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Hip Pain Ain't Hip: Top Ways to Find Pain Relief
Many people suffer from hip pain. What are the causes of hip pain and what can hip pain sufferers do to find pain relief? When a patient visits their doctor complaining of hip pain, the physician must review the patient's age, activity level and build to appropriately diagnosis the cause. "The first thing to do is to make sure the hip pain is actually hip based," says Dr. Nathan Wei, a board-certified rheumatologist with more than 30 years of practice and clinical research experience who practices at the Arthritis Treatment Center, based in Frederick, Maryland, which focuses on the latest therapies for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. "Sometimes low back problems can result in hip pain obviously alter treatment recommendations."
As reported by WebMD, the "hip joint is designed to withstand repeated motion and a fair amount of wear and tear. This ball-and-socket joint – the body's largest – fits together in a way that allows for fluid movement." "Hip pain can result from the joint; i.e., cartilage problems from osteoarthritis or damage to the labrum, the lip of cartilage within the cup part of the hip that holds the head of the femur," says Dr. Wei. "Another source of hip pain is damage to the tendons which are like ropes that connect muscle to bone and bursae and the small sacks that cushion the hip which can become inflamed. And sometimes several of these problems can occur together."
Osteoarthritis of the hip joint is when this joint becomes swollen and inflamed with a breaking down of the cartilage tissue. People with hip-related osteoarthritis may have mobility problems with pain being felt in different locations including the thigh, knee, groin and buttocks.
Dr. Samantha Traylor, SpineCARE chiropractor
"Hip pain resulting from osteoarthritis can be treated in several ways," says Dr. Samantha Traylor, a chiropractor and acupuncturist with Lumin SpineCare, an affiliate of Lumin Health which has eight locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. "Physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic services and soft tissue work are some of the treatments we employ. Because each patient is unique, we create an individualized treatment plan that takes many factors into account, such as the severity of the condition, the patient's personal and family medical histories, etc."
"Many people are led to believe that hip pain is caused by degeneration or osteoarthritis of the hip itself," says Justin Price, a world-renowned biomechanics specialist and pain-relief expert. The corrective exercise education program he created which has been used to train health and fitness professionals worldwide – The Biomechanics Method® – has helped many patients eliminate chronic muscle and joint pain.
"Having assessed thousands of people with hip pain over the past 20 years, I have found that the two most common causes of hip pain are immobility in the feet/ankles and immobility in the spine," says Price. "When a person walks, runs or shifts weight from side-to-side during any weight bearing activity, the foot and ankle needs to roll inward to transfer their body weight from left to right and vice-versa. Since the lower leg is attached to the upper leg, this rolling inward of the foot and ankle helps to roll the rest of the leg and hip socket inward which is also a necessary movement needed to perform these activities."
"If your foot, ankle, and lower leg cannot roll inward effectively, excessive stress is transferred directly to the upper leg and hip resulting in pain," adds Price. "Similarly, when you transfer weight from left to right your spine should bend slightly left to right with the movement. If your spine lacks mobility and cannot bend well from side to side, then your hips must sway left to right more to take up the slack. Over time, this excessive movement in the hips can also lead to pain."
When alternative treatment options, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), and even steroid injections fail to reduce the pain sufficiently, surgical options are available. "For a problem like impingement, where the hip has spurs that pinch, arthroscopic treatment may help," says Dr. Wei.
"For more serious issues, replacement surgery is the only option," adds Dr. Wei. "For younger patients, resurfacing – a sort of partial replacement, may buy some time."
Hip pain caused by tendon damage can be treated in multiple ways. "If there's tendon damage," I generally first do physical therapy with the patient to strengthen their muscles around the tendon which helps support it and reduce the pain," says Dr. Traylor. "Ultrasound and electrical stimulation may also be employed."
Patrick Lerouge, a Restorative Specialist and founder of Evolve Restorative Therapy, who works with patients to eliminate pain, recommends "personal training that focuses on proper movement and physical therapy that balances out the strength. Alternative therapy like acupuncture can work on different meridian systems to balance out energy flow to the areas and tendons in general."
"One of the most common tendon problems affects the gluteus medius tendon on the lateral/outside part of the hip," says Dr. Wei. "Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injected using ultrasound guidance is considered the treatment of choice by many. Other tendon issues also respond to PRP."
When the bursae are inflamed around the joint, Dr. Wei recommends NSAIDs; physical therapy or steroid injections administered using ultrasound guidance. Dr. Traylor recommends ultrasound and electrical stimulation to help decrease the inflammation and flush it away from the affected area.
With treatment, can hip pain sufferers become pain-free? "Chronic hip pain will respond to appropriate therapy," says Dr. Wei. "Unfortunately that may still involve hip replacement surgery in osteoarthritis. In the case of soft tissue problems, though, patients should expect improvement." Dr. Traylor says that with treatment some patients can become pain-free but each patient is different. "Most patients will get some pain relief from one or more treatments," says Dr. Traylor. "How long they have to be seen and what kind of relief they'll get is dependent on a variety of factors including what happened to cause the hip pain and arthritis."
"I believe the body can adjust and heal anything within the right environment," says Lerouge. "I believe pain sufferers can become pain free, but each person needs to look at the bigger issue. It's not just physical. I'm not saying the pain is just inside someone's head, but sometimes people need clarity on what their body needs to do to overcome pain."
"Clients with hip pain caused by musculoskeletal imbalances should start experiencing pain relief almost immediately using The Biomechanics Method," says Price. "However, if a client presents with severe degeneration of the hip or another diagnosis such as a labrum tear, they are encouraged to seek medical treatment first before being referred back to The Biomechanics Method to address the underlying causes that led to the degeneration/injury in the first place and prevent any pain/symptoms from returning."
Sometimes surgery can be averted. "I remember one particular client with chronic hip pain who was scheduled to have hip surgery," recalls Price. "She decided to try The Biomechanics Method as a last resort in the week before she was slated to go under the knife. She felt such an improvement in her symptoms of pain during the first week that she cancelled her surgery. Within two weeks, this 50-year old woman was pain-free during her daily activities and within six weeks she had even taken up kickboxing (an activity she had always wanted to try, but couldn't because of a hip pain). Today she is still pain-free and continues to engage in all the activities she loves."
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"The former Labour leader was furious over allegations that he had made offensive remarks to Desmond about Israeli action against Palestinians. The Daily Express owner had told the Jewish Telegraph that Miliband had verbally attacked Israel during a chance encounter on London's Hampstead Heath.
"Desmond alleged that Miliband made certain remarks about Israel, which we have chosen not to print.
So what did angry Ed say?


St. Scholastica offers many different clubs and organizations. Find at least 2-3 clubs and organizations to be a part of! Try something new or continue an interest you have had. Contact the student leaders (listed on each club/organization below) or check the Saints Life calendar in Cor to find meeting times and locations.
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Art and Camouflage: An Annotated Bibliography
Compiled by Roy R. Behrens. (E-mail: behrens@uni.edu). Web site: www.bobolinkbooks.com Blog: http://camoupedia.blogspot.com/.
The military use of camouflage is in no way a modern invention; it is as old as human history). But its use increased dramatically during World War I in response to two developments: (1) the combined adoption of airplanes, photography and wireless telegraphy for aerial observation in the long-range bombardment of targets; and (2) the success of German submarines (called U-boats) in attacking ships with torpedoes, at the height of which (in April 1917) fifty-five British ships were destroyed in a single week.
In terms of aerial observation, it was French artists serving in the front lines who first devised methods of "fooling the eye" of airborne observers, and, no less important (but with different requirements), the eye of the aerial camera too. As a result, the first official camouflage unit in history was established in 1915 by the French Army, with a painter named Lucien Victor Guirand de Scevola as its commanding officer. Soon after, comparable units were set up by the British and American armies and, to lesser extent, by the Germans, Italians, and Russians. These units were largely made up of camoufleurs (as they were called) who as civilians had worked in art-related professions, as painters, illustrators, designers, sculptors, architects, stage designers and so on.
As for the threat of the U-boat, it was British artist Norman Wilkinson who contended in 1917 that a ship cannot be reliably hidden, and that naval camouflage is vastly different from field camouflage. The problem, he concluded, was not to make a ship invisible, but to prevent it from being struck. This was possible because the accurate aim of torpedoes required that the U-boat commander determine (from a considerable distance and often under adverse viewing conditions) the speed, size and course of the targeted ship. Calculating all of this through a periscope while submerged, the U-boat gunner had to "lead the target"—he had to aim not at the ship but at where the ship would be by the time the torpedo had traveled that far. Wilkinson recommended that ships' surfaces should be painted in high contrast, erratic, asymmetric shapes, by a method he referred to as dazzle painting or dazzle camouflage. This approach was soon after adopted by the US, France and other countries, with the result that hundreds of artists were used to devise the dazzle designs (applied to small models and tested) or to supervise the painting of the actual ships.
These practices were reinstated during World War II, with the result that, during both World Wars, hundreds (probably thousands) of art-, design- and architecture-related personnel were assigned to function as camouflage experts, instructors or facilitators, whether military or civilian. Among these were such well-known artists as Jean-Louis Forain, Jacques Villon, Franz Marc, Oskar Schlemmer, Edward Wadsworth, William Stanley Hayter, Arshile Gorky, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Jon Gnagy and Ellsworth Kelly. The bibliography that follows is an extensive yet incomplete listing of books, handbooks, exhibition catalogs, articles and several films that offer information on the contributions of artists to modern studies of camouflage, both biological and military. Far more extensive bibliographies, without annotations, can be found in R.R. Behrens, False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage (Behrens 2002), and R.R. Behrens, Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Design (Behrens 2009). By far, the largest, most current bibliography on the subject is in R.R. Behrens, ed., Ship Shape: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook (2012). Related sources can also be found at www.bobolinkbooks.com/Camoupedia/DazzleCamouflage.html.
