The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

In my on-going effort to improve the quality of my bookshelf, I always ask people what they've read recently that they would recommend.  Some friends mentioned The Reluctant Fundamentalist and it sounded interesting so I checked it out from the local library.  The book was renewed twice before I got past the first page, but when I did finally get into it, I read it over the course of a couple of days.  It is a book that could easily be read in one sitting if you had a free afternoon. 

The construct of the book is a "conversation" that a Pakistani man named Changez has with an American at a restaurant in Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan.  (I put the word conversation in quotes because we only hear Changez's side of the discussion.)  The two meet seemingly by chance in the district of Old Anarkali where the American is looking for a place to have a cup of tea.  The Pakistani notices him and takes him to his favorite cafe.   Changez proceeds to tell his new acquaintance the story of the 4-1/2 years he spent in America, first at Princeton and then in New York working for a boutique investment banking firm.   His story flows seamlessly back and forth from his time at Princeton, his relationship with a troubled American woman and his experiences as an investment banker to his chldhood growing up in Lahore and his complicated feelings about America.  His recollections are interspersed with interruptions from the present as the pair notice the goings-on around them in the cafe.

Inevitably, the story turns to the events of 9/11, although they are mentioned almost in passing.  Changez confesses that, when he heard about the attacks, his first reaction was to smile.  He assures his companion that this is not because he is a man lacking compassion but because of the symbolism of the attack--America had finally been brought to its knees.  He was surprised by his reaction.  After all, America was a friend of Pakistan and he personally had a bright future ahead of him there.  Still, his feelings of being an outsider were deep-seated and the attacks tapped into that emotion.  From then on, his negative feelings about the United States that had been sublimated to the opportunities he had been given began to bubble to the surface.  He came to think of himself as a janissary.  (Janissaries were Christian boys who, in the 14th century, were captured by the Ottomans and trained to be soldiers in a Muslim army.  Janissaries were indoctrinated into the ways of Islam and left their affinity with their families and Christianity behind.)  The difference between him and a 14th century janissary, however, was that true janissaries were taken from their homes in their childhood, when memories and relationships had not been fully formed; he had been "taken" as a young adult and felt torn between his two worlds.

The reader knows from the outset of the book that this man is back in Pakistan, although we do not know the circumstances of his return to his country.  The ending of the book is ambiguous, leaving the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about the identities and motivations of Changez and the American, whose name is never disclosed.

Upon reflection, I am struck by the cleverness of the title of the book. During Changez's stint as an investment banker, his mentor tells him to "rely on the fundamentals".   So even before the awakening of his true feelings and his return to Pakistan, Changez is a fundamentalist of a sort.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a quick and thought-provoking read and would be a great selection for book groups.   Now I'm on to something lighter--The Reversal by Michael Connelly.  Enough already with all the 9/11 intensity!

Bonnie and Clyde -- Broadway Bound?

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow

I wanted to check out some local theater while Jay is gone and decided on Bonnie and Clyde at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota.  I set my GPS and headed off in plenty of time for the 2:00 matinee.  Unfortunately, I put South Tamiami Trail in as the location rather than North Tamiami Trail and ended up literally running to my seat as the curtain came up.

I was pleasantly surprised by the production.  After years of being disappointed by Broadway shows (I'd say my "hit" rate is about 50%, and I definitely have no problem leaving at intermission if I'm not enjoying the show), I didn't have high expectations.  I had read, though, that the Asolo has some history of previewing shows that go on to Broadway, so I was definitely interested in seeing this new musical.

The focus of the play is the relationship between Bonnie and Clyde and what drove them to their life of crime--the back story to the 1967 movie with Warren Beattie and Faye Dunaway that most people have seen. The production drew me in from the beginning.  The initial scene showed a young Bonnie dreaming about growing up to be a movie star like Clara Bow and a young Clyde playing with guns and thinking about how he'd shoot his way out of any situation like a good ol' cops and robbers movie.  The young actors playing the roles had great voices but what made the scene really effective was the use of old movie clips playing on the screen behind them.  As Bonnie sang about how she wanted to be the new "it" girl, pictures of Clara Bow were flashing up on the screen so you could literally see how captivating she must have been to a young girl.  And as Clyde sang about shooting his way out, scenes from what passed for action movies in the '30s played out on the screen above so you could see how a young boy might romanticize such a life.

