Two Shows in One Weekend

My ticket stubs and one program from my weekend of musical theater.  Photo by J. Berta

Greetings All:

This weekend, I had the good fortune to get to see two musicals.  On Saturday, along with my daughter Cassie, I saw West Side Story.  Tonight, the whole family saw Jersey Boys.  Two different shows, with two different casts in two different venues.  Yet I came away from both shows with the same feeling of profound appreciation for the experience of being an audience member.  More on that in a moment.

Let's talk about the shows.  First, West Side Story.  This was a young person's production, held at The Center for Living Arts in Rock Island, Illinois.  My friend Dino Hayz directed it, with considerable assistance from his wife, Tina.  For those of you not familiar with the show, here's a brief overview:

In the late 1950s, on the Upper West Side of New York City, there was gang violence.  Disaffected youths, fueled by fear, prejudice and poverty, waged war against each other, sticking with "their kind."  The "Jets" and the "Sharks" are the two gangs.  Out of this backdrop, two star-crossed lovers meet, Tony and Maria.  The musical is inspired by Romeo and Juliet and follows the same tragic script.  Along the way, there are great songs and a cast of characters you just cannot help to like...in the beginning.

Then things turn very dark very fast.  Murder follows murder, a near gang-rape occurs and then Tony dies as Maria weeps.  The show closes with Tony carried off on the arms of Jets and Sharks.  A young Jets places a black shawl, a universal symbol of mourning, around Maria's shoulders.  As the lights faded I wiped my eyes.  I doubt I was the only one.

Jersey Boys played The Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa and tonight was its closing performance.  It tells the tale of Franky Valli and the Four Seasons.  Four guys "from the neighborhood" who made it big.  Then it almost all fell apart.  For some of the members of the group, it did.  This story is not nearly as tragic or dark as West Side Story, yet has its share of heartbreak and strife.  

I've got links to information about both shows below in the sources.  The songs are classics in pop culture and I suppose after 50 years, you can drop the "pop" reference.  They are cemented in the fabric of America.

I like both shows so much I did a rare impulse buy and got both soundtracks from iTunes.  We listened to alternating songs tonight to and from the theater.  They are catchy tunes.  Good luck in not singing along with them.

In many ways these two performances were quite different.  One was a show of junior-high and high school students in a community theater.  The other, a Broadway-level national touring production with all the bells and whistles.  Yet for me, as an audience member, I took away one similarity:  Actors and actresses performing their hearts out on stage.  

With the West Side Story production, it was wonderful to see young people taking a step forward in performing.  For some, this may be the extent of their acting career.  For others, I fully expect to see them on stage again and in bigger venues.  I look forward to those future shows.

There is something magical about theater.  It is a place where you can be transported to another time and place.  You can experience the emotions of love and hate, joy and loss.  You can leave 2015 and travel effortlessly back in time to 1957 or 1965.  You can be running the streets of New York City or standing on a street corner in Bellevue, New Jersey.  But to do so, you must pay a price and I do not mean the cost of your ticket.

That cost is, as Cassie's English teacher, Mr. Don Fry said, "The willing suspension of disbelief."  You have to ignore the limitations of a set, that a street corner is now a high school gym and now back to a street corner.  That set changes are not really set changes, that the show is not a show but an experience.  If you can do that, then you become more than just a patron, you become part of the show.  Of course, you're not up on stage acting or singing or dancing.  Yet you cease to be just a passive observer, you are able to connect (for lack of a better word) with the show.  If you can do that, then you've gotten way more than the cost of admission.

I love watching sports, especially my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes or Green Bay Packers.  Yet sports is not theater, at least for me.  Concerts, recitals, poetry readings, political debates, all important forms of expression and/or art.  Theater, however, has a special distinction for me.  Perhaps it is the involvement of most of the senses.  Maybe it's the use of music and lights.  It could also be seeing real people interacting with other real people and not on a screen.  I cannot put my finger on it, especially at this late hour.  But for me, it is something special.  

I've written on a number of somber and serious topics lately.  This is not due to some master schedule.  (If I had such a schedule, I'd have a more organized garage.)  Instead, it is triggered by events and things that matter to me, at least at that moment.  But I wanted to write about something positive, something that made me feel good.  Seeing theater this weekend did that for me.   It is great whenever I get to see a show.  Getting to see two shows in one weekend, now that is a treat indeed.    

