https://www.sotango.world/blog/2021/12/28/its-time-to-speak-up
Sent from my iPad
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Friday, December 24, 2021
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves: MacKinnon, J.B.: 9780062856029: Amazon.com: Books
Consuming less is our best strategy for saving the planet—but can we do it? In this thoughtful and surprisingly optimistic book, journalist J. B. MacKinnon investigates how we may achieve a world without shopping.
We can't stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma.
The economy says we must always consume more: even the slightest drop in spending leads to widespread unemployment, bankruptcy, and home foreclosure.
The planet says we consume too much: in America, we burn the earth's resources at a rate five times faster than it can regenerate. And despite efforts to "green" our consumption—by recycling, increasing energy efficiency, or using solar power—we have yet to see a decline in global carbon emissions.
Addressing this paradox head-on, acclaimed journalist J. B. MacKinnon asks, What would really happen if we simply stopped shopping? Is there a way to reduce our consumption to earth-saving levels without triggering economic collapse? At first this question took him around the world, seeking answers from America's big-box stores to the hunter-gatherer cultures of Namibia to communities in Ecuador that consume at an exactly sustainable rate. Then the thought experiment came shockingly true: the coronavirus brought shopping to a halt, and MacKinnon's ideas were tested in real time.
Drawing from experts in fields ranging from climate change to economics, MacKinnon investigates how living with less would change our planet, our society, and ourselves. Along the way, he reveals just how much we stand to gain: An investment in our physical and emotional wellness. The pleasure of caring for our possessions. Closer relationships with our natural world and one another. Imaginative and inspiring, The Day the World Stops Shopping will embolden you to envision another way.
https://www.amazon.com/Day-World-Stops-Shopping-Consumerism/
Sent from my iPad
Monday, November 29, 2021
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Best legal explanation of Rittenhouse case
From a military legal worker:
I'm seeing a lot of ignorance and misinformation flying around about what happened in Kenosha, and I'm going to set the record straight from a professional legal position... as well as from a former military position. I'm going to explain some things from a more technical angle derived from my many years as a paralegal and from my experience working in federal criminal justice and prosecution.
Legally, if you are in the process of a commission of a crime, it negates your ability to claim self defense if you kill someone. As in, it can't even be entered as your official defense in court. It is similar to getting rear-ended at a red light through zero fault of your own, but you were driving without a license or insurance. It automatically makes you at fault because you weren't even legally allowed to be driving.
That 17 year old in Kenosha had committed two crimes and was not even legally allowed to open carry the rifle he used to shoot three people. This means that he legally cannot claim self defense.
Another key discussion is the Castle Doctrine. Some of you may be vaguely familiar with it, as it is what allows you to use deadly force when someone comes into your house unlawfully, etc. But there are some finer points most people don't realize that you generally have to do some formal legal studies to know.
First, as soon as someone sets foot inside the threshold of your home uninvited that you believe intends to commit a crime, you can legally use deadly force and it is immediately considered self defense, even if they haven't made any violent threats or actions towards harming you.
This is because in every instance outside your home, you are required to retreat and extricate yourself from a dangerous situation if possible. It is a legal mandate, not a suggestion. Your home is considered the final retreat point, and legally you should be safe in your "Castle." There is nowhere else to retreat to, etc. This is why you are able to immediately use deadly force.
However, it is NOT to protect your property, it is for protecting your LIFE. And once the burglar, for instance, has left your home... the threat to your life is considered neutralized, and deadly force is no longer authorized. So if a burglar runs out the door and down the street with your TV, you are no longer allowed to shoot after them because they are not threatening your life. You call the police, you file a claim with your insurance, and you get a new TV. If you shoot a burglar in the back down the street, you can and should be charged with murder.
While you are out in PUBLIC, this means a lot of things obviously. It means that there is far more scrutiny and boxes that must be checked in order to claim self defense. You must be in IMMINENT danger of losing life and limb. Getting into an argument and feeling scared of being punched by an unarmed person? Not likely to be a situation where deadly force is authorized. You MUST retreat.
If someone shoots at you or pulls a knife on you in the street, that is deadly force and can be met with deadly force. But if the person is unarmed, you cannot shoot them because you're afraid of a little scuffle. That is why Rittenhouse illegally shot the first protester, and it is one of the many reasons it cannot be considered self defense. The man threw a plastic bag with trash in it at him AND MISSED, and Rittenhouse shot him. He chased his victim and instigated a fight by brandishing and flagging people with his rifle, because he is an untrained idiot with a gun. The protester was not a threat, and even if he was, all he had to do was retreat back to the police line. He rushed at protesters with a gun drawn to pick a fight, and people are acting as if he were just there to keep the peace.
He fired INTO A CROWD, and it's a miracle he didn't hit more people. More people that hadn't thrown a plastic bag. More people that were just trying to protest police brutality, which is a real issue in this country.
And then when he did finally run away, some more protesters attempted to subdue him after he had already murdered someone, he tripped, and shot two people trying to stop him from shooting others.
The fact that the police didn't arrest him and take him into custody right then and there, even if they suspected it could be self defense, is a grave issue with that police department.
I could further dissect this situation, but for now I'm going to end with people passing around misinformation about the victims being "criminals so they deserved it."
First, there are no actual records of Jacob Blake or the people shot by Rittenhouse being in the official sex offender's registry. None of them raped a 14 year old girl years ago, that is complete fabrication being purposely spread by right wing extremist sites in order to try and justify the shootings.
Jacob Blake was indeed awaiting trial for sexual assault and trespassing, and did have a warrant for his arrest. It was not assault on a child, because that is a different charge with a different title. On the charging document, it would literally say that it was against a child. From what is publicly known, he allegedly broke into an ex girlfriend's house and allegedly assaulted HER, but he is innocent until proven guilty, and still deserves his day in court. He could truly be innocent.
Rittenhouse's victims do not appear to have had any record, and even if they did, he couldn't have known that at the time. You cannot insist a shoot was justified AFTER the fact because "that person was a criminal." Criminals have rights too, whether you like it or not, and it is enshrined in the very documents that built our country. If you don't like the constitution and bill of rights, I don't know what to tell you.
This is also not MY OPINION, this is literally how the criminal justice system and our laws work. I hold a degree in paralegal studies and served 8 years as an Army paralegal. I've worked for the criminal division in the Chicago US Attorney's Office, and currently work in federal law enforcement. This is what I do for a living, and I am not pulling this out of my ass, and my knowlege is a culmination of working in the field and being passionate about justice for 16 years. I'd be happy to send you sources and opines and case law and statutes if you need it. I did not get this from "mainstream media," and I am not brainwashed by the left. I'm an independent progressive.
May he face justice for what he did, and may we find a way to get on common ground before more fuses to this powder keg are lit.
This has been my Ted Talk.
Sent from my iPad
I'm seeing a lot of ignorance and misinformation flying around about what happened in Kenosha, and I'm going to set the record straight from a professional legal position... as well as from a former military position. I'm going to explain some things from a more technical angle derived from my many years as a paralegal and from my experience working in federal criminal justice and prosecution.
Legally, if you are in the process of a commission of a crime, it negates your ability to claim self defense if you kill someone. As in, it can't even be entered as your official defense in court. It is similar to getting rear-ended at a red light through zero fault of your own, but you were driving without a license or insurance. It automatically makes you at fault because you weren't even legally allowed to be driving.
That 17 year old in Kenosha had committed two crimes and was not even legally allowed to open carry the rifle he used to shoot three people. This means that he legally cannot claim self defense.
Another key discussion is the Castle Doctrine. Some of you may be vaguely familiar with it, as it is what allows you to use deadly force when someone comes into your house unlawfully, etc. But there are some finer points most people don't realize that you generally have to do some formal legal studies to know.
First, as soon as someone sets foot inside the threshold of your home uninvited that you believe intends to commit a crime, you can legally use deadly force and it is immediately considered self defense, even if they haven't made any violent threats or actions towards harming you.
This is because in every instance outside your home, you are required to retreat and extricate yourself from a dangerous situation if possible. It is a legal mandate, not a suggestion. Your home is considered the final retreat point, and legally you should be safe in your "Castle." There is nowhere else to retreat to, etc. This is why you are able to immediately use deadly force.