Adams, H. "Ornithology, Infantry and Abstraction" in Art and Antiques Vol 34 No 3 (March 2011), pp. 72-81. A richly illustrated account of Abbott H. Thayer's early research of protective coloration (or natural camouflage), and his subsequent influence on artists who served as wartime camoufleurs.
Arnheim, R. Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954). An important, influential book on the perceptual underpinnings of art (and, by implication, camouflage) by a Harvard psychologist who had been a student of the original gestalt psychologists.
Atterbury, P. "Dazzle Painting in the First World War," in Antique Collector 46 (1975), pp. 25-29. An account of how artists contributed to dazzle ship camouflage during World War I, enhanced by vintage photographs.
Banta, M. Imaging American Women: Idea and Ideals in Cultural History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987). A fascinating overview of certain aspects of modern culture (including camouflage) in relation to concepts of gender. Also see Nemerov (1997).
Barcott, B. "Invisible, Inc." in The Atlantic (July/August 2011), pp. 81-84. An article on the research of Guy Cramer, a Canadian inventor of thousands of camouflage patterns for military field uniforms.
Barkas, G. The Camouflage Story (London: Cassell and Company, 1952). A firsthand account of World War II British field camouflage in North Africa, as recalled by a prominent film producer and camouflage officer.
Behrens, R.R. Art and Camouflage: Concealment and Deception in Nature, Art and War (Cedar Falls, IA: North American Review / University of Northern Iowa, 1981). An early if wildly inaccurate book about the inherent affinity of art and camouflage, and the participation of artists in military camouflage in both World Wars.
Behrens, R.R. "The Art of Dazzle Painting," in Defence Analysis 3, No. 3 (1987), pp. 233-243. Disruptive camouflage during World Wars I and II, considered in relation to gestalt perceptual psychology, and developments in modern art, particularly cubism.
Behrens, R.R. "The Theories of Abbott H. Thayer: Father of Camouflage," in Leonardo 21, No. 3 (1988), pp. 291-296. An account of the involvement of an important American painter in biological and military camouflage.
Behrens, R.R. "Blend and Dazzle: The Art of Camouflage," in Print 45, No. 1 (January/February 1991), pp. 92-98ff. An overview of the participation of artists and designers in the development of modern military camouflage, with numerous full-color illustrations.
Behrens, R.R. "Among the Dazzle Painters: Sherry Fry and the Invention of American Camouflage," in Tractor: Iowa Arts and Culture 4, No. 4 (Fall 1996a), pp. 26-28. A biographical article on the life and work of Sherry Edmundson Fry, an Iowa-born sculptor who founded (with artist Barry Faulkner) the New York Camouflage Society in anticipation of the US entry into World War I. Also see Faulkner (1973).
Behrens, R.R. "Camouflage," in Jane Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art (London and New York: Grove Dictionaries, 1996b). An encyclopedia entry on the historic relationship between art and camouflage.
Behrens, R.R. "On Max Wertheimer and Pablo Picasso: Gestalt Theory, Cubism and Camouflage" in Gestalt Theory 20, No. 2 (June 1998), pp. 111-118. The coincidental emergence of gestalt perceptual psychology (founded by Wertheimer) and cubism (co-founded by Picasso), considered in relation to World War I camouflage.
Behrens, R.R. "The Role of Artists in Ship Camouflage During World War I" in Leonardo 32, No. 1 (1999), pp. 53-59. A detailed report on the involvement of British and American artists in the development of military and merchant ship camouflage, especially "dazzle painting," during both World Wars.
Behrens, R.R. "Revisiting Gottschaldt: Embedded Figures in Art, Architecture and Design" in Gestalt Theory 22, No. 2 (June 2000), pp. 97-106. A discussion of experiments with embedded figures (sometimes called "camouflaged figures") in psychology, as compared to the use of comparable forms in art, architecture, and design.
Behrens, R.R. False Colors: Art, Design and Modern Camouflage (Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, 2002). An account of how the strategies used to conceal animals in nature and military equipment and personnel in wartime depend on the same "unit forming factors" that artists, architects, and designers make use of daily in the design of typefaces, publications, buildings, furniture, and so on.
Behrens, R.R. "Architecture, Art and Camouflage" in Lotus International Issue 126 (2005), pp. 74-83. An illustrated essay on the participation of architects in military and civilian camouflage during both World Wars.
Behrens, R.R. "Revisiting Abbott Thayer: Non-scientific Reflections About Camouflage in Art, War and Zoology" in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 364, No. 1516 (February 27, 2009), pp. 497-520). An updated consideration of the process by which American artist Abbott H. Thayer may have realized the survival function of countershading, background matching, disruptive coloration and other aspects of biological camouflage. A revised, expanded version of this essay, titled "Nature's Artistry: Abbott H. Thayer's Assertions About Camouflage in Art, War and Zoology," was more recently included in Stevens and Merilaita, eds. (2011), pp. 87-100.
Behrens, R.R. "Camouflage" in Bruce Goldstein, ed., Encyclopedia of Perception. (Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications, 2009). An encyclopedia article on camouflage in relation to human perception.
Behrens, R.R. Camoupedia: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage (Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, 2009). An encyclopedic survey, organized alphabetically, of camouflage-related people, events and ideas since the close of the 19th century. Includes scores of historic images.
Behrens, R.R. "Camouflage" in Joan Marter, ed., The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). An encyclopedia article on the role of American artists in the development of modern camouflage.
Behrens, R.R. "Color and Camouflage" in [ark] The StoJournal for Architects [Germany]. No 4 (2010), pp. 52-55. A comparison of the functions of color in camouflage and architecture, as well as the deliberate use of disruptive colored shapes to weaken the rigid distinctions between figure and ground (or structure and setting).
Behrens, R.R., ed. Ship Shape: A Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook. (Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books, 2012). An anthology of writings about ship camouflage during World War I, including 29 essays, 275 illustrations, and a 40-page bibliography.
Bement, A. "Camouflage," in Teachers College Record 18 No 5 (1917), pp. 458-462. An overview of the developments in military camouflage (both ground and naval) as of 1917. Its content is duplicated in Bement's later articles on the same subject, all of which are stronger. He taught Art Education at the Columbia University Teachers College, and was an important influence on American painter Georgia O'Keeffe.
Bement, A. "The Report of the U-16" in St. Nicholas XLVI (November 1918-April 1919), pp. 495-498. A vivid and largely persuasive account of the extent to which dazzle ship camouflage was effective in subverting U-boats attacks. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Bement, A. "Principles Underlying Ship Camouflage" in International Marine Engineering. (February 1919), pp. 90-93. This is an extensive discussion of the optical principles that marine camoufleurs made use of in designing "course deception" schemes (called "dazzle camouflage") during World War I. Well-illustrated with various diagrams. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Bement, A. "'Camouflage' for Fat Figures and Faulty Faces" in The Washington Times (June 15, 1919), American Weekly Section, p. 4. Repeatedly, throughout World War I, the use of cosmetics by women was compared to camouflage, as were the "illusions" of shapeliness that could be achieved through clothing design. This is an overview of the subject, complete with diagrams. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Berry, H. Make the Kaiser Dance (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978). The autobiography of an American artist and writer, who was a US Army camoufleur during World War I.
Bittinger, C. "Naval Camouflage" in US Naval Institute Proceedings (1940), pp. 1394-1398. An American artist, he was an important contributor to US naval camouflage in both World Wars. This is his account of the work that was accomplished in World War I.
Blechman, H., ed. DPM [Disruptive Pattern Material]: An Encyclopedia of Camouflage (London: DPM, 2004). Surely, there is no more ambitious collection of photographs, illustrations and written information on camouflage and culture. Edited and published by the founder and proprietor of London-based Maharishi, an innovative clothing firm.
Blodgett, L.S. Ship Camouflage. Thesis. (Cambridge MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1919). It is often said that the effectiveness of World War I dazzle ship camouflage was never scientifically tested. This little-known thesis documents and illustrates postwar "laboratory experiments" at MIT that suggest that it almost certainly worked.
Bowditch, N.D. George de Forest Brush: Recollections of a Joyous Painter (Peterborough, NH: William L. Bauhan, 1970). A biography, written by his daughter, of a prominent 19th-century American painter who collaborated with Abbott H. Thayer on early camouflage experiments, and whose wife (Mittie Taylor Brush) and son (Gerome Brush) also contributed to camouflage.
Boynton, M.F. "Abbott Thayer and Natural History," in Osiris 10 (1952), pp. 542-555. The author was the daughter of American naturalist and bird illustrator Louis Agassiz Fuertes, who had studied with Abbott Thayer. This is her description of the development and significance of Thayer's contributions to the subject. See also White (1951).
Breckenridge, R.P. Modern Camouflage: The New Science of Protective Concealment (New York: Little and Ives, 1942). The author was a major in the US Corps of Engineers and a descendant of John C. Breckenridge, Secretary of War for the Confederacy in the Civil War. This is a comprehensive look at field camouflage (there is little or no information about naval camouflage), illustrated by US government drawings and photographs. It even has a chapter on constructing models. Compare with Chesney (1943).
Camouflage Patterns: 100 Royalty-Free EPS and JPEG Files (Tokyo: Design EXchange Company, 2002). A volume of full-color camouflage patterns, each of which is printed full-page, accompanied by a CD-ROM with digital files of the same patterns for both Macintosh and Windows.
Chesney, C.H.R. The Art of Camouflage (New York: Studio Publications, 1943). The opening four chapters (regarding natural and civilian camouflage) were written by J. Huddleston, while the rest of the book is by Chesney, a British military officer. He is skeptical of the claims that dazzle ship camouflage is of any value, and he also has doubts about the use of artists as camoufleurs. The British edition was published in 1941, so it predates that of Breckenridge (1942).
