Daily Archives: March 15, 2011

16 posts

Vanguard: A Brave New World

Al Gore will save us all. No, seriously. Not only has he hired shouting-mouthpiece Keith Olbermann to try to enlighten the world one withering tirade at a time, he is also responsible for one of the more altruistic news programs on television, and perhaps one you’re not familiar with.

I discovered Current TV’s Vanguard series last summer. Sometime when I was wondering why Terminator: Salvation was on for the seventy millionth time, I came across this show that was so engrossing in such a real way that it left me absolutely stunned. I’ve never encountered documentary journalism like this. I became totally invested, and the subject matter — the plight of Mail Order Brides, drew me in for over an hour. The gritty, documentary style reporting, the raw and unfiltered coverage — it was everything CNN wishes it could do and more. This show is really what investigative journalism is at its core.

With minimal film crews, and lacking in canned monologues, exorbitant speeches, faux-fury, or shock just for shock sake, mostly it focuses on ripping away the trappings of the spoiled Western mindset to offer a glimpse into someone else’s world, willing the observer to absorb their life, their history, their pains, their indignation, and their joys — oftentimes halfway around the world. Inexplicably though, it can feel like it’s too much, like you’re infringing too much, like you’re seeing too much. The empathy and at times embarrassment, depending on the subject matter, is that palpable. And yes, the reporters are not the staunch, grizzled, “newsman” types of yore. Or the perfectly coiffed silver-haired “anchors on assignment” we see now in their muscled shirts and jeans.

The team of Adam Yamaguchi, Christof Putzel, Mariana van Zeller, and Kaj Larsen, representatives of the X and Y generations, who you imagine are never far from their smart phones, laptops, or Facebook pages, but as we watch, they’re walking into shanty towns and discussing topics like open defecation, the lost boys of the soccer trade, and homegrown terrorism, forgetting for once about the prevalence of “me” that permeates young people in the States, and telling stories happening out there, beyond our borders that just need to be told.

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

Which may be what you’d expect from a cable channel run by Al Gore, inventor of the internet, hunter of the manbearpig and exasperated politician. Yes, Mr. Gore has revamped and rekindled this channel and this news-art documentary storytelling in a burgeoning channel that implores you understand the challenges facing our fellow human brethren.

In most instances you just can not look away, because if you do, you feel that you are betraying the teller of the story. The person who has sacrificed much to share with you the most human feelings one can share with another. Truly it is journalism for the new millennium, and as such is worthy of acknowledgment from the “good old boys” in the business. Not that it needs the accolades or acceptance from mainstream media. But it’s earned it, last year as winner of the 69th annual Peabody Award and the 2010 Television Academy Honor Award, the show is truly making its mark. It is one of the only multi-award winning long-form investigative documentary series on cable television, and if you watch, you’ll quickly learn why — it tackles issues others ignore, it goes to places others wouldn’t fathom, and it bravely discusses topics others can’t or won’t cover.

In short, it’s really not your grandmother’s 60 Minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq_8PyRIo_E

Here is a list of other topics covered by the Vanguard team:

 

Presenting the #Crasstalk Comment of the Week

Apparently there was a bit of consternation around here a couple weeks ago. Something about an undersized Italian, a guillotine, and what not?  That’s a shame. I guess he’s your bad witch around these parts. I suppose I’ll just have to keep my eye out.

However, that’s far from what I want to discuss in this little missive. Turns out, a smart, funny, interesting commenter base can prosper regardless of what part of the web they call home. Seeing as how you all qualify as such a group, I think it’s only appropriate to celebrate that.

So, it’s with great pleasure that I present to you a continuing feature: Crasstalk’s Comment Of the Week.

Every Friday, we’ll post the funniest, most interesting, or most informative comments of the previous week.  We’ll be running on a bit of a short week this week, but I’m sure a talented group like this will still have plenty of gems before the week is out.  Hint: This witch is particularly swayed by pithy one-liners, because they make great Someecards like this:

Oh, one thing:  I may be a witch, but I’m not all-seeing.   Much like we ask for a certain level of self-policing, we’d ask for any submissions for Comment of the Week to be sent to [email protected].  You can copy/paste, send screen shots, or forward replies from your email used to set up your ID account.   I plan on clearing the account out every week, and doing the same with the address list, and will not reveal anyone’s identity (in case anyone decides to use their personal email to send along a nomination).

At this point, I don’t have any prizes to hand out, so no ruby slippers for anyone.  Seriously, have you seen what precious stones go for these days?  You’d be better off dropping a house on a bitch if you want a pair that badly.

