Program for Murder on the Nile 3/10/16-3/12/16

I was in an Alpha NYC production of Murder on the Nile 3/10-12 -- team A.  Here is a copy of the program:

updates 160307

I have the following performances upcoming:

3/10, 11 &12 I will be playing Miss Ffoliot-ffoulkes at an AlphaNYC production of “Murder on the Nile” by Agatha Christie at the Producer’s Club

3/13 I will be again participating in the Cabaret showdown

3/14, 21 & 28 I will be participating in sketch shows at The Magnet Theater with the Lady Sketch Lab

3/18 Acting in sitcom The Cobblestone Corridor with Connecticut Public Broadcasting

3/22 I will again be participating in a charity fundraiser sponsored by The SetNYC at the Lovecraft Bar

I particularly want to tell you about these fundraisers.  Pim Shih has been doing a series .  Performers donate their times and some of the proceeds go to benefit deserving charities, especially to help the homeless.  Each show doesn’t generate all that much money, but it adds up over time, as Pim keeps doing more events.  March 22 is the third time I’m going to be doing a monologue.  

I think it would be nice if some casting directors and agents were to participate at these events, because it would raise the stakes and increase the amount that is raised.

Here’s a new voiceover demo:

https://soundcloud.com/anne-barschall/thriller-rap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50WujTK-v-4

Curriculum for a life skills course

This is a list of topics to be dealt with in high school curricula.  I originally wrote this back in 2007 or 2008, but I don't think I posted it publicly anywhere.  Some of these things may be taught in health classes, but not all of them.

·                        Personal & business ethics;

·                        Developmental psychology, so future citizens know how to raise our children without abusing them [e.g. we're constantly reading stories of parents who murder small children over toilet training issues or by shaking them when they're babies -- likely all due to ignorance of child development; and it would be good to learn to recognize learning and emotional issues such as those exhibited Asperger's Syndrome, dyslexia, ADD, mood disorders and the like and know how to address them proactively from the start;

·                        Relationship and negotiating skills, so future citizens know how to deal with spouses, other family members, co-workers (including supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates), competitors, neighbors, and friends;

·                        Time & money management;

·                        Career planning;

·                        What to expect physically and psychologically as you age;

·                        Basic first aid and recognizing dangerous health symptoms;

·                        Dealing with personal crises: family and personal illness, loss of job, loss or illness of family members; and

·                        Personal physical fitness and nutrition programs, for lifelong health in an aging body.

I became interested in this topic, partly because I served as a volunteer in my school district on the committees where decisions were made regarding programs for special needs kids.  I learned that life skills were taught to students with intellectual disabilities, but not to kids without disabilities.  Why?  I don't think kids normally absorb all the life skills they need, especially now that they're always glued to the computer.

Later, I got interested in these topics as a possible curriculum for a course to be taught in college.  I certainly didn't have a good grasp on these topics by the time I graduated.  I probably still don't.

Implications of free college

           

College affordability is getting to be a hot button political issue. President Obama addressed this in the state of the union speech 1/12/16.  Addressing this issue is a good thing, but it needs to be examined more closely

Right now, too many people are going to college, more than the economy can support.  

Not enough people are going into skilled trades. Entry procedures into lucrative trades such as plumbing and electrical are corrupt. Entry is dependent on knowing someone who will take one on as a journeyman or apprentice. The old boy network is resulting in incompetent practitioners who break things in my house. Entry into these professions needs to be more transparent like entry into law or medicine.

We need to stop regarding traditional college as the solution to employment problems. We need to educate people in how to run and start a business.  We shouldn’t necessarily be encouraging so many people to go to college.

We have to reverse the process that has eliminated vocational courses from high schools, focusing them exclusively on college prep. We are raising a generation of people who are helpless to do ordinary things.

A couple of anecdotes:

This year, I attended a symposium at the University of Wisconsin in memory of my father, Heinz Barschall, and celebrating his colleague, Willy Haeberli. This occasion was timed to approximately coincide with my late father's 100th birthday and Willy’s 90th.

My father was a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. For most of his career, he focused on nuclear physics. At this symposium, I learned that in seeking graduate students to study in his experimental physics lab, he preferred students who had been raised on farms, because these students knew how to build things, especially experimental equipment.

I remember my father saying that American students were always better than foreign students.

My kids went to a high school that had eliminated shop classes. I would say that they were effectively educated to be helpless.

I was an exchange student in France back in the 1970’s.

The French educational system has always prided itself on being free; however, my impression was that the system was more focused on weeding students out than on educating them. There were exams at the ends of middle and high school -- intended to force most students to flunk. At the university, amongst students who had already been through the first two exams, only 50% got through the first degree, which was called "license."  The whole system was designed with the idea that it was free, but study beyond the teen years was generally only available to those who could pass these exams.

I feel that this process damaged the self-esteem of most French people and has resulted in that country having generally more unemployment and less entrepreneurship than here. The "free" education system in France, at least back then, had a horrific human cost, in terms of pressure on and damage to children. I saw rather alarming and obvious mental illness amongst members of my high school class there that I never saw in my American high school. 