Clark, W.B. Philadelphia in the World War 1914-1919. (NY: Philadelphia War History Committee, 1922) pp. 318-322. During World War I, nearly all American ship camouflage (both military and merchant) was designed by US Navy camoufleurs. However, stationed around the country at about a dozen harbors were teams of civilian artists, who were assigned to painting the ships. This is a detailed, factual account of the work of one of those teams, in the Delaware River District. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Cordier, M. "Louis Guingot (1864-1948)," in Le Pays Lorrain 61, No. 3 (1980), pp. 173-174. A brief biographical article on a French painter who was an early contributor to the development of camouflage fabric during World War I.
Cork, R. A Bitter Truth: Avant-Garde Art and the Great War. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press (1994). References to World War I camouflage abound in this ambitious study of the portrayal of trench warfare by soldiers who tend to be thought of today as avant-garde artists.
Cornebise, A.E. Art From the Trenches: America's Uniformed Artists in World War I. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University (1991). An account of the designation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of eight men as official war artists during World War I, some of whom were camoufleurs. See also Krass (2007).
Cornebise, A.E., ed. War Diary of a Combat Artist [Harry E. Townsend]. Niwat, Colorado: University Press of Colorado (1991). There are numerous eyewitness observations of World War I camouflage in this fascinating wartime journal of an official American war artist, illustrated throughout by his on-site battlefield drawings.
Cott, H.B. "Camouflage in Nature and War," in Royal Engineers Journal, pp. 501-517 (December 1938). A comparison of biological and military camouflage by a British zoologist who was also a camouflage instructor during World War II.
Cott, H.B. Adaptive Coloration in Nature (London: Methuen, 1940). A classic, exhaustively detailed overview of biological camouflage, illustrated with exquisite pen-and-ink drawings by the author, a zoologist and camoufleur. See also Whyte (1951).
Coutin, C. "Les Artistes de La Guerre: Le Camouflage Pendant La Premiere Guerre Mondiale" (Parts 1-3) in Historiens-Geographes. Nos 321 and 322 (December 1988 and March-April 1999). An account of the camouflage activities of French artists during World War I, including an extensive list of those who served as camoufleurs.
Covert, C.T. "Art at War: Dazzle Camouflage" in Art Documentation 26, No. 2 (2007), pp. 50-56. Article on the documenting and preserving a collection of World War I dazzle ship diagrams and photographs at the Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Cruickshank, C. Deception in World War II (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1979). A review of various types of military deception, concealment, and misinformation employed during World War II, including camouflage.
Delouche, D. "Cubisme et Camouflage," in Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains 43, No. 171 (1993), pp. 123-137. Theoretical and historical aspects of the connection between cubism and camouflage.
Donald, D., and J.E. Olsén, "Art and the 'Entangled Bank': Color and Beauty out of the 'War of Nature'" in Donald, D., and J. Munro, eds., Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts. Fitzwilliam Museum, Yale Center for British Art and Yale University Press, 2009, pp. 100-117. A well-written, exquisitely illustrated discussion of the "entanglement" in natural forms of figure and background (or object and setting), as found in the writings of Darwin, as well as in the artworks of Bruno Liljefors and Abbott H. Thayer.
Earling, A.T. (1919), "Ships That Pass in the Daytime" in Illustrated World. 31 (1919), pp. 202-215. This is an overview of World War I camouflage in relation to protective coloration in nature, with particular attention to the work of Abbott H. Thayer. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Elias, A. "The Organization of Camouflage in Australia in the Second World War" in Journal of the Australian War Memorial (April 2003), pp. 23-30. An account of the activities of Australian artists, who, like their European and American counterparts, founded a wartime camouflage corps.
Elias, A. "William Dakin on Camouflage in Nature and War" in Journal of Australian Studies 23, No 2 (June 2008), pp.251-263. Dakin was a British-born zoologist who immigrated to Australia, and served as a camoufleur. This is a study of his concurrent and rather odd interests in sex hygiene, camouflage and eugenics.
Elias A. Camouflage Australia: Art, Nature, Science and War. Australia: Sydney University Press, 2011. To date, this is the most extensive account of Australian camouflage efforts during World War II, with newly found information about the contributions of zoologists, artists and others.
Embury II, A. "Architects and the Camouflage Service," in Architectural Forum 27 (November 1917), pp. 137-138. The chief value of this report on the wartime involvement of American architects is its roster of those who were serving in World War I as camoufleurs, Embury among them.
Faulkner, B. Sketches From An Artist's Life (Dublin, NH: William L. Bauhan, 1973). The engaging autobiography of American painter Barry Faulkner, a cousin of Abbott H. Thayer, and co-founder with Sherry Edmundson Fry of the New York Camouflage Society, in advance of America's entry into World War I. Also see Behrens (1996a).
Gardner, J. The ARTful Designer: Ideas off the Drawing Board (London: Lavis, 1993). The somewhat irreverent memoirs of a British designer who served as a camoufleur in World War II.
Goodden, H. Camouflage and Art: Design for Deception in World War 2 (London: Unicorn Press, 2007). The author, who teaches at the Royal College of Art, is the daughter of camoufleur Robert Goodden. Richly illustrated and wonderfully readable, this book tells the story of World War II British camouflage, with an emphasis on artists who were affiliated with that college.
Goossen, E.C. Ellsworth Kelly (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1973). Kelly is a well-known American painter, who served in World War II as a camoufleur in a secret combat unit called "the Ghost Army." The effect of that experience on the artist's subsequent work is considered in a section called "Kelly and Camouflage."
Gregory, R.L. and E.H. Gombrich, eds. Illusion in Nature and Art (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973). An anthology of illustrated articles on art, perception, and biological form, including a valuable article on "Natural Deception" by H.E. Hinton.
Harelik, E., and F. Spedalieri, eds. The Camouflage Project: A Devised Performance/Exhibition. Exhibition catalog. Columbus OH: Ohio State University, 2011.
Hartcup, G. Camouflage: A History of Concealment and Deception in War (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980). A thorough, well-written overview of the development of modern military camouflage, including the contributions of artists. Illustrated with historic photographs.
Hreachmack, P. The Painter's Guide to World War Two Naval Camouflage. (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania: Clash of Arms, 1999). This is a camouflage manual for those who paint miniature ship models. It includes schematic drawings of World War II naval camouflage for American, British, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and other ships.
Hurst, H. "Dazzle Painting in War-Time," in International Studio (September 1919), pp. 93-97. A persuasive eyewitness description of the unforgettable experience of seeing a harbor of dazzle-painted ships during World War I. Illustrated by artists' renderings of the same experience.
Kaempffert , W. "Fighting the U-Boat with Paint" in Popular Science Monthly. Vol 94 No 4 (April 1919), pp. 17-19. A popular-press overview of World War I ship camouflage.
Kahn, E.L. The Neglected Majority: "Les Camoufleurs," Art History, and World War I (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984). An account of the involvement of French artists, including some cubists, in the development of World War I camouflage, based on extensive research of French government archives.
Keen, A.M. "Protective Coloration in the Light of Gestalt Theory," in Journal of General Psychology 6 (1932), pp. 200-203. An early speculative essay about the commonalities among art, gestalt theory, and biological camouflage.
Kepes, G. Language of Vision (Chicago: Paul Theobald, 1944). Kepes taught camouflage, among other things, at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, then later moved to MIT. This widely influential book considers how artists, designers and camoufleurs make use of the same perceptual tendencies. Also see Arnheim (1954).
Kingsland, S. "Abbott Thayer and the Protective Coloration Debate" in Journal of the History of Biology 11, No. 2 (1978), pp. 223-244. A detailed historical narrative on the controversy that surrounded Thayer's writings on biological camouflage.
Klonbach, J. "Mobilization of Modern Design: Architects' and Artists' Pursuit of Camouflage during World War II." Paper presented at conference titled Front to Rear: Architecture and Planning during World War II at New York University (March 7-8, 2009). The contribution of artists, designers and architects in the US to World War II camouflage for civilian defense. Available as an online video at .
Krass, P. Portrait of War: The US Army's First Combat Artists and the Doughboys' Experience in WWI (New York: John Wiley, 2007). An especially vivid, engaging account of the eight artists who served as Official War Artists (or "combat artists") during World War I. Several of them were also involved in camouflage. Also see Cornebise (1991a) and (1991b).
Leach, N. Camouflage (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2006). The author is an architectural theorist who, in this case, was influenced by a well-known essay on mimicry by French philosopher Roger Callois, titled "Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia," and by the writings of Walter Benjamin. Camouflage affords a means by which humans can connect with their physical and psychological surroundings, and thereby find a meaningful space.
Lehndorff, V and H. Trulzsch Veruschka: Trans-figurations (Boston: Little Brown, 1986). Superb photographs of attempts to disrupt and conceal the human body in various surroundings, using intricate body painting.
Luckiesh, M. Visual Illusions: Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications (New York: Dover Publications, 1965). Essays on perception and optics by a World War I-era physicist and science writer, including a classic chapter on camouflage.
Maskelyne, J. Magic: Top Secret (London: Stanley Paul, c1948). An entertaining memoir about a prominent magician's supposed contributions to British field camouflage during World War II. In recent years, questions have been raised about the accuracy of Maskelyne's claims.
McElroy, G. Razzle Dazzle: The Uses of Abstraction (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada: Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2008). The author was the curator of an innovative exhibition (for which this was the catalog) on dazzle ship camouflage in relation to later experiments in geometric abstraction in painting.