It was my privilege to be a member of both audiences.  I look forward to getting to do it again, and soon.  If you have not seen live theater for a while and enjoy it, then seek out a show. Odds are there is some type of show going on in your community.  I think you'll be glad you did. 

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

http://www.centerforlivingarts.org/#!classes/crer

http://www.westsidestory.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story 

http://www.jerseyboysinfo.com/ 

An Old Man On Trial

The Auschwitz Death Camp, M Zacharz, sharing authorized, full citation below in credits.

Greetings All:

As I write this, a trial is ongoing in Germany.  A 93-year-old man is facing charges of accessory to murder.  If convicted, he is facing 15 years in prison, assuredly a life sentence.

This is not a typical trial.  The fact the defendant is so old makes it unique.  The circumstances of his crime even more so.  The defendant, Oskar Groening, is accused of being complicit in the murder of approximately 300,000 Jews, primarily Hungarian, at the notorious death camp, Auschwitz.

The facts are not in dispute.  During World War II, Groening volunteered to join the Schutzstaffel, or SS.  Although originally assigned a desk job, he was later sent to Auschwitz.  There he was part of the bureaucracy of murder.  He is not charged with personally killing anyone, or even ordering such deaths.  Instead, his guilt is inferred, based on his actions and complicit support of the Nazi "Final Solution." 

I have tried to find a copy of Groening's indictment, without success.  The basic concept is that by his presence at Auschwitz, his role, however mundane and passive, is enough to convict him of a war crime.  This from an NPR story:  "Prosecutor Jens Lehmann read out the indictment today against Groening, saying: 'Through his job, the defendant supported the machinery of death.'" 

One of Groening's jobs at Auschwitz was to collect money and other valuables from the condemned.  There were audible gasps in the courtroom when he said (to why he did this), "They (the Jews) did not need it anymore."  (Or words to this effect.)


His trial began a few days ago.  In his opening statement, Groening said the following:  “It is beyond question that I am morally complicit.  This moral guilt I acknowledge here, before the victims, with regret and humility.”  Then he said, "As concerns guilt before the law, you must decide."  (Please see The New York Times citation below.)

This is not a new legal theory, although it's most recent attention came from the trials of John Demjanjuk from the 1980s.  Demjanjuk was first accused of being a particularly sadistic Nazi, "Ivan The Terrible."  Later, he was absolved of that accusation, yet still convicted of being a guard at Sobibor, an extermination camp.  In the later case, his presence at such an infamous place was enough (in the eyes of the German court) to warrant guilt.  (For the record, Demjanjuk was appealing this conviction when he died.)  However, this theory has been used before, as far back as shortly after World War II.

I learned about it in Professor Tomaz Jardin's execellent book, The Mauthausen Trial.  I discovered it in a bookstore in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2012.  If you would like to learn more about war crimes trials, punishments and the behind-the-scenes activity, I highly recommend it.  When I saw the cover of a condemned Nazi about to be hanged, I knew I had to read it.  Here's a photo of it.
 

Cover, The Mauthausen Trial by Professor Tomaz Jardim, permission granted to use this image.

In the book, Jardim lays out how this trial came about and how the U.S. was able to obtain complete convictions of all the defendants.  Most were hung.  The prosecution's case was straight-forward:  All the Mauthausen defendants knew what Mauthausen's purpose was and supported this endeavor by their actions.  Knowledge plus support equals guilt.  This was, I believe, the first time this idea was applied in a war crimes trial.  

There is no doubt that those tried and convicted at Mauthausen were guilty as sin of perpetrating the crimes of the Third Reich.  Still, Jardim raises some important and less than convenient questions about the procedural aspects of that trial.  I am not saying those on trial at Mauthausen did not get a fair trial.  However, the due process safeguards in place today are far more robust today.  One only has to look at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, trial to see the difference.  Again, I strongly encourage you to check out this book if you have even a passing interest in this part of history and/or military justice.

Getting back to Oskar Groening and his trial, I am glad it is happening.  He appears to be competent to stand trial and seems well-represented.  The fact he's an old man has no sway with me.  There is no statute of limitations on genocide.  And we are talking about genocide, mass murder on a barley-comprehensibly scale.  Groening was there, he's admitted as much.  He was also clearly on the side of the killers, another admission.  

