Right Angle Club (RAC) Monthly Member Newsletter
for
January, 2022
In-person & Zoom Speakers & their Presentation Topics
Jan. 7. NO SPEAKER; Annual Meeting instead
Jan. 14. NO SPEAKER; President’s Dinner instead
Jan. 21. Nancy Moses: Fakes, Forgeries & Frauds. The true nature of authenticity.
Jan. 28. NO MEETING; Meetings are held only on the 1st & 3rd Fridays of the month in 2022
Previous Month’s Speakers’ Presentations Summarized
(prepared by Bob Haskell)
December 3, 2021. Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Executive Director of Project 440, discussed Philadelphia-based Project 440, a unique and internationally recognized creative youth development program, and the project’s innovative approach to music education. He described how it came to be, how they are doing things differently during the pandemic, and how, in general, art can be used as a tool in society. Because of his success as a performer in the Orchestra, he thought about what his role in society should be, not just as a performer, but as a human being. The Orchestra provides a platform for him to use his musical gift, and music as a tool, to serve others. It all started in his childhood. He was an odd child, who was a musical and technical geek and who “had his head in the clouds.” He started piano and cello at a young age and was a weather nerd (was an official storm tracker for hurricane Hugo in 1989). He liked the power and unpredictability of hurricanes. But despite the chaos they create, the eye of a hurricane is calm and peaceful. Music can represent the eye of the storm. The official title of his presentation was “Music – More Than Melody.” But his real topic was “Be Somebodies Butterfly”. The Butterfly Effect is a Chaos Theory term that grew out of paper that MIT professor Edward Lorenz presented in 1972 entitled: “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?” He realized that small, seemingly inconsequential, differences in the initial conditions of a large dynamic system such as the atmosphere could trigger vast and often unsuspected results over time. The same is true in people’s lives. For example, Joseph’s mother had an inconsequential, chance encounter with music on the radio (an initial condition) that led to her becoming a singer and raising a musician son. Besides loving parents, Joseph also had a church family that taught him the true meaning of community and value of service, where people look out for each other. The church elders acted as butterflies in his life. He was taught how to give back to the community, helping those less fortunate. Project 440 was formed from this mold. It is a unique music program that does not teach music. Instead, their creative youth development approach uses music as a lens through which to teach entrepreneurship and leadership to disadvantaged youth. There are four programs; 1) Doing Good, which is a 10 week, 25-session intensive after-school entrepreneurial program that provides guidance to high school musicians who want to positively impact their communities. Students receive a stipend for attending and can, therefore, view it as a job. 2) Instruments for Success, where students spend seven to ten weeks learning from a highly experienced college counselor and guest speakers about career paths both in, and connected to, the field of music. 3) College Fair, where 50 colleges participate, offering seminars and workshops for a fee. 4) Youth Advocacy Project: The Youth Advocacy Council (YAC) consists of alumni of Project 440 programs, the School District of Philadelphia, and other young leaders from throughout the region with a passion for music education. Participants meet twice monthly and receive leadership, project management, governance and advocacy training, as well as earning a $10/hour stipend for their time and work. There were 23 in-person and 3 Zoom participants.
December 17, 2021. Heather Blakeslee, founder and editor of Root Quarterly, a print-only subscription-based journal of art and ideas rooted in Philadelphia, discussed the need to create a depolarized and good faith dialog across political and social divides, and the role of independent print media in achieving this end. A growing challenge today is reflected in Benjamin Franklin’s famous retort “A republic, if you can keep it.” What forces are now at play in keeping our republic? The role of religion and the clergy, as the First Estate, has diminished. The role of corporate CEO’s and entrepreneurs, as the new nobility and Second Estate, has increased, with mostly no obligation other than to make money. They play a zero-sum game, leaving the Commoners, or Third Estate, behind. For example, Philadelphia has a 25% poverty rate, and is home to 50% of the poor in the larger region. The poorest neighborhoods have an average income of only $14K per year. For the Republic to survive, a strong media, or Fourth Estate, is needed. It can help keep those in power accountable. It can help shape our culture. But the Fourth Estate has failed. Local media, with a responsibility to the local community and balanced reporting, are disappearing fast. Reporters used to live, and were important to, the places they inhabited. Large institutional media has largely demonstrated contempt for the Commoner, and is now distrusted by many. Discourse started to go awry in 2014. There was an explosion of vitriol, with online social media started exploiting our psychology and feeding us material to make us angry. We only see and read the stories we want, and seldom see the other side. People are no longer able to evaluate arguments other than based on the identity characteristics of the other party (e.g., political affiliation, race, gender,..). Worse yet, disinformation agents take and use our data to control what we see and hear. As a result, civic unity is being destroyed. How do we cross these political and social divides? We all belong in this country and are part of its civic fabric. We need better leadership and vision. We need to listen to people and not make value judgments when they demonstrate in a certain way. We need to identify our common values. We need to ask questions rather than trying to convince. We need to have intellectual humility. Roots Quarterly attempts to address these needs by providing space for conversation across the political and social divides. An important part of knowledge health is to expose ourselves to other perspectives, and to open ourselves up to other ideologies. To this end, Roots Quarterly is one part magazine, one part collaborative art project (art and beauty helps to unite people), and one part social experiment (if we build it, they will come). 1) As a magazine, the back magazine cover states: “Print Is Dead. Long Live Print.” Print is some form is never going away. The rumors of its demise are untrue. Niche, specialty publications will survive because people are committed to them and the subject matter they represent. The objective is to treat people with respect, by avoiding the negativity and vitriol found fouling up the social media landscape. Print publications are also insulated from issues such as big tech censorship and digital tracking. 2) As a collaborative art project, the magazine attempts to deliver beautiful, carefully curated, culturally relevant material. It is run entirely as a volunteer operation with a team of professional editors, writers, photographers, and artists who want to make something interesting and insightful. 3) As a social experiment, the magazine seeks opportunities to bring people together by finding common ground, challenging reactionary and divisive politics, fostering civil dialogue, and celebrating interesting artists and ideas. It seeks out voices that have different perspectives, sorts through the information, and puts together a quarterly publication. It will not offer full content online, it won’t spend precious resources on constant interactions on social media, and it won’t have a comments section—but thoughtful letters to the editor will be most welcome. The magazine is intended to provide a conversation, helping the reader to hear and understand opinions on either side of an issue. It was named a Best New Magazine by Library Journal when it was launched in 2019. There were 26 in-person and 0 Zoom participants.
Carter Broach
Former Corresponding Secretary