However, it is NOT to protect your property, it is for protecting your LIFE. And once the burglar, for instance, has left your home... the threat to your life is considered neutralized, and deadly force is no longer authorized. So if a burglar runs out the door and down the street with your TV, you are no longer allowed to shoot after them because they are not threatening your life. You call the police, you file a claim with your insurance, and you get a new TV. If you shoot a burglar in the back down the street, you can and should be charged with murder.
While you are out in PUBLIC, this means a lot of things obviously. It means that there is far more scrutiny and boxes that must be checked in order to claim self defense. You must be in IMMINENT danger of losing life and limb. Getting into an argument and feeling scared of being punched by an unarmed person? Not likely to be a situation where deadly force is authorized. You MUST retreat.
If someone shoots at you or pulls a knife on you in the street, that is deadly force and can be met with deadly force. But if the person is unarmed, you cannot shoot them because you're afraid of a little scuffle. That is why Rittenhouse illegally shot the first protester, and it is one of the many reasons it cannot be considered self defense. The man threw a plastic bag with trash in it at him AND MISSED, and Rittenhouse shot him. He chased his victim and instigated a fight by brandishing and flagging people with his rifle, because he is an untrained idiot with a gun. The protester was not a threat, and even if he was, all he had to do was retreat back to the police line. He rushed at protesters with a gun drawn to pick a fight, and people are acting as if he were just there to keep the peace.
He fired INTO A CROWD, and it's a miracle he didn't hit more people. More people that hadn't thrown a plastic bag. More people that were just trying to protest police brutality, which is a real issue in this country.
And then when he did finally run away, some more protesters attempted to subdue him after he had already murdered someone, he tripped, and shot two people trying to stop him from shooting others.
The fact that the police didn't arrest him and take him into custody right then and there, even if they suspected it could be self defense, is a grave issue with that police department.
I could further dissect this situation, but for now I'm going to end with people passing around misinformation about the victims being "criminals so they deserved it."
First, there are no actual records of Jacob Blake or the people shot by Rittenhouse being in the official sex offender's registry. None of them raped a 14 year old girl years ago, that is complete fabrication being purposely spread by right wing extremist sites in order to try and justify the shootings.
Jacob Blake was indeed awaiting trial for sexual assault and trespassing, and did have a warrant for his arrest. It was not assault on a child, because that is a different charge with a different title. On the charging document, it would literally say that it was against a child. From what is publicly known, he allegedly broke into an ex girlfriend's house and allegedly assaulted HER, but he is innocent until proven guilty, and still deserves his day in court. He could truly be innocent.
Rittenhouse's victims do not appear to have had any record, and even if they did, he couldn't have known that at the time. You cannot insist a shoot was justified AFTER the fact because "that person was a criminal." Criminals have rights too, whether you like it or not, and it is enshrined in the very documents that built our country. If you don't like the constitution and bill of rights, I don't know what to tell you.
This is also not MY OPINION, this is literally how the criminal justice system and our laws work. I hold a degree in paralegal studies and served 8 years as an Army paralegal. I've worked for the criminal division in the Chicago US Attorney's Office, and currently work in federal law enforcement. This is what I do for a living, and I am not pulling this out of my ass, and my knowlege is a culmination of working in the field and being passionate about justice for 16 years. I'd be happy to send you sources and opines and case law and statutes if you need it. I did not get this from "mainstream media," and I am not brainwashed by the left. I'm an independent progressive.
May he face justice for what he did, and may we find a way to get on common ground before more fuses to this powder keg are lit.
This has been my Ted Talk.
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, November 13, 2021
Monday, November 8, 2021
I find myself strangely compelled to buy something Burberry…
https://vimeo.com/637403296
Sent from my iPad
Burberry - Open Spaces / Dir. Megaforce from MEGAFORCE on Vimeo.
FULL CREDITS:
AGENCY & PRODUCTION: @riffrafffilms
CREATIVE & DIRECTION: @the_megaforce
EXEC PRODUCER/OWNER: Matthew Fone
PRODUCER: @cathyhoodx
PRODUCTION MANAGER: @lauzyduffy
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS: @lauralingling / @tinymichelle
CHOREOGRAPHER: @la.horde
CASTING DIRECTOR @kharmelcochranecasting
STYLIST: ANA STEINER #AnaSteiner
DOP: @mrjustinbrown
LOCATIONS: @saltfilm_locations @carl.fairall
1st AD: @benjjji
GAFFER: @prolight_davis
MAKE-UP ARTIST: @gemmasmithedhouse
HAIR STYLIST: @mr.hiroshi.matsushita
CAMERA: @panavisionofficial
STOCK: @kodak_shootfilm
FILM PROCESSING: @cinelabuk
EDITOR: @joeguestdotcom
EDIT HOUSE: @finalcutedit
POST HOUSE: @movingpicturecompany
2D CREATIVE DIRECTOR : @lovejuicelex
POST PRODUCER: @jr0ngo
COLOURIST: @emilianoserantoni
SOUND DESIGN: @samashwell at @750_mph
TRACKING VEHICLES: @bickersaction
CLIENT: @burberry
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: @riccardotisci17
VP CREATIVE: @rachcrowther
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: @alrwatts
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR - @louisgabriel.info
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR - @harry.bradb
LEAD PRODUCER: @willprestongeorge
SENIOR PRODUCER: @asha_joneja
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: @katiewrightx
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: @g8neva
DIRECTOR OF STYLING: @jamesrncampbell
STYLIST ASSISTANT: @donnikaa
STYLIST ASSISTANT: @amylouiseryall
JUNIOR STYLIST: @thomas.ramshaw
STYLING ASSISTANT: @davounte
Friday, November 5, 2021
Milonga Checklist for Organizers
Set TStat early
DJ sound check for levels around the room - not too loud, not too low - just right (enlist two sets of other ears for confirmation)
Lighting check early (not during milinga) especially spotlights for performances
Chairs lined up on one side - not on the floor - a couple of feet back
Chairs lined up along perimeter walls for latecomers - before, not during the milonga
DJ-save the superfast vals tanda for later, not first vals
KEEP THE CORNERS CLEAR FOR ACCESS TO AND FROM THE DANCE FLOOR
ASSIGN VOLUNTEER MONITORS TO KEEP AN EYE ON EVERYTHING THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT
OR EVEN A PRODUCTION MANAGER STAGE MANAGER MAJOR DOMO TYPE
…more later
Sent from my iPhone
DJ sound check for levels around the room - not too loud, not too low - just right (enlist two sets of other ears for confirmation)
Lighting check early (not during milinga) especially spotlights for performances
Chairs lined up on one side - not on the floor - a couple of feet back
Chairs lined up along perimeter walls for latecomers - before, not during the milonga
DJ-save the superfast vals tanda for later, not first vals
KEEP THE CORNERS CLEAR FOR ACCESS TO AND FROM THE DANCE FLOOR
ASSIGN VOLUNTEER MONITORS TO KEEP AN EYE ON EVERYTHING THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT
OR EVEN A PRODUCTION MANAGER STAGE MANAGER MAJOR DOMO TYPE
…more later
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, October 31, 2021
Céline // a scene from “Queer tango goes to Russia” documentary
VamFilms
Brussels, Belgium
Films & visual works by Aleksandr M. Vinogradov.
Céline // a scene from "Queer tango goes to Russia" documentary from VamFilms on Vimeo.
"Queer tango goes to Russia" will take the audience into the unique and passionate world of Queer tango. The story will follow festivals’ preparation, focusing on the culmination of the event and its outcome in the wider political and social context. Each queer tango character presented in the film has a personal reason to make this journey and a story to tell. From Europe to Russia and back, the kaleidoscope of stories will bring all characters at the singular meeting point - Queer tango festivals in St. Petersburg.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Saturday, October 16, 2021
NYTimes: Dancing Cheek to Cheek Again: New York’s Tango Scene Rebounds
Dancing Cheek to Cheek Again: New York's Tango Scene Rebounds
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/arts/dance/new-york-tango.html?referringSource=articleShare
Sent from my iPad
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/arts/dance/new-york-tango.html?referringSource=articleShare
Sent from my iPad
Friday, October 8, 2021
Tango and the Dancing Body in Istanbul - 1st Edition - Melin Levent Yuna
https://www.routledge.com/Tango-and-the-Dancing-Body-in-Istanbul/Yuna/p/book/9781032011332
Book Description
Tango and the Dancing Body in Istanbul explores the expansion of social Argentine tango dancing among Muslim actors in Turkey, pioneered in Istanbul despite the conservative rule of the Justice and Development Party (JDP) and Tayyip Erdoğan.
