People are still fighting a nasty strain of the Common Cold that has attacked some people three times. I haven't got it, and don't want it either. I woke up early Sunday morning to a chattering squeeking sound -- "What was that?" The answer came wafting into our noses. I got up to check, and YES, there was a large Skunk in the back yard, foraging with the Deer. In the moonlight, it's tail looked as big as it's body. He/she sprayed in the driveway too. A light rain seemed to remove the bad scents by Sunday afternoon.

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 resolution as Spring (slowly) approaches to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I fixed a ton of leftover Website problems at the Hockaday last Saturday, and hoisted some bulky flipchart easels around town. Auction of Miniatures thumbnail pictures and a bid form on the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website! I'll be there all Tuesday hanging the Miniatures show, with a car full of equipment for FVCC's Honors Symposium at the Red Lion Hotel later that evening.

Flathead Valley Community College's 2007 Honors Symposium
Men and Women/Girls and Boys: Emerging Views on Gender

March 6 - Debra Miller, FVCC sociology instructor, will open the series with a presentation entitled, “Fractured Fairytales,”
March 12 - “Feminism 101,” by Brooke Barnett, director of the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Montana—Missoula.
March 20 —“Biological Differences,” Dr. Steven Gaulin—Department of Biosocial Anthropology—University of California, Santa Barbara, 7 p.m., Red Lion Hotel;
March 23 and 24 —“Twelfth Night—Gender in the Shakespeare Theatre”—Brian Bechtold—Department of English and British Literature—Flathead Valley Community College, Free lecture from 6-6:30 p.m. followed by FVCC theatre department production of “Twelfth Night” at 7 p.m. Theatre tickets are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be purchased by calling 756-3814. Lecture and theatre production will take place at FVCC, Learning Resource Center, room 123;
March 26 —“Understanding Native American Perspectives on Gender,” Dr. Kathryn Shanley—Native American Studies Program Chairman—University of Montana, Missoula, 7 p.m., Flathead Valley Community College, Learning Resource Center, room 123;
April 9 —“Is There a Boys Crisis in Education,” Dr. Holly Anderson—Department of Education—Boise State University, 7 p.m., Red Lion Hotel;
April 19 —“History of Gender Integration in the Military,” Dr. Lt. Col. Kevin Farrell— Department of History, United States Military Academy, West Point, 7 p.m., Red Lion Hotel.

Media Watch: Remember that History Channel film Exodus which I dissed a few months ago? James Cameron and that same silly bunch of film-making bullshitters are playing similar games with a 1st Century tomb from Palestine in which a family with the names of Joshua, Mary etc. were buried. Many tombs inscribed with the name of Joshua (Jesus) Bar-Joseph have been found over the years -- this scenario is neither new, nor will it change anybody's mind.
Speaking of the History Channel, I tuned in to their 2 hour Dark Ages special. It was glitzy in design, but very bare-bones in it's historical accuracy, and sometimes shakey. There was too much of a jump between Alaric (410 A.D.) and Clovis (490 A.D.), so they missed Gaiseric of the Vandals and Attila the Hun. There was plenty of time time to tell about General Belisarius when they were talking about Emperor Justinian and Emperess Theodora. They rightly mentioned that the Eastern Empire's reconquest of Italy ended up a curse rather than a blessing. They were stupid to say anything about the fictional DaVinci Code while mentioning France's Merovingian Dynasty.
The Catholic Church played many roles in the cultural disaster known as the Dark Ages. The filmakers chose monks like Bede in Britain and Benedict in Italy as the literate faces of that multi-faceted institution. Karl Der Gross got his proper alloted time as Charlemange -- both as bloodthirsty tyrant, converting pagans by the sword, and as patron of literacy. His grand-dad Charles Martel correctly deserved a place in history for his victory over Islamic invaders at Tours -- how the course of our history might have run otherwise is grist for an unending watermill of debate. The Vikings, my more or less direct ancestors, slowed European recovery down by centuries because of their vicious raiding.
I guess you have to set an ending point for the Dark Ages somewhere, and these filmmakers chose the Crusades. They had their reasons.
The way I look at it, I blame the long, sorry, series of bad fortune and misery on unchecked migrations of semi-nomadic populations -- the Germanic invaders, the Huns, the Islamic conquerers, the Vikings, et cetera, but migrations didn't cease with the Crusades!
It is my contention that Europe's continuting bad fortune ended by historical accidents -- like the Mongols sweeping out of Asia to upset the Islamic Empire, and The Great Khan dying as his troops were about to overrun Poland and link up with their army beseiging Vienna. They withdrew to select a new Khan, but didn't come back right away because they'd laid the Steppes to waste.
The Ottomans had several chances to conquer still-backward Christendom, but thanks to Tammerlane's interference in the 14th Century, and the eastward distractions of all-too-capable Sulieman the Great and Mohammed II in the 15th Century, Europe was able to make a Renaissance, and start inflicting it's own gunpowder-fueled Colonialism on the rest of the World.

Theater/Theatre: Howzzabout some Magpie Music/Dance?
March 13 Orgelpark (right off the Overtoom – Vondel Park)
Amsterdam Gerard Brandtstraat 26 / 20.15 (8:15 PM)

Dancers: Katie Duck, Makiko Ito, Eileen Standley; Musicians: Michael Moore (winds) Michael Vatcher (percussion) with Willem Tanke (organ)
For information and reservations go to: www.orgelpark.nl


Katie Duck gettin' DOWN with the Bass during a Magpie performance.
Watch the whole VIDEO by Alex Fischer on Justin Morrison's Site.