Rock on, Azerbaijan!

The entrance to the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium earlier this month, two Chinese uniformed troops stood near me smiling and conversing about festivities underway (or so I imagined since I don't speak Chinese).

The occasion was the 101st anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and recognition of its Armed Forces Day.

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States Elin Suleymanov and his wife, Lala Abdurahimova (center to the right of the serviceman in white) listen to a speaker at the Azerbaijan celebration, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States Elin Suleymanov and his wife, Lala Abdurahimova (center) listen to a speaker at the Azerbaijan celebration, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The food didn't stop at the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A crowd of several hundred well-dressed guests came to celebrate Azerbaijan, dance, drink wine and beer, and eat delicious Azerbaijani delicacies which were served non-stop on buffet tables.

An orchestra from the capital, Baku, played national favorites (and some American selections, too) in the elegant neo-classical hall with its huge, lighted golden columns and stately tall ceiling.

Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States Elin Suleymanov and his wife, Lala Abdurahimova, welcomed guests. Other speakers praised the nation and its anniversary.

When the orchestra played Y. M.C.A.! guests threw their hands in the air at the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019.  Also played, Frank Sinatra's My Way/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Although it was close to the end of the evening, the food replenishment continued non-stop at the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019, this jacket drew attention/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019. Dance with me, Henrietta?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The entrance to the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Azerbaijan celebration at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, June 11, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I met citizens from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Spain, Finland (no Americans), and saw more military officers in dress uniform than expected, including the Chinese troops who answered my query about the Hong Kong protests with a mild smile and a shoulder shrug. (No English.)


Azerbaijan has 9.8 million people and covers 33.5 thousand square miles, surrounded by the Caspian Sea on the east, Russia and Georgia to the north, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.  In 1919 its became the first Muslim majority nation to grant females the same rights as males, beating the U.S. by a year granting women the right to vote. 

Its website calls the nation "the West in the East" and "the East in the West" for it sits in Asia and Europe.

Let's go! 

patricialesli@gmail.com

How I "tricked" the airlines and you can, too!

Photo, Alaska Airlines

For a long time my very smart daughter-in-law (a Department of Defense engineer who repairs submarines) and I have surmised that airlines' algorithms track your online presence when trying to buy tickets.

Now, I have proof that it happens.

When I tried to book a ticket to Sitka, Alaska, the best, the cheapest ticket disappeared the day after I decided to "sleep on" the potential purchase. 

Gone, ticket!  

The airline supposedly snatched the ticket, trying to force me into buying a more expensive one.

I tried at work that next morning to find the cheaper ticket, suspecting the tricky airline was up to no good, at least, to my "no good," and it was true. It was up to its "own good," certainly not mine.

Still, no cheap ticket to be found. Not even on  the office computer.

So, they knew who I was and what I wanted.

I decided to wait a couple of days and find that bloomin' ticket on a public computer where the airline couldn't track me, or so I thought, and it worked!  

On the public library's computer, I zoomed around different months and inserted different days and times, all the while knowing exactly which month, day, time I wanted.  I put in different cities to screw up those algorithms the best I could. 


By golly, ten minutes before the clock struck midnight (or 6 p.m. in public library parlance), I zoomed into the ticket time I wanted, and guess what.  There it was!  The cheap flight, the time, everything!  I bought that confounded ticket and rapidly found a cheap (relatively speaking) return flight which I seized.

It took some time and effort, but I saved several hundred buckS! And so can you.

Take that, algorithms! And happier traveling, everybody!

Trump courts the enemy. Why?

Congressman Adam Schiff at today's National Press Club briefing/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, has a few thoughts on Trump's courtship of despotic rulers which he delivered today at a briefing at the National Press Club.

The president makes "common cause" with despots, Schiff said, creating "a great and grave threat to the United States." 

Today's world is "a challenge to democracy," and "a dangerous time" he said more than once.

