新年快樂 - Happy Year of the Dragon

We made it to Seattle today - it was sunny and warm around noon when we arrived in Chinatown for lunch.  Though there were snow patches here and there.  When I saw this picture on wall, I remembered I needed to do a post of the Year of the Dragon. 

[The characters in the heading come from Good Characters.  You can hear it pronounced in Mandarin there too.]




 From 2012Dragon.com: 

The Dragon is in fact the major symbol of good fortune in Chinese Astrology. The Dragon constellation, for example, is accorded the honor of being the guardian of the Eastern sky. According to tradition the Dragon brings in the Four Blessings of the East: wealth, virtue, harmony and longevity.

Indeed, of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac the Dragon is the most special, as it is a mystical being rather than an earthly animal. It is sometimes called a karmic sign. In this context that means we can expect grand things this year. Bigger than life is very much a Dragon thing. There will be spectacular successes as well as crash and burn failures.

To get an idea of the magnitude of events that might occur in 2012 it is helpful to look back on the last time the Water Dragon made an appearance, the year 1952. In February Elizabeth II became Queen of the United Kingdom, beginning a reign that still continues today. The UK was responsible for another amazing feat of longevity. In November Agatha Christie’s Mousetrap opened in London, eventually setting the record for the longest, continuously running production of a play in history. It is not really cause for celebration, but in 1952 the United States introduced two of the most destructive weapons in history, the hydrogen bomb and the B-52 bomber. On a more positive note, the field of medicine saw the first successful separation of Siamese twins at Mt Sinai hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. And, to make the point that significant bad things can also happen in a Dragon year, in December a killer fog descended on London, one result being the invention of the word smog.

Throughout history parents in China have hoped to have children during Dragon years. What famous people will be born in 2012, and how will they change the world? The year 1952 claims world leaders including Vladimir Putin and Lee Hsien Loong.

And then there was drumming and a pair of dragons:



Are you a dragon?  Chinese astrology is on a 12 year cycle.  Some the most recent Dragon years:

1916	1952	1988
1928	1964	2000
1940	1976	2012

HTML Tables
 Remember these 'years' go from Jan/Feb of one year to the next

Paranormality offers these characteristics of Dragons:

People born under the year of the Dragon appear to have magical traits, they are strong and full of energy and forever on the go.  Some of their more negative traits include: eccentricity, a tendency towards being arrogant and very trying.  However they do have many fans and expect the same level of excellence from others that they expect from themselves.  They are also full of pride. Other traits include: failing to practice what they preach, over confident, a tendency to intimidate others, feel themselves to be above the law, and can be illogical, domineering and obstinate.  In many cases they fail to identify their foes.  Although energetic they are liable to become obsessive.  On the plus side they seldom hold grudges and are generally quick to forgive.  Dragons are said to be able to accomplish great things and those born in this year are also said to represent the horns of destiny. Needing a cause for which to fight, Dragons will never merely stand back and accept their fate or what life brings.

Fengshuitoday had a long post on the Year of the Dragon last October.  Here's a tiny bit:

To summarize further, the Yang Water Dragon year, with water on top and earth below, is a symbol of powerful energy and enthusiasm for progress and change. Such a powerful force of ocean water not only brings drive for social and political changes and reforms, but will also bring natural disasters such as flooding and earthquake. There will still be conflict and disharmony in international relationships and it may not be a peaceful year, but the international clashes are less violent than the last two years of metal over wood. Also there is some improvement on the environmental situation, but disease and epidemic will still prevail.

"The beacon fires were burning for three months" - Calligraphy at the Japanese Garden, Portland

I asked a woman who turned out to be Judy the extent to which a person should be able to recognize the characters in the calligraphy.  As you can see, the Chinese characters are on the description of the calligraphy.   I tried finding some of the easier characters in the calligraphy, but it was really hard. 

 Judy said that was part of the art of calligraphy.  The art should express the mood what is written.*

But in this one I can actually find some.  If you look at the second row, left column of the Chinese characters in the description, you can see  ⽕  (fire) and ㆔ (three) and ⽉ (moon or month). They are in the middle column of the calligraphy.  Find the ㆔.  The ⽉ is below it.  The ⽕ is up two from it. 