Méndez Baiges, M. Camuflaje: Engaño y ocultación en el arte contemporaneo (Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Siruela, 2007). The author, who teaches contemporary art at the University of Malaga, has published a series of articles on artists who make use of camouflage, sometimes literally, sometimes not. In this book, she considers the range and implications of camouflage-related art in Modern and Postmodern eras.
Méndez Baiges, M. and P. Pizarro. Camuflajes. Exhibition catalog. Madrid, Spain: La Casa Encendida, 2009. This is the richly illustrated catalog of an international exhibition of art inspired by camouflage that opened in Spain in 2009. Works by a wide variety of artists are reproduced, with a commentary in Spanish.
Meryman, R. "A Painter of Angels Became the Father of Camouflage" in Smithsonian Magazine (April 1999), pp. 116-128. The author of this delightful and informative article on Abbott H. Thayer's contribution to camouflage is the son of Richard Meryman, who was Thayer's student and a World War I US Army camoufleur.
Metzger, W. Gesetze des Sehens (Frankfort am Main: Waldemar Kramer, 1975). A lengthy, richly illustrated guide to form perception, including camouflage, from the viewpoint of a gestalt psychologist. During World War II, he contributed to German military camouflage. Even though this (enlarged) edition of the book has never been translated into English, one can still gain quite a lot by studying the illustrations.
Moore, H.W. Camouflage Cookery: A Book of Mock Dishes (New York: Duffield, 1918). This charming little book is exactly what it claims to be. It offers recipes in which unorthodox ingredients are combined to create equivalents of common foods such as apple pie, roast duck and chop suey.
Murphy, H., and M. Bellamy "The Dazzling Zoologist: John Graham Kerr and the Early Development of Ship Camouflage" in The Northern Mariner. 19 No 2 (April 2009), pp. 171-192. It is nearly always claimed that dazzle camouflage was the brain child of British artist Norman Wilkinson (c1917). This extensive, amply documented study argues that Wilkinson's work was predated by experiments in "disruptive camouflage" by Scottish embryologist and Minister of Parliament John Graham Kerr.
Naverson, R. "The Scenographer as Camoufleur," Ph.D. dissertation (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1989). An ambitious, wide-ranging account of the contribution of theatrical set designers to military camouflage.
Nemerov, A. "Vanishing Americans: Abbott Thayer, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Attraction of Camouflage" in American Art (Summer 1997), pp. 51-81. A thought-provoking essay on the contrasting attitudes toward natural camouflage of Thayer and Roosevelt, considered as extensions of their attitudes about manhood. See also Banta (1978).
Newark, T., et al. Brassey's Book of Camouflage (Herndon VA: Brassey's, 1996). The history of camouflage in military uniforms in this century, illustrated by scores of full-color photographs.
Newark, T. Camouflage (New York: Thames and Hudson, 2007). This is a highly readable, profusely illustrated volume that was published in conjunction with a major exhibition on camouflage at the Imperial War Museum in London. Introduction by Jonathan Miller.
Paul, E. "Art and Camouflage" in F. Crowninshield, ed., Vogue's First Reader (New York: Julian Messner, 1942), pp. 256-259. This little known essay by an American writer (he wrote The Last Time I Saw Paris and the screenplay for Rhapsody in Blue) anticipates later ideas about the relatedness of art and camouflage.
Penrose, R. Home Guard Manual of Camouflage (London: G. Routledge, 1941). A handbook for civilians, written and illustrated by a surrealist artist and early biographer of Picasso, who taught camouflage during World War II.
Portmann, A. Animal Camouflage (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1959). An illustrated essay on biological camouflage.
Portmann, A. Animal Forms and Patterns (New York: Schocken, 1967). A classic study of the appearance of animals, including camouflage, with exquisite pen and ink drawings by Sabine Baur. The opening sentence of the preface reads: "The subject of this book is animal Gestalt."
Rankin, N. A Genius for Deception: How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. This book was initially published as Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945 (London: Faber and Faber, 2008). As the titles indicate, it is a detailed account of a wide range of British deception (not only camouflage) in both World Wars.
Reik, T. Listening with the Third Ear (New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1949). In this anthology of writings by a famous psychiatrist, there is an astonishing essay on "Neurotic Camouflage," in which he talks about the ways in which neurotics may cleverly hide their symptoms from others.
Reit, S. Masquerade: The Amazing Camouflage Deceptions of World War II (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1978). A highly readable history of military camouflage during World War II, including the contributions of artists, with particular emphasis on mimicry and decoys. Interestingly, the author (who originated the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost) was himself a camoufleur during World War II.
Richardson, B. Andy Warhol: Camouflage (New York: Gagosian Gallery, 1999). This is the catalog for an exhibition of Warhol's camouflage paintings and silkscreens, dated 1986. The attention these works have received is disproportionate to their profundity, with the result that the main value of this book is in what it says about artists other than Warhol.
Rickard, G. "Camouflage: Then and Now" in Military Engineer 34 (April 1942), pp. 189-197. A highly informative article on modern camouflage by an American architect who contributed to camouflage in both World Wars.
Roskam, A. Dazzle Painting: Kunst Als Camouflage: Camouflage Als Kunst (Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Stichting Kunstprojecten en Uitgevergij Van Spijk, 1987). The catalog for an exhibition about the involvement of artists in the development of disruptive ship camouflage during World War I, illustrated with artworks and historic photographs.
Roussanne, F. "Chronique de l'Institut d'Histoire des Conflits Contemporains," in Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains 44, No 175 (1994), pp. 147-150. A brief but helpful discussion about the development of French camouflage during World War I.
Saint-Gaudens, H. "Camouflage and Art" in Art Bulletin 2, No 1 (September 1919), pp. 23-30. Homer Saint-Gaudens was the son of the celebrated sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. When the American Camouflage Corps (Company A of the 4oth US Corps of Engineers) was formed in 1918, the younger Saint-Gaudens (a theatre designer) was put in charge of it. This is one of several articles by him on the subject.
Schwartz, H. The Culture of the Copy (New York: Zone Books, 1996). A meandering, delightfully speculative book about replicas, duplicates, and twins, including a chapter on camouflage.
Scott, P. The Eye of the Wind (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961). The autobiography of a World War II ship camoufleur. An artist, naturalist and author, he was the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Scott.
Scott-Samuel, N.E., et al. "Dazzle Camouflage Affects Speed Perception" in PLoS ONE Vol 6 No 6 (2011), e20233. Report on a recent experiment by British zoologists, the results of which appear to show that dazzle-like patterns applied to a Land Rover can interfere with speed perception, thereby possibly spoiling the aim of a handheld grenade launcher. Available online.
Shapiro, T. Painters and Politics (New York: Elsevier, 1976). A discussion of art in relation to politics, including the involvement of French artists in World War I camouflage.
Shell, H.R. "The Crucial Moment of Deception" in Cabinet Magazine. Issue 33 (Spring 2009). Online at . An engaging, extensive discussion about Abbott H. Thayer's assertions about (and demonstrations of) protective coloration in nature. From the same author, see also Hide and Seek: Camouflage, Photography and the Media of Reconnaissance (Cambridge MA: Zone Books, in press).
Skerret, R.G. "Hiding Ships With Paint" in Popular Science Monthly. 92 (1918), pp. 514-516. A brief, instructive essay on the requirements of dazzle camouflage, and why it was effective in deterring U-boat torpedo attacks. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Skerrett, R.G. "How We Put It Over on the Periscope" in The Rudder 35 No 3 (March 1919), pp. 97-102, and 35 No 4 (April 1919), pp. 175-179. A detailed account of the efforts to camouflage American merchant ships during World War I. It places particular emphasis on the role of the Submarine Defense Association and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Supplemented by helpful diagrams. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Sloane, E. Camouflage Simplified (New York: Devin-Adair, 1942). A succinct, insightful handbook on military and civilian camouflage, written and illustrated by a popular American artist.
Solomon, S.J. Strategic Camouflage (London: J. Murray, 1920). A postwar critique of Allied and German camouflage during World War I by Solomon J. Solomon, a prominent British painter and camoufleur.
Staerck, C., ed. Allied Photo Reconnaissance of World War II (San Diego, California: Thunder Bay Press, 1998). An illustrated history of aerial reconnaissance photography, with primary emphasis on its extensive and important use during World War II.
Stanley II, R.M. To Fool a Glass Eye: Camouflage Versus Photo Reconnaissance in World War II (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1998). Richly illustrated account of the efforts of photo interpreters during World War II to decipher enemy camouflage and decoys in aerial photographs.
Stevens, M. and S. Merilaita, eds. Animal Camouflage: Mechanisms and Function (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011). In the past decade, as this book's introduction states, "there has been an explosion of studies of camouflage [by] researchers from biology, visual psychology, computer science and art." This is a collection of 17 recently published papers, mostly by biologists, about new experiments in animal camouflage.
Sumrall, R.G. "Ship Camouflage (WWI): Deceptive Art," in United States Naval Institute Proceedings 97, No. 7 (July 1971), pp. 57-77. A brief summary of World War I American ship camouflage, illustrated by diagrams and historic photographs.
Sumrall, R.G. "Ship Camouflage (WWII): Deceptive Art," in United States Naval Institute Proceedings 99, No. 2 (February 1973), pp. 67-81 and 89-92. A brief summary of World War II ship camouflage (a sequel to the previous entry), illustrated by diagrams and historic photographs.
Sykes, S. Deceivers Ever: Memoirs of a Camouflage Officer 1939-1945 (Kent, England: Spellmount, 1990). Detailed firsthand report of the author's experience as a British camoufleur in North Africa during World War II.
Taussig, M. "Zoology, Magic and Surrealism on the War on Terror" in Critical Inquiry 34 Supplement (Winter 2008), pp. S98-S116. The thoughts of a prominent scholar about camouflage in relation to current political ills such as lying, deceit and distortion.
