The New Porgy and Bess
George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess is not exactly politically correct in this day and age. In its original form the work employed terms that, while wildly offensive, were generally accepted in its time. Chief among these, of course, was the rampant use of a derogatory word referring to African Americans. Bringing such a thing back to the stage in contemporary America was a challenge and a risk. Has it paid off?
ORIGINAL WORK
In 1935, George Gershwin presented his all African American cast of Porgy and Bess with the original opera, which Gershwin referred to as an “American Folk Opera”. Porgy and Bess tells the story of a disabled African American beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, who attempts to save a woman from her abusive lover and drug dealer. Unfortunately, at the time America was not ready to embrace an opera with an all African American cast and that boasted an African American musician as the choral director for the choir. Because of this, the opera was not widely accepted in America. As a matter of fact, while there were a few Broadway revivals of the opera, as well as openings in Europe, it wasn’t until Gershwin’s complete score was performed by the Houston Grand Opera that the work was considered a victory for Gershwin.
BRINGING IT BACK
According to actor David Alan Grier, who plays the drug dealer Sporting Life in the new Porgy and Bess, the first step was to rewrite the script. Again, while the dialogue reflected the time period, this same dialogue is now considered hugely offensive and unnecessary. The original cast had much the same complaint when originally presented with the play. In other words, the work has constantly been striving to evolve with the times. Once the dialogue was rewritten, the rest just fell into place. Of course, anytime an author’s work is modified, whether necessary or not, there will be controversy, and this newest version of Porgy and Bess is no exception. Still, while some critics condemn the changes, others applaud them and see that the changes were necessary to bring the opera into the 21st Century.
Opera is something that, if performed properly, can be moving and haunting, as well as educational and eye opening. Broadway show tickets are readily available online if you care to experience it for yourself. The new Porgy and Bess will give you a taste, albeit a censored taste, of what life was like less than 100 years ago.
What NOT to Do When it comes to Car Repair
Let’s face it, not everyone is qualified to repair their truck, car or motorcycle. It doesn’t matter if they’ve been riding, driving or they’ve own vehicle manuals like the motorcycle manual or Toyota repair manual, sometimes even the most “experienced” of cars, trucks or motorcycles can make maintenance mistakes like these.
King of Duct Tape
Many vehicle or motorcycle owners have a love of duct tape and during these trying economic times they use it to hold a bumper together, seal a window or patch a tire; what they don’t know is that duct tape will quickly wear out after a short period due to the constant vibrations of the road and ultimately cause a serious accident for other drivers on the road.
DIY Auto Repair Is Easy Right?
Back in the 1970s and 1980’s it was still easy to maintain a car and many vehicle owners were able to easily change their car or truck’s oil, change spark plugs or even rotate their own tires, in 2012 some vehicle owners still think that they can do routine maintenance on their cars or truck thanks to resources like the Haynes Manuals Online, but sadly many people make common mistakes like draining their transmission fluid instead of draining their engines oil. Instead of making common mistakes on modern vehicles, every car or truck owner should spend the money and have their oil changes or tuned up by a professional mechanic.
Where to Find a Great Mechanic
The best place to search for a great mechanic in today’s world is online; you can find a number of mechanics in a matter of minutes. Before choosing the first one make sure that you check their record online to make sure that they don’t have any negative customer feedback. This step can save you hundreds of dollars and the heartache of choosing the wrong person to work on your vehicle.
The Simple Formula to Save Money
The first step to saving money on auto repair is for anyone to get their vehicle’s oil changed every 3,000 miles. This step may seem easy for some people, but for others changing their vehicles oil is a foreign concept to them that they don’t think about until long after it’s overdue. For the consumer who wants to keep their vehicle on the road longer they should write down their next oil change date on their calendar so they don’t miss it when it’s due.
The next step to keeping a vehicle running longer is to rotate and balance its tires every 3,000 to 6,000 miles. This step will lead to better fuel economy and keep a vehicle running more efficiently longer.
The last step for maintaining a vehicle is to get it tuned up at least once a year; the annual tune up will also improve fuel efficiency and help to stop minor problems from turning into big maintenance issues.
Your Guide To A Happy Move
Having a happy move is a very important thing because you want your family to stay positive during this very difficult time. Often times family members will be sad they are leaving their old home and going to a new one, therefore it is your job to let them know that everything will be okay. One way that you can do this is by hiring a moving company to do all of the hard work so that you are able to focus on your family and getting everyone through this very difficult time. It is also a good way for you to relax more and not be a stressed-out trying to get all of your large furniture into a new home. It is time for you to start shopping for Austin moving companies to make your move a much better experience.
