Favorite performance of the Olympics so far

I have been viewing the Winter Olympics on and off for the past couple days. I, like most who heard of the terrible tradegy, was saddened by the loss of Nomar in the Luge competition. But I have been moved by the incredible performances in a number of the competitions that have taken place so far. One such performance was that of Hannah Kearney, whose effort in the Women's Moguls was nothing short of amazing, particularly in light of the fact that things did not go entirely the way she would have liked in the previous Winter Olympics. I will post some pictures of the games later on, if I have time. For now, here is an article from The New York Times on Hannah Kearney's performance.

American Wins Gold in Women’s Moguls
By CHARLES McGRATH
WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — On a dismal, drizzly evening at Cypress Mountain, Canada failed to pry loose the monkey clinging to the back of its Olympic fortunes. Jennifer Heil, who had been favored to win the women’s mogul skiing competition and become the first Canadian to claim a gold medal on home soil, finished second, behind the American Hannah Kearney. Shannon Bahrke, another American, was third.

Kearney’s victory came as a tremendous disappointment to the Canadian fans huddled under umbrellas and shivering in ponchos at the base of the mogul run Saturday, the first full day of competition. It deepened the gloom hovering over the mountain here, where the sun has not shone for days, where the weather has been unseasonably warm and where there has been much more rain than snow. The moguls had to be fashioned out of snow trucked and helicoptered in from higher elevations, and there was bare, muddy earth on either side of the run.

Cypress Mountain felt more like the setting for a Gothic movie, in fact, than for a competition that takes place under the lights and where, in keeping with mogul skiing’s freestyle, hot-dogging origins, it is customary to play rock music as the racers come bouncing down the hill. Depressing toothpaste squiggles of slushy snow lined the sides of the roadways. The trees, dark and dripping, were shrouded in mist. As fog blew across the course, there was some concern early in the day that the judges might not to be able to see the start of the run and that the event would have to be postponed. The skiers carried umbrellas as they rode up in the chairlift.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/sports/olympics/14moguls.html

Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

Update: More on the Olympics, specifically Shani Davis, Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White, later.

Justin Timberlake & Matt Morris - Hope For Haiti Now (Hallelujah)

Haiti, the earthquake, and my family: newyorker.com

Haiti, the earthquake, and my family: newyorker.com

Possible Face-Off of Belgian Women

The New York Times

January 20, 2010
At Australian Open, a Possible Face-Off of Belgian Women
By JOE DRAPE
MELBOURNE, Australia — They presumably are working their way to each other, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, a pair of Belgian women who know each other well. Clijsters did her part to keep the appointment in the quarter finals, dusting Tamarine Tanasugarn — 6-3, 6-3 — in the second round of the Australian Open here Wednesday.

In fact, it’s hard to see the No. 15-ranked Clijsters missing it. She’s won 20 times against just three losses since returning last summer from a two year self-imposed exile where she married and became a mother. Most impressive among those occurred last summer at Flushing Meadows when Clijsters rolled to a U.S. Open championship in storybook fashion.

It was only her third tournament back from retirement, and she became the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters likes her chances to perhaps capture her third grand slam title here. Earlier this month in a battle of former No. 1-ranked women, she turned back Henin in the finals of the Brisbane International in what was Henin’s comeback tournament after nearly two years off the tour.

Henin will be tested again later Wednesday by Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in one of the most eagerly anticipated second round match-ups here. Clijsters believes if Henin gets by Dementieva she will benefit from a tough opponent as she did off of their Brisbane match.

< http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/sports/tennis/21tennis.html >

Stevie Wonder's tribute to Martin Luther King

Couple articles encouraging aid to Haiti

I have a couple of articles that I have read recently that I would like to share. The first is an article that President Obama penned for the Newsweek magazine called "Why Haiti Matters." The second article is a piece in The New York Times called "A Helping Hand to Hait," co-authored by former Presidents Clinton and George W Bush.

