"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
-- Chinese proverb
The Personal Side...
"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
-- Chinese proverb
The Personal Side...
Quiet and Freedom are
the greatest possessions.
Ruhe und Freiheit sind die grossten Guter.
La paix et la liberte sont les biens les plus precieux.
Paz e liberdade sao os majores bens.
-- Ludwig van Beethoven
_____________________________
"Under the influence of music, it seems that I
feel what I do not really feel, that I understand what I do not understand, that
I do what I cannot do." —
Leo Tolstoy, "The
Kreutzer Sonata"
Leopards of Yala, PBS
Nature
|
'Beethoven is not a man,' wrote Bizet, 'he is a god,
like Shakespeare, like Homer, like Michelangelo.' For Liszt,
Beethoven's music paralleled 'the pillars of smoke and fire
that led the Israelites through the desert ... so that we may
march ahead both day and night.' -- Michael Church, "The
Rage of Beethoven," The Independent [London], May 24.
2005.
|
'If I were to hear that music often, I would always be very brave.' -- Otto von Bismarck
Ludwig van Beethoven
'Comoedia finita est.'
'I despise that world which does not intuitively feel that music is a
higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.'
'The moral law within us, and the starry heavens above us.' --Conversation
Books
"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils."
-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (V, i,
83-85)
"I don't believe
you."
Photo: Kay Mizell
"I am not a teacher; only a fellow
traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead–ahead of myself as well
as of you." -- George
Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
|
Alma Maters |
||
 |
 |
 |
B.
A. M. A.
Ph.D.
Bachelor of
Arts
Master of
Arts
Doctor of Philosophy
______________________________________________________________
MY ALMA MATER --
Hendrix College
I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History & Political Science from
Hendrix College.
The Gazebo
--
Hendrix College
Currently translated as "unto the whole
person," the motto, in classical Greek, reflects Hendrix's dedication to
both Christian principles and the traditional liberal arts ideal.
-- Hendrix College
The Candlelight Carol Service
-- Hendrix College
The Carol Service is one of my fondest memories of Hendrix. The A Cappella Choir
leads the service. I sang in the choir my four years at Hendrix.
Greene
Chapel
-- Hendrix College
The Organ
at
-- Hendrix College
Greene Chapel
-- Hendrix College
-- Hendrix College
______________________________________________________________
MY ALMA MATER -- University of Arkansas
at Fayetteville
-- U of A
Ole
Main --
U of A Ole Main Reflection
-- U of A
I received a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from the University
of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
The Fulbright Peace Fountain
-- U of A
Razorbacks -- U of A
_______________________________________________________________
MY ALMA MATER --
University of North Texas
-- UNT
I hold a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Political Science from the
University of North Texas at the time North Texas State University.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"You're kidding
me!"
Photo: Kay Mizell
Making my portrait
-- June Van Cleef
Photography is a hobby of mine but here is a "pro" at
work...Professor June
Van Cleef. If you
visit my office you will see the finished portrait.
______________________________________________________
NATURE
A cool owl
Leopards of Yala, PBS
Nature
Along the Shenadoah
Trail
--gdg
Wolf
__________________________________________________________________
MUSIC
"Without music, life would be a mistake." --
Nietzsche
Ludwig van Beethoven
|
Beethoven has been exploited by every European political
regime you can think of, for its own dubious purposes. One of
the casualties of the French referendum is that the theme of the
variations in the Ninth Symphony may not, now, become the
'national anthem' of Europe. It was played, by Leonard
Bernstein, to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The 'Eroica',
on the other hand, was performed at another famous concert in
Berlin, in 1945, as the city fell to the Russians; members of
the SS stood at the exits with baskets full of cyanide tablets.
The authorities will exploit Beethoven, but we are free, too, to find our own meanings in him. And he seems uniquely sympathetic now. The massive outbreaks of violence in the Grosse Fuge or the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata are still shocking. The death of ideals, the blunders and fury of the 'Eroica' are not just the music of the end of the Enlightenment, but for all time. And those extraordinary last pieces where incompatible voices slam against each other seem more pertinent than ever. The strange sequence of the C-sharp minor String Quartet, or the marvelous late piano Bagatelles; the bizarre collage of the Ninth Symphony's finale is music for a confusing world. And when the distant sounds of war enter into the last pages of the Missa Solemnis — the greatest thing Beethoven ever wrote — they are not just the guns of Waterloo, but those of Iraq, too. At the moment, Beethoven, even without an anniversary, seems
like the right composer to be listening to. He is frightening in
a way which needs no explanation; many of his greatest pieces,
like the finale of the 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, still seem as
difficult to listen to as Stockhausen. Radio 3 has found a good
moment to throw him at us in bulk; he reminds us that the world
— even the world as |
"Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony
will remain."
