It's been too long since I visited this blog, and the longer that I have left it the more difficult it is to pick up a thread of continuity. How can I summarize all the amazing events and progressions that the last couple months have seen?
On the evening of April Fool's day and into the sunrise of the next day, my doctoral dissertation piece from 2004- "Mandala of the Four Directions" (a cantata for 4 singers and 4 ensembles) and the all-night music festival that I have always wanted to organize ("The Vigil") were premiered at MICA. Marie, Mila, Drew, and my mom were all able to come to the cantata performance and the first part of The Vigil. Among other collaborative contributions, my friend Jon Bevers created an installation by the entrance to the Brown Center- of 4 sand boxes with representations of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, plus a video projection of an animated mandala with images of the same elements. On the edges of the Cohen Plaza I had set up 4 soundsystems (the North and South ones under tents), through which performers I had invited (plus students in my Live Electonic Music class) overlapped their performances through the course of the whole night. A drum circle was formed in the middle of the plaza, and it was amazing to see the carnival that unfolded beyond my control- my best expectations were surpassed! Although the drum circle and some of the performances became a bit loud at some points, and the fountain briefly became a swimming pool infused with green food coloring, the large crowd of students and others from the community maintained a magical and elevated communal vibration throughout the night. I hope to make it an annual festival.
Related to the theme of the four directions, and balance, Drew is walking! This has really picked up in the last several weeks, with increasing speed. A couple days ago he went on his first hike in the woods, at Loch Raven reservoir. Mila pretended to be a baby brontosaurus in the ferns.
Mila and Drew's interactions ever increase in hilarity, as well as occasional challenges (i.e. sharing).
I've posted here some recent pictures (and older ones- a video of Nani's visit around the first of April, plus an image from The Vigil all-night music festival). The video and pictures with Nani are at a kite festival on Solomons Island. The other pictures of Mila and Drew are from trips in the past week to the Science Center, the Zoo, and Wyman Park in Baltimore. I gave Drew a haircut a few days after the most recent of these pictures. Since Grandpa and Nani are visiting later this week, I'm sure we'll have some more pictures to upload soon.