So let's ignore for the moment the old man on trial.  Instead, let's focus on who Groening was during the war, during the killing.  Here's a photo of him from that time.

Gröning, Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau/Museum, AP re-post, fair use/public domain claimed.

In this photo, Groening looks like what he was at the time, a young man.  With the glasses, he looks almost scholarly.  However, that disappears as soon has you get to his neck and the SS symbol.  Then, it's clear the only thing he was studying was the Nazi hate regime, a neophyte apprenticing at the Nazi school of death.

I have many reasons to be following this story.  One of them is my legal background.  I am curious as to what is the burden of proof, the elements necessary to convict, and if there are the equivalent of our jury instructions, to aid the judges in determining guilt.  It may come to pass that Mr. Groening will convince the judges (or perhaps better put the prosecution will fail to prove) that just being there is not enough to convict.  If so, then should not everyone who wore that uniform be subject to the same fate?  Whatever is the outcome, I hope this trial is closely studied for use in future war crime trials.  Unfortunately, there will be others in the future.

There are a few other issues I want to touch on before I conclude this blog post.  First, Groening's testimony is important as perhaps the last first-hand testimony of someone who had first-hand knowledge of the crimes of the Holocaust.  I believe those who deny the Holocaust are awaiting the time when there are no more witnesses.  Then, they can tell their lies that it never happened, or not to the extent claimed.  Groening tells otherwise.  He is a credible witness and that matters.  After all, he was there and wearing the uniform of the killers.

Then, there is the matter of the survivors.  I read about two survivors, both named Eva.  Eva Fahidi cannot forgive Groening.  Eva Kor can, and did.  I have a link to both stories.  In the case of Ms. Kor, it is an amazing act of forgiveness.  It is in the last source if you'd like to read the whole story.

This trial is ultimately, in my opinion, being held for both Evas, and all the surviors.  This trial is to make Oskar Groening face his crimes and his accusers.  This is to make him stand and confront the evil of the past and his role in it.  

As this old man helped to court everyday with dignity, even kindness, I hope he recalls with detail (and guilt) what happened to those thousands of Jews he watched escorted to another place those many years ago.  A place as far removed from a place of justice as one soul can be.

לעולם לא ישכח

Never forget.

Be well my friends,
Jeno



Sources:

Opening photo:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birkenau_gate.JPG

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32392594

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/04/21/401240940/ex-auschwitz-guard-says-he-was-morally-complicit-in-atrocities

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/world/europe/oskar-groning-auschwitz-birkenau-guard-trial.html?_r=0

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-wp-blm-news-bc-auschwitz20-20150420-story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/world/europe/john-demjanjuk-nazi-guard-dies-at-91.html?_r=0

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674061576

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/specials/tsarnaev

http://ilawyerblog.com/auschwitz-bookkeeper-nazi-war-crimes-trial/

http://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-guest-writers/why-prosecuting-crimes-at-auschwitz-matters-even-now-1.1316079

http://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/04/23/former-ss-member-acknowledges-moral-guilt-reporters-notebook/

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/04/23/264226/auschwitz-guard-offers-germans.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3053685/The-testimony-bookkeeper-Auschwitz-SS-Sergeant-not-cope-hearing-evidence-listening-account-Jewish-survivor.html

A Conversation Worth Hearing

Greetings All:

I don't have a photo to launch this post.  I almost always lead with one but not this time.  If anything, this blog post is going to be more basic, more stripped down.  There will be only one cite, it's below.  

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/04/06/glenn-beck/

If you read this blog (and if you do, thanks!) then you know I'm a Tim Ferriss fan.  I read The 4 Hour Work Week about six years ago and have followed him ever since.  I don't endorse everything he does but I respect how seriously he takes his work.

He also interviews some really cool people.  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tony Robbins, and a long list of other very successful people.  I don't listen to all his pod casts.  Now that the weather is warmer, I hope to listen to more of these.  They are stellar interviews.  Tim Ferriss respects his guest's time and is prepared for an interview.  Even the podcasts I don't love give me a few tidbits of knowledge to take away.

The one I just finished listening to is not one of those.  I loved it.

