(NUNAL) (EYEBALL)

I've been hither and yon and flat out busy, the blog has suffered accordingly. Etc. At the end of February I was happily down in Texas in participate in a festival and symposium on Texas polka music, put on jointly by Texas Folklife and Texas Dancehall Preservation , Inc , at the restored and truly lovely Senglemann Hall in Schulenburg, Texas. This is a grand old dance hall which was just perfect for the array of bands all day. This was a great event filled with music of all kinds, alternativing with a series of really worthwhile presentations on dance halls, food, and music. I was there to talk about sustainability theory and vernacular music, in a session along with the great Czech musician Mark Halata and Texas Polish musician Frank Motley. The audio for each of the sessions can be heard her e (mine is the last) along with a bunch of pictures of the festival overall. A great event overall which is intended to start running on an annual basis. I already look forward to it. ...

Virginia textbooks have not always been known for their historical accuracy , but at least now they will no longer unwittingly serve as reminders of Japanese colonial rule in Korea. "RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - Two of America's closest Asian allies played out their historic rivalry in the U.S. state of Virginia on Thursday, with South Korea celebrating victory after state lawmakers approved legislation requiring that the Korean name for the Sea of Japan be included in new school textbooks. Virginia's House of Delegates voted 81-15 to approve the two-line bill, which requires "that all text books approved by the Broad of Education ... when referring to the Sea of Japan, shall note that it is also called the East Sea." The bill had already been approved by the state Senate. Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, has veto power but spoke on behalf of the Korean perspective during his campaign for governor and is widely expected to sign the measure. It was a signi...

You can be a Messiah nowadays, at least in Tennessee . It is worth reading this whole story and also following the link through to the article about the right to control your own name , which I found fascinating. I just found out that Volokh had migrated to the Washington Post. Maybe this happened awhile ago and I missed it, but I wonder what it means for the blog overall.

In lieu of detailed analysis of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's multiple personal and professional failings and the connections between his core venality, greed, and duplicity and his deeply held religious convictions honed at Regent University here in Virginia Beach, of all godforsaken places, Nunal offers this possible soundtrack to his morality play: Horatiu Radulesco's String Quartet No. 5, "before the Universe was Born"

This is really compelling listening for this midweek moment. (Placed here to save you the hours of getting sucked into youtube) Definitely beyond the kayagum sanjo I can play, which I have been thinking about (and which she plays starting at 1:37 until 2:07).

Twenty years on with the EZLN TO THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO: MEXICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS: We are a product of 500 years of struggle: first against slavery, then during the War of Independence against Spain led by insurgents, then to avoid being absorbed by North American imperialism, then to promulgate our constitution and expel the French empire from our soil, and later the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz denied us the just application of the Reform laws and the people rebelled and leaders like Villa and Zapata emerged, poor men just like us. We have been denied the most elemental preparation so they can use us as cannon fodder and pillage the wealth of our country. They don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are we able to freely and democratically elect our political representatives, nor is there independence from foreigners, nor is there peace nor justice for ourselves and our ch...