April is being it's unpredictable self again -- I've got a PA set up outside on the campus, and I'm keeping a weather-eye on the Big Sky as those big thunderheads roll back and forth. The students are playing hackey-sack and frisbee, just like scholars are supposed to do in weather like this.

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 finally gets into gear to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: I'm doing another wild out-and-back art pickup for the Hockaday Museum of Art on May 1st. This time I'll have a fellow driver (my boss), we'll stay in Montana, and be done in one day -- a lonnnng day.

Earth Day Recap: (Paraphrased from my friend Prof. Anita Ho)
Our Environmental Science class had over 70 people stop by to measure their ecological footprints at FVCC. An individual’s ecological footprint is a measure of the amount of productive land and water surface required to support that individual’s lifestyle: the essentials like food, water and shelter, as well as transportation and other goods and services or “necessities.” The size of the footprints in the sampled FVCC community ranged from 6 to 46 acres, with an average of 21.8 acres. For everyone on the planet to have the same footprint would require about 5 (five!) Planet Earths. (Which is impossible.)
I think we all realize that consumption overpopulation, a consumption of too large of a share of resources, occurs generally throughout North America. There are already many people around the world (even in the US, and in the Flathead valley) suffering terribly from a lack of basics like clean water, shelter and/or adequate food—not to mention all the material goods and energy resources we associate with a “good” and “prosperous” life. However, as the current estimated population of nearly 6.5 BILLION people continues to grow, it’s clear that our current rate of consumption of natural resources is simply unsustainable over the coming decades and generations. Think about what this planet will be like for your kids and grandkids... I believe it’s important to be aware of what our footprints actually are, and to work to reduce them as much as possible—that’s what “sharing the planet” is all about. Once you realize there are many little, SIMPLE things you can do, it’s easy (I hope) to be inspired to do more. Please take a quiz on your own at one of the sites linked below:
http://www.myfootprint.org/ http://www.rprogress.org/ and http://www.officefootprint.org/

Media Watch: Junque, Junque, and MORE Junque TV -- Heather Mills did her last number on Dancing With The Stars last night -- the "Group Jive" was actually good on Tuesday, unlike the endearing mess on Monday. Well, she won't miss the jet lag, but the intrusions by the gutter press on her private life will likely get worse until her lawyers and Paul McCartney's lawyers make a deal.
Jon Stewart strongly stood up against Sen. McCain's deadly pro-war propaganda last night on The Daily Show. I wish some so-called journalists would do the same. NPR's Steve Inskeep might have thought he was making a stand against a GOP consultant, but he wasn't -- he let the man lie, and only quoted somewhat-related statistics instead of directly countering or exposing his falsehoods. There is no discourse when a person is deliberately lying, and no respect is due to someone who does not intend to honor the facts in any matter.

Theatre/Theater: Overtoom 301 Amsterdam MUSIC/DANCE 301 Monthly music + dance improvisation event April 27 Friday 21:00
Dance - Katie Duck, Kenzo Kusuda, Raquel Gualtero Soriano, Alexandra Manasse Sylvain Meret, Makiko Ito Music - Colin McLean [computer] + Andy Moor [guitar]
5 Euro entrance http://squat.net/overtoom301/pages/events.html#19


Front-rank dancer/choreographer Katie Duck in a movement jam, digitally reinterpreted by M.E. from a video by Justin Morrison, who ought to be working with her again this summer. Check out more of Justin's work at http://justinmorrison.net