I did not think I was going to like it, in large part because of the subject/guest- Glen Beck.  That's right, Glen Beck, the arch-conservative talk show host.  The man who self-labeled himself to The New York Times as a "rodeo clown."  (no citation available, I have personal knowledge of reading this fact.)  The man who I mocked when FOX News fired him (or so I thought).  The man whose views of the world I profoundly disagree with in large measure.  This man,...now my favorite interview by Tim Ferriss.

Yes, you read that correctly, my favorite interview.  In the 1994 movie, Pulp Fiction, John Travolta's character, Vincent Vega has a line that has resonated with me over the years. Here it is: "That's a bold statement."  I suppose the reason it has resonated with me is that things in my youth I held with utter certainty are not quite that way now.  So it is with more than minor deliberation I arrive at this position:  Yes, Glen Beck is my favorite Tim Ferriss interview.

So why?  Why did I come into this conclusion?  In part, it is Tim Ferriss' interview skills.  He is clearly the Charlie Rose of the younger crowd.  It is, in large part, to the stripped down honesty of Mr. Beck.  Oh, and I'd be remiss not to mention the impact this interview had on me.  (Did you think that the author of this blog, a lawyer and an only child, would not include himself?)  

In all seriousness, this interview caused me to recognize that I had failed miserably to view Glen Beck as a fellow human being.  I had previously viewed him as an angry right-winger who lacked the intellectual capacity to do anything more than lob bombs at those attempting to make life better.  Years ago I came up with the expression, "It's easier to break a window than to make stained glass."  A guy like Glen Beck is someone who would first come to mind as someone gleefully flinging a brick into the window of society.

Then I heard this interview.  I recognized that I had not taken the time to hear this man.  I had failed to acknowledge the courage it must have taken to confront his addiction to alcohol and drugs and get sober.  Someone who took one class at Yale and earned the respect of his teacher.  Someone who said in this interview our principles, not our interests, should drive our decision-making.

Our principles, not our interests.  I have to quote Jamie Foxx, playing the role of Staff Sergeant Sikes, in the movie, Jarhead, "That's some heavy dope..." (Dope not being a drug but something of powerful knowledge.)  When I heard this line, "principles, not interests," I was blown away by the pure candor of that line.  

I still think Glen Beck is wrong on many, many things.  And yet in listening to this podcast, I realized that I was wrong to dismiss the man just because I dislike his politics.  Dr. Stephen Covey, of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, stresses as one of his habits, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood."  I've heard this before.  However, I think with this podcast, I finally followed through on taking this advice to heart.

Please check out this podcast and let me know what you think.  It's just my two cents, but after listening to these two guys chat, I am convinced it is a conversation worth hearing.

Be well my friends,
Jeno

Celebrations & Observances, Then and Now

The Seder Plate from our  Passover dinner, Friday (April 3, 2015) night.  Photo by J. Berta

Greetings All:

This weekend marked a rather unusual occurrence.  Passover and Easter happened only days apart.  On Friday night, we had a Seder that Dawn led.  We elected to have an abbreviated event and yet it was a complete event for us and our guests.  For those of you who might not be familiar with Passover, it recounts the story of the Jews escape from Egypt.  Throughout the evening, there are references to various symbols.  The matzo, the bitter herbs, the egg (that I cannot eat, but that's a whole other story) the wine or grape juice, it all ties to the story of the Jewish escape and ultimate triumph over the tyranny of the Pharaoh. 

Then today was Easter.  It is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.  As Monseigneur Parizek said during the homily, "Christ was busy going to the world of the dead and releasing the souls of the innocent."  (Or words to that effect.)  As I looked around the church, I saw that the sincerity of Msgr's message was resonating, at least to some degree, with the congregation.  

Later today, my Dad came over and before we grilled out there was an Easter egg hunt for our youngest daughter, Carly.  Cassie, our oldest, and her friend set it up and Carly was quite proud of her haul.

Then she saw the true motherload, compliments of her Grandpa.  Please see the photo below...
 

The Chocolate Bunnies from Grandpa, photo by J. Berta

Needless to say, by this point in the afternoon, we'd moved beyond the spiritual and straight into the commercial/secular aspect of the holiday.  With all the candy, it's like Halloween, except during daylight.

Later this afternoon, as I was doing a bit of yard work, I thought about other celebrations or observances of these two holidays.  Being a "hobby historian," I have a tendency to view things from the past and/or dates that have significance.