--
Michael Bakunin, quoted in Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station (1940)
The 9 Lives of
Beethoven's Ninth
Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
A UNESCO Cultural Heritage Treasure
Beethoven-Haus
Bonn Museum
Digital
Archives
Schiller's Ode
to Joy
from Beethoven, 9th Symphony
O Freunde, nicht diese Toene!
Sondern lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen und freudenvollere!
Freude, schoener Goetterfunken,
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische dein Heiligtum.
Deine Zauber binden wieder,
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brueder,
Wo dein sanfter Fluegel weilt.
Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein,
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seine Jubel ein!
Ja - wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!
Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Bruesten der Natur,
Alle Guten, alle Boesen
Folgen ihre Rosenspur.
Kuesse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, geprueft im Tod,
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch das Himmels praecht'gen Plan,
Laufet, Brueder, eure Bahn,
Freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!
Brueder - ueberm Sternenzelt
Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr stuerzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Schoepfer, Welt?
Such ihn ueberm Sternenzelt,
Ueber Sternen muss er wohnen.
O friends! Not these sounds!
But let us strike up more pleasant sounds and more joyful!
Joy, o wondrous spark divine,
Daughter of Elysium,
Drunk with fire now we enter,
Heavenly one, your holy shrine.
Your magic powers join again
What fashion strictly did divide;
Brotherhood unites all men
Where your gentle wing's spread wide.
The man who's been so fortunate
To become the friend of a friend,
The man who has won a fair woman -
To the rejoicing let him add his voice.
The man who calls but a single soul
Somewhere in the world his own!
And he who never managed this -
Let him steal forth from our throng!
Joy is drunk by every creature
From Nature's fair and charming breast;
Every being, good or evil,
Follows in her rosy steps.
Kisses she gave to us, and vines,
And one good friend, tried in death;
The serpent she endowed with base desire
And the cherub stands before God.
Gladly as His suns do fly
Through the heavens' splendid plan,
Run now, brothers, your own course,
Joyful like a conquering hero
Embrace each other now, you millions!
The kiss is for the whole wide world!
Brothers - over the starry firmament
A beloved Father must surely dwell.
Do you come crashing down, you millions?
Do you sense the Creators presence, world?
Seek Him above the starry firmament,
For above the stars he surely dwells.
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on
which it is impossible to be silent." - Victor Hugo
Bruno Walter
Andy
Warhol,
Beethoven Prints
"Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world's great composers. It is the happy balance between flight and control, between sensibility and self- discipline, simplicity and sophistication of style that is his particular province... Mozart tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated." -- Aaron Copland, Copland on Music, 1960
Pierre Boulez
"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the
mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." – Plato
".
. . Music is neither old nor modern: it is either good or bad music, and the
date at which it was written has no significance whatever. Dates and periods are
of interest only to the student of musical history. . . . All old music was
modern once, and much more of the music of yesterday already sounds more
old-fashioned than works which were written three centuries ago. All good music,
whatever its date, is ageless - as alive and significant today as it was when it
was written . ." --Peter Warlock
______________________________________________________________
ART
Art Centre of Plano
At the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden,
the Smithsonian's museum of modern and contemporary art.
Washington, D.C.
Sculpture
--gdg
The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden
Rodin, The Burghers of Calais
--gdg
Rodin, The Burghers of
Calais
--gdg
Rodin, The Burghers of
Calais
-- gdg
__
_____________________________________________________________
Henry Moore, Reclining Figure
--gdg
David Smith Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art
--gdg
______________________________________________________
ARKANSAS
An Arkansas
stream
Photo: U of A
I was born in a little town in Arkansas named De Queen. The town's name
is an Anglicized version of a Dutch engineer's name. The Dutch constructed
the railroad from Port Arthur, Texas and New Orleans through De Queen to Kansas
City. I discovered a De Queen street in Port Arthur, the southern terminus for
the railroad in Texas when I taught at Lamar University.
_____________________________________________________________________
LIFE SHAPING EVENTS
Little Rock Central, 1957
On Sept. 4, 1957 Arkansas
Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students
from entering Central High School in Little Rock. -- The
New York Times, September 4, 1957
November 22, 1963
One of the saddest days
I was in college when John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
It is one of those life events that you remember exactly where you were and what
you were doing. Such events may also define a generation. 9-11 is another such
event.