Photo provided to Sarasota Herald Tribune by Asolo

I enjoyed the music in the show, although I didn't leave the theater humming any of the tunes and the lyrics rhymed a bit too much for my taste.  (I am no songwriter or poet so when I can anticipate the next line, you know it's not a big stretch!)  All of the actors had good voices, and the song "Dyin' Ain't So Bad" by Laura Oshnes was a show stopper.  The sets were fantastic (in the panel discussion afterwards, the director said that Tobin Ost, the set designer, is his "secret weapon").  The multi-media aspect of the play was what really made the play for me, though.  Throughout the play, pictures of the real Bonnie and Clyde and their cohorts and headlines about their escapades were used to remind you that the events that you were seeing on stage had actually occurred. 

I did find myself wondering a couple of times during the show if certain aspects of the play were factual or whether they were taking artistic liberties.  For instance, the governor of Texas was played by a woman.  I had to wonder whether Texas was progressive enough to elect a woman back in the 1930s.  The answer is yes!  The program for the play is a big glossy thing with lots of info about Bonnie and Clyde and the world they grew up in and includes a page on "Texas Law & Order--Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, First Female Governor of Texas."  Ferguson was a fascinating woman.  Her husband had been governor from 1915-1917 and was impeached.  She was first elected in 1924, and ran with the slogan "Me for Ma, and I Ain't Got a Durned Thing Against Pa."  She was apparently frequently quoted as saying that she'd take her husband's advice into account and that "Texas would get two governors for the price of one."  (Very Clinton-esque!) 

I was fortunate to be at a performance that had a panel discussion afterwards, and it was quite interesting to hear about the process of trying to prepare a play for a Broadway run. Michael Donald Edwards, the Producing Artistic Director of the Asolo, was joined by Jeff Calhoun (director), Don Black (lyricist) and Ivan Menchell (book writer). They talked about the background of the show and then went to the audience for some feedback.  The show first opened in 2009 in La Jolla, California.  The group explained that the feedback they got from the audiences in the first run was that they wanted more about what made Bonnie and Clyde turn to this life of crime.  Seven songs were added to the show (which led them to ask the audience if the show was too long and a discussion of what to cut if it was), as well as the roles of the young Bonnie and young Clyde. One scene that was added related to Clyde's rape in jail at the hands of another prisoner (whom he killed).  The panel talked about how difficult it was to address this subject in a way that would be palatable for audiences but that they felt it was important to include because it was a turning point for Clyde.   In a 21st century twist, the panel explained that most of the changes to the play were vetted by them either over e-mail or by Skype conference calls.

The hope is obviously that Bonnie and Clyde will make it to Broadway.   I'll be curious to watch what happens.  Having seen lots of theater over the past 25 years, I think it would do fine.  After all, I didn't even think about leaving at intermission! 

Women Call for Peace: Global Vistas

Helen Zughaib's Prayers for Peace

When I was scouring the November issue of Happenings magazine, a monthly publication that covers Southwest Florida's arts and entertainment events, I saw a full page ad for an exhibit called Women Call for Peace:  Global Vistas that intrigued me.   The show is a traveling exhibit put together by ExhibitsUSA and the Center for the Arts in Bonita Springs (http://www.artcenterbonita.org/)  sprang for the $12,500 to house the show for a ten week period.  It is an incredibly powerful exhibit, featuring 53 works by 13 women artists.  The glossy brochure explains the premise of the show:  "Women are rarely the perpetrators of violent conflict but they nonetheless suffer its devastating effects--the loss of their sons and daughter, brothers and sisters, husbands and homes.  Therefore, women are assuming responsibility for ending violent human conflict on all fronts:  political, racial, religious and social.  They are raising their voices against violent aggression..."    A lofty goal, and this thought provoking exhibit makes its mark.