In this book, Melin Levent Yuna questions why a dance that appears to publicly represent an erotic relationship finds space to expand and increase dramatically in the number of contemporary Turkish Muslim tango dancers, particularly during a conservative rule. Even during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, tango dance classes, gatherings, and messages flourished on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Zoom. Urban Turkey and its tango dance performances provide one symbol and example of how neoliberal capitalism could go hand in hand with conservatism by becoming a bridge between Europe and the Middle East. This study largely focuses on the dancers’ perspective while presenting the policies of Erdoğan. It presents the social characteristics of the tango dancers, the meanings they attach to their bodies and their dance as well as what this dance reflects about them – besides the policies of the Justice and Development Party. The book approaches the tango dance and its dancing body in terms of layers of meaning systems in a neoliberal and conservative context.
This study will be of great interest to students and scholars in dance, anthropology, cultural studies, and performance studies.
Table of Contents
1. Concepts and Tools: Self, Identity, Class, and More 2. Leisure, Consumption, Class: One Mode of Being an Upper-Middle Class 3. Becoming the Contemporary Tango and the Tango Dancer: Bailemos el Tango 4. One Mode of Being an Upper-Middle Class in Istanbul: Bodies, Self, and the Attached Meanings, Part I 5. Bodies, Self, and the Attached Meanings, Part II 6. Bodies, Self, and the Attached Meaning,s Part III
Author(s)
Biography
Melin Levent Yuna is a sociologist and a cultural anthropologist at Acıbadem University, teaching various classes on these areas. In addition to her MA in sociology and PhD in cultural anthropology, she is a tango dancer herself, and has had a deep interest in Argentine tango dancing for many years.
#tangoinacademia #tangoresearch #tangoandpolitics #turkishmuslimstudies #sociology #culturalanthroplogy
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, October 2, 2021
I have a theory — The Twelve Minute Enigma
Shelley DeLayne:
I have a theory…
People often say that humans are social beings, but I don't think we truly grasp the degree to which that is true.
We are not meant to be separate and isolated.
If you are face to face with a stranger and you make eye contact and imitate their facial expressions, both of your hearts will shift their rhythm.
In a moment of shared understanding in a conversation, people often report goose bumps, or a certain sensation on their arms. This is a measurable change in the electric current on each person's skin — it synchronizes literally and you can feel it and it can be measured.
There are all sorts of ways in which humans have induced attunement and coregulation for millennia without realizing we were doing it:
Drumming, singing together, praying or meditating together, reciting a sincere pledge or oath together, experiencing theatre and storytelling… we are designed to do it: to attune to each other. To physically connect with others (even without physical contact).
When an elderly person is hospitalized, and their long-time beloved enters the room, very often, all of their vital signs improve immediately.
Hugs, especially extended ones, typically have a measurable positive impact on both people both physically and emotionally.
We live for connection.
And tango induces autonomic attunement to a degree that nothing else could.
It's a physically intimate, walking meditation for two people with polyphonic music… it literally contains all the most reliable attunement triggers: embrace, music, moving together, paying close attention to one another, the acceptance and agreement of each weight shift, the discovery of commonalities when you recognize that you've both responded to the same thing in the music, the mental space made possible by knowing the 'rules' of it… and it removes the specificity of faces.
You have an immersive autonomic attunement experience, but you aren't looking at their face — and because of the context — it transcends identity and social roles and masks.
It is an experience of your inclusion in the one-ness of humanity.
And I believe the world would be a vastly better place if everyone had regular access to that experience.
(Actual relational attachment changes tango — think about how different it feels most of the time with a friend you know well or with a lover. It *seems* like that should make it even better, but it doesn't always. Sometimes it does… but it's often quite a different feeling.)
Anyway… I used to think that dissection would ruin the magic; that it's better not to know the mechanics of the trick… but then I came to believe: it is truth, not trick, and we can talk about it and measure it and study it and discuss it all we want…
Nothing can destroy the magic of tango.
Comment on a post about The Twelve Minute Enigma
TWELVE MINUTES' ENIGMA
A successful but lonely man in his forties spends evenings at milongas, dancing with women he'll never get any closer. A middle-aged woman plans her flights a year in advance to tango events, family and business are not a hindrance, she has only one problem - how to be everywhere. People from different countries of all ages and genders celebrate the New Year out of home on the dance floor.
A young, beautiful girl spends hundreds of hours, kilometers and euros to learn how to walk around her partner in four steps. Private lessons and seminars seminars with maestros, Yoga, Pilates and much more, just to advance a little. And disappointment from own imperfection, from refusals and imbalance at milongas. And also shoes that cost as if made of gold by the dwarves of Uberwald. The reward is 12 minutes of something that is difficult to describe and impossible to take away.
Why is this all? What are they looking for in tango? And what, judging by the insatiable hunger, they never find enough? There is not so much sex in tango, drugs are scares, almost no rock'n'roll (but some D'Arienzo). Few manage to earn decent money with tango, and for romance-flirting-getting-married there are less costly ways.
"Because this is tango" is not an answer, it is a return to the original question. Yes, there are things that are beautiful in themselves, like hedgehog's heels, buzzing fat bumblebees, the smell of fresh grass or bakery. There are flowers that seem beautiful to us for unknown reason. But tango was created by people, it is not "a thing in itself". It was created out of some specific hunger.
No one ingenious and pathologically humane would sit on a chair and invent tango. It was born from the air and light of the lanterns of that special time and city, from the disappointment and nostalgia, the dreams of those people. They say tango was a socially acceptable way to embrace a woman. Women were few, decent — even fewer; the severity of manners terrified even the English Puritans.
But all this is no longer there. Neither time, nor people, even the city has changed. You can embrace as much as you like, almost anyone, even men, thanks to the sexual revolution and contraception. But for some reason tango is more and more needed by people from completely different cultures. They cannot repeat that music, it is already unrealistic, but "12 minutes of something that is difficult to describe and cannot be taken away" they re-create over and over again, not satisfying their hunger.
They say there is some personal or rather interpersonal problem that pushes people in tango and keeps them there. And this problem is somehow solved in tango. Or not. As a psychotherapist, I am fascinated by this idea, but still it is even more vague than the absence of an answer.
They say people need tango to satisfy sensory hunger. Plausible. In disembodied culture sensory hunger prevails over everyone. But why not massage? Perhaps the tangueros' hunger is very selective, it can be satisfied only in the most subtle and refined way. Or is sensory hunger not only about touch, but also about shared feelings?
Or maybe tango is an opportunity to satisfy your polygamous needs in a monogamous culture? After all, they say, we have both. I'm not talking about sex, but about intimacy, at least symbolic. It is also banned in our culture, except in special ritual forms.
Once I thought that in tango people hope to actualize the original and deprived gender roles. A man leads - expresses his forbidden aggression, a woman follows - does what she rarely can afford in her life. Then I saw with what pleasure women lead and with what pleasure men follow. And saw kizomba and bachata, where there may be more male-female. But what if in tango we are looking not so much for our deprived gender roles, but for our human ones?
Now psychotherapists are talking about desensitization. But they don't say how to stay sensitive and survive in the city. And they themselves do not cope very well.
It is true, dissociation with the body and feelings greatly impoverishes life. But switching feelings and sensations on is often painful, unbearable, especially without the ability to arbitrarily switch them off. Is tango a safe way to become sensitive again, physically and emotionally? For a short finite period?
One can easily rationalize and even know the answer to the question of why other people need tango in general. It's harder to understand why I need it. And the easiest way is to dismiss this question after some reflection. It is also an option. The most pleasant, interesting and tasty things in this life generally have no reason or purpose.