Thayer, A.H. "Teaching Britannia Her Job" in New York Tribune. (August 13, 1916), pp. 4ff. This essay was prompted by the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which had struck an iceberg four years earlier in 1912, and the assumption of naval authorities that white was a highly conspicuous color for ships. In Thayer's editorial, he argues the opposite: White is the best ship color, he says, for low visibility (as confirmed by the low visibility of the iceberg). Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Thayer, A.H. "Camouflage" in The Scientific Monthly VII (1918), pp. 481-494. In what appears to be Abbott H. Thayer's last published paper, he talks about and illustrates the application of his theories of biological camouflage for military purposes. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Thayer, G.H. "The Concealing Coloration of Animals: New Light on an Old Subject" in Century Magazine LXXVI, No. 25 (May 1908), pp. 249-261. This substantial, clearly worded account of Abbott H. Thayer's theories of countershading and other aspects of biological camouflage was written by his son, Gerald, and published one year in advance of the first edition of their book (see next entry).
Thayer, G.H. Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom (New York: Macmillan, 1909; 2nd ed., 1918). A groundbreaking, profusely illustrated work on the theories of Abbott H. Thayer, a prominent 19th-century American painter, who is sometimes said to be the "father of camouflage." While some of its conclusions have always been controversial, it remains one of the most important books on the subject.
Thayer, G.H. "Camouflage in Nature and in War" in Brooklyn Museum Quarterly 10 (1923), pp. 147-169. In a footnote, its author Gerald Thayer states that he wrote this essay in 1919, but waited four years to publish it (after the death of his father), perhaps because he could not bear to contradict the pronouncements of his father, whom he describes in this essay as an "extreme believer, or over-believer" who was "at once an unequalled expert and an extremist."
Toch, M. "The Fine Art of Military Camouflage" in Munsey's Magazine 64 No 1 (June 1918), pp. 5-8. Maximilian Toch was a New York-based authority on paint chemistry. This essay is a review of developments in World War I camouflage (both ground and naval), some of which he contributed to.
Toch, M. "Adventures in Camouflage," in Military Engineer 23 (July-August 1931), pp. 307-309. Toch's view of his involvement in World War I American ship camouflage.
Toliver, O.S. An Artist at War: The Journal of John Gaitha Browning (Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press, 1994). Excerpts from the diary of a World War II American Army camoufleur.
Trevelyan, J. Indigo Days (London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1957). A spirited memoir by a prominent British artist and camoufleur, who early in World War II formed an industrial camouflage firm with Roland Penrose, Stanley William Hayter and others.
Wadsworth, B. Edward Wadsworth: A Painter's Life (UK: Michael Russell, 1989). The biography, written by his daughter, of a British Vorticist painter who oversaw the dazzle painting of camouflaged ships during World War I.
Warner, E.L. "Marine Camouflage" in The Bush Magazine of Factory and Shipping Economy. (January 15, 1918), pp. 12-14. An essay advocating the use of disruptive patterns for World War I ship camouflage, instead of the usual battleship gray. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Warner, E.L. "The Science of Marine Camouflage Design," in Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society 14, No 5 (July 21, 1919), pp. 215-219. A first person narrative of World War I American ship camouflage (nicknamed "baffle painting" and "jazz painting"), by the artist in charge of the design branch of the camouflage team. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Warner, E.L. "Painting Battleships for Low Visibility" in Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society. Vol 14 No 5 (July 21, 1919), pp. 220-224. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Warner, E.L. "Fooling the Iron Fish: The Inside Story of Marine Camouflage," in Everybody's Magazine (November 1919), pp. 102-109. A popularized version of the previous entry, more or less. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
White, N. Abbott H. Thayer: Painter and Naturalist (Hartford, CT: Connecticut Printers, 1951). An impressively detailed account of the life and achievements of an American painter who was also a leading contributor to biological and military camouflage.
Whyte, L.L., ed. Aspects of Form (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1951). A classic collection of essays about perception and appearance in art and science, including contributions by Rudolf Arnheim, E.H. Gombrich, C.H. Waddington, and Konrad Lorenz. See especially "Animal Form in Relation to Appearance" by Hugh B. Cott, a British zoologist and military camoufleur; and Lancelot Law Whyte's astonishing "Chronological Survey on Form."
Wickler, W. Mimicry in Plants and Animals (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968). A richly illustrated overview of deceptive resemblance in plants and animals.
Wilkinson, N. "Dazzle Painting of Ships" in The Nautical Gazette (September 13, 1919), p. 177. A brief overview of World War I "dazzle painting" by its primary proponent. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Wilkinson, N. "Naval Camouflage," in Encyclopedia Britannica 12th Ed., Vol. 1 (1922), pp. 546-547. An illustrated article on World War I ship camouflage by the inventor of dazzle painting. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Wilkinson, N. A Brush With Life (London: Seeley Service and Company, 1969). The autobiography of a British watercolor painter who was also a major contributor to World War I ship camouflage.
Williams, D. Liners in Battledress: Wartime Camouflage and Color Schemes for Passenger Ships (St Catharines, Ontario, Canada: Vanwell Publishing, 1989). An overview of the camouflage of passenger ships, illustrated with historic photographs. It is a wonderful book, but beware that there are errors in its listings of American camoufleurs.
Williams, D. Naval Camouflage 1914--1945: A Complete Visual Reference (UK: Chatham Publishing, 2003). An impressively rich pictorial guide to ship camouflage in both World Wars, with nonexclusive emphasis on British and American.
v Williams, H.S. "The Failure that Sank 5000 Ships" in Hearst's 36 No 2 (January 1919), pp. 50-51. According to the author, nearly 5000 Allied ships were sunk by German U-boats in World War I. Much of that could have been prevented, he argues, if course deception camouflage had been used more widely. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Williams, H.S. "Why the Leopard Doesn't Change His Spots" in Hearst's 35 No 2 (February 1919), pp. 50-51. Using repeated comparisons to protective coloration and natural selection, this is a lengthy, clearly stated plea for the continued use, after World War I, of dazzle ship camouflage. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Yates, R.F. "The Science of Camouflage Explained" in Everyday Engineering Magazine (March 1919), pp. 253-256. A detailed account of the camouflage work of American muralist William Andrew Mackay, who was the leading figure in a New York-based unit of civilian camouflage artists for the Emergency Fleet Corporation during World War I. There is mention of Mackay's camouflage school, and the ways in which his theories diverged from those of his contemporaries. Reprinted in Behrens (2012).
Updated 27 March 2012
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Details: Volume 5 also includes Lamentations. A verse by verse commentary.Calvin stands as a leading guide to these books. Characteristically uncluttered with technicalities, he goes always to the core of the purpose and message.


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Immigration Explainer: What can Massachusetts expect from Afghan evacuees?
Posted on October 27, 2021 January 30, 2023 by kglover@ilctr.org
Photo: U.S. Air Force, Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez/Retrieved from @dvids on Flickr
August 31, 2021, marked the last day of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. The world witnessed footage from Kabul's airport of Afghans desperate to leave the war-ravaged country now under control of the Taliban. As the occupation ended, more than 122,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including more than 5,400 U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
Two days prior, on August 29, 2021, the U.S. State Department had launched Operation Allies Welcome to help vulnerable Afghans resettle in the United States. The most likely method of entry will be "parole" after being vetted overseas. Parole is a temporary status granted for up to two years. Although parolees may have work authorization, they do not have immigration status or access to public benefits. Once paroled, Afghan nationals may be eligible to apply for immigration status, primarily a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) or asylum, both of which are severely backlogged and can take years to complete.
The SIV program was launched in 2008 to grant visas to Afghan and Iraqi nationals who worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government. Many SIV holders were interpreters and translators for the U.S. military, assisting American troops in carrying out delicate military operations. Many evacuees coming in the next year are expected to be given SIVs due to their work alongside the U.S. military.
The Biden administration plans to resettle 95,000 Afghans. This would nearly double the nearly 100,000 Afghans who moved to the United States from 1990 to 2020. Starting in 2010, SIV holders made up 67,995 of these individuals.
The State Department has identified an initial group of 37,000 evacuees to be resettled in the United States. As of September 2021, about 24,000 have already arrived, 23,000 are on U.S. military bases and 20,000 are waiting in other countries. States that have already resettled the largest number of Afghans over the last 20 years, such as California, which alone hosts one-third of Afghans resettled since 2001, Maryland, Texas and Virginia, will continue to receive the majority of these new evacuees. Massachusetts is expected to welcome and resettle 900 of this first group of Afghan evacuees.
The Immigrant Learning Center's Public Education Institute sourced the data below from the Refugee Processing Center and cross-referenced them with state-wide data collected by the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants. The data shows that between fiscal years 2010 and 2016, 13,086 people from 59 countries were resettled in 132 cities and towns across Massachusetts, primarily from, in order of number of refugees from greatest to least, Iraq, Bhutan, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burma. Only a fraction of this total was comprised of refugees from Afghanistan. The top destination cities were Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell and Lynn. Historically, displaced people have been resettled in places with the highest concentrations of their countrymates. It is likely that the Operation Allies Welcome evacuees will be resettled primarily in these aforementioned top cities.
Massachusetts Cities with Highest Rates of Resettlement, Fiscal Years 2010 – 2016
Number of Refugees by Country of Origin in Top Massachusetts Cities for Resettlement
Scroll sideways on the table below to view more content.
Springfield/
116 74 13 10 9 –
3,791 509 1,319 950 452 131
2,629 126 797 1,151 190 141
1,893 585 311 556 221 1
of Congo
1,073 159 279 225 329 –
1,085 261 109 309 313 62
Distribution of Refugees by Country of Origin in Top Massachusetts Cities for Resettlement
There are 13 refugee resettlement offices and affiliates in Massachusetts anticipating the arrival of Afghan evacuees. Not surprisingly, they are clustered in areas with the highest concentration of refugees.
