and sure stars shining . . .

Baxter’s at Bagnell

Jeffrey Carter — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:38:07 +0000

I’ve just returned from a delighted dinner with friends and colleagues at Baxter’s at Bagnell Dam on the old US 54 Highway.

We laughed and chattered and ate our way through two and a half hours.

Conventions are fun when surrounded by people you like.

Lee’s Summit West High School ‘Una Voce’ choir today was spectacular in performance at MMEA. Amy Krinke has so much to be proud of.

Bagnell Dam

Booth

Jeffrey Carter — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:19:24 +0000

A long day of convention ends. Lunch was a sandwich, breakfast a sweet roll, dinner a feast at the Italian place near my Holiday Inn Express. My feet are tired, and my knee is achy.

But I’ve had a good day.

The booth before traffic this morning at Tan Tar A.

Samson

Jeffrey Carter — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:17:54 +0000

I miss my dog.

He’s with a student tonight, but I miss him anyway.

Here are two shots of him yesterday morning. As usual, he was barking.

MMEA

Jeffrey Carter — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:33:43 +0000

I am at the lake right now for the annual Missouri Music Educators Association convention. The Webster University booth will look different this year, thanks to new material and new photo displays.

As I arrived today, I without haste started running into old friends. A lot of old friends.

And then dinner with colleagues tonight was quite fine.

7%

Jeffrey Carter — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:35:31 +0000

My friend Don Koller forwarded this today. I’ve not checked the accuracy of the attribution, but Don notes that the list was written by Regina Britt in the Plain Dealer, Cleveland. “This 90 year old has written we should all read once a week,” he says.

____________________________

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I’ve ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
family will.

5. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for things that matter.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t
save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will
this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive but don’t forget.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d
grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

42. The best is yet to come…

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”

Its estimated 93% won’t forward this. If you are one of the 7% who will,
forward this with the title ’7%’.

I’m in the 7% . Friends are the family that we choose.

Happy

Jeffrey Carter — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:06:48 +0000

After an arts- and work-laden weekend, I’m home for a few hours.

Here’s a shot of me with one of my students today after the Opera Studio presentation:

Me with Dom.

In the midst

Jeffrey Carter — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:47:45 +0000

In the midst of daily life, balance sometimes becomes an issue.

I’ve had a week where work at the day job has not been balanced with the private, non-work life. Laundry hasn’t been washed. The bed has not been made. And snacking has replaced healthful eating.

So today, bills are paid. The third load of laundry is almost finished. French toast and sausage was the breakfast, along with an orange and coffee. A prescription refill is phoned in. The bed is made.

Last evening I sat in front of a Monet triptych at the Saint Louis Art Museum, then enjoyed a scrumptious homemade dinner with friends, followed by more wine and conversation and a warm night in the living room instead of on icy streets.

And I feel a bit more balanced.

I also caught up on some correspondence from the home email account, and I hugged Samson the Feist for a while. (I am considering what to do with his teeth, as we are reaching a crisis place with them.)

An adult student arrives for a voice lesson in a few minutes, after which I’ll try to balance things at the office with several hours there before going to see the early performance of Sunday in the Park with George at the Rep, with four of my students in what is reportedly an extraordinary cast.

1% and 15%

Jeffrey Carter — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:16:54 +0000

Published in the New YOrk Times: January 18, 2012

During the Republican debate on Monday, Mitt Romney suggested that he might release his 2011 tax return, but only in April. On Tuesday, he told reporters that his effective tax rate was “probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything.”

Mr. Romney is clearly hoping that by drawing this process out for another three months, and copping to the low rate early on, he will deflect at least some of the shock about the size of his personal wealth and what a great deal you get from the government if, like Mr. Romney, you make most of your money from investing.

Let’s be clear: despite Mr. Romney’s claim that “people will want to see the most recent year,” his 2011 taxes would not be enough. Voters have a right to know how presidential aspirants made their money — not just in the year before the election. That is especially true in Mr. Romney’s case because he says his business success qualifies him to be president.

