Ms. S Goes Teaching in Texas

A good thing to be doing as one gets older. I'll let her tell y'all all about it.

The Abduction from the Seraglio

We continue to be really glad we subscribed to Chicago Opera Theater.


Chicago Tribune review:
Abduction' skips the lighter side
Chicago Opera Theater leaves much of the laughter out of its Mozart offering
by John von Rhein
May 4, 2006

A Muslim ruler forced into exile by his European enemy abducts a Spanish lady and her maid only to learn the power of forgiveness by the final curtain. His act of noble renunciation at the climax could be taken as an eloquent plea for better Western/Islamic relations.

You want topical? Mozart's 1782 opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" delivers more than a few timely messages to our troubled world.

Justin Way's new production for Chicago Opera Theater touches on this topicality, updating the action to around 1914 when the Ottoman Empire was gasping its last and class divisions still meant something. His staging largely ignores the laughter in Mozart's miraculous music to focus on the darker aspects of the singspiel, with its stretches of German dialogue alternating with some of the composer's most glorious if vocally demanding arias. This "Entführung aus dem Serail" is not exactly a barrel of laughs...

Chicago Convenes

We're at $1.5 billion for the University's campaign. Convenes is a big thank you party for donors.

"The day of festivities honors and celebrates the generosity of those who have contributed to the progress of the Chicago Initiative. Chicago Convenes also showcases the intellectual vitality and the architectural beauty of the University, with faculty members offering classes and seminars and sharing their latest research, and with behind-the-scenes tours of new campus facilities."




The panel I help organize:

Reading the Black/White Divide: Forward, Backward, or Stalemate?

Social scientists from the Departments of Political Science, Economics, and Psychology will explore our society’s racial gaps from different perspectives, including examining racial differences in people’s response to Hurricane Katrina,the determinants of the black-white skill gap among young people, and the exploration of stereotyping and prejudice through research involving
videogame-like simulations.

Faculty Panelists: Joshua Correll, Michael Dawson, Derek Neal

A Really Stinky Commute

The green line is today's travel time. The yellow area is the time range for 65% of travel over the last two months. Ouch.

Work Trip to CT and NYC

Went to the East Coast primarily for John Mearsheimer's Harper Lecture. He did a brilliant talk on China, but the undercurrent was the uproar around the Israel Lobby paper.

In NYC, I stayed at the Hyatt at Grand Central. I normally just zip through GCS, but it force me to explore, and it was pretty fun. And a nice view out my window.

A Birthday! A Flea in Her Ear!

We started with Flea at Shakes. An energtic production, with a very modern script.

We ended at Blackbird for dinner.

Absolutely...um...I'm just going to say it yummy. Perfect. Really smart. Menu below, exactly as they present it in caps/no CAPS.


seared maine diver scallops with english peas, crispy house-cured canadian bacon, soft-boiled quail egg, and perserved lemon

crispy confit of wettstein farm suckling pig with grilled treviso, blood orange mostarda, and aged balsamic

wood grilled organic veal flank steak and boudin blanc with morrel mushrooms, illinois ramps and banyuls wine vinegar

virginia wild striped bass with wild burgundy snails, baby artichokes, white wine tomato broth and nicoise aioli

milk chocolate semifreddo with sweet waffles, sweet butter, and bacon

Wines we chose:
Hartley Ostini H.P. 'Generation' Central Coast Red
at the bar, and then learned this was the big Sidways wine. Um,yikes, ok...

Henriot Souverain Brut, Reims N.V
MacRostie Carneros Merlot

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A sense of where you are was the birthday gift theme. Chicago in Maps, Above Chicago, and go figure, lots of bluegrass...

Maddux--40 till your 90

So, I'm on a new kick. Even though I'm pushing 50, my goal is 45 'till I'm 90. Good goal. Need to actually live the dream: exercise hard 6 times a week, cut out the crap from my diet. Liking my job, and and what could be better than co-existence with the divine Ms. S? Those parts are good.

Maddux...ah....

Ms. C's Wedding to Mr. H.

Ms. C is Ms. S's mother's cousin.












The River Fall clan was well represented...

Gary Becker Birthday Fest

Gary turns 75. Price Theory Center has a conference. Center is named for Gary. A fun evening. Never buy used furniture from an economist...

"Guity Nashat Becker described meeting her future husband while trying to barter with him over the purchase of a dining room table; she also applauded him and other extraordinary members of the Chicago school of economics with “brave and revolutionary vision and ideas” that help us live in a “more democratic and better world.” She concluded, “I believe that the homage that's being paid to Gary is not for him alone, but also for the giants on whose shoulders he stands.”

Chicago’s Netherworld: An Ethnography of Psychosis on the Street

Tanya Luhrmann (the Max Palevsky Professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development and the College) gave the annual Ryerson Lecture. She's basically been hanging out at women's shelters in Uptown to learn about the impediments to getting women into stable housing. Really fascinating.

Final Four

Florida 73, UCLA 57



And everybody's brackets totally shot...

Meet the New President

The new President of the U of Chicago, Bob Zimmer, was on campus for visits.

Borrego Valley

A really, really terrific trip to Borrego Springs, California.

NYC

Did a work trip to NYC including a trip up to Yale--one of the alums at lunch was the Dean of Pierson College when I was there. For fun, saw Doubt and Sweeney Todd, and went to MoMA and the Whitney Biennial. Cell phone pix tell the story. Yes, Virginia, I went to Menchanko-Tei...

Valentine Victorious

OK. Let the record show that these guys still totally, totally rock. Really, check out their web site.



We were a bit leery when we learned that the lead of the trilogy, Nate, had broken his hand, but Valentine understudy, Mike Spatafora, stepped in. He was the lead guitarist for the Trick Hearts in this production.

Great...and our guy Matt (my trainer) was amazing.