Free Greek literature and book festival Saturday at Georgetown

             Constantine Cavafy by Yiannis Kephallenos

 

 

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933) will be commemorated Saturday at the first Greek literature and book festival to be held in his honor in Washington.

The public is invited to attend the event at Georgetown University at no charge.

Cavafy, considered "one of the finest modern Greek poets" (Wikipedia), and his achievements will be recognized by Greek authors and poets who will present their own writings. Greek publishers will participate, and some of Cavafy's original books from the collection at the Library of Congress will be on display. 

The keynote speaker will be Vassilis Lambropoulos who teaches classical studies and comparative literature at the University of Michigan.

The event will include short films about Cavafy and readings of his poems with audience participation.

Sponsors are the Embassy of Greece, Georgetown's Modern Greek Language Program, the Athenians' Society of New York, and the Library of Congress.

From Wikipedia:

Cavafy was instrumental in the revival and recognition of Greek poetry both at home and abroad. His poems are, typically, concise but intimate evocations of real or literary figures and milieux that have played roles in Greek culture. Uncertainty about the future, sensual pleasures, the moral character and psychology of individuals, homosexuality, and a fatalistic existential nostalgia are some of the defining themes.

What: The celebration of the 150th anniversary of Constantine Cavafy's birth

When: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., March 16, 2013

Where: Bunn Intercultural Center Auditorium, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20057

Cost: No charge

Metro station: Are you kidding? This is Georgetown. Take a taxi or get off the Metro at Foggy Bottom and take the bus at the top of the escalators to Georgetown or walk from Foggy Bottom (about 30 minutes). Use Metro's Trip Planner for more exact routing.

For more information: 202-687-0100 (Georgetown) or 202-939-1300 (the Embassy of Greece)

 

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Don't go to law school!

That was the strong message conveyed at a Cato book forum where Washington University law professor Brian Tamanaha presented data he’s found researching law school statistics which he describes in his newest book, Failing Law Schools.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts only 22,000 law school graduates will be needed this year, but 40,000 will earn law degrees, Tamanaha said.

Brian Tamanaha by Lorenzo Ciniglio-WUSTL

Just about half the graduates at 75 law schools had found fulltime law jobs within a year after graduation, and the headline in the Washington Examiner March 11, 2013 tells the local story:  "GW pays law firms to employ its grads," but George Washington University, it turns out, is not alone hiring its own at $15 an hour.

Why the imbalance?

Market demand.

During a period of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, many perceive more education, including law school, to be a good investment.  But the cost of a legal education (tuition, debt, jobs and salaries lost while attending law school) far outweighs the value, according to Tamanaha's research.

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The 2013 crop of prospective lawyers will be a big one despite the leap over 11 years (2001 to 2012) of law school costs which more than doubled for students at public universities and almost doubled for private school students. 

The highest cost to earn a law degree is found at Columbia University:  $82.000.

Catholic University ranks No. 7 in top charges and just about 44 percent of its grads secured fulltime legal jobs, carrying a debt load of about $142,000, according to the numbers Tamanaha cited.

Nine months after graduation, about 55 percent of law school graduates overall had found fulltime law jobs, and half of them earned between $45,000 and $60,000.  Many cannot meet their monthly school loan payments.

About 90 percent of students finance a portion of their schooling, and when they graduate, public law school students face an average debt load of about $76,000; private university students, $125,000.

Tamanaha said he wasn't making anything up:  His statistics come from the numbers reported by law schools themselves.

 
Law schools are so hungry for students, the acceptance rate has climbed to 80 percent v. 50 percent in 2004 indicating “a declining quality of the pool.”  

But it looks like some prospective students have gotten the message.  In 2010, 20,000 took the LSAT but only 1,300 applied to law school.

Another law professor on the Cato platform with a book to sell was Paul Campos from the University of Colorado at Boulder whose most recent book is Don't Go to Law School (Unless). 

With a lot of caustic humor which made audience members laugh several times, Professor Campos said half of the 200 law schools sanctioned by the American Bar Association have “absolutely no justification for their existence.”

He said exaggerated numbers presented by law schools show "clearly, some instances of fraud."

Campos called a legal education "dysfunctional in so many ways.” It can block employment since some employers are scared of hiring lawyers.  

Take the law degree off your resume and go out and get a real job, he urged the unemployed.

Also, the mass media presents “a false image” of lawyers.  (Writer's note:  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor who watched a few episodes of Perry Mason when she was growing up might have a different take.)

Cato's Neal McCluskey said colleges and law schools are “profit-making industries” which welcome student funding that is borrowed from taxpayers to pay for education. He called for the elimination of federal aid to education which would allow private lenders with a “natural interest” to loan money and benefit all principals. 

