Earlier this evening my friends David and Rachel and I saw the Joffrey Ballet’s American Icons program. It was a very impressive two hours of dance.
Here’s how the folks at Northrop Auditorium, the venue for tonight’s performance in Minneapolis, describeAmerican Icons.
In honor of their 70th anniversary, the beloved Joffrey Ballet revisits Northrop with American Icons, a tribute to four dance legends. Featuring iconic works that have shaped the history of American dance, the soaring program is brought to life with live orchestra, including a stirring piece played by Northrop Organist Greg Zelek that highlights our glorious Aeolian-Skinner Op. 892.
Witness the daring and enduring spirit that defines the Joffrey's maverick legacy. American Icons celebrates dynamic works by four trailblazing 20th-century artists: Joffrey co-founders Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey, prolific dance pioneer Martha Graham and Joffrey alum Glen Tetley.
Performance includes:
“Kettentanz”: Choreography by Gerald Arpino | Music by Johann Strauss Sr. and Johann Mayer
Inspired by classical Viennese balls and gardens, “Kettentanz” is highly regarded as one of Arpino’s signature works.
“Secular Games”: Choreography by Martha Graham | Music by Robert Starer
“Secular Games” presents a playful exploration of human nature and the lengths to which we go to impress one another.
“Postcards”: Choreography by Robert Joffrey | Music by Erik Satie
A ballet depicting vignettes of Paris in the early 1900s, evoking fleeting relationships and whimsical memories, with challenging maneuvers and luscious classical movement.
“Voluntaries”: Choreography by Glen Tetley | Music by Francis Poulenc
A masterpiece of emotional depth and soaring movement set to Poulenc’s “Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Timpani and Strings,” Tetley’s “Voluntaries” is a tribute to the late John Cranko. Features Northrop Organist Greg Zelek on our glorious pipe organ.
Image 1: Joffrey Ballet dancers Amanda Assucena, José Pablo Castro Cuevas and Hyuma Kiyosawa in “Voluntaries” as part of “American Icons.” (Photo: Cheryl Mann) Image 2: Michael J. Bayly. Image 3: Glen Tetley’s “Voluntaries.” (Photo: Erik Berg)
One of my favorite actors is highlighted in a piece by Ty Cole. I share it in its entirety below. Enjoy!
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André Holland’s Quiet Power
Continues to Elevate Every Role
Though he didn’t take home the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” this year, André Holland’s career remains a masterclass in restraint, emotional depth, and undeniable screen presence.
There’s a rare calm that follows André Holland onto the screen. It’s not flashy, nor does it demand attention with dramatic theatrics. Instead, Holland commands scenes through poise, emotional precision, and an ability to make vulnerability feel powerful rather than fragile.
Even with his nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards this year, his career trajectory has long been defined by performances that critics and audiences quietly hold in the highest regard.
The actor's artistry often lives in the spaces between dialogue. A glance, a breath, or a pause in conversation becomes its own form of storytelling. That tenderness has become one of his defining traits, with him having the ability to portray men who carry depth, empathy, and introspection without losing strength.
It’s a refreshing contrast in an industry that often equates masculinity with loudness or spectacle. Much of that emotional nuance comes from Holland’s stage background, which grounds his performances in intention and discipline. Whether he’s working in television, independent films, or larger studio projects, he brings a thoughtful presence that anchors the narrative around him. Audiences may not always see him in blockbuster headlines, but within acting circles, his reputation as a craftsman is undeniable.
That reputation has only grown through projects like Moonlight, the medical drama The Knick, and a slate of independent films where his subtlety becomes the emotional center of the story.
Holland doesn’t dominate scenes through volume, but he draws viewers in with quiet gravity. In many ways, that’s what makes him such an essential performer. He reminds audiences that some of the most powerful performances aren’t shouted — they’re felt.
Here are five roles that capture Holland at his best.
Love, Brooklyn
In this intimate romcom, Holland delivers a performance rooted in reflection and emotional complexity. His character navigates relationships, identity, and the shifting rhythms of adulthood with a natural sense of vulnerability. He allows silence and body language to communicate just as much as dialogue. The result is a performance that feels lived-in and deeply human.