But still. Why do you need tango?
c) Igor Zabuta, Emma Kologrivova, "dancing psychotherapists"
More tango-essays in our book "Embrace me", available at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3tWC2YI
Sent from my iPhone
I have a theory…
People often say that humans are social beings, but I don't think we truly grasp the degree to which that is true.
We are not meant to be separate and isolated.
If you are face to face with a stranger and you make eye contact and imitate their facial expressions, both of your hearts will shift their rhythm.
In a moment of shared understanding in a conversation, people often report goose bumps, or a certain sensation on their arms. This is a measurable change in the electric current on each person's skin — it synchronizes literally and you can feel it and it can be measured.
There are all sorts of ways in which humans have induced attunement and coregulation for millennia without realizing we were doing it:
Drumming, singing together, praying or meditating together, reciting a sincere pledge or oath together, experiencing theatre and storytelling… we are designed to do it: to attune to each other. To physically connect with others (even without physical contact).
When an elderly person is hospitalized, and their long-time beloved enters the room, very often, all of their vital signs improve immediately.
Hugs, especially extended ones, typically have a measurable positive impact on both people both physically and emotionally.
We live for connection.
And tango induces autonomic attunement to a degree that nothing else could.
It's a physically intimate, walking meditation for two people with polyphonic music… it literally contains all the most reliable attunement triggers: embrace, music, moving together, paying close attention to one another, the acceptance and agreement of each weight shift, the discovery of commonalities when you recognize that you've both responded to the same thing in the music, the mental space made possible by knowing the 'rules' of it… and it removes the specificity of faces.
You have an immersive autonomic attunement experience, but you aren't looking at their face — and because of the context — it transcends identity and social roles and masks.
It is an experience of your inclusion in the one-ness of humanity.
And I believe the world would be a vastly better place if everyone had regular access to that experience.
(Actual relational attachment changes tango — think about how different it feels most of the time with a friend you know well or with a lover. It *seems* like that should make it even better, but it doesn't always. Sometimes it does… but it's often quite a different feeling.)
Anyway… I used to think that dissection would ruin the magic; that it's better not to know the mechanics of the trick… but then I came to believe: it is truth, not trick, and we can talk about it and measure it and study it and discuss it all we want…
Nothing can destroy the magic of tango.
Comment on a post about The Twelve Minute Enigma
TWELVE MINUTES' ENIGMA
A successful but lonely man in his forties spends evenings at milongas, dancing with women he'll never get any closer. A middle-aged woman plans her flights a year in advance to tango events, family and business are not a hindrance, she has only one problem - how to be everywhere. People from different countries of all ages and genders celebrate the New Year out of home on the dance floor.
A young, beautiful girl spends hundreds of hours, kilometers and euros to learn how to walk around her partner in four steps. Private lessons and seminars seminars with maestros, Yoga, Pilates and much more, just to advance a little. And disappointment from own imperfection, from refusals and imbalance at milongas. And also shoes that cost as if made of gold by the dwarves of Uberwald. The reward is 12 minutes of something that is difficult to describe and impossible to take away.
Why is this all? What are they looking for in tango? And what, judging by the insatiable hunger, they never find enough? There is not so much sex in tango, drugs are scares, almost no rock'n'roll (but some D'Arienzo). Few manage to earn decent money with tango, and for romance-flirting-getting-married there are less costly ways.
"Because this is tango" is not an answer, it is a return to the original question. Yes, there are things that are beautiful in themselves, like hedgehog's heels, buzzing fat bumblebees, the smell of fresh grass or bakery. There are flowers that seem beautiful to us for unknown reason. But tango was created by people, it is not "a thing in itself". It was created out of some specific hunger.
No one ingenious and pathologically humane would sit on a chair and invent tango. It was born from the air and light of the lanterns of that special time and city, from the disappointment and nostalgia, the dreams of those people. They say tango was a socially acceptable way to embrace a woman. Women were few, decent — even fewer; the severity of manners terrified even the English Puritans.
But all this is no longer there. Neither time, nor people, even the city has changed. You can embrace as much as you like, almost anyone, even men, thanks to the sexual revolution and contraception. But for some reason tango is more and more needed by people from completely different cultures. They cannot repeat that music, it is already unrealistic, but "12 minutes of something that is difficult to describe and cannot be taken away" they re-create over and over again, not satisfying their hunger.
They say there is some personal or rather interpersonal problem that pushes people in tango and keeps them there. And this problem is somehow solved in tango. Or not. As a psychotherapist, I am fascinated by this idea, but still it is even more vague than the absence of an answer.
They say people need tango to satisfy sensory hunger. Plausible. In disembodied culture sensory hunger prevails over everyone. But why not massage? Perhaps the tangueros' hunger is very selective, it can be satisfied only in the most subtle and refined way. Or is sensory hunger not only about touch, but also about shared feelings?
Or maybe tango is an opportunity to satisfy your polygamous needs in a monogamous culture? After all, they say, we have both. I'm not talking about sex, but about intimacy, at least symbolic. It is also banned in our culture, except in special ritual forms.
Once I thought that in tango people hope to actualize the original and deprived gender roles. A man leads - expresses his forbidden aggression, a woman follows - does what she rarely can afford in her life. Then I saw with what pleasure women lead and with what pleasure men follow. And saw kizomba and bachata, where there may be more male-female. But what if in tango we are looking not so much for our deprived gender roles, but for our human ones?
Now psychotherapists are talking about desensitization. But they don't say how to stay sensitive and survive in the city. And they themselves do not cope very well.
It is true, dissociation with the body and feelings greatly impoverishes life. But switching feelings and sensations on is often painful, unbearable, especially without the ability to arbitrarily switch them off. Is tango a safe way to become sensitive again, physically and emotionally? For a short finite period?
One can easily rationalize and even know the answer to the question of why other people need tango in general. It's harder to understand why I need it. And the easiest way is to dismiss this question after some reflection. It is also an option. The most pleasant, interesting and tasty things in this life generally have no reason or purpose.
But still. Why do you need tango?
c) Igor Zabuta, Emma Kologrivova, "dancing psychotherapists"
More tango-essays in our book "Embrace me", available at Amazon: https://amzn.to/3tWC2YI
Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, September 30, 2021
Russian Tango, by Sasha Tango [UK]
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645
Russian Tango - 1/4 May 31, 2020
Recent Tango by Year series on Wednesday evenings and a conversation with one of my tango friends prompted me to write this. There's a lot of text 
Firstly, the context. This is not a political post, but it is very important to try and understand the context. It would be fair to say that the large proportion of the “golden age” of tango – 30s and 40s – was a terrible time for Russia/former Soviet Union. The 30s marked the start of Stalin’s repressions – it was horrendous, people were arrested for any old thing, and sent to prison and prison camps (Gulag etc) that were located in severe climates. A lot of them were tortured and shot, their families arrested too. Antisemitism was rife. On top of that, the war started for Russia in 1941 and was absolutely devastating. At the same time, while people were dying in battles, the repressions continued. Some music and songs of Russian tango were sanctioned, on an off, particularly if the authors were arrested and named “enemy of the people”.
What is the relevance of this?
- A lot of prominent, very talented tango musicians, singers had absolutely tragic lives – secret or not so secret arrests, exiles, prison camps, death.
I'd like to concentrate on some recordings from the 30s.
Russian tango, for many people, will be forever connected to these difficult years. When people knew that the war was raging on their doorstep, there’s nothing to eat, and if you enlist to go to war, for every two young soldiers there was one(!) old-style rifle to share.
At the same time, arrest can happen at any time – and they still wrote beautiful music, sang and danced with abandon. Maybe this is the reason why they did it? These are the thoughts shared with me recently by a very astute tango friend. There is so much truth in them. He was saying this about all tango music -that it brings up these thoughts. But I find it is particularly true about Russian tango.
During the war some of the singers and musicians not only enlisted – they sang for the soldiers, they toured the front lines with concerts. What a sacrifice, what an admirable belief in not just the cause (war with Germany), but sense of duty to their art, no matter what was being done to them.
Tango music is forever tinged with sadness and heartache. I realise that it is like that for most people, I’m just explaining why some generations of Russians may feel it even more profoundly. But not all, I have to underline. Especially not the younger ones.
