very interesting people as I make my way back up the hill on the chairlifts. It's not that I do not find my family boring or that we ever run out of things to talk about, but it is remarkable how perfect strangers will strike up a conversation with you on a chair lift. Something about being outdoors, surrounded by beautiful mountains with very little to worry about except staying upright

My chair mates were varied to say the least and here are some who come to mind as I write this blog a few days after returning to Sunny and VERY COLD Scottsdale:

1. A seventy five year old guy from Atlanta who stays at powder mountain for three months and skis his brains out all for $150. His wife usually joins him on the slopes, but she broke her arm roller-skating a month ago. He is my new hero for staying fit and never letting age get in the way!

2. A couple of really attractive Japanese women who spoke perfect English and sold some tech parts that I would surely buy from them if I had the need.

3. A couple from Washington DC who grew up in Huntington Valley, not far from Abington where Paula is from. Turns out her dad was the St. Joseph's Hawk Mascot in the Sixties when I was at Temple. In fact she knew several of the guys I played basketball with in Philly.

4. A really interesting guy from Peahi, Maui who moved there in the seventies as a surfer bum, eventually started a clothing company, and now distributes his brand all over the world.

5. A semi-retired Surgeon from Dallas who spends his winters as a ski-guide and writing.

6. A college football referee who does PAC 10 games and who has done several Duck games. Got lots of interesting and insightful information from this guy. In fact, I asked him to ski a run with me so we could continue our fascinating conversation on the lift back up the hill.

All and all this was a very fun trip and I look forward to doing it again same place same time next year. The boards are now back in the garage along with my comfy, old, orange, rear-entry boots.

Skiing is not for everyone especially those who are eligible for an AARP card, or worse yet. Medicare. But for those of us who can put our ego's aside and enjoy the special moments it gives us, there is no purer individual sport that I know of.

The "LOC Nest Monster" Captured!

I have been following this story closely for several days and while our President was delivering his State of The Union Address last night, the group in the following story was plotting the capture of this free-spirited Raptor who had the run of The Library of Congress for about a week.

Let me say that I am not very happy about this:

" The elusive "LOC Nest Monster" has met her match.

The hawk that has been avoiding capture inside the Library of Congress was finally corralled at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday by bird experts.

A team of three rescuers -- Kennon Smith, a federally licensed raptor bander who volunteers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Linda Moore, Vice President of the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia; and Craig Koppie, an eagle/raptor biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- used two European starlings to bait and trap the hawk."

I know the hawk was treated well and hopefully she is now back with her family, but really, how cool would it have been to keep her as a permanent resident in this national landmark.? So they would have to feed her a few times a week and maybe deal with a few droppings from time to time. Big Deal! We make such a big deal over the Bald Eagle, which is basically a scavenger, and ignore the majestic hawk. Everytime I have seen Bald Eagles in the wild they were either nesting or feeding on something that some other animal had killed or washed up on shore. But Hawks, and I see many on my frequent hikes, are alway in motion, whether gracefully riding a thermal to rise high in the sky or diving downward to get a rabbit or mouse. I think of the Bald Eagle as a 747 and the hawk as F16 fighter jet! I doubt if congress would ever consider replacing the Bald Eagle with a Hawk as the symbol of America, but they would have my full support to do it.

But here is the real kicker, keeping the hawk in the library would be a novelty, kind of like the Phantom of the Opera. People would come to the library just to see her. We could even have a national contest to name her with the first prize being a lunch in The Rose Garden with Michelle Obama!

What a great way to get people into the library. Think about all the times you have been to Washington to see the sights. But how many of you, myself included, have never put a foot inside the Library of Congress?

I went to Wikipedia just to find out more about the LOC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress and boy was I impressed. What a history, and of what an impressive collection of books.

Too bad, only members of congress can check out the books, but there are lots opportunities for us common people to explore the building, its collections and other public programs. This web site gives you an idea of all that is offered at the LOC. http://www.loc.gov/index.html

This place is now on my bucket list for sure. It's just too bad I won't have the opportunity for a hawk sighting while inside.

