At GWU: The best weapon is human

Professor Mary Kaldor last week at George Washington University/Patricia Leslie

In the “Distinguished Women in International Affairs” series at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Professor Mary Kaldor from the London School of Economics and Political Science talked last week about her newest book, The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon: Human Security and the New Rules of War and Peace, which she co-authored with Lt. Col. Shannon Beebe, a former adjunct professor at GW.

The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon by Mary Kaldor and Shannon Beebe

The book is about the futility of using conventional weaponry when conflict outcomes now are determined by efforts to restore and protect citizens' basic needs.  Those who make people feel safe and secure become the victors.

At the beginning of her presentation, Dr. Kaldor, director of LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance, spent several minutes describing Beebe's talents and skills, and she talked about the evolution of her friendship with him, who was the senior Africa analyst for the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence.

Last August Beebe died in a private plane crash with his girlfriend in Fauquier County, Virginia.  Members of their families joined the mostly student audience.

The best tools a nation has to defeat an enemy, Professor Kaldor said, is to safeguard citizens' rights and provide people with security and basic necessities, such as protection from violence, poverty, environmental degradation, and bomb attacks.  For citizens to obey laws, they must be able to trust their government, and they must believe in a legitimate authority. 

Without trust that government can protect them and provide a general feeling of security, doors open to let in terrorists who have an interest in violence to create fear and hate, Professor Kaldor said.
Many citizens are seized by fear. 

Professor Mary Kaldor last week at George Washington University/Patricia Leslie

“I think people nowadays do feel very insecure” Professor Kaldor said.  If citizens cease believing that their government can keep them safe, the situation becomes “very, very dangerous.” 

Syria is an example of one nation with “massive violation of human rights.”  People must be free from attacks by their own government.

“No one really knows how to address” the “persistent conflicts” in Somalia, Kenya, Yemen, Syria, and Libya.  In Iraq and Afghanistan “we've used conventional weapons [and] have made the situations much worse.” 

Events in Afghanistan illustrate "more than ever" the importance of civilian command and leadership, necessary to gain citizens' respect for authority. 

Professor Kaldor criticized drone attacks and asked the audience if a terrorist were known to be hiding in Washington, would drones be released to take the person out?  No.

She said she used to think state security and human security could co-exist, but she has changed her mind.  “Of course, the state must be protected” at the expense, sometimes, of international security.  (Think border protection.) 

Her quiet and friendly manner suggested her classes must be popular among LSE students.  At GW they listened intently to her remarks.

The Elliott series, sponsored by Jack and Pam Cumming, bring "renowned women leaders" to GW to talk with students about international issues. 

The occasion was also the fifth annual Banville Forum, presented in memory of GW alumnus, Robert Banville.  Receptions preceded and followed the event.

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Save the date: June 5 for Venus's trip across the Sun

Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty/Wikipedia

Sounds like the name of a song, doesn't it? Venus trips across the Sun?  John Philip Sousa has already written it.

A transit of Venus occurs when the planet passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, and it is a rarity, having occurred either six or seven times since the invention of the telescope.

Beginning at 6:03 p.m. on June 5 Venus will start its path across the Sun and will be visible to the U.S. until 8:26 p.m. when it gets too dark to see.  (How can scientists be so precise?)  The show will actually last past midnight, and on June 6, will be visible from much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

Venus's route will run from west to east or from about the 11 o’clock to the 2 o’clock positions.  Unless you live until December 11, 2117, you'll never see it again.  (Special glasses recommended. It is inadvisable to stare directly at the Sun.)

In a talk last week at the Library of Congress about Venus's trip, NASA's Sten Odenwald revealed all kinds of interesting facts to approximately 75 middle-aged and above academicians (based upon appearances) who crammed the Mary Pickford Theatre.

