Happy Holidays! It's the eighth day of Channuka, Christmas is on Monday (Oy vey, I hope that day of the week doesn't jinx it!), and New Year's Day is a week later. It's nice to think about the nice warm tropics during Kwanza too. I'll toss up at least ONE blog from home before I come back to work on January 3, 2007. There were three small Whitetails standing on the hillside overlooking the junction of Foy's Lake Road and Buckboard Lane -- the middle-sized one had at least four points on either side of his rack of antlers. Males aren't usually smaller than the females, unless they are yearlings.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a new resolution as the days slowly get longer to click on The Hunger Site.

In The Community: Alright! The Minnesota Historical Society is sending the Hockaday Museum of Art fifty pages of Winold Reiss' correspondance about his formal and informal art schools in Glacier National Park from 1931 to 1938. Many thanks to Hampton Smith, their Reference Librarian.

Media Watch: My reaction to the minor, but loud, Miss USA/Miss Teen USA media flap is a personal indictment of the organization which "handles" these newly-minted celebrities. First of all, the members of their massive professional entrourages should be fired for attending those adults-only nightspots with their underage charges in tow -- violating the contracts of their clients, and exposing them (in many ways) to a predatory press who delights in tearing down the reputations of attractive young women. Second, having well-documented promiscuous horn-dog Donald Trump acting a ANYBODY'S judge is a prima facae dirty joke -- surely they could have appointed a less notorious, more appropriate, spokesperson to relay their corporate decisions to the media. These "Beauty Queens" have been criticized for bad choices, but I think their (and their parent's) worst choice was trusting in a so-called system that flagrantly exploits youth and beauty for someone else's profit. I think another business model is needed -- the cost of being famous seems to be getting too high for too many "objects" of public attention.


Now for something completely different!


I personally wish a safe and happy Holiday Season for EVERYONE!
Here's a somewhat-distant shot of Masques On Parade, as seen from the branches of our Christmas tree at the Hockaday Museum of Art. This scene is especially dedicated to Eavan and Clara as they are visiting La Chaussee to party with Footsbarn Theatre.
(They are in the foreground of Masques.)