Exuberance

Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison. Alfred A. Knopf. 405 pages. $24.95. Psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison opens her new book with the intriguing observation that she and her colleagues have worked harder to understand the dark moods, such as anxiety, depression and anger, while neglecting the positive ones. "We have given sorrow many words," she writes, "but a passion for life few." Her last book, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, was an authoritative and revealing look at suicide, including her own struggles with manic depression.

After the final bows were taken during Everyman Theatre's inaugural opening night performance of "August: Osage County," an exhuberant yell could be heard from behind the closed curtain. It was an expression of the actors' relief at having survived the challenges posed by playwright Tracy Letts' Tony Award-winning black comedy, "August: Osage County. " And it was an expression of delight in finally having a performing home suitable for an established ensemble theater troupe. That sense of accomplishment was the theme of the theater's official opening this weekend, which included a cocktail party and post-performance cast party on Friday; a gala dinner and performance on Saturday, and a Sunday brunch.

Where would America be without exuberance, that infectious, agitating mood that sent Teddy Roosevelt to explore the Badlands, write 40 books, recover from his wife's death, remarry and run for president? Where would this country be without the passion of John Muir for Yosemite or the enthusiasm of James Watson for the inside of a cell? Outsized enthusiasm, sometimes ridiculed and often supressed, is underrated in our society - perilously so. At least, that's the theory of Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, the Johns Hopkins psychiatrist who has studied moods most of her career and whose books shattered myths about depression.

In a move that will certainly please their long-suffering fan base and at least, on paper, give them one of the better lineups in the American League, the Orioles on Friday agreed to terms on a one-year, $8 million deal with Vladimir Guerrero, according to sources. The deal for the veteran slugger, who has 436 career home runs, is pending a physical, which will take place next week. As per club policy, Oriole officials declined to comment until the physical is complete. If Guerrero, who will be 36 years old Wednesday, passes the physical, the Orioles would install him as their everyday designated hitter and cleanup hitter, and move last year's DH and the club's leading returning home run hitter, Luke Scott, to left field.

WHAT'S HAPPENED to Alan Greenspan? Back in December, the Federal Reserve chairman warned of "irrational exuberance" about the strength of the nation's long economic expansion. Those pointed, cautionary remarks sent stock markets into a steep and rapid tailspin.Yet this week the same Mr. Greenspan went to Capitol Hill to heap glowing praise on the U.S. economy, calling current conditions "exceptional." Has this become a case of "rational" exuberance?Mr. Greenspan's apparent turnaround stems from an incredible string of good-news indicators about the national economy that point to low inflation and moderate growth -- an unbeatable one-two combination.

WHEN A LEADING expert on mood disorders writes a book extolling the state of exuberance, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh gleefully (of course) at the notion that promoting this much-maligned expression of unrestrained, enthusiastic joy might prod the disinclined to join in. Cry -- with joy -- at the acknowledgment that this uber-happiness is a genuine state of being, not false or drug-induced, and worthy of praise. At the very least, Exuberance: The Passion for Life, Kay Redfield Jamison's exuberant take on this often-derided emotion, should let those who exuberate do so wildly and with little concern for embarrassing the unexuberant.

FEDERAL RESERVE Chairman Alan Greenspan rattled stock markets around the world when at a black-tie dinner in Washington on Dec. 5, he asked whether an "irrational exuberance" has sent stock and bond prices beyond reasonable levels.Even though they've been jittery, U.S. stock markets have held up in the aftermath of the Greenspan speech, and remain at dizzying levels. What was Greenspan trying to do through his comments? Was he trying to cool down the markets? Did the strategy work?Patrick C. RyanPresident, Ryan, Lee & Co., McLean, Va.He was sending a strong message about speculation.

London. -- In freeing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest last week, Myanmar's corrupt generals have finally taken a significant step back toward 1990, when Miss Suu Kyi won over 60 percent of the vote.But whether the generals now take the road to democracy will depend on whether they judge it to be in their own economic interest. They may well persist in thinking that democracy is the enemy of progress, despite the evidence of 34 years of military rule, which has reduced their country to penury.

Mike Tomlin thinks heaping praise on NFL players for connecting with a new, young, inexperienced coach quickly, and to great success, sells those players short. "These guys know, when faced with a new coach, that the coach's sole intentions are to win and to put them in position to win," the Steelers' second-year head coach said last week from Pittsburgh. "I think there's mutual respect between players and coaches across this league and in this game. I think a lot of times people expect the worst, when, more times than not, players give you the benefit of the doubt and are ready to follow."

After the final bows were taken during Everyman Theatre's inaugural opening night performance of "August: Osage County," an exhuberant yell could be heard from behind the closed curtain. It was an expression of the actors' relief at having survived the challenges posed by playwright Tracy Letts' Tony Award-winning black comedy, "August: Osage County. " And it was an expression of delight in finally having a performing home suitable for an established ensemble theater troupe. That sense of accomplishment was the theme of the theater's official opening this weekend, which included a cocktail party and post-performance cast party on Friday; a gala dinner and performance on Saturday, and a Sunday brunch.