NASA's Sten Otenwald/Astronomy Cafe

Evidence suggests that in 1520 Montezuma may have been able to see Venus trip the lights fantastic while Montezuma was studying the Sun for "portends." (?)  It wasn’t until 1639, however, that the first recorded sighting of the transit was made, and that was by William Crabtree and British cleric Jeremiah Horrocks.   

Printed literature at the lecture said that only six times since the invention of the telescope in 1609 or 1610 has Venus crossed between the Sun and the Earth, (news to Earthlings: The telescope inventor seems to be up in the air and may not have been the long-thought Galileo, who by the way suspected the love planet was more than just a bright light in the sky), however, NASA says that, excluding next month's transit, there have been seven Venus transits. (You know how persnickety academicians can be when it comes to dates, don't you? Someone may have excluded the transit in 1631 when no one recorded it, and anyway, who's counting? See chronology below.)

Venus's transit on Dec. 6, 1882, taken by students at Vassar College/Sky and Telescope, February, 1961

What’s weird is that Venus's trek across the Sun comes in pairs (of course! The love planet) that are eight years apart but separated by over a century (?).  This is so confusing I must quote from an original source before I screw it up:

Transits of Venus have a strange pattern of frequency. A transit will not have happened for about 121 ½ years (prior to 2004, the last one was 1882). Then there will be one transit (such as the one in 2004) followed by another transit of Venus eight years later (in the year 2012). Then there will be a span of about 105 ½ years before the next pair of transits occurs, again separated by eight years. Then the pattern repeats (121 ½, 8, 105 ½, 8). 

You got all that?  Good.

Venus's special one-way trip across the Sun led to the discovery of the solar system's size and the distance from the Earth to the Sun.  What?  (Do you remember what it is?  Answer at bottom.)

Now how in the world would Venus crossing the Sun provide knowledge about the Earth’s distance from the Sun? You must not remember your physics. Or your geometry, your chemistry, astronomy, and math.  Go back to school.

Venus's last Sun trip was on June 8, 2004 when sun storms were quieting, said Dr. Odenwald, but this time, sun storms will be more heated. 

Around the world hundreds of observation points are ready to take aim and record, and the entire transit will be broadcast from Hilo Station in Hawaii, from near the summit of Mauna Kea.

Kudos to Dr. Odenwald who was everything a listener would want a lecturer to be:   enthusiastic, animated, energetic, knowledgeable, humorous with lots of great illustrations to share, and seemingly happy to be presenting at the Library of Congress. He even had some music for his traveling show:   He played a few notes from a recording of Sousa’s “The Transit of Venus March.”   

Where will Dr. Odenwald be on June 5? Probably in Washington, D.C., he said, and maybe on top of the Library of Congress building which reminds me:

Attention Library of Congress:  The fire marshal would have had blown a fire ball had he or she seen people sitting on the steps and blocking egress in the Mary Pickford Theatre like they were for Dr. Odenwald's talk. It is obvious librarians are not safety experts, but really, the Library doesn't have a larger venue for popular talks?

    Transits of Venus:  1601-2200

1631 Dec 07                 
                       

                        1639 Dec 04                

                        1761 Jun 06                

                        1769 Jun 03             

                        1874 Dec 09             

                        1882 Dec 06               

                        2004 Jun 08                

                        2012 Jun 06                

                        2117 Dec 11               

                        2125 Dec 8

Answer: 93,000,000 miles 

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Biking on a sunny afternoon

Along the George Washington Parkway Trail/Patricia Leslie

The Bike Ride

How do you like to ride on a bike,
Under a sky so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a girl can do!

Ride my bike and move over the trail
And I can see so wide,
River and trees and airplanes and all
As I go cycling by

Till I look down on the pavement dull
Down down down I fall
Up on the bike I go riding again
Oh, look! There's the National Mall

With apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson

A traffic jam along the George Washington Parkway/Mt.Vernon Trail in 2011/Patricia Leslie

From the George Washington Parkway Trail with the Washington Monument in the distance and is that the Jefferson Memorial?/Patricia Leslie

A rare sighting in Vienna along the W&OD Trail:  A member of the trail patrol/Patricia Leslie

Dogs are always welcome along the W&OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

Crossing Gallows Road along the W&OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

Be'la Dona rocks the Kennedy Center

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

One of the free 6 p.m. performances at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage last week was by Be’la Dona, D.C.'s own "homegrown" all-female band whose members can shake a tail feather, yes they can!

