How Thousands of Dead Bugs Become a Mesmerizing Work of Extraordinary Beauty

Posted on 11/06/2015 by alicia

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Jennifer Angus’ artwork is startling, especially when it dawns on you that what is on view is not beautifully drawn, patterned wallpaper. Depending on your mindset, it’s either a nightmarishly freakish, or beautifully mesmerizing assemblage, of insects

Beyond the visceral gut reaction, a deeper provocation comes with the ideas behind her work—what is beauty? What does it say about the power of nature, or man’s quest to control nature? What about man’s impact on the planet?

Angus, whose In the Midnight Garden is on display at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., does not shy away from expressing her own thoughts about what might otherwise be taken as an abstraction. She aims to play with perceptions, to challenge hard and fast beliefs about the insect world, and to stir a broader thought process.

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Journey to Mingering Mike’s Magical, Musical World

Posted on 03/26/2015 by alicia

Lots of kids create their own fantasy worlds, populating them with monsters or superheroes—representations of friends and family, persecutors and allies, foils and alter-egos. For some, it’s a way of getting by when they don’t fit in, or of escaping the hard reality of their daily lives.

Mingering Mike was one of those kids with a vivid fantasy world. IMG_0138As a young man growing up in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s, he didn’t think of himself an artist. He was Mingering Mike—a made-up character for the musical world he inhabited in his mind. “Mingering” was jabberwocky, a mash-up of words he created. Mike wasn’t his real name, either. But even as he toiled behind closed doors—insulating himself from a sometimes chaotic home life and then a bit later from those who might report him for evading the Vietnam draft—he strove for stardom and recognition. Now, decades later, at the age of 64, his early fantasy-life creations are on display in the new exhibition “Mingering Mike’s Supersonic Greatest Hits” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through August 2, 2015.

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Supreme Court Dubious on Right to Sue Over Low Medicaid Fees

Posted on 01/20/2015 by alicia

Washington, DC — Several US Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism that physicians have the right to sue if they believe states have set Medicaid rates too low.

The Justices were responding to oral arguments held today in Armstrong v Exceptional Child Center, Inc. et al.

Exceptional Child Center, along with four other Idaho centers that serve developmentally disabled children and adults, contended that the state had set reimbursement rates that were lower than the cost of care. Low rates could lead to fewer physicians participating, and thus, less access for patients, which violates an equal access provision of the Medicaid statute, they said. Several lower courts agreed with the healthcare providers. Idaho subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court.

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To Screen, or Not to Screen

Posted on 12/04/2007 by alicia

You walk into the room, but you can’t remember why. You’ve forgotten where you left your keys. Lapses like that seem to be happening more often. The beginnings of Alzheimer’s disease? Maybe, maybe not. Continue reading →

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Equal Coverage For Mental Health?

Posted on 11/06/2007 by alicia

Q Why are my mental health benefits less generous than those that my insurance policy provides for other conditions?

A When mental health coverage was first added to benefits packages a few decades ago, there was still a persistent belief that a condition like depression was not as real as heart disease or cancer. There also were few medications or other therapies that offered significant improvement. Many employers did not offer rich coverage because they assumed the government would eventually pay for treatment of serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disease. Continue reading →

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Uninsured? You’re Not Alone

Posted on 10/17/2007 by alicia

Barbra Lancelot has a master’s in education and a long career working with special-needs children. Until recently, she also had a good health insurance plan and prescription drug coverage, provided by her employer. But late last year, the 58-year-old College Park resident lost her job. Coverage was extended to her under COBRA, the law that guarantees temporary continuance of employer-provided insurance but requires the worker to pay the full premium. Continue reading →

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U Street: The Corridor Is Cool Again

Posted on 04/14/2006 by alicia

SAUNTER down U Street in northwest Washington almost any night and you’ll hear the pulsing beat of urban nightlife: the tinny pop of a snare drum, the caustic sneering of an indie rocker, the smooth melodies of a lounge singer, the plaintive picking of a folkie and the driving chunk-a-chunk of hip-hop.

The U Street Corridor, the center of Washington’s African-American nightlife for much of the 20th century and the birthplace of Duke Ellington, is vibrant again and the newest and hottest place in town for getting out on weekends after dark. The transformation that began in the late 90’s, after three decades of decline and neglect, continues to gather speed, with boarded-up buildings reopened and transformed into galleries, shops, cafes and clubs, and nightlife seekers migrating over from Georgetown and Adams Morgan for a slightly older, less raucous scene where the patrons have a bit more money to spend.

