Brave Hart

by Peter Koch

Sergeant Patrick Hart spoke calmly into the receiver. “Honey, I’m not coming home,” he told his wife, Jill. “It’s okay, I’m with friends. I’ll contact you in a few days.” And then he hung up the phone.

by Rob Brezsny

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’ve been present during the births of two children, Jasmine and Zoe. Both experiences were daunting, explosive, and ecstatic. Nothing else that has ever happened to me has rivaled the role they played in awakening my reverence for life. The gratitude and love that overflowed in me then will always remain a source of inspiration. If you choose to respond to the invitations the cosmos is now making available to you, Pisces, you will soon be visited by events that evoke comparable feelings.

After having owned and lived at 605 Forest, directly abutting the new proposed hotel, for more than 30 years and having sold my property and moved to get away from the constant inconsideration of Mr. Hans Mobius, I am torn over this hotel project. On the surface, any change would help make those properties owned by Mr. Mobius better. However, if I still lived there I would be sick and outraged. The quality of life and property value issues of the surrounding neighbors have to be taken seriously.

Military Desertion: A Display of Courage or Cowardice?

by Daniel B. Honigman

Many people, civilian and military, consider the war in Iraq to be unjustified and foolish. An article in the March 7 edition of USA Today cites Pentagon statistics indicating that about 8,000 members of the U.S. Armed Forces have deserted their branches since the war began in 2003. While the desertion rates are lower than they were before September 11, 2001, and much lower than they were during the Vietnam War, a concern is raised about the morale of soldiers stationed overseas and those yet to be called to duty. Is going A.W.O.L. a legitimate way for soldiers to make a political statement or are they neglecting their duties?

by Chuck Shepherd

■ A February report on mine safety regulation by USA Today found that complicated federal statutes and unvigorous Mine Safety and Health Administration enforcement have resulted in a structure of civil fines almost guaranteed not to deter dangerous conditions. The largest-ever MSHA fine (for a 2001 incident with 13 deaths) was $605,400 (as compared to, for example, the FCC’s 2004 fine of CBS for the brief image of Janet Jackson’s breast at the Super Bowl, which was $3.5 million). One attorney who represents coal companies claimed that fines are largely irrelevant to safety: “I really don’t think any responsible mine operator makes any decision about safety based on civil penalties.” [USA Today, 2-10-06]

Keeping Kids Stupid: The Intellectual Lynching of Jay Bennish

by Michael I. Niman

One of the biggest problems confronting higher education is the fact that most students entering colleges and universities lack basic social science skills and knowledge. In a recent survey of college students in Buffalo, for example, almost half did not know who George Pataki is. Eighty percent had no idea, correct or incorrect, as to what communism is. Nearly the same number of students couldn’t define capitalism. For whatever reason, social science education in America has collapsed at the high school level. For a democracy that relies on an informed electorate, such ignorance is toxic.

Sweet Nothings: When "Dead Deals" Are Better Than "Done Deals"

by Bruce Jackson

The new Peace Bridge may not get built and the downtown casino is not a done deal.

Invitation To Dance: Karin Davie's Paintings at the Albright Knox Sweep You Off Your Feet

by Cynnie Gaasch

Karin Davie’s lively paintings swell and curve, enticing you into their vivid, expansive surfaces. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is the first to showcase such a broad range of the artist’s paintings and drawings, all works she has made over the past 15 years. Davie has received particular attention for her “Pushed, Pulled, Depleted and Duplicated” series, with publications in ArtForum and Art in America; these are perhaps the most dynamic of the works on display at the Albright-Knox. The canvases are colorful and larger than body size. The artist uses large paintbrushes and rainbows of color to make acrobatic paintings in which she manipulates the tools of abstract painting. She creates curves and loops out of gestural stripes of color that fold in and out of themselves.

by Javier

Christian Slater (pictured above) will return to London’s West End to reprise his role as Randle P. McMurphy in the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The production, which originally opened in August 2004 at the Edinburgh Festival before moving to London for a successful 2004-05 run, begins previews next week at the Garrick Theatre. Slater was last seen on Broadway a year ago, co-starring with Jessica Lange in the revival of The Glass Menagerie. He made his Broadway debut at the age of 11 in the 1980 Broadway revival of The Music Man that starred Dick Van Dyke, which lasted only 21 performances.

We Love Us: Some Observations on the 2006 Academy Awards Telecast

by M. Faust

As usual, Academy Awards night at the Faust home begins with us making jokes to our cat Oscar (named for wholly different reasons) not to be concerned about the fact that he’ll be hearing his name a lot over the coming four hours. He treats the whole thing with the disdain only a cat can muster, something I’ve never been able to do.

The Other Bass Pro: William Parker Returns

by Edward Batchelder & Steve Baczkowski

It’s traditional for bassists to provide the ballast in standard jazz ensembles, but for 30 years bassist William Parker has been doing something more—he’s been providing the ballast, keel and rudder for virtually an entire jazz movement.

Mott the Hoople

by Donny Kutzbach

“Television man is crazy saying we’re juvenile delinquent wrecks/Oh man I need TV when I got T.Rex”—from “All the Young Dudes”

Not Even Close

We will autograph anything.

Kyle Schlesinger

by Miakka Natisse Wood

Why you should know who he is: As an experimental poet, book artist and fine press publisher, it is apparent that Kyle Schlesinger has a love for the written word. After coming to Buffalo to pursue a Ph.D. in English at UB, he created Cuneiform Press, a nonprofit publisher that specializes in handcrafted books. Through this venture he has published the works of many local poets, including his own and that of the late Robert Creeley. His most recent effort, Schablone Berlin—co-authored by local experimental filmmaker Caroline Koebel—is a study of the stencil graffiti culture of Berlin. Schlesinger and Koebel will host a free reading and book launch for Schablone Berlin tonight (March 9) at 7pm at Big Orbit Gallery (30 d Essex St.).