Middle Foys Lake is ice-free. Firehouse Pond is ice-free. Little Foy's Lake is ice-free. We saw a pair of Common Mergansers yesterday, and a Great Blue Heron on Saturday. No Bluebirds in our neighborhood yet, but we sighted some by Ashley Creek.

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Webmaster's Notes: Xavier Mathieu wrote to me about my Ida Rubinstein site -- he made a nice website about Antonio de La Gandara, the portraitist who was a friend of both Ida and Sarah Bernhardt. Xavier's de La Gandara Website

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution for Springtime too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: AmeriCorps had a statewide meeting at our college over the weekend, and I worked every morning, even though I was sick with a lingering cold. (I'm better now.) It is amazing how these post-teens can grow when they are given their own projects to oversee and worthy tasks to do! Thanks to insightful Bill Clinton for starting this program, curses on stupid George Bush for trying to end it.
Tonight I'm running the tech for a seminar on Business Ethics. (No cynical remarks, please.) Besides sound and slideware, we are going out over ITV to Libby, Montana -- about 90 miles away. Our guests are John Johnstone of D.A. Davidson & Company, Dr. Dane Scott of the U of M, and Dr. Scott Wheeler, retired History professor from West Point.

Media Watch: I had to sleep this sickness off during the last week, so I didn't catch much TV -- I did see Antonio Banderas' Take the Lead last night in a real movie theater, though. It is inspired by the story of Pierre Dulaine, an inspiring energetic Ballroom Dance instructor in New York City who is teaching this art form to High Schoolers there with great success. It was an entertaining, albiet VERY fictional feel-good flick.


My friend Katie Duck, and dancers Vincent Cacialano, Justin Morrison, & Eileen Standley are lighting it up again onstage in Amsterdam, Holland -- with musicians Rozemarie Heggen (contrabass), Colin McLean (electronics), Michael Moore (alto sax, clarinet), & Mary Oliver (violin, viola), plus lights by Ellen Knops.

Middle Foys Lake lost another few acres of ice. Firehouse Pond is ice-free. Little Foy's Lake was difficult to assess, because of heavy rains. The deer thought it was twilight and were out grazing midday yesterday.

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Webmaster's Notes: I got a couple of emails from a nice European guy, Patrick Van De Velde, about my Ida Rubinstein site -- mostly about Antonio de La Gandara, one of her portraitists. A French Antonio de La Gandara Website

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution for Easter too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: JEFFERSON'S WALL: AMERICA'S DEBATE OVER CHURCH AND STATE.
Prof. Robert G. Natelson from U. of M. in Missoula was more of a scholar on Constitutional History last night. He avoided being baited into right-wing rants, and was surprisingly reasonable. He missed a couple of facts, but to be fair who doesn't?
I managed to do sound, run the data projector, and record the event on video. Ivan ran around the hall with the audience mic during Q&A, though!
I'm also videotaping Americorps tomorrow and Sunday, plus another event on Monday night.

Media Watch: The Invisible Ray, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi from 1936 -- Carpathia, Africa, Paris, Radium X, pseudo-science fiction, and murder!


Spitfires of the Spaceways preview: Wilma Deering, Buck Rogers' long-suffering sidekick, got to be a spitfire late in the Buster Crabbe serial from 1938. She was played by big-band singer Constance Moore, and deserved a moment of effective action. Once she let her hair down, all HELL broke loose for the bad guys.

The ice only covers about 60% of Middle Foys Lake. Firehouse Pond is almost ice-free. Little Foy's lake is melting at the edges, but it's heavily shadowed most of the day. The big waterbirds are nesting, and we're watching for Bluebirds!

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution for Easter too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: JEFFERSON'S WALL: AMERICA'S DEBATE OVER CHURCH AND STATE.
Prof. Robert G. Natelson from the School of Law at U. of M. in Missoula was recently on sabbatical at Oxford University, and claims he researched Thomas Jefferson's writings there. There's a chance this may be an informative lecture if this is the subject, and his research was rigorous. Unfortunately, Natleson has a history of being a right-wing extremist -- who nods and winks at violent threats against state judges who have repeatedly overturned his foolishly unconstitutional ballot initiatives. Will we see a scholar or a demagogue?
I'm doing sound, running a data projector, and recording the event on video. I don't want to run around the hall with an audience mic, though!

Media Watch: I am sick with some out-of-left-field congestion, so I sat back and captured some Flash Gordon sequences for my upcoming Spitfires of the Spaceways page:


Spitfire Number One is undoubtedly Princess Aura (played by Priscilla Lawson), who repeatedly saves Flash Gordon's life, but gets him into serious trouble again and again. She is implacably hostile towards Dale Arden (played by Jean Rogers), even going so far as to hunt her down with the "Sacred Tigron" beneath Ming's palace -- only to see Flash come to Dale's rescue one more time.

