Galen | Dangerous Common Sense

The Best Season Opening

By Galen|2015-03-06T13:53:26-08:00March 4, 2015|osf, plays|

Oregon Shakespeare Festival's season opening this past weekend showcased four excellent productions. It was the strongest festival start that I -- and my more experienced Ashland friends -- have experienced. Bravo! I hope to write full reviews of each performance. But, here are my snap judgements, listing the four plays in my overall order of enjoyment. Fingersmith by Alexa Junge based on the novel by Sarah Waters Syntax says: photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival This world premiere commissioned by the festival is full of "Wow" plot twists delivered with exquisite attention to language and the style of the times (1861). [...]

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Don’t Make Me Go to the Mall

By Galen|2015-02-22T15:38:01-08:00February 22, 2015|philippic|

Damn it! The latest PR stunt by self-righteous terrorists is annoying. The threat by al-Shabaab to attack the Mall of America and the piling on by other groups suggesting that there could be attacks at other American malls makes me feel like I need to go shopping. Understand, I severely dislike going to Stonestown Mall and other local similarly crazed venues. I feel dirty wandering into the crammed-together stores that hawk mediocre-quality goods slicked up to mimic the high-end luxury items I am supposed to want. It's really not that I don't like clothes, electronic toys, and designer chocolates. Rather it's the mall [...]

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Climate Change Denial, Vaccine Scares, and Support of Israel

By Galen|2015-02-04T16:45:35-08:00February 4, 2015|Politics|

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to make the support of Israel (really the policies of his current government of Israel) a partisan issue in the US is beyond unwise. By accepting Speaker John Boehner's invitation to address Congress without even notifying the President of the United States, Netanyahu has ended decades of bipartisan support for Israel. It's a terrible decision for Israel. His appearance violates diplomatic protocol, if you care about those things (I do). But, even if you're a scorched-earth, no-manners political Luddite, accepting an invitation that slaps that face of the President, of the Democratic party, and of Americans [...]

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Do You Want to Be Self-Righteous or Effective?

By Galen|2014-12-26T19:13:35-08:00December 26, 2014|philippic|

Honoring the humanity of police officers as well as the civilians who have been killed by police are not mutually exclusive actions. Cue the media! Or, rather, clue in the media. While the vast majority of protesters have been creative and non-violent, some have been chanting for police to be killed. And, a lunatic used the protests as an excuse to kill two cops. While the vast majority of police officers have treated the protesters with professionalism and respect, some police union officials are employing language which is hysterical and supremely unhelpful. Politicians are using sincere fear and frustration on [...]

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Prop A Proponents Send Out Untrue Mailer

By Galen|2014-11-01T11:34:02-07:00November 1, 2014|Politics|

Gawd I am tired of the pile of slick sheets in my mailbox! These mailers are touchable evidence about how much money is being spent on elections. The local assembly candidates are spending enough money to fund a research initiative to end cancer. The real estate industry is pumping money into the No on G (25% transfer tax) campaign, and the soft drink manufacturers are sweetening printers income with a blizzard of No on E (the soda tax) four-color cards. The flier that caught my eye yesterday was the one that validates my opposition to Prop A, the "fix MUNI" bond issue. [...]

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$500 Million for Bike Lanes. $0 for MUNI

By Galen|2014-10-30T17:45:36-07:00October 30, 2014|Politics|

Prop A is being promoted as providing some of the money that MUNI desperately needs to recover from years of deferred maintenance and underfunding. It turns out that NO money in the bond issue is reserved for fixing MUNI. Instead, the ballot ordinance offers a laundry list of "transit and road improvements" but doesn't guarantee any money to any of them. (Check out the details in the official city ordinance). The legal language says "Projects to be funded under the proposed Bon may include but are not limited to the following:..." Then there's list of goodies which includes the opportunity to spend [...]

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Stop Robbing MUNI – Vote No on Prop A

By Galen|2014-11-01T11:56:03-07:00October 24, 2014|Politics|

Everyone MUNI rider knows that the system needs improved maintenance and more money for its stations, tracks, and cars. Politicians pay lip service to giving MUNI the money it needs, but continually siphon off money voters thought was going to MUNI to pay for the projects of politically powerful constituents. This election the Mayor and Supervisors are again asking the voters to increase taxes to fund a bond measure to save MUNI. Except that much of the money in the bond does not go to MUNI. They're robbing MUNI of the money it needs in order to pacify the insatiable bicycle [...]

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How to Pay a Lot for a Special Neighborhood and Then Make Sure You Don’t Get It

By Galen|2014-10-01T08:34:07-07:00October 1, 2014|Uncategorized|

I’ve been watching with morbid fascination the pace of construction and renovation going on in our Noe Valley neighborhood. Building crews claim street lanes and parking spots. Debris boxes and temporary no parking signs are featured on every block. I know that a lot of the activity in our Noe Valley neighborhood is caused by its friendly, diverse feel to potential buyers. We have kids, LGBT couples, and LGBT couples with kids. We have straight families, too! And, we all get to enjoy high walkability scores and four MUNI lines within blocks of our home. People want to live here. [...]

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The Great Society

By Galen|2014-08-17T16:53:52-07:00August 17, 2014|plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Jack Willis as LBJ. OSF photo by Jenny Graham The Great Society by Robert Schenkkan | World Premiere I lived through the unsettled, uncertain four years of the Presidential term of Lyndon Johnson, the period in which The Great Society is set. It was a time of strong political and cultural tides. After decades of seeming nationwide societal consensus, the country was splitting along race and age lines. Johnson was at the center of the turmoil, pushing for equality while earning the enmity of young people and liberals with his Vietnam War. I demonstrated [...]

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Family Album

By Galen|2014-08-17T13:28:35-07:00August 17, 2014|osf, plays|

Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival OSF photo by Jenny Graham Family Album Book & lyrics by Stew | Music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald Created with & Directed by Joanna Settle | World Premiere Artistic Director Bill Rauch has challenged the complacent, traditional view of theater in the past several years by including in the season a third musical in a format that is more performance art than legitimate theater. Rauch's leap has worked for me in past years. In 2012, Party People, was one of my favorite productions of the season, and last year's Unfortunates knocked around in [...]

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