Moonlight
Holland’s appearance in Moonlight may be brief, but it’s unforgettable. In a pivotal moment of mentorship and understanding, he conveys compassion with remarkable subtlety. His scenes capture Holland’s gift for conveying warmth without overselling emotion. It’s a small role that leaves a lasting impact.
The Knick
As Dr. Algernon Edwards in The Knick, Holland anchors the series with intelligence and emotional resilience. The role explores the challenges of navigating racism and ambition in early 20th-century medicine. Holland balances dignity and frustration with extraordinary control. It’s a performance that quietly drives the show’s emotional core.
Exhibiting Forgiveness
In this emotionally layered drama, Holland explores themes of trauma, healing, and artistic expression. His portrayal captures the complexity of confronting personal history while searching for peace. Holland approaches the character with empathy and restraint. The performance reflects his ability to bring depth to stories about growth and reconciliation.
Bones and All
In the haunting world of Bones and All, Holland steps into a darker, more mysterious tone. Even within the film’s unsettling atmosphere, he maintains a grounded emotional presence. His performance adds texture to the story’s exploration of isolation and survival.
At this event, one that welcomed all, support was shown for both the Green Party of Minnesota and Dr. Butch Ware, Green candidate for Governor of California (pictured above speaking at this evening’s iftar).
Rooted in the principles of justice, ecological responsibility, and nonviolence, the Muslim American Caucus works to “uplift and empower Muslim voices within the Green Party, ensuring that their perspectives, concerns, and values are represented in political discourse.”
Writes David Bracewell in response to the quote below by writer and filmmaker Thomas Fazi (pictured at right): “The creepy Western political and financial chancers scragging the planet won’t go gently from the domination game, though they’ve already unwittingly built their own public square cages from their own crooked timber. Few outside the West admire them now. They can’t any longer rag-doll a global south state while condemning its leaders and weeping for freedom without evincing even greater contempt – not since Gaza and the hyper-valorisation of the fascist state suffocating it with our elites’ help. That loss of perceived authority and its direct effect on Western force projection will reverberate in your diminishing life choices, your kids’ opportunities, your freedom to travel . . . or bank without oversight . . . or choose political views, friends, organisations, words . . . since our societies will almost certainly be the last supper of that horrible ruling class, as it faces a slow, generational exclusion from real power by the rising world majority. The West is being sidelined because our elites are institutionally supremacist and incapable of peaceful adaptation.”
Here’s what Thomas Fazi wrote:
Aside from his likely role as an intelligence asset, the Epstein Files portray [Jeffrey Epstein] as a middleman, . . . a broker connecting powerful actors in ways that maximised the political and economic interests of a transnational superclass. This superclass is not an anomaly but a structural feature of capitalism itself, a system in which wealth – and therefore power – inevitably concentrates in the hands of a small minority that comes to exercise disproportionate economic and political influence regardless of formal electoral mechanisms. Capitalism is thus intrinsically oligarchic or plutocratic: a dictatorship of capital operating beneath a veneer of democratic ritual. This has always been the core insight of Marxist critiques of capitalism. But recent decades have significantly intensified this pattern. The neoliberal era has produced a historically unprecedented concentration of wealth, extensively documented in economic data, and with it an equally unprecedented concentration of political leverage. Epstein – or what might be called the “Epstein class” – is a direct product of this development.
In such a context, democracy becomes largely illusory even as its technical procedures – universal suffrage, multi-party elections constitutional formalities – remain in place (though even these procedural norms are increasingly challenged, as demonstrated by episodes such as the annulment of elections in Romania). The public’s capacity to challenge entrenched power through the ballot box is systematically neutralised through a wide array of mechanisms: electoral systems designed to marginalise smaller parties; consensus-manufacturing propaganda and censorship enabled by compliant, elite-aligned mass media and social-media platforms; character assassination campaigns against unwelcome candidates; virtually unlimited financial resources deployed to purchase political loyalty; and the steady transfer of sovereignty from national governments to supranational institutions structurally shielded from democratic accountability. And this is not even considering the willingness of elites to bend or break the law outright in order to suppress dissent, as the prolonged legal persecution of Julian Assange, or the sanctioning of critical journalists in the EU, starkly illustrate.