Now, onto the musical differences between Russian and Argentine tango, as we are bound to do "compare and contrast".
- The rhythmic structure. A lot more march-like, uniformed, without deviations, but still gentle (so not D’Arienzo/Canaro/Biaggi sharpness), interspersed with a lovely, gentle habanera – distinct, recognizable and danceable;
- Lots of wind/brass instruments – which you can mostly find in early Canaro, Lomuto and some Fresedo, but not later on. No wind instruments in the “Orquesta Tipica” set-up vs lots of beautiful wind instruments in Russian tango;
- Not bandoneon, but accordion (I believe Fresedo and some others used it too, but bandoneon is the main instrument in Tango Argentino);
- The singer starts signing much earlier, if not after the first few bars of the composition;
- Some unusual instruments – unusual to a “conservative” tango listeners and purists – like, a slide guitar;
Most notable Russian tango figures were multi-talented. They doubled as great composers, and arrangers, and sometimes orchestra leaders or also played an instrument. So that's a similarity.
1. Singer Vadim Kozin. Beautiful tenor and composer. Absolutely tragic life. Complicated person that, despite his own tragedies, hasn’t always made great choices, let’s just leave it at that. Vadim Kozin was known in Europe – the voice of immense talent.
Tango “Autumn” (Osen’), 1939.
Kozin wrote the music. In fact, he wrote four of these, corresponding with the four seasons, as an homage to Tchaikovskiy’s “Four Seasons”. Two of the compositions didn’t really do anything special, the other two were better, and “Autumn” is by far one of the most famous in Russia, and perhaps elsewhere. I call it a slow tango-milonga – because you will hear that gentle habanera throughout, it does not change. I think it is lovely and danceable. His voice is beautiful. You can appreciate his talent as a composer too. And the lyrics are full of imagery, very romantic but innocent. Here is my translation:
Autumn, a translucent morning,
As if the sky is covered in foggy mist.
Faraway made up of pearlescent colours,
The sun, distant and cold.
Where was our first encounter – so vivid, exquisite, mysterious?
That memorable summer’s eve
The encounter so sweet, unintended
Don’t leave, I beg of you…
The words of love I’ll say a hundred times,
Autumn is at the door –
I know that for sure.
But still, I tell you “don’t leave”.
Our little nook never feels confined,
When you are here, spring has sprung,
Don’t leave, so many songs have not yet been sung,
Every string still trembles in my guitar.
The male photos in the video are that of Kozin, throughout his life.
The female - of Elizaveta Belogorskaya, who co-wrote the lyrics, a notable poet, lyricist and singer of that time.
To be continued...
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<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645" data-width="500" data-show-text="true"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>Russian Tango - 1/4 Recent Tango by Year series on Wednesday evenings and a conversation with one of my tango friends...</p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Sasha Tango</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645">Sunday, May 31, 2020</a></blockquote></div>
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Christiane Palha & Maria Filali - Dance the world, Brussels
https://vimeo.com/207916183
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Wednesday, September 15, 2021
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Olga Metzner :: I dance with a man who tries to impress. Me, the people watching, himself. He’s a good dancer, but he tries too hard...
I dance with a man who tries to impress. Me, the people watching, himself. He’s a good dancer, but he tries too hard,...
Posted by Olga Metzner on Friday, June 18, 2021
I dance with a woman who is afraid to give me her weight, even a tiny little bit. She wants to be a butterfly, light and feathery, I sense she dreams of floating above the floor, and even her clothes somewhat reflect it, her skirt is soft and moves with every breath and tiny move we make. Her hand is like an eggshell in my hand, I’m afraid to crush it, and I can’t anyway, since as soon as I try to hold her hand a bit tighter, her whole arm goes limp and I get a sense I’m crushing her. So I let her be her feathery self, but I can’t lead her, can’t connect to her. She is afraid to be heavy, so she disappears altogether. She’s so sure that a follower being light is the right thing, that she misses out on the one thing that makes this whole experience worth having: the connection, the interaction. Her tango is so full of question “am I too heavy now?”, that it becomes really hard to dance with her, lead her. I have been that woman, too, and I remember with such gratitude one teacher who told me to hold him, trust him with my weight. Years have passed, and I learned to have a gradation of heaviness and lightness, and play with it. And yet we can never know just how heavy or light we are for others.
I dance with a man with wonderful, warm close embrace, and I really really enjoy it. He is comfortable and soft and affirmative enough so that I genuinely feel cared for and connected. I smile to myself as I move. But then he opens the embrace… and I lose him. His head sinks into his shoulders, arms tense up, elbows shoot out sideways, and he shrinks a little. I’m so keen on getting back to that wonderful close embrace, and he’s keen on doing that giro with sacadas and parada in the open embrace… ohh! Finally back to the sweet close embrace, now we can really enjoy, both of us! After the tanda I think to myself, how I wish he worked a little more on his open embrace… He could be really one of my favourite dancers! Just a little but a big thing missing. And I tell myself, next time we dance I’ll try to keep the close embrace intact, for as long as it’s possible.
I watch a woman dance. She is amazing, her whole body dances, not just her legs. There’s very little decorations in her movement, yet she’s full of expression, femininity and power. Something about her is mesmerising. I want to be a bit more like her. How, how does she do this? She is just standing there, not moving at all, and yet there’s this intensity about her, that I want to dive into, swim in, feel connected to, learn it, and make my own. I ask her to teach me, and she passes her knowledge to me, over the years. And yet, I know this particular thing that drew me to her, that made her so fascinating, that thing eludes me. Maybe one day I will learn, maybe it’s something you can’t learn, maybe it’s something you might only live up to. That’s my goal, to find this thing, that I can’t even name, and it will be the source of my search for the rest of my life. And for now, I keep on watching this woman in fascination and admiration. To be there to watch is a real joy and honour.
I dance with a man who is sweet and musical, but I’m afraid to crush him. I make myself as light and as soft as possible, and yet he’s eluding me, as if afraid to touch me. Why are you so afraid of me? I answered to your cabeceo, I’m ready to be fully with you, completely merging with you and with music, why are you so afraid? Be with me! Dance with me! - I want to tell him. But of course I can’t, I can only make myself light and follow… I wish we didn’t miss out on the opportunity to be in a moment of togetherness, but you can’t be together if there’s fear or shame. So we move, we dance, but there’s so much more we could be.
I watch a couple dance. They are older, and there’s something truly honest about them. They stand out on the dance floor, and while everyone around them whirls and twists, they gently glide. I’ve been trying for more than a year to catch his gaze, pre-pandemic of course. He’s not the most technically perfect dancer, but he is honest. But he never looks at me. At times I wish I were older, maybe he’d look my way then. I’d so love to feel the honesty of his embrace, the commitment he clearly makes to being there with his partner. Nothing fancy, just together. One day I came up to him at the end of milonga and told him what I thought. He smiled, and said he can’t believe I’d like to dance with him. Why is it that we are so used to being put in one box within our community, to never leave it again? We are missing out on so much. I’m missing out on being able to dance with him. He is missing out on dancing with younger people, and showing them maybe what honesty in the dance really is. I don’t know, I still hope to one day dance with him. Still hope.
I dance with people, I watch people. This is tango, so familiar and yet so elusive.
Let’s keep dancing.
From Olga Metzner on Facebook - she's based in London.
Here's her website: https://www.tangobetter.com/
And she's got more articles & stories here: https://www.tangobetter.com/stories
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Up close and personal
My dad was a geologist (oil exploration type), who resigned from Union Oil Company ("of California") to go independent. A one man office, looking for oil and gas. We moved from Jackson, Mississippi, where he had been running the Union Oil office (New Orleans office before that), to Lafayette, Louisiana, in June of 1974.
We had to live in an apartment temporarily until we closed on a house, a nice one under big oak trees with a swimming pool. It looks like it's still there - Bendel Executive Suites now. In Mississippi, me and my buds would always be exploring our neighborhood, exploring the woods, camping out, and generally being up to Junior High no good. Generally restless.