This multi-media exhibit has three components that flow seamlessly from one another:  war and peace, race and gender and religion and conflict.  The first work was a large quilt created by Linda Freeman entitled The World Was (9/11).  Freeman is a quiltmaker, filmmaker, painter and poet, and she used all of her skills (other than film making) in her works that were included in this exhibit.  The 9/11 Quilt was a rain of flowers overlaid on a poem that started "The World Was Numb from 8:45 on Tuesday..."    The contrast between the beauty of the quilt and the horrific events that inspired its creation was striking. 

Aminah Robinson's Bedouin Woman

Some of my favorite works in the show were from the series Sacred Pages:  People of the Book created by by Aminah Robinson.  It's difficult to tell from the picture on the left, but the Bedouin woman's veil is made from men's neck ties.  This struck me as an incredibly clever device and was more eloquent than an essay about the oppression of women in many Middle Eastern cultures.   Other works on display included a portrait of Yassar Arafat and a Hasidic Jew at Mount of Olives. 

Flo Oy Wong is an artist who calls herself a visual storyteller.  On display were two of her works from the series 1942:  Luggage from Home to Camp, which tells the story of Japanese Americans who were sent to interment camps during WWII.     People who were sent to internment camps were only permitted to bring two suitcases each, and Wong developed this series after thinking about "the emotional and psychological cramming of their lives" into these suitcases.  Each suitcase (which was actually used for the internment) had a wealth of information about its owner and his or her life:  pictures of friends and relatives, small items representing their interests and professions and a small mirror to reflect the changes as their lives changed so radically.

Irene Hardwicke Olivieri's Nature's Clean Up Crew

Nature's Clean Up Crew by Irene Hardwicke Olivieri was one of the few blatantly anti-Bush works in the exhibit.  In India's Parsi faith, it is a custom to leave the bodies of corpses outside in a location where vultures can devour the remains.   According to a WSJ article, Parsis engage in this practice due to their belief that "ritual purity of fire, soil and water should not be sullied by pollution from a defiling corpse." (This practice is apparently falling into disuse because of the drop in the vulture population.  If you want to read more, go to: http://www.meerasub.org/Articles_files/WSJ_A%20Crisis%20for%20the%20Faithful.pdf )  In Olivieri's work, the corpses of Cheney and Bush are left for the vultures to pick clean.  The blurb about the work explains that this is one "act of charity" in which the two men can participate. 

Each work in the exhibit was beautiful in its own way.  Some works would need to be truly studied in order to understand their full impact.  For instance, one piece by Faith Reingold was a map of the United States with acts of violence that occurred in each state set out.  One of the events in New York was the Attica prison riot in 1971 in which 1000 inmates took control of the prison, holding 33 staff hostage.  Their demands were not for immediate release but for better living conditions.  At the end of the four day stand-off, 39 people were dead and 28 of the prisoners' demands were agreed to.  (To read more about this event, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot .) 

In looking at ExhibitUSA's website, it appears that the show is going back home after its stint in Bonita Springs.  (Most of the works are on loan from ACA Galleries in New York.)  Are no other galleries or visual arts centers in the United States interested enough in this topic to pay the fee to house the show?  If so, I wonder if this a result of economic conditions or representative of a more general malaise or a lack of support for the arts.  I feel fortunate that the Center for the Arts in Bonita Springs had the vision to bring this exhibit to Southwest Florida and I am glad that I made the time to go see it.

Lake Shore Limited by Sue Miller

One of the great things about our move to Florida is that I'm now driving distance to my family.  My sister is outside of Boca Raton, which is only 2-1/2 hours away, and my parents are up in Panama City, a comfortable 500 miles away.  (No stopping in unexpectedly--lol.)   I decided to visit my sister during Jay's extended absence sailing our new boat home from Delaware (to read about his experience, go to http://playmobilgreatadventure.blogspot.com/) and decided to bring Sue Miller's Lake Shore Limited along for the ride.