 And you should be able to 'find them' in the English translation.

I can see a violet flower in the image of this character.  (I hope it's the right one.)

Clouds - Christine Schulbach

As I understood it, the calligraphers were guided by Fujii Sensei who led a workshop.  The website of the calligraphy organization - meitokai - has a brief bio:

"Master Calligrapher Yoshiyasu Fujii (b. 1963, Fukuoka, Japan) began calligraphy studies at the age of five, in his childhood home of Saga, Japan. He attended Daito Bunka University and studied under Master Calligrapher Shumpo Akashi, with whom he would continue to study until Akashi’s death in 1995. While studying with Akashi, Fujii studied sumie painting and pursued his interest in the history, not only of Japanese calligraphy, but of Chinese classical calligraphy in addition to all of the traditional calligraphy writing styles. Fujii is the recipient of many honors, including top award at Mainichi Calligraphy Competition, Japan’s oldest, largest, and most prestigious calligraphy competition, in 1990 and 1992. He has served as assistant judge at the Mainichi Calligraphy Competition and is the only calligraphy instructor in the U.S. licensed by the Japanese Ministry of Education."

He talked to us a bit about the exhibit and the calligraphy on the floor which he had done the other day in a demonstration.  He's put some pictures of this exhibit on his website too.

The card with this calligraphy offers a haiku:

"Leaving Japan.  Just as the Persimmons finally ripen.
(A Haiku by Judy's Mother)"

Judy told us that her mother wrote haiku for over 50 years and they have all been published.  Judy is, I believe she said, an artist rather than a calligrapher.  So her calligraphy reflects that artist's eye.





We got there not too long before closing - and watched them take photos before taking down the exhibit.







It seems I got a picture (not sharp enough to post though) of one card, but I seem to have forgotten to get the scroll with it.  It's one of Fujii Sensei's work:

A person can claim to drink the first cup of liquor.  But by the third cup, it's the liquor that swallows the person.  I can't recall who said this to me, but I wrote it on my waist band as a warning.

I thought it a profoundly simple and universal truth.



*A website called Beyond Calligraphy has this on the deeper meaning of calligraphy:

The Art of Far Eastern (mainly Chinese and Japanese) calligraphy is a universe on its own, sewed with passion, soaked in love, painted in stunning beauty, sparked by raw emotions, and secluded under a translucent veil of ancient mystery. We find it as fascinating as the miracle of life itself. Our intention at beyondcalligraphy.com is to reveal and share secrets of this vast world by bringing it straight to your home. 

The art of writing Chinese characters is often misunderstood for many reasons. One is that not many people realise that in calligraphy, kanji (漢字, i.e. Chinese characters) are to be felt long before they are being read. Another is that the word “calligraphy” in western understanding means nothing more than a craft of writing in a beautiful manner, whereas here in the East we refer to it as “way of writing” (Japanese: 書道, shodou) or “laws of writing” (Chinese: 書法, shufa), which is to be understood as a “chosen life path”, a sacred knowledge, far beyond the definition of “art”.

I'm not sure how much Japanese calligraphy I've seen.  Mostly I've seen Chinese work.  For those unfamiliar with Japanese writing, they use a combination of Chinese characters - Kanji - and two phonetic alphabets.  One is for native Japanese words and the other for words borrowed from other languages and scientific terms.  You can learn much more at linguanaut.

Portland's Japanese Garden 1

Drops of water everywhere.  Then inside to warm exhibit hall.  Calligraphy post coming soon.  Portland's Japanese Garden.

Good to Run, Even if Wet

We're staying in NW Portland, not far from our apartment when I spent six months here on sabbatical.  We're not in the section I ran most often. Today I got to go run.  It's all familiar, but the details of which roads dead end into paths into the park are fuzzy. 