Dance and jive, yes!

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

I know I shed about 500 calories just watching them, and all I did was clap and throw my hands in the air.  I didn’t even stand up and get out on the dance floor like the white-haired white guy in the yellow shirt up front who thought he was part of the act, too.  But he produced a lot of laughs and applause with his show inside a show. 

An audience member who became part of the Be'la Dona show at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

Despite his participation, it did take a while for the singers and musicians to get the rest of the KenCen audience "going" in the spirit of things, but "going," it finally did.

It was the first Millennium production I've seen where the performers left the stage to go down into the audience and try to coax the crowd into a boogie. It was like rolling a wagon through a mountain of molasses, but then the people finally got into it

Said one of the leaders right at the beginning, "This is the Kennedy Center, after all, and we’ve got to be respectful” or something like that. 

The Be'la Dona guitarist was Genevieve Konecnik/Patricia Leslie

One of my favorite kinds of music, gospel, is one of Be’la Dona’s genres, but I didn’t hear any.

What I did hear was mostly loud percussion and vocals, and to my untrained ear, selections were repetitive.  One (maybe more) of the Be’la Dona members used to sing with Mr. Chuck Go-Go Brown, and it was his brand of music I was hoping to hear. (Mr. Go-Go may be 75, but he'll never be old, even when he gets to be 105! Hope he's feeling better.) 

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

During the production I did pick up a few words which may have been song titles since they were repeated about a millennia:  25 Days, Heartbreak Hotel (not the Elvis version), and Love Will Make You, Oh, So Happy…So Sad (Sing it sister! Not the Al Green version).

Members of Be’la Dona are Rhonda Coe, Wendy Rai Mackall, Genevieve Konecnik, Cherie Mitchell Agurs (maybe relative of John Agurs, manager?), Claudia Rodgers, Tempest Thomas, Shannon Brown, and Karis Hill.  If there's a happier band, I'd like to know who it is.   These ladies in their black and white apparel never ceased smiling broadly throughout their hour-long appearance.

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

It was surprising at 5:30 p.m. to find plenty of empty seats which I would have expected the hometown fans to have filled, but, by show's end, they had showed up, and it was SRO.

Reminder:  Before 6 p.m. you can get Happy Hour prices at the KenCen's hallway bars. Five bucks will get you beer, crunchy treats and live music.  Who can beat it? Gospel, not necessary. 

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra captures Shostakovich's genius

Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Before the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, conductor Marin Alsop provided a brief history of the piece to a spellbound audience which filled the Strathmore Symphony Hall.

According to Ms. Alsop and program notes, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was in Leningrad, the city of his birth, on the evening of June 22, 1941, where he was shaken by the news that despite an agreement between the Soviet Union and Germany, Adolph Hitler's forces had attacked his homeland.  It didn't take long for German forces to overwhelm Russia and begin bombing Leningrad.

Hitler's goal was to take down Leningrad, "the once and future St. Petersburg."

The protection of Leningrad, October 1, 1941/David Trahtenberg, Wikimedia Commons

During the onslaught, an estimated one million Leningrad citizens died, but the Russian people refused to give up their city, and Shostakovich's talents and fortitude helped them persist.

The timing of his start on the symphony is actually in dispute, according to Wikipedia, but some claim Shostakovich began the composition in July, 1941, after the German attack.  Whenever the start, he dedicated his work to the city of Leningrad which he refused to abandon. By October, Shostakovich had written three movements. 