I had not been listening to the book for long when I realized that I had inadvertently stumbled upon a 9/11 story.  (The "book" jacket just talks about a violent event that changes people's lives so I really wasn't expecting this.) Miller tells her story through the eyes of four characters:  Leslie, Rafe, Billie and Sam.  Billie is a playwright whose latest work, "Lake Shore Limited", is being put on in Boston.  As the story unfolds, we learn that Billie was living with a man named Gus who was on one of the planes that was hijacked on 9/11.  Leslie is Gus' sister and, although several years have passed, still sharply feels his loss.  She and her husband come to Boston from their home in New Hampshire to see the play and she invites her friend Sam along, with the thought of introducing Sam and Billie.  She has mixed feelings about the introduction for a number of reasons, not the least of which is wanting to preserve her image of Billie as the mourning lover.

The play takes Leslie by surprise as much as the book took me by surprise.  It is a thinly veiled allusion to the events of 9/11 told from the perspective of Gabriel, a man who is waiting to find out if his wife was one of the victims of a terrorist bombing of a train.  The moral dilemma for him is to determine how he feels about this prospect since he and his wife have grown apart--perhaps irreparably--and he has taken a lover.  Will he be relieved if she's dead?  Will it make him realize that in fact he did love her?  As he tries to sort this out, he recalls his relationship with his wife with a "pentimento of emotions", the ghost of emotions that have been painted over as their relationship changed over the years.  (This phrase particularly struck me since I was recently re-introduced to the concept of pentimento while at the Matisse exhibit which was the subject of one of my earlier posts.)  

The book goes on to tell the story of the other characters in relation to the play and how their own life experiences inform their reaction to the play.  You learn that Billie had decided to leave Gus before the events of 9/11.  You learn that Rafe, the actor who plays Gabriel, has a terminally ill wife at home.  You learn that Sam's first wife died after a prolonged bout with breast cancer.  You learn that the characters' reaction to the play changes over time.  This is true even for Billie, the playwright, who sees the play differently after a twist in Rafe's performance one evening.

I too brought my own experiences to the story.  On 9/11, Jay and I drove to Jersey City to work and had a fight on the way in.  I went up to my office with a view of the WTC and Jay took the Path over to downtown Manhattan.  By the time his train got across the river, the first plane had already hit. When Jay got out of the train in the basement of the WTC, cops were all over the place, urging the passengers to quickly depart the station.  He had no idea what was going on and thought there was either a bomb threat or some kind of police chase.  When he emerged from the building there was soot falling out of the sky like a rain shower.  In the midst of the confusion he was able to phone and let me know that he was okay.  At this point we had no idea about what had happened and could not anticipate the terrible things yet to come.  From my office window I had a front row view of the further horrifying events of the morning.  I watched the second plane crash into the Towers.  Our building--the tallest in Jersey City at the time--was evacuated and we all wandered the streets with no idea what was happening, what we should do or where we should go.  I ended up going back up to my office with a couple of colleagues where I witnessed the Towers coming down.  Even though almost ten years have passed, I can feel the horror of that day as if it were yesterday.  Throughout this time, I thought about the fact that Jay and I had had a fight that morning.  I had talked to him after the first plane hit but I didn't know where he was at the moment.  I thought he was probably fine but thinking is not the same as knowing.  What if the sharp words that we had in the car were the last we ever spoke?  Luckily for me, that wasn't the case, but it could have been, and it probably was for at least some of the people whose loved ones were victims of 9/11.

The story that is told in Lake Shore Limited  is emotionally brutal in its honesty.   It is not easy to listen to and I'm sure it wouldn't be easy to read.  We all have complicated emotional lives, and an event such as 9/11 puts them in sharper relief than usual.  Though this wasn't the theme of the book, it makes me remember that I shouldn't take the good things in my life for granted.  You never know when they might be taken away from you.

I'm Going to Pump You Up!

