Almanacs “A man of characters - The Almanac Online” plus 4 more |
- A man of characters - The Almanac Online
- Belle Haven Clinic takes off - The Almanac Online
- The Almanac - Dec. 17 - Post Chronicle
- HDTV Almanac - The Ultimate Living Room PC - HDTV Magazine
- Ty Pennington stole my neighborhood's innocence - Gainesville Sun
A man of characters - The Almanac Online Posted: 17 Dec 2009 06:05 AM PST Click on picture to enlarge and view caption. |
By Renee Batti Some people who shift back, forth and beyond from one personality to another within the span of minutes might benefit from a good psychiatrist or anti-psychotic drugs. But Cyril Jamal Cooper? No way. Just give the man a stage. That's exactly what Mr. Cooper has through Dec. 27 at the Lucie Stern Theatre, where TheatreWorks' "A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration" is being staged. He's one of 15 actors performing some 90 roles in the musical by Paula Vogel, directed by TheatreWorks Artistic Director Robert Kelley. In the production, Mr. Cooper, who has lived in Menlo Park for some 10 years, portrays eight different characters — including a mule. "People love my mule," Mr. Cooper says, laughing. The scene in question features a mule who catches the scent of a horse in the darkness. Stirrings of longing ensue. "I fall in love with a horse — it's a magic moment," he explains, adding that the subsequent braying and neighing of the two hoofed creatures inspire a chorus of other animals pining for companions. That moment, he notes, is one of several in the show that provides relief from the more serious themes of the play, which is set in and near Washington, D.C., on a snowy Christmas Eve, 1864. It's an expansive play of imagination, with scenes of President Lincoln, four months before his assassination, and Mary Todd Lincoln occupied with thoughts of Christmas gifts; Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and their soldiers facing the bleak realities of war as it nears its end; slaves and black soldiers fleeing their bonds, or fighting to free all slaves. The action is given added dimension by the music of the time and season — hymns, spirituals, Christmas carols and 19th century folk songs. "I like (the play) from the perspective of being a brand new take on a Christmas story," Mr. Cooper says. "All the stories in it connect, and it's truly an American story." One of the most satisfying elements of the play for him was the duality of experiences he lives vicariously onstage: Mr. Cooper's roles include that of a black soldier who had earlier crossed to freedom and was now fighting on the side of the Union, and of Willie Mack Lee, Robert E. Lee's slave who, in the play, follows Gen. Lee into war. "It's really cool to be able to express little bits and pieces of (the black experience) of the times," he says. "There's the older slave who doesn't have the option to pick up a gun and fight ... then there are the black people on the Union side." In the older slave's role, Mr. Cooper says that he relishes a particular moment: He is carrying coffee to Confederate soldiers in the camp he is serving as Gen. Lee's slave. It is a time when it's becoming increasingly apparent that the Confederates are losing the war. He stops, and drinks the coffee himself.
That experience came about after the TheatreWorks casting director was asked to critique finals for graduating students in the Foothill College conservatory program, of which Mr. Cooper was a part. Shortly afterward, the casting director contacted him, suggesting that he audition for the upcoming TheatreWorks production of "Fences," by August Wilson. He did, and won the role of Cory. Since then, Mr. Cooper, now 33, has performed in "Where's William?", "Shakespeare in Hollywood," and "Memphis" at TheatreWorks. He's also won roles in local productions of "Ragtime," "West Side Story," "Showboat," "Miss Saigon," "The Jackie Robinson Story," "Urinetown," and others. Mr. Cooper says he's been so focused on his eight roles in "A Civil War Christmas" that he hasn't had time to consider what he might audition for once the show closes. But, he adds, "I'm thinking about getting into movies." His only film experience was as an extra in a martial arts movie when he was much younger. "I had my extra moment back then, wearing my little gi, but the movie never came out," he laughs. INFORMATION: TheatreWorks' "A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration," by Paula Vogel, runs through Dec. 27 at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Tickets are $26-$62. Call 463-1960, or go to theatreworks.org.
fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
Belle Haven Clinic takes off - The Almanac Online Posted: 17 Dec 2009 05:44 AM PST This story was submitted by Kathleen Alexander, director of communications, Ravenswood Family Health Center. | What was once a quiet clinic next to the Onetta Harris Senior Center in Belle Haven has, under the leadership of Ravenswood Family Health Center (RFHC), become a bustling clinic for all ages including expectant mothers, children, teens, parents and seniors. In addition to primary medical care, patients can take advantage of RFHC's health education programs, behavioral counseling, and public health insurance enrollment services. Next spring, when the new Ravenswood Family Dentistry clinic opens on Bay Road in East Palo Alto, patients will also have access to dental care. On a recent Friday two exam rooms were set aside, and Dr. Cynthia Detata was scheduled to see 18 pregnant women. For many, it's their first baby. To ensure a healthy start, every pregnant patient is offered one-on-one comprehensive prenatal education. In some instances, the young woman has no other support. Marianna (not her actual name) first came to the Belle Haven Clinic last spring. She was living in a shelter for teens. She had no money and a lot of fears about what the future held for her. Monica Martinez, the comprehensive perinatal health worker at the Belle Haven Clinic, met with her many times over the course of her pregnancy as she does with other young women. "Lots of them seem clueless about how to read the needs of a baby, what to do when a baby cries," says Monica. "Many think you should just stick a pacifier or bottle in the baby's mouth. I tell them, no, you have to comfort and hold the baby. I show them how to swaddle the baby." Critically important is the education they receive about bonding, breast feeding, nutrition, and above all protecting and nurturing their baby. Marianna was prepared for motherhood when her baby was born on July Fourth. "Once the baby was born," says Monica, "Marianna's parents accepted the birth and I got to meet her whole family. They stop by to see me. She has a big healthy baby that is 100 percent breastfed. She is doing everything right." A lot of new patients have enrolled at Belle Haven in the past year; some are among the ranks of the newly unemployed that have lost health coverage. "Since the summer, there has been a 57 percent increase in the number of Belle Haven patients compared to the same period last year," says CEO Luisa Buada. Ravenswood's Belle Haven Clinic is supported in part by the Sequoia Healthcare District and federal stimulus funds. Belle Haven patients also benefit from referral partnerships with Lucile Packard and San Mateo medical Ccntera. For more information, call 321-0980 or go to www.ravenswoodfhc.org. Your donation to the Holiday Fund will help Ravenswood's Belle Haven Clinic provide care for uninsured and low-income families in south San Mateo County. ■ Donate online. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
The Almanac - Dec. 17 - Post Chronicle Posted: 17 Dec 2009 04:53 AM PST Today is Thursday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2009 with 14 to follow. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Mars, Saturn and Mercury. The evening stars are Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus. Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include American Revolutionary War soldier Deborah Sampson, who fought as a man under the alias Robert Shurtleff, in 1760; poet John Greenleaf Whittier in 1807; conductor Arthur Fiedler in 1894; novelist Erskine Caldwell in 1903; composer/bandleader Ray Noble in 1903; Western swing bandleader/violinist Spade Cooley in 1910; writer William Safire, in 1929; publisher Bob Guccione in 1930 (age 79); British singer/actor Tommy Steele in 1936 (age 73); actor Ernie Hudson ("Ghostbusters") in 1945 (age 64); comedian Eugene Levy in 1946 (age 63) and actor Bill Pullman in 1953 (age 56). On this date in history: In 1790, the Aztec Calendar or Solar Stone was uncovered by workmen repairing Mexico City's Central Plaza. In 1903, Orville Wright made history's first sustained airplane flight, lasting 12 seconds and covering 120 feet near Kitty Hawk, N.C. His brother Wilbur flew 852 feet later that day. In 1925, U.S. Army Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, outspoken advocate of a separate U.S. Air Force, was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to the good of the armed services. He was awarded the Medal of Honor 20 years after his death. In 1939, the Nazi warship Graf Spee was scuttled off the coast of Uruguay as British vessels pursued it. In 1944, the