Musical Wanderer

I was sorta lucky last Sunday.  The Smithsonian offered employees and volunteers (I've volunteered at the Folklife festival for half a dozen years and started volunteering at the Zoo at the Amazonia exhibit in August) the chance to see the new Museum of African American History and Culture before the big opening this weekend.  Evidently the free timed-entry passes to the museum have "sold out" on weekends through Christmas, though  weekday passes are available in November, so Robin and I were psyched to see it.  I still remember how exciting it was to wander the new Museum of the Native American Indian at 2 AM the night it opened when, for the only day ever, the majority of the visitors were native americans. I thought the optics might not be great, to see a bunch of white folks entering the museum before everyone else (most Smithsonian employees and volunteers are lily white like me).  But once we got there the crowd was somewhat...

The chaos following the Brexit vote has dominated the British and world press in the month since the referendum.  Some have called it the greatest blunder by the UK since the invasion of Suez 60 years ago.  It will probably be considered one of the most significant events in the early twenty-first century, affecting the economies and politics of Europe and by extension the world for years to come.   The Brexit vote has overshadowed the release of the Chilcot Report, the seven year study of the UK's government leading up to, during, and following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  The report's findings are somewhat scathing regarding the conduct of the governments of the UK and the US in the rationale, planning, execution, and follow up of the invasion of Iraq, another sovereign state which, though not a virtuous nation by any measure, was not at war with either state.  The invasion has had consequences in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe that will last for ...

Current as of 2022 Professional Ensembles - For a year or more Washington Bach Consort – J. Reilly Lewis, director Palestrina Choir – Michael Harrison, director Woodley Ensemble – Frank Albinder, director Washington Master Chorale – Thomas Colohan, director National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Choir, Washington DC - Leo Nestor, Peter Latona, directors Washington National Cathedral Choirs, Washington DC - Douglas Major, Bruce Neswick, James Litton, Michael McCarthy, directors St. Matthew’s Cathedral Schola Cantorum, Washington, DC - William Culverhouse, Thomas Stehle, directors St. Alban's Episcopal Church Choir, Washington, DC, Justin Boyer, director  Professional section leader/support for Volunteer Ensembles - For a year or more St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Choir, Canton, Ohio - Frank Wiley, director  St. Peter’s Catholic Church Choir, Washington DC - B. Andrew Mills, Kevin O'Brien, directors St. Francis Episcopal Church, Great Falls, Virginia - Larry Vote, director...

I made a summary of failures to go along with my regular resume.  I figure it's only fair to note organizations and paths that I said "Thanks, but no thanks" to over the years. Stephen Francis Pearcy Summary of Thanks, but No Thanks Education Masters in Education, Middle Tennessee State University - To teach more than two years in Tennessee, a teacher was required to have at least 12 graduate credit hours in education.  It didn't matter how and where you got them (some earned them via correspondence courses, some via night classes in the next town, some via summer classes in Murfreesboro), or what classes you took (one of mine was the History of American Public Schools, a fascinating class, yet not very useful for everyday teaching), you just had to have 12 credits.  I earned 9 credits at MTSU and 3 credits at Columbia University for a summer program I got into there.  So I was almost halfway to a Masters and...

I saw an article about a professor at Princeton who created a CV of failures --jobs he didn't get, grants he didn't receive, schools he didn't get into. Not sure he had a lot to complain about, as he was a professor at Princeton. He noted he has received as much if not more attention for this as he has for his own research.  He had links to other folks who listed not only their accomplishments but failures as well.  But it inspired me to do the same. Though it seems like it could be a depressing exercise, sitting down to list one's failures is actually quite cleansing, as you can see not everything you wanted earlier in life may have been right (ok, some failures were disappointing, though less so in retrospect) or that if you keep trying you're successful (perhaps only briefly).  I'm happy with what I've been fortunate enough to do in life, but creating this it reminded me how life could have proceeded on different paths and to different places had some ...