Dancers in the Air

 

Subscribe to My Blog! July 28, 2025 Dancers in the Air PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com See those three tiny figure way up at the top of the very tall building? Those are the dancers of Bandaloop, the aerial dance company, before they take off. I had never seen aerial dance before Saturday. My friend Tara, often my guide to amazing cultural events, introduced me to them in downtown Oakland on a cloudy/sunny/cloudy afternoon. The performance, called Somewhere to Oakland, took place in three different locations of downtown Oakland's civic center, a very attractive and useful congregation of plazas and skyscrapers. These are a few photos from their first location. There's no way I captured tthe amazing leaping, whirling movement of the dances in these still photos. All the dances at every location were accompanied by poets reading and gorgeous live music on the ground, created by a wondrous and soulful singer and accompanied an inventive melodious guitarist/piano player. Sorry I can't credit people. I don't have the information. The theme was Migration. My photos are a feeble reflection of the glorious performances. I just wanted to WATCH, not record! The first dance was performed by three women, entwining with each other, flying apart, coming together.

Then a solo by the artistic director of the company, during which the clouds lifted. And then a spectacular finale with six dancers - accompanied by their shadows. So it felt like there were twelve performers on that huge concrete wall. These photos are a very meager reflection of the beauty and magic of Bandaloop. Oakland is their home, but tthey our. I urge you to sign up on their website, so you'll know if they migrate to somewhere near you. You'd best be in Bandaloop's loop. Thank you, Tara! Terry

WHERE TO BEGIN?

 

Subscribe to My Blog! JUNE 23, 2025 WHERE TO BEGIN? PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com I WAS going to start the first blog in quite a while with the whimsical gorgeous sculptures that were in residence through yesterday at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco. But NOW, I thought, It doesn't seem quite appropriate somehow, now that we have bombed Iran in order to please Netanyahu. Yes, the entire world is edging closer and closer to catastrophe. Yes, our President is a malevolent narcissist who is also very stupid. Last time around, I thought it was a GOOD thing that he was stupid and lazy and incompetent. It meant he

would simply do LESS, and I think that was true. But THIS time, he's having a BALL being stupid and lazy and incompetent. And that is an absolutely terrible thing which might lead to the disintegration of our country and the complete collapse of civilization. And, even though civilization is just so awful, I'm still very attached to it and am certain that I will miss it if it collapses. But then I decided that no matter how bad things are, we can still take a moment to enjoy whimsy and beauty, can't we? And that's kind of a specialty of San Francisco. Despite what you might have heard, this city is still so much fun to walk around. So dadgummit, I have decided to begin with beauty and whimsy!

Photo by Craig Lee  These fantastical beings are alebrijes made by Oaxacan artists Angelico Jiminez, Adrian Xuana, Ephrain Santos, Constantino Blass, and Linares. I bought an alebrije when I was in Mexico. Only, instead of being fiberglass and 15 feet tall or long and mounted on 8 foot bases, it was carved of wood and four inches long. I would love to show my alebrije to you. But Loulou, my standard poodle, found it very appetizing. Here's a shop window on 24th Street full of normal size allebrijes.

As you can see, even small alebrijes are totally cool. The one in the middle is an imaginary animal like the big sculptures in the park. And now back to the giant alebrijes...

But one has no need to go to a special exhibition in a lovely park in order to see something surprising and delightful. Oh no. One can find magic so many places in San Francisco. Therefore, now for my next offering, I present for your delectation ... JUST SOME WALL OFF OF HAYES STREET I always spend a lot of time looking at this wall. There is so much to see, so many colors and forms. It's so... so... EXUBERANT! Questions arise: How many people worked on it? One? Ten? Was it done in a weekend or over months? Where did the artist(s) get all that stuff? If you came upon this wall in a museum with the name of someone on a plaque next to it, would you not find it delightful? And yet here it stands outside, day in day out, rain or shine, plaqueless, created for free, for the joy of creation, as a gift to the street. AND NOW, LAST BUT BY NO MEANS LEAST.... What kind of city would allow someone to put such an appropriate and deeply felt statement on a memorial park bench?? MY KIND OF CITY! I am grateful to the friends of John Gavin and join them in mourning that he only lived 40 years. That does, indeed, suck. Bloggelinnis, San Francisco sustains me. Terry

