Janice Law's Blog, page 22
August 26, 2012
Roofers final version
copyright Janice Trecker
Roofers final version
copyright Janice Trecker
August 25, 2012
Lance Armstrong
The denouement of the long Lance Armstrong doping saga came this week with the loss of the American champion’s Tour de France titles. Armstrong has long been controversial, being touted as a hero or denounced as a cheat, but there is no doubt that he is an unusually complex personality. With great gifts of mind and body, he let his obsession with cycling’s greatest race lead to cheating and to the corruption of several of his teams. Doping helped him achieve international fame and considerable wealth. That same fame and wealth enabled him to raise millions for cancer research, while serving as a genuine inspiration for cancer patients.
Armstrong’s venture into doping occurred at a time when the peleton was rife with drugs. David Millar’s fine Racing Through the Dark makes clear that French teams, too, put pressure on young and vulnerable racers to bring their blood chemistry to levels rarely achievable without pharmaceuticals. One of Armstrong’s chief rivals, Jan Ulrich, was himself penalized for doping. And, of course, a number of American sports, particularly baseball and football, have long had virtually penalty free doping.
Indeed, I suspect that had Armstrong been content with three or four Tour de France victories, he might have escaped with nothing worse than the shadow of suspicion which always dogged him in the French press. His weakness, however, was his greed to be the best ever, to win the most titles, to totally dominate the great race. There’s a bit of a bully in Armstrong and eventually resentment about his hypocrisy and his tainted success grew. Even teammates who had been willing to keep silent, were not willing to lie for him under oath. Their reported testimony put paid to his long struggle against the doping control agencies.
August 23, 2012
We’ve been having our roof redone.
We’ve been having our roof redone.
August 20, 2012
Final image- mechanic needed to be turned toward viewer.
Final image- mechanic needed to be turned toward viewer.
August 18, 2012
Preliminary sketch for mechanic. Eventually the truck hood...
Preliminary sketch for mechanic. Eventually the truck hood proved too large and the figure was moved to face front.
August 16, 2012
One of the mechanics at our local emissions testing center has...
One of the mechanics at our local emissions testing center has an interesting face.
August 12, 2012
Sunflowers 2012, finished painting
Sunflowers 2012, finished painting
August 11, 2012
Time for the annual sunflower painting. These are a deep red,...
Time for the annual sunflower painting. These are a deep red, almost chocolate in shadow.
August 10, 2012
Manon & second thoughts
I’ve been enjoying a DVR I made of the Met’s Manon by Massenet with the outstanding young soprano Anna Netrebko as the ill-fated heroine who goes from rambunctious school girl to runaway lover to top courtesan to dying outcast over the course of the opera.
The music is lovely, the singing splendid, the characters well drawn. But as the opera moved toward its poignant close, with Manon now due for deportation as a ‘fallen woman,’ I couldn’t help being irritated.
Manon was in her teens and thoughtless.The men who ‘adored’ her were older, in some cases, old enough to be her grandpa. They live to chase ballet dancers. She dies in disgrace of ‘fallen woman’ disease, an ancestor of the beloved ‘movie star’ disease which has taken off a number of screen lovelies for maximum emotional impact.
So the Massenet opera is lovely - an irritating. Especially since the double standard that condemned Manon is still alive and well in so much of the world.
August 6, 2012
Our small local library hit by a fallen tree limb
Our small local library hit by a fallen tree limb