Map of refugee resettlement offices and affiliates in Massachusetts anticipating the arrival of Afghan evacuees
= concentration of resettled Afghan refugees and immigrants
1. Ascentria Care Alliance, Westfield — Immigration Legal Assistance Program 8. Ascentria Care Alliance, Waltham — Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program
2. Ascentria Refugee and Immigrant Services, West Springfield 9. Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, Boston
3. Catholic Charities — Welcome Home Refugee Resettlement Program 10. Catholic Charities – Refugee and Immigration Services
4. Jewish Family Service of Western MA 11. International Institute of New England, Boston
5. Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, Worcester 12. Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center, Lynn
6. Ascentria Care Alliance, Worcester — Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program 13. International Institute of New England, Lowell
7. Jewish Family Service of Metrowest
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps, Sgt. Corey Mathews/dvidshub.net
Although the Fiscal Year 2022 Continuing Resolution that was passed in September 2021 does include funding to provide arriving Afghans with resettlement services and supplemental funding to resettlement agencies, it expires on December 3, 2021, and is thus a temporary patch. The resettlement community is hoping that more robust spending will be included in the final budget to provide Afghan evacuees access to permanent protection, services and benefits. For now, the majority of evacuees will be arriving in Massachusetts with "parolee" status and depend on local not-for-profit and faith-based resettlement agencies and community organizations to help them transition to their new American lives.
The sustainability of this model depends on private support to facilitate job searches, job placement, school placement, English instruction, basic financial and civic education, and arrangement of medical and social services. This initial investment in helping Afghan evacuees become new Americans will likely pay off well for both the evacuees and the community at large. Looking at the example of refugees, several research findings indicate that on average, refugees pay taxes that far exceed the relocation costs and social benefits they receive. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found in 2017 that refugees are a net benefit to government revenues, bringing in $63 billion more in revenue to federal, state and local governments than they received in benefits from 2005 to 2014. The ILC's calculations corroborate this finding as well. Refugees, who make up less than one percent of the population of Massachusetts, contributed nearly three percent of total state taxes paid in 2015.
Massachusetts expects to resettle 900 Afghans over the course of the next year. The economic and social contributions they will eventually make will not only outweigh the initial cost of resettlement but enrich the cultural landscape and strengthen local communities.


My name is Jorge Andrés Galicia Rodríguez, I´m a 22 years old freedom fighter currently living in Venezuela under a socialist authoritarian dictatorship in seek of totalitarian power. I grew up in a middle class home, my parents provided me with the best education possible for their income since the beginning. Unluckily and thanks to socialism, my family income has shrunken to critical levels, degrading our levels of quality of life to standards never known by us before.
I´ve been an activist for freedom since I began my career at late 2013. My passion for liberty started when I first met "CEDICE Libertad" think tank. They taught me the basics of a free society through many different pro-liberty and educational events and I became a big fan. Then, when I started defining myself as liberty minded activist, I began my search of a political party believer and defender of the principles that a free society builds up on and I certainly found that at Vente Venezuela and in the leadership of María Corina Machado. There, I was in charge of the ideological training of the junior regional team of activists from Caracas for two years in a row (2014-2015). We worked with the material of some liberty favorites authors like Ludwig von Mises, Frederich Hayek, Frederic Bastiat and so many more. Simultaneously, I joined the student movement from my University, where I also performed the role of political and ideological training coordinator. Also I was a regional coordinator from Students for Liberty and I founded an aggrupation of students named "Club Laissez Faire" dedicated to the promotion of the ideas of liberty inside the campus.
This political journey has provided me with many successes and good experiences like winning the first debate championship organized by Vente Venezuela with my regional team, being selected to Project 50 which was a project organized by Vente to improve the abilities of the 50 more promising leaders working with the party, winning an scholarship from the organization "Futuro Presente" to study a 6 months long diplomat organized by the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello (UCAB), Universidad Metropolitana and the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA) about leadership and oil industry named "Venezuela, liderazgo y petróleo", etc.
I´ve been fighting for freedom for many years from now and I have sacrifice a lot for this cause, from free time to spend at parties with my friends to the possibility of living a risk free life because of the dangers that brings the fact of doing opposition to the current socialist regime. I wish to keep fighting till the end of my days. Two months ago I finished my Law degree at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bellowith a lot of economic sacrifice and now I´m looking forward for my new educational challenges. Thankfully I´ve been selected to be part of this Raise Me To The Top Campaign, which is the third and last phase of the selection process to be part of the new generation of Project Arizona, a program that perfectly fits my aspirations. I truly hope to count with your help to keep fighting socialism or any other kind or statism here in my homeland.
Would you like to help Jorge to participate in Project Arizona?


text:
The Great Hoop:
AV Talks with Steve Brand
Steve Brand
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AV: When and why did music become an important part of your life?
SB: Ever since I can remember, music has been in my life, Michael. Music of some sort was always playing in the house. As I child, I had toy pianos, drums, banjos, guitars, etc. I had my own record player and I'm told I would stay up late at night listening to records—I drove my family nuts with it. As a teenager, I played in garage bands with my friends, covering rock tunes. Later, in graduate school, music resurfaced again as a passion, this time as backgrounds for my painting and sculpture exhibitions; this was the early 80s, which was a time of great experimentation and innovation for me personally and for the arts in general, but a lot of technology for what I heard in my head wasn't available, or maybe at least was either not commercially available or very expensive…especially for a college student. So, I would make tape loops out of cassettes, carefully deconstructing cassettes and taping them back together again. I'd record sounds in stairwells into cheap recorders and then use my roommates Teac tape deck to layer them. Even when I was playing in bands and covering other people's music, I felt compelled to experiment and to try to recreate the ideas and sounds I was hearing in my head (which sometimes didn't go over well with my bandmates), using bows to play the strings, shoving metal between the strings, detuning, weird tunings, I tried it all. Music for me, has always been a natural outgrowth of expression, creativity and emotion, and an escape from the every day, the mundane, deadening routine. Music is and was for me, a key or doorway into other times, other realms of being.
AV: What are some of the instruments you have learned and what is your preference for composing?
SB: I started with guitar back in my early teens with a very cheap guitar that an uncle bought for me (he was very into Country and Western). That was really the beginning. I loved that thing, but quickly realized that it had limitations. Before long, I had an acoustic 6-string, 12-string, a couple of electrics, a large Fender Super Six amp, etc. Over time, I've drifted away from guitar, sold almost everything, and for a period of about 10-15 years, I had no instruments at all to speak of. Still, instruments managed to find their way back into my life; my mother would buy me flutes, ocarinas, penny whistles, etc. when she was away on trips. (One flute was made by Michael Allen Graham of Coyote Oldman, but I didn't notice this until about 15 years later.)
The Great Hoop (2016 Re-issue) by Steve Brand
During this time, in addition to my visual work, I also worked in the realm of Experimental Music, under the name, Augur, and my instruments were usually of a found nature, or invented, or created for me by and with friends. My instruments were more or less my imagination and resourcefulness. Then, about 6-7 years ago, some major life changes occurred in my life that caused me to refocus and rethink my life…and my creativity. The flutes that had been appearing in my life became a major source of interest. I started to collect them and it became a sort of compulsion—I had to have them. I probably have more than 30 different kinds now from different cultures and time periods. My wife says that this period of interest and growth for me was really more like remembering than learning.
My approach to composing music (and to most things really), is primarily intuitive. Everything begins with a feeling, intuition or a hunch. The feeling builds. Ideas and inspiration synchronistically begin to collect from all directions around that feeling—poems, stories, titles, instrumentations. Before long, a kind of critical mass occurs, and it turns into enough momentum to create an album. I begin with a sketch of the song: sometimes it's a literal outline written in my notebook, other times I just capture the basic elements of the song/album in improv sessions...sort of the way a sculpture will chisel large chunks out of a block of stone, or a painter may do a rough sketch before painting. I may do this for several songs, sometimes a whole album. Ideas tend to come in bunches or bundles for me...packages of feeling and ideas. These become the inspiration for everything, and if things go south during the process, I peel everything back to those first inspirations or emotional compass points. I then begin to add to, redirect, build upon those sketches. Sometimes I end up in a very different place. Other times the final thing isn't much different than the sketch. I'm not afraid to press "delete" or toss entire sections, take things too far, overwork, because I know nothing is ever lost and can be used elsewhere at another time. Also, I tend to work on a number of projects at once—they can have widely different starting points, but can interrelate, overlap and share discoveries and developments.
AV: Did you ever have any formal training in music? How important to a musician is formal training as opposed to "playing by ear"?
SB: I had some guitar lessons early on, with a teacher that I liked very much, but time demands, funds, and probably youthful inattention, drew me away from those. During this time, I learned to read music, but I never felt compelled to stick with it. For me, more formal or structured methods of approaching music were restrictive, confining and honestly, just didn't make sense to me. To be clear, I'm not dismissing formal training at all, it just didn't take for me.
AV: Tell me about some of your first compositions and what inspired you to write them.
