Starving Artists don't have to Starve

When a dancer is finally accepted into a dance company, the feelings felt are usually of overwhelming relief and disbelief. The dancer makes a million phone calls to friends, family members, and most importantly, their teachers to thank them for all those years of hard work. But more times then ever, the teachers will remind the newly-employed dancers of the next important step in their career: joining the union.

The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) is the union many dance companies are associated with. They implement boundaries for dance employees to ensure their protective rights as physical performers. The yearly contract issued to dancers is in heavy detail, from how many hours they are allowed to dance per day, to how many breaks they receive and for how long, to the travel details (hotel, food, transportation), and the list goes on and on. The contract is so detailed, it even lists what dancers can wear during practices in the studio. Wow.

One aspect of the AGMA is the specification of weeks of employment. For the 2008 year, the contract states the company (in this case, Merce Cunningham) must employ their dancer for 32 weeks out of the year. Why is this the golden number? Well, since dance companies cannot afford to employ their dancers for 52 weeks, this number allows the dancers to receive unemployment for those remaining weeks of the year. Of course, if dancers find another job opportunity, they can sign release forms, receiving permission to work outside of their company. This seldom happens because finding a dance job that lasts only 20 weeks is rare. Therefore, it is accepted between dancers that receiving unemployment is a fact of a dancer's life. Susan Shields, a dance professor at GMU and a previous Lar Lubovitch company member, explains that when she would walk to the unemployment office in NYC, she was greeted by several other modern and ballet company members waiting in-line at the door. She describes it as an "unemployment dance party."

Although the AGMA is meticulous when it comes to the boundaries dancers and companies have control over, they definitely understand the meaning of survival. If they did not create the "32 week" boundary, thereby allowing dancers to receive unemployment, there would be dancers waiting tables rather than taking dance classes and keeping their training up. This is definitely a reason why unemployment was created, and thankfully it is used correctly for once.

If a Checklist Saves Lives, Why Not?

There are just under quarter billion (yes, billion) surgical procedures performed around the world each year—that’s according to the World Health Organization—and a “significant percentage” (says the selfsame WHO) “result in preventable complications and deaths.”

So the WHO got a surgeon from Harvard to work with experts in 200 countries on a solution and the team has just held a global media event to announce the medical breakthrough that will help save millions of lives; it’s a checklist. Yes, the team has developed a simple checklist that requires routine sign-in and sign-out procedures performed before and at the end of surgery. They include basic steps like confirming the patient’s identity, ensuring anesthesia has been administered, and counting the number of syringes, gauzes and sponges at the end of the surgical procedure to make sure none have been forgotten in the patient’s body.

“A lot of us feel as if we don't know why the checklist hadn't been there", says Dr. Patchen Dellinger, vice chair of surgery, at the University of Washington’s Medical Center (UWMC), one of eight hospitals around the world piloting the use of the list. UWMC started using the list in April this year, and Delinger says it has already helped cut patient safety errors in half. It will become mandatory for all surgical procedures in the fall. A registered nurse at the hospital says that with wider use of the list, she will no longer have that "missing" feeling.

Now the WHO says signing up to use the list is voluntary, but I think—as this video shows—the list is such a simple, low-cost and effective method of saving precious lives that I propose it should be made mandatory in the US--the country that claims to have the best health system in the world. Do you think this is too important an innovation (if you will allow the term) to slowly and quietly roll out? Shouldn't’t we get Congress and others actively engaged in getting the list adopted by hospitals right across the country say in the next 1-2 years?

What else do you think we can do to create awareness about this Safe Surgery Saves Lives campaign? How about sending this link to the administrator of your local hospital and asking them to sign up to the voluntary program?

You could use the UWMC example to suggest how much liability insurance they could save, and mention how simple the checklist really is.

And if you have a friend or loved one who’s going in for surgery send them the link and ask them to send it to their surgeon in advance?

Obama Should Not Choose Hillary Clinton As His VP?s

There as been much speculation as to whether or not Barack Obama should choose Hillary Clinton as his Vice President. I think not! The Clinton's, both Hillary and Bill, assumed that they would have a landslide victory...they were wrong. Obama's message of change resonates with the American public. For the Clinton's, it is business as usual in Washington! No one needs another Bush or Clinton in office any time soon!


Many journalists and political pundits agree about the former first lady. They have seen how the Clinton machine operates and believe that she would not be a good addition to the team. After all, she did not have the decency to immediately congratulate Obama when he was announced the presumptive nominee. It demonstrates that she is a sore loser and is out for her own interests! Despite her lack of class, Obama has included her in his campaign. Amazingly, he has even offered to help with her campaign deficit! That is another reason why he is the nominee. It is unbelievable that the Clinton's, all of the sudden, want to do all they can for Obama. As usual, they have their future in mind...the next election. As for now, it is essential for them to get Obama elected if Hillary wants to have a chance to run in the future.

Inevitably, if the Democratic Party wants to win the White House, they have to have the dream ticket! It is clear that many voters are over the Bush Administration and their party! Even many Republicans are displeased with their own party. Do you think Barack Obama will bring change to Washington? Who do you think should be his second in command? I think he should choose wisely...which should not be difficult considering how brilliantly his campaign has been run!

The Uses of the Humanities

Stanley Fish, an academic humanist, makes a bold claim about the utility of the humanities. He argues that their main purpose is to provide individual pleasure. They don’t reform, they don’t humanize, and they don’t help us understand the meaning of life, Fish asserts, because if they did, your English, philosophy, music, and history professors would be among the best people on earth (and you already know that they aren’t!).

Is Fish right? Scholars of history make war, writers of novels commit crimes, and gifted creative artists lose their lives to drugs and alcohol. And yet, it was a pamphlet that helped launch the American Revolution, it was music that helped empower a generation to oppose the Vietnam War, and a painting like Picasso’s Guernica is considered a national treasure in Spain.

What do you think? Can training in the humanistic disciplines do anything more than give us individual pleasure?