Why Haiti Matters
In the tragic aftermath of Haiti's 7.0 earthquake, images of the disaster break our hearts and remind us of the fragility of life. What America must do now—and why.
By Barack Obama | NEWSWEEK

Published Jan 15, 2010

From the magazine issue dated Jan 25, 2010

In the last week, we have been deeply moved by the heartbreaking images of the devastation in Haiti: parents searching through rubble for sons and daughters; children, frightened and alone, looking for their mothers and fathers. At this moment, entire parts of Port-au-Prince are in ruins, as families seek shelter in makeshift camps. It is a horrific scene of shattered lives in a poor nation that has already suffered so much.

In response, I have ordered a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives in Haiti. We have launched one of the largest relief efforts in recent history. I have instructed the leaders of all agencies to make our response a top priority across the federal government. We are mobilizing every element of our national capacity: the resources of development agencies, the strength of our armed forces, and most important, the compassion of the American people. And we are working closely with the Haitian government, the United Nations, and the many international partners who are also aiding in this extraordinary effort.

< http://www.newsweek.com/id/231131/output/print >


January 17, 2010
Op-Ed Contributors
A Helping Hand for Haiti
By BILL CLINTON and GEORGE W. BUSH

This weekend, President Obama asked us to spearhead private-sector fund-raising efforts in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that ravaged Haiti. We are pleased to answer his call.

Throughout both our careers in public service, we have witnessed firsthand the amazing generosity of the American people in the face of calamity. From the Oklahoma City bombings to 9/11, from the tsunami in South Asia to Hurricane Katrina, Americans have rallied to confront disaster — natural or man-made, domestic or abroad — with the determination, compassion and unity that have defined our nation since its founding.

After the tsunami, Americans gave more than $1 billion to help the people of South Asia. The recent earthquake in Haiti is estimated to have had an impact on nearly three million people — 30 percent of Haiti’s population. We know the American people will respond again. Just as any of us would reach out to a neighbor in need here at home, we will do everything we can to give aid, care and comfort to our neighbors in the Caribbean, now and in the months and years to come.

With advances in technology, giving to relief efforts is easier than ever before. Organizations like the Red Cross have been stunned at the amount of money pouring in through an innovative fund-raising effort that allows cellphone users to text a $10 donation that will be added to their cellphone bills. The State Department raised more than $1 million in the first 24 hours, with millions more coming in the days since the earthquake. This money is being channeled to reliable charities with long experience in disaster relief, ensuring that Americans’ contributions are put to effective use.

Our first priority will be to raise funds to meet the urgent needs of those who are hurt, homeless and hungry, and to ensure that the organizations and relief workers on the ground have the resources to do their jobs effectively. In the first two weeks, the needs are very simple: food, water, shelter, first aid supplies. Once relief workers have gone through all the rubble and every person — living and dead — has been recovered, once the streets have been cleared and communications and power restored, then Haiti is going to have to get back on its feet again.

< http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/opinion/17clinton.html >

Happy Birthday to you, Martin Luther King Jr.

The title to this blog comes directly from a song by Stevie Wonder, which was written as a tribute to the slain civil rights leader and which I will be posting a video for after this blog entry. By the way, another video that has a great deal in common with Martin Luther King Jr's message is the video that precedes this blog entry- notice the refrain "one day" in matisyahu's song and the vision Martin Luther King Jr pictured as he used the phrase "one day" repeatedly in his famous speach:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

Because of his vision and his method of civil disobedience, we have made tremendous strides toward tolerence and equal opportunity. President Obama, while differing somewhat in his approach to achieving peace, which I will discuss later on, acknowledged his debt to Martin Luther King Jr by stating that his presidency would not have been possible if it were not for King's leadership. Nonetheless I would not be completely truthful if I did not also point out that there is still much that needs to be done to fulfill Martin Luther King Jr's dream. The important thing, however, is to not lose faith: "The arc of the moral universe," Martin Luther King Jr once said, "bends toward justice."