SB: Some of my first pieces that I felt were a sort of starting point for me began with a 2-track recorder, an electric guitar, an Ebow, a reverb pedal and headphones. There was something about those seemingly more formless and shapeless sounds that I was drawn to. They seemed to express or touch on something more timeless to me...or in me. Reading Carl Jung and Carlos Castenadas back in the 80s really inspired these investigations. (Some of the early tape loops show up at the beginning of my e.p., "Wrapped in Leaves.") The turning point several years later was one of my albums as Augur—in particular one called, Xibalba. This album created critical mass, to the point where I knew I wanted to create more musical sounds, more emotive compositions, of the kind that weren't really part of the realm of experimental music which generally tends to be more cerebral and more abstract. Xibalba was sort of my first ambient work, and it encompassed my interest in history, art, archeology, musicology, psychology, folk art, folk music, primitive art, etc. In the early 90s, I started to use a non-linear computer-based film editing software, Avid, which came bundled with ProTools. I immediately connected with this non-linear, non-destructive way of editing and working with music and film. My approach, my outlook is/was nonlinear, so it made sense that my method of working should be non-linear. The software also consolidated into one package many of analogue standalone tools…EQ, compression, etc., and I love that. My Mac is my office, my studio, my store, my window to community and world.
AV: What was it that first attracted you to ambient music as opposed to all the other styles of music that you might have chosen to make as an artist?
SB: I've mentioned grad school… During this time, I was immersed in all forms of art, contemporary, historical, fringe, mainstream. I was going to school with musicians who were experimenting with new forms of music, new kinds of music making devices, with film-makers that were using VCR tape loops wrapped around mic stands, sculptors using light and space…this all affected my ideas of what was possible. I had always collected all kinds of music, but this was a time of great acceleration for me. I bought Eno's "Music for Airports," and his other collaborations with Fripp, Budd, Hassel and others. At this time, I became aware of the Nonesuch series, which encompassed archaic music from Egypt, Greece, Gregorian Chants, gamalan, Bulgarian fold music, music from the Middle East, etc. The Smithsonian recordings were also influential for me…recordings of the indigenous people of South and Central America, Africa, etc. It all connected and made sense for me. I saw natural bridges and relationships in all these forms of music. I eventually wanted to merge them all into expressions that became my own weird interpretation of these things. Ambient allowed and facilitated this merging for me.
AV: Were there any musicians that you heard starting out that inspired you to create your own unique vision of what your music would eventually become?
SB: I've already mentioned my very early influencers, but at that time, I had no real idea or intention of creating ambient music...it was more an ideative springboard for me. I am, by nature, a multi-disciplinary artist, but earlier on, music wasn't a focus the way it is now. Eventually, there were a handful of artists that moved me to really think about what I wanted to do with music, to focus more on what was personal and endemic to me as a human, artist, creator. One of my teachers in grad school began me on this road. His name was Ben Mahmoud. He taught me that when the work was coming from a very personal, passionate place, all else would fall into place. This idea has always stuck. Later, the music of Stefano Musso/Alio Die, Robert Rich, Lustmord, Jeph Jerman, Zoviet France, Rapoon, vidnaObmana, Steve Roach and others helped me reach way down into my ideas of what was possible. In particular, the work of Alio Die, Dirk Serries and Roach, because they were combining acoustic elements, folks and ancient music, aboriginal music and electronic elements in ways that I identified with. I remember thinking, '"Hang on…that's it...that's what I want to create, but I have other ideas, other things I'd like to hear that they aren't creating." Even so, that was the early 90s and it was another decade before things coalesced to the point where I dropped the moniker of Augur, and began recording ambient under my own name. I finally got tired of being a collector and fan, and wanted to be more of a doer! I felt the force and strength of my ideas finally merited this move and attention. Previous to hearing these artists, I felt that most of the electronic ambient music I was hearing was too fluffy, not weighty enough, not grounded…at least not to my ear or tastes.
AV: Every musician that releases albums to the public had to start at some point learning to record and market their music. Talk about that first album that you decided to release in terms of the music you chose to record, how you went about recording it, and how you issued the music when it was complete.
SB: I finally go the point where just supporting the projects of others wasn't entirely satisfying to me. (Although I'm still very much a fan and like to support the work of others.) I bought music from several distributors in a big way. I developed relationships with those people and even some of the artists. I knew from my teaching how important a support structure is, and how important it is to reach out to and learn from people who are already doing the things you're aspiring to do. I was pen pals with Stefano, Jeph Jerman, Jarboe of Swans, Phillip Klinger/PBK, and others. Some encouraged me to release the music I was creating on my home 4-track. My first releases were self-released with Manifold Records, Anomalous, Soleilmoon and others. Eventually, this turned into "pay for copies" releases with a few labels like Alluvial and XZF, which was a very big step for me—to have my work recognized in such a way, to have others invest in my work, was a very big deal.
My first releases in experimental music were cassettes, all hand-assembled, handmade art. I loved this process and got a very good response. These were recorded on 4-track and duplicated at home by me on my stereo. When I moved into ambient music, my first real "Steve Brand," album was "Awakensong"—my first album entirely recorded on a Mac. By this time, people were approaching me to release music. Andrea Marutti of the Italian label, Afe, reached out to me and my first two ambient albums were released with him. It was a very big step to have someone approach me, offer to foot the expenses, and promote the work...and to have an Italian label do this meant a great deal to me at the time, because it gave me the sense that a bigger world was interested in the music I was creating. Those releases then led to releases with AtmoWorks and Hypnos.
AV: What is it that you learn as a musician from each new album that you compose and record?
SB: Several things… The importance of the creative cycle (artist to audience, audience to artist) and the power of personal connections is always reinforced. Technically, I learn more and more about recording and mastering. That's why I love to revisit older works and work on multiple projects...I can apply the new things I learn every day. I also always acknowledge power of following one's impulses and personal inclinations deeper and deeper in increasingly personal ways. Some like to say that there's "nothing new under the sun." I don't agree. If we are looking deeply into ourselves, our interests, our sources of inspiration, we can combine anything into new and very novel and divergent expressions that are uniquely our own.
AV: Obviously it is different for ambient artists to receive airplay and publicity than an equivalent pop star. How important are shows like Hearts of Space, Galactic Travels, Echoes, Stars End or the many fine podcasts on the net in helping your music reach a larger audience?
SB: I can't speak for other artists, but for me personally, to have my music included on playlists by these people was, and continues to be, a huge validation. To hear Stephen Hill say my name the first time was incredibly surreal, especially after a decade-plus of hearing him call out the names of so many other artists that I respected so much. Overall, I think radio shows (streaming and otherwise) and podcasts are a great way to be grouped with other like-minded artists and method of out-reach to listeners.
AV: Over the years how have you handled the changes in the ways that music is recorded and released to your listeners? As a follow up do you think that we are still moving in a good direction for musicians and performers in the digital age?
SB: As I've written, my first releases were cassette, then CDr, then CD and I had no problem embracing download. My day job is as a graphic designer, and working in this field for almost 30 years, I know very well the value of being adaptable and aware of trends. I care very much about my music, and I care even more about delivering it to the people who want to hear it, in the best and easiest way possible. I still value CDs very much. I love holding the "thing" in my hand, but the market is changing, and to deny that would be self-sabotage in my view. As a rule, I never get too ideological or dogmatic about much of anything. For me, these changes have made my processes as a recording artist easier, more transparent, more within my control, so naturally, I embraced them.
My recording set-up has evolved greatly over the years. I started with rack mount effects, a digital studio or cheap mixer and Phillips Cdr recorder, a mic and a pile of objects. Over time, I just got tired of all the pieces and parts, all the gear, and to add to that, our house was built in 1948 so it's VERY small. When I moved to DAW/computer-based recording, this was the answer to my distaste for boxes and cords and my need to continue to simplify. These days, I have my iMac, my Allen Heath USB mixer, some good mics, my controller/keyboard, a DAW, several flutes, rattles, shakers, bells, gourds, etc.
Yes, I absolutely do think we are pioneering very hopeful directions. I think new possibilities are still in the process of forming, but I think the developments that are taking place now are paving the way for very interesting things. It wasn't so long ago, that the only way an artist could record was to have or rent a studio. Then, if he jumped that hurdle, the had to solicit or be solicited by a label. Then, if the label agreed, if the work was produced, it may be drastically changed, the artist may have little or no say over the details (art, production, etc.), and they may or may not get paid. Now, the field is more level than ever. The artist can have complete control over their creation from beginning to end. The creation of art and music is available to many more artists—the creation of art has been greatly democratized. I love this idea...creation of art should not be limited to a select few, only those with the right connections or enough money. Yes, there is more, and the audience has more to choose from, but from my perspective, it's a price worth paying.
AV: Your latest album is called The Great Hoop and was just released in June 2013. What can you tell me about the title and how it describes the music that the listener will find on this release?
SB: The title inspired by this excerpt from the book, "Black Elk Speaks": "Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being. And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all children of one mother and one father. And I saw that it was holy." The music is, in part, meant to embody this sense of reverence and expanse of vision. I modified his words a bit to create the title.
AV: Talk about the inspiration for The Great Hoop and what you wanted to achieve with the music that you composed and recorded for this album.
SB: In addition to the above, the music was created as an expression of my own reverence for the land, the nature and the history of this area, and my respect for the traditions and history of the diverse Native American cultures of this region. This journey was begun with my previous album, "Cahokia," and I felt compelled to continue to explore some of these themes. With both "Cahokia" and "The Great Hoop," I wanted to be able to subtly meld together the sounds of this region, the feeling that the rolling hills, the gradual changes in topography from prairie, the woodlands, to winding river plains, to foothills, the sparseness of it, along with the suggestions, hints of it's various pasts, it's ghosts.
AV: How is it that you integrate field recordings into your music and how do you keep them from becoming overpowering to the composition? Do you go out and record the sounds yourself?
SB: I often think of field recordings as either a bed, or an under-painting that other elements are painted over. Or, I think of them as another instrument. It's very easy for field recordings to take over a recording. Sounds, field recordings, acoustic sounds, electronic sounds, for me, have to be interwoven, placed in a virtual space, occupy that space in believable ways (ways that we've experienced either consciously or unconsciously). For me, using field recordings feel very natural, because I love it when music emerges out of environmental sounds, and even merges with environmental sounds to the point where it can be difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins…I like that melding and I hear it all the time in the world around me.
