This’ll be brief:
While in the midst of some taxing health goings-on, I’ve only been able to put together a mini-post (a proper post coming soon), so I leave you with something to ponder and something to hopefully make you smile –
I feel lucky to have spent a good bit of time in the past few months immersed in the world of PBS – first with the NewsHour special that was done on my life and studies in India in May, and second for serving as the live broadcast host for This Is Minnesota Orchestra in June. From my childhood of Sesame Street and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? to NewsHour being on every night at our house, and now working with Fred de Sam Lazaro and being live on TPT2 at Orchestra Hall, PBS has been a constant – a source of education, excellence, and truth for me. A few weeks ago, when our president issued a series of rescissions that clawed back over $1 billion to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (under which PBS and NPR live), our chance to step up and help them strive in the face of censorship became consequential. Below is the NewsHour special if you’d like to have a watch, and donation links for the public media sources that serve as a cornerstone of our nation. Please consider (if you haven’t already) a small contribution; when everyone gives a little, we get a lot.
• To donate to PBS: https://foundation.pbs.org/ways-to-give/
• To donate to NPR: https://www.npr.org/donations/support
And, for a few smiles in the face of an upside-down world, here are some snapshots that Jordan and I captured during our time living in India: our blooper reel of things that made us laugh, roll our eyes, or cringe during our travails…
May we draw your attention to item #663?
At one of the major hospitals in Mysore: at least it’s clear and to-the-point labeling.
Sorry ladies, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Some top-notch pedestrian infrastructure..
Michael Jackson is definitely the first thing I think of when I see the words “Macho Men”. And that flame-fueled font..
I mean, who wouldn’t want the “most charming and elegant robots”?
The most excited (terrified?) I’ve been to go through airport security.
A line out the door for some local roti (thank goodness it’s all veg…)
Mini landfills on the roadways and – most sadly – at a nature preserve, littered with styrofoam, plastic, diapers, and sacks of household trash. Come on, folks, do better.
0.0001%. This will do wonders for closing the wealth gap.
I also like to pray next to piles of street rubbish.
So many important things happening here…and I have so many questions.
Until soon –