Being one month shy of my 14th birthday, I got bored, and started walking around exploring. Not too far down the road, walking obviously, I discovered a little white shack with a red tin roof sitting on the banks of the Vermillion River. "Pack and Paddle" was an outdoor/adventure gear shop - canoes, backpacking, camping, hiking gear. They also offered guided day hikes and weekend canoeing trips. The Whiskey Chitto River, the Bogue Chitto, the Tangipahoa, Lake Martin, into the backwater swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin (Buffalo Cove), even up to Arkansas and the Ouachita and Buffalo Rivers. At the time, the Buffalo had been named the country's very first National Wild and Scenic River.
Joan and Dick Williams were the owners. Dick was a dentist, so that's how they could afford to build P&P as a business. I can't imagine they were doing much volume out of that little shack on the river, but it was a mecca for outdoorsy people in the area. Eventually they moved to a larger location and added skiing stuff. It was more or less home base for the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the Ozark Society, who also sponsored various trips.
I fell in love with that place that summer, and would spend hours and hours looking at gear and books and talking and lurking. They were patient, no doubt, with this new kid hanging out in their store. We had family friends living there in Lafayette – the Campbells. Dad had mentored Dick Campbell as a young exploration geologist right out of college back in New Orleans, with Union Oil. Their middle son, Eric, a few years older than me, was an avid backpacker. Somehow, I talked him into going on one of the P&P weekend trips to the Kisatchie National Forest, I suppose that was in the fall of 1974. I was hooked.
I was also lucky enough to be the last kid in the house. My brother and sister were both off at the University of Texas (in Austin), so I was like an only child. Dad, being independent now, was much less stressed, and much more relaxed. As such I think he was more open to my outdoor proclivities - and financing them. (I was a Boy Scout-almost Eagle Scout back in Mississippi, so he and mom were always taking me to the various activities. Camp Kickapoo. Luckily it was all good and above boards back then. No pedophile Scout leaders for me, thank god.) We lived on a small series of lakes, possibly oxbow orphans, that dumped into the Vermillion River, which was a few streets away. I still have my 17'-6" Grumman aluminum (whitewater double keel) that I begged my parents into buying for me. It's collecting dust now, suspended upside down under the back deck.
Every day after school I was on the lake, paddling around, exploring and checking up on my own personal boondocks. I remember laying back on the poop deck looking up at the cotton ball clouds. Daydreaming. No one, absolutely no one else who lived on those lakes ever went out on them, much less even into their own back yards. They were mine and I was theirs. Their protector and guardian and overseer. I did my best to control the water moccasin and copperhead population. Only once did I manage to drop a copperhead into the canoe with me. I would get up some speed, stroking my mean J-stroke, then silently glide up alongside the poor innocent snake, paddle raised high, and then whack the shit of them behind the head with a deathblow. This little fucker wrapped around my paddle after my errant first shot, and then dropped down into the canoe when I raised the paddle up again for the second blow. I'm not sure how I managed to escape un-bitten. I'm sure I was shitting bricks in the process.
So back to P&P and their gear and trips and such. Over time, mom and dad funded a full contingent of camping and backpacking gear. My first pack was a Jansport – the one with the U-shaped aluminum tube at the top to form a shelf for your sleeping bag. North Face Chamois (-5f) sleeping bag. A Eureka tent to start, eventually graduating to a Sierra Designs 4 season dome-with-a-vestibule number. Climbing pack, ropes, chocks, Galibier PA climbing shoes, Vasque hiking boots, the whole shebang. I was a very lucky kid/teen. I have been very lucky/blessed in this life. Extremely lucky these past few years. Blessed be Sugar G. I led a charmed life/upbringing during those years. These years, too. That fact is not lost on me. Anyway, I was going to say that starting the next summer, I would work part-time in the summer. So I had some of my own money. What, maybe six bucks and hour as a brick-layer's helper? Couple-a'-three thousand a year? I tried to get a job at McDonald's where all my friends worked, but they wouldn't hire me. I attributed this to being too smart. (grin)
So really back to P&P now, and maybe even the point of why I ended up writing about this. They also sponsored an Explorer Scout Post. Hayden "Tinker" Groth and Owen (can't remember) were the leaders. Tinker was an undercover narcotics agent with the Louisiana State Police. Owen was a petroleum engineer or land man as I recall. Our main trip of the year was a ten or fifteen day trip to the Weminuche Wilderness, in the San Juan Mountains. The Grenadier Range. The Needle Mountains. Near Silverton. We would ride the Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad to Elk Park. We had ropes, but no hardware, so only walk-up mountaineering. Class 3/4. Ah… throw in to the P&P mix the Jim and Nancy Scott rock climbing trips to Enchanted Rock (a granite batholith near Fredericksburg, Texas) and to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma.
These photos are the topos/quads for Needle Mountains/Grenadiers, Elk Creek, etc. We explored and climbed and camped and hiked all around these peaks each summer for two weeks. Well, the summers of '76 & '77 for sure. I can't remember if we went in '75. All year we were doing other trips, shake-down backpacking and hiking and canoeing and kayaking. P&P had two fiberlass (pre-roto-molded plastic boat days) Phoenix whitewater kayaks. Trips to the Guadalupe in central Texas and to the Nantahala in North Carolina. Explorer Post, Sierra Club, Ozark Society, on my own/solo.
It was an intense and amazing four high school years. Trips nearly every weekend – big trips at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Working part-time now at Turf Photo Supply – camera sales, black and white film processing and printing, equine photography (winner's circle and photo-finish) at the country horse racing tracks around Lafayette. I was the home stretch judge's camera man at Evangeline Downs. I was a self-taught photographer, mom & dad paid for a subscription to the Time-Life photography book series. I somehow ended up the Comeaux High yearbook and newspaper photographer – self-taught darkroom tech. Lots of stories. Lots of living for a high school kid.
I ended up being the "outings chairman" for the Sierra Club chapter there. Planning and organizing all the various outings. I also ended up being perhaps the primary guide for P&P for a few/several years. Canoe trips to the aforementioned rivers – day and weekend. Trips into the Atchafalaya Basin – Buffalo Cove via the Fausse Point Cut. Day trips to the Tunica Hills (near Angola prison), weekend backpacking trips to Kisatchie, Chicot State Park, orienteering courses/meets, all kinds of trips. I think people thought I was in my twenties. I was mature for my age – all my friends were adults. I was going to bars drinking starting at age 16. No one ever said anything.
Then in the summer of 1978, I went on a 33-day mountaineering course at the National Outdoor Leadership School. Wind River Mountaineering WRM #43. Wyoming, near Lander. We went in at Dubois, came out at Pinedale, summitted Gannett Peak and several others, with lots of technical climbs. Lots of stories there, another time.
Back in Lafayette, I met my daughter's mother in September and the rest is history. I kept leading trips for P&P for a while, led my own climbing trips to ERock and the Wichita Mountains (from Baton Rouge) to help fund my college education at LSU. After Katie was born in 1988, and I started working full-time in the corporate construction world, the outdoor/adventure stuff started to taper off. We still went car camping – various trips in Texas, NM and CO. I'm at the point now that most of my gear, really all of it, needs to be let go or even thrown away. My old tent and down sleeping bag are nasty now. Climbing ropes getting retired to tie loads off when I'm hauling stuff. Or perhaps a bit of shibari. (grin)
So here we are. Today. These images. Earlier today I was prompted by an Instagram post of a landscape photographer who I follow. The peaks in his photo were instantly recognizable as Vestal and Arrow, above Elk Creek. These are the first peaks we would come to after disembarking from the train. We would always camp at Vestal Lake the first night. Anyway, the memories flooded back. I looked up the USGS topo maps and downloaded them. I still have the originals somewhere. In a box. In my hoard. And slides, tons of slides.
Thanks for reading. It's nice to dredge up these old memories. Nigh on forty-five years. Long time. Lots of years of good life. I'm a very lucky man. Knock on wood.
Sent from my iPad
We had to live in an apartment temporarily until we closed on a house, a nice one under big oak trees with a swimming pool. It looks like it's still there - Bendel Executive Suites now. In Mississippi, me and my buds would always be exploring our neighborhood, exploring the woods, camping out, and generally being up to Junior High no good. Generally restless.