Hans and Franz from SNL will "pump you up"

One thing I'm enjoying about my new gym in Punta Gorda is the body pump classes.  I am woefully lazy when it comes to doing weight training on my own (which is pretty much mandatory when the weather dictates that you wear sleeveless shirts year-round) so it's great to have classes available that are predictably enjoyable.  Of course, they do take some getting used to, since you are using body bars and constantly changing the amount of weight on the bar.  (I've only knocked myself in the jaw once so far doing a cling and press, which I feel is a minor victory!)   The moves and the accompanying music are "choreographed" by the Leslie Mills company and you would think that it would get boring to do the same routine each time you go, but the instructors are high energy, so it's always engaging.  (The company does roll out new routines every few weeks as well to keep everyone on their toes.) 

I branched out into the body combat classes last week, which are really fun and challenging.   I was a bit hesitant because I tore my MCL the last time I took a martial arts type class--I actually had the experience of hearing a loud pop and suddenly finding myself on the ground, and it was not fun in the least--but the instructor encouraged me to take it at my own pace and to kick from the hip, not the knee, so I gave it a try.  What a work out!  Some people take body combat and body pump classes back to back, which I will maybe try to work up to.  In the mean time, it's time for me to get ready to go to the gym--writing this post has pumped me up to work out!

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

For years my good friend Pat has suggested that I read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird:  Some Instructions on Writing and Life.  I didn't follow up on her suggestion, though, because it's a book about writing.   I didn't quite see why I would be interested in reading this since I'm a reader, not a writer.  When I recently told Pat that I've been thinking more about writing, albeit newsletters and blogs, rather than fiction, she mentioned the book again so I finally went to the local public library and checked it out.  Let me tell you, this book is a treat!

From the moment I started the book, I didn't want to put it down.  I also didn't want to read it too quickly, though, because then I'd be done.  Lamott sets the book up by explaining that she teaches a class on writing and that she has distilled her lectures into this handy reference manual.  She starts the book with an intro that talks about growing up in a family of readers and a father who wrote for a living.  Watching her father go through his process taught her that "One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore."   (I actually get that.  As ridiculous as it sounds, writing this blog has led me to seek things out that I am interested in doing but might have otherwise skipped.)  She spends a lot of time talking about how being a writer teaches you to pay attention to the smallest details--to appreciate little nuances and build them into your stories for the reader to enjoy.   She talks about growing up as a funny looking kid and how she ended up using humor as a way to deal with her looks.  Her humor is apparent throughout the book--sometimes in a laugh out loud kind of way and sometimes in a more subtle way.  Take, for instance, her discussion of one writer she knows who has the ridiculous ability to write "elegant" first drafts.  Lamott says, "...we do not like her very much.  We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.  (Although, when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)"  

Lamott shares her perspective about the process of writing, including poems and quotes throughout the book that have inspired her or made her laugh.  When talking about her feelings about writing, she includes a poem that Wendell Berry wrote about his wife entitled "The Wild Rose":

Sometimes hidden from me

in daily custom and in trust

so that I live by you unaware

as the beating of my heart.

Suddenly you flare in my sight, 

a wild rose blooming at the edge

of thicket, grace and light

where yesterday was only shade,

and once again I am blessed, choosing

again what I chose before.

Each chapter in this book is a gem and in fact does have lessons about writing and lessons about life.  The title of the book came from an event from her childhood.  Her ten year old brother, having had three months to write a report for school about birds, found himself at the kitchen table the night before it was due with nary a word written and research all around him.  He was overwhelmed at the prospect of what he had to get done and asked his father for advice.  "Just take it bird by bird," he said.  Ah--a day at a time, a word at a time, a bird at a time.  What wonderful advice.

There are so many wonderful things in this book that I'd like to just copy it here for you to read.  The story that she tells about "false starts" is just another example.  It's really a cautionary tale about not jumping too quickly to conclusions (or assumptions about how people really are.)  Lamott went with her church group to a convalescent home to conduct a worship service.  On her first outing, she thought it was just about the most depressing place she'd ever been.  She felt that she immediately knew what the residents were all about and that she could have described them as a group to a T if she were writing about them.  Having stuck with the program for four years, she now sees them as individuals, appreciating each of their unique traits.  She talks about how they clap during the service.  "..even the ones who clap all clap differently.  Some clap along frailly, almost in silence.  One woman claps with great gusto, as if she's at a polka.  One old man claps once, as if to kill a fly."  She uses this experience in the book as an example of how you could get your characters all wrong if you didn't take the time to get to know them.  I take a larger lesson away from this story.

