Common Sense on the Senate Floor

Found this on CommonDreams.org :)

You Gotta Love Her

I'd never heard of Sen. Claire McCaskill, Democrat from Missouri, before Friday. But who could argue with her hammering of bonus-glutted Wall Street fat cats on the Senate floor?

"They don't get it. These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses... What planet are these people on?"

McCaskill proposed legislation to cap executive pay at any company getting federal bailout money at $400,000, or the U.S. president's salary. "Right now, they're on the hook to us. And they owe us something more than a fancy waste basket and a $15-million dollar jet. They owe us some common sense."

Okay, her language was refreshingly direct, but in truth she could have gone further. She could have capped their salary closer to many of the rest of us, say, $20,000 or $30,000. And she could have used, not only the "i" word, but the "c" word. Can you spell c-r-i-m-i-n-a-l?

--Abby Zimet

SUMMER 2009 - IN MOTION!

SUMMER 2009 - IN MOTION

Dance • Drama • Visual Art
at
CONTRADICTION DANCE

Get your kids IN MOTION this summer at Takoma Park's Contradiction Dance studio. We offer 8 weeks of summer programs for students 3-12 years. Featuring our "Stories in Motion" curriculum, blending creative writing, drama, story-telling, visual arts, costume making and dance education; Contradiction Dance is "An Exchange Between Life & Dance."

Full & Half-Day Programs
June 29 - August 21 • 8 weeks:
6/29-7/3 • 7/6-7/10 • 7/13-7/17 • 7/20-7/24 • 7/27-7/31 • 8/3-8/7 • 8/10-8/14 • 8/17-8/21

9am - 12pm, Half-Day Mornings • $250/week
9am-4pm, Full Day (6-12yrs only) • $425/week

Pre-Register by March 31 and SAVE $25/week
Registrations after May 31 will be charged a LATE FEE of $25/week
To Register: EMAIL contradictiondance@gmail.com

The Stories in Motion curriculum was originally created for Montgomery County's S.A.I.L. Program by Story Tapestries founder, Arianna Ross and Contradiction Dance's founder, Kelly Mayfield. We are pleased to bring it to you!

Contradiction Dance
7014 Westmoreland Ave, A
Takoma Park, MD 20912
phone - 240.450.2420
email - contradictiondance@gmail.com

www.contradictiondance.com

Melancholy Revisited

Below is a poem I wrote a while ago, depicted by a drawing Shallom made a while ago. It's a good example of how we collaborate: distinct voices + common subject + complimentary style = result I am pleased with... though, in this example we didn't set out to make this collaboration at all - it is "found art" of sorts.

Sentiments on melancholy: Well, it's a place I go sometimes - and a place of lot of creatives visit. It's not a happy place, but it happens. Usually I land here in periods between inspiration, while I'm waiting on the muse to reappear. I revisit this poem as a reminder that these moments are temporary.

The image - a self-portrait of Shallom (charcoal on paper) is the exact shape I found myself in taking a bubble bath this week. Clearly, some states of being take us to familiar physical shapes. If I asked you to "raise your hand if you've been there" I suspect you'd all raise a hand. Men, I don't know... been there? Or, is this a female thing? Or, is this a creatives thing? I'm curious.

I consider it all a part of being. It's not good or bad, it just is. And it passes.

Thoughts?

charcoal on paper, 2007
self portrait

She Creeps

My brain is loud, then silent.
These emotions a raging ball of tempestuous urge, desire, and need.
Spirit low and empty, then full of light and optimism.

This is far better than the creeping, dreadful and loathsome melancholy. Melancholy laced in apathy, she whispers to my heart while I rest. I wake to remnants of a sorrow so vast and black, the emptiness is blaring loud in its oppressive silence.

I fear I will not wake from the dreams she offers my beating heart. Or, worse, awaken to a dank, cold void as reality.

I choke back tears and realize I’m grateful for them; sadness is better than nothingness.

I long for better dreams, aching to find a new home for her pale whispers and silently screaming darkness.

And yet, she remains. Cold, alone and creeping…

26 March 2007

Regarding Children

My mom sent this my way...

Drinking Coffee = Lower Dementia Risk? Read On...

