Yay for reading

My family is a bunch of readers.  Nothing extra-special about that, but it does allay a niggling little fear in the back of my mind.  I wanted my kids to read.  It's more about opening their horizons beyond our little pocket of Oregonian suburbia than it is about being brainiacs.  Which is cool, too, but...this is far cooler.

Last year for Christmas, someone bought Aria a set of Ramona Quimby books.  It wasn't all of them, though, something the publishers made very clear on each book cover.  So we walked into Powell's City of Books last night (just Aria and me), and looked up at the category board in the main entrance.  I squatted down next to her.  "Look up," I said.  "Where do you think we should go?"  "The Rose room!"  "Why?"  "It says 'Children'!"  "So which way do we go?"  "Hmmm...that way!"

So we walked around, found Dr Seuss and some other stuff.  Eventually we found the Beverly Cleary stuff, and Aria found the rest of the Ramona books.  She nodded at her Dr Seuss book and a princess picture book she had picked up for her little sister, and said, "I don't really want to buy these.  What do I do with them?"  "We put them back."  So that's what we did.  

After we had found my books on Islam, she insisted we head back to the Rose room.  "Why?" I asked.  "I saw Twilight there, and I know mom would love it."  So we went down and found it.  And then we walked 4 blocks through the 4 inches of remaining snow (does that make it like 16 inches for 1 block?  Better story...) and drove home.  

Before she went to bed, she'd read 14 pages.  This morning she read another dozen or so.  She's a reader.  By her own will, and without pushes from us.  A little prompting?  Sure.  But we haven't had to push her.  Her world is opening up.  I'm so glad.  Even if it's opening up to 1950s suburbia.  It's the first crack in the door to the wide-open world of literature.

Adventures in Islam, Part 1

Other religions have always interested me.  I bought copies of the sacred writings of Hinduism, Islam, Baha'i-ism and attended church with my friends of different Christian sects while in high school.  I served a mission for my church in Japan, overwhelmingly Buddhist and Shinto with a smattering of Soka-gakkai.  As an undergrad, I took an underwhelming course in comparative religion as a sophomore, but dropped out of college the next term.  

I didn't take it much further than that.  I had lived abroad in a very different cultural landscape and found that people had much the same values and aspirations as I had.  I got it.  Not a big deal; those different world views didn't affect me much.  

Eventually, I became a very autonomous supervisor at work.  I had more than a dozen highly trained and very professional engineers working in my department.  One of them is a devout Muslim.  My entire crew (I think) knows I'm a Mormon.  I don't preach to them, but I don't gamble or go drinking with them or swear, so at least they know I'm a little on the prudish side (what do you call that?  Prudish sounds so pejorative, but it's a little more visceral than "behavioral conservative".)

This man and I have become friends as well as coworkers.  I'll call him Mike.  It's not very Islamic-sounding, but that's kinda the point.  Mike and I began to ask each other questions about our families and religious observances, because that's something that's as common to us as talking football is with other men.  So we've built a close relationship.  We trust each other, and have high regard for each other as men of faith and family.

As I looked around for music for The Morning Stars to sing, I found some traditional spirituals, ordered some Estonian folk music, and wondered if I could get some Muslim religious music.  So I discovered Nasheed (Nashid), Muslim holy music.  And I asked Mike about it.  He was working a short week one week, and I didn't get any mail from him for a full day or so, and he apologized and said his family was celebrating the Eid.  So I looked that up.  

It piqued my curiosity.  Islam seems to be a very cradle-to-grave, morning-until-night, holistic worldview.  It doesn't seem to be squeamish about the necessities of living.  Killing an animal to eat requires understanding that you are taking a life.  Meat doesn't come from styrofoam packages.  It comes from living animals that in other times might have been a beloved pet.  Doing what God says to do is really important, as when you fly your aging father halfway around the world to perform the Hajj.  A life centered on God is the only way to live.  That doesn't mean you can't watch YouTube.  But it means that you're careful to maintain your focus toward the divine.

