Andy Hallett: Thanks for all the songs

EW.com writes this about Andy:

Andy Hallet...best known for playing Angel's suave, friendly green demon Lorne with the ability to read people when they sang (most often at his violence-free karaoke club) -- passed away March 29 following a five-year battle with congestive heart disease. He was 33. Fans will remember his voice (watch the clips below), his impeccable comedic timing ("Is there a Gepetto in the house?"), and his gift for making you see past layers of prosthetics and makeup. ("They have no music there. It doesn't exist. Do you know what that's like? No lullabies, no love songs. All my life I thought I was crazy, that I had ghosts in my head or something... simply because I could hear music. Of course, I didn't know it was music. All I knew was that it was something... beautiful and... and painful and right. And I was the only one who could hear it. Then I wound up here and heard Aretha for the first time...")

Hearing Aretha for the first time will do that for a person.

Bye, Andy. Thanks for all the jokes and songs.

Sia

More information about Andy can be found here.

Youtube videos:

Lorne tribute - Green Psycho - posted at my blog

Numfar does the dance of joy
Note for fans: That's Joss Whedon playing Numfar.

Related Articles:

Zoe, Inara and Kaylee: We Miss You
Joss Whedon's Equality Now Speech

Joss Whedon: Honorary Pagan

In Memorium: John Hope Franklin

Another good man gone.

I am happy that he lived long enough to see the inauguration of President Obama.

(Update 11:52) Scott Simon of NPR posted a personal remembrance. You can read it here.

From the A.P.:

John Hope Franklin, a towering scholar and pioneer of African-American studies who wrote the seminal text on the black experience in the U.S. and worked on the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed public school segregation, died Wednesday. He was 94.

David Jarmul, a spokesman at Duke University, where Franklin taught for a decade and was professor emeritus of history, said he died of congestive heart failure at the school's hospital in Durham.

Born and raised in an all-black community in Oklahoma where he was often subjected to humiliating racism, Franklin was later instrumental in bringing down the legal and historical validations of such a world.

As an author, his book "From Slavery to Freedom" was a landmark integration of black history into American history that remains relevant more than 60 years after being published. As a scholar, his research helped Thurgood Marshall and his team at the NAACP win Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that barred the doctrine of "separate but equal" in the nation's public schools.

If you'd like to learn more, I recommend visiting this memorial page from Duke University: John Hope Franklin

Sir, I wish I'd met you.

Sia

Well Done, That Man: Goodbye To Paul Newman

I'd like to be remembered as a guy who tried — tried to be part of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human being. Someone who isn't complacent, who doesn't cop out.
- Paul Newman

Paul Newman, respected actor, philanthropist and gentleman, has passed. He will be remembered mostly for his film roles, but he played many admirable roles in his life, including that of aware, astute and politically active man. I would even call him a feminist. I say this for a number of reasons, among them the fact that he loved strong, creative women like his wife and partner Joanne Woodward and because he raised a smart, busy savvy daughter named Nell. Nell, a biologist and environmentalist, is the creator of Newman's Own Organics, and she will continue to oversee the Newman's Own charity foundation.

I had no natural gift to be anything —
not an athlete, not an actor, not a writer,
not a director, a painter of garden porches — not anything.
So I've worked really hard, because nothing ever came easily to me.
- Paul Newman

Liz Braun, writng for the London Free Press notes that:

The legendary screen actor was not the only movie star who took himself lightly, or who was happily married, or who had an interest in car racing, but he was certainly the only actor who could say he’d contributed up to $250 million to various good causes in his lifetime.....

Newman has given money to various children’s charities and health centres, to a group that helps the homeless become self-reliant, to refugee groups, to humane societies and animal hospitals and to all manner of educational outlets. He co-sponsors the PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award, a $25,000 reward designed to recognize those who protect the U,S. First Amendment as it applies to the written word. His most famous charity, of course, is the Hole In The Wall Gang summer camps, which Newman established in 1988. These camps let sick children take part in all the usual camp activities -- boating, overnight trips, arts and crafts, horseback riding, performing arts, fishing, archery, etc. -- while they get free, 24-hour medical care. It’s all free for the children, and the camps have helped kids from all over Canada and the U.S. and 40 other countries.

He will be missed.

Sia

Photo: Photo of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward soon after their marriage in 1958, taken from Men and Their Dogs

Related Articles:

Paul Newman On My Mind

Why We All Love Paul Newman

Paul Newman - A Liberal Class Act

Quotes - Paul Newman

Alex the Parrot Passes On But Leaves Us Wiser

Alex
1976 - 2007

Live Science reports that "Alex the African grey parrot is dead, and all across the country anthropologists and psychologists are dressing in black.

The article goes on to say that "Alex was best known to the public as the amazing talking parrot. Way beyond "Polly want a cracker," this bird knew more than 100 words and could hold a decent conversation.

Scientists in particular mourn his passing, not just because Alex was an excellent linguist, but also because he rattled our cage....for a long time, the chimp language people thought their animals were pretty special. But then came Alex."

The Daily Galaxy notes that "Pepperberg wrote that Alex's intelligence was on par with that of dolphins and great apes. She also reported that Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old human and had not reached his full potential by the time he died...."The work revolutionized the way we think of bird brains," said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. "That used to be a pejorative, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex's — with some awe."