He cited autocratic rulers in Turkey, Egypt, Hungary, the Philippines, and Brazil with growing evidence that France, Germany, Austria, and others are headed in the direction to elect despots. 

The world is trending towards "authoritarianism."

Members of Congress, including Congressman Schiff, believe Trump's actions are driven by financial gain for himself and his family which explains their relationship with Saudi Arabia and Moscow where the Trump tower would have landed Trump the "most lucrative deal" probably of his lifetime.

While campaigning for the presidency in 2016 and extolling the virtues of Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Trump denied working with the Russians to seal his tower deal but then later admitted to it: "'It's not a crime,'" Cong. Schiff quoted Trump:  "'If I lost the election, I would have lost the deal.'"

When later questioned by a member of the audience about the committee's attention to the Moscow tower deal, Schiff answered:  "Where does it lead?"  What other deals is Trump cooking up with different nations?  Russia has shown "how easy" it is to establish a relationship with Trump and his family.  

The financial connection to North Korea ("irrational and dangerous") is unknown, Schiff said, but Trump is "desperate to get a deal done with North Korea which he can say is the greatest deal since 'sliced bread.'" 

Who would have ever dreamed the president of the United States would say he admires the North Korean dictator? Schiff asked.

While Congress seeks to protect the interests of the American people, Trump seeks to protect his own interests. 

In the question and answer session which followed Schiff's remarks, he said Trump "projects his own lack of ethics" on everyone else.  "'Everyone does it,'" Schiff quoted Trump whose unethical practices are acceptable to the president and his team.

Trump's message to the Russians seems to be: "Russia, if you are listening and want to intervene in our elections, come on over and participate, but only if you're nice to me."

The Kremlin, Schiff said, tried to cover up its dealings with Trump.

What's scarier than Russian sabotaging U.S. elections, is "deepfake" technology which, Schiff said, "I am most fearful of."

That's when creators make fake videos and make them appear real as in the case of the slow video released last month of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi which tried to make her appear drunk.  

It takes a while to analyze and determine legitimacy of "deepfakes." (Samsung's was developed at its Moscow center.)

What happens if a "deepfake" candidate emerges days or weeks before an election, and there's no time to find if it is real? Although viewers may quickly learn it is "fake," it is still difficult to divorce oneself from the visuals, Schiff said. 

"Deepfakes" are inherently more disruptive than "hacking and dumping," he said several times. "A.I. [artificial intelligence] is good enough to fool us." There's "a lion's dividend for those who lie."


"We have a president that claims the Access Hollywood tape is fake" (when Trump was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women's genitalia) but Trump says the slow video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appearing drunk is real.

His staff touts "alternative facts" and "'truth isn't truth.'"

Some "immediate threats on the horizon," Schiff said, involve Iran and its aggressive posture. Most assuredly it is Iran attacking ships, actions which "our allies" have been predicting for two years.

Trump attacks our allies so where are our allies when we need them?  Nowhere to be found.  

"We can't be going this [way] alone," Schiff said. The situation presents "incredible risks to our servicemen [sic] in the region." 

He said "serious mental gymnastics" are necessary to figure out what the administration's shuffling stance on Iran means.

While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticizes Iran for threatening to abandon tenets of the nuclear treaty, Trump gave up the treaty a year ago.  While Pompeo makes overtures to meet with Iran, National Security Advisor John Bolton arranges new sanctions against it.


Trump's Iranian policy is "incoherent." Schiff compared it to Mutt and Jeff since no one knows what anybody else is doing. "It's simply incoherence because that's been the pattern of this administration."

Schiff said he and others believe China is meant as a distraction from talk about all things Russian.

He called China's citizen watch to control its population with ubiquitous cameras and other means, "digital totalitarianism."  Many younger Chinese do not know anything about Tiananmen Square.

Schiff described two revolutions that are happening now:
The change in the global economy and the increasing anxiety people feel about their economic futures.

Adding to the anxiety is fear and anger which race across social media.

