Motley Moose – Archive

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in “Cheers & Jeers”.

OK, you’ve been warned – here is this week’s tomfoolery material that I posted.

ART NOTES – an exhibit entitled Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 1880 – 1910 is at the Columbus, Ohio Museum of Art through May 18th.

HAIL and FAREWELL to the NFL quarterback Earl Morrall – who helped both the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins win a Super Bowl (in a crucial back-up role) who has died – a few weeks short of his eightieth birthday.

SATURDAY’s CHILD is Charlie Jasper the Cat – a Florida kitteh living in an apartment complex struck by lightning that resulted in a two-alarm fire … causing Charlie Jasper to jump from a third-story window. Mercifully, she was purring when a first responder picked her up … and she escaped with burnt paws, a broken jaw and a few minor scrapes.

LEST YOU THINK that this is a phenomena limited to the GOP: in Europe, it’s far more pronounced. At one time, the Kremlin’s European friends were all far-lefties … today, the Putin-lovers are on the right wing (albeit for differing reasons).

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at the noted rail photographer O. Winston Link …. who captured the final days of steam trains in the US, but who had a tempestuous second marriage that left his final years in agony.

SUNDAY’s CHILD is Eddie the Fat Cat – a Manitoba kitteh whom an animal hospital is trying to bring down (slowly) from twenty-three pounds …. and will be adoptable when he reaches a target weight. In the meantime, he receives lots of visitors …. in part since he likes tummy rubs.

ALTHOUGH one thinks of Italy when considering olive oil, it is actually Spain which is the world’s largest producer – in fact, 1/3 of its imports go to Italy where it is bottled and sold (often for a significant markup) under Italian labels.

BRAIN TEASER – try this Quiz of the Week’s News from the BBC.

By Request SEPARATED at BIRTH  from the SnoKat – comic Jeff Davis (from “Whose Line is It, Anyway?”) and the lead singer of Muse, Matthew Bellamy (who is engaged to Kate Hudson).

   

………….. and finally, for a song of the week………….. as a child, I first heard of a certain band singer by hearing her voice on the radio with her band’s two hit songs of the late 1960’s. “Wow, that is some voice” was my thought. Then I saw her photo on an album cover …. and my knees wobbled. Then again: at age 13 with the hormones starting to go into overdrive – well, it didn’t take much for that to happen. Yet my heart wasn’t truly stolen until I read of all the outrageous things that Grace Slick did: singing ‘Wooden Ships’ in Germany an emphasizing the line “Who won the war?” and bringing Abbie Hoffman to the White House for a college alumni gathering (that Tricia Nixon organized) just for starters. She became my boyhood crush then …. and although she retired from music twenty-five years ago: I still find her story a fascinating one.

The Chicagoland native’s family eventually settled in Palo Alto, California and in her memoirs wrote extensively about her early life.

She was able to talk her parents into sending her to the (now defunct) Finch College in New York: “a finishing school for girls who don’t have the grades to get into Vassar but their parents have money” as she put it. So did Tricia Nixon, which is why she received an invite along with other grads to the White House – under her family name, Grace Wing – but was turned down as a “security risk” upon arrival.

She became a model at the I. Magnin flagship department store, and in her memoirs you could see the dichotomy her life is. She was doing something quite traditional (modeling) and yet bristled upon receiving a suggestion: “No, I will not cream my elbows, thank you”. She saw the Jefferson Airplane perform and decided that (a) they were making more money than she was, and (b) were also having a lot more fun.

And so she, her then-husband Jerry Slick, brother-in-law Darby Slick and others formed The Great Society in 1965. They didn’t last beyond 1966, were not the most talented band and did very little studio work – but years later listening to a compilation album of live material, they are an undiscovered treasure for many people of the early San Francisco sound.

Besides her future hit songs Somebody to Love (actually written by her then brother-in-law Darby) and her Alice-in-Wonderland ode White Rabbit …. they performed wistful cover versions of Sally Go Round the Roses plus Nature Boy – and the band’s lack of discipline was more than compensated for by their inventiveness: dabbling with Indian influences, minor key melodic shifts, and reverb-soaked guitar.

In October of 1966, the Jefferson Airplane’s strong female vocalist Signe Anderson left the band (for a variety of reasons) and Grace was the obvious choice to replace her. And for the next several years, both she and Marty Balin provided a yin-yang lead vocals for the band, as the Airplane was the first San Francisco band to score a major record contract. She first appeared on the band’s second album Surrealistic Pillow with the aforementioned songs that she brought from the Great Society.