Dimitri Shostakovich in 1942, the year the Seventh Symphony premiered/Wikimedia Commons

Under orders from the government which wanted to protect one of its most talented, Shostakovich moved with his family from Leningrad to Moscow and then to Kuibyshev, both cities which premiered the symphony the following March, after he completed it in late December. The March productions were broadcast in the Soviet Union and abroad.

Meanwhile, English and American audiences eagerly wanted to hear it, and the score was transported on microfilm by car, ship, and plane through Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, and Brazil before reaching New York where orchestras competed to play the American premiere.  In a radio broadcast, Arturo Toscanini introduced it to the U.S. on July 19, 1942 with the NBC Symphony.  In the 1942-43 season, the BSO was one of 62 orchestras to play the work.  The entire composition calls for more than 100 musicians and lasts less than 90 minutes. 

Against a backdrop of quotes from Shostakovich and video of Leningrad and the initially downtrodden Russians, the BSO musicians enthusiastically played their most recent rendition.   The harsh sounds and clashes of war and its aftermath are the focus of the first movement, allegretto, lasting 28 minutes, however, the output and enjoyment of the music, despite its strident message, made it seem far shorter. 

Some have compared the movement to Ravel's Bolero to which Shostakovich replied, "That's how I hear war."

At the end and as expected, Strathmore attendees leaped immediately to their feet and gave the BS0 three encores.

Juxtaposed with Shostakovich's response to murder and political upheaval in his homeland during World War II, are the responses of another artist, Joan Miro, deeply affected by tragedies occurring at the same time in his native Spain.  On Sunday, a major exhibition of Miro's works, "The Ladder of Escape," opened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the only venue in the U.S.

It is clear that the Strathmore audience adores its BSO and the confident Ms. Alsop, the first conductor to receive a MacArthur Fellow and the first woman to lead a major orchestra in the U.S.  This September she will celebrate her fifth anniversary with the BSO. 

Next up for the BSO at Strathmore is a program featuring works by another Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and an Englishman, Sir Edward Elgar.  Conductor Alsop will lead, with guest artist Andre Watts on the piano for Rachmaninoff.

When:  8 p.m., Saturday May 12, 2012

Where:  Strathmore Symphony Hall adjacent to Metro Grosvenor-Strathmore station with free parking in the Metro garage

How much:  Call 301-581-5800 at Strathmore or the BSO ticket office at 410-783-8000 or 877-BSO-1444 to see if any tickets remain since it's sold out on the Web. Update: Today (May 7) two tickets at $88/each remained for the Strathmore performance, however, $25 tickets are available if you will go to Baltimore. 

For more information: 301-581-5200

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Washington Capitals defeat New York Rangers in playoff game #4

At the East Falls Church Metro stop, this couple said they were on their way to the Nats' game, but she was wearing her lucky Caps earrings which worked for both the Nats and the Caps/Patricia Leslie

On the Orange Line on the way into town for the game, this New York Rangers' fan drew warm attention/Patricia Leslie

The march of the Red Soldiers in front of the National Portrait Gallery/Patricia Leslie

To honor the Capitals and the Nationals, Capital Bikeshare dyed all its bicycles "Fury Red"/Patricia Leslie

Market research on the street turned up one playoff ticket "upstairs" for only $50 with three handsome dudes, however, the norm Saturday for street prices was $80.  Not bad for a playoff game, especially when fans pay upwards of $80 to sit at the ceiling during the regular season/Patricia Leslie

Opposites attract/Patricia Leslie

"Greenie" was a star on Saturday and scored his first playoff goal this season/Patricia Leslie

Honored troops at the game/Patricia Leslie

Major Ben Hatch, Bronze Star Medal Recipient, was honored for his military service in Iraq and other places/Patricia Leslie

Major Ben Hatch, Bronze Star Medal Recipient, was honored at the game/Patricia Leslie