Look kids! Drink up! ... for those of us who drink the dark stuff... have another cup! Thanks Seth :)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/health/research/24coffee.html

Coffee Linked to Lower Dementia Risk

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Published: January 23, 2009

Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study suggests an intriguing potential link to mental health later in life, as well.

Pics from "Art of Change Ball"

These were taken by an attendee... enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilymildew/sets/72157612845310396/

poetry of the moment

Gentle Lion
Roared Whispers
Chaos landing
Like snowflakes
On the window
Mind reeling
Body stirred
To frenzy
Soul Still, Silent
Unmoved
Until it is time
To cease the
burdens of mind
And body
Then soul, moves
Quickly - with efficiency
Unmatched
Pouncing, with a
Great earthquake of
Thunder and hail
Change is
Near

Sleepy Stuff

From Joseph:

original

3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late

By Daniel Dumas 12.22.08

Start

Previous: Science We Can Believe In: How President Obama Can Recharge U.S. Research

Next: Ingenious Hellraiser Fires Up Homebrew Flamethrowers

1 // You may need more sleep than you think.
Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were "well rested" actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours. That figures. Until the invention of the lightbulb (damn you, Edison!), the average person slumbered 10 hours a night.

2 // Night owls are more creative.
Artists, writers, and coders typically fire on all cylinders by crashing near dawn and awakening at the crack of noon. In one study, "evening people" almost universally slam-dunked a standardized creativity test. Their early-bird brethren struggled for passing scores.

3 // Rising early is stressful.
The stress hormone cortisol peaks in your blood around 7 am. So if you get up then, you may experience tension. Grab some extra Zs! You'll wake up feeling less like Bert, more like Ernie.

JANUARY CONCERTS! & a QUOTE.

This passage is in a book I'm reading, Skinny Legs and All (Tom robbins), it's a conversation between a can o' beans & a mirror, pretty much sums up my thoughts on one part of an artist's role in society, as mirror.

' "And a further thing, Mr. Mirror," the can went on. "Since you reflect chaos and instability as objectively as you reflect order, since you reflect the novelty and variety that humankind's institutions seem designed to suppress and deny, are you not a dangerous agent of truth? I mean, I know that magicians employ you in their trickery, but isn't uncompromising realism your forte? If humans erect institutions to conceal the unruly aspects of their own minds, aren't you mirrors sort of like holes in the fortress walls? Are you not signposts pointing away from rationality and standardization? Because you chaps show it all- good and evil, beauty and ugliness, balance and disarray-with equal emphasis. Or am I making you out to be subversive when actually you're only blasé? No offense intended, sir, in either case." '

JANUARY PERFORMANCES

SINGING THE BODY ELECTRIC Performing the work of Contradiction Dance’s REGGIE COLE
Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 7:30pm
Friday, January 16, 2009 at 8:00pm
The Patterson
3134 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD
410.276.1651
info@creativealliance.org
http://www.creativealliance.org/events/eventItem1637.html
FIDM INAUGURAL FASHION SHOW Come see KELLY MAYFIELD at the Ritz!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Ritz Carleton DC

THE ART OF CHANGE, Inaugural Ball
Tuesday Janurary 20, 2009 8pm
CONTRADICTION DANCE performs at 10:45pm
Tickets: http://www.artists-ball.org/

Poetry on a bar-nap w/ b-man!

Boris & I were at it at Kramer's!

Stately
Refined
Present
My present?
Let's see...
The unwrapping is only a prelude
To what?
Hmmmm

Choices or decisions and feelings observed
by so many who said,
How is she?
Oh, her, well;
I am not the one to ask.
And they see right through me
to the wall that stands at the end of time
While I wait there
Hollow


Fancy meeting you here,
Reflection.
Of me? Said she...
Or, he?
Mirage or Oasis,
What'll it be?
The hourglass releases its sands to the sea,
Drifting to the bottom
Silt. Still.
Smooth as glass,
Reflected In you,
I am
We

Who's Showcasing at APAP? WE ARE!

Attending APAP?

photo by Enoch Chan

Don't miss this unique opportunity to see
Contradiction Dance & Story Tapestries
join forces once again!