Rankings by U.S. News and World Report are "very superficial," McCluskey said.

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Philly's phlowers phlourish pictures

You just thought you were at a Halloween House of Horror.  No, Jack, you were just reliving Jack the Ripper as in Great Britain, this year's theme at the Philadelphia Flower Show.  This is a bed of red roses at "Jack" by Schaffer Designs to recognize (?), "in honor of" (?) the criminal who murdered at least 11 people. It won "Best Achievement in a Dramatic Setting." More pictures of "Jack," below/Patricia Leslie

Phloriculture phills phrilly Philly at this time of year for the annual Philadelphia Flower Show, celebrating its 174th year, and if you've been once, you know how phloriferous it is, and if you've never been, well, there's next year since the show ends today.

Michael Petrie's Handmade Gardens won "Best in Show" for Landscape/Patricia Leslie

A side view of Michael Petrie's Handmade Gardens for "Best in Show" for Landscape/Patricia Leslie

Phlipping phlowers, we can phly up to Philly today. 

Just look at the pictures.

Stop and smell the roses/Patricia Leslie

Phloribunda!

My begonias don't look like this. To gauge the size, please see the person standing nearby/Patricia Leslie

On a bad hair day, here's something to hide under/Patricia Leslie

Signs warned visitors not to get too close or risk being grabbed by a green monster/Patricia Leslie

This won a red ribbon for best use of a large plant in a small pot/Patricia Leslie

The winner of several prizes was "Welcome Wanderer" from William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream by Abington Senior High School/Patricia Leslie

How about a green roof for your bow wow? The sign says "sempervivums" were used as roof plants as far back as Roman times/Patricia Leslie 

A moving statue would dress up your yard like this one which captured a yellow ribbon. She is based on the Congressional model of women: She moves but doesn't speak/Patricia Leslie

A yard sculpture for every budget/Patricia Leslie

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Another hairy green monster which earned Second Prize in its category for Lynn Cook and Troy Ray of the Liberty Bell Gesneriad Society/Patricia Leslie 

Daniel P. Clark of Lower Merion High School won an Honorable Mention for his lavendar crown made of statice, moss, walnut, pussy willow, rosebud, rice flower, blue thistle, leucadenron, and limonium for the Great Britain theme, Brilliant (?)/Patricia Leslie

This bracelet is made of allspice, yucca, lemon grass, spaghetti squash, oak, and palm/Patricia Leslie

This necklace is made of acorn, almond, Brazil nut, centaurea, cinammon stick, chickpea, garlic chive, hazelnut, kumquat, lentil, licorice root, lotus root, mustard seed, mung bead, navy bean, orange peel, pistachio shell, pomegranate, poppy pod, pumpkin seed, soybean, wheat, raffia, and squash seed/

This necklace is made of crape myrtle, fern, pieris, lotus, pea, grapevine, and heptacodium/Patricia Leslie

Keith Cavell Long, Jr. won a Blue Ribbon and three other ribbons for "An Eye of Style" window display/Patricia Leslie

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These red-tipped long fingernails greeted guests in a long line for "Jack"/Patricia Leslie

Upside-down roses try to obliterate mother-in-law's tongue in "Jack"/Patricia Leslie

Your eyes do not deceive you:  Those are arm parts and hands coming from the wall in "Jack"/Patricia Leslie

This won in the category of Giant Hair Brushes and another ribbon for Lynn Cook and Troy Ray of the Liberty Bell Gesneriad Society/Patricia Leslie

Whenever you go, whatever you do, do not miss the wine tastings. So many to sample, and so were the samplers, but the wine sippers were not numerous enough to make the waits too long on a Friday afternoon.   Plus the chocolate martini was worth whatever wait and almost, almost sent me over to the purchasing table, however, I was able to rein in myself since I don't drink martinis or hard liquor (what? Margaritas are not hard liquor?) except then, and the Smirnoff Kissed Caramel Vodka was better than the name.

These on top of champagnes and wines, and mustard with some dog and some British pale ale at lunch, and I was pretty well sloshed (and unable to aim and take more photographs) but able to miraculously crawl over to the chocolate and cheese sites for samples (to die for: tomato reggiano, at $16/pound, another purchase I skipped) and almond toffee which became dinner before we (Smithsonian Associates) boarded the bus back to D.C., and were served sherry en route. Oh, my!

We never had a chance to get over to the Reading Market.

Next year!

I was happily phulphilled, but enough of my phlummery.

Philicious phobia!