It turned out to be uphill most of the time (coming back was much faster) and I knew there was a trail somewhere through the wooded park.  This on the left is that trail, but going the wrong direction.  I just couldn't find the trail connection on the other side of the road. 

 So I turned around and went back pretty much the same way I came, varying the streets a little.  I haven't run for about three weeks, but shoveling snow has kept me reasonably fit, but it just doesn't compare. 

On the right is a runner/biker by-pass for a tunnel.  

I think we're headed for the Japanese Garden later.  It was one of our favorite nearby destinations.  I used to run by or through it regularly.  It's beautiful rain or shine. 

Portland Wedding - Kennedy School, All Saints Parish, Two Brothers, and Pearson Air Museum

We're in Portland for a wedding.  Wednesday I got a call asking if I would serve as the best man.  I've known M for over 30 years and we're the kind of friends who may not talk often, but when we're together it's like we haven't been apart.  We went to his first wedding in Anchorage many years ago.  When I had sabbatical in Portland for 6 months in 2003-2004, we spent time with M and his wife who was seriously ill with cancer and needed dialysis. 

We've had several other trips to the Portland area in the last five years and stayed at M's place.  One time he banged on our door about 10am and said, Hey, Alaskans, get up and see what's on TV.  It was McCain announcing Palin as his VP choice. 

Jordan Room at the Kennedy School

So, when his original best man was unable to come at the last minute, I said yes.  M said that the other guy had even written a speech.  So I said to be sure to send it to me.  (It served me well.  Thanks Reb.)  And M told us we should be at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday.  Unfortunately, we weren't due in until 4:40 and the rehearsal was scheduled at 4 with the dinner at 6 at the Kennedy School.  I just assumed the Kennedy School was a Catholic School that was big enough to have rooms where for events like this dinner.

Kennedy School Hallway

We got to Portland half-hour late.  We checked in bags - something we almost never do, but we got so much mileage last year that we qualify for free bags and we'll be in LA a while and we had gifts to pack.  Fortunately as I headed for the rental car J said, don't we have luggage to pick up?  Well, the Kennedy School isn't far from the airport and we arrived at this jammed parking lot about 6:20pm.  There was a parking attendant who said we could park in one section if we were staying at the hotel.  Hotel?  At a high school?  We found a parking place and walked in.  There was a bar near the entrance.  What kind of school is this?  We wandered the halls til we found the front desk and where we were supposed to be.  The Jordan room.  We passed some restaurants and other parties.  We got to the Jordan room.  There were only a few people there.  The rehearsal had run late. 

It turns out the Kennedy School is an old Portland Elementary School that had closed down and was bought and converted into an entertainment place, but as you can see, the blackboards are still up in the rooms.  With chalk. 


From the Kennedy school website:

Since its 1915 opening, this historic elementary school has been a beloved fixture of its Northeast Portland neighborhood. McMenamins renovated the once-abandoned scholastic gem and turned it into Portland's most unique hotel. Here you'll find 35 comfy guestrooms fashioned from former classrooms (complete with original chalkboards and cloakrooms, private baths and telephones), a restaurant, multiple small bars, a movie theater, soaking pool, gift shop and a brewery (just wait until the principal hears about this!). Extensive original artwork and historical photographs cover the walls, ceilings, doorways and hallways.

Fascinating example of recycling.  I enjoyed having my brain teased like that.





Today we went to All Saints Parish for the wedding mass at 1:30.   I wasn't the only one whose flights didn't get them to the rehearsal dinner and I'd had detailed instructions on what was going to happen and what I was supposed to do and it went off well.  If I messed up, no one said anything to me about it.  I didn't lose the rings.  (The seven year old had one tied onto a pillow, but the priest said that children were less predictable than adults.)

And after the wedding was over, the sun even came out and brightened the stained glass windows. 

The wedding had been at 1:30 and we hadn't had lunch so on the way home as we passed Two Brothers Grill - a Croatian restaurant - we decided this looked like a good place to eat.  It was.  And this being Portland, they even had a vegetarian section on the menu.  J ordered some Turkish coffee along with her meal.  






