Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

My Little Garden Zoo Additions to the Asian Trail

 These additions, along with the others from the Aviary and Herpetarium bring the total to 27 species.

ASIAN WATER MONITOR
Varanus salvator

RANGE
India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Malayasia, Brunei, and Indonesia

CONSERVATION STATUS


NILGAI
Boselapphus tragocamelus

RANGE
India and Nepal

CONSERVATION STATUS


Monday, June 26, 2023

My Little Garden Zoo Another Addition to Australia, Land of Wonders

 This addition brings that total of species in this section of the zoo to 15.

LUMHOLTZ'S TREE-KANGAROO
Dendrolagus lumholtzi

RANGE
Australia (northeastern)

CONSERVATION STATUS



Sunday, June 25, 2023

Theatre J: One Jewish Boy

"One Jewish Boy" is a U.S. Premiere of a play written by Stephen Laughton and originally produced in London at the Red Lion Theatre in 2018, it eventually moved to the  West End and played to great acclaim at the Trafalgar Studios.  The story is told with two actors, the first is Danny Gavigan whose greater DMV career I've been following since 2016 and his performance of Stanley Kowalski at Everyman Theater up in Baltimore.  The other role was played by Alanna Saunders who among other credits played Tiger Lily in NBC production of "Peter Pan Live!".  Great theatre, great background, great actors, what more could you ask for?  And it was indeed a great production.  I loved a lot about it.

I know, you're already sensing the "BUT" in the room... I'm not going to go there just yet.

Let me talk about all of the great stuff first!   The play is well written.  It's dialogue is often so natural that the humor catches you off guard and the pathos cuts like paper, sharp and unexpected.  The sequence of scenes flows back and forth in time with the two characters Jesse the well raised, player wannabe Jewish boy and Alex, the bi-racial devil may care with a righteous indignation against social injustice.  Their interactions twist and turn like a dervish between passion and love and passion and discord.  There was never a moment when the actors left me thinking the were Danny and Alanna.  From the moment the dialogue began, they were Jesse and Alex.  And as they moved forward and backward in time they were younger and older versions of themselves.  These were brilliant performances.  

The set was deceptively simple.  Indistinct cubes that could become various things.  A background of blank canvases ready to become whatever the scene required through the use of projected images.  The hallmark was a simple shelf running along the back wall of the room.  With every scene some article was left there, building of a sense of clutter, of history, of the progression of the life they were living together.  

Ok...first, a minor annoyance.  The actors were beautifully coached in a British accent--not posh, Jesse's was a mellow Northwest Highgate and Alex's more Southeast Greenwich immigrant.  I was impressed by the care taken in this aspect of the production; however, it didn't suite the audience.  Many lines were lost in the unfamiliarity during moments where the dialogue ran smartly over top each other.  Practically the discernible word was "fuck".  Leaving the theatre I was listen for commentary, and more than one comment alluded to not being able to understand what was going on all the time.  Again, midday matinee at the Edlavitch Jewish Center?  Median age 73.  But this is really nitpicking, compared my main complaint.

When a playwright goes to all of the trouble of pouring their genius, their art into a work, you want them to have something to say.  You hope that what they are going to tell you is going to give you something worth discovering.  Here you have two intelligent, curious, passionate people who's chance meeting leads them into a relationship.  The story starts with their divorce and then reveals all of the things that came before.  Poignantly, the final vignette is of their first "date".  

From that moment to the divorce they move in together, support one another in moments of indecision and career moves, and have a son.  There's a lot of love there.  Strangling it is the trauma.  Jesse's trauma erupts after a Jew bashing incident in which he is randomly beaten by a gang of black youths who specifically taunt him with Jewish slurs and Nazi references.  It is an experience he cannot move on from.  For Alex, it is the endemic misogyny and racism that has dogged her and beat her down for her entire life--even up to almost dying in childbirth because her description of her own pain was ignored by the white doctor and nurses.  In the end, the trauma wins the day. In spite of their passion, in spite of their son, they cannot break the toxic power of the trauma.  

