giant triplets of racism, militarism, and materialism

happy birthday dr. martin luther king jr. king. (reese seemed a little taken with the royal aspect of dr. king's name when she and i chatted on the phone yesterday).

lots of things going on that i have neglected to report on.

• dennis barrie's lecture on the mapplethorpe exhibition was good. the intro reminded me that my beloved dr. liza must know him? it also made me wonder whether i really would have the mettle to live in the shadow of cinncinnati.
  
• caroline and i went to see savion glover tap to several duke ellington pieces at the detroit symphony on saturday night. he rocked. and so did the rest of the program. each piece of music was about time. i for one had never seen ravel's bolero performed live. i had no idea how physical it was and that it was meant to emulate a factory? in my junior year of college, i would play that over and over and over. i must have disturbed my neighbors so.
• on friday, i went along to this terribly civilized colloquium in which my colleagues julius and sandra presented some of their research. they offered papers that i first heard at the conference elsa organized a few years ago. the misty sky at twilight, the heavily wooded paneled walls, the tea service before and the reception after -- it all called to mind the time i studied at oxford. except with black and south asian people.
• the season premiere of extras was funny to me. sarah and i watched it together.
• one of the good things that has come from karenna's departure is that sarah and i spend a lot more time together.
  
• this week right in here is a time that i like at michigan because of this.