The Canada Geese are all over Firehouse Pond. I think they are the chicks who were born there over the last few years. As the ice melts on our lake, more migrating waterfowl are joining the literal crowd in the freshly-open waters. The Mallards are starting their spring rituals too -- lots of boy ducks, with their heads low, running at each other quacking their lungs out.

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution after the Equinox too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: John Rawlings' reception for Sacred Stones; Continued Explorations at the Hockaday Museum of Art was a lot of fun. The multi-media presentation went well, except that I could have used more volume for Andrew Goldsworthy's segment. We also showed Rawlings' own videos of Stonehenge and Michaelagelo sculptures within the Powerpoint presentation. (Edited and spruced-up by ME!) Hockaday Museum's Web Site
Trouble is, we're going to take the whole show DOWN in a month.

(Left) "Rose Window" sculpture and painting.
(Center/Right) John Rawlings and a few of his many friends who showed up at the Hockaday opening of Sacred Stones; Continued Explorations last night.

The ice is melting on Middle Foy's Lake and Firehouse Pond! The Canada Geese are looking for nesting spots, and the Mallard Ducks are eating right off our lawn. The Bald Eagles still show up everyday, but usually only one at a time. We have at least two pairs of California Blue Jays, and the Seagulls sometimes join the Ducks in the yard.

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution after the Equinox too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The reception for John Rawlings' exhibit Sacred Stones; A Continuation starts at 4 PM Thursday at the Hockaday Museum of Art. The Media Center at FVCC has done all the tech for his multi-media presentation, and I'll be there to run it! Hockaday Museum's Web Site

Media Watch: I've been doing an online Flash class, if anyone wonders why I'm slacking in the blogosphere lately. (I'll dig up a nice picture tomorrow.)
Here it is:


Evelyn Nesbit's beauty trancends the century.
(Above) As one of Florenz Ziegfeld's Flora Dora Girls
(Below Left, Center)Portraits with roses circa 1904
(Right) Nesbit as a Charles Dana "Gibson Girl"
Photos by Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. from Assumption College
Read this cool history Web page © 1997 and 1998 by James R. Lowe

Eagle Stories -- Over the weekend, one of the Bald Eagles flew up into a nearby tree -- one without leaves. I took a look through my spotting scope, and to my surprise, a Red Tailed Hawk was attacking the Bald eagle by repeatedly diving at it from above. The Eagle screamed and postured, but it couldn't defend itself where it was, so it retreated back onto the ice. We are pretty sure there is a Red Tailed Hawk nest in the evergreens across the lake now. Yesterday the big male Bald Eagle was chewing on a carcass near the rapidly-enlarging pool in the middle of our lake. This morning, the neighborhood dogs were scavenging what was left.

NEW -- Modern Dance at: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
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!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution thru the Equinox too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: We set up John Rawlings exhibit Sacred Stones; A Continuation at the Hockaday Museum of Art yesterday. Our director had a scary drive from the Charles Russell Auction in Great Falls -- about a foot of snow fell on the plains east of the mountains, and there were more accidents than she ever wanted to see happening before her eyes as she steered her way home. The Flathead Valley High Schools and Children's Art Shows are opening this Thursday -- I'll be tacking all that stuff on the walls for the rest of the week. Hockaday Museum's Web Site

JEFFERSON'S WALL: AMERICA'S DEBATE OVER CHURCH AND STATE; Lecture II-- Dr. Daniel Dreisbach from American University in Washington D.C. did NOT speak in depth about Thomas Jefferson -- in fact he tried to sell a particularly LAME thesis that the phrase "Wall of Separation" is systemetically used to suppress legitimate religious expression.
He relied on a half a dozen different rhetorical fallacies to make his arguement -- incomplete, cherry-picked quotations, ad homenum attacks, undocumented and actually false associations with known pariahs, like the Ku Klux Klan, plus partial, inconclusive "horror stories" of obvious injustices which were corrected long before they went to court.
After he finished his sales pitch, and spoke to the audience, it turned out he was a pretty nice guy who usually thought about what he had to say, and was fairly well-read -- all of which demonstrated that he KNEW his "Wall of Separation" harangue was an intellectual sham. Lawdy Lawd, I'm glad I didn't buy his book!
You may well ask: If he was so much in error, what are these errors, and why are they erroneous? If this series was a debate, there would have been someone on hand who was supposed to rebut his points, but it wasn't a debate, and my job was to be a technician, not an antagonist. My own suitability for debate of this kind is severely limited by my impatience toward right-wing pandering. I used to shovel pig manure as a Boy Scout for a local charity farm, and I'd feel as if I were doing the same thing if I had to even pretend I respected Driesbach's abuse of historical methodology.

Media Watch: I need to put up something aesthetic --


A digital drawing of current RDT dancers: (Top to Bottom) "Leaping" Lynne Listing from 1999; Chien-Ying Wang and Thayer Jonutz from 100 Years of Modern Dance; Angela Banchero-Kelleher from a 1998 brochure.