She began a relationship with guitarist Paul Kantner that resulted in the birth of their daughter China – and by the end of the 1960’s the band began to splinter into mini-cliques, though they remained as a unit until 1973. The Jefferson Starship emerged from the remnants of the band: initially a science fiction extension of the Airplane, later an album-oriented pop-rock band.

At that time, Grace Slick had already started to have problems with alcohol (much moreso than illegal drugs) and run-ins with law enforcement (she was definitely in the “question authority” camp). Along with her 1974 debut solo album Manhole she also participated in two incarnations of the Jefferson Starship: in the mid-1970’s (i.e, the Miracles days) and also in the mid-1980’s (the “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” era).

In between, she released several more solo albums: Dreams from 1980 and Welcome to the Wrecking Ball from the following year (with a cover of No More Heroes by The Stranglers). Her last album Software from 1984 garnered her best solo album reviews.

Apart from odd guest singing spots, her last major work occurred twenty-five years ago, when the Jefferson Airplane reformed for an album and a concert tour in 1989. In her 1998 memoirs Somebody to Love? – which, like the woman herself, are irreverent, funny, poignant and perceptive at different times – she said that the reunion tour was a wonderful way to wind-up the band: “We were a few pounds heavier, but the music: nice”.

Since then, she has devoted herself to the art world – making numerous appearances at art shows, with some rock & roll portraits, and many other different styles. Here is an example of her work that – I believe – was in her memoirs.

Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, but Slick did not appear, believing that rock is a young person’s music. Actually, for a long time, Grace always looked younger than her age: when she complained how old she looked around age 58, Whoopi Goldberg asked “Are you insane?!?” on a talk show she hosted. It was only in this new century that Grace made the decision to let her hair go gray and cut it relatively short.

This October 30th, Grace Slick will turn age 75 – yeah, that seems strange to me, too. But it’s nice to know that one’s boyhood crush is still a vital force lo these many years later – I suppose it was one of the few good choices I made in my mis-spent youth.

Rather than choose one of her well-known tunes: another favorite is Rejoyce – from the Jefferson Airplane’s After Bathing at Baxter’s album from 1967. From the title on, it has allusions to James Joyce’s “Ulysses” as well as more of the Lewis Carroll imagery that drove “White Rabbit”. And below you can hear it.  

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The Obama Administration has released its first report from the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.

Vice President Biden spoke at 2:30pm Eastern.

Not Alone – Protecting Students from Sexual Assault:

One in five women is sexually assaulted while in college.  Most often, it happens her freshman or sophomore year.  In the great majority of cases, it’s by someone she knows – and also most often, she does not report what happened.  And though fewer, men, too, are victimized.

The Administration is committed to putting an end to this violence. That’s why the President established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault on January 22, 2014, with a mandate to strengthen federal enforcement efforts and provide schools with additional tools to combat sexual assault on their campuses.

Today, the Task Force is announcing a series of actions to: (1)  identify the scope of the problem on college campuses, (2) help prevent campus sexual assault, (3) help schools respond effectively when a student is assaulted, and (4) improve, and make more transparent, the federal government’s enforcement efforts.  We will continue to pursue additional executive or legislative actions in the future.

These steps build on the Administration’s previous work to combat sexual assault.  The Task Force formulated its recommendations after a 90-day review period during which it heard from thousands of people from across the country — via 27 online and in-person listening sessions and written comments from a wide variety of stakeholders.[…]

Part of that initiative is a new web site: www.NotAlone.gov

More …

From the White House:

FACT SHEET: Not Alone – Protecting Students from Sexual Assault

(main sections excerpted)

Next Steps

The action steps highlighted in this report are the initial phase of an ongoing plan and commitment to putting an end to this violence on campuses.  We will continue to work toward solutions, clarity, and better coordination. We will review the legal frameworks surrounding sexual assault for possible regulatory or statutory improvements, and seek new resources to enhance enforcement.  Campus law enforcement agencies have special expertise- and they, too, should be tapped to play a more central role.  And we will also consider how our recommendations apply to public elementary and secondary schools – and what more we can do to help there.

Helping Schools Identify the Problem: Climate Surveys

As we know, campus sexual assault is chronically underreported – so victim reports don’t provide a fair measure of the problem.  A campus climate survey, however, can.