Starting A Happy Move
One way to get everyone in your family excited about the move is to take them to the new home. If you let everyone start picking out bedrooms and checking out all of the cool things that can be done to the backyard everyone will start getting excited. That will eliminate some of the sadness and your family will start getting excited about moving into the new home. Another way you can make the move less stressful it is to have all of your family members already in the new home will you go focus on getting the old home emptied out. It is a great way to keep all of the sad family members from being in an environment that they are not happy about.
Unpacking In Your New Home
This process can be slightly stressful especially if you have family members that are not thrilled to be in the new home. What you need to do is get everything unpacked so that the house can be functioning and everyone can use the bathroom and lay in their bedrooms. Then what you need to do is get all of the electronics set up so that you can put in a movie. Simple things like this will help everyone adjust to the new home.
Any time you have to move it can be a very hard experience to deal with especially if you have young children that are used to having one home. It will take some time but everyone will adjust to the new home
Taking Your Business To The Next Level
When your business is growing and you are ready to open merchant accounts overseas, then you are on the road to an exciting adventure. Your business will begin to profit like never before, and you will begin to experience things you never had before. The morale will grow by leaps and bounds in the office, which will cause a lot more things to get done! Taking your business to the next level is exciting, but must be done carefully. You don’t want to spend so much time taking care of new accounts that you forget the foundational clients that have been there since the beginning.
Balance—It Helps Create New Foundations
Going internationally, building new accounts, and growing new clientele is the crux of taking your business to new levels, but it all takes balance. Balancing your core group that has been there since the beginning and your new international market takes skill. It is a good idea to sit down with your employees and show them how important this is as well. Begin by assigning new tasks to your employees, and this will also help balance the workload amongst everybody. As you all work together, you can start to rein in new business from the overseas ventures.
All new business ventures can be exciting ones, but it takes real skill to keep all accounts going strong. Work together to complete the tasks at hand and this will keep everything running smoothly. Handling overseas dollars, shipping, invoices, and emails can be a daunting task, but it is all part of taking your business to the next level. It can be a rewarding experience for the entire company as they work together to bring in more and more revenue and work as a team.
It Takes A Year To Plan A Wedding
Congratulations on your recent engagement. You have so much to look forward to. This is an exciting time in your life. Enjoy the process and plan ahead for a smooth road. Consider giving yourself a year to plan the wedding.
Guests
One of the reasons a year is recommended, is because you have guests to invite. It might be difficult to get them all to attend if you do not give them notice. Although not everyone will be able to come, you can count on a better turnout with some time. Plan a day next year that works for the immediate families involved. Then tell your guests to give them time to plan. You may want to send save the date cards and wedding magnets to get your guests excited about the big day.
Location
Choosing a location for your wedding is one of your biggest priorities. You will find that most venues are booked at least a year in advance. For this reason, giving yourself a year will make it easier to plan and determine who is coming. And, you will find it less stressful when you finally decide on a location. After all, there is nothing worse than realizing the location you want is unavailable.
The List Goes On
When you are planning, you will develop a long list of to-dos. Sometimes it may feel like your tasks are adding up much quicker than you can check them off. This is why it’s nice to have a year to plan. This gives you time to breathe and helps you get everything done without experiencing a nervous breakdown.
Weddings are a big occasion. There is a reason why people say this day is the most important day of your life. So give yourself time to plan, have fun, and enjoy the ride.
Remembering the Alamo—In Debt?
The recession is hard on the government and municipalities as it has been to major corporations and private consumers as well. The recent circumstances has many people taking a closer look at finances and a more scrutinizing eye at the way mangers and organizations manage their funds, this is particularly true when it comes to funds that are generated from tax payer’s dollars. Municipalities can’t take out loans direct so many times they must rely on state, federal and citizen dollars to accomplish the tasks at hand. Many people on the outside looking and within the organization are upset about the seemingly irresponsible management of funds used by the Alamo management group in order to plan for the 175th anniversary.
It is not always so simple
Debt can be a funny thing, especially when it comes to tax revenues and government programs. People always want someone to blame, but there is not always one person to point the finger at. Many times, these situations are a product of institutional or systematic flaws within the organization. It is unfortunate that it seems the average tax payer’s money is going to pay an early termination fee for a canceled contract, but this is the nature of business with poor preparation. Many people feel that the board member should be held personally and financially responsible for the decision but this is somewhat unreasonable.
Solving the Systemic Failures
There is a bigger issue here besides the Alamo. The people that make these poor decisions should be held accountable as should the entire organization. More transparency in the contracts and decisions as well as more monitoring by the lending entity is also necessary.
The lending entity is just as responsible as the DRT because this is not private business, it is government service. That is the systemic failure, there needs to be more accountability for the tax payers’ funds from the top down in order to assure citizens money is being properly utilized. There is no private business or government entity that is safe from going into debt behind poor decisions, the recent recession should be lesson enough of that even state officials and board members need to be monitored.