As I thought about Easter, I wondered when was the "first" celebration?  As it took the early Christians a while to be up and running as an organized religion, it was not until several hundred years after Christ's death that the feast of Easter was held.  I found this image from the 5th century on Wikipedia (I know, I know, not a valid source for scholarly matters, but this is my blog) and thought it was worth posting.
 

The  Rabula Gospels Crucifixion, public domain, full cite below in credits.

As for Passover, I learned today that one of the Nazi concentration camps was liberated on Passover, 1945, April 4th, to be exact.  This place of death and horror was Orhdolf, a sub camp of Buchenwald.  I've got a link to the story below that tells how one GI who was there was the great uncle of our Commander-in Chief.  I've also got a link to a story from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.  It's a hard, yet important read.

 

Photos taken by American Soldier Henry Raymond Malenfant at Ordruf Concentration Camp, given to The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, fair use/public  domain claimed.

I have to wonder when the Americans walked thru the gates of Ordruf if there was anyone there of the Jewish faith who had the strength or mental clarity to realize it was Passover.  As was Nazi SOP, when a camp was "evacuated" prior to U.S./Soviet troop advance, most of the camp prisoners were force marched.  Only the most sick and weak were left behind.  It is likely they were focused on their next breath, not on the Jewish calendar.  

And yet, I like to think that for those who were alive when American troops entered the camp, they knew, were convinced, that they had been delivered.  Been delivered from slavery, been spared the passing of the Angel of Death.  For some, perhaps only a few, next year might have been in Jerusalem.  

So as this Easter Sunday concludes and with it the third night of Passover, it is good to reflect on our own individual meaning of either one or both of the holidays.  Even if you're not religious, I hope you get a kick out of kids chasing after plastic eggs full of candy.  If you are a person of faith, I hope your observance brought you a measure of peace and joy.  And if you're somewhere in between, then I invite you to create your own definition, your own interpretation, of what the event means to you.  I don't think you have to dwell long on it, just enough to answer your own question.  

You'll know when you have an answer.

Be well my friends,

Jeno

Sources:

http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/The-Passover-Pesach-Story.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter#/media/File:RabulaGospelsCrucifixion.jpg, public domain,
Crucifixion from the Rabula Gospels (Florence, Biblioteca Mediceo Lauenziana, cod. Plut. I, 560).

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/9400#.VSHVRBeIRek

http://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/1942-1945/liberation-of-ohrdruf, includes phot, fair use and/or public domain

 

The God of Bargains

The poster for PVHS's production of Amadeus, permission granted to re-publish this image.

Greetings All:

First, a bit of housekeeping:  This is one of (ahem) a "number" of blog posts in draft form that I intended to publish a while ago.  I started writing this over a month ago.  Needless to say, it has languished.  

Part of the reason is that I've undertaken a new professional pursuit and that has consumed a fair amount of my time.  I'll write about that subject later.  The other reason is that I am writing less than I did last year.  It is not that I am losing interest in this hobby.  I assure you, that is not the case.  If anything, I am making a concerted effort to be a bit more focused in my writing.  I'll leave it to you to decide how I'm doing.

So back to this post's topic.  Last month, we experienced a bit of culture on a Saturday.  After dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant, a few of us headed up to Pleasant Valley High School (PVHS) to watch the drama department's production of Peter Shaffer's play, Amadeus.   

Amadeus is one of my favorite plays.  When I was in high school, I did a dramatic interpretation scene from the play.  I did a bit of research and learned that in the original Broadway version Ian McKellen and Tim Curry as the lead roles.  Holy cow, Batman, Gandalf and Frank-N-Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show) on the same stage.  Oh, and throw into the mix Jane Semour as, Constanze, Mozart's wife, what a cast.

I even succumbed to the rare impulse buy urge and bought the playbill from the show.  I was going to post a few photos but thought better of it as trying to claim "fair usage" is kind of like walking on early March ice.  You can do it, but you might get wet.

Around 1985, the play made it to the big screen.  It won a bunch of awards (deservedly so.  I have a link from YouTube below if you want to get a flavor of the movie...and the central part of the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCB_OcJcDYY 

As far as the PVHS production was concerned, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  While my oldest daughter was not in the show, she helped out behind the scenes with hair and make-up.  I thought this group of high school actors took on an incredibly challenging play and made it there own.  This show is not a laugh out loud slapstick comedy.  It is dark.

