The little anatomy student:

And that little boy has far more going for him than the combined intelligence in the White House right now. This 4-year nightmare continues, worsening every day in ways far exceeding the worst we imagined a few years ago. Just astounding. As the conservative NYTimes columnist Bret Stephens wrote, “my prevailing feeling is that I’m so sick of it. Sick of living in Donald Trump’s Clownverse, or Dramaverse, or Bullyverse, or I-Can’t-Believe-This-Guy-Is-Actually-the-President-verse.”

So I try to steep in the distraction of tending to a puppy. It often works.

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Welcomed a guest to our Composers Colloquium last Friday, as i’ve invited a series of guests to speak to our students over this semester...

As challenging as the week just past has been in our larger world, it’s been more positive and interesting in my local sphere.

I received some incredible responses to “momentum,” and how that idea is manifest if different areas of peoples’ lives. There’s so much wonderful to digest and process, and I thank you for sharing your ideas. I’ve a file building now, with comments properly credited to you, and imagine this a longer-term project. That includes posting your ideas in the future, as that digestion takes place…

Last week brought a wonderful meeting with John Dixon, a colleague in ECU’s School of Theatre and Dance. John has a project in mind.

–John and Teal Darkenwald worked with The Machine Is Neither on a collaboration-commission I put together as part of NewMusic Initia...

Quite a week, this one just past. The world saw the U.S. deeply embarrass itself in so very many ways. Now, with profound irony, those who fought against the most logical of steps to prevent corona virus’ spread are, not at all surprisingly, falling ill. And the messages coming out of the Houses and Senate are truly shameless, on all sides.

Seriously, think about the logic here, and then make noise to your Reps/Senators. Posting on FB spreads the word, but change comes when pressure is felt by lawmakers:

The BUFFETT Rule
Let’s see what people pressure is all about.
Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . .. $180,000 FOR LIFE.
Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. .. $174,000 FOR LIFE. Nonsense
Salary of Speaker of the House .. . . . .. . . . . $223,500 FOR LIFE. NONSENSE

I just read this article; an interesting idea which has a ton of resonance with my own experience as both student and teacher. But it seems to advocate an approach that’s really only possible for those with means; pollyanna, to say the least.

Momentum.

Something about this word, this concept, this range of meanings has been on my mind over the past week. The variety of definitions is a bit daunting, and that’s actually appealing to me, in a way.

After so very many years teaching the first year of music theory (species counterpoint, diatonic harmony, small forms, then the beginnings of chromatic harmony, larger forms), and a few years of more advanced theory, as well as years of ear-training at all levels–and especially years of composition at all levels–I talk alot about energy. I talk alot about tension, resolution, suspension, maintaining levels of energy, accumulating energy, building to arrival points, allowing energy to dissipate.

There’s nothing particularly new or remarkable about this, of course...

A younger colleague/scholar/friend sent me this link, with a note that they found hope in it. At this moment, the prospect of finding hope anywhere is attractive, of course. I did find it both hopeful and reassuring; perhaps we can channel our creative imaginations towards betterment.

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Joe’s home improvement project yesterday was a fire pit for the yard. They’d enjoyed the “sitting around the fire” part of camping a few weeks ago, and wanted to bring that to their home. Clearly, fire or not, the job was well done and being enjoyed!

While being productive at home, Joe also got another encouraging email from an attorney/firm that wants to hire him–just waiting for the hiring freeze to end...

Thank goodness for children and pets, whose unfiltered desire for love and attention allows a few moments of distraction. If we just give in to their needs, we can live in the moment, however briefly…and then we’re pulled back with the realization of why it’s so very important to fight for what’s right, to struggle for their future.

We took a bicycle ride yesterday, and tried to introduce Frankie to something new. She did fine for five minutes, and we’ll try again soon…it’s a process.

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Months ago, at the start of COVID-19, the daily barrage of bad news, the bungling in Washington and elsewhere, the deaths, the unemployment, the loss of any normalcy, all took a very real toll on my mood, at the least, if not my me...

Am unable record audio on the video calls that come in from Joe/Jackson in the mornings, but these do tell their own stories of Jackson’s development these days. The first, eating his eggs breakfast, as dad helps him learn about the challenges of eating with a pacifier in his mouth…the second, dancing to the music, and his general glee at seeing Frankie.

And the latest arrival…

The news of these days notwithstanding–the mourning of RBG, the absurd backflips being done by politicians, and so much continuing bad news re fires, hurricanes, COVID-19–yesterday was a day to take care of our little local circle.

The morning routine is definitely a bit different this past week. Early morning waking hasn’t changed, but there’s a little tail-wagging awaiting me as I get to the kitchen. Once we take care of business and settle in, the view is focused more on something other than my computer…

The first part of the morning was spent looking through grades in my frosh class. Seeing a number of students simply hadn’t submitted work, and their grades suffering unnecessarily...

Ruth Bader Ginsberg; what a life, what an amazing example of a human being, or advocacy, of persistence in the cause of equality and justice.

From today’s NYTimes, “A small number of Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa — have indicated they would not want to fill a Supreme Court vacancy so close to a presidential election. But it was not certain whether they would hold to that stance.”

What are chances that these Senators will have a spine when the time comes? Based on past actions, the chances are nil.

Mourning the loss of this remarkable person, and feeling, as many undoubtedly are today, that generations of Americans will despair u...