As an animal activist I believe that Alex has taught us another important lesson: That it is morally wrong and outrageously cruel to take such intelligent, long lived birds and lock them in cages without appropriate companionship or stimulus. Too often we treat them like decorations and pretty toys and they can go quite literally insane with such treatment. Below you will find a link to parrot rescue groups. If you wish to "own" a parrot, please consider adopting one in need. For more on this issue, read the article titled Bird Brains and Animal Rights

Alex's death on September 14th was so important, it was reported in the The New York Times . The online report offers a YouTube video of Alex at work and notes that "Alex was the subject of 30 years of experiments challenging the most basic assumptions about animal intelligence."

A link for other YouTube videos can be found below.

The press release from the Alex Foundation says this:

Over the course of 30 years of research, Dr. Pepperberg and Alex revolutionized the notions of how birds think and communicate. What Alex taught Dr. Pepperberg about cognition and communication has been applied to therapies to help children with learning disabilities. Alex’s learning process is based on the rival-model technique in which two humans demonstrate to the bird what is to be learned. Alex and Dr. Pepperberg have been affiliated with Purdue University, Northwestern University, the University of Arizona, the MIT Media Lab, the Radcliffe Institute, and most recently, Harvard University and Brandeis University.

Alex has been featured worldwide on numerous science programs including the BBC, NHK, Discovery and PBS. He is well known for his interactions with Alan Alda in an episode of Scientific American Frontiers on PBS and from an episode of the famed PBS Nature series called “Look Who’s Talking.” Reports on Alex’s accomplishments have appeared in the popular press and international news from USA Today to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Science Times section of the New York Times featured Alex in a front-page story in 1999. That same year, Dr. Pepperberg published The Alex Studies, a comprehensive review of her decades of learning about learning from Alex. Many other television appearances and newspaper articles followed....

Alex has left a significant legacy—not only have he and Dr. Pepperberg and their landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology changed our views of the capabilities of avian minds, but they have forever changed our perception of the term “bird brains.”

If you choose to help support this research, please consider making a donation in Alex's memory to The Alex Foundation, c/o Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Department of Psychology/MS-062, 415 South Street, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454.

Thank you, Alex, and thank you Dr. Pepperberg.

Sia

Off the Shelf:

Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights
From Publisher's Weekly: Whether or not one accepts Wise's premise that certain animal species meet the law's criteria for personhood, his book is a fascinating examination of animal behavior and intelligence. Crammed with data, case studies and reports from the field, it engages the reader in a thoughtful debate about the place of animals in a world dominated by humans. Not only does Wise (Rattling the Cage) know how to build a logical argument for legal rights for some animals, he also knows how to tell a good story. From early morning forays in Ugandan mountain forests, where he observes the complex behavior and social structure of chimpanzees, to the MIT Media Lab, where he chronicles the astounding mental agility of its resident parrot-scholar, Alex, Wise strengthens his case and intrigues the reader with his tales.

Links:

Hundreds of clever, loving parrots and other birds are abandoned and in need of good homes. Here is a link to parrot rescue information and groups in your area.

That Damn Bird: A YouTube Video Interview with Dr. Irene Pepperberg

The Alex Foundation Homepage

YouTube Videos featuring Alex

Alex RIP Video

Updated 9/20/

Aeron's Passing & After

Today it is four years to the day since Aeron passed on.

I left PantheaCon early when I heard she had gone into the hospital for the last time. I got on a plane and was at her bedside in Arkansas a few hours later. My parents were there and so was her husband and the Priestess who was her friend and who helped her to cross over. Aeron died two days later. Her Priestess and I performed a ritual at Sunset to help her spirit home.

7 months later, I was working a ritual for the people who died in September 11th and I saw Aeron's fiery spirit leading people across. I've never felt anything like that in all my workings before or since. I can't describe it the experience except to say that the overwhelming feelings I sense were fear, confusion, love, courage and finally, joy.

I asked my friend Dotti at the Center for Living with Dying to help me understand what I had seen in that meditation. Dotti and her Circle had done rituals for many days to help those who had died, as I was doing. She explained that some of the people who died that day thought that the fire and explosions they had witnessed meant that they had seen the Hell they heard about in church, and they were afraid to cross over. Spirits like my Sister, those who knew that element and weren't afraid of it, were there to help them over to the other side.

I called Aeron's Priestess a week ago and we talked about her. We still feel her presence at certain times and in certain ways, and she sends messages from time to time, when she needs to or when we need her to.

I saw Abby Willowroot at PantheaCon again this year. We hadn't spoken since Samhain, so it was good to catch up. Abbey was a great support when Aeron was dying. She had given me one of her wonderful goddess pendants to give to Aeron when I saw her. After Aeron died, I gave this pendant to her Priestess. I have the twin of it, and Aeron's Priestess and I wear these in her honor.

I thanked abbey again for her kindness during that time. We've worked together since, on the Pagan Voting Project, among other things. I was able to be there for Abby when her own sister died. It's nice when you can pass it forward. This year, out of the blue, abbey gifted me with her Bridget pendant. "For new beginnings", she said. I wore it for the entire Convention and it sits on my altar as I write this. Bridget is a Goddess I close to, and so this pedant has great meaning for me.

Aeron's Priestess raises dogs for tracking and she uses them in police work. As a Witch, she has a special connection with them; something she doesn't explain to the police or to the families of the missing persons. All they know is that her dogs can find people and bodies that other trackers can't. When I spoke to her on the phone the other day, she told me that Aeron has left her some of her ashes to use in training the dogs to trace burned bodies. A year later, they found a boy who had been murdered out in the woods. The dogs found the remains, which were only ashes and teeth. The police did DNA test, confirmed the identity and once they knew the location, were later able to find witnesses who saw the murderers leaving the scene. So Aeron helped to solve a murder after she died.

Today is a day to remember and honor my sister. We miss you, girl.

No more words.