Have fun!

Your Thoughts Wanted: Sen. Evan Bayh, Glenn Beck and FOX News

Yesterday it was announced that former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) was joining Fox News as a “political commentator and analyst.”  My initial reaction to this news was to frown and shake my head.  I am, to say the least, not a fan of Fox News.  For the record, I am also not a fan of MSNBC.  But, I’ll get to that in a moment.  I don’t watch Fox News, so this isn’t a criticism of their news coverage or political commentary.  My objection to Fox can really be summed up in two words: Glenn Beck. My problems with this hatemonger are manifold, but I’ll just mention one.  As a Jew, and, ahem, specifically a Reform Jew, I strongly object to Mr. Beck being given a national, mainstream platform to spew his barely cloaked Elders of Zion Jewish world control conspiracy theories.

Because “ratings matters,” I would prefer that my fellow Americans choose to express their disapproval of Mr. Beck by not watching Fox News so long as he is on the network.  By joining Fox, Sen. Bayh, a centrist well-spoken and intelligent man, is not helping in this cause.   This is particularly disappointing to me given the Senator’s involvement in No Labels, an organization founded by a bipartisan group of current and former elected officials, including Independent Mayor Bloomberg, former Republican Congressman Scarborough and former Sen. Bayh, who are “frustrated and concerned about the tone of politics” and believe “hyper-partisanship is destroying our politics and paralyzing our ability to govern.”  Hmmm.

In thinking about this yesterday, I tried to understand how sharing a network with Mr. Beck furthers the goals of No Labels.  When the Bayh news broke, my Facebook page exploded with comments- many echoing this sentiment.  However, there were opposing views. Here is a comment from a friend and political activist:  “But even No Labels has to have a conduit for promoting its message. Mass media is media for the masses, and influencing those masses is how we change the system.”

Ok.  This is a valid point and it got me thinking.  Now, let me move at this point, to why I dislike MSNBC, because it’s relevant here.  First, I find MSNBC and Fox much too partisan and slanted in their reporting to be a news source for my tastes.  I hate surprises.  I’d prefer to have all the facts, mitigating and otherwise, on an issue before I start forwarding around while jumping on my high horse about it.  But, the bigger issue I have with MSNBC is their role in mainstreaming and rehabilitating the noxious racist, Pat Buchanan.

For those used to seeing Pat joshing around with our favorite liberal lesbian, Rachel Maddow, here’s just a sampling of Mr. Buchanan’s less adorable beliefs in his own words:

After Sen. Carol Moseley Braun blocked a federal patent for a Confederate flag insignia, Buchanan wrote that she was “putting on an act” by associating the Confederacy with slavery: “The War Between the States was about independence, about self-determination, about the right of a people to break free of a government to which they could no longer give allegiance.”

On race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: “There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The ‘negroes’ of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours.

But, as I thought about my friend’s comment, it occurred to me that Mr. Buchanan does not say these things on MSNBC and doesn’t seem to say them much anymore at all.  Hmmm again.  So, now I’m asking myself: should Mr. Buchanan be shunned for his past horrid behavior or is it better that because of his appearances on MSNBC he seems to actually have moderated his statements, if not his beliefs?  Is it better that, even if he secretly still believes them, he doesn’t say them anymore?

All of which brings me back to Senator Bayh, Glenn Beck and Fox News.  So, now I’m conflicted and not sure where I stand.  Is it possible that, simply by having individuals of Mr. Bayh’s caliber, Fox News may move away from commentators like Glenn Beck?  Is it possible that Sen. Bayh’s participation may temper Mr. Beck’s more unacceptable statements, at least on his Fox News show?  Is it better to take a principled stand against Beck and Fox News or to engage to try to change them?

Hmmm for a third time.  What do you think?

Read More:

Evan Bayh joining Fox News

Glenn Beck’s “monstrous” Soros accusations rile Holocaust survivors, Jewish groups

Southern Poverty Law Center Report, The Second Wave: Return of the Militias, documenting Fox News and Glenn Beck’s race-based conspiracy theories

No Labels

Pat Buchanan in his own words

Senator Bayh on the issues

 

An Outsider’s Look Inside PAX East 2011

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I married into a strange and foreign culture, with a language and customs I still struggle to understand.

I married a gamer.

My love of gaming was cryogenically frozen circa the Atari 2600, so when my husband made his annual pilgrimage to PAX East this weekend, I thought it might be enlightening (ok, amusing) to tag along and try to absorb as much of the rich and varied traditions of nerd culture as possible.