Christina Green-- Happy

January 24, 2011

A few days ago I read Joe Posananski's column in Sports Illustrated with a great sense of sadness. The tragedy that took place in my home state of 33 years has been in the news repeatedly for weeks with the talking heads all offering their opinions of who is to blame. Sports Illustrated is not your normal media channel for covering such stories, but in this case the senseless killing of a 9 year old girl, the daughter of a top baseball scout and granddaughter of Dallas Green, the former manager of a World Series Phillies team, the story became relevant.

I was taken by the words of of a girl describing her deceased friend Christina. The words were written as only another child might write about a close friend: "Baseball, reading, pretty, animals, politician, math, funny and HAPPY" .

At age 9 this is the world of happy child. Not all children are blessed with such a world, but Christina apparently was. I can recall my own childhood (yes, I still have a pretty good memory when it comes to my early youth) Baseball was my life. Mickey Mantle was the King of my universe with Yogi Berra the Crown Prince. The Brooklyn Dodgers were the enemy and the New York Giants just a neutral country. Girls were not quite in the picture yet and I was smart enough to get reasonably good grades without it interfering with my baseball. We did not have much money but it never seemed to matter as all my friends were in the same boat.

Christina was in that wonderful time bubble of childhood. Were she not at the Safeway that morning she would have eventually moved on to her teens, where life today is so much more complicated. Fast forward another twenty years and she might have followed Gabrielle Giffords into the U.S. Congress. But this was not to be. Fate would put her in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The ancient Greeks believed that Moirae, the goddess of fate and destiny, was responsible for what happens to mere mortals. The destiny of a Greek was not decided at birth like many cultures believe, but rather Moirae pulled the strings and she could change her mind, and your fate, at any time.

Perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. Clearly, the warning signs were there for this deranged gunman and clearly we could have made it much more difficult for him to buy a gun. There is more than enough blame to go around here, but sometimes "Moirae" holds all the cards.

I am reminded of the story of the Titanic. The ship was late leaving port by nearly two hours because another ship had slipped its mooring and was blocking the Titanic's route out of the harbor. Had this delay not have occurred, would she have missed the iceberg? Would 1500 lives been saved? Would some of these people have gone on to change the course the world would take over the next 50 years? We can't answer these questions of course, but it falls into a big "what if".

On a bright warm sunny day in Tucson a happy nine year old girl walked out her door to meet her U.S. Congresswoman. She and five others will not have the chance to experience their own futures and possibly impact ours.

I won't go through life thinking that fate will decide my destiny. Of course I will try to do what I can to make sure the odds work in my favor. But the next time I get a clean bill of health from my doctor, or avoid a reckless driver, I will smile and think how lucky I am. Or when I see a magnificent sunset, or enjoy a day of fresh powder skiing, or make a hole-in-one, or watch the Ducks eventually win the National Championship, I will quietly thank Moirae for being on my side for the time being. This is more than I can ask for.

The Lord and the BCS Championship Game

Glendale Arizona January 10, 2010

Finally back doing the blog thing..sorry to all my readers for the hiatus.

Here I am at the BCS National Championship Game, son Jon at my side, great seats and hoping that the Oregon ducks will beat the favored Auburn Tigers for their first national title.

Earlier in the week these seats were selling for over $6,000 each and more than $4,000 a couple of hours before the game. Football fans are crazy and I guess I am as well for not selling the seats, but the thought never crossed my mind ( well almost never). Thanks again to my friend Larry the Judge for getting me the tickets. He knew this was a "bucket list" item for me and being at the game for me was "priceless".

What does the Lord have to do with the game you might ask. Nothing, in my opinion. The Lord, I suspect, had nothing to do with the tragic shootings of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and others in Tucson just a couple of days before and his/her intervention in a football game would be highly doubtful.

My reference to the Lord and football is only to put perspective into the role of football in Alabama (Auburn) and Oregon. This is not to say either is better but merely how football, like the Lord, is so much more a part of to the culture and lifestyle in the deep South versus the Northwest. I will get back to that in a moment, but first a bit about the day and the game.