I can't say enough good things about another phantastic, phun Smithsonian Associates tour.  Really.  Thanks to Cindy Brown, Bill Ulman, Alex D (from the other bus) and Danny Mott, the driver.  Great job! 

But so saddened to hear of the take-down of the healthy 100+ year-old ginkgo tree at Pharragut Square. Shhhhhh….Where is that tree commission when you need it?

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Cool Nordics charm a Kennedy Center crowd

Hakon Thelin on his double bass at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

A hushed crowd listened intently last weekend to Unni Lovlid of Norway sing and hum in her contemporary, distinctive style on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center.

You know how sometimes (all the time?) you just need a little something to soothe your mind without having to think about it?  Like pressing "refresh" and mental ocean waves sweep through your brain, calming tired wires. You've experienced that, no?   Ms. Lovlid’s voice, Hakon Thelin's double bass, and Ingar Hunskaar's magic with electronics are the remedy Dr. Healer ordered for a weary state.

Unni Lovlid and Hakon Thelin at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

 
Ms. Lovlid is known for her contemporary folk music, talents she developed on the west coast of Norway, sharpening her ear for years under the tutelage of older women, especially her mother, who sing and perform. 

If you closed your eyes and allowed your ears and mind to fill with the sounds, her soft chants and humming carried you away to a religious experience at a monastery.  

Unni Lovlid is projected on the big screen with its black lines at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

 

With a distinctive, clear voice, reminiscent of a mix of Buffy Sainte Marie and Joan Baez, Ms. Lovlid hypnotized the standing room only crowd with her stare and slight smile, gazing intently upon the crowd while she sang or watched Mr. Thelin, a Norwegian Grammy award-winner, play solo. 

They performed a northern lights number which had the power to summon the northern lights even for those audience members who have never seen the northern lights, with mighty sounds of roaring water which ebbed and flowed with all their friction, compounded by the rumblings of an earthquake.

Hakon Thelin projected on the big screen at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

In 2006 Ms. Lovlid was named Norway's "Traditional Musician of the Year," and soon, Mr. Thelin's and her new album will be out. This is Ms. Lovlid's first performance in the U.S.
 

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Their performance was part of the Nordic Cool 2013 Festival underway at KenCen through St. Patrick's Day, March 17, and what a success it has been, from dancing, singing, theatre, shirt sculpture (?) to Legoland on the roof for wee ones.  (Big wee ones are permitted to play, too.)

Click here to see the cool Nordic Cool brochure and leaf through its 64 pages and learn detail about upcoming presentations, many which are free.

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World premiere debuts in free noontime concert Wednesday

Bianca Garcia will play at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in a free noontime concert

 

The public is invited to the world premiere of a work for flute and organ featuring Native American music March 6 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

Bianca Garcia, newly elected member of the New Hampshire state assembly, will play the flute, and Michael Lodico will play the organ for Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana, starting at 12:10 p.m.

Stephen Cabell

The musicians and composer promise if everything goes according to plans, the music about the flute playing of the Southwest deity, Kokepelli, will "sweep away winter and herald the spring" on a day when snow is predicted for Washington.  Come and find out.

 

Also on the program are the Titanic Theme Song with glass flute, a shepherd song for piccolo and organ by Hans-Andre Stamm, and Frank Martin's Sonata da Chiesa.

Michael Lodico, choir director and associate organist at St. John's Episcopal Church

 

Mr. Cabell, Mr. Lodico and Ms. Garcia are graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music.  Mr. Cabell teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, and Ms. Garcia, a recent Fulbright Scholar, has performed in 16 countries.  Mr. Lodico, the associate organist and choir director at St. John's, is also a Fulbright Scholar.

Other performances coming up in St. John's First Wednesday series are:

Apr. 3: Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's, plays Organ Treasures Old and New

May 1: Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, artist-in-residence at the Washington National Cathedral, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with James Madison, president from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of, or has attended services at St. John's. A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/ Patricia Leslie 

Who:  Bianca Garcia and Michael Lodico performing Stephen Cabell's Kokopelliana

When: 12:10 p.m., March 6, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks:  Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: 202-270-6265 or 202-347-8766

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Women walk the Suffrage Centennial March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Theta members march down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013 to commemorate the Women's Suffrage March 100 years ago on the same route/Photo by Patricia Leslie

On a cold and blustery day, thousands of members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority from around the world turned out to herald the 100th anniversary of the Women's Suffrage March in Washington, D.C.

 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Arkansas on Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Members from Germany, England, and Bermuda mixed with their U.S. sisters, most wearing red coats, scarves, hats, pants, or gloves which seemed to warm up the marchers who walked, talked, and celebrated the day with smiles and knowledge of how far they have come, and ongoing efforts to make more aware of their common goals. 