Mike Tomlin thinks heaping praise on NFL players for connecting with a new, young, inexperienced coach quickly, and to great success, sells those players short. "These guys know, when faced with a new coach, that the coach's sole intentions are to win and to put them in position to win," the Steelers' second-year head coach said last week from Pittsburgh. "I think there's mutual respect between players and coaches across this league and in this game. I think a lot of times people expect the worst, when, more times than not, players give you the benefit of the doubt and are ready to follow."

Jack Rosenthal awoke yesterday in a panic. The 16-year-old had overslept, missing the bus to Washington for an event with great historical and spiritual significance to him - Pope Benedict XVI's first Mass in the U.S. as pontiff. The teen's father rushed him from their Harford County home to Greenbelt to ride the Metro to Nationals Park. The lanky Calvert Hall College student hurried through the security checkpoints and joined tens of thousands of other Catholics gathered in prayer. That's when he felt the anxiety ebb and a sense of the sacred wash over him. "I just had chills the entire time," said Jack, a member of St. John the Evangelist in Hydes.

The two smallest children, always inseparable, were little enough to fit into a single coffin. Their brother, a few years older, got one to himself. Surrounded by bright flowers and SpongeBob SquarePants balloons, the two white caskets lay at the foot of the altar yesterday at City Temple of Baltimore, before a mourning throng that punctuated its grief with wails, chants and reverent responses.

SELLERSBURG, Ind. -- In an appearance that amounted to his first traditional campaign rally of the election season, President Bush told wildly cheering supporters here yesterday that Democrats did not want to investigate, prosecute or even detain terrorists and had no plan for Iraq. And, introducing a relatively new line in his election-year stump speech, Bush criticized the "activist" New Jersey Supreme Court's ruling this week that same-sex couples were entitled to the same legal rights and benefits as heterosexual couples.

Shopping in India, darling, is as important a cultural experience as sightseeing," a wise friend told me before I traveled there this spring. Taking her advice to heart, I left with one suitcase, and returned with three. Each was nearly bursting with tablecloths, napkins, bedspreads, pillow covers, tunics, trousers, slippers, carved wood, plates, bowls and psychedelic posters depicting Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva and other Hindu gods. I'd even commissioned the manufacture of an enormously quirky beach umbrella -- its interior and exterior are different patterns of hand block-printed fabric -- under which four adults, perhaps more, can seek a shady respite from global warming.

Do not speed on your way to hear the Eroica Trio performing the final concert of the 2005-2006 Candlelight Concert series. Do be sure you leave your house in plenty of time so that you are not late for the 8 p.m. concert tomorrow at Smith Theatre on the campus of Howard Community College. The Eroica Trio, known for its brilliance, exuberance and energy, will be speeding through some of the most difficult passages in its program, not because trio members can but because it will be musically appropriate.

WASHINGTON -- God, a wit warns, is going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding. The stock market has done that to America's economy. Time was, the economy drove the stock market. Now causation can work the other way, at least when the market controls confidence. However, although surveys show plunging consumer confidence, consumer behavior is producing a negative savings rate -- spending outstripping after-tax income. Consumer spending is two-thirds of gross domestic product, and in this year's first quarter such spending probably was 3 percent higher than in last year's.

Caution flags flying in the wind: More than $265 billion of stock in brokerage accounts is on margin (borrowed money). That's about 1.5 percent of the market's value -- the same level of margin debt as in the fall of 1987 before Black Monday's 22 percent crash. (Greg Smith, debt analyst) A Barron's poll showed 72 percent of money managers think stocks are on a senseless bubble. They keep buying because of how they're paid -- relative to others' performance. If a manager is bearish and everyone else is bullish, he is likely to be fired for underperformance.

At Oakland Mills High School on the eve of the first, a musical called Seussical was played and rehearsed. And the audience, familiar with the Seussical plot - they all liked the musical, yes, they liked it a lot. The childhood rebel's favorite Cat in the Hat acts as the emcee through a flashy, energetic production of extraordinary "thinks." Familiar Seuss characters return to wreak havoc in lands like the Jungle of Nool and the planet of Who. Before long, the imaginative elephant, Horton, hears a Who and becomes friends with the Who Mayor's son, JoJo, who often gets into trouble for his extravagant daydreams.

Her smile was infectious, mirroring the sunlight that streamed through the skylights. She was like a butterfly, floating among her fellow medical students at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. For Chinwe Ajuba-Iwuji, it was a very special day. After four years of education, she and the other students would learn where they would be trained in medical specialties. The decisions would likely play a pivotal role in the course of their medical education and their lives. Ajuba-Iwuji was picked for an anesthesiology residency at Johns Hopkins - her first choice and another triumph in a life filled with extraordinary challenges.