Leaves of Grass

Sorry, mostly not the Walt Whitman variety...

What do you get when you combine Edward Norton playing twin brothers, one a world renowned classics professor, the other a rather sophisticated cultivator of cannabis?  Before you answer, there's also Susan Sarandon as their mom and former stoner who has cloistered herself in a retirement home; Richard Dreyfus as a Jewish mobster in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Keri Russell as a poet and award winning catfish noodler; and character actor Josh Pais (you'll recognize him when you see him) as a displaced Manhattan orthodontist.  Starring, written, and directed by Tim Blake Nelson (who is perhaps most memorable for his role in Brother Where Art Thou?) Leaves of Grass has a few too many sudden and shockingly realistic homicides to be a true comedy.  Still, there are many clever riffs on the myriad challenges in the life of a professional academic, the ethical conflict between pot growing purists and those trading in home-cooked pharmaceuticals, the number of synagogues in Tulsa, an infatuated student who expresses her unwanted affections in Latin, and the differences between Nazi and Hindu swastikas.  Quirky, weird, hilarious in spots, shocking in others, a stretch for several of its actors, and showing real affection towards its characters, I was pleasantly surprised by Leaves of Grass.

I'm Not For Sale: Slavery Past and Present

The 16th Annual Building Bridges Conference was held Saturday, March 12, 2011, at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

The event opened in Christ Chapel with a piece by I Am We Are, a social justice performance group organized by students at Gustavus.

The first of the day's many speakers was Dr. Joy DeGruy, who gave the keynote on her concept of “Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome."

Joy Friedman, Women's Program Manager at Breaking Free, gave a harrowing account of her life as a victim of human trafficking and her role today helping women and girls escape prostitution. 

Alison Kileen spoke on "Interfaith Communities Combating Human Trafficking" on behalf of Minnesota's Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (JRLC).  

Suzanne Koepplinger, Executive Director of Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center discussed her organization's research report titled "Shattered Hearts: Commercial sexual exploitation of American Indian women and girls."

I regret I was not able to stay for the entire talk given by Connor Grennan, founder and president of Next Generation Nepal.  The story of his experiences restoring trafficked Nepalese children to their families has been captured in his book Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. 

Likewise, I was unable to hear the talks by James Brewer Stewart or Jennifer Kimball of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, or participate in "the action piece" - a highlight of every Building Bridges Conference. 

Our daughter, Cassandra, worked on the conference again this year (her last at Gustavus).  What a fine program!  We are so proud of her work on issues of importance.

 

That's Right, Don't Anger Your Bodyguards

Frankly, I wasn't paying much attention to the gubernatorial politics and the legislative process in Wisconsin, until last week...

During the legal (and illegal) wrangling at the Wisconsin legislature last week Republican legislators made much of the fact that they had to be escorted from the capitol by police.  Perhaps these lawmakers took comfort knowing the police protecting them were exempt from the provisions of their bill which strips other public employees of their rights to bargain collectively.  Such a move is as cynical as it is transparent.  Some off duty cops didn't fall for it and openly expressed support for the protesters.  

If Governor Walker is really doing whatever it takes by whatever means necessary to balance the Wisconsin budget he'll back to strip the cops, firefighters, and state patrol of their rights as well.  If it really is just union busting tactics in support of an arch conservative economic agenda then he might come back anyway, if he thinks he can get away with it.

I'm so very happy we live in the United States where citizens and civil servants, unlike those in some countries, can depend on a tradition of law enforcement professionalism and excellence...so are Republican officials in Madison, Wisconsin, I bet.

An Interesting Firearms Blog

Published since 2006 by someone in the Twin Cities metro...

Image from http://averagejoeshandgunreviews.blogspot.com/

The blogger at Average Joe's Handgun Reviews does not share his name but he has been running a neat little blog since 2006.  He has an organized and consistent approach to evaluating new and old handguns.  His photography runs from very good to studio grade.  It sounds like he spends as much time and money in Twin Cities gun shops as I used.  We agree on some things and disagree about others.  Like me, he finds the Kahr pistols to small to use effectively at speed and doesn't care for the grip angle on the Glock.  Unlike me, he no longer thinks a J-frame revolver is good choice for concealed carry by the average citizen.  He provides an interesting resource I encourage you to check out if you're looking for opinions on particular handguns or concealed carry topics in general.

A Couple of My Favorite 1980's Horror Films...

...resurfaced on NetFlix recently.

Michael Mann's The Keep (1983) is still stylish as hell.  The cast included a Scott Glenn, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Ian McKellen, and Gabriel Byrne (playing one very nasty Nazi).  Some of the special effects shots were not that good at the time and have not aged well at all.  The visual effects man, Wally Veevers, died during the production, taking some of his better ideas for the movie with him to the grave.  Others of Veevers' tricks are still pretty awesome.  The film is set in a gloomy gray pass in the Carpathian mountains where Wehrmacht soldiers - who in 1941 still anticipated a quick victory against the Soviets - encounter a force more evil than themselves.  Many Nazis die, which is always a good thing.

Nomads (1986) was written and directed by John McTiernan (who helmed the classic Predator the very next year year).  It has big hair, 80's music, and a pretty nasty French accent delivered by Pierce Brosnan, and draws on ancient Inupiaq folklore being played out in modern Los Angeles.  The idea was not perfectly developed, but it leaves us with nagging questions.  What if some of the cast off, marginal people we struggle to ignore every day were visible only to us?  What if we were not supposed to see them?  Does anyone do creepy and alluring like Mary Woronov did back in the day?  Why did McTiernan think a remake of Rollerball was necessary?