What a day it was. Perfect weather. Temperature in the mid-sixties and not a cloud in the sky. We arrived five hours before kick-off and already the parking lot was buzzing and almost filled with tailgaters from both sides. Jon and I went to the game with his college roommate Justin, a photographer/writer for Vanity Fair and his Dad, Bob. We had not seen each other for a few years but we reconnected easily and it was reminiscent of the fun times we shared in Eugene when the boys were at the U of O. Jon and Justin have stayed in touch consistently since their graduation in 1999 even though they live on opposite coasts.

Justin was on a mission to take shots of the fans for perhaps a piece in the magazine and I tried to act as his "spotter". I used this as excuse to introduce myself to perfect strangers in the parking lot. Not that I needed an excuse, everyone was so friendly. This was going to be a fun day.

Like the Rose Bowl last year, every one seemed to be in a happy, festive mood. I love this about college football, not corporate at all like the NFL. The Auburn and Oregon fans mixed easily..no animosity between them at all. Walking through the parking lot with my bright Oregon shirt, I was offered food and drink from Oregon and Auburn fans alike.

Two encounters among many stick in my memory. Justin and I approached a group of Auburn tailgaters cooking up some really good BBQ. In the group was very large old man in a wheelchair and his wife. Turns out she was an Auburn cheerleader in the 1940s and her invalid husband was a star on the team. It was clear that time was not a friend to either one of them (perhaps too much BBQ) but you could see and feel this was a special moment for this couple, an experience they likely would not have again in their remaining years together. They would soak in every moment and support their Auburn Tigers like they have for almost 70 years! Now that is special, no matter who you root for... or even if you think the Lord is calling the plays.

Another fan I met was dressed like many in the Auburn crowd, khakis and an Auburn

button down long sleeve shirt. I asked him to explain to me the "War Eagle" tradition that is on lots of the Auburn paraphernalia and their other "mascot". He explained that in 1892 (yes 1892 in a stadium that must have been filled with Civil War veterans!) an eagle started circling the field during a game Auburn was trailing in the fourth quarter. Auburn came back, won the game, and a tradition began. Now Auburn has a real live Bald Eagle as a mascot and the eagle is trained to circle the field before every game starts. When I asked my new Auburn friend the similarities between Princeton and Auburn, they both have Orange and dark blue/black colors and are both "Tigers". "We are similar", he said with all his Southern charm, "Princeton is the Auburn of the North!"

So back to the "Lord" stuff. When I finally got to my seat in the stadium, we were in a mainly Auburn section, I sat next to a friendly woman who was there from Birmingham with her two daughters, students at Auburn. It was her first time and Arizona and she did it right visiting Sedona and The Grand Caynon among other places. When we started talking about the Auburn and Oregon coaches, both relatively new and young, she said how happy she was about the fact that the Auburn coach was a great believer in the Lord.. I smiled and said that was great but the immediate thought that came into my agnostic mind was Kevin Costner's famous quote in Bull Durham " I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening presents Christmas morning not the night before and I believe in long, slow,deep.soft, wet kisses that last three days." I passed on sharing my thoughts with her.

Football is like religion in the Deep South and an integral part of the culture. Families feud over college rivalries, kids are named after players and coaches. There are unofficial dress codes in many stadiums. Bands and cheerleaders are taken very seriously. They have actual formal cheers. Game days are really big deals. These are great traditions that have survived for years and years. If you were transported back 50 years and wound up at a game at Auburn or Alabama, much would be as familiar as it is today..with one big exception. Ten of eleven Auburn players on defense and ten of the eleven on offense were black. Enough said about that.

The game was not the high scoring affair most experts expected as both defenses played exceptionally well. Auburn's size advantage was obvious and they were able to stop the Ducks near the goal line three times. The Ducks held the Auburn Heisman Trophy winner, Cam Newton in check for enough plays that with four minutes to go, The Ducks were down by only eight points 19-11. Oregon got the break they needed when Newton fumbled at his own forty.

