Dangers, Dilemnas, Distractions and Advantages, Inspiration, Oceans and Venues

TOP 10 2006 DANGERS, DILEMMAS AND DISTRACTIONS OF BEING A BELLY DANCER

By Jamaica Sinclair | Leader of Troupe Diva

10. People think you are scantily clad, but it takes you over an hour to get dressed. (And people come up to you, in restaurants, banks on the street—anywhere—and say, “Oh my God, is that you Jamaica? I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!”)

9. Praying to the safety-pin (and twist-tie) goddess before every performance.

8. Fear of falling off the Lovers Point pier at PG’s Feast of Lanterns.

7. Shopping for perfectly good clothes, only to cut them up to make costumes.

6. Absent-mindedly shimmying in “normal” places, like banks and grocery stores.

5. Being stopped by security guards trying to confiscate our swords.

4. Small children (and the occasional big one) who want to touch the “Belly-dance Barbie.”

3. Wardrobe shopping in the Christmas ornament clearance section.

2. Thinking that wearing really garish body glitter all the time is normal.

2a. Glitter transfer. (Somehow during the night all the glitter jumps off of me and gets stuck in my husband’s five o’clock shadow—a look he does not like to explain at 7am on the job site.)

1. People always asking, “Are those real?” (Our swords, silly. What did you think we meant?)

TOP 10 DANGERS, DILEMMAS AND ADVANTAGES OF BEING RAISED BY A PROFESSIONAL BELLY DANCER

By Jordan | 21-year-old daughter of Jamaica

10. The at-times really annoying—but overall pretty cool—experience of to being opened up to other cultures and religions. And developing an appreciation of over-the-top sequined outfits.

9. No home-baked cookies. Mom made hummus.

8. Being dragged to endless drum classes and hippie parties with huge fires, crazy drummers and dancers everywhere, and falling asleep amidst all the chaos. (To this day, weird but cool old people come up to me, saying, “Oh, you must be Jamaica’s daughter! I remember you when you were little!”)

8b. Knowing Mom can still shake it better than me!

7. Always knowing you should carry yourself with dignity, no matter what your body shape or size.

6. Growing up in a home where it was OK to play with swords.

5. Knowing my mom did not consider my getting pierced or tattooed acts of rebellion.

4. Having to go to belly dance class for punishment. (I got a day off restriction for each class!)

3. Not being able to find our Christmas ornament box one year—and decorating the tree with mom’s jewelry.

2. Trying to buy candy with all the coins I found on our floor and finding out they weren’t real.

1. Glitter in my cereal.

TOP 10 POINTS OF POETIC INSPIRATION IN 2006

By Ric Masten | Poet

10. The moment when I wrote “Contemplating Ankh,” in my 77th year. (To read the poem, go to montereycountyweekly.com.)

9. Helping bring a balance of power back to Washington.

8. Being given an Honorary Doctorial Degree by CSUMB.

7. Aiding the Steinbeck Center and Hartnell College with their 10,000 Poems Project, which set a Guinness World Record for most poems collected in a single project, with 14,972. I was happy to contribute more than 1,000.

6. Still coming up with poems that I haven’t written before.

5. Living on a ridgetop in Big Sur with a view that inspires, even after 47 years there.

4. Receiving scores of responses from my weekly online “Words & One-Liners.” I answer about 100 response messages each week.

3. Having my grandson spend a year in Iraq and come home.

2. Getting married to my wife for the 35th time Sept. 3.

1. Living life—for the ninth year—with “terminal” cancer.

TOP 10 REASONS WE ARE STARTING TO LOVE THE OCEAN MORE THAN OURSELVES

By Ximena Waissbluth | Chair, Surfrider Foundation Monterey Chapter

10. The ocean has really cool animals in it, with really cool names such as the smooth lumpsucker, velella velella, irawadaddy dolphin, and dogface pufferfish. You, however, have really gross animals inside of you with really gross names, such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus mutans and Bifidobacterium.

