I kinda broke my rhythm for Constitutional study, but what can you do? Things slip in the summertime. But this week I’m back and ready to tackle Article 1, Section 10. The last Clause I looked at was Article 1 §10.2, which dealt with import and export duties. This is a momentous occasion, because Article 1 §10.3, aka the tonnage clause and also the compact clause is the end of Article 1. It took 13 months to finish Article 1 of seven in the Constitution!
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The Tonnage and Compact Clause – Constitution Article 1 §10.3
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Should You See Porgy and Bess?
Elizabeth Llewellyn (Bess) and Kevin Short (Porgy). Philip Newton photo c/o Seattle Opera
Porgy and Bess is the first opera in Seattle Opera’s 2018-2019 season, and probably the one I was most curious about. Like Madame Butterfly, Porgy and Bess is either loved as a pillar of the opera canon or reviled as a racist tool of oppression, depending on who you’re talking to. I couldn’t wait to find out which side of the fence I’d be on. As with most things, the answer is buried in nuance somewhere between the opposing views. In the end, I didn’t love Porgy and Bess, but not for the reasons you’d expect.
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Music I Liked – Frazey Ford, Marisa Anderson, Gruntruck
This week I mostly kept listening to music from Pickathon. Frazey Ford and Marisa Anderson were on heavy rotation. Then my husband randomly put on Gruntruck in the living room, and I liked that too.
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Qingdao’s Tsingtao
The city of Qingdao is home to the only Chinese beer to achieve any popularity in the United States – Tsingtao. The beer is named for the city. In the U.S., even Chinese people often call the beer Sing Tao. But in its hometown, both are pronounced Ching Dao. The difference is a result of the system used to convert Chinese words into Roman letters.
Wade-Giles vs. Pinyin
When the German-occupied city of Qingdao began to export its lager brewed from mountain spring water, the system in use was Wade-Giles. It was invented by a couple of Englishmen – scholars of Chinese, but not native speakers. So the beer was first romanized as Tsingtao and built up a respectable brand under that spelling. Then, in 1955, a former banker named Zhou Yougang was assigned to a Chinese government committee to improve the romanization of the Mandarin language. He developed the modern system of Hanyu pinyin that is still used today. Under that system, the city is spelled Qingdao.
Branding vs. Linguistics
Most people agree that the new system is a better and more uniform way to represent the pronunciation of Chinese language. But as with all change, it has created some confusion. The brewers decided that it was better for consumers to be confused about the origin of their beer than its quality. So they spared beer drinkers the stress of wondering whatever happened to Tsingtao and whether that new Qingdao beer is any good. It was probably the right choice.
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Early Thursday Entry at Pickathon
I’ve been hearing about Pickathon for a while now. This summer was the 20th iteration of the festival in the woods outside of Portland. Over the years the festival has grown into an eclectic lineup that includes rap, punk, electronic and indie draped over its bluegrass spine. This year the festival ran from Friday, August 3 to Sunday, August 5. This was my first Pickathon, and as I always do, I went all in on the festival experience. That includes showing up for Early Thursday Entry. It was a good thing I did.