. . . So yes, there is no doubt that the Western ruling classes are morally degenerate. The good news is that their centuries-long global dominance is visibly eroding as new centres of economic and political power rise and Western hegemony enters a phase of irreversible decline. The danger, however, lies in the refusal of entrenched elites to accept this loss of primacy. A class that has grown accustomed to unquestioned supremacy is more likely to escalate conflict than relinquish control voluntarily, which is precisely what we are seeing. This is why the times we are living through are so bloody – and so dangerous.
Like a cracked reactor glowing in the dark, the Israeli government is spiraling – dragging the region toward catastrophe while calling it security. An endless war machine, fueled by occupation and impunity, casts a shadow over humanity that feels heavier than the smoke over Gaza.
Since October 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed – a staggering human toll that reads like a ledger written in ash across the sky.
Israel and its American patron strut around preaching democracy while bankrolling devastation, an empire-addicted-to-war dynamic that looks less like leadership and more like a collapsing casino lit by burning chips. The self-appointed guardians of “order” can’t even manage their own moral bankruptcy.
We must boycott, divest, and raise our voices – turning solidarity into a firewall against apartheid and endless war.
In the rubble where children once dreamed, beneath a sky bruised by fire, humanity itself trembles – and if we fail them now, we become ghosts wandering a future we were too afraid to save.
Reminder that the myth of Israelis having “nowhere to go,” premised on a land “God gave them,” unravels the instant evacuation flights and dual passports appear.
Israelis move through airspace, embassies, and Western protections. Palestinians are sealed in, borders closed, exits denied, aid blocked, and bombardment normalized.
This is the architecture of settler colonialism. Mobility for the protected and enclosure for the colonized.
– Muchacha Fanzine via social media
March 2, 2026
Isn’t it interesting how quickly the citizens of Israel reach for their European/U.S. passports and flee the country “God gave them,” while the Palestinians continue to live and rebuild their land, water their olive trees, no matter the scale of destruction.
– Tithi Bhattacharya via social media
March 2, 2026
Early this morning, Saturday, February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump released a video following the strikes saying they were necessary to “defend American lives,” while according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz the “preemptive” attacks were launched to “remove threats to the state of Israel.”
According to reports, among the sites struck in today’s joint U.S./Israeli attack on Iran were two schools, including an elementary school where 53 girls were killed and many more injured.
There are also reports that Iran has closed the all-important Strait of Hormuz. About this development, Ahmed Eldin writes:
This is no longer a regional war, it is economic warfare on a global scale. The Strait is a narrow chokepoint, just 21–33 km wide at its tightest, between Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south. Roughly 20–30% of global seaborne crude oil – about 20–21 million barrels per day – moves through it. Major exporters including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar depend on this single route to supply global markets. A multi-day closure would guarantee that oil not only spikes past $100, it rockets. . . . [The closure of the Strai of Hormuz will] affect every single person on this planet who drives a car, heats their home, or buys anything that was transported by oil. The real weapon of mass destruction is control of the global energy arteries. Iran just reminded the world that while they may not have aircraft carriers, they have geography, leverage, and the power to make the entire global economy feel their pain.
In the 12-minute video below, Rational National podcast host David Doel discusses the “breaking news of Trump’s action on Iran, what Trump and those around him has said previously, how Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is responding” and how this response betrays his previous remarks at Davos about U.S. power in the world.
Following this video is Bruce Fanger’s commentary, “Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War.”
Two Leaders. Two Legal Shadows. One War
By Bruce Fanger February 28, 2026
Benjamin Netanyahu has been under indictment for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust for years. His corruption trial has staggered forward while he maneuvers politically to stay in power. Coalition deals. Judicial overhaul fights. Street protests. Every time the legal noose tightens, the security temperature rises.
Now missiles fly.
Donald Trump’s name resurfaces in Epstein reporting just as subpoenas and public pressure begin circling again. Old associations. Old photographs. Old questions that refuse to die. And what dominates the global stage instead?
Bombs over Tehran.
You do not have to invent conspiracy to notice pattern. Leaders under legal strain have powerful incentives to change the subject. War reshapes narrative. War demands unity. War makes critics hesitate. War compresses oxygen in the room until scandal suffocates.
