DIFFICULTY SQUARED

 

High level baton twirling is hard. It requires exceptional hand and finger dexterity, a degree of coordination I can't imagine. Then take three batons, twirl them and juggle them. The first act at Circus Flora had the crowd gasping.                

THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN

 

There are a lot of good things about this town, and one of them is that we have our own resident circus company. Circus Flora opened its 40th season yesterday and we took the granddaughter. Mistress of ceremonies Cecil MacKinnon has been with the company since the beginning and her son, Jack March, is the executive and artistic director. More to come.                  

WAIT, I THOUGHT I LEFT THERE

 

I was driving around the South Side of the city the other day looking for anything to shoot. After rounding a corner I was confronted with Slovakian and Czech flags, countries we visited in April. Turns out they were flying over something called the American-Czech Educational Center, new to me. I may return to that but the circus opens tonight and we're taking the kid. They let you take all the pictures you want.                   

HALF CENTURY

 

I've read about hip-hop's purported origin, spontaneously at a block party in the South Bronx. (I went to high school in the Mid Bronx. We didn't know about this stuff.) No criticism, but the style, the culture, the sound is alien to me. I'm an old white guy who went to his first symphony concert at 11 and got hooked (you can see me with the glasses off Lenny's left shoulder - https://tinyurl.com/mt52k9jx.) Generations pass.                   

STAINED GLASS

 

Walls Off Washington has a central nave, the alley between the painted buildings. It is usually shrouded in shadow but light filters down from above. The place can feel like a secular cathedral, which, of course, needs appropriate windows.