Delta Sigma Thetas from Washington, D.C. walk the walk March 3, 2013 down Pennsylvania Avenue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The website says Delta Sigma Theta was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 women at Howard University who "wanted to use their collective strength to promote academic excellence and to provide assistance to persons in need."  The sisterhood's first public act was participation in the March 3, 1913 women's suffrage march when 5,000 women marched to the White House.

1913's march was quite different from 2013's.  In 1913 a woman on a white horse led the women who were "jeered, tripped, grabbed, [and] shoved" and pelted with vulgar language by men along the route who were seemingly encouraged by police, one of whom, according to a report, said "women should stay at home where they belong." 

Upon request from the chief of police who sought assistance in 1913 to help control the crowds, the U.S. Secretary of War authorized troop reinforcements.  The women were forced by the crowd size to march single file in some parts of the route, and 100 were taken to hospitals.  (Read more of the details here in a Library of Congress document.)

Hello from England and Florida, say Delta Sigma Theta members/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

And Georgia.  Don't forget Delta Sigma Thetas from Georgia/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Fortunately, none of that was observed today.  "We've come a long way, baby," but we ain't there yet.

Delta Sigma Theta has more than 200,000 members and 900 chapters whose mission targets economic and educational development, international and political awareness and involvement, physical and mental health.  On March 3, 2013, they talked the walk, strengthened by numbers, energy, and enthusiasm to never abandon the quest for common good.

Children and babies walked (or rode) in the Delta Sigma Theta 100th anniversary walk/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" asked Delta Sigma Theta members from Germany and behind them, members from Hawaii said "Aloha!"/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

"Anybody heya speak 'Suthern'?" Delta Sigma Theta members from Louisiana wanted to know, celebrating their centennial and the Women's Suffrage Centennial, too, on their walk down Pennsylvania Avenue March 3, 2013/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Stretching all the way to the U.S. Capitol, the crowd looked like it numbered more than 20,000/Photo by Patricia Leslie

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Mamet's 'Glengarry Glen Ross' leaves this weekend

Alexander Strain (Richard Roma) and Rick Foucheux (Shelly Levene) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

For theatregoers who can’t get enough, this is the last weekend to see David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross now on stage at the Bethesda Round House.

It is outstanding theatre with some of the best acting seen in the Washington area, and I am not just talking about a portion of the cast, but the entire cast.

Starring in the all male production are Jeff Allin, Conrad Feininger, Rick Foucheux, Stephen Patrick Martin, KenYatta Rogers, Alexander Strain, and Jesse Terrill.

This is not a performance for those only musically inclined and/or who like happyeverafter endings. Prepare to be shocked by coarse language which is not sprinkled here and there, but runs the gamut of the show which is harsh reality.  The speech is germane. 

It's all about a real estate office populated by desperate men who employ desperate measures to save themselves from the bleak economic environment. 

Mamet (b. 1947) worked in a real estate office in Chicago, where he grew up, and likely observed similar verbal exchanges (on a reduced level) to those he wrote about in Glengarry, as have any of us who have worked in a real estate office, or in any office for that matter.

Driven into a corner, the crazed salesmen respond like animals, like most humans would. How about you? 

The set by James Kronzer is marvelous and surely will gain a Helen Hayes nomination.  A Chinese restaurant starts the play and is so lifelike, I could almost smell Chinese. The backdrops and the clinking of china stage the play in the 1970s but it could be any time.

Conrad Feininger (George Aaronow) and Jeff Allin (Dave Moss) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

The next scene is the real estate office, typical of any office "back then": an unkempt business filled with wooden desks, doors, filing cabinets, and paper, lots of paper.

It's a short play (80 minutes) which never languishes. Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer for Best Drama and New York Drama Critics Circle for Best American Play in 1984.

Helen Hayes would also do well to nominate Glengarry's lighting designer (Daniel Maclean Wagner) in addition to all the actors (is this what the Outstanding Ensemble Award is about?) and, certainly, the director, Mitchell Hebert.

Plus, (another plus) the Bethesda Round House was a marvelous venue.  It was my first visit there, and I was delightfully surprised by the accommodations, the services, and the ushers, one of whom told me the actors would be disappointed with just a half-full house on a Saturday afternoon, but it was more than a respectable showing, I thought, considering all the competition for time in Washington, D.C.

My only regret is my tardiness filing this post.  Professional theatregoers will not want to miss it. 

P.S. The Paris Review has a great interview with Mamet from 1997.

Prices at the Round House start at $26.

Bethesda Round House Theatre

4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
Ph. 240-644-1100

Metro station:  Bethesda (one block away)

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