Post-Disaster Trauma Friday's shooting at Newtown's Sandy Hook
Elementary School that ended in 27 deaths "broke the nation's heart", to repeat the words
of President Barack Obama. Unfortunately, school shootings in
America are nothing new, and this recent tragedy brings a reminder
of the 1989 Stockton Cleveland School shooting that
left five children dead and 29 people wounded. Mory
Framer is a clinical psychologist who has helped people deal
with psychological trauma in the wake of numerous disasters,
including the Stockton Schoolyard Shooting and the Columbine
Shooting in 1999. Stockton Record Columnist Michael Fitzgerald
was a new reporter covering the story at the time.
Egypt Referendum Back in February
2011, we spoke with UC Davis Professor of Modern Islam Keith
Watenpaugh and Sacramento SALAM religious leader Imam
Abdul-Azeez. That was two weeks into the revolution in
Egypt. Nearly two years later, Egypt's political battle is still
raging and has even amplified with Saturday's divisive referendum
vote. Professor Watenpaugh and Dr. Azeez re-join us to talk about
the changes since their last visit Political Science Professor Tamir Sukkary is
also in our studio to relay his relatives' experiences in
Egypt.
Holiday Tips The last thing you want to get
in the mail in January is another bill. That's why we're speaking
with a California Energy commissioner Andrew
McAllister about simple ways to cut back on your energy
use over the holidays. Plus, we'll speak with Sacramento police
officer Michelle Gigante about ways to safeguard your home while
you're out celebrating. For non-emergencies, contact the
Sacramento Police Dept. at (916) 264-5471.
"Relativity" Local jazz
musician Joe Gilman has released an album titled "Relativity" in which each piece is inspired by
a different drawing by M.C. Escher. Gilman's compositions interpret
Escher's work musical, following up his last album entitled
"Americanvas," which was an interpretation of American artists of
the 20th century.
Listen to the Capital Public Radio feature story on
"Americanvas."
Click through to see the image that inspired the
song:
1. Snow: Based on the 1936 lithograph, the
composition begins with a portrayal of serenity and remembrance,
reflections of a solitary cabin in a distant winter timberland. The
doors open, a refrain unfolds and begins to thaw the frosty niche.
Outside, the winter flurries coil and curl, low branches creak in a
sunken bass clarinet. Slowly, the flare of daylight cracks the
heavens and gleams upon the cabin, warming our recollection of
easeful days captive in the cold and sunshine. The refrain returns,
but with a deep and tender gate, revealing feelings found, learned,
and lost. The snow returns, whisking and wafting, and wandering
into infinity.
2. Smaller and Smaller: The 1956 wood
engraving is an infinite world in an enclosed plane in which
tessellated reptiles appear in a repeated and ever shrinking 4-leaf
clover shape. The point of infinity in this image is the center.
Musically, the twelve reptiles are represented by a 12 tone
row-first played over 32 measures for the tenor, then gradually
diminishing to 24 measures for the trumpet, 14 measures for bass, 8
measures for piano, followed by 6 measures, three 3 measure
phrases, 1 measure, and finally sinking low into the bass ostinato,
with the horns frantically stirring the row above in a vicious
dodecacyclone and on into infinity.
3. Waterfall: The 1961 lithograph reveals an image
in which water from the base of a cascade appears to run downhill
before reaching the top. Escher uses these conflicting proportions
to create a visual paradox. The challenge of a similar aural
dichotomy in the composition "Waterfall" presents a melody (and
later an imitative countermelody) that continually descends, while
its harmonic movement pushes infinitely upward, finally meeting on
a solitary "F#".