How dark you might ask?  Well, how about these elements:  Death, possibly murder, betrayal, jealousy, deceit, lust, adultery, and I am sure other vices I am missing.  I've got a couple of links below to the play if you'd like more information.

For the purposes of this post, here's the salient fact:  It is a story of rage, rage against God.

The play is set in the twilight of the Eighteenth Century.  Antonio Salieri is a composer and a pretty good one at that.  He tells the audience in one of many monologues how he pledges his loyalty and strict obedience to God in exchange for fame.  The line Salieri says that stuck with me throughout the show is when he referred to, "...the God of bargains."

I did not know one could cut a deal with God.  

So without giving away too terribly much of the story, Mozart shows up in Vienna full of talent.  Unfortunately, he was the "fill in the blank" hedonistic rock star of his time.  He was brilliant.  Everyone knew that...especially him.  And that hubris wore thin on a lot of folks, especially Salieri.  He is at first disgusted at how Mozart's talent was given so freely by God to such an ungrateful, obscene actor.  Then the disgust turns to rage when he sees to the full extent God's gift was given.

So much so that Salieri actually declares war on God.  He vows to destroy Mozart to "punish" God.  I know, it sounds crazy, but it's not.  In Salieri's twisted mind, it all makes perfect sense.  After all, God broke a bargain.  Now it was time for retribution.

What I find fascinating about this story is how well crafted it is.  Shaffer did his homework about this era and about the importance religion played at this time.  Issues such as redemption and damnation were front and center...along with all those glorious hymns.  

The tragedy for me with this show, aside from SPOILER ALERT Mozart's death is that Salieri also dies.  He rots away from the inside.  He's drinking toxic water.  The more he drinks, the more poison he takes in, with the thirst remaining.

I might be reading way too much into this story.  And it is, a story.
I have a link to a story from The Guardian that casts doubt on the premise that makes this play so good. 

So let's set aside Saleri's complicity in Mozart's death.  Let's instead look at the emotional suicide he commits not by his rage at God but for his his lack of gratitude for his own gifts and talents.  It was this lack of gratitude that was his undoing, not Mozart's.

Gratitude.  It's one of those words that we hear a lot but describing it can be a challenge.  Here's a definition from the web that works pretty well for me:

grat·i·tude

/ˈɡradəˌt(y)o͞od/

noun

1. the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

synonyms:

gratefulness, thankfulness, thanks, appreciation;

Elie Wissel, the Nobel Laurette and Holocaust survivor wrote this gem:   "When I person does not have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity."  

Then there is this one from the Icon herself:

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
– Oprah Winfrey

So had Salieri been, as Shaffer muses, Mozart's murderer, he could have also been his savior.  He could have said to God, "I thought you had punished me.  I was wrong.  Mozart's music is a gift to the world and he is a gift to me.  I will not destroy him, shoving him in front of the speeding carriage of poverty.  I will pay for fire and food and light and hope.  I will not curse his talent, I will cherish it.  His success does not diminish mine.  If anything, he will inspire me to create even better music."
  
Had he done this, what other music would we have today?  Both that of Mozart's and Salieri's.  

If you're a person of faith, then you likely accept the premise God has given us all free will.  With free will comes both the right and obligation to yes, accept our circumstances as they are.  However, we also have the ability to be grateful for what we have.  In that gratitude, God has given us a truly rare and wonderful gift.

That might be the greatest bargain one could strike.  
 
Be well my friends,
Jeno

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/amadeus.html

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/19/classicalmusicandopera.italy 

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?enabled_terms=&s_it=comsearch&q=definition+of+gratitude&s_chn=prt_aol20

Reflections on March Madness

A Basketball, photo courtesy of Peter Griffin, public domain, full online cite below in sources.

Greetings All:

For the past few days, the American sports world's center of gravity has been the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.   This tournament has been dubbed, "March Madness."  The title comes from the flurry of games played, the last-second heroics, the upsets, the favorites who beat back a challenge from some upstart team and the length of it.  (It covers three weeks.)  It also is a source of profound interest for many.   There are those who love basketball and follow this tournament the way a commodities trader follows the fluctuations in wheat prices.  Even those who might only have a fleeting interest in the tournament get involved.