Well, sigh...  Perhaps profoundly true, I found it also pathetically cynical.  I don't need sunshine and roses.  I know life can suck the fucking hope out of a rainbow.  I already know that.  I also know, that out of the darkest abyss, even the slightest spark of light, can refract the most dismal deluge to create a little rainbow again.  I wish Stephen Laughton with all of his brilliant talent also knew that.  I wish he had found a way to teach it to Jesse and Alex.




Tuesday, June 13, 2023

Confirmed to the Federal Bench: Hernan D. Vera

 After 530 days waiting from nomination to confirmation, Judge Vera was finally confirmed today...



Monday, June 12, 2023

My Little Garden Zoo: Aviary

 Usually, I set up a series of little planters and stones around the center of the table on the deck and create there an "aviary" for MLGZoo.  Of course, some species of birds end up elsewhere along the way.  This year I have habitats out and about for Common Ostriches, Greater Flamingos in the "African Adventure" area, Gentoo Penguins in "Icons of the Americas," and Southern Cassowary in "Australia, Land of Wonders."  Additionally, I have a mini aviary of birds from South America in the "Icons of the Americas" hosting 3 species of Macaw (Scarlet, Hyacinth, and Blue & Yellow), and 2 species of Toucan (Keel-billed, and Toco).  The table aviary is a mix and with the 9 aforementioned species beings the total avian offerings at the MLGZoo in 2023 to 22 with it's 13 unique bird species.  


ICONS OF THE AMERICAS

GREAT HORNED OWL
Bubo virginianus


RANGE
Canada, United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina

CONSERVATION STATUS


 BARN OWL
Tyto alba

RANGE
Widely across multiple continents

CONSERVATION STATUS


 PILEATED WOODPECKER
Dryocopus pileatus

RANGE
Canada and United States

CONSERVATION STATUS



RING-NECKED PHEASANT
Phasianus colchicus


RANGE
Native to Asia, introduced and iconic in Europe and North America

CONSERVATION STATUS


PEREGRINE FALCON
Falco peregrinus

RANGE
Yellow - Summer Breeding Visitor
Light Blue - Travel Visitor
Blue - Winter Visitor
Green - Resident Breeder
Worldwide

CONSERVATION STATUS


ANHINGHA
Anhinga anhinga

RANGE
United States, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, Grand Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.

CONSERVATION STATUS


AUSTRALIA, LAND OF WONDER

EMU
Dromaius novaehallandiae

RANGE
Australia

CONSERVATION STATUS


SULFUR-CRESTED COCKATOO
Cacatua galerita

RANGE
Australia, Papua New Guinea, American Samoa, and Indonesia

CONSERVATION STATUS



AFRICAN ADVENTURE

SHOEBILL STORK
Balaeniceps rex

RANGE
Botswana, Zambia, Zaire, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, and Nigeria

CONSERVATION STATUS


WHITE STORK
Ciconia ciconia

RANGE
Green - Summer
Blue - Winter
Europe, Asia, and Africa to Asia and Africa

CONSERVATION STATUS


MARABOU STORK
Leptoptilos crumenifer

RANGE
All of Sub-Saharan Africa save Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome e Principe, Lesotho and Madagascar

CONSERVATION STATUS


GREAT WHITE PELICAN
Pelecanus Onocrotalus

RANGE
Light Green - Breeding 
Dark Green - Resident colonies
Blue - Non-breeding visiting regions
Africa, Europe, and Asia

CONSERVATION STATUS



THE ASIAN TRAIL

GRIFFON VULTURE
Gyps fulvus

RANGE
Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cypress, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sikkim, Morocco, Algeria, Erutrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia. and Yemen 

CONSERVATION STATUS


EURASIAN SPOONBILL
Platalea leucorodia

RANGE
United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Greece, and Turkey

CONSERVATION STATUS