On other subjects:  the "second most dangerous" person in the U.S. is Attorney General Bill Barr. Robert Mueller will testify before Congress either voluntarily or by subpoena, Schiff said.

The congressman was smartly dressed as he always is: white shirt, coat and tie. He spoke eloquently during the hour-long session without notes, without looking down at the podium.  

I don't believe he ever used the words "president" and "Trump" together, and he seldom used the word, "Trump." He always said "United States" and not "U.S." 

Although NPC President Alison Fitzgerald Kodjak asked at the start of the program that all cell phones be silenced or turned off, about three went off during the presentation which started and ended on time. About 75 attended.

"Impeachment" never came up.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Fore! Alexandria has 'A Fox on the Fairway'

 Raeanna Larson is Louise Heindbedder and Cameron McBride is Justin Hicks in Little Theatre of Alexandria's A Fox on the Fairway/Photo by Matt Liptak

Just in time for summer comes a golfing show with hilarious hi jinks and laughs which is better than a good round, but knowledge or practice of the sport is not required to have a good time in the tap room of the Quail Valley Golf and Country Club. 

It's the place for A Fox on the Fairway at the Little Theatre of Alexandria.

From left are Patricia Nicklin as Pamela Peabody, Ken Kemp as Henry Bingham and Cameron McBride as Justin Hicks in Little Theatre of Alexandria's A Fox on the Fairway/Photo by Matt Liptak

The show takes off as fast as a ball hit by Brooks Koepka, which means there is nothing slow about these players who do more than choke, fade, or hook competitors. They dice 'em and feed 'em to each other (?).

The action happens in a nicely designed setting (by Marian Holmes) of a formerly elegant golf club whose owner, Bingham (Ken Kemp) has bet $200,000 and his angry wife's antique shop that his golfers are better than those golfers from the Crouching Squirrel Country Club.

With a name like Crouching Squirrel, you might expect its owner, Dickie (Brendan Chaney) to be anything but suave and you would be right.

Costumers Ceci Albert and Lisa Brownsword have dressed Dickie in uglier sweaters than any to be found at the ugliest Christmas Ugly Sweater Contest. Dickie's ensembles fit his ugly personality of tricks and smooth operations. He's a hulk of a man, and Chaney carries the role splendidly.

On the other side of the ring putters poor Bingham with troubles aplenty, stuck in the rough, caught between his wife, a new love life, the club's deterioration, and the golf contest.

You were expecting anything less?

Three couples are off balance in Fox.

One is the energetic young couple, Louise (Raeanna Nicole Larson) and Justin (Cameron McBride), who just happen to get engaged on set (and who in life are an energetic young couple who just happen to be their own team).

The other two couples are mostly splitsville: Bingham and his screechy wife, Muriel (Lorraine Bouchard); and Dickie and his ex-wife, Pamela (Patricia Nicklin).

While the older ones tolerate rough patches, Louise works in the tap room and Justin comes to work and they make par.

Can Justin save Bingham's bogeys?

Adding to the merry-go-round are Louise's occasional drifts into soliloquy under a single spotlight to discharge classic lines while the cast stands in freeze mode.

Dickie's approach to winning is complicated by Pamela whose presence always increases the rhythm and temperature.

Although it is gauche to laugh at drunkenness, I could not help but admire Ms. Nicklin's portrayal of progressive inebriation as the night wears on.

Meanwhile, Bingham grows increasingly anxious as his greens wear thin, Muriel is barking, and his top golfer has jumped club, but wait, where is that new hire?

As the central figure, Kemp is spot-on.
 
His grouchy, screechy spouse is dressed as dull as a monk, but a monk, she's not, performing a shrewd mad wife who, like the rest of us, is vulnerable to seduction by attention.

The Fox in Alexandria has its minor deficiencies, namely, the ending on the golf course with a handsome greens backdrop encumbered by a confusing mix from other scenes which could be covered or removed, and (am I the only one who cares?) the "bad words" which are gratuitous and offensive. Ain't life realistic enough to escape ear hurts for a while? They add nothing and diminish the enjoyment.