more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans who had been relocated from the West Coast shortly after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were told they would be allowed to return home on Jan. 2. In 1967, the Clean Air Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. In 1975, a federal jury in Sacramento, California, sentenced Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme to life in prison for her attempted assassination of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford. In 1981, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Dozier was kidnapped in Rome by Italy's Red Brigades. He was freed 42 days later in a raid by Italian anti-terrorist forces. In 1986, a Las Vegas federal jury awarded entertainer Wayne Newton $19.3 million in his defamation suit against NBC. A judge reduced the award to $5.3 million. In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Roman Catholic priest and opponent of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, was elected president of Haiti in a landslide victory. In 1991, 15 people were killed and 20 wounded in clashes between Soviet troops and guerrillas in a disputed Armenian enclave. In 1992, Israel tried to deport hundreds of Palestinians to Lebanon but Beirut closed the border, trapping them in the Israeli-controlled "security zone." Also in 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush formally signed the North American Free Trade Treaty simultaneously with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. In 1994, North Korea said it shot down a U.S. Army helicopter in North Korean airspace, killing one pilot. The second pilot was reportedly uninjured but was held in North Korea. In 1996, the United Nations elected Kofi Annan of Ghana as secretary-general. In 1997, New Jersey became the first state in the United States to permit homosexual couples to adopt children. In 2001, U.S. officials said they believed they had destroyed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network in Afghanistan but it became evident in a few days that hundreds of bin Laden's men were escaping through the mountains into Pakistan. In 2005, an anti-illegal immigration bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives calls for hundreds of miles of border fences and new regulations for employers. In 2006, two large Virginia Episcopal parishes and several smaller churches in the state, reportedly upset over the consecration of an openly gay bishop and same sex weddings in some congregations, voted to secede from the worldwide organization. Also in 2006, gunmen carried out a mass kidnapping at the Iraqi Red Crescent aid office in Baghdad, capturing as many as 30 male employees and visitors. In 2007, Iran received its first nuclear fuel from Russia for use in the joint nuclear power plant being built in Bushehr, despite U.S. objections. Iran, meanwhile, announced plans for a second nuclear plant. In 2008, stung by falling oil exports and revenue, OPEC member countries agreed to cut their combined oil output by 2.2 million barrels a day, the greatest output cut in its history. A thought for the day: in "Hawthorne," Henry James wrote, "It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature." (c) UPI fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
HDTV Almanac - The Ultimate Living Room PC - HDTV Magazine Posted: 17 Dec 2009 06:12 AM PST Yes, we have a computer in our living room. It's a big, old-fashioned tower case with a powerful CPU and big hard drive inside, sitting on the floor next to the TV stand. It's not particularly lovely, but it gets the job done. Still, I think I could do better, at least until I visit www.slipperyskip.com and see that I definitely could do better. I met Jeffrey Stephenson years ago when I first saw his "Humidor PCs". These were one-off works of computer-modding art, where he'd take a wooden humidor and shoehorn an entire PC into the little box. I think we corresponded via email for a few years before we ever met in person. By that time, he was building his own boxes, often inspired by art deco products such as radios and clocks. He's chalked up some well-deserved awards over the years, but he just won the Intel Core Custom Challenge in the "Best for Digital Lifestyle" for his latest work, which he named "Mission". The mission-style table houses a complete computer in a tower case (that neatly slides out the back for servicing), but you'd never know it. It's got extensive provisions for ventilation, including air filters to control the dust. And to my eye, it's just plain gorgeous. And I expect that you'll agree that it is worthy of first place. Now, my point was not to make you as envious as I am of Jeffrey's skills and creative talents. Instead, I