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Finding a More Authentic Jamaica

Posted on 03/27/2005 by alicia

IT’S not particularly easy to get to Portland parish, a lush, often rainy region on Jamaica’s northeast coast. The closest airport with jet service from the United States is Norman Manley International in Kingston, which is at least two, and sometimes three, hours away by car, depending on the number of potholes, trucks, chickens, goats and bicycling Rastafarians encountered on the road.

But that journey, on the A4 “highway” (a rather grand name for a road that can barely contain two cars passing each other), is worth the effort — and not just because of the steady stream of road stands offering ripe bananas or cold coconut milk, or the ubiquitous one-room bars slinging frosty Red Stripe beers or shots of clear overproof rum (which is 63 percent alcohol by volume).

Instead, what you will find is the real Jamaica, not the isolated experience offered by all-inclusive resorts that are the typical tourist destinations on this Caribbean island. Read More…

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Ventures with Venoms

Posted on 10/11/2004 by alicia

Combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening have been the rage in drug discovery since the late 1990s, but plant and animal sources still hold promise. In particular, venoms have proven to be rich areas for exploitation. Drugs derived from snakes, vampire bats, and Gila monsters are all nearing regulatory review and potentially, approval. But in September, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted against approval of AstraZeneca’s Exanta, a cobra venom-derived anticoagulant. These products face the same and possibly higher hurdles as other molecules when it comes to reaching the market.

One of the most successful products derived from venom was the first FDA-approved angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, captopril. John Vane, a researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons, and a Brazilian fellow in his lab discovered that a peptide in Brazilian viper venom blocked the formation of angiotensin II. That drug went on to become Bristol-Myers Squibb’s captopril, which was approved in 1981. In 2002, worldwide sales of ACE inhibitors totaled $7.8 billion (US).

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Shifting Tactics in the Battle Against Influenza

Posted on 02/27/2004 by alicia

When U.S. Food and Drug Administration experts met to pick viral targets for the next flu season, they also discussed a promising new way to create vaccines. Read more…

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A Wealth of ‘Gear’. . . For What?

Posted on 08/28/2003 by alicia

I was in a lather as I stepped into the cool breezes of the Salt Palace convention center here, eager to see the latest wares for getting my groove on in the great outdoors.

Yes, the 22nd Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, held Aug. 14 to 17, was a palace of gear-head splendor, chock full of ropes, harnesses, headlamps, climbing packs, hydration packs, adventure racing packs, trail running shoes, walking shoes, mountaineering boots, all-in-one tools, knives, tents, bivvy sacks, sleeping bags, trekking poles, GPS personal locators, sunscreen, sun hats, sunglasses, binoculars, altimeters, barometers, watches, kayaks, canoes, paddles, personal flotation devices for humans and for dogs, dog carrying packs, water bottles, fuel bottles, Luna bars, Balance Bars, Powerbars . . . I was overwhelmed! In addition to being an inveterate collector of Stuff, I was hoping that my proximity to dude-i-tude would add muscle to my underdeveloped hip factor. Read more…

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A Conversation with Cristian Samper: A Fascination With Forests Finds Fulfillment at Smithsonian

Posted on 06/17/2003 by admin

As a boy, Cristian Samper rambled through the tropical forests of his native Colombia, marveling at the diversity that surrounded him. Not content to view the flora and fauna only in the abstract, he began what was to become a lifelong obsession and vocation, cataloging the diversity and assembling it into collections that forcefully argue for its preservation. Continue reading →

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Museum of the Medical Macabre Edges Into the Mainstream

Posted on 08/06/2002 by admin

Over its 140 years, the National Museum of Health and Medicine has been a destination for amateur Civil War historians, medical researchers and tourists with a penchant for the macabre. The museum, on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, still has plenty to satisfy the prurient, but over the last five years it has put away more of its gruesome artifacts and edged further into the museum mainstream. “We have moved with the times, so we have a more contextual approach,”said Dr. Jim Connor, assistant director for collections. Continue reading →

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Turning a Camera, Stress and the Wild Into a Sudden Hit

Posted on 07/23/2000 by alicia

LESS than a decade ago Mark Burnett was competing in adventure races, an experience that led to his life plan: he would bring the sport to America, which was having a love affair with the outdoors, sport utility vehicles and extreme sports.

To American athletes and television audiences, Mr. Burnett, who had no previous experience in television, brought the ”Eco-Challenge Expedition Race,” a several-hundred-miles-long endurance contest on foot, kayak and horseback in exotic locales that pits teams of four against themselves, each other, the whims of nature, and Mr. Burnett.

That was only the beginning. Now, as executive producer, he has brought to television the highly rated ”Survivor,” his jungle-theme soap opera/game show. Read more…

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