What looked like a sure Auburn win and National Title was now in doubt. A few plays later LaMichael James scored on a nifty shovel pass and the Ducks were now in a position to tie the game with a two point conversion. Darran Thomas, the Oregon quarterback, and just a sophomore, went to his right and threw across the field to the back left corner of the end zone where Jeff Maehl made an amazing leaping catch and the score was now tied! What a play under incredible pressure! The catch reminded me of Dwight Clark's immortalized reception for the 49ers to beat the Cowboys for the NFC title in the eighties.

The Auburn fans stood in shocked silence... but there was still more than two minutes left on the clock for their team to score and take back the lead. And they did it. On a fluke play of sorts they got off a 40 yard run to put them in easy field goal position and with the clock expiring, the ball floated thru the up-rites and Auburn had their title 22-19.

The Ducks had their chances but it was not to be. We were all disappointed with the outcome of the game, but the day was still an 11 on a scale of 10. Had Auburn lost, I believe their fans would have been devastated. For the Oregon fans it was a tough one but easily put into perspective along with a great undefeated regular season. When the woman next to me started crying in joy over the Tigers win, I truly felt happy for her. All the Auburn faithful around us told us how nice the Oregon fans were and how great a team we had. One woman asked me if the Auburn fans were polite enough for us…I answered, “Are you kidding, of course you were” . Exiting the stadium in my Oregon glow-yellow jersey, Auburn fans were shaking my hands congratulating the Ducks on their fine effort and saying Oregon was the best team they played all year. One stranger actually hugged me. I thanked them all and invited all I could to come back to Arizona and enjoy our beautiful state.

For good reason, Oregon has become a fan favorite across the nation because of their style of play and their colorful, ever-changing, uniforms. Oregon's football is traditional in the sense that their tradition is all about change. Oregon football is hip, stylish, fast and not afraid to take chances. You can't predict what kind of uniforms they will wear on any given game day (over 500 possible combinations) anymore than you can predict the bounce of a football or whether or not they will fake a punt.. Oregon football is a visual feast and rarely disappoints. I have friends in Philly, Boston, Miami and even in New Zealand who are Duck fans because they are so much fun to watch. Two young Auburn fans in front of me told me how they and their friends follow the Ducks even in Alabama. And they LOVE the UNIFORMS!Thank alum Phil Knight and Nike for this, but also thank him for the Law School building, student rec center and state of the art library.

After the game Oregon's coach Kelly graciously congratulated Auburn University, praised the event organizers, the Auburn players and his own team for a great season and effort. Always positive, Kelly said we will get back to work in the spring and try to get here again. Don’t dwell on the past, learn from your experience and move on…what a great example to set for his players and the rest of us.

I really wanted to win this one, but this was definitely a bucket list day and all the fans I interacted with were as much a part of the day as the game. Oregon and Alabama are as politically different as you can get, yet on this day, you would never know it by the friendliness of the crowd.

Over my life I have accumulated lots of "stuff" but I am getting to the point where I realize the best kind of "stuff" is not tangible. January 10th 2011, I made a huge deposit in the Bank of Great Memories.

Celia Cruz vs Talk Radio

October 25, 2010

At one time I listened to news/talk radio on my way to work. I gave up on that when I got sick of listening to the anger and bigotry of the callers and the "radio hosts" whose job it is to pour gas on the fire and re-enforce the callers' prejudice.

I can probably write pages about these talking heads on radio and cable, both conservative and liberal, who make millions by manipulating us into thinking they are the source of absolute truth.

It is so sad that so many people in this country rely on people like Glen Beck and Kieth Olberman for their facts.

Anyway, what does this have to do with Celia Cruz. Since I don't listen to the news anymore on my ride in and I get my sports on ESPN.com, I have recently taken to listening to NPR. Yes NPR does cover the news and world events, but during my ride time they mostly cover human interest stories. Today, they covered the "Queen of Salsa", Celina Cruz. Her NPR music clips were all terrific!!

Even though my ability to Salsa dance is about as good as my skills for riding a rodeo Brahma bull, I do love the music. Niece Rachel broke the mode of tradition and had a Salsa band at her recent wedding. It was so much fun and got everybody into the act. Imagine a group of mostly East-Coast Jews dancing Salsa..LOL , but it worked.