At least that's the way I see it today.  I have great and growing respect for Islam.  So tonight, when Aria and I went to Powell's to use some of her Christmas gift card, I picked up an introductory text to Islam and a translation of the Koran.  This is where the adventure really begins.

Movie Review: Australia

Disclaimer: I'm an actor and a playwrite, so I'm a bit snobby about production values.

I saw Australia with my wife last night.  It's the best movie I've seen in a while - one of those that you see, think about, and then ruminate on.  

Plot: It's 1939.  Lady Sarah Ashley is a British duchess in need of money.  Her husband is in Australia taking care of their ranch, Faraway Downs.  She wants him to sell it, but he won't.  She is convinced he's having an affair, and goes to Australia to sell the ranch and reclaim her husband.  She arrives to find her husband dead and the ranch in total disarray.  She joins forces with a local cattle herder (Drover, played by Hugh Jackman) and a mixed-race boy (Nullah) to save the ranch. Baz Luhrman (Moulin Rouge) who also co-wrote the script adeptly mixes historical realities about whites' poor treatment of Aboroginals and the Japanese invasion of Darwin in WWII with a story about love, family, greed, and revenge.  The movie is called an epic because it simply is.

Acting: A fine cast.  Hugh Jackman (X-Men and especially The Illusionist) is very human in this movie.  Luhrman lets him play with everything - from macho "Let's save the cattle!" to his friendship with an Aborigine, to mourning Sarah's death.  A great job.

Nicole Kidman (The Translator, Batman, Moulin Rouge) plays Lady Sarah Ashley.  After watching this movie, I don't understand the hoopla over her Botox.  I couldn't tell.  She has a hilarious stint (some critics didn't like it) as the fish-out-of-water royalty in the Outback to star twith, becomes a partner in saving the ranch, and finally as a passionate advocate for righting wrongs.  It's a wide range, and she pulls it off very well.  

Nullah (I don't think I've seen the kid before, and don't know his name) is also excellent.  During the course of the movie, his father abandons him, his mother dies, he is sent to a missionary island, thinks Sarah dies, is captured by police, and sees some of his friends die, too.  He plays happy realy well.  He never gets to grief, but the kid's maybe 10.  He does every other emotion really well, and serves as the story's narrator for quite a bit.

The villain doesn't get as much face time as maybe he should.  He's evil incarnate, and that's too bad.  He never gets real depth.  

Filming: shot on location in the Outback, the film is a paean to Australian history, culture, and nature.  The color often looks like a colorized B&W film - everything is vibrant.  The camera shots pan huge vistas, and dramatic camera angles (the cattle stampede along a cliff for one) are par for the course.  This movie is meant to be theatrical in the heightened-emotions sense of the word.  It's a beautiful movie to watch just for the artistry of the screen-as-canvas.

Writing: excellent script.  Could have used some more villain development, and some more time on Nullah and his mother's relationship.  Nullah went from having a broken home to being an orphan in about 10 minutes of movie time, and we didn't see him develop as much as we should have.  The racial tension is often palpable - the segregated bars, the poor treatment whites who are friends with black get, the mixed-race children being torn from their parents.  You feel it.  This racial tension is given more of the villain role than the guy who plays the villain is.  

Recommendation: If you are an adult, see it.  There's a little swearing, but it's not bad (the F-bomb comes out once, but if there's a tasteful way to use the word, this was it).  There's a sex scene that I closed my eyes for, so you'd have to ask Katrina about it.  It's a PG-13 movie, though.  I plan to buy it, and show it to my kids when they're in 8th or 9th grade.  Powerful movie with great social themes and excellent production values.  It's a winner on my list.

My wife loves me

"How do you know?"  

Because I saw what she was going to get me for Christmas.  And it arrived this morning.  And it's awesome.