PAX, or the Penny Arcade Expo, is a massive convention catering to gamers of every stripe – Halo fiends, huddled groups of Magic the Gathering players, LARPers loping through approximated history with katanas and sabers. The spawn of Penny Arcade web comic creators Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (better known as ‘Tycho’ and ‘Gabe’), it’s been growing steadily since the beginning in 2004 and has now split into two locations each year – Seattle (‘PAX Prime’) and Boston (‘PAX East’). Total attendance for just PAX East this year alone topped 69,500. If you had trouble with your WiFi connection in Boston this weekend, you know why.

Pax East 2011The show floor is the main draw. It’s the glitz and din of Vegas, and the high rollers are using 20-sided dice. At the Duke Nukem Forever booth (made up like a Bellagio side lobby), ‘naughty schoolgirls’ lean into eager fans for staged photo ops. The soft clicks of a thousand Xbox controllers mingle with simulated battlefield roars, and acres of LCD panels flicker with fantastical violence and adventure. It’s quite a thing to behold.

The real show, however, is the crowd. Yes, it is an ocean of nerds. There is no mistaking this for a radiology conference. Yet, what is most striking upon witnessing this massive gathering of an oft-maligned group is the sheer vibrancy and variety of the people within. Everyone is welcome, and everyone is having fun. I may not know my Master Chief from my Big Daddy, but I was made to feel like part of the team by everyone I encountered, from random cosplayers to battle-weary game journalists. And while I may not speak the language here, I had one hell of a time tossing back beers at a dive bar with my new found friends – something I don’t see happening after my upcoming interior design conference.

So…here’s to the nerds of the world. They know a good adventure when they see one.

(Photos courtesy of the author)

Music Therapy Is Fake, Right?

What is music therapy? Why, it’s the therapeutic use of music, provided by a board-certified music therapist! What does that mean? It can mean a lot of things, but today, with the help of my father, I’m going to tell you a bit about music therapy in hospice.

Back when my dad wasn’t in the fast-paced, jet-setting career he enjoys today, he volunteered at a hospice during his free time. For those of you not in the know, a hospice is a place that cares for terminally ill people, who usually have less than 6 months to live. My dad’s job was to keep a woman company for an hour or two a week. We’ll call her Anne. She was in her mid-nineties and as smart as could be, though unable to walk. Dad was very interested in her childhood growing up on a farm, and on the second or third visit, he brought his fiddle to play for her. He played polkas, jigs, and reels, though Anne was partial to waltzes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ek3eCbfqp0

Note: If you’re going to be a music therapist, you’re going to need to know this song.

In short order my father started getting requests from other staff members to play for their folks. “Most of my visits were in the morning. At some point, I stayed and played through lunchtime. Staff members told me that the residents were generally more calm and ate better when I was playing, although I remember some being distracted from eating by my playing too.”

One man in particular loved the music. He was in a wheelchair, and generally non-responsive, but when the music began, he would grunt and rock, and his eyelids would flutter, though his eyes stayed closed. Those who knew him knew what the movements meant and how wonderful the music was for him.

“Another patient, a very sad one, was an ex-physics professor who, I am told, was a professional caliber violinist.  He was clearly very far away mentally.  He did sit to hear me play and he held out his hands to touch the violin, but I do not know how much he was understanding.”

My father is not a board-certified music therapist. He just wanted to help make some people’s days a little brighter. But he inspired me to begin my studies in music therapy as an undergrad, and to pursue the wealth of research in music therapy and the use of therapeutic music. With my rich education, clinical experience, and soon, my six-month internship, I discovered how to use the different parts of music – rhythm, melody, pitch, lyrics, instrumentation, and especially cultural or personal significance – to achieve meaningful, nonmusical goals.

In hospice, this may be helping a patient manage their pain, reflect on their life, work through grief, and think about their own mortality. You’ll also find music therapists in schools, hospitals, physical and substance rehabilitation centers, psychiatric units, and in private practice. We work with people of all ages on social, emotional, physical, mental, academic, and spiritual goals – helping a child on the autism spectrum build a tolerance for noise, leading discussions on sobriety, motivating a patient with a traumatic brain injury through their rehab (Rep. Gabby Giffords made leaps and bounds with her music therapist), and so much more.

Music therapy can only be provided by board-certified music therapists, but that doesn’t mean we have a monopoly on music itself! You don’t have to take classes, or even know how to play an instrument, to enjoy and benefit from music. Just play your favorite song, or breathe deeply and hum your own tune. See? You already feel better.