Being one month shy of my 14th birthday, I got bored, and started walking around exploring. Not too far down the road, walking obviously, I discovered a little white shack with a red tin roof sitting on the banks of the Vermillion River. "Pack and Paddle" was an outdoor/adventure gear shop - canoes, backpacking, camping, hiking gear. They also offered guided day hikes and weekend canoeing trips. The Whiskey Chitto River, the Bogue Chitto, the Tangipahoa, Lake Martin, into the backwater swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin (Buffalo Cove), even up to Arkansas and the Ouachita and Buffalo Rivers. At the time, the Buffalo had been named the country's very first National Wild and Scenic River.
Joan and Dick Williams were the owners. Dick was a dentist, so that's how they could afford to build P&P as a business. I can't imagine they were doing much volume out of that little shack on the river, but it was a mecca for outdoorsy people in the area. Eventually they moved to a larger location and added skiing stuff. It was more or less home base for the local chapter of the Sierra Club and the Ozark Society, who also sponsored various trips.
I fell in love with that place that summer, and would spend hours and hours looking at gear and books and talking and lurking. They were patient, no doubt, with this new kid hanging out in their store. We had family friends living there in Lafayette – the Campbells. Dad had mentored Dick Campbell as a young exploration geologist right out of college back in New Orleans, with Union Oil. Their middle son, Eric, a few years older than me, was an avid backpacker. Somehow, I talked him into going on one of the P&P weekend trips to the Kisatchie National Forest, I suppose that was in the fall of 1974. I was hooked.
I was also lucky enough to be the last kid in the house. My brother and sister were both off at the University of Texas (in Austin), so I was like an only child. Dad, being independent now, was much less stressed, and much more relaxed. As such I think he was more open to my outdoor proclivities - and financing them. (I was a Boy Scout-almost Eagle Scout back in Mississippi, so he and mom were always taking me to the various activities. Camp Kickapoo. Luckily it was all good and above boards back then. No pedophile Scout leaders for me, thank god.) We lived on a small series of lakes, possibly oxbow orphans, that dumped into the Vermillion River, which was a few streets away. I still have my 17'-6" Grumman aluminum (whitewater double keel) that I begged my parents into buying for me. It's collecting dust now, suspended upside down under the back deck.
Every day after school I was on the lake, paddling around, exploring and checking up on my own personal boondocks. I remember laying back on the poop deck looking up at the cotton ball clouds. Daydreaming. No one, absolutely no one else who lived on those lakes ever went out on them, much less even into their own back yards. They were mine and I was theirs. Their protector and guardian and overseer. I did my best to control the water moccasin and copperhead population. Only once did I manage to drop a copperhead into the canoe with me. I would get up some speed, stroking my mean J-stroke, then silently glide up alongside the poor innocent snake, paddle raised high, and then whack the shit of them behind the head with a deathblow. This little fucker wrapped around my paddle after my errant first shot, and then dropped down into the canoe when I raised the paddle up again for the second blow. I'm not sure how I managed to escape un-bitten. I'm sure I was shitting bricks in the process.
So back to P&P and their gear and trips and such. Over time, mom and dad funded a full contingent of camping and backpacking gear. My first pack was a Jansport – the one with the U-shaped aluminum tube at the top to form a shelf for your sleeping bag. North Face Chamois (-5f) sleeping bag. A Eureka tent to start, eventually graduating to a Sierra Designs 4 season dome-with-a-vestibule number. Climbing pack, ropes, chocks, Galibier PA climbing shoes, Vasque hiking boots, the whole shebang. I was a very lucky kid/teen. I have been very lucky/blessed in this life. Extremely lucky these past few years. Blessed be Sugar G. I led a charmed life/upbringing during those years. These years, too. That fact is not lost on me. Anyway, I was going to say that starting the next summer, I would work part-time in the summer. So I had some of my own money. What, maybe six bucks and hour as a brick-layer's helper? Couple-a'-three thousand a year? I tried to get a job at McDonald's where all my friends worked, but they wouldn't hire me. I attributed this to being too smart. (grin)
So really back to P&P now, and maybe even the point of why I ended up writing about this. They also sponsored an Explorer Scout Post. Hayden "Tinker" Groth and Owen (can't remember) were the leaders. Tinker was an undercover narcotics agent with the Louisiana State Police. Owen was a petroleum engineer or land man as I recall. Our main trip of the year was a ten or fifteen day trip to the Weminuche Wilderness, in the San Juan Mountains. The Grenadier Range. The Needle Mountains. Near Silverton. We would ride the Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad to Elk Park. We had ropes, but no hardware, so only walk-up mountaineering. Class 3/4. Ah… throw in to the P&P mix the Jim and Nancy Scott rock climbing trips to Enchanted Rock (a granite batholith near Fredericksburg, Texas) and to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, Oklahoma.
These photos are the topos/quads for Needle Mountains/Grenadiers, Elk Creek, etc. We explored and climbed and camped and hiked all around these peaks each summer for two weeks. Well, the summers of '76 & '77 for sure. I can't remember if we went in '75. All year we were doing other trips, shake-down backpacking and hiking and canoeing and kayaking. P&P had two fiberlass (pre-roto-molded plastic boat days) Phoenix whitewater kayaks. Trips to the Guadalupe in central Texas and to the Nantahala in North Carolina. Explorer Post, Sierra Club, Ozark Society, on my own/solo.
It was an intense and amazing four high school years. Trips nearly every weekend – big trips at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Working part-time now at Turf Photo Supply – camera sales, black and white film processing and printing, equine photography (winner's circle and photo-finish) at the country horse racing tracks around Lafayette. I was the home stretch judge's camera man at Evangeline Downs. I was a self-taught photographer, mom & dad paid for a subscription to the Time-Life photography book series. I somehow ended up the Comeaux High yearbook and newspaper photographer – self-taught darkroom tech. Lots of stories. Lots of living for a high school kid.
I ended up being the "outings chairman" for the Sierra Club chapter there. Planning and organizing all the various outings. I also ended up being perhaps the primary guide for P&P for a few/several years. Canoe trips to the aforementioned rivers – day and weekend. Trips into the Atchafalaya Basin – Buffalo Cove via the Fausse Point Cut. Day trips to the Tunica Hills (near Angola prison), weekend backpacking trips to Kisatchie, Chicot State Park, orienteering courses/meets, all kinds of trips. I think people thought I was in my twenties. I was mature for my age – all my friends were adults. I was going to bars drinking starting at age 16. No one ever said anything.
Then in the summer of 1978, I went on a 33-day mountaineering course at the National Outdoor Leadership School. Wind River Mountaineering WRM #43. Wyoming, near Lander. We went in at Dubois, came out at Pinedale, summitted Gannett Peak and several others, with lots of technical climbs. Lots of stories there, another time.
Back in Lafayette, I met my daughter's mother in September and the rest is history. I kept leading trips for P&P for a while, led my own climbing trips to ERock and the Wichita Mountains (from Baton Rouge) to help fund my college education at LSU. After Katie was born in 1988, and I started working full-time in the corporate construction world, the outdoor/adventure stuff started to taper off. We still went car camping – various trips in Texas, NM and CO. I'm at the point now that most of my gear, really all of it, needs to be let go or even thrown away. My old tent and down sleeping bag are nasty now. Climbing ropes getting retired to tie loads off when I'm hauling stuff. Or perhaps a bit of shibari. (grin)
So here we are. Today. These images. Earlier today I was prompted by an Instagram post of a landscape photographer who I follow. The peaks in his photo were instantly recognizable as Vestal and Arrow, above Elk Creek. These are the first peaks we would come to after disembarking from the train. We would always camp at Vestal Lake the first night. Anyway, the memories flooded back. I looked up the USGS topo maps and downloaded them. I still have the originals somewhere. In a box. In my hoard. And slides, tons of slides.
Thanks for reading. It's nice to dredge up these old memories. Nigh on forty-five years. Long time. Lots of years of good life. I'm a very lucky man. Knock on wood.
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Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Queer Tango Documentaries
Sixty-three (63) documentary and short films here, mas o menos.. Be sure to keep pressing the green "View More" button at the bottom.