A month or so ago, I went in to the office at home and as I stepped over the baby gate, she told me I couldn't look at her screen.  She closed the tab she was on.  Then she went out.  And I was unable to resist.  I looked up her history and saw the biggest, baddest tool box on earth.  Stainless steel, 400lbs, casters, full-length ball bearing slides, the works.  

This is the woman who, 9 (!) years ago gave me a Craftsman saw and drill for our first married Christmas.  

The thing that makes this a special gift for me is that true gift giving has to be about the receiver, and not the giver.  This tool box, while providing some ancilary goodness for her, is all for me.  It replaces a portable tool box she got for me 8 years ago (!) when we were apartment-dwellers.  It will allow me to stop complaining that other members of my wonderful family take tools and do not return them.  It will allow our tool bench (old kitchen cupboards) to become something other than a garage version of the Exxon Valdez.  It recognizes my handiness; it is plumes for my manliness; something shiny that isn't a decoration.  

I hope what I've planned for Katrina is as cool for her.  

Back to Politics: What Obama's Cabinet says about him

There are few things more telling about a President than his cabinet.  A cabinet likely reflects a president's vision for what he wants to achieve and also for how he wants to get there.  

What does Obama's cabinet say about him, his vision, and his desired pathway?

About Him

Let's dispense with the "Team of Rivals" thing now.  I've read too many references to it lately.  It's bogus.  For Obama to have a Lincoln-style team of rivals, he'd have to have McCain in there somewhere, Lieberman, and probably Sarah Palin, too.  He didn't do that.  

He did the prudent thing.  That says something about his caution.  He got a bunch of people with experience who happen to be well-respected and very intelligent.  No extremists as far as the eye can see.  

He did the confident thing.  There are people in his cabinet (notably Clinton) who have had disagreements with Obama in quite strident terms.  He's not afraid of strong people or smart people, or hard-working people.  He's brought them all in.

He also did the political thing.  Race was a factor in this contest.  Turns out to have been a net-zero effect in the vote.  But it did mean that white Americans were willing to trust people who did not look like them in prominent national roles.  Credit where credit is due: Clinton had a groundbreakingly diverse cabinet.  Bush's was even more racially diverse.  Obama takes that precedent one step further.  

I belong to a lay church.  We often say, when asked to serve in a certain capacity, that "Whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies."  That's the euphemistic way of saying that you may not have a clue how to keep 144 kids aged 18 months to 12 years old occupied and happy for 2 hours every Sunday, but if you're asked to do it, you'll figure it out.  Obama hasn't taken that much liberty with his cabinet members, but he has taken the notion that there are many individuals who are fully qualified to do any given job.  This is likely influenced by his own resume.  If there are a bunch of people qualified to be the Ambassador to the UN, then you can pick any of them for a good pick for job function.  Then you look at the image of your cabinet to America and to the world.  Who looks the best for the job?  The old white male statesman?  Or the younger black female who has taken a principled stand about some really difficult problems?  Both have pros and cons, and Obama can make the call to extend America's increasingly diverse population makeup into his cabinet.  

That says that he's a good politician.  It also says that he understands the values of legacy.  Simply put: your forebears have a greater influence on whether you attain greatness or not than you would like to believe.  By putting a more racially, culturally, and sexually diverse team in his cabinet, Obama is sowing the seeds for the rest of America's groups to catch up with its powerful white plurality.  White men will be judged henceforth not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.

The Finest Christmas Tree Experience Ever

For some reason or another, through our 10 Christmases as a married couple, we've always purchased a Christmas tree from a lot or not purchased one at all.  We've gone to timeshares with family several times, so we're not total humbugs.  

This year, we did not have an infant (too cold to go out), I was not in school (no time), and I really wanted to cut our own tree.  So Katrina looked around and found a web site that features a bunch of local tree farms.  She looked over several in our area and settled on Christmas Mountain.  I left work early, and we were out the door about 3:30, kids, camera and coats all loaded up.  The farm is up in the hills where I do a lot of cycling, so I took us on a little roundabout path.  

