Have a great time and do great things, Vincent.
As the name Djerassi was new to me and I wondered what coastal hills these were,
I googled and found this (to save others hunting):
The Djerassi Program was founded in 1979 by Stanford University Professor
Emeritus Dr. Carl Djerassi, who along with his colleagues at Syntex Corporation,
became the first to synthesize a practical oral contraceptive in the early
1950s. In the 1960s proceeds from the rise of Syntex stock enabled Djerassi to
purchase a large tract of land in the Santa Cruz Mountains west of Stanford,
which he called SMIP (Syntex-Made-It-Possible) Ranch, but in 1970 renamed Sic
manebimus in pace (Thus we'll remain in peace) . On this spectacular property
with its breath-taking views of the Pacific Ocean and its quiet solitude,
Djerassi built a home, as did his children, Pamela and Dale.
The origins of the Djerassi Program lie in a personal tragedy for the Djerassi
family. In 1978 Pamela Djerassi, herself a poet and painter, took her own life.
Soon after, while visiting Florence, Italy, with Diane Middlebrook (later his
wife) and trying to come to terms with his daughter’s death, Djerassi and
Middlebrook considered the patronage that the Medici family had given to artists
of their time and how he might, in some small way, be able to extend his support
to contemporary women artists. Working at first through Stanford’s Center for
Research on Women, Djerassi provided a stipend and began a selection process.
In 1979 Tamara Rikman, a graphic artist from Jerusalem, arrived to spend a year
living and working at Pamela’s beautiful, but isolated house and studio that are
now the Program’s administrative offices. In all, five women were the
beneficiaries of this support in the first four years of the endeavor. Much was
accomplished artistically, but the women suffered from the isolation and the
lack of interaction with their peers. One early resident suggested to Djerassi
that the ranch manager’s house and the barn on another part of the property
might be converted into living and studio facilities for use by a group of
artists.
etc.
such philanthrophy... (and from the profits of contraception science)
Quoting Stephen Vincent <[log in to unmask]>:
> Going to the Djerassi Foundation for a couple weeks of art making and poetry
> in the coastal woods and meadows. On a good day you can hear Neil Young
> practicing in the neighborhood hills. Tho he does live there with his family
> and cattle, the rest is not true!
> It's up to me to do 'the plucking' (and that's not for Keats' legendary or
> real milkmaids either!)
>
> Be well all,
>
> Stephen Vincent
> http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
>
> --- On Mon, 11/30/09, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Sonnet in Elliptical Orbits
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Monday, November 30, 2009, 8:57 AM
>
> Brownian motion, to be sure, Hal.
>
> Doug
> On 29-Nov-09, at 6:33 PM, Halvard Johnson wrote:
>
> > Sonnet in Elliptical Orbits
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> Wednesdays'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-
press_10.html
>
> Good taste is as tiring as good company.
>
> Francis Picabia
>
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