As part of the Mason/Rhynes Productions Artists Showcase, the companies meld the power of the performing arts into a powerful Exchange Between Life & Dance!

Story Tapestries: Story Tapestries: Arianna Ross creates entertaining, international, dynamic programs that weave the power of dance, theatre, music, spoken word and storytelling together.

www.storytapestries.com

Contradiction Dance is a place where theatre, dance, and pop culture meet. The company's vision is to make dances that report on, reflect, and question the world in which we live.

www.contradictiondance.com

MASON/RHYNES PRODUCTIONS
ARTISTS SHOWCASE

Sunday, January 11th 7:45-10:45 pm
Alvin Ailey Studios
405 W. 55th Street (at 9th Avenue)
Directions

Featured artists:

8:05-8:20 Global soul artist Tamara Wellons performs selections from her recent house/jazz albums

8:25-8:40 Gesel Mason presents excerpts from her NDP-supported solo project, "NO BOUNDARIES: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers."

8:45-9:00 EDGEWORKS Dance Theater, an all-black, all-male dance company from Washington, DC, presents excerpts from the award-winning "Cold Case" and NDP-supported "the determining factor"

9:05-9:20: New York-based INSPIRIT, a dance company performs excerpts from their recent premiere, and solo work by artistic director Christal Brown.

9:25-9:40 Story Tapestries: Arianna Ross presents a cutting-edge performance in partnership with Contradiction Dance that fuses the power of music, poetry, dance, and story.

Showcase only artists:

9:45-9:55 Maryland-based dance company VTDance/Vincent E. Thomas performs excerpts from his Kennedy Center-commissioned work, "Witness"

10:00-10:10: Nursha Project Theater™/Micia Mosely performs excerpts of her solo show, "Where My Girls At? A Comedic Look at Black Lesbians"

10:15-10:25: Former City Dance Ensemble member REGINALD COLE/In Concert presents solo work and hip hop/spoken word artist Aysha Upchurch/Life, Rhythm, Move Project perform excerpts from the Kennedy Center commissioned work, "Am I On?"

10:30-10:40 Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company presents a fusion of modern dance and traditional Indian dance forms.

Gotta Dance? REGISTER NOW!

WINTER/SPRING SCHEDULE

Adults • Teens • Children

Creative Movement • Pre-Ballet • Ballet • Modern • Jazz • Tap • Hip-Hop • Stories in Motion • The Blend • Taiji • Poi • Hoop Dance • Tribal Belly Fusion • A Different Drum • Dance Afire • Mini Shock • Future Shock

7014 Westmoreland Ave, ste A

Takoma Park, MD 20912

240.540.2420

Register NOW! www.contradictiondance.com

Contradiction Dance is a place where theatre, dance, and pop culture meet. The company’s vision is to make dances that report on, reflect, and question the world in which we live. Nurtured on the belief that artists and audience members communicate in a dialogue through the chosen medium, Contradiction Dance fosters discussion, reflection, and change through live performance and dance education.

Happy Hour for a good cause... 1/26!

My friend Kelly B is hosting this event... please come out, drink up, and support a new theatre company!

theHegira
Hosts Happy Hour!!!

This fundraiser is to support theHegira, a new theatre company,
producing the world premiere of
Deep Belly Beautiful by 2008-2009
Resident Playwright Jacqueline E. Lawton!!!

Join in the Journey!

When: Monday, January 26, 2008
Time: 6:00pm-10:00pm

Hotspot: Ultrabar in Penn Quarter (911 F Ft NW Washington, DC 20004)
Specials: $4 bud lights, $5 bay breezes, and $6 house red wine
How to Help: $10 per person (Suggested Donation)

About theHegira: Our mission is to showcase works that link women of color since their artistic efforts are underrepresented in the theatrical mainstream. We aim to develop, examine, hone, and produce quality work through a dialogue with artists embracing stories of struggle, survival and triumph. This mission encompasses work in all stages of development and theatre practitioners in all aspects of their artistic journeys.


Join in the Journey: DONATE! theHegira is a theatre company based in Washington, DC and is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. Contributions in behalf of theHegira may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Donate online at www.thehegira.org