About Me

                  
                                                          My favorite colors are purple and green.


    I am a convinced Quaker: I am a member of theNorthside Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends. This is a Chicago meeting and part of the Illinois Yearly Meeting, which is affiliated with Friends General Conference. For me, being a Quaker is not a matter of adopting a belief system, but of seeking, and of striving to adhere to a way of being in the world. Being a convinced Quaker means that I was not raised as a Quaker but came to it later in life. I do, however, have Quaker roots(My great grandmother was a Quaker). My thought patterns regarding spiritual matters are in harmony with Taoism.


    I am a dancer: I am totally self conscious when expected to sing, but groove on moving my body to music. Not perfomance dancing(although I have done that), but dancing for the sheer pleasure of it. Everything except ballroom dancing. Especiallyfolk dancing(Balkan village dances, Scandanavian turning dances, and more), barn dancing/square dancing, and wild uncontrolled gyrations to rock and blues music.


    Music: My tastes are fairly eclectic but definitely discriminating. Some of my favorites: Willie Dixon, Sonny Terry, Mama Yancy, Eddie Clearwater, Koko Taylor, and Pat Scott (who you know if you've been to Lee's Unleaded Blues). Leonard Cohen (who always sings exactly the way he means to), Hank Williams( not jr.), Janis Joplin, Leon Redbone, Tom Waits, Jacques Brel, and John Prine. Bob Dylan, The Doors, The Greatful Dead, Pink Floyd (but not The Wall), The Talking Heads, The Rolling Stones, The Eurythmics, Taj Mahal, Cream, Steve Miller, The Velvet Underground. Bartok, Stravinsky, Gorecki, Beethoven Chamber Music, Bach, Renaissance music(which I used to perform), Philip Glass, Michael Hoenig, Peter Baumann, Tangerine Dream, Ray Lynch, Enya, and other high quality new age music(music from the hearts of space, not music from the back of an elevator). I am missing a lot.


    Old Things: I am comforted by things that have a sense of the past, and especially things that connect with bygone styles of living, technology, and craftsmanship. Sometimes I am burdened by the inconvenience of these things (example: from 1972 to 1996 I owned a 1956 Morgan Plus 4, which I drove less frequently as time went on). But love has nothing to do with practicality.

    My current list of old things includes:

      • The 1869 Bellinger Cottgae in Chicago
      • A 1550 town house inthe village of Uzès in the south of France: Maaison Foussat
      • A 1920's Parker Duofold Fountain Pen which I usually carry with me and love to hold in my hand.
      • A collection of Encyclopedias and other reference books from the 18th and 19th centuries, telling a mixture of truth and opinion from a dated perspective.
      • 19th century maps of Chicago.
      • All sorts of old mechanical and electrical devices, including pre-war radios and parts and mystical medical machines.
      • A collection of 1930's Fiesta dinnerware, partly inherited from my parents, who received it as a wedding present.

    Backpacking: Going up into the mountains or down into the Grand Canyon! Spending a few days away from all of civilization! Going alone or with someone I really like! Being with nature! Not having to make complete sentences! Yes!


    Film: Pretentious eh? OK, movies. But I don't usually like the blockbusters. Sundance Film Festival is more my style. The Chicago Film Festival is a real treat. French films - Swedish films - Czech films - Facets Multimedia -


    Philsophical and political notions:
      •  Garbage manifesto
      •  National Debt
      •  theeleventhofseptember
      •  Drugs
      •  Education
      •  Gun Control