If it weren't for the picture, you might think the headline would be to an article about Don Young's future with the Justice Department. But that was the title of Saturday evening's Anchorage Opera Dark Night recital, featuring soprano Kate Egan, mezzo-soprono Marlene Bateman and pianist Juliana Osinchuk.It was also a CD launch for the three artists, who have been working for well over a year on this. Their preparation showed in the concert. And then some.
The artists played songs by seven composers. Though the composers - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Saint-Saens, Faure, Purcell and Britten - are familiar, most of the songs were recital rarities. Which made their incredibly polished performances all the more dear.
At a reception afterward, I got to introduce Juliana Osinchuk to Diane Benson. Both are among the most important of Alaska artists. Both have recently been shaken by family tragedies: Juliana's husband, Mark Dawson, passed away in 2006. And Diane's son was terribly wounded later that year, in Iraq.
Juliana, as usual, is deeply involved in many projects. I'm hoping to work with her again soon.
Diane, has mostly had to set aside her career as actress, writer, director and producer, to challenge Don Young and others for our sole seat in the U.S. Congress.
The evening she was called by the Department of the Army to be notified that her son was injured so badly he wasn't expected to survive, Benson had just returned from a tour of Western Alaska, where she had presented her monodrama about Alaska's Martin Luther King, Elizabeth Peratrovich. When the phone rang she was preparing for an audition the following morning for a new play she had written and was to enact.
The resulting fight to help her son save himself, and what she learned watching our veterans recover from the monstrous crimes of this war, created her next role.
It isn't a play, though.
image of Diane Benson and Juliana Osinchuk
3 comments:
Many wonder whether Diane will accept Jake Metcalfe's challenge and release her tax records. Diane's ordeal with her son deserves our sympathy and respect, but that isn't sufficient reason to elect her to anything. Diane's run for Congress may have been motivated by her son's injury, but that doesn't explain her run for Governor as the Green Party candidate. And she may be "an important Alaskan artist" (at least in the eye of the blog's beholder), but real artists fight to uphold freedom of expression, not suppress it as Ms. Benson did in 2002.
The 2002 issue was rather a matter of Benson's instructor having breached a confidentiality agreement with her student, through the use of information shared in an implicitly confidential setting by the instructor, to create the poem "Indian Girls."
At the time, I came down on the side of the instructor; my wife then believed the student had been wronged. Having gotten to know both the student and the instructor and the issues behind the matter far better since, I disagree that it was then or is now about "a real artist's fight to uphold freedom of expression," as you put it.
Benson's campaign platform speaks for itself. And, as far as I know, her taxes are ready for release.
And Green Hatred Disorder has been covered here in the past - December 13th, 2007.
It figures that such a hit-and-run comment would be left anonymously but I would like to address each issue.
Many wonder whether Diane will accept Jake Metcalfe's challenge and release her tax records.
Despite the fact that this seems more like a gimmick than an honest attempt to address issues, Diane has no problem whatsoever with releasing her tax returns, and has said so in public. She has no personal or family wealth, and no six figure income or nefarious sources of income to hide. This statement indicates to me that this comment is obviously from a Jake supporter and although it may be more sound and fury than substance, Diane has no problem with this supposed attempt at “transparency.” Diane is interested in transparency in government and has been from day 1.
Diane's ordeal with her son deserves our sympathy and respect, but that isn't sufficient reason to elect her to anything.
Diane never said that it was sufficient reason to elect her to the US Congress. What these personal tragedies have done is to provide Diane with insights into our foreign policies and war-making that no other candidate can have. To say that Diane deserves our respect for these experiences and then to denigrate those experiences for the lessons that they have provided, all in the very same sentence, is the height of hypocrisy and strikes me as mean-spirited.
Diane's run for Congress may have been motivated by her son's injury, but that doesn't explain her run for Governor as the Green Party candidate.
What is there to explain? Diane was approached to run as lieutenant Governor on the Green Party ticket by friends and colleagues that she respects. There are many values shared in common by both the Green and Democratic parties. Diane viewed this run as an excellent forum to express her ideas on war, the economy and on rampant political corruption. When the candidate for Governor had to bow out, Diane dutifully stepped in; Diane keeps her commitments and is not a quitter.
And she may be "an important Alaskan artist" (at least in the eye of the blog's beholder), but real artists fight to uphold freedom of expression, not suppress it as Ms. Benson did in 2002.
This sentence does nothing but display the anonymous writer’s ignorance of the events in 2001-2002. A newcomer to Alaska wrote a hateful “poem” filled with old and invented stereotypes of Alaska Natives. To add personal insult to ignorant injury, this woman directed the poem specifically at Diane by mentioning Diane’s clan and family. In response, Diane criticized the poem for what it was – libel and slander. The media did the public a disservice when it chose to print the point of view of the professor but would not print Diane’s own explanation of events. Evidently they valued the professor’s right to free speech but not Diane’s right to respond. How ironic, that Diane Benson, noted lifetime Alaskan advocate for civil and human rights would be labeled so. Free speech is a right for all but it also carries responsibilities.
Tony Vita
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