#queertango #tangodocumentaries #tangodocumentaryfilms #tangoshortfilms #shortfilmsabouttango #inclusivity #safespace #safespaces #thequeertangoproject #queertangobook
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Friday, March 19, 2021
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
The Tyranny of Low Expectations
At his Bracing Views blog, retired lieutenant colonel and historian William Astore asks a basic question of America: "Why is the money always there for Wall Street and wars and weapons but it's rarely if ever there for workers and students and children?" For me, Biden's $1.9 trillion bill represents rare actual help, but why, all these years, has there been no more than this for a society that's grown historically unequal? Tom
"We often hear the USA is the richest, most powerful, most advanced, nation in the world. We also hear much talk about freedom and democracy in America, and how exceptional our country is. Given all these riches, all this power, and all this freedom, shouldn't we have high expectations about what our government is able to accomplish for us?
"Yet I've run across the opposite of this. I've come to think of it as the tyranny of low expectations. I see it most often when I criticize Joe Biden and the Democrats. I'm told that I expect too much, that Joe is doing his best but that his power is limited as president, and that I should wait patiently for party insiders to move the Biden administration ever so slightly toward the left. And if I keep criticizing Joe and Company, I'm dismissed as an unreasonable leftist who's helping Trump and his followers, so the effect of my criticism is bizarrely equated to far-right Trumpism.
"Here are a few items that I believe the richest, most powerful, most advanced nation in the world should do for its citizens in the cause of greater freedom and democracy:
A living wage of at least $15 an hour for workers.
Affordable single-payer health care for all.
A firm commitment to ending child poverty.
A firm commitment to affordable housing for all.
A firm commitment to affordable education and major reductions in student debt.
A Covid aid package dedicated to helping workers and small businesses.
A government that is transparent to the people and accountable to them rather than one cloaked in secrecy and open for business only to the rich.
"These items seem reasonable to me. They don't seem "left" or "right." They're not too much to expect from the richest, most powerful, nation, the one that boasts of its exceptional freedom and its strong commitment to democracy.
"The money is there. A trillion dollars a year is spent in the name of national defense. Trillions have been spent to bailout Wall Street and to wage wasteful wars overseas. Why is the money always there for Wall Street and wars and weapons but it's rarely if ever there for workers and students and children?
"Why do we persist in setting our expectations so low for "our" government, whether the POTUS of the moment is Trump or Biden or someone allegedly more competent and focused on "ordinary folk," like Obama?
"Warning to ideological warriors: This is not about Trump, or Biden, or your particular party allegiance. This is about creating a government that actually listens and responds to the needs of everyone, but especially to the weakest among us, those needing the most help in their pursuit of happiness.
"Too simplistic? Too idealistic? I don't think so. Not once we overthrow the tyranny of low expectations.
"Somewhere I've read about a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We had better find it or reinvigorate it before it perishes from the earth."
https://bracingviews.com/2021/03/13/the-tyranny-of-low-expectations/
Sent from my iPad
"We often hear the USA is the richest, most powerful, most advanced, nation in the world. We also hear much talk about freedom and democracy in America, and how exceptional our country is. Given all these riches, all this power, and all this freedom, shouldn't we have high expectations about what our government is able to accomplish for us?
"Yet I've run across the opposite of this. I've come to think of it as the tyranny of low expectations. I see it most often when I criticize Joe Biden and the Democrats. I'm told that I expect too much, that Joe is doing his best but that his power is limited as president, and that I should wait patiently for party insiders to move the Biden administration ever so slightly toward the left. And if I keep criticizing Joe and Company, I'm dismissed as an unreasonable leftist who's helping Trump and his followers, so the effect of my criticism is bizarrely equated to far-right Trumpism.
"Here are a few items that I believe the richest, most powerful, most advanced nation in the world should do for its citizens in the cause of greater freedom and democracy:
A living wage of at least $15 an hour for workers.
Affordable single-payer health care for all.
A firm commitment to ending child poverty.
A firm commitment to affordable housing for all.
A firm commitment to affordable education and major reductions in student debt.
A Covid aid package dedicated to helping workers and small businesses.
A government that is transparent to the people and accountable to them rather than one cloaked in secrecy and open for business only to the rich.
"These items seem reasonable to me. They don't seem "left" or "right." They're not too much to expect from the richest, most powerful, nation, the one that boasts of its exceptional freedom and its strong commitment to democracy.
"The money is there. A trillion dollars a year is spent in the name of national defense. Trillions have been spent to bailout Wall Street and to wage wasteful wars overseas. Why is the money always there for Wall Street and wars and weapons but it's rarely if ever there for workers and students and children?
"Why do we persist in setting our expectations so low for "our" government, whether the POTUS of the moment is Trump or Biden or someone allegedly more competent and focused on "ordinary folk," like Obama?
"Warning to ideological warriors: This is not about Trump, or Biden, or your particular party allegiance. This is about creating a government that actually listens and responds to the needs of everyone, but especially to the weakest among us, those needing the most help in their pursuit of happiness.
"Too simplistic? Too idealistic? I don't think so. Not once we overthrow the tyranny of low expectations.
"Somewhere I've read about a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We had better find it or reinvigorate it before it perishes from the earth."
https://bracingviews.com/2021/03/13/the-tyranny-of-low-expectations/
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Monday, March 8, 2021
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
We never learn - Safe Space Resources
The principles and tenets of safe space in tango are still not being applied in tango communities. It's like we never learn, destined to have incidents repeat themselves over and over again.
Nobody wants to hear about it, they don't want to know about it, they don't want to hear about it, they don't want to talk about it, they don't want to do a deep dive and look hard at the various issues in play, and they damn sure don't want to actually do anything functional/proactive to make Argentine tango communities safer from unwanted, predatory, and even criminal behavior.
It's heartbreaking.
Friday, February 26, 2021
NYTimes: Texas Is a Rich State in a Rich Country, and Look What Happened
Texas Is a Rich State in a Rich Country, and Look What Happened
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/opinion/texas-climate-change.html?referringSource=articleShare
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/opinion/texas-climate-change.html?referringSource=articleShare
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Monday, February 8, 2021
Friday, February 5, 2021
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Saturday, January 2, 2021
Digitizing Film
It just dawned on me that photographers who shoot film as if it's some virtue signaling purist badge of honor, then have to digitize the print or negative for the rest of us to see it...uh...?
I get that it's more challenging when you don't have 128 gigabytes of storage for thousands of images. You only have 36 exposures. Times the number of rolls of film you can afford. Maybe only one or a dozen if you're a wet plate or 4x5 or 8x10 view camera type.
It's obviously a more expensive endeavor than digital.
Well, I might take that back - considering the cost of digital cameras.
Anyone want my 1975 era Pentax KM?
Maybe shooting film actually forces them to be a better photographer. Maybe it forces them to truly/deeply learn/understand light, depth of field, ISO (ASA for this old fart), the interrelationships of shutter speed and aperture, depth of field, composition.
Perhaps even setting up a darkroom and developing your own film and printing your own prints. That's a whole 'nother skill set. Especially if you're doing C-41 (color negative) in addition to black and white.
That's admirable. I can respect that.
But it seems like, in the purest purist sense, we should never see their work. Unless it's hanging in a local coffee shop or community art gallery.
Just thinking/saying/musing/wondering.
Sent from my iPad
I get that it's more challenging when you don't have 128 gigabytes of storage for thousands of images. You only have 36 exposures. Times the number of rolls of film you can afford. Maybe only one or a dozen if you're a wet plate or 4x5 or 8x10 view camera type.
It's obviously a more expensive endeavor than digital.
Well, I might take that back - considering the cost of digital cameras.
Anyone want my 1975 era Pentax KM?
Maybe shooting film actually forces them to be a better photographer. Maybe it forces them to truly/deeply learn/understand light, depth of field, ISO (ASA for this old fart), the interrelationships of shutter speed and aperture, depth of field, composition.
Perhaps even setting up a darkroom and developing your own film and printing your own prints. That's a whole 'nother skill set. Especially if you're doing C-41 (color negative) in addition to black and white.
That's admirable. I can respect that.
But it seems like, in the purest purist sense, we should never see their work. Unless it's hanging in a local coffee shop or community art gallery.
Just thinking/saying/musing/wondering.
Sent from my iPad
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