Manoratha: Education

Music & Performance

J'ai Deux Amours
Madeleine Peyroux: Careless Love
This cover of an old Josephine Baker classic is beautifully rendered. Stopped me in my tracks while walking through an old furniture store in San Francisco with the rain and cold outside. Your mileage on the rest of the CD might vary, but this one's worth the price.
Paris Nights
Kevin Burke: Across the Black River
A Master Fiddler in his prime. Had a chance to see him at the Sebastopol Celtic Festival. Such a smooth and accomplished style - Listen to the Long Set or Paris Nights and you'll see what sets him apart.
Amor Bonito
Various Artists (Lydia Mendoza): Tejano Roots: The Women (1946-1970)
In memory of a singer that had the same impact on me as Edith Piaf when I first heard her on an Arhoolie Records compilation of Tejano (music from the Texas-Mexico area). I adore her song Amor Bonito. Rest in peace...
Sabelina
Susana Seivane: Susana Seivane
Music from Galecia - part of Spain with Celtic music influences. These are not your moody highland bagpipes (love those too) - think peppier, uptempo, energetic music. The tune Sabelina (an original composition) rivals the best Cuban beats for getting your feet moving. If you've ever rocked out to The Old Blind Dogs or Lunasa at a live concert - you will love this. http://www.susanaseivane.com/

A couple of folks have been asking me for a while for the resource page I had put together for the JLS Middle School Science Fair while building out a web site for the fair to help with publicity and organization. I ran the science fair for 3 years with some other JLS parents and a JLS staff representative (and the strong support of the principal Joe Di Salvo). While it was a lot of work, it was a blast to see 350+ kids bring in their work over two days and talk directly to the judges that we brought in from the community. I'll write more about that experience this summer.

The resource page lists everything I have known and used over the years to get kids to have fun with science - including books, videos, museums, activities, birthday gift suggestions etc. By popular demand, it is now cached here besides its usual location on the JLS Science Fair Web Site. It'll be stashed under the ThinkerTinker area.

Current Reading

John Kenneth Galbraith: A Short History of Financial Euphoria (Whittle)
Dusted off this one from my library (an old Penguin imprint). Acquired some 30 years ago, last read around 1999. Still good as ever - short and to the point. Consider "Extraordinary Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" for an alternate. (****)
Rodney Frost: Making Mad Toys & Mechanical Marvels in Wood
One of my collection on automata/kinetic scuplture/toys. Frost's work isn't as inspired as Paul Spooner but he's taken great pains to document kinetic toys and in this volume illustrates beautifully how to put some nifty kinetic toys/automata. Given the weather and my outdoor workshop, it'll be summer before I can experiment with some of the ideas but the sketches and designs will have to suffice till then. (***)
Edward Hopper: Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work
One of my favorite artists and an old birthday gift that leaf through in quiet times. Quite instructive to see the process behind the master works in the sketches, the study, the notes and the deft hand that captures the essence. Reminds me of the journals in the Picasso Museum in Paris (reams and reams of them) that show how genius is really 99% perspiration. (****)
Karen Armstrong: The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
Not perfect, but an illuminating book on a pivotal period in human history and the development of ideas that hold promise for our future.

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Manoratha

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November 2008

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