want to just pose one simple question: if computers are going to be coming into our living rooms to act as DVRs and gateways to video and movie content on the Internet and platforms for free video phone calls (using Skype or some other service), then why do they have to look like computers? And no, making them look like a VCR is hardly any better. Why not hide them away in a nice piece of furniture? Computers now cost so little that I think some furniture company might want to partner with a computer company and see if they could boost each other's sales a bit. And they could do a whole lot worse than starting by seeing if Mr. Stephenson is available to do a little design consulting. fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
Ty Pennington stole my neighborhood's innocence - Gainesville Sun Posted: 17 Dec 2009 05:58 AM PST I used to spend hours relaxing on my porch swing reading the "Farmers Almanac" and listening to the calming rustle of the leaves, letting the breeze rock me gently back and forth. The only thing breaking the silence was the flapping of baseball cards pinned in the spokes of the neighborhood kids' bikes. "Hey, Mr. H!" little Tommy would call out as he rode by, his freckled face and toothy grin beaming in the golden afternoon sunlight. "Sure glad there's not a nationally televised home makeover show being filmed down the street!" "You said it, Tommy," I'd reply as I tossed a shiny sliver dollar into his adorably grubby hands. "Now why don't you go down to the soda fountain and get yourself a malt?" His eyes would well up with gratitude and profound, crushing respect as he slid the coin in the front pocket of his overalls, slung his cane fishing pole over his shoulder and turned the squeaky pedals of his bike with his dusty bare feet. Such was the scene that played out regularly in my little slice of Real America. That is, until Old Man Pennington rolled into town. The trouble started brewing last week when word got out that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was planning to build a deserving family of six a brand new house just a stone's throw from my own. Host Ty Pennington, it seemed, was trying to swoop in and become Gainesville's savior overnight by performing an act of great charity for a worthy cause. Someone on his staff must have failed to mention to Mr. Pennington that Gainesville already has a hero. His name is Tim Tebow, and he warms hearts and brightens lives every Saturday without a bullhorn or pyrotechnics. Perhaps you've heard of him. Nevertheless, Mr. Pennington blew into town like some kind of tan, constructive tornado and left a disruptive trail of good will and holiday cheer in his wake. In less than 24 hours, an entire street was closed off and swarming with builders, volunteers, television producers and all manner of oglers and hangers-on. What was once a serene, wholesome community of neighbors who politely ignored each other was now a cacophonous, pulsating mob of friends working in concert to change the lives of one lucky family. It was almost more than I could stand. And yet, it got worse. I returned home from a hectic day of work one afternoon wanting nothing more than to relax by drinking an icy glass of lemonade and listening to the wistful, folksy stylings of Garrison Keillor. As soon as I settled in, however, a great ruckus interrupted Mr. Keillor's off-puttingly esoteric radio show. When I ventured outside, I couldn't believe my ears. Ty Pennington had infected my innocent American neighborhood with the one thing that destroys communities faster than drugs, gambling and Wal-Mart Supercenters: rock 'n' roll. I didn't leave my property to find out for sure, but I can only assume that in between the fireworks and the distorted, satanic guitar riffs, children were being persuaded to drop out of school and adults, overcome by their primal urges, were dancing salaciously in the streets. I later saw a photograph that confirmed my worst suspicion: Ty Pennington was on stage - in a scandalous tank top, no less! - leading the noisome affair. It's true that the "Extreme Makeover" hysteria will die down one day and Gainesville will remember who hand-delivered a national football championship, but my community may not be so quick to recover. We will be known throughout Gainesville as the neighborhood where dreams come true, and no good can come from that kind of notoriety. I'm happy that one of my neighbors was fortunate enough to be given such a gift, but we should all remember that once Ty Pennington demolishes your house, you can never go home again. Contact John Houder at jhouder@gmail.com fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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