I would submit that that human cost ultimately damages their economy as well.

Our system has been based on the hope of making everyone successful with easy, empowering courses. This is better for students. This results in increased creativity, confidence, and problem solving ability. We should not be rushing to imitate foreign educational systems.  The pressure I've seen on students in the NYC metro area, where my kids grew up, is very damaging, especially to boys, who develop more slowly than girls and can't cope with that pressure.

Comparisons between our high schools and foreign high schools are also very misleading, because in foreign countries a large percentage of students, perhaps a even a majority, aren’t necessarily finishing high school and are therefore not part of these tests.

Saying we are going to make college free is not necessarily a good solution.  It will encourage even more students to go to college, when too many people are already going to college.  It also will put many students into higher pressure academic environments that are not necessarily good for them. 

travel report 1/10/16

I went to a family wedding in Richmond, VA.  I wrote some notes on my experience

Travel reports
1) traffic problems in NJ and Fredericksburg due to accidents on the way down
2) D.C. Beltway Friday evening at rush hour wasn't all that bad. We only started getting problems after we left it. 
3) Google maps gets confused if you take the express lane on i-95 south of D.C. 
4) some highways in VA have a speed limit of 70 mph
5) gas in VA is even cheaper than NJ. Saw some at $1.59/gal
6) the distance between the last rest stop in VA and the first in MD, if you take the Baltimore/Washington parkway, is inhuman
7) wearing a polyester velvet jacket over a polyester velvet dress is like wearing a python. They walk against each other, using static electricity, until they crush you. I had to pull over to escape.
8) I told my sons that it isn't o.k. to wear black to a wedding, but lots of people did
9) with an older couple, who have requested no presents, a case of toilet paper can still be useful
10) Baptist churches are independent and can affiliate with several Baptist conferences at once, even tho there are big political differences between the conferences.
11) unlike most service plazas, the Maryland House actually has some decent vegan options at the Mexican place, but the Wi-Fi is lousy. The Mexican place reminds me a bit of Chipotle. I hope I don't get food poisoning
12) it's really hard to go from the Vince Lombardi service area to the 46 East exit at the end of the NJ Turnpike
13) my new velvet accessory jacket is the same color as church cushions and carpets.

wardrobe

Links to some more photos of me in various outfits

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOYYcsG5KDfVpSNgGsxsxz26zl7fnSdhQIiZiQzSqqjw2LGwRXOrGp6YG1cEQIV9A?key=OXJoeHdsSE5mZWctdl9aMmxjY1BtNDF4UlRmSWJR

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ojugVDMPdkuO5mRf1

It seems like, when I'm acting on camera, there are always communication problems regarding explaining what my wardrobe looks like, so I am going to start photographing my outfits.  It's going to take a while to get all of them, but you have to start somewhere.  If you're reading this and this project interests you, you will have to keep coming back.

These are not going to be the most flattering photos.  Maybe that's a mistake. I hope not.  I'm just doing quick snapshots of these clothes.

This was a Christmas outfit.  Long sleeved green velvet dress with red velvet jacket

OK, not everything I own is velvet, but I do like velvet. This is a long-sleeved, rosy-red velvet dress with coordinated sweater.  Of course, yesterday I was wearing jeans and forgot to photograph them.

black suit with off white & bishop shirt

Beige jacket, brown skirt, white shirt with standup collar

Toe Sneakers

Left to right: African dress, floral print jumper, tie dyed dress

hooded pink minidress, very short maroon minidress, tie-dyed dress

Shawls/head scarves

(I used many of these in chemo -- I'm in remission now, BTW)

Capes: left to right loden/beige; navy; purple/green (reversible)

wool hats: black with scarf tie, black with band; maroon

Paper/straw hats for summer

long sweater with horizontal stripes, floral capri pants, winter pattern polartek, two colorful scarves, 4 miscellaneous hats

Duster length sweaters (I wear these a lot so a couple are kind of ratty)

poncho/shawls (that can't be tied around head)

dress/duster or dress jacket combinations (I have more that I haven't put out here)

more velvet dresses 

left to right: vintage dress in green; blue; floor length black

(I have a brown and 2 cocktail length black ones as well)

ponchos

left to right: heavy Andean wool; indoor mustard; indoor hooded heathered midnight blue

Footwear

I have a lot of problems with my feet and knees, so I'm very into comfortable when it comes to footwear, tho, so far, I think none of my footwear doesn't hurt me anywhere.  If it avoids hurting one thing, then it hurts another.   I certainly cannot wear heels, pointed toes, or pumps (shoes that hold on to the foot by crunching the toes)

Sandals:

Shoes: (of these, I would say that the Skechers sneakers (blue-grey on left) are the most comfortable)

Boots ( and1 pair of garden clogs) -- a couple of pairs of these are falling apart, so I may get rid of them

Doodles

Playing with my tablet & stylus device.  Several doodles from 2015