Preventing Sexual Assault – and Bringing in the Bystander

The college years are formative for many students.  If we implement effective prevention programs, today’s students will leave college knowing that sexual assault is simply unacceptable. And that, in itself, can create a sea change.

Helping Schools Respond Effectively When A Student is Sexually Assaulted: Confidentiality, Training, Better Investigations, and Community Partnerships

By law, schools that receive federal funds are obliged to protect students from sexual assault.  It is the Task Force’s mission to help schools meet not only the letter, but the spirit, of that obligation.  And that can mean a number of things – from giving a victim a confidential place to turn for advice and support, to providing specialized training for school officials, to effectively investigating and finding out what happened, to sanctioning the perpetrator, to doing everything we can to help a survivor recover.

Improving and Making More Transparent Federal Enforcement Efforts

To better address sexual assault at our nation’s schools, the federal government needs to both strengthen our enforcement efforts and increase coordination among responsible agencies.  Importantly, we also need to improve communication with survivors, parents, school administrators, faculty, and the public, by making our efforts more transparent.

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

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So what’s going on in your neck of Moosesylvania??

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  Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely.

The check-in is an open thread and general social hour.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

On weekends (and holidays), you may find the check-in thread earlier or later than normal because … it is the weekend! Moosies need their beauty rest:

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

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So what’s going on in your part of the Moosisphere?



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The President’s Weekly Address post is also the Weekend Open News Thread. Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.

From the White House – Weekly Address

In this week’s address, the President highlights small business owners across the country acting to raise wages for their workers, and calls on Congress to give America a raise so more hard-working Americans have the opportunity to get ahead.

Transcript: Weekly Address: Congress Needs to Act on Minimum Wage

Hi, everybody.  In my State of the Union Address, I talked about pizza.  More specifically, I talked about a pizza chain in Minneapolis – Punch Pizza – whose owner, John Soranno, made the business decision to give his employees a raise to ten bucks an hour.

A couple weeks ago, I got a letter from a small business owner who watched that night.  Yasmin Ibrahim is an immigrant who owns her own restaurant – Desi Shack – and plans to open another this summer.

Here’s what she wrote.  “I was moved by John Soranno’s story.  It got me thinking about my … full-time employees and their ability to survive on $8 an hour in New York City.”  So a few weeks ago, Yasmin put in place a plan to lift wages for her employees at both her restaurants to at least $10 an hour by the end of this year.

But here’s the thing – Yasmin isn’t just raising her employees’ wages because it’s the right thing to do.  She’s doing it for the same reason John Soranno did. It makes good business sense.

Yasmin wrote, “It will allow us to attract and retain better talent – improving customer experience, reducing employee churn and training costs.  We believe doing so makes good business sense while at the same time having a positive impact on the community.”

Yasmin’s right.  That’s why, two months ago, I issued an Executive Order requiring workers on new federal contracts to be paid a fair wage of at least ten dollars and ten cents an hour.

But in order to make a difference for every American, Congress needs to do something.  And America knows it.  Right now, there’s a bill that would boost America’s minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour.  That would lift wages for nearly 28 million Americans across the country.  28 million.  And we’re not just talking about young people on their first job.  The average minimum wage worker is 35 years old.  They work hard, often in physically demanding jobs.

And while not all of us always see eye to eye politically, one thing we overwhelmingly agree on is that nobody who works full-time should ever have to live in poverty.  That’s why nearly three in four Americans support raising the minimum wage.  The problem is, Republicans in Congress don’t support raising the minimum wage.  Some even want to get rid of it entirely.  In Oklahoma, for example, the Republican governor just signed a law prohibiting cities from establishing their own minimum wage.

That’s why this fight is so important.  That’s why people like John and Yasmin are giving their workers a raise.  That’s why several states, counties, and cities are going around Congress to raise their workers’ wages.  That’s why I’ll keep up this fight.  Because we know that our economy works best when it works for all of us – not just a fortunate few.  We believe we do better when everyone who works hard has a chance to get ahead.  That’s what opportunity is all about.

And if you agree with us, we could use your help.  Republicans have voted more than 50 times to undermine or repeal health care for millions of Americans.  They should vote at least once to raise the minimum wage for millions of working families. If a Republican in Congress represents you, tell him or her it’s time to give the politics a rest for a while and do something to help working Americans.  It’s time for “ten-ten.”  It’s time to give America a raise.

Thanks, and have a great weekend

Bolding added.

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