Both men frame themselves as indispensable. Both cast themselves as guardians against existential threat. Both are allergic to personal accountability. Both now preside over escalation that risks igniting a region.
Netanyahu’s legal jeopardy is real. Trump’s legal exposure is real. So is the blood that flows when men in that position decide history must revolve around them.
This is not about defending Iran’s regime. It is not about minimizing real security threats. It is about recognizing when political survival and military force start to blur.
When leaders facing courtroom reckoning escalate militarily, citizens should not shrug. They should scrutinize. War cannot become a legal shield. Missiles cannot become jury nullification by spectacle.
History is littered with men who wrapped themselves in flags to outrun subpoenas.
We should not be so naive as to pretend that power does not calculate. And we should not be so timid as to stay silent when the calculation carries global consequences.
No one is above the law. Not in Jerusalem. Not in Washington.
They’ve proven that we can win by standing AGAINST genocide and corporate plunder and by fighting FOR immigrants, working people, rent control, human rights, and environmental sanity.
That’s why I’m polling better than any third party Governor candidate in California history. People everywhere are done with the duopoly.
* The Green Party of England and Wales has achieved a historic breakthrough today, winning the Gorton and Denton parliamentary by-election with 40.7% of the vote. This “green wave” saw the Greens overturn a massive Labour Party majority, with Labour falling to third place, signaling significant voter dissatisfaction. The victory represents a surge for the party, bringing their total to five MPs and indicating a potential shift in British political dynamics.
Opening image: Green candidate Hannah Spencer celebrates with party leader Zack Polanski after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election. (Photo: Jon Super / Associated Press)
It’s the birthday of the late, great American vocalist and song stylist Carl Anderson (1945-2004). He would have turned 81 today.
In the past I’ve done whole series of posts celebrating Carl at around this time of the year (see, for example here, here and here). This year I’m opting to simply share an example of Carl doing what he did best – singing with heart and soul.
(For more about Carl’s groundbreaking portrayal of Judas, click here, here, here and here.)
Yet it would be remiss of me not to state the obvious: There is much more to Carl Anderson than Jesus Christ Superstar. Indeed, for over three decades Carl was an accomplished and well-respected song stylist, artfully blending jazz, soul, pop, and R&B influences into his own unique and unforgettable style.
Between 1982 and 1996 Carl released nine albums. In addition, he made memorable duets with other artists and provided solo guest vocals on a number of songs by others.
In honor of the 81th anniversary of Carl Anderson's birth, I share one of his many beautiful love songs – “Still Thinking of You,” a track from his 1985 album, Protocol. It's followed by a review by Chris Rizik of the 2010 reissue of Protocol. . . . Enjoy!
Carl Anderson – Protocol (Reissue) A Review by Chris Rizik SoulTracks.com (2010)
During the 1980s, Carl Anderson’s immense talent was only matched by the wild inconsistency of the music he released. His debut album, Absence Without Love, was a major disappointment for fans who had waited nearly a decade after his seminal performance as Judas in the blockbuster movie Jesus Christ Superstar. And the follow up album, On and On, was only slightly better. Though he had teamed with first rate talent in making those albums, neither remotely did justice to his vocal stylings. But all the elements aligned in 1985 with Protocol, by far his best album of the decade and one of the most consistently enjoyable albums by a male soul vocalist that year. Teaming with producers Patrick Henderson, Al McKay (of Earth, Wind & Fire) and Gary Taylor, he fashioned an album that made good on the promise that was hinted at in his Superstar performance but was suppressed in his earlier solo work.
McKay brought the opening cut, “Can’t Stop This Feeling,” to the project and immediately created the greatest four minutes Anderson had ever recorded. The upbeat number was uber-infectious and Anderson tore it up with a a wonderful vocal performance. It was an auspicious opening to the album, but it was by no means the only high point. Unlike Anderson’s earlier discs, Protocol included ballads that appeared tailor made for his expressive crooning. “Still Thinking of You” and “One More Time With Feeling” were top notch, and “Saving My Love For You” was a chillingly simple and beautiful coda to the disc. Some of the mid-80s Kashif-like production on “Let’s Talk” and “Girl, I Won’t Say No” sound a bit over the top now, but are more than offset by the subtler work on the dance number “What Will Happen Now” and the very nice “Love On Ice.”
