Not that I really wanted to take on the polarizing issues of the day, but that last post was my first and maybe only foray into the evolutionary kettle of worms. Thank you all for keeping things on a civilized level (except for that automated hate-comment spambot that got deleted the moment it attacked). I appreciate all of you much more than you know and send out my thanks for the intelligent discussion in the comments section. So stay with me; I’ll move things back to the art/science/nature/bird/banjo track, my personal comfort zone, in just a moment.
What else is new? Last night I attended an intimate concert in Tulsa, a rare treat for all who were there, the brilliant acoustic duo of Darol Anger and Philip Aaberg. I know Darol from way back when, and he can sweep you off your feet with the beauty of his fiddle-work, his elegant lines and sweet tone. Philip Aaberg was new to me, a dynamo who’s feet dance a lively jig when he’s hammering the piano. A northern boy from Montana, his improvisations have a prairie touch to them. His compositions evoked for me the image of a home crafted by Frank Lloyd Wright: clarity and air held together by rocks and mahogany. He’s a sturdy support beneath the lightness of Darol’s fiddling: a rugged and wide-open field beneath a soaring flight of meadowlarks. Sublime.
And lest I get too hyperbolic over here, I’d like to show you this video I made in the Amazon of The World’s Biggest Ant. Enjoy!
Drawing The Motmot 
I think you also needed a little banjo accompaniment to totally dispel the fog of the evolution controversy….. But the world’s largest ant was still pretty good.
I’ve been thinking about the house resolution and though it was unpleasant to read I think it was a service to your readers in giving them a view of something that maybe they didn’t realize existed: a sort of extreme hatred of the notion of evolution. I’m sure your readers live in all sorts of social and cultural environments and, speaking only for myself, I know that I often think that most of the world thinks like me and the people I run into. I tend to get comfortable with the cultural milieu that I live in. So to me, as unpleasant as it might sometimes be, I think it’s good to be reminded of the other views that are out there. I’m sure if I went back to the town I grew up in I’d be shocked. I know I used to be but I just haven’t been back in a while. I got tired of the shocks.
I also think that just about anything can be put forth in a house resolution, though I haven’t actually researched this. So to round this off thematically my guess is that you could convince someone in the house that it would be wise to nominate the ‘world’s largest ant’ as the ‘State Insect of Oklahoma’, or maybe more likely the banjo as the ‘State Musical Instrument of Oklahoma’. Just about anything can be introduced. But that doesn’t mean it will ever be voted on or passed.
Enjoyable reading and viewing as ussual!
You’re right, Ken, the House Resolution hasn’t been voted on yet, so that’s still up in the air. And I like the idea of banjo for State Musical Instrument, although that might upset the mandolin lobbyists:-)
Beautiful ant…Is that the type with the paralyzingly painful sting? If so, Mike had better watch his fingers!