Donating by Text: Haiti Fundraising Goes Viral

Donating by Text: Haiti Fundraising Goes Viral

One Day - Matisyahu (Official video with lyrics)

Stanford Social Innovation Review : Articles : The House That BRAC Built (August 18, 2009)

Stanford Social Innovation Review : Articles : The House That BRAC Built (August 18, 2009)

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Some of the most content people on earth

The New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

The Happiest People

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: January 7, 2010

The people of Costa Rica are some of the most content on earth. Could it be because their priority is financing education, not war?

Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used. For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations.

That’s because Costa Ricans, asked to rate their own happiness on a 10-point scale, average 8.5. Denmark is next at 8.3, the United States ranks 20th at 7.4 and Togo and Tanzania bring up the caboose at 2.6.

Scholars also calculate happiness by determining “happy life years.” This figure results from merging average self-reported happiness, as above, with life expectancy. Using this system, Costa Rica again easily tops the list. The United States is 19th, and Zimbabwe comes in last.

A third approach is the “happy planet index,” devised by the New Economics Foundation, a liberal think tank. This combines happiness and longevity but adjusts for environmental impact — such as the carbon that countries spew.

Here again, Costa Rica wins the day, for achieving contentment and longevity in an environmentally sustainable way. The Dominican Republic ranks second, the United States 114th (because of its huge ecological footprint) and Zimbabwe is last.

Maybe Costa Rican contentment has something to do with the chance to explore dazzling beaches on both sides of the country, when one isn’t admiring the sloths in the jungle (sloths truly are slothful, I discovered; they are the tortoises of the trees). Costa Rica has done an unusually good job preserving nature, and it’s surely easier to be happy while basking in sunshine and greenery than while shivering up north and suffering “nature deficit disorder.”

After dragging my 12-year-old daughter through Honduran slums and Nicaraguan villages on this trip, she was delighted to see a Costa Rican beach and stroll through a national park. Among her favorite animals now: iguanas and sloths.

______________________________________________

Please click on the link below to read the full article

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/opinion/07kristof.html

Auld Lang Syne, theme from Waterloo Bridge

The Soundtrack to Your Resolutions: 20 Songs for Fresh Starts, New Beginnings and Not Screwing Up This Time :: Blogs :: List of the Day :: Paste

The Soundtrack to Your Resolutions: 20 Songs for Fresh Starts, New Beginnings and Not Screwing Up This Time :: Blogs :: List of the Day :: Paste

Few selected quotations to ring in the New Year

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. - Bill Vaughan

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. - T. S. Eliot

More on the year in film

The award nominations and critics best of lists are coming so fast and furious that it is becoming difficult to keep track of them all. To shift through the nominations or critics lists, however, it helps to check out those nominations and lists that have traditionally been relatively good indicators of Oscar nominations and, ultimately, Oscar success, and one such nomination is the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes top prize for film is actually separated into two categories, one for drama and the other comedic or musical performance. And while the lists of films nominated in the aforementioned categories were not surprising, there were, I thought, a few interesting selections. For example, the films I had chosen as possible shoe-ins for Oscar nominations, namely The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air and Precious, were all nominated in the Golden Globe drama category, but I did not expect Inglourius Basterds to get the nod as well. As for critics lists, two of the most respected are, I think, A O Scott and Roger Ebert. With the exception of Knowing, which I thought was okay but not great, I believe both their lists are terrific.

Based on the films nominated for Golden Globes, the “best of” films compiled by A O Scott and Roger Ebert, the aggregate ratings on Metacritic and my own humble opinion, I believe – and I could be wrong about a few of these choices – the ten films that stand a good chance of being nominated for the Best Picture Oscar include: The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air, Precious, Star Trek, Bright Star, Coraline, District 9, Gommorah, Crazy Heart, An Education. I did not choose Up, the Pixar animated feature which received mostly stellar reviews, because I thought the story-telling was not nearly as compelling as Ratatoullie or, one my favorite films of all time, Wall-E. I also left off a few other noteworthy films, primarily due to their slightly below-stellar ratings on Metacritic: Inglorius Basterds, Public Enemies and Invictus. As for which film will win the Oscar for Best Picture, I believe it will come down to Avatar and Up in the Air. Of the two, I have only seen Avatar - a groundbreaking, even revolutionary visual spectacle, with a script that, while good for the most part, is the film’s only drawback. Most of what I have read about Up in the Air, however, leads me to think that it is the leading contender for the top prize. The subject matter might not be as enthralling and the visuals as sweeping as Avatar, but the story-telling and acting appear to be top notch. I will provide an update on my impressions of both films once I see Up in the Air this weekend.