Clearly the material on Protocol was better than Anderson had had before, but there was also an obvious change in his approach to the disc – an increased comfort in driving the music where he wanted vocally – and it resulted in a great ride for listeners. Unfortunately, the album never received the promotion or attention it deserved, as for most popular music fans the introduction to Carl Anderson occurred a year later on the inferior “Friends and Lovers” duet with Gloria Loring and the accompanying slapped-together album. But Protocol did set the stage for the future direction Anderson would take with his career and several strong subsequent recordings over the next decade on MCA and GRP Records [the albums An Act of Love (1988), Pieces of a Heart (1990), Fantasy Hotel (1992), Heavy Weather / Sunlight Again (1994) and Why We Are Here (1997)].
Kudos to the gang at FunkyTownGrooves for reissuing this hidden gem of an album (with bonus cuts to boot [including the wonderful “Light Me”). Protocol sounds as good [today] as it did a quarter century ago. It was a welcome addition to the soul world back then but, more than anything, Protocol answered the question that so many had been asking after Carl Anderson’s first two album misfires: it showed that Carl Anderson really was a unique talent who could move beyond his Jesus Christ Superstar coming out party to become one of the most enjoyable male vocalists of his era.
– Chris Rizik
Carl was so loved and he gave so much of himself. He took so many people under his wings. . . . There was so much love.
I established The Wild Reed in 2006 as a sign of solidarity with all who are dedicated to living lives of integrity – though, in particular, with gay people seeking to be true to both the gift of their sexuality and their Catholic faith. The Wild Reed's original by-line read, “Thoughts and reflections from a progressive, gay, Catholic perspective.” As you can see, it reads differently now. This is because my journey has, in many ways, taken me beyond, or perhaps better still, deeper into the realities that the words “progressive,” “gay,” and “Catholic” seek to describe.
Even though reeds can symbolize frailty, they may also represent the strength found in flexibility. Popular wisdom says that the green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm. Tall green reeds are associated with water, fertility, abundance, wealth, and rebirth. The sound of a reed pipe is often considered the voice of a soul pining for God or a lost love.
On September 24, 2012,Michael BaylyofCatholics for Marriage Equality MNwas interviewed by Suzanne Linton of Our World Today about same-sex relationships and why Catholics can vote 'no' on the proposed Minnesota anti-marriage equality amendment.
"I believe your blog to be of utmost importance for all people regardless of their orientation. . . . Thank you for your blog and the care and dedication that you give in bringing the TRUTH to everyone."– William
"Michael, if there is ever a moment in your day or in your life when you feel low and despondent and wonder whether what you are doing is anything worthwhile, think of this: thanks to your writing on the internet, a young man miles away is now willing to embrace life completely and use his talents and passions unashamedly to celebrate God and his creation. Any success I face in the future and any lives I touch would have been made possible thanks to you and your honesty and wisdom."– AB
"Since I discovered your blog I have felt so much more encouraged and inspired knowing that I'm not the only gay guy in the Catholic Church trying to balance my Faith and my sexuality. Continue being a beacon of hope and a guide to the future within our Church!"– Phillip
"Your posts about Catholic issues are always informative and well researched, and I especially appreciate your photography and the personal posts about your own experience. I'm very glad I found your blog and that I've had the chance to get to know you."– Crystal
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"I cannot claim to be an expert on Catholic blogs, but from what I've seen, The Wild Reed ranks among the very best."– Kevin
"Reading your blog leaves me with the consolation of knowing that the words Catholic, gay and progressive are not mutually exclusive.."– Patrick
"I grieve for the Roman institution’s betrayal of God’s invitation to change. I fear that somewhere in the midst of this denial is a great sin that rests on the shoulders of those who lead and those who passively follow. But knowing that there are voices, voices of the prophets out there gives me hope. Please keep up the good work."– Peter
"I ran across your blog the other day looking for something else. I stopped to look at it and then bookmarked it because you have written some excellent articles that I want to read. I find your writing to be insightful and interesting and I'm looking forward to reading more of it. Keep up the good work. We really, really need sane people with a voice these days."– Jane Gael
"Michael, your site is like water in the desert."– Jayden