Lilith Women's Theater | 547 Douglass St. | San Francisco, CA 94114 US

WE ARE ALL KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA

Subscribe to My Blog! APRIL 19, 2025 WE ARE ALL KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA. PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com Below: My front Window (I live in a storefront). Below the words is a photo of Kilmar Garcia's wife, speaking to protesters demanding he be returned rom the Salvadoran prison where he was illegally sent. He was legally living in the U.S.

When I was thinking about the wording of my window sign, I didn't mean it as a statement of solidarity with Kilmar Garcia, who has been kidnapped by the U.S. government and sent to a horrible prison. I mean: If he can be put on a plane to El Salvador without any due process, with no means of returning home ---- then I can too! What happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia can happen to ME. And you and you and you. It can happen to any person within the borders of the United States. Trump admited it was an "administrative error." But what an incredibly USEFUL error, what a weapon of fear in Trump's arsenal. Of COURSE he refuses to bring Garcia back! As long as Garcia remains in that Salvadoran prison, Trump gets to flaunt his absolute power over every single person in this country. Oh, it's worth defying the Supreme Court for THAT. When you think about it, Garcia's imprisonment is much MORE frightening BECAUSE it was a mistake. There is a random element to the threat. "Oops! I didn't really mean to deport you to El Salvador! My bad. But, now that you've ended up there -- You ain't coming back. I LIKE you being there!" Shades of Kafka's The Trial. It does seem like Trump's world is Kafka's world. Of course in times like this, I can't help but reassure myself that I personally would not be illegally and randomly deported -- because I'm white. And that comfort will last until the first white person is randomly swept up and cast out of the country. Then I'll probably reassure myself that I won't be grabbed becasue I'm old. I think human beings put a lot of energy into figuring out why the bad things that happen to others won't happen to THEM. But deep down inside, I feel less safe since I heard about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. I have a fear I didn't have before. And I know that makes Trump happy. But, and it is a BIG but.... Resistance is building! Below is Robert Reich's latest column. I like him because he's always trying to figure out what we should DO. This column was titled "What We Must Do Now." "If the Trump regime can dictate what the universities of America teach or research or publish, or what students can learn or say, no university is safe. Not even the truth is safe. If the Trump regime can revoke student visas because students exercise their freedom of speech on a university campus, freedom of speech is not secure for any of us. If the Trump regime can abduct a permanent resident of the United States and send him to a torture prison in El Salvador, without any criminal charges, no American is safe. What do we do about this? We stand up to it. We resist it. We denounce it. We boldly and fearlessly reject it —regardless of the cost, regardless of the threats. As columnist David Brooks writes in his column yesterday (I’m hardly in the habit of quoting David Brooks): It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. But what does a national civic uprising look like? It may look like a general strike — a strike in which tens of millions of Americans refuse to work, refuse to buy, refuse to engage in anything other than a mass demonstration against the regime. And not just one general strike, but a repeating general strike — a strike whose numbers continue to grow and whose outrage, resistance, and solidarity continue to spread across the land. You know that things are REALLY BAD if David Brooks, a rather conservative columnist is calling for a "national civic uprising." I urge all of you to start preparing now for such a series of general strikes. I will inform you of what I learn about who is doing what. (One possible place to begin is here.)" I myself clicked on there "here" button and signed up to get a "Strike card." I've been been hoping for some kind of BIG resistance. For those who read my last blog, you know I thought everyone should go to D.C. But not one Bloggelini thought that was a good idea. This country is too damn BIG to bring everyone together in one place to shut it down. But a General Strike would involve millions protesting throughout the country. The planners say they need almost 11 million strikers, for the strike to have an effect. Right now they're at 333,000 who have made a commitment. Bloggellinis, drastic measures are called for. We're being led by a madman surrounded by fawning idiots. Please klick here and read about the plan of building up to a general strike. Sign up and get a Strike Card! I'm pretty excited about this idea of a general strike. The planners are very thoughtful. Terry