The road to get there is lined with signs until you make the final turn onto Dixie Mountain Road.  We arrived at the farm just after 4.  Aria woke up and asked if she could stay in the car.  She 

was too tired.  That didn't fly.  We all got out and headed over to the tent.  

The farm is cool.  Yeah, it was Dec 3 and 1000' higher than we live at.  But it's a good setup.  The parking lot is large, level, and gravelled.  There is a large tent where you can huddle if it's raining.  There's hot water and packets for making hot chocolate and cider.  There's coffee.  The drinks are free.  There's also candy for sale, and some chairs set up around a portable fire pit with a fire going.  (The tent I rave about is not in the picture - it's off to the right)

After we confirmed that we were looking for a tree, the owner of the place (I'll call him Troy) started up a tractor with a huge covered wagon on it.  It looks like it would hold 30 people, maybe more in a pinch.  We had the wagon all to ourselves, and started up the road.  Troy kept looking back at us as he drove, and when we found a good-looking spot, he stopped the tractor, told us to grab a saw, cut our tree, and then put it by the side of the road with a tag on it, and took off.  We had 100 acres of Christmas trees to ourselves.  

This was fun.  We wandered through the trees, mostly Noble Firs, and saw some good looking candidates.  The trees are really healthy, well-shaped, and full.  The branches are long; it seems like longer than a tree you'd get at Home Depot.  They're just beautiful.  We picked a tree, marked it by putting a large dead branch on it, and walked around some more.  We decided in the end that we really liked that one, and I took our the more-than-adequate saw that Troy provided and cut it down.  Doing my part to increase Global Warming.  

Katrina and I hauled it to the road (just a few feet, really), and I stuck a tag on it.  Then we took a walk up the road.  As we passed a ridge, I saw the prettiest view of St Helen's my eyes have ever beheld.  Rainier was visible in the fog, and if you walked another 100 feet, Adams was visible, too.  As my kids hit the same spot past the ridge that I did, they each gasped.  "Wow!"  said my 8 year-old.  10 seconds later, "Wow!" said my 6 year-old.  My kids will easily say "wow" when they see something big, but rarely do so when it's just something pretty.  This was cool.

After the light had left the mountains, we heard the tractor coming around.  We waited for him to come by, got on the wagon, and chatted as he took as back to the tent.  Troy is a 3rd generation tree farmer.  His family has been doing this for 40 years.  He's a really engaging, friendly guy who seems to take great joy in his job.  And it is his full-time job.  These 100 acres provide a livelihood for him and his family.  We later learned that this is only his second year selling trees to the public; he's been a wholesaler before.  The sky looked like it was on fire as we talked.  Unbelievable.

When we got back to the tent, Katrina and 3 of the kids got some hot chocolate and sat down by the fire.  Christian and I headed up the hill for a kid tree.  We ended up with a 5' Noble Fir and carried it back down the hill.  In the mean time, 

our 7' Noble had been picked up from the road, carried back to the tent area, and was being bailed.  After I got my hot chocolate, the guys who had bailed it asked if they could put it on my car.  I let them.  

We hung out for a little longer, chatting with one of Troy's friends who used to work on the farm with his father, bought a little tree stand, and headed home.  By the time we left, too-tired Aria was smiling hugely.  "Can we do this again next year?" I asked.  "Yes!"

What's cool about Christmas Mountain:

Really really really nice people

Great trees

Reasonable price

Unbeatable, unbelievable, incredible, wonderful views

Free wagon ride, saw use, bailing, hauling, hot chocolate, coffee, cider, a tent for rainy weather and a fire for clear weather.  Did I mention all those things are free???

Beautiful drive

They take Visa and Mastercard

They charged us for a full foot less than the trees' actual length.  We got a 7' for 6' price, and a 5' for 4' price.  I don't know if that's normal practice, but it sure seemed like good customer service to me.