Largely driving this interest is the process of the tournament.  The seeding, or selecting of who plays who when and where, separates this sporting event from others.  This process is laid out in a bracket.  Everyone knows who is in the tourney, who's favored and by how much.  Everyone starts out at the same spot, a clean bracket and the chance to predict who will win it all. 

Millions of people will fill out brackets, trying to predict who will win.  One such prediction is listed below:

President Obama's picks for the 2015 NCAA Tournament.  Public domain claimed, full cite below.

Yup, that is POTUS' bracket.  His bracket is pretty much shot, as is mine.  I had our intrastate rival Iowa State making it all the way to the championship game.  I still have Wisconsin winning the whole thing, so I suppose there is some potential redemption for me.  Oh well, I cannot be too upset with myself as I took all of five minutes to make my picks.  I suspect there are other folks who (ahem) have a lot more time and emotion invested in this endeavor.

And this endeavor is not left at home or the sports bar.  Oh no, it finds its way into work.  I have a link to an article below that discusses the cost of March Madness to the workplace:  

"It is an annual tradition that has become woven into the fabric the American workplace and society at large. However, there is a cost in terms of lost wages paid to distracted and unproductive workers, and, this year, the cost could reach as high as $1.9 billion, according to calculations by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc."

Interestingly, this same source does not encourage employers to ban such activity, despite the cost.  John Challenger (of the company who is cited in this article, full internet citation below) argues:

“This tournament and the betting and bracket-building that come with it are ingrained in the national fabric. Trying to stop it would be like trying to stop a freight train. When even the president finds time to fill out a bracket, an employer would be hard pressed to come up with a legitimate reason to clamp down on March Madness activities,...”  

It is an annual tradition that has become woven into the fabric the American workplace and society at large. However, there is a cost in terms of lost wages paid to distracted and unproductive workers, and, this year, the cost could reach as high as $1.9 billion, according to calculations by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. - See more at: http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/its-march-madness-years-madness-could-cost-19b#sthash.H9oMmbRC.dpuf

Then there is the pure "fandom" emotion that comes with this tournament.  I suspect there are alums from The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) who are catching up after years of lost contact just to talk about their epic victory over Iowa State on Thursday.  On the other side of the emotional coin are the fans whose teams lost.  I saw a video clip of a member of the Villanova pep band crying as she played for the last time that year.  She surely thought there was at least one more road trip in her team's future.  Not this year.

It stinks when your team loses.  As I watched Iowa lose to a Gonzaga team last evening, I ended up cleaning our bedroom, just so I was not fully focused on the all-but-certain outcome.  I do not begrudge the 'Zaga fans or team for their celebration.  They are a great team and it is expected that they will win, perhaps even a trip to the promised land that is "The Final Four."  Still, it stung to watch my team be eliminated.  If you win, you go on.  If you lose, you go home.  Iowa's going home.  Still, I'm proud of the effort these young men and their coaching staff displayed this season.

And there's next season, there is always next season.  Well, for most of us at least.

the cost could reach as high as $1.9 billion, according to calculations by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. - See more at: http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/its-march-madness-years-madness-could-cost-19b#sthash.H9oMmbRC.dpuf

On Friday, I found myself in the small Iowa town of Indianola.  It was a brief stop, so it was completely by chance I saw the sign below.  I happened to be pumping gas across from the park where this sign is located.

The memorial to the late Chris Street, Indianola, Iowa, photo by J. Berta

For those of you who do not know who Chris Street was, here is a brief background.  He was an incredibly talented basketball player who died tragically in a car accident 1993.  I have a couple of links to the story in the sources.  

His coach, Dr. Tom Davis, summed up Chris' passing and his legacy this way:  "Chris represented all that is good about the Midwest and the state of Iowa. He was open, caring, honest, loving and lived life to the fullest every day.”

It is photos like this that remind me that this tournament is, at the end of the day, a series of games.  While some teams are "one and done," the players will get to engage in other pursuits.  As much as I am saddened my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes are done this year, I know they will play again.  I just wish I could have seen Chris Street play again.  Sadly, that is not going to happen.

It kind of puts this subject into perspective, at least for me.
Be well my friends (and go Wisconsin!) 

