Richard David Cowan (circa 1909 - 1939) was, in the 1930s, the boyfriend of someone named Stewart Mitchell -- who may have been a writer. For a short time, he was one of the intimates in the famed circle of Sara and Gerald Murphy. He was also, it appears, an object of attraction for Gerald -- who had gay tendencies. Very little is known of Cowan (pictured, with Sara and Gerald, in 1934), except that he killed himself by filling a kitchen with gas from the oven.In a letter Gerald wrote to Richard, he said "... and I got to remembering things: your lingering over the bedded flowers in the Spanish Paseo, the things you laughed at, the way your hair grows on your neck, the loose Greek mould of your body, your staring at the passing foam on water, what brown looks like near you, the skin on your hands, your silences, your sudden height when you stand up.... Should one remember these and the thousand more secret things? ... Was it all lost? Will one ever enjoy it? Did it happen?" You may read more about a recent exhibition of the art by the Murphys and those now-famous artists in their circle here.
Saturday the spouse and I took our very first (and certainly, not last) excursion on the Metro Light Rail -- the new mass-transit option in Phoenix. That's us in the picture (taken by the train driver). Matt's the cute one on the left. The first phase, opened in December 2008, is twenty miles and goes from the old Christown Mall in Phoenix, through Tempe, and to the edge of Mesa. It takes about 75 minutes to make the entire trip one way. Over the next dozen or so years, the rail will double in length and include routes to Scottsdale and Glendale and other cities in the metropolitan Phoenix area. As with almost every city in the country now adopting a version of light rail, Phoenix once had its very own light rail system which dates back to 1887 and horse-drawn carriages. Those transformed into electric streetcars in 1893 and a revamped and revitalized system in 1925. (In fact, this later system ran just a block from where we currently live.) Too bad our light rail was torn apart in the 1940s and replaced with buses. And now, here we are, just where we were 84 years ago, thanks to a system approved by voters in 2000.Our excursion along the Metro was pretty fun. We were amazed to realize that the route ran right by about six of our favorite restaurants, and a lot of the attractions we visit on a regular basis. Each of the rail stations has art made specifically for it -- part of a "percent for art" program in nearly all major Arizona cities that dedicates a small amount of every construction project budget to create art for that project. Of course, most of the art is pretty bland. I guess it is nice to have it, but it would be nicer if it was better. We made it to the end of the route in Mesa and picked a neat little Chinese restaurant for lunch. On the way back we got off at one stop and walked to a thrift store we've visited in the past. After purchasing some books there, we walked to the next stop and got back on the metro for the ride back to our car.A lot of cities have light rail, and I am so glad they (and we) have finally made the move into the future of transit. I have ridden light rail in San Francisco, San Diego and Washington D.C. and love it.You can read more about the Metro Light Rail here and here.
Okay, here's a quiz: Let's say you are a business of some kind -- restaurant, clothier, retailer, whatever -- and the economy takes a downturn. At the same time, the price of gasoline goes up, as does the wholesale cost of items you use in your business -- meat, milk, corn, fabric, copper, whatever. How do you react to the increase in your cost to do business?Do you:a: Do nothing because you know the downturn is temporary. You might make less profit, but that's okay.b: Raise your prices a little, to recover some of your additional expenses, even though you know you might lose some customers. c: Raise your prices a lot to completely recover your additional expenses -- if you have to pay more your customers should have to pay more -- even though you know you will lose more customers.d: Lower your prices to make your product more affordable. You might lose some of your profit, but with the increase in business you will make more on volume.In this quiz there is really no correct answer. Too many factors need to be considered -- including the status of your employees. Personally, I think either a: or d: would make the most sense. After all, if the economy is already hurting raising prices will only make things worse. However, you might be surprised how many companies apparently think b: or c: are the right answers -- as shortsighted as those actions probably are.One grocery store, Safeway (where we do our shopping), has come up with another option: telling brand name companies that they had better lower their prices or Safeway will start more aggressively pushing its own less-expensive house brands.Way to go, Safeway!
In January I wrote this entry about the results of an MRI on my back: stenosis (where the disk gets squished between two vertebrae). At that time I had to decide whether to keep doing physical therapy, have steroid injections or surgery.The second-opinion doctor said the disks looked mostly good, although I had some bulging "from arthritis" and some squishing of my spinal cord in the L4-L5 area. He said it could be "a long time" before that caused me any problem. I asked if by "a long time" he meant years. "Oh, yes, it could be many years -- or next month." That filled me with lots of confidence, so I opted to go with the injections -- which I had today.The photograph shows an x-ray of my spine. The long black horizontal thing to the left is one of the needles that snaked into the disk where they injected the steroid. The whole procedure took about ten minutes -- although I was at the surgery place for about an hour (arriving early, filling out paperwork, being warned about possible outcomes, etc.). It was pretty painless, except the part where they jabbed needles into me and kept injecting stuff.I have spent the remainder of the day resting. The nurse warned that my back would start to hurt when the painkiller wore off about six hours after the procedure. That was about 20 minutes ago. My back feels stiff, but not painful.Tomorrow I go back to work and hope for the best. Fingers crossed!
I am so glad to finally discover that I am not the only person in the world who thinks Gene Kelly's movie ballet sequences are WAY too long and dull. Whew. That's off my chest. I've said it and I'm glad.
Am reading this
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The fires are mostly out, the temperatures are finally getting back to average, but the extent of damage from the recent fires in Australia is still unknown. Estimates are saying more than 200 humans are thought to have died. Houses, cars, property and lives have been wiped out.The area's diverse animal life -- both wild and domestic -- have suffered as well. Family pets have died, livestock, horses, wild kangaroos, wallabies, possums and koala have been killed or injured. One small victory over the fire is Sam the koala whose feet were burned. A fireman gave the poor animal water and an animal rescue group has taken her to safety. You can read more about Sam here.You can read more about the devastation to wild life here; but I warn you not to view the slide show. The images are just horrible.
We have some good friends in the general area of southeastern Australia where the horrible fires (pictured) have been wiping out towns and killing people. (We just heard from them, and they are okay.)
Arizona and most of Australia have pretty much the same weather. We get miserable heat in summer that dries out everything making fires pretty much the norm. Some of our fires are bad, but it sounds like Australia is having a worse time of it.Please send good vibes their way.You can read more about the fires here.
Richard David Cowan (circa 1909 - 1939) was, in the 1930s, the boyfriend of someone named Stewart Mitchell -- who may have been a writer. For a short time, he was one of the intimates in the famed circle of Sara and Gerald Murphy. He was also, it appears, an object of attraction for Gerald -- who had gay tendencies. 
