Another narrow miss

Here we go again.  Last summer, buffeted by driving wind and rain, a large limb fell from our (former) neighbor Marketa's tree, crushing the fence and pinning a telephone wire in our yard.  After resting there for weeks (months?), we finally used a chainsaw to turn it into firewood.

Wednesday evening, bogged down by wet, heavy snow, a tree fell from our other neighbor's property onto ours, demolishing the roof of a third neighbor's shed, tangling another telephone wire, and doing as yet undetermined damage to our holly tree.  We're lucky it didn't fall differently, though, since it could have very easily wound up destroying someone's bedroom.  Since we have never met the people who live in that house and it seems too large and dangerous to tackle ourselves, there is no telling how long this huge tree will be in our yard.

At least we'll have no shortage of firewood.

Smoked salmon?

My reaction to last night's State of the Union address is multi-layered.  There were many proposals set forth in the speech with which I agree - an emphasis on the long-term importance (economic and otherwise) of education, supporting research and development of new energy technologies, simplifying the tax code, and the need to treat the new health care law as a starting point for change, rather than a battle to be continually re-fought, to name a few.  There were also some positive vibes of bi-partisanship, with the well-publicized mixed-party seating arrangement, at least two distinct instances of Speaker Boehner being moved to tears, and some light-hearted jokes from the president (including a very strange, but hilarious, reference to smoked salmon to illustrate unnecessary government bureaucracy).

On the other hand, I was, surprisingly, underwhelmed by the speech's rhetoric and flow.  And, of even greater consequence, was fairly deeply disappointed by Obama's relatively weak language on deficit reduction.  I understand that cuts to social security, Medicare, and defense are going to be deeply unpopular.  But Republicans are going to hammer Obama over the deficit for the next two years.  A nebulous "five year freeze on federal spending" is not going to cut it.

I wish that he had explained, in more detail, the cuts suggested by his Bowles-Simpson debt commission last month.  Even if he followed that up with his line about not agreeing with all of the proposals, but using it as a starting place, that would have been, rhetorically and concretely, much more powerful than quickly glazing over the issue.

These are issues that we are going to have to face, as a country, in the very near future.  We cannot afford not to.  Most frustratingly, someone with Obama's oratorical gifts should have been able to pull this off in a convincing way.  Doing so would have forced to confront the grim realities of deficit reduction, instead of insisting that cutting taxes and slashing various forms of non-defense discretionary spending alone equates to fiscal responsibility.  And it would have required idealistic Democrats to recognize that we need to find a way to preserve these social safety nets for the most vulnerable among us, while reducing or eliminating entitlements for those fortunate enough to not need them.

None of that would have been an easy sell, but I think this Washington Post editorial is spot on (surely Andrew Sullivan, if not sidelined by illness, would be saying the same thing): we elected Obama to treat us like adults and help us get through the crises facing our nation responsibly and honestly.  And by that metric, his speech failed.  Miserably, in my opinion.

You shall not pass

Ever since Tom pointed me to this National Geographic piece about the newly discovered largest cave in the world, Hang Son Doong, in Vietnam, I have been thinking nostalgically about my own forays into the subterranean world.  Nestled in southwestern Slovenia, beneath the forested landscape known as a karst, lie the Skocjan Caves.

The payoff moment of a lengthy underground hike is a breathtakingly deep chasm, with soaring ceilings and a narrow bridge spanning the gap over the river below.  Lowly lit, it did not photograph particularly well (better ones here).  Still, I think this captures some of the power of the space - with our imaginations conjuring up Gandalf in the mines of Moria, we were awestruck.  The vast darkness seems particularly pronounced when contrasted with our exit from the cave, emerging through a gaping hole in the earth, out into the afternoon light.

I wonder if he also carries tissues in his pocket?

Since we clearly don't agree on politics and since I have never set foot in a tanning salon, one might assume that new Speaker of the House John Boehner and I have nothing in common (aside from a connection to Piqua, OH).  Apparently, this is not true.  According to this report, Boehner is "notoriously emotional" and yesterday cried a little during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's inauguration.