Ask me to name any Salsa artists and I can list two, Ricky Martin and Desi Arnez. So I found it so interesting to learn about Celia Cruz on my 15 minute trip to the office. Ms. Cruz actually reminded me of a Cuban Aretha Franklin. Her music was so full of energy. How could I not know about her? Well now I do!

Celia was born in October of 1924 in Havana. In 1950, Cruz made her first major breakthrough, after the lead singer of the Sonora Matancera, a renowned Cuban orchestra, left the group and Cruz was called to fill in. Cruz was hired permanently by the orchestra, but she wasn't well accepted by the public at first. However, the orchestra stood by their decision, and soon Cruz became famous throughout Cuba.

With Fidel Castro assuming control of Cuba in 1959, Cruz and her husband, Pedro Knight, performing in the United States at the time, refused to return to their homeland and became citizens of the United States.

In 1966, Cruz and Tito Puente began an association that would lead to eight albums for Tico Records. The albums were not as successful as expected. However, Puente and Cruz later joined the Vaya Records label. There, she joined accomplished pianist Larry Harlow and was soon headlining a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.

By the mid-seventies Cruz had become an international star within the Latin community.During the 1980s, Cruz made many tours in Latin America and Europe, doing multiple concerts and television shows wherever she went, and singing both with younger stars and stars of her own era. She began a crossover of sorts, when she participated in the 1988 Hollywood production of Salsa, alongside Robby Draco Rosa.

In 1990, Cruz won a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Performance - Ray Barretto & Celia Cruz - Ritmo en el Corazon. She later recorded an anniversary album with la Sonora Matancera. In 1992, she starred with Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas in the film The Mambo Kings. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Cruz the National Medal of Arts. In 2001, she recorded a new album, on which Johnny Pacheco was one of the producers.

On July 16, 2002, Cruz performed to a full house at the free outdoor performing arts festival Central Park SummerStage in New York City. During the performance she sang, "Bemba Colora." , the you tube version will give you a good feel for her energy, even as a women in her seventies: :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JtzanIsFAQ .

On July 16, 2003, Cruz died of a cancerous brain tumor at her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey. She was survived by her husband Pedro Knight, who died February 3, 2007.

After her death in New Jersey, her body was taken to Miami to lie in state in downtown Miami's Freedom Tower, where more than 200,000 of her South Florida fans paid their final respects.

I have ordered some of her music. Celia will accompany me on my hikes. i expect my pace will improve!

The Tiger. A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vailiant

Since a trip to far Eastern Russia is not on my agenda anytime soon nor on my bucket list, I took a journey there via John Vailiant's written word. I listened to Mr. Vailiant interviewed about his book on NPR and found the story so fascinating I had to go out and buy the book immediately.

As most of my friends and readers know, I am a big fan of non-fiction. Good non-fiction requires great writing simply by the fact that the story alone simply cannot hold the reader's interest for more than a few dozen pages. We all remember the booooring history books that were required in high school or the intro history courses in college. Only after I was out of school did I discover writers like Steven Ambrose, David McCullough, Doris Goodwin,Edwin Morris, Simon Winchester and John Krakauer to name but a few. These are writers who brought history to life as much with their prose as with their detailed research.

Valiant begins the book "Hanging in the trees, as if caught there, is a sickle of a moon. It's wan light scatters shadows on the snow below, only obscuring further the forest that this man negotiates now as much by feel as by sight."

Starting with such a vivid description I am immediately taken into the desolation of Siberia and the local lives of desperation and survival where the hunters have become the hunted. The story takes place in a forgotten part of the "New Russia" which has been abandoned with none of the wealth and modernity of cities West of the Urals. But in spite of all this, the people here are at one with their natural surroundings and have to survive like any other animal in this magnificent, raw wilderness. It is the Tiger who connects all in this story. He is the most admirable character in Vailiant's narrative. He is the one most closely connected to this region and a life and culture that is trying hard to survive, yet is loosing the battle.