Update: I saw Up in the Air over the weekend. It was everything I thought it would be – great plot structure, witty, tragic. Perhaps a bit uninspired. Nonetheless, a great picture overall. On my facebook move-rating application, I gave it a perfect five. On the other hand, I rated Avatar a four and ½. So, yes, if I were to make a judgment about which film I thought was the best film at this moment, it would be Up in the Air. But I have heard some good things about Avatar since I saw it on the day it was released (although not in 3D, which had been sold out at the time). I heard that James Cameron thought Avatar represented a historical allegory of humanity. I have also done some reading on where the term “Avatar” comes from and the various themes found in the film. There is definitely much more to Avatar than meets the eye, and I will see it at least one more time, this time in 3D, before I come to a conclusion of which I think is the year's best film.

Time of the year for "the best of the year"

In a recent blog entry, I mentioned the movies released so far this year as well as those slated for release this month – namely, Avatar, The Lovely Bones, The Road and Broken Embraces - are not of the caliber of similar films that were contending for the Best Picture Oscar prize last year. Nonetheless, since writing that blog entry, a number of films have come to light that I, for one reason or another, overlooked, films that now seem like choose-ins, while films that had a lot of early buzz, such as The Lovely Bones, have only garnered lukewarm praise. Some of the films I overlooked, a number of which were featured prominently among the customary critics lists of “best films of year”, include The Hurt Locker, Coraline, Invictus, and Up in the Air. Indeed, if I were to pick the top four pictures, based on the critics’ lists released so far, I would include Precious, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air and Avatar, with Up in the Air shaping up to be the favorite for Best Picture due to the emerging view that it captures the mood and atmosphere of the current economic environment like no other film currently in Best Picture Oscar contention.

Films were not the only form of entertainment receiving “best of” treatment. The New York Times released its list of most Notable Books of the Year and Ten Best Books of the Year. Metacritic has released its list of best Games of the year. Paste has released their list of best Music of the year, well, of the decade. But the most intriguing list I have seen is Time Magazine's Top Ten Everything of 2009, an exhaustive compilation of miscellaneous events, gadgets, entertainment. Inevitably I was drawn to the best movies, which had the usual suspects with a few independent choices thrown in, and the best books, which featured a book called Strength in What Remains: a Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder. The book borrows its title from the William Wordsworth’s Poem “Ode: Intimation of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” (“Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower; we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind”), and tells the extraordinarily inspiring tale of a young African immigrant succeeding in the face of incredible odds, though aided by the kindness of strangers. The story from this book reminded me of another story I read in one of Nicholas Kristoff’s columns, called “Triumph of a Dreamer,” about a woman who, despite having five children and being in an abusive relationship, managed to earn a doctoral degree. Tracy Kidder’s book is definitely among the books I would like to read early next year.

Kindness as a Social Epidemic

When I saw this video, a wonderful story of kindness in action, I returned to something I have been thinking about on and off for the past couple months, that is what I would like this blog to be about. The idea for this blog did not germinate with the essay that is listed at the beginning but, rather, over the course of a couple years. The book I read recently, The Tipping Point, broaden my understanding a little by demonstrating the ways information and practices can spread. But what struck me from reading The Tipping Point - with its examples of how negative or questionable information and behaviors are spread - is that not all information and practices that could be spread should and, similarly, individuals who are capable of spreading information and practices are not always justified in doing so. In his Nobel Lecture a few days ago, which I will talk about later on, President Obama said, to paraphrase: people who toil year after year for worthy causes with little or no recognition were far more deserving of the honor given to him. I think this is a vital point, reminiscent of the quiet acts of heroic service to others that Arthur Ashe spoke of, exemplified by such phrases as “leading by example” and “being the change you wish to see in the world.” Demanding, yes; but it's the most compelling, enduring and just way to influence others. By the way, to avoid confusion about its meaning, I removed the “ripple effect” subtitle from my blog.