Jeno

Sources:

Photo posted above, Peter Griffin, http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=63587&picture=basketball-cover

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/03/17/president-obamas-bracket-2015-ncaa-mens-basketball-tournament

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

http://freebracketchallenge.1.mayhem.cbssports.com/

http://www.challengergray.com/press/press-releases/its-march-madness-years-madness-could-cost-19b

http://www.dailyiowan.com/2012/12/10/Sports/31234.html

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/21/the-ncaa-denied-iowas-request-to-wear-chris-street-jersey-on-saturday/

http://archive.hawkcentral.com/2012/04/25/matt-gatens-walks-in-chris-streets-footsteps/

Steps Taken

Greetings All:

I have been a bit AWOL from my blog over the last two weeks.  I have been taking classes at night for the last three weeks and have not had the motivation to publish any posts.  (I have several in the works, but nothing completed, until now.)

Yesterday was "The Grand Parade" in Davenport.  Like many cities, we have a St. Patrick's Day parade.  However, we are the only place that has a bi-state parade.  Thanks to our proximity to the Mississippi River and a robust group of Irish (and Irish for a day) residents of the cities that hug the river, we have a two-city, two-state parade.  (Although I live in Bettendorf now, Davenport is my hometown and for parade purposes, this parade belongs to all of us.)  I am particularly proud that our area came in third for American cities that celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  I think (bias acknowledged) we've earned this recognition.

St. Patrick's Day is a celebration of all things Irish.  The fact that it coincides with the arrival of spring makes it even better.  This is a fun event.  Lots of folks participate and from what I saw from my vantage point was a group of well-behaved folks.  (And yes, I did happen to see a one or maybe two people enjoying what might have been an adult beverage.)

It might be hard to believe that there was a time in this nation when being Irish was not something non-Irish would celebrate.  There was plenty of discrimination.  Some did not like the Irish for religious reasons.  Others viewed them as lazy or habitual drinkers.  Still others viewed their large families and larger clans as something to be feared.  The sign below is one that was sadly all too common at one time in our nation.  

A sign from the past, date late 19th/early 20th century, public domain

So as my youngest daughter and I watched the parade, I felt a surge of pride go through me when I saw so many people enjoying the day.  My daughter was more concerned with candy and beads.  Fair enough.  After all, she's only eight.  In time she will learn about her heritage inherited from me through my Mom, Catherine Bridget O'Neill Berta.  When she does, I hope she will think, at least briefly, of the statute in the picture opening this blog.

I was coming back from court the other day and I stopped to take a picture of it.  I have a link to the St. Patrick's Society's website that gives some history of it.  Here's what I see when I look it.

I see a family of Irish immigrants arriving in a new land.  A place of hope and promise, yet also one of struggle.  One where not everyone would be welcoming, more likely hostile.  I see a woman grieving for what was left behind.  I see a man determined to break free from the poverty, hunger, and near-slavery that was his life and that of his fathers.  I see a child, full of wonder at this new place.  If she only knew what hardships awaited.  

They, this family, are walking, moving forward, taking steps.  It was their courage to take these steps.  Steps that began with boarding a steerage ship (called coffin ships by some for those who died on a rough passage).  Steps that continued through Ellis Island or other points of entry.  Steps that brought them through their first winter and the snow that came with it.  Steps that caused them to climb high into the tenements where they lived, if you could call it that.  

They took other steps.  They stepped on ladders as flames singed their face as fire-fighters.  They stepped together first on a parade field and then on a battlefield as members of their adopted country's army.  They stepped across a platform to receive degrees as college graduates.  They stepped across the foyer of small homes bought with savings and paid for by countless hours worked in the factories and mills.  For about two centuries, they Irish came, and they kept stepping forward.

For many Irish the biggest step was when a man stepped forward to a microphone on a bitterly cold day, January 20, 1961, to be precise.  He was there to give a speech.  It was hailed as one of the greatest speeches in American history, remembered largely for these immortal words, "Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country."  That man was John F. Kennedy, American's first President of Irish decent.    How far had a people come.  How far indeed.

As the parade concluded on Saturday, I thought of all the people walking that day.  I cannot help but conclude that none of this would have been possible had simple, poor, brave, dignified, scared, hopeful, loving, angry, generous, brawling, artistic people had not taken their steps those many years ago.

A bheith go maith le mo chairde,
Jeno

Sources:

https://blog.niche.com/portfolio_item/best-cities-celebrate-st-patricks-day/   

http://stpatsqc.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html