Still, this Fox is lots of fun on Alexandria's fairway where it scores a birdie and an eagle.

Applause to Scott J. Strasbaugh, making his directorial debut at LTA, and to sound designers Krista White and Alan Wray who will certainly be nominated for a WATCH award since they effectively contribute to almost every scene with a splash, thud, or crash.

Fore!

A Fox on the Fairway made its debut at Signature Theatre in Washington on October 9, 2010. The playwright is DC's own, Ken Lend Me a Tenor Ludwig.

Other creative team members are Luana Bossolo & Russ Wyland, producers; Stacey Becker, properties; Susan Boyd, hair and makeup; Sherry Clarke and Brittany Huffman, stage managers; April Bridgeman and Brendan Quinn, assistant stage managers; Michael Page, fight choreographer; Ken Brown, set construction; Jeffrey Auerbach and Kimberly Crago lighting designers.

What: A Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig

When: Now through June 29, 2019. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and a Sunday matinee, June 23 at 3 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Tickets: $21 to $24

Rating: PG-13

Duration: Two hours with one 15-minute intermission

Public transportation: Check the Metro website which supplies information to LTA during Metro station improvements.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby. If Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets is closed, the bank's lot is open to LTA patrons at no charge.
 

For more information: 703-683-0496

patricialesli@gmail.com

Cato's first art exhibition ends on Flag Day

 Allen Hart, The Harpist, oil on canvas, 2006

Giuseppe Palumbo, Sword vs. Pen, bronze, 2016/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the first, but certainly not the last, Cato Institute's art exhibition with works by 76 artists will close on Flag Day, two months after opening for public viewing.

Entitled Freedom: Art as the Messenger, the curators invited artists to explore the meaning of freedom and identity, embracing "manifestations through art." 

It is fitting that the exhibition closes on June 14, a time which coincides with the think tank's mission to follow the principles of Cato's Letters of the 18th century "that presented a vision of society free from excessive government power." 

The show's contents are not the extreme, harsh examples by contemporary artists as one has grown to expect and often observes in public and private galleries, but the artists here offer more promise in attempts to evoke personal reflections upon the theme.

Still, the connections between art you see and theme are frequently hard to discern. That the artists could be present to explain or have available their intent and meanings would be welcome guidance, but as with most exhibitions, "beauty" and meaning belong to the viewer.

Two of the most interesting works (at least to this beholder) are shown above, and all may be seen at the website. The curators received almost 2,200 submissions from 500 artists in 40 states, a much larger response than they anticipated. (Why the U.S. was only represented is a question.) 

Brief essays by Cato's president and CEO, Peter Goettler, and the curators, Harriet Lesser and June Linowitz, are included in the softbound 76-paged, free, color catalog printed on glossy stock. (Do 76 pages and 76 artists have anything in common with 1776?)

Ms. Lesser writes the purpose of the exhibition at Cato “is to provide a medium for conversation about freedom through art” since the two "have always been allies" and fit Cato's dedication "to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace."

She believes each selection “has something special and unique to say about freedom."

Ms. Linowitz hopes the show leads each viewer “to contemplate what freedom means.” She decided that, although her own political philosophy differs "notably" from Cato's, she and Cato would make a good match since the institute exhibits its own tolerance and respect for views and expressions in the show which it doesn't necessarily hold.

Mr. Goettler trusts that the exhibition “may teach us a lot about what freedom means to us and to others.” The essence of Cato is “freedom of speech and expression" which "are among our most cherished values and only with them can art prosper.” The “unconventional, the controversial, and even the distasteful” may call for limits on our freedoms which need to be protected. 

What:  Freedom:  Art as the Messenger

When:  10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closing June 14, 2019 

Where:  Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Closest Metro station:   Green, Yellow and Orange lines all have stops close to Cato. Check Metro.

For more information:  Call Cato at (202) 842 0200.

patricialesli@gmail.com