The original story, which takes place in 1996 probably was probably buried in the back pages of Western newspapers, or not reported at all. A story about a Tiger eating people in Siberia might make its way to the National Enquirer, but not the New York Times.

What makes the book more interesting is how Valiant places the story of the tiger and the locals inside a historical perspective. When I turned the final page, it was if I was at one with the Tiger and his hunter, but I also closed the book with a knowledge of a part of the world I previously knew nothing about.

The imagery of post Perestroika Russia is as much a part of the story as the complexity of the characters.

I recall as a child a visit to the circus with my Dad and seeing the tigers in the center ring on their perches being "tamed" by a very masculine guy with leather boots and a whip. (No comments about the boots and whip please). I will never forget those beautiful, regal-like animals. This story brought back those vivid memories. I hoped for the tiger to prevail. Today, there are but a few Siberian Tigers surviving in the wilderness and it is likely that before too long the only ones remaining will be bred in captivity. Sadly, tigers raised in captivity cannot survive in the wilderness.

The book will make a great movie if done right. But don't wait for the movie, read the book. You will not be disappointed. And most of all, you will have a new appreciation for these beautiful, special animals.

College Football in the HEAT! Yuck!

Saturday September 25th 2010

What fun.. let's go watch the Ducks play the Devils in Tempe on a Saturday night. NOT!

Here it is the end of September and it is still over 100 degrees in the "Valley of the Sun". I am so sick of the reference to the "Sun" when we should really rename Phoenix/Scottsdale the Land of 100 days of 100+ degrees". Don't tell me there is not "climate change" going on here. When I moved here in the seventies, by the end of September your pool was too cold to swim in unless you heated it. Now the sun takes care of that till mid-October! Yes, the weather here is great from Mid-October till May, but in between, you have to endure an ceaseless parade of 100+ degree days. After 30 years this is getting old.

Anyway, back to last Saturday night. P and I and Marty (ex ASU medical doctor) parked near the stadium and tried to get into "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant" before the game. The hostess told us our wait would be about a half hour, but after nearly 45 minutes we were still waiting. We pass on the Greek and decide to get a bite at the nearby stadium.

When I ordered the tix I ordered them from the Oregon web site so we could sit with other duck fans (Marty excepted). ASU was so kind providing the Oregon fans seats as far from the field as possible. I think we were closer to Flagstaff than to Tempe. We were so far from the field that when the band played at the half it was like the sound was on "mute". I know there was a football game going on, but following the ball was impossible. We always talk about being in the nosebleed section, i.e. so high up that your nose bleeds from the altitude. Well, Marty actually saw a young boy who actually had a nosebleed!.

And then there was the HEAT. All day the concrete stadium sits in the sun absorbing hours of high temps. By the time I take my seat, the heat is still pouring out to the hot night air. Talk about a sticky butt. I will spare my readers of the details but had I been wearing an adult diaper, it would be soaked. NEVER, NEVER will I go to a game again, night or day when the temps are this hot..period.

Oh yes, Oregon won in a very ugly 4 hour game. We finally got home around 1 AM. The shower felt really good but the next day I was a total noodle. Thursday its off for Vermont for a long week-end. Can't wait to get out of the heat.

Mao's Last Dancer. Super film!

Hi guys and gals,

First off..I am really stoked. My blog got almost 100 hits yesterday. Six new countries! Including Spain, France and Romania.

A departure for me, I am now a movie critic. In a single word, I found Mao's Last Dancer "fantastic!"

On further reading of the autobio of the main character ,Li Cunxin, the movie takes some liberties. (Like one marriage that never happened and two trips to the USA) Nevertheless , for me the story is compelling.