So, Mr. Speaker, take it from someone who once had to choke back sobs in a (thankfully dark) Sociology lecture hall while watching a video on the G.I. Bill - there is no shame in being deeply moved by the remarkable institutions upon which our country is built.

And to be fair, I carry tissues so that I can blow my nose when necessary, not because I am at constant risk of spontaneously bursting into tears.

What do Michelle Kwan and poached lobster have in common?

They were both hanging out at the White House last night!

Maybe the excitement is magnified, living in D.C. and getting much of my non-radio news from the Washington Post. But I've been incredibly fascinated, lately, by the exciting whirlwind of policy, diplomacy, and celebration that comes with official State Dinners.

The Post had an extensive feature on the dinner to honor India's president last year - the first of the Obama era.  Coverage ranged from discussion on the implications of selecting India as the first nation to be recognized to which set of presidential china would adorn the tables to who would be performing as entertainment.  It's not often that D.C. gets all worked up over a star-studded red carpet event, preferring to focus instead on wonky, inside-the-Beltway fireworks, such as clever legislative maneuvering and press conference snafus.

State Dinners are also a nice excuse to showcase the feel-good side of international relations that appeals so much to me, with luminaries from each country toasting to mutual success and prosperity.  That was the case at last night's affair for Chinese president Hu Jintao.

Perhaps it says something about me, that I prefer to dwell on the lighter aspects of the visit.  That, even in light of Hu's momentous earlier admission that, "A lot still needs to be done in China, in terms of human rights," what I was most excited to read about this morning was the evening's menu.  You have to admit, though, that even the opening course is enough to get you salivating: "D'Anjou pear salad with Farmstead goat cheese, Fennel, Black Walnuts, and White Balsamic."  And all complemented by fresh herbs from the White House garden...

We will have changed

At the risk of looking lazy for only posting videos that I find appealing, I am going to share another.  This awe-inspiring piece was put together by Reid Gower, under the youtube username damewse.  He took a video created by Michael Marantz a couple of years ago (fantastic in its own right) and altered the imagery, turning it into an advertisement, of sorts, for NASA.

In the video's youtube page description, Gower expresses his occasional frustration with the agency.

NASA is the most fascinating, adventurous, epic institution ever devised by human beings, and their media sucks. Seriously. None of their brilliant scientists appear to know how to connect with the social media crowd, which is now more important than ever. In fact, NASA is an institution whose funding directly depends on how the public views them.

In NASA's defense, they have embraced social media. I guess my point is that they don't fully understand how to best use it. In all of their brilliance, NASA seems to have forgotten to share their hopes and dreams in a way the public can relate to, leaving one of humanity's grandest projects with terrible PR and massive funding cuts.

What I like best about the video is its audio track.  Featuring a piano composition by Marantz and excerpts of Carl Sagan reading from his book Pale Blue Dot, it melds perfectly with the visuals to poignantly capture everything that I long for and love about outer space.  Enjoy.

Celebrations of the ordinary

For the same reason that I cherish this photographic book, many broadcasts of public radio's This American Life, and features in magazines and on blogs such as Andrew Sullivan's face of the day and view from your window, I love this video.  Titled "Words" by Radiolab and NPR and intended as visual poetry, it is a series of very short pieces of footage, stitched together with a beautiful background score.  Each moment builds upon the last, sometimes in very creative ways - puzzling together the transitions and connections made me smile.

But my favorite thing about the video -and the way in which it is related to all of those other pieces - is the compelling, touching way that it captures a broad cross-section of ordinary life.  Taken as an entire series, This American Life and the faces of the day do the same thing.  The Oxford Project, though focused on small town in Iowa, is monumental in its ability to chronicle the hopes, dreams, and disappointments of a set of people, weaving those thoughts into a larger narrative about the American experience.

Anyway, enjoy the video - it is fantastic.