I had the vegetarian stuffed cabbage with corn meal. 



And we had time to stop at the hotel and get ready for the party at the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River.  About ten minutes from our hotel in NW Portland. 


The museum is in what we were told is the oldest still standing hangars in the US.  I couldn't find that on the Fort Vancouver website, but there was this (and more):

"Vancouver's Pearson Field is one of the nation's oldest operating airfields. Aviation first came to Vancouver in 1905, when Lincoln Beachey flew from Portland in a lighter than air craft and landed on the polo field at the Vancouver Army Barracks. Continuous fixed wing aviation made its debut in 1911, and the facility, dedicated as Pearson Field in 1925, played host to a number of aviation milestones over the years. It remains to this day a busy general aviation airport. The Pearson Air Museum and its Murdock Aviation Center are part of Fort Vancouver National Site."

The reception was a lot of fun and the kids had plenty of space to run around and to make and fly paper airplanes.  I met a lot of interesting people including a former Peace Corps volunteer (one of only a few groups in Yemen), a former special ed teacher, a former Attorney General of Oregon, and a Chinese calligrapher to name just a few.

And while I thought the cake looked like it was cardboard, it was a delicious combo of white and chocolate.  


A long and eventful 24 hours.  And the start of what I expect will be an interesting and happy marriage.

Spectacular Chugach Views on Flight from Anchorage to Portland

The flight cancellations over the last couple of days due to snow in Seattle and some ice and heavy rain in Portland meant the flight was packed.  But it was sunny and crystal clear in Anchorage - and -5˚F didn't matter. 

So just lean back and enjoy the views.

Icy Cook Inlet

Foraker (l) and Denali 150 miles to the north

Glenn Highway North at Eagle River

Lots of Snow on the Chugach Mountains

 

This is about 12:30 pm.  The sun is getting higher on the southern horizon, but still low enough to cast these long noontime shadows.

Remember, these are all taken through the not totally clear plastic windows of an Alaska Airlines plane, with a small Canon Powershot that I have to reset for distance for each shot.  (I'm sure there's a way to make it stay.)

Fjords into Prince William Sound

The captain said we were flying over Cordova, otherwise I wouldn't have  known.  We went there by ferry last summer and it looked totally different.

If this one were near Anchorage, I would say it was the pattern of the waterways at low tide.  But I'm not really sure.  It's off shore.  But is it low tide or just frozen solid?  Here's another one below.

And soon after this we were flying over clouds until we got under them to land in Portland. 

Why Kokayi Is Going To Lose A Lot Of Weight In Juneau

A friend of mine has decided that kids going hungry here in Anchorage isn't right. He's working to End Child Hunger by 2015. He's been pushing a bill that would put $2million into feeding kids at school.   The legislative website tells you this:

BILL: SB 3	SHORT TITLE: FUNDING FOR SCHOOL MEALS
BILL VERSION: CSSB 3(FIN)
CURRENT STATUS: (H) FIN	STATUS DATE: 03/07/11
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(S) WIELECHOWSKI, ELLIS, DAVIS, EGAN, FRENCH, KOOKESH, MCGUIRE, MENARD, PASKVAN, THOMAS REPRESENTATIVE(S)Kawasaki, Petersen, Kerttula, Munoz

TITLE: "An Act providing for funding for school lunch and breakfast; and providing for an effective date."


See where it says "Current Status" above?  The (H) means House (of Representatives) and FIN means Finance Committee.  It passed the Senate last year pretty quickly.  And then it went to the House Finance Committee on March 3, 2011.  It's been there ever since.   Since the Legislature is on a two year cycle, and this is the second year, it's still there.  

Note that the first sponsor is Wielechowski.  He's an Anchorage Democrat who has also been a strong opponent of HB 110.  That's the bill the Governor wants that will give the oil companies a $2 billion a year break on their taxes.  Each year.  In exchange for vague words about more jobs and investment.  Words.  Not even written down.  No commitments.  

Kokayi is planning to wait until Feb. 6 to see if the Finance Committee co-chairs will let the bill out on to the House floor for a vote.  If they don't, he's pledged to fast until they do.  