AV: Your music was inspired by the Plains Indians of North America per your notes. When you record music with these kinds of inspirations what is it that you hope to communicate to your listeners about these cultures through your compositions?
SB: No, I wouldn't say that I'm trying to communicate anything to the listeners about Native American cultures of this area, other than my own respect for them, and my respect for environment and history of this area…which I think is considerable. I have had a fascination with Native American cultures since I was very young—I remain fascinated. I read Archeology Magazine frequently, and it's obvious that our understanding of some of the first people on this continent was/is severely lacking and is changing as we more or less impartially examine the emerging evidence with new techniques and understanding. Since there is very little written history of these peoples (that isn't highly subjective), the land is telling us a lot about them, and it seems like we're finding out that their history and the history of other people's are more complex and intertwining that we previously knew. All these ideas went into creating this music.
AV: Tell me about what you were feeling as you wrote these compositions and how your visits to the Cahokia Mounds near East St. Louis influenced how these songs were written.
SB: To be clear, my album, Cahokia, was more influenced by the mounds at Cahokia and the Mississippian mound building cultures, and The Great Hoop was more influenced by the diverse region knows as the, Great Plains and the Native American Cultures that lived here (which encompasses many different tribes, cultures, traditions and ages).
I've been going to Cahokia since I was very young. There's something very special about this place to me that I can't really verbalize. We don't have many obvious ancient sites in this part of the U.S….that we know of. We do have ancient history here, but it's usually not obvious or has been integrated back into nature, since most of the ancient cultures of this land didn't significantly alter the Earth or leave many permanent monuments…that we know of. I love Cahokia for this, and for that fact that it was obviously a sacred area—we really don't have those here either…not the way Europe has stone rings or cathedrals. In my opinion, Anglo culture in the U.S. doesn't venerate the environment like that…not in the same way. I wanted to capture a sense of sacred space…internally and externally.
AV: This album was actually started back in 2010. Is this a normal span of time for the composing and recording of new music for you?
SB: Michael, to be honest, I'm not really sure what a normal time span is for the production of an album as far as my own work is concerned! As I've mentioned in this interview, I work on a number of things at once, going from one to the other as mood strikes, or as I discover things I want to bring to those works. So the flow is very organic and non-linear. I have a number albums in the stream right now that I've been working on for 1-2-3 years and might not be released until 2014 or 2015. During that time, if I feel it necessary, I'll continue to tweak, fine tune and apply what I've learned in the intervening time.
AV: How do you feel about The Great Hoop now that it has been released? Were you happy with what you sent out into the world?
SB: I'm very proud of it. In the initial stages, it all came together very quickly, and I knew at a number of levels what I wanted to achieve in terms of feeling with it, and it's hit that target for me. On our last visit to the Cahokia Mounds, my wife and I listened to both of these albums, and they were the perfect soundtrack for the place…that gave me a very good feeling.
AV: Who else worked on this album with you helping you to make it everything that you wanted it to be?
SB: Shane Morris provided coyote sounds from around his home in Arkansas for the track, "Hoop of Earth." Paul Casper/Frore contributed a beautiful section of percussion and texture to "Medicine Bag Ghosts." I met Shane a few years ago at the Midwest Electromusic Festival and I would say that we connected. In his own music, Shane uses natural and acoustic sounds, along with electrically generated sounds and combines them in fascinating ways. Paul has had several releases of his own, and as I was completing T.G.H., I had the inspiration to ask Paul to help out with that one track. I felt it was strong, but could be stronger with some of Paul finessing and particular twist. I love collaborating with other artists. I feel that collaboration is a way for both artists to grow and go beyond there current level or understanding…if done right. My other collaborators are my wife, Jill, and John Koch-Northrup and Geoff Small: I get a lot of critical feedback along the way from them, which helps me refine and see the trees among the forest.
AV: On this latest project or any other project you have worked on in the past what were some of the major obstacles that you had to overcome to get your music recorded and released?
SB: Honestly, I can't say I have too many obstacles at this point. I have a great deal of freedom in my life, probably more than ever. If there an obstacle, it's budget. I would love to be releasing all of my work in digital and as a physical release. To an extent, this was the case until the end of last year, but Relaxed Machinery's Cdr arrangement changed with Hypnos, and I've had to be a bit more flexible in my vision. I guess, restraint could be other obstacles. I have many projects that are ready for release, or in stages of near completion, but I just don't want to devalue my work by swamping the market with music.
AV: How important is the ambient music community that has grown up on the Internet to those musicians who have chosen to pursue this kind of music?
SB: Community has been very important for me. The Internet had just really started to blossom when I began creating music as Augur, because I was taught early on about the value of a support network as a creative. I was writing letters to other artists and fans, sending tapes and Cdrs through the mail—connecting was happening, but it was slow and making those connections often took some digging. I would say that I felt more isolated at the time. There were no workshops in experimental music or home recording in this part of the U.S. that I knew of. Consequently, I had to find out a lot on my own and experiment to find my own voice and preferences, learn about recording techniques, etc. In retrospect, I'm certain that isolation was beneficial to my development. It wasn't until I started releasing with AtmoWorks and Hypnos that I really started to see the power of community via AtmoWorks' .ning community and the Hypnos Forum. I probably felt more of a kinship with the way AtmoWorks community worked, because it seems very open and diverse in it's membership. It was easy to see that this kind of thing was a great resource for learning about recording, learning about marketing music, for seeing the art of photographers and painters, hearing music of all sorts, reading and writing reviews, reading poetry, etc. Very, very deep—I wish I had had access to this kind of thing 15 years ago?! So, when John wanted to create a community for Relaxed Machinery in 2010, I was thrilled, because I saw it as a reboot of the AtmoWorks community that had only really just begun to gain momentum. John, Geoff, Joel Sutton and Greg/eyes cast down, along with the help of others, have built it into an incredible gathering of creatives of all types, fans, enthusiasts, thinkers, etc. There really is no other site like it that I'm aware of, and it boasts many of the perennial names that founded the ambient genre as members…although I don't think Eno has ever become a member!
I also want to say, virtual community can be very powerful, but for me, it'll never replace real face-to-face gatherings with people of like-mind. I think I can risk saying that for some of my pals out there in the ambient world, it's been important for them as well. Last year (2012), I invited a handful folks that I had become acquainted with from the ambient community to Colorado for an informal get-together. (It was very small because of limited resources, and I really just wanted to test the waters for interest in this kind of thing.) We had a great time and since then, many have asked when it's happening again. I was moved to do this by numerous comments in emails, blogs and chat about how we should have an "rM round table" or "rM weekend." I loved the idea and wanted to move it out of the "just talk" stage into reality. I was also inspired by something I noticed at the big nexus events, like SoundQuest in 2010, which was primarily about Steve Roach's music, along with Byron Metcalf, Mark Seelig and Loren Norell. But, I also noticed that it was also a sort of gathering of the tribes. There were people there from all over the U.S., and from various parts of the world…it was a nexus, an opening, a portal of minds and it felt incredible to be there. People would gather and reacquaint with old friends, or they would meet for the first time, people they had only known by name (or username) or reputation, or by their music, and there was a great sense of camaraderie…I wanted more of that, so I made the first steps to create it in my own small way last year in Colorado. I trust it'll grow.
AV: What is the side of you as a musician that the public never sees?
SB: Hmmm? Probably that I'm a bit of an introvert or hermit. I love being with family and friends, but I'm more than content with spending hours in the Treehouse (my studio) or backyard listening, creating or thinking about music or metaphysical subjects. I will spend huge blocks of time with my cat nearby, my wife reading in the window seat, a bottle of water (or glass of wine), my mixer, mic and keyboard controller plugged in and recording, layering, improvising hour after hour, or listening to podcasts or reading books about metaphysical subjects. I really can't get enough of either.
AV: If you hadn't become a musician what would all of your creative energy had gone toward?
SB: I guess I really haven't denied myself an avenue of creative expression throughout my life. I'm pursuing or have pursued many of the things I'm interested in. I'm a working designer and in addition to my music, I can explore and utilize my photography and art skills. I guess if there were another field of interest I would have been interested in at one point in my life it would have either been to have been archeology or architecture…although I'm rather math deficient, so I'd be challenged in those fields.
AV: Are there any other thoughts you would like to share with our readers about your music in general and what it has meant to you over the years?
SB: I hope that my music says it for me, to be honest, and I've written about some of my ideas in various blogs on rM.ning, so I wonder if writing it here is overkill, but I'll give it a try. To put it simply, music is medicine. Some musician seem reluctant to call this out and I'm not sure why, because to me, this is a fundamental principal of music. Music is more than a product, an amusement, air vibrating to various frequencies…and that's all part of why I'm so passionate about music. I create and promote my music, not just because I love it and want to share it (and finance future projects), but also because I feel like music, music made with a particular intent and purpose, is needed in this world at this time. What I feel some of are doing with ambient music is akin to how music was created and used thousands of years ago. Not just as background, or to impart a particular story or message, but to create the possibility for a different kind of life, a different way of approaching life, living it, of literally altering consciousness and opening new worlds of perception—in a way we have forgotten about and are just now remembering. Music can reconnect us with ourselves, our surroundings, each other, the Earth, our collective and individual pasts, our potential futures, larger consciousness, opening our minds to other ways of seeing and experiencing all these things. It's a hugely important task in this time of great change and possibility and I want my music to be a part of that movement from the old paradigms to the new.
AV: Thanks for such an in depth look at your music Steve. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions with such thoughtful responses. I'm sure those who enjoy your music will enjoy this opportunity to get to know you as a person a little bit better.