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On Tues., May 15, a new work by composer Gregory Youtz will have its world premiere at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. -- "Drum Taps: Nine Poems on Themes of War" is an orchestral and choral work that evokes the experience of war. -- Taking its title from Walt Whitman, the 55-minute piece was inspired by nine poems from diverse cultures. -- Tickets are $8.00 general, $3.00 PLU Alumni, and students under 18 are free. -- See below for more information about the work, as well as a link to a videoclip in which Youtz discusses his new work.[1] ...
At 7:30 p.m. on Wed., May 2, Tacomans have a rare opportunity to hear Abed Abusrour of Palestine, the charismatic internationally known founder and director of the Al Rowwad Cultural & Theater Society in Bethlehem, Palestine. -- Dr. Abusrour will speak at the Fircrest United Methodist Church on his concept of "Beautiful Resistance."[1] -- The Tacoma Weekly devoted an article to Dr. Abusrour's upcoming visit on Apr. 25.[2] -- Last week Radio France Internationale quoted Dr. Abusrour's comments on Israel's interference with hundreds of tourists barred from entering the West Bank to participate in a cultural festival.[3] -- BACKGROUND: -- Abusrour uses activities like sports, the arts, and theater to give children forms of self-expression that are an alternative to violence. -- He complements these programs by training parents and community members in non-violent resistance. -- Abusrour has written: "Arts are such amazing tools and ways that shows what beauty and humanity we have inside everyone of us, illuminating us in the darkness of injustice, ignorance, and intolerance. . . . Arts make people closer to each other. . . . They are like love, showing to us the beauty of those who we love and masking everything else." -- Abed Abusrour was elected to an Ashoka Fellowship in 2006. -- He has spoken before in Tacoma, in 2008....
Wednesday's Seattle Times reported that in 2006 the wife of Sgt. Robert Bales took out two subprime loans totaling $500,000 from a California lender accused of deceptive practices (Paramount Equity Mortgage) to refinance their four-bedroom Lake Tapps home as well as an Auburn duplex she owned before she married, signing the paperwork while her husband was deployed in Iraq.[1] -- The properties they mortgaged "now have a combined assessed value of $358,000," Sanjay Bhatt and Mike Carter said. -- Karilyn Bales and her husband's attorney, John Henry Browne, deny any connection between the family's financial situation and the Mar. 11 atrocity for which her husband is allegedly responsible (he was formally charged by the Army on Friday with the murder of seventeen Afghan civilians). -- But a former president of the Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association who reviewed the couple's public records at the request of the Seattle Times characterized the refinance loans with their "high interest rates, prepayment penalties, and balloon payments" as "unconscionable," and "Seattle attorney David Leen said the terms of the 2006 refinance loan didn't seem to give the Bales family any financial advantages." -- Leen said: "I think it's also especially distressing when servicemen are victimized by predatory lending. They have enough troubles." -- "In general," the *Seattle Times reported, "military families have been targeted by predatory lenders who know service members can lose their security clearances, even their jobs, if they don't maintain good finances, federal officials say." -- Meanwhile, facing enormous legal expenses, Karilyn Bales announced on Monday the formation of the "Robert Bales Legal Defense Fund," the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) reported.[2] -- The charge sheet accusing Bales and its twenty-nine highly uninformative "specifications" can be examined here. -- There is not even any indication that the killings took place in two different locations; all crimes are described as having taken place "at or near Belambay." ...