The true story is the heartening rags-to-riches story of Li, who achieved prominence on the international ballet stage. Born in 1961, just before the Cultural Revolution, Li was raised in extreme rural poverty and witnessed Communist brutality, yet he imbibed a reverence for Mao and his programs. In a twist of fate worthy of a fairy tale (or a ballet), Li, at age 11, was selected by delegates from Madame Mao's arts programs to join the Beijing Dance Academy. In 1979, through the largesse of choreographer and artistic director Ben Stevenson, he was selected to spend a summer with the Houston Ballet—the first official exchange of artists between China and America since 1949. Li's visit, with its taste of freedom, made an enormous impression on his perceptions of both ballet and of politics, and once back in China, Li lobbied persistently and shrewdly to be allowed to return to America. Miraculously, he prevailed in getting permission for a one-year return. In an April 1981 spectacle that received national media attention, Li defected in a showdown at the Chinese consulate in Houston. He married fellow dancer Mary McKendry and gained international renown as a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet and later with the Australian Ballet; eventually, he retired from dance to work in finance. Despite Li's tendency toward the cloying and sentimental, his story will appeal to an audience beyond Sinophiles and ballet aficionados—it provides a fascinating glimpse of the history of Chinese-U.S. relations and the dissolution of the Communist ideal.

The movie exaggerates a bit of course, but the humanity of Li, his teachers, his parents and his American sponsors is admirable. I will not give away the last scene, but it brought uncontrolled tears to my eyes and most in the audience. This is a film that has been panned by many critics but loved by the limited audiences who have seen it. When the movie ended, most in the audience applauded. All of those I know who have seen the film loved it. I expect word of mouth will make this a winner.

BTW, the movie coincided with my listening to Rob Gifford's "China Road" . Rob took off on a "Jack Kerouac-like" journey across China a couple of years ago and his account of the people and places gave me a background that made the movie all the more enjoyable.

Don't miss this one. Here is the trailer:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/maoslastdancer/

Manzanar and the Road home

September 10th 2010

All good things must come to an end and so ends our summer in Ashland. We decided to stay off interstate 5 on the route home and instead took the more inland route which passes through some of the most beautiful landscapes you will ever see. The principle part of the two-day journey in on U.S. route 395 paralleling the eastern slope of the Sierra.

Passing majestic, snow covered Mt. Shasta and the Lassen Volcano we were engulfed frequently in a literal tunnel of trees for hours It is so easy and relaxing to drive for hours through this kind of landscape a (and an excellent John LeCarre book on audio). I feast on all the eye candy and the best is yet to come.

The trusty Prius seems to drive on its own. A brief stretch through Nevada (Reno Yuck!) is the only difficult part of the trip and we are in and out of Nevada in less than an hour. Our final destination today is Lone Pine California.

Lone Pine is bordered on the West by the Sierra and Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states, and on the East about 90 miles away Death Valley. The contrasts and colors of the mountains here are overwhelming, particularly at sunrise and sunset. But despite the spectacular surroundings, Lone Pine is known for a serious blemish in the patina of American liberty.

Barely a few miles south of Lone Pine is the former site of Manzanar, the Japanese internment camp for tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II.

Long before the first prisoners arrived in March 1942, Manzanar was home to Indian tribes, who mostly lived in villages near several creeks in the area. Ranchers and miners formally established the town of Manzanar in 1910, but abandoned the town by 1929 after Los Angeles purchased the water rights to virtually the entire area. As different as these groups were, their histories displayed a common thread of forced relocation..

After the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, the United States Government swiftly moved to begin solving the “Japanese Problem” on the West Coast of the United States. In the evening hours of that same day, the FBI arrested selected “enemy” aliens, including 2,192 who were of Japanese decent. The California government pressed for action by the national government, as many citizens were alarmed about potential activities by people of Japanese descent.

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order, which authorized the Secretary of War to designate military commanders to prescribe military areas and to exclude “any or all persons” from such areas. The order also authorized the construction of what would later be called “relocation centers” to house those who were to be excluded. This order resulted in the forced relocation of over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were native-born American Citizens! The rest had been prevented from becoming citizens by federal law. Over 110,000 were imprisoned in the ten concentration camps located far inland and away from the coast.

I recently finished a book about the democracy practiced by the Indian Nations of the Northeast and how many believe it inspired the Founding Fathers in the drafting of our own Constitution. Henry James whose works were full of social and class commentary wrote of the much- admired "democratic spirit" of our country. In the case of Manzanar, and perhaps in our current times with all the flap over the new "aliens", are wee losing our way again?