I'm betting he's going to lose a lot of weight.  

HB 110 is the highest priority of the House Republicans and the Governor.  Now that all the politicians that went to prison for corruption are out, it seems like things are getting back to how they were.  

I'm guessing that as long as Wielechowski is going to fight to block HB100 in the Senate (and he's not alone on that - Republicans and Democrats defeated it last year) S3 isn't moving.  That's how they play the game in Juneau.  Wielechowski's bill to fund school breakfasts and lunches (we're one of the few states that doesn't provide state money for that even though most other states are in a financial pinch and we've got $2 billion a year to give back to the oil companies).  I doubt that co-chairs Stolze (Chugiak/South Matsu) or Thomas (Haines) will move the bill until HB 110 is passed through the Senate.  And even then chairs have been known to just let a bill die as a form of punishment.  I don't know for sure that's what's happening.  Maybe they just think $2 million to feed hungry kids is a waste of money as opposed to getting $2 billion back into the oil company coffers.  

What are you going to do to help Kokayi End Child Hunger in Alaska by 2015?   He's got links at his site to write a letter and to join the peanut butter drive.

Fire and Snow

It's almost a month past the winter solstice.  It's 4:20pm and an office building is catching the reflection of the setting sun through the snow covered trees.  Official sunrise was 9:50am for a total of 6 hours and 41 minutes.  That's a gain of 4 minutes and 28 seconds from yesterday. 

The unrelenting snow storms we've had since Halloween have paused and we've had nearly a week of sunny, if cold, days.  Even though this is winter, the increasing light brings hope of warmer and sunnier days.  And J and I are getting ready to head south for several big events - a wedding and two 90th birthdays.  Fortunately, the redistricting board trial ended Tuesday (they were ready to go through Friday) and so I've had time to catch up with my life and most things I wanted to do before we left are getting done.  An important step - the house sitter is ready to move in as we move out. 

UAA Provost Michael Driscoll - New Indiana University of Pennsylvannia Presdient

Pennlive reports:

Driscoll - Image from Pennlive

University of Alaska provost and executive vice chancellor Michael Driscoll, 50, was hired by the system's board of governors to succeed David Werner, who has served as interim president since August 2010.
Driscoll will start on July 1 at a salary of $275,000, which will be the highest salary of the 14 presidents working at system schools.

I noticed this morning a lot of google searches for "Michael Driscoll University of Alaska" going to a post about the UAA Faculty Senate meeting with President Gamble in which Driscoll is mentioned. So I googled him myself to discover his new appointment which had been posted 45 minutes earlier at Pennlive.  The story begins by saying that as proof that they did a nationwide search, they got their new president from as far away as Alaska.

“Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” Anchorage, Friday, 11-1

January 21, 2012 is the two year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United which essentially gave corporations the first amendment rights and removed spending limits for corporate political speech.   In Alaska we saw the impact of this in last fall's write-in campaign by Lisa Murkowski.

Move To Amend is holding a rally at the

Anchorage Federal Courthouse

7th and C Streets

Friday January 20

 11-2pm

This is part of a national drive to amend the US Constitution to say the bill of rights applies to human beings and not corporations.  Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has submitted one amendment and Alaska's Sen. Mark Begich was one of the first to sign on.  

Voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have already seen the changes this has caused in the caucuses and primaries, with millions of dollars of third party ads.  Jack Gillum at Huffington Post writes:

Forget kissing babies on the campaign trail. The millions of dollars' worth of political advertisements airing before the early primary elections are turning out to be money well spent: The ads have affected primary results more than other forms of campaigning, including personal appearances by candidates, campaign speeches or town hall meetings, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

I was in Juneau in 2010 when the decision came out and I posted on the hearings in both state houses as both Republicans and Democrats worked to do damage control by adding disclosure requirements for any corporate donations.  Alaska didn't have disclosure laws because corporate political contributions had been banned altogether. 

I had a chance to talk to Curt Karns who is helping to coordinate the Anchorage event.