As for that 15 percent rate, it’s all completely legal. Mr. Romney didn’t even need a sharp accountant. If Mr. Romney has done one good thing with his partial disclosure — although it clearly wasn’t his goal — he has reminded Americans of the fundamental unfairness of the current tax code and of how determined Mr. Romney and his party are to keep it that way.

Currently, the tax code imposes a top rate of 15 percent on investment income — generally, capital gains and dividends — that flows overwhelmingly to wealthy taxpayers. In comparison, top rates between 25 percent and 35 percent are applied to the wages and salaries for many working Americans.

Worse, an egregious loophole in the law lets private equity partners pay the lower 15 percent rate on much of their income — known as “carried interest” — even though those earnings are not typically gains from investing their own money, but rather a share of profits from investing someone else’s money.

Without seeing Mr. Romney’s tax returns, it is impossible to know how much of his investments — past and present — are actually carried interest, though much of his fortune is from his years at the buyout firm Bain Capital, and a significant share of his family’s wealth is still connected to Bain.

President Obama has repeatedly, and correctly, called for ending the carried interest loophole. It is morally indefensible because it asserts that the efforts and risks of private equity partners are worthier than those of workers who pay regular tax rates. It also makes no sense. The rationale for keeping the capital gains rate lower than the rate on wages and salaries is to encourage and reward investors for taking risks with their own money. Private equity partners are, by and large, managing other people’s money risk.

The controversy over the tax treatment of carried interest is a subset of the larger debate over whether there even should be a preferential rate for capital gains. The answer is no. It is not only excessive, and unjustified, it actually encourages wasteful gamesmanship, by enticing people to engage in tax avoidance schemes to convert ordinary income into capital gains. It also exacerbates inequality and crowds out other ways to foster risk-taking.

Mr. Romney has called for keeping the current low rates for capital gains and eliminating capital gains altogether for taxpayers making less than $200,000. That’s an attempt to justify an indefensible tax break for the wealthy by tossing crumbs to others.

Mr. Romney does not have to apologize for his wealth. But he cannot keep trying to conceal just how much the tax code has been tilted in his favor.

A version of this editorial appeared in print on January 19, 2012, on page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: The 1% and That 15%.

Mushrooms

Jeffrey Carter — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:48:22 +0000

I have a homemade cream of mushroom soup cooking on the stove right now. The scent is heavenly.

This is my first attempt at a mushroom soup, but I have no doubt it will be quite yummy. The Joy of Cooking has not failed me yet.

I seem to be on a pureed soup kick right now, after two batches of black bean soup in the past nine days.

The first three days of school this week have been particularly rugged. I usually don’t try to teach voice lessons during the first week of term, but I am this semester simply because of my travel schedule. And I seem to have had a significant number of meetings this week. And fires.

But today, Ron Bohmer presented a master class for our voice students, and Ravi Coltrane presented a similar class for our jazz students. And the manager of the local NPR affiliate spoke in a seminar at noon. We had a supper day of enrichment activities in our little Department of Music!

I’m anxious for the weekend. Friday is a visit to the Monet ‘water lilies’ exhibit at the Art Museum, followed by dinner here at home with friends. Saturday is Sunday in the Park with George at the Rep. Sunday is Webster University Opera Studio.

Kids who sing opera

Jeffrey Carter — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:09:59 +0000

I read a provocative post on line this weekend about kids who sing opera and do competitions.

Take a look!

I agree wholeheartedly with almost all of this. I do think that kids can benefit from voice lessons, though, if the lessons are taught with sensitivity and kindness, and if all involved understand the limits of the child voice. For the big stuff, wait until adolescence stops percolating! We damage the kids too easily. (Charlotte Church, any one?) We must wait now to see how Jackie Evancho turns out.