What's not so cool:

It's a little out of the way - right on the ridge of the hills between Hwy 30 and Hwy 26, where Skyline meets Dixie Mountain road.  Given the experience they offer, it was well worth a little drive.  

I'm 34 today. Happy Life to Me.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes.

No, Manny, not ready for AARP.  I do remember when the VIC-20 came out, and the Walkman, too.  I watched The Muppet Show, Buck Rogers, The A Team, The Cosby Show, Blue Thunder, Battlestar Galactica and The Great Space Coaster before they were in reruns.  The Brady Bunch, Star Trek, and Speed Racer were on network TV.  

34 is a good age for me.  This year has been my single greatest year for personal growth since I was 16.  Lots on introspection and gut checks going on, and I'm a much better guy for being compelled to go through that.  

My life would not be complete with my birthday partner, Katrina (she's 29 today!!!!  Ha!!!!).  She puts the light in my attic, chases the bats from my belfry, puts new sidewalk down when the sidewalk ends, regularly beats me at board games, kindly allows me to beat her at Scramble from time to time, puts the spice in my girl and the fruit in my cake.  She's incredible and awesome and a whole bunch of really complimentary words that haven't been invented in English, but should be.

Thanks for your friendship, and for taking the time out of your days to wish me well.  It really does mean something to me.  

Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing

When I went back to school in 2004 to finish my BS, the first class I took introduced me to a theory of team formation and dynamics that was just 4 words long:

Forming

Storming

Norming

Performing

The Morning Stars are in this process.  Thankfully, we've known each other for several years and have shared connections at church.  Our forming period was the most difficult, as we didn't know what we were capable of, or if the group would even come together.  We had some absences early on, and weren't really sure if the other members were committed.  Around rehearsal #3, this pretty much vanished.  Everyone expressed how much fun they were having in the group, and apologized to the other members for forgetting or being late.  No animosity, but we weren't sure how much to trust each other and didn't know our roles until we settled in a bit.

At that point, the group was formed.  We had an ongoing concern in business parlance, and could take our performance opportunities as a real possibility.  During the next few weeks, we dealt with the reality that some arrangements call for a different vocal assignment.  I was always flat on one piece, and another member wasn't quite in tune either.  We switched parts, and found that it worked much better that way.  Frankly, we didn't do much storming.  Nobody got mad, we figured out a way to make the thing work.  Even this early, we were having fun.

Norming is where we've been for a few weeks now.  Everyone shows up on time, ready to sing, taking ownership of trying new things.  If one of us doesn't have a part, he fixes it.  That may require stopping the group and running a few measures a few times.  It may require singing a few more verses to figure it out.  As a result, we now have about half an hour of performance-ready music.  We've worked on another half an hour worth, and sung through a bunch of stuff that we're not going to use.  We've also put time and thought into our next forays into arranging and composing for the next 6 months.  

Are we to the performing stage?  I think we're very very close.  As we get better, rehearsals have become less chattery and more music-focused, and that's brought us into a different realm.  Last night, we spent about half an hour finishing our 15-minute program for this coming Saturday.  Then we spent an hour playing around - working on a piece that grabbed our fancy, changing the ending to an upcoming piece, reading through a new piece and deciding we didn't like it, hitting some favorite hymns along the way.  Many choirs have problems with chattiness where people will say funny things to avoid fixing a difficult spot, lengthening the time it takes to fix it.  The Morning Stars don't do that any more.  We attack problem spots in the most efficient way we can, and our chatty breaks tend to be short, funy, and focused.  There's lots of levity and smiles, and there's also serious rehearsing.  Will we ever be the King's Singers?  Nope.  Is that okay?  Yep.  We are, as envisioned, a group of guys that love to sing.  Performance opportunities will come  if the music is ready, and we'll do that.  But performance is incidental - the love of music is what drives us, and drives us together.

It's a good place to be.