Monumental Men, Quick Thought

I just saw a beautiful image of the Lincoln Monument at night. It is so majestic, and such a wonderful monument to a fallen leader who held this country together by sheer will during the Civil War. It got me to thinking if today's government would see fit to memorialize a fallen leader, military or civilian, in such a magnificent way. Then I had to ask myself the question, "Do we have such monumental leaders today? Where have they gone?"

I realize leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr. only come along once every several generations. The question still lingers in my mind, though. Do we have such monumental leaders in our midst today? If they are, it seems to me that they are needed. Will they step into the spotlight? Can you, can I, provide a smaller version of that leadership in the corner of the world in which we find ourselves?

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All for one?

Yesterday I was in a union meeting. Among other things, a brief discussion was had about the evolution of individual contracts versus group contracts in particular among ballet and theater companies, not necessarily on the opera side of things. It was pointed out that the movement began primarily because more and more dancers wanted to be seen as soloists in the troupe rather than "ensemble dancers", and they wanted to negotiate their own contracts accordingly. Over time that has led to less negotiating power for dancers, ultimately developing into much lower pay, often the legal minimum salary for dancers. That led me to connect the dots between that devolution of solidarity in the ranks of ballet troupes where each had been a part of the braided fabric, strong and durable, to the political devolution we're starting to see around the world. For some time now, countries have been murmuring about wanting out of the EU. Granted, there are positives and nega...

It takes time; stay the course

Our world has been changed by the digital age. Do you doubt that or would you like to have some more confirmation? Read this brief article about shortened attention spans and I'll see you back in a minute. It shocked me to find out that our attention spans have shrunk to 8 seconds. Knowing that, I'll keep this brief. In this world where we have the opportunity to seek out any entertainment we want with a few button clicks or screen taps; where we can instantaneously eliminate our perceived boredom in any way we desire; where murders get solved before our very eyes in 60 minutes, repeatedly; and where written responses to personal or professional questions can be sent and received in seconds between correspondents halfway around the world, we run the danger of not being able to enact change in our politics. We who did not vote for the Trump administration must stay patient. We must stay focused. We must stay motivated. To enact ch...

Strange start, I know

So, here I sit just killing a little time after reading articles about the Dallas Cowboys. I took a few minutes to entertain other people's thoughts on the 2017 NFL Draft and am intrigued by several things, but one in particular stands out to me and I wanted to jot it down here and now. I know that the Browns are currently 0-for-2016, but they've been within one score in four of their games this year, and within two scores in four others, and there is good young talent there. So, I am going to say here and now that the NFL better look out for them next season. As long as they do well with their picks in 2017, they will be an incredibly talented group next year. With FIVE picks in the top 65 of the draft they could possibly wind up with four or five first-round talents, depending on slippage and preferences of other teams. So, I'm just saying it here, mid-December 2016, watch out for the 2017 Cleveland Browns! Stranger things have happened! (see Election...

A Layman's Look

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