9. Look at a satellite image of this blue planet. Look at a satellite image of yourself.

8. Miles of bacterial and algal sea-slime-fields are blooming around the globe as warming waters alter entire ecosystems. Texas-sized garbage islands swirling around in the Pacific, growing every day. An albatross 1,000 miles from civilization picks up an eight-year-old disposable lighter and feeds it to her chick, and watches the chick choke and die.

7. George W. Bush gutted the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act; cut funding for the EPA and Superfund; loosened CO2 and mileage standards; opened National Forests to drilling and logging. Yet on June 15, 2006, Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a Marine National Monument. Even he sees that the oceans need protection.

6. Bioluminescence. Maybe in 300 years, when you’re genetically modified to bioluminesce every time your pheromones are abuzz, we could delete this one. But it’s 2006, and you’re opaque while the ocean is aglow.

5. This October the Joint Management Plan Review for three adjoining National Marine Sanctuaries (Monterey Bay, Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones) finally came out. Less than 1 percent of the world’s oceans are protected; we are extraordinarily fortunate. Know your Sanctuary: look up the JMPR and write to NOAA. Then go surf, swim, walk.

4. “Likes: Red wine by a warm fire, fluffy animals, long walks on the beach, ESPN.” Hey Casanova—your “likes” are lame with no more long walks on the beach.

2. Oceans: thunderous, magnificent, dramatic, brilliant, heaving. Yourself: Probably dramatic, possibly heaving, and hopefully a few moments of brilliance. Oceans: home to 97 percent of all life; they provide oxygen, food and medicine. Yourself: .00000000006 percent of all life; provide hot air and gasses; you eat food and use medicine.

1. 2006 has been the year of the oceans as the slumbering masses wake up. The US Commission on the Oceans Report, the Pew Oceans Report, and the UN Report on the Marine Environment all say the same thing—the oceans are in crisis. We are on the precipice.

TOP 10 PERFORMANCE VENUES

By Louis Lebherz | International opera singer; founder, Carmel Opera Foundation and Festival

10. Stern Grove in San Francisco, summer 1976: “Tales of Hoffman,” with the San Francisco Opera Merola Program.

9. Central Park, Manhattan, 1979: “Aida,” with the New York Metropolitan Opera. There were more than 20,000 people in the audience. The Met sent a limousine to pick me up at my apartment on 43rd Street and 10th Avenue.

8. Teatro Municipal, Caracas (built in 1881): I sang nine roles there from 1979 to 1981. I caught a thief in my dressing room one evening. It scared him a lot more than it scared me.

7. Herod Atticus Ampitheater at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, 1981: My European debut as Zacaria in Verdi’s “Nabucco.” I returned there in 1985 to sing in Handel’s opera, Xerxes, with the Badisches Staatstheater from Karlsruhe, West Germany, where I was the principal basso.

6. Le Grand Theatre, Geneva, 1987: “The Magic Flute” (The cantina at that gorgeous theatre was catered by a five-star restaurant!). The costume department had to buy two pair of boots, cut them in half and glue them together to accommodate my size-16 feet!

5. Camden Yard, Baltimore, 1997: I sang the National Anthem for a playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles won the game but lost the series.

4. The medieval castle in Savonlinna, Finland, summer 1999: “Don Giovanni” at the International Finnish Opera Festival. The sun never set! In order to get from my dressing room to my entrance position, I had to climb though a 600-year-old window, down a shaky ladder and through another window to stage left.

3. The Basilica of Saint Peter and Paul Outside the Wall, Rome, Summer 2000: Verdi’s “Requiem.” I flew from Los Angeles to Rome on a Tuesday, arrived in Rome Wednesday for the dress rehearsal, sang the performance on Thursday evening, and flew home to LA the next morning. The Pope was supposed to attend, but he had to cancel, and sent a cardinal in his stead.  

2. The redwood grove at the Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel Valley: I have sung an opera concert there every July since 2002. Everyone dresses in formal attire and is served a seven-course meal after the concert amid the ancient trees.

1. The Carmelite Monastery, south of Carmel, every Sunday since December, 2005: I conduct a choir of cloistered nuns at the 9am mass. It’s my favorite venue of all time!