Answer - Sarah McLachlan (Live)

On recent trends in civic engagement

There has been a relative decrease in civic engagement, but it would be misleading to attribute this trend solely to the effects of the recession. According to an AP report, a recent study from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), to be webcast on the NEA website today, finds public participation as a percentage of the population has been trending downwards for several years, most notably starting “in 1992, just as the internet was taking off,” and the effects has been across the board, ranging from attendance at movie theatres, jazz concerts, art exhibits, “ballet, opera, musical and non musical theatre, and arts/craft fairs and festivals” to parks, monuments and historical buildings visitations. The only bright spot has been an increase in reading of “‘literature,’ as defined as ‘plays/poetry/novels/short stories’”.

If not the recession, could the cause of the decline be the result of the internet and social and new media technology? I am not so sure. Several weeks ago, I read a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project which indicated that the effects of the internet and social and new media technology on civic engagement were either neutral or positive in most cases. Among the findings: “(i)nternet use does not pull people away from public spaces”, “is associated with engagement in places such as parks, cafes, and restaurants, the kinds of locales where research shows that people are likely to encounter a wider array of people and diverse points of view”; “cell phone users, those who use the internet frequently at work, and bloggers are more likely to belong to a local voluntary association, such as a youth group or a charitable organization”; and “internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with having a more diverse social network.”

As Jesse Rosen, in the article I referenced earlier, speculates, however, the cause of the percentage decline may actually be due to a shift in ways Americans choose to participate in public life. What’s more, a percentage decline may not necessarily mean that there is a net decline, given the population has obviously grown since 1992. Nonetheless the study does raise interesting questions about getting more citizens involved in art appreciation and civic engagement as well as whether traditional ways of defining such public participation fully account for recent changes in how citizens choose to participate. I will try to follow up on the points raised in the webcast and post my comments here if I encounter something that is noteworthy.

Nobel Peace Prize and National Historical Landmarks

There are a couple of things I would like to comment on in the next couple of days. The first would be President Obama’s Nobel Lecture, where, his aides have suggested, he will lay out his vision for peace and address the seeming irony of being both a war-time President and a Nobel Peace Laureate. (By the way, I am watching a streaming video on the CBS News website of the pre Nobel Lecture ceremony as I write this blog entry). Also, I will try to talk about National Historical Landmarks, particularly in the state of New York, which has by far the most Landmarks, and the state of Texas. Until next time, best wishes.

Thanksgiving in New York City

It has been several years since I left New York but memories of the times I spent there are still vivid. One such memory which remains indelibly part of my thoughts of New York is the tradition of Thanksgiving celebration, specifically the Macy's Day parade. When I wasn't able to check out the festivities myself, I would stay glued to the television set, watching the floats, costumes and celebrities go by. The Macy's Day parade was as much a part of the Thanksgiving Day experience as eating turkey with family and friends. While I now live in a different state, I try to enjoy the Thankgiving day experience the way I did when I lived in New York, by checking out the Macy's Day parade festivities on television or viewing the pictures on The New York Times site.

Pictures of the Macy's Day parade were not the only interesting thing I saw on The New York Times site; I was also happy to see some pictures of Austin. There is something about spending all those evenings wandering about in Manhattan, checking out the various artistic attractions, that has made big city life appealing regardless of state or country. Beside the arts scene, another place where I spent a great deal of time hanging out in New York was Central Park. Central Park is incredibly long, and dwarfs the neighboring Metropolitan Museum of Art, which at a "quarter mile long" is itself one of the largest museums in the world. Although much smaller in size and in many ways quite distinct, Dallas does have a few things in common with New York City, and the new Woodall Rodgers Park being built in the Arts District, adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art, is one similarity.

Later on I will talk about arts and culture in Texas, in particular Dallas; Tennis; Movies; Christmas songs; and a book I am reading. Happy Holiday weekend.

Just Breathe, by Pearl Jam