New look for Eclectique|916

It’s been about 5 years. Thought it was time for the blog to try on something different. What next for eclectique|916?

Food for Thought

“Duke” – The Real Story

Yes, Edward Kennedy Ellington was a teenager in Washington, DC. He played music at parties. He attended Armstrong High School. He had a job at the Griffith Stadium. He was a visual artist as well as a musician. And he had friends. He had a best friend named Edgar McEntree. The two young men took this photo which was in my late aunt’s photo album. Edgar was her uncle. Two days ago, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington would’ve been 114 years old. You never hear the story of Edward and his “friend, crony, and buddy” Edgar except in Ellington’s own words. I have no idea what became of Edgar McEntree who gave Edward the name “Duke.” I’m sure New Yorkers took the credit for giving this stylish musical Washingtonian a title. No. Edward was “Duke” before there was a “Renaissance.”

The Questions that Remain

The days after the Boston Marathan bombing, I felt lifeless everywhere except my legs. I buried myself in work, but my thoughts were locked on wanting to know Who did it? How? and Why? Every day was lived out in fragments — things to do, check the news, calls to make, check the news, check in with E-Bert, check the news. I made time to exercise — it helps get oxygen to the brain. Shakes down emotional baggage. Never have I felt the weight, energy and aliveness of my ability to run, walk, stoop or sit. This was after having seen photos online of the carnage of bombing victims, limbs lost when only minutes earlier, these men and women were walking, running, or simply standing or sitting with legs crossed. I can only imagine their lives now if they survived at all.

Suspects have been identified. The questions remain.

Is it time to pull the plug on 24/7 cable news [CNN]? Too much time to fill and report wrong information.

Watch Boston Marathon on PBS. See more from Makers: Women Who Make America.

How will the bombing affect the future of the Boston Marathon? The marathon will go on. It’s had its history of controversy (Katherine Switzer, the first woman to run the marathon – 1967), but not of this magnitude. What will this chapter compell next year’s marathon runners to meet the challenge?

Chechnya? Should we review the 2003 Moscow theater hostage crisis?

What happens to the people who were falsely accused (New York Post, Reddit)? Their lives will not be the same or safe for some time, I’m sure. I guess for the Murdoch corporation which also owns Fox, comedy is stranger than truth (see below). Reddit has issued an apology and a help chat for the person their news service mis-identified as a suspect.

Will religious affiliation be part of our personal pro-files? Attacks and bogus home inspections of Muslim residents in Massachusetts were reported while suspects were still at large.

How do the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing affect the immigration debate?

Does technology make us feel safer? Are we as smart as we appear to be in the movies?

Will anyone see this movie ["The Company You Keep"] now?

I’ll say “yes.” A “NOT” for “The Family Guy,” and UK Film4 channel’s “Four Lions” (2010). Back to grandma’s saying – “There’s a lot of truth in a joke.”

If the numbers support that the majority of mass murders are carried out by one gender, will there ever be a serious study of the male genetic, psychological, social construct before the human species becomes extinct? Even some of the caring men I know brush this one off as “it is what it is” therefore, a man has to lead this discussion very seriously.

Lockdowns – a new norm? I don’t get out much anyway.

Where do we start to build community? So many ways to keep us apart.

Sequestratian Rolls On…the arts

Sequestration to force rolling closures of some Smithsonian art galleries: Art lovers and archivists will soon… wapo.st/17kI0kL

— DCSocial (@SocialInDC) April 16, 2013