'Goat' leads the cheers/Patricia Leslie

A faceoff/Patricia Leslie

Waiting/Patricia Leslie

Braden Holtby, a net star/Patricia Leslie

The team converges on goaltender, Braden Holtby, to celebrate the Caps' victory, 3-2, joyous another OT was not necessary/Patricia Leslie 

Nicklas Backstrom was one of the "players of the game"/Patricia Leslie

And Mike Green was another.  "Greenie," "Backie," and "Ovie" all scored./Patricia Leslie

And the shirts came tumbling down/Patricia Leslie

White House furnishings close Sunday at Renwick Gallery

Armchair, 1818, made by William King, Jr. (1771-1854), Georgetown, D.C., mahogany, gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Ford Sollers, Sr., 1986/White House Historical Association

Well, if you can’t get in the White House, why not at least see some of its furniture, china, a president's breakfast tray, place settings, and other items now on display at the Renwick Gallery?

This lovely museum (one of the Smithsonians), which whispers refinement and culture, is located just down the street from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, next door to Blair House, if you’ve ever stayed there.  (No?  Then you must not be a head of state, but you are invited to the Renwick which is at the corner of Penn and 17^th Avenue North, NW, at no charge.)

The curators call the White House belongings, "decorative arts," and there are 95 pieces in the exhibition created to honor the 50^th anniversary of the White House Historical Association.

For anyone in or around or remotely interested in Washington, D.C. which shall include but not be limited to historians, White House aficionados, curiosity seekers, political junkies,  presidential scholars, art historians, and who's left?  This exhibition is absolutely “must-see.”

What are "decorative arts"?  Glad you asked:   They are anything which decorates, enhances, or adds to the richness of a living environment (like my parakeet) such as silver, glassware, chairs, tables, crystal and a bedspread.

And there is one last museum public talk about it to be delivered at noon, Friday, May 4, at the Renwick by White House Historical Association Vice President John Riley. 

The show includes a few of the 464 pieces of a silver set made in 1809-1810 which, despite criticism from Congressional members, President Andrew Jackson purchased in 1833 for the White House.  To buy the set, the president used money raised from an auction of White House furniture.  (Congress and the president weren't getting along then either.)

Also included in the Renwick presentation:

A large soup tureen with eagle finials made in France in 1809-1817 which President James Monroe purchased in 1817 to commemorate the U.S. victory in the War of 1812,

A large (very large) wild turkey platter from the Rutherford B. Hayes administration,

Pieces of the Lincoln china selected by Mary Todd Lincoln who was instrumental in the design of the wine-colored borders,
 

Teddy Roosevelt's silver breakfast tray,

A place setting for a state dinner with four forks, three knives, a dessert spoon and glasses  for water, champagne, wine, and dessert wine. 

Grace Coolidge hoped to start a tradition among First Ladies by leaving a special legacy to the White House, but her successors ignored her idea. You may see Mrs. Coolidge's gift, a beautiful and elegant bed covering she crocheted between 1925 and 1927 for the Lincoln bedroom.

The only outlier in the show is a 1903 amateurish painting of the Blue Room by Washingtonian Charles Bittinger (1879-1970) which may be one of the primary reasons it is there:  He was local.  Please, go have a look and see what you think. Honestly, I cannot imagine this hanging anywhere in the White House except inside a closet.

The entire exhibition is well laid out with decorative plants and an atmosphere of the 1920s to put a visitor "in the  mood."  On the three occasions I visited, no one obscured visibility.

At the end of the show and before reaching the gift shop, visitors will enter a small room with benches where they may sit and see an informative and exceedingly worthwhile video, At Home in the White House which stars Laura Bush, Tricia Nixon Cox, Rosalynn Carter, Susan Ford Bales, and Linda Bird Johnson Robb.  Not to miss!

What:  Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House

When:  Now through Sunday, May 6, 2012, 10 a.m. - 5: 30 p.m.

Where:  Renwick Gallery, 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

How much:  No charge

Metro stations:  Farragut North or Farragut West

For more information:  (202) 633-7970 or (202) 633-1000

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