Lilith Women's Theater | 547 Douglass St. | San Francisco, CA 94114 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice

JON'S TRIUMPH, OUR TRAGEDY

 

Subscribe to My Blog! APRIL 8, 2025 JON'S TRIUMPH, OUR TRAGEDY PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO WATCH JON STEWART'S MONOLOG JOHN STEWART'S MONOLOG Jon Stewart was particularly brilliant last night. This hilarious and deeply sane man captured the absurdity of what is happening. And what IS happening? The most powerful man in the world is completely detached from reality and is dragging us all toward catastrophe. Jon made me laugh about it all. Oh, that felt good. I'm always happy when I'm laughing. Comedy gives us that gift of happiness -- at the same time that it gives us the gift of insight. Thank you, Jon -- and everyone else involved in creating his monolog -- for helping me grasp the true insanity of what is going on, while giving me the pleasure of laughter. But the most memorable moment for me wasn't very funny. It took place on Air Force One, when Trump was flying home from his golf tournament. Having purged all actual journalists, he felt comfortable taking questions from the subservient few that were left. Fawning Reporter: “Mr. President, How was the golf tournament?” The Most Powerful Man in the World: “Very good. Because I won. It’s good to win. You heard I won, right? Did you hear I won?” Jon riffing: “Mom, Mom! I won! I won the tournament, Mom! I’m a good boy!" Of course Jon was mocking Trump, and I laughed. But Jon also has great humanity, and he was capturing how truly pathetic Trump is. I could not forget the scene on the airplane. I was deeply saddened by this man who is happy to have pleased his mommy while he's devoting himself to pulling down the world around his ears. How did we get here? I remember in 2016, when Trump came to California to campaign. I read a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about Trump meeting with a group of farmers. They asked him what he was going to do about the drought and the resulting problems with the distribution of the limited amount of water. Trump's reply: "Forget about the drought. Don't worry about it. The drought is taken care of. There won't be any more drought." I thought, with great satisfaction, "Well that does it for Trump with the farmers. What a ridiculous thing to say to them! These people have to be reality-based. They deal with weather, insects that eat their crops, so many real-world factors. How the hell could Trump just END the drought?!? It's really an insulting thing to say to a bunch of farmers." And then I read in the next morning's Chronicle that the farmers had voted to endorse Trump. I was completely shocked. And then in 2024, he told the Arabs in Michigan that he was going to end the war in Gaza, and they BELIEVED him -- just like the farmers! Why did they believe him? This man who is anti-Islam and who certainly considers Gaza a "shithole country." Why? I think Trump, being detached from reality, feels a deep certainty about his pronouncements that is very comforting to people. "Ah, this person absolutely KNOWS he can solve our problems! How nice. I believe him!" In other words, a more rational, mentally healthy politician would be less compelling. Well, we're all trying to figure out how we got here. The above is one of my attempts to understand it. A more important issue now is.... WHAT DO WE DO NOW? I think we all have to go to Washington. I mean masses and masses of us. And not just for one huge demonstration, and then we go home. We have to keep demonstrating until things change -- either Trump is impeached or the Congress takes back its power. A fundamental change. That's what the South Koreans just did. Their President declared martial law and tried to orchestrate a military takeover. In response to that, the people hit the streets and just wouldn't quit. AND THEY WON! Former President Yoon has just been impeached. Admittedly, it is a lot easier for South Korea to do that. It's a much smaller country. But I don't think we can wait until 2026, in the hopes that we can elect different people to Congress who will then control Trump. Things are moving too fast. In order to make Trump/Musk take their hands off, we need to put our feet on the ground in Washington, D.C. What do you think, Bloggelinis? What should we do?

Lilith Women's Theater | 547 Douglass St. | San Francisco, CA 94114 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice