JWG

The US has the highest incarceration rate of any country. 639 per 100,000 people or a bit more than 2 million people. For comparison Canada's rate is 107.

It is interesting to think about why people are incarcerated.

- In simple terms: it is punishment for the crime that was committed

- Make the victims feel better - the victims suffer from the crime, make the criminal suffer. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Surveys of victims show that a majority of them would prefer if the money were spent on rehabilitation of the prisoners.

- Prevention from committing another crime while incarcerated

- Setting an example of what happens when you commit a crime to deter other people from committing similar crimes

- In some states prisons are called Houses of Correction. The idea is to retrain and motivate prisoners to not commit crimes after they are let out. Well, that really works well: prisoners are in crowded conditions among many other people who have committed crimes - that is a bad environment. Not enough - if any - properly trained staff to help rehabiltate them by dealing with health problems and skill improvements is another problem.

The US crime rate is in the middle but some statistics are that about 2/3 get arrested within three years of being let out so it doesn't look there is much correction.

I think in some cases instead of treating the people as criminals where they won't talk because what they say can be used against them time should be spent with them to understand the background of why they did it and create a constructive plan for rehabilitation and working with organizations to change policies and procedures that can help avoid similar crimes.

We returned from our trip to Guana Island, a private island resort in the British Virgin Islands. Our first trip there was in 1983 - we think this was our 25th. There are at most 35 guests - it is a large island with many beaches, hills, and small mountains. All the rooms are different - usually in a building with one or two others - and extra hill walking.

We usually go at the same time and encounter other people who have been there at the same time before. It is quite social - dining is at tables with 6-8 people although you can eat privately if you want - we didn't. And there is cocktail hour - no charges for liquor and you mix your own. The food is excellent - I gained a few pounds in 7 days....We did lots of walking. The dining facilities and rooms are up a hill and we walk up and down to the beach and other several places a few time a day. (they will drive you, but we choose to walk).

The owner is very supportive of preservation. There is a salt pond near the main beach and a flock of flamingos lives there. We always count them when we get a good view - there were 21. In the fall they have scientists' month and a bunch of them come down and study things and do work.



Many years ago they introduced a few Rock Iguanas (an almost extinct species) and they are thriving - we saw quite a few of them at various times.





There is a croquet field - it wasn't in good shape - missing stakes and some wickets when we got there. We found some stakes, but no wickets so I fashioned some out of colored straws which worked pretty well. I beat Robert each time - once he was ahead and then suddenly it started to rain and there was wind so we ran for cover. When we reutrned to the field the wind and blown the balls around we had to start over. When I was a kid we had croquet in our yard in our summer house on the Jersey Shore and I played a lot.



There used to be lots of pelicans - we saw one.

Today is Martin Luther King day.

A very incredible person who was a constructive activist in the civil rights movement in the
50s and '60s until he was assassinated in 1968.

Wikipedia article

He was in prison a number of times as a result of his work.

This picture was taken shortly after King, Ira Blalock (on the left), Gordon Gibson (on the right), and some others were released from the Salem jail in 1965. As it turns out I knew Ira Blalock because he was the minister in a UU church in Wellesley that I went to for a while with a bunch of friends. And Gordon Gibson was a minister in another Boston area church who performed my first marriage in 1966 (in the MIT chapel). -- and yes, I have posted this before.

When I was a kid I was a Yankees fan - I lived in NYC. My father was a NY Giants fan. We occasionally listened to games on the radio and I went with my father to several games at the Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field and the original Yankee Stadium. And to several more at Yankees games with a school friend. Then I lost interest.

One summer at camp I became a Milwaukee Braves fan (was Boston Braves, now Atlanta Braves) and listened to a few games. Then I lost interest and ignored the sport.

In 1986 I remarked to Robert (rsc) "Oh the RedSox are in the World Series - let's watch some games" and we did. Little did we know what this was going to do to us. We started paying a bit of attention to games. In 1989 we went to some games in Fenway Park and continued doing this for a few years. And in 1994 we got Season's tickets (weekday games) and shared with several other people and started going to 10-15 games each year.

We watch most games on TV - and part-time on the radio during dinner or in the car.

While travelling we have gone to games in both the completely redone old Yankee Stadium and then the new Yankee Stadiums, Giant's games in Candlestick and then Oracle park, Twins in Metropolitan Park in Minneapolis, old Tiger stadium in Detroit, Mariners at Safeco field in Seattle, Phillies at Veteran's and Citizen's Park in Philadelphia, Cubs at Wrigley field in Chicago, Mets at Shea statium (me only), Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. And the RedSox triple A team in Pawtucket. I've been in Rogers Centre in Toronto (Blue Jays) not for a game but a computer conference.

So I've seen games in 17 stadiums and been in one other.

The UserPic is for the Canterbury RedSox (New Zealand - softball) - they weren't playing when we were there.

Yesterday was National Armed Forces Day.



The closest I ever came to being a member of the Armed Forces was freshman year at MIT where taking ROTC was a requirement. We marched in uniform on Briggs Field or in the Armory. We had classes in military history and learned how to clean M1 rifles. I got to shoot an M1 once.

In my sophomore year I heard that you could get excused for flat feet so I went to the MIT infirmary. They said I didn't have flat feet, but my eyesight which required glasses would get me excused so I filled out a form and that was it.

Since January 9th we have watched 31 MetOpera streams. Coupled with 52 earlier in the series we've watched 82. One of the few good features of the pandemic. They do one every night and into the next day.

Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro
Strauss Capriccio
Bizet Carmen
Puccini Tosca
Wagner Die Walküre
Mozart Don Giovanni
Gounod Faust
Wagner Die Fliegende Holländer
Verdi Rogoletto
Verdi La Forza del Destino
Mozasrt Le Nozze di Figaro
Wagner Das Reingold
Poulenc Dialogues des Carmélites
Verdi Un Ballo in Maschera
Verdi Falstaff
Mozart Don Giovanni
Bizet Carmen
Pucdcini Turandot
Tchaikovski The Queen of Spades
Verdi Il Trovatore
Mozart Die Zauberflöte
Britten Peter Grimes
Dvorák Rusalka
Puccini Manon Lescaut
Giordano Fedora
Puccini Tosca
Tchaikivsky Eugene Onegin
Handel Agrippina
Mozart Idameneo
Mozart Don Giovanni
Wagner Die Fliegende Holländer

Of course we are about to have time conflicts with the modern opera: RougeSauxania - tedious plot, uninteresting music, lots of prima donnas, at least 9 acts, can't read synopsis ahead of time....

My mother was a serious knitter. A significant portion of her clothes were things she knitted - sweaters, blouses, skirts. This picture is of three sweaters she made for me that I still have and wear. The yellow one on the left was made in ~1960 and is still in good shape. The two others are a bit later.

She often knitted while doing something else: watching TV, reading a book,... Once I saw her watching TV and reading a book and knitting all at the same time. When she died I donated all her clothes that were in good shape to a charity shop. I hope some people got to enjoy wearing some of them. She had a large supply of wool, knitting needles, and knitting books. I sent them to one of her friends because I remembered they had been knitting companions and she was pleased to get them.

I tried knitting myself, but was never good at it. I did have my own collection of wool and made an inkle loom and made some sashes and mini scarves on it. I also tried crocheting some granny squares with the intent of making a blanket but never did. I gave away all my wool. Considering all the stuff from ancient days that I still have it is amazing that I actually got rid of that stuff.

Several our friends suggested that we try Contra Dancing and in January 1997 we went to the Gender Free Contra dance in Jamaica Plain (JP). We were hooked immediately. This dance was twice a month and we have hardly missed any since then (excluding the pandemic when it has been shut down of course). Unless there is an enticing concert or we are travelling we always go.

There we learned about the weekend gender free dance camps organized by Lavender Counntry & Folk Dancers (LCFD) - also gender free. We went to the first one in the fall of 1997. At these camp there iss lots of Contra Daning and some English Country Dancing and variouys other activities. They are twice a year until 2020 - and I haven't missed one - that's 45 + 1 virtual one. Robert missed one because he was ill. In 2008 the west coast group (people who were regulars in LCFD camps) started one - called Queer Dance Camp. We missed two of them - one because we were on an English Country Dance trip in Florence, and once because it conflicted with NEFFA - more about this later in the post.

And there is a gender free English Country Dance in Jamaica Plain - twice a month - and we are regular there. Robert and I are members of the organzer groups of both JP dance series and I am a board mmeber and treasurer of LCFD.

There is also a twice a month contra dance in Cambridge and we go there regularly as well. In Concord, MA at the Scout House there is a contra dance every monday and every thrusday night as well as one on the first friday of each month. We go to some of these. Other spinoffs of the JP dance are Village Contra in NYC and Rainbow Contra in Northampton and we go to some of these. And also to the occasional dance in Gloucester. And we did a litle contra dancing in Boston Pride - in the march, on Boston Common, and Boston City Hall plaza.

Every year the New England Fok Festival (NEFFA) is a weekend event near Boston with lots of all kinds of folk dancing including Contras and English. Our group has run a food booth there selling on-site made italian food, cookies, coffee, teas, etc. as a fund raising event for the gender free dance grouops - 3 days, about 30 volunteers and lots of fun. I always say I like my career as a food-service worker for one weekend a year with lots of nice customers.

At the JP dance we learned about a trip organizer, Ken McFarland (sadly deceased), who organized dance oriented and other trips. We went on 14 of them (sometimes several trips one right after another). Not all are dance trips - a contra dance trip on a boat in the Greek islands, English Country Dancing in Western Ireland, Florence, and a French Chateau. Many of the people on those trips are dancers and in some of the non-dance trips we did a bit of dancing: on Easter Island, in Tanzania, on a boat on the Amazon river in Peru, in Myanmar for example. Also we've been on George Marshall dance trips on St Croix and the Big Island of Hawaii. We went to a local contra dance in Paris and one in Melbourne - and English in Sydney; and several days in Merida, Mexico.

In a typical year we go dancing on about 90 days.

In traditional Contras or English the roles are labeled Ladies and Gents - in gender free Contra he current labels are Larks and Robins and people of any gender can dance in any role; in English positional terminology is used. Over time lots of other dances have been adopting gender free treminology.

Contra dances and English Country dances almost always have a small band - 3-5 musicians, occasionally 2. And a caller who teaches the dance and then calls for a few rounds. For English there is a direct relationship between tunes and dances. For Contras there are many tunes. Since in both cases the theme gets repeated many times and the musicians usually insert very interesting variations on the repeats so musically it is also interesting.

And one of these days dancing will restart again.