Vietnam War, 1964-1973
The war, the debate, the draft.
The Wall
-- gdg
_
Vietnam War Memorial
-gdg
The Political Turmoil of 1968
The death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F.
Kennedy, the tumultuous Democratic Party National Convention.
Watergate Scandal, 1974
September 11, 2001
The terrorist attacks happened during my eight a.m.
government class. We watched it unfold on television in the classroom and other
classes joined us all morning.
______________________________________________________
MY DOG TOSCA
My Beloved Tosca
-- gdg
Tosca was my first Golden Retriever. Manon and Desdemona
are her heirs. They reside at home along with Otello and Georgia
the Siamese cats. I am a dog and cat person.
_______________________________________________________________
MOUNTAINS
At "The Window"
-- gdg
Here I am at 10,000 feet near Creede, Colorado during my
backpacking days.
"Black Lake"
-- gdg
This little lake on the trail to the "Window" really isn't all
that picturesque but
it makes a great picture.
________________________________________________________________
A POLTICAL HERO
The Fulbright Peace Fountain at the University
of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Inaugural poet Miller Williams wrote these lines in memory of
Fulbright:
Think of students with minds made darkly rich by cultures not their own,
and who can say given the sweet contagion of a thought -
how far away the tremors of opening minds may resonate?
"Men are mortal, but ideas
are immortal." --
Walter Lippmann, American
journalist, 1889-1974
Senator J. William Fulbright 
Senator Fulbright is a hero of mine. He is the author of the Fulbright
Act of 1946 which established an international exchange program for American
and foreign professors and students commonly known in academe as a "Fulbright."
Also a critic of President Johnson's Vietnam war policies, LBJ referred to his
former friend and colleague as "Senator Halfbright."
"...it is a modest program
with an immodest aim - the achievement in international affairs of a regime more
civilized, rational and humane than the empty system of power of the past. I
believed in that possibility when I began. I still do." Senator J.
William Fulbright, Democrat of Arkansas, 1905-1995
"There
is a flickering spark in us all which, if struck at just the right age...can
light the rest of our lives, elevating our ideals, deepening our tolerance and
sharpening our appetite for knowledge about the rest of the world. Educational
and cultural exchanges...provide a perfect opportunity for this precious spark
to grow, making us more sensitive and wiser international citizens through our
careers." -- Ronald Reagan 1982 commenting on the exchange
program.
"No one who has lived through the
second half of the 20th century could possibly be blind to the enormous impact
of exchange programs on the future of countries..." --
Bill
Clinton 1993 commenting on the program.
U of A President Fulbright
-- U of A
For more on Senator Fulbright click on:
________________________________________________________________
TRAVELING TO THE SOVIET UNION
The Tsar's Cannon
-- gdg
I like to travel as these pictures attest. Here is the Czar's Cannon, the
largest
in the world of course, in the Kremlin.
Anastasia?
-- gdg
Here is a Slavic beauty. The scene is a group of school children at
Lenin's tomb in Red Square, the
Kremlin before the fall of the Soviet Union.
"Get thee to a monastery."
-- gdg
The story is that when the Czar tired of the Czarina he banished her to this
monastery on the outskirts of Moscow to live out her days..
A Georgian Monastery
-- gdg
According to legend monks lived in the mountain monastery and
traversed a cable from the monastery to the cathedral
in the river town
below. Outside Tibilisi, the capital of Georgia and formerly a state of
the Soviet Union.
A Georgian Monastery (enhanced version)
Thanks to Alex Shenkar, a former student, for this enhanced version of the
Georgian Monastery.
St. Petersburg...then Leningrad
-- gdg
The river Neva running through Peter the Great's city s is frozen solid in
winter. St. Petersburg, the "Venice of the
North" is my favorite
Russian city. It is as beautiful as another favorite the true Venice of the
South.
Peter & Paul Cathedral
-- gdg
The Cathedral lies within the Peter & Paul Fortress on an island in the
Neva
River. Catherine & Peter
the Great rest beneath the church's floor.
It was a
cold day but that evening the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky
theatre warmed
both heart and soul with an evening of great Russian
music and ballet.
Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, of course. For more of the church click on
http://www.enlight.ru/camera/163/.
Helsinki Environs --gdg
Triumph -- gdg
Paris, the city of light, in the evening with the Arc de Triumphe all aglow..
Climbing Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland
-- gdg
Dr. G