Bird by Bird is filled with great stories that any reader can appreciate, whether or not you aspire to be a writer.  I'm looking forward to reading one of Lamott's novels--I think I'll start with Rosie after having read about how difficult it was to get the story down in a way that made sense.  And I've resolved my concern about reading this book too quickly and being done with it--I've ordered a copy for myself that I can pick up anytime I want a few words of wisdom.   

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra - Carmina Burana

Wheel of Fortune from Carmina Burana Manuscript

As anyone who knows me is well aware, I am not the music lover in this family.  Scott is off at Peabody Conservatory studying the trumpet and Jay is a huge jazz lover and on the Board of WBGO, an all jazz radio station in Newark.   But I had the opportunity to go see the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra perform Orff's "Carmina Burana" last night and I am glad that I didn't miss it.  

First, a bit of info about the piece.  Carmine Burana is a collection of 254 medieval poems and dramatic texts that were written primarily in the 11th and 12th centuries by Goliards (clergy who wrote poems satirizing the Church).   They are primarily in Latin and Middle High German (all of which is Greek to me--groan, I couldn't resist!)  In the 1930s composer Carl Orff decided to set 24 of these poems to music.  There are actually 25 movements in the piece, as the opening movement, "O Fortuna" is repeated at the end (and trust me, you are happy to hear it again!)  "O Fortuna" is a piece that is often used in movies like The Lord of the Rings when something scary is about to happen.  You can hear the piece by clicking on this YouTube link:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crfdcYKd2RE  

There was some apprehension in the audience about whether the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra would be able to pull off a production of this magnitude.  Not only is the orchestral music complicated, but over 100 singers from the Fort Myers Symphonic Master Singers, EHarmonics, the Suncoast Chorale and the Charlotte Chorale Singers were required to mount this piece!  I personally went into the evening only knowing the basics about it and fully expected to grin and bear the evening.  The President of the Board of the CSO cautioned the audience before the show began to resist the impulse to clap between movements--just wait, she said, until Maestro Wada turns around and indicates that it is over.  I had to smile to myself when she said that, both because I was remembering times when I've clapped inappropriately (like at Scott's senior recital--how embarrassing!) and because I anticipated that I would only want to clap at the end because I was glad I had survived the evening.   I'm glad that she gave this warning as I had to stop myself on several occasions from bursting into applause.

The performance was truly incredible.  It captured me from the first moment of "O Fortuna" (really--listen to this movement on the YouTube link if you're not familiar with the piece and you will see how powerful it is).   The singing was remarkable and the musicians were more than up to the task.  There were 32 separate percussion instruments played by five different musicians during the course of the concert, including castanets and what sounded like sleigh bells.  Maestro Francis Wada is in his second season at the CSO and was a very physical and emotional conductor.   The response of the audience to the show was so overwhelming that they actually played "O Fortuna" as a third time for an encore!  I don't know what the rest of the musical season holds for the CSO, but this will definitely be a hard act to follow.

Life is Just a Three Ring Circus, Act III--The Ringling Museum of Art

My last stop was the Ringling Museum of Art itself.  Unfortunately, I approached the Museum from the wrong side and ending up starting with the Searing Wing and working my way backwards through the galleries. Most people would start with the Museum, end with the Searing Wing and then exit to walk over to Ca' d'Zan through Mabel's Rose Garden and the Banyon Groves, but, as usual, I did things my own way.

I have to admit that the art on display at the Ringling Museum is not my favorite with its emphasis on works from the Baroque and Renaissance periods.  I was actually strolling through the galleries and thinking to myself, "Self, this isn't nearly as interesting as the Arcimboldo Exhibit was at the National Gallery" when I looked up and there were two Arcimboldo paintings right in front of me!  (And if I had any questions as to whether his art fit in with that of his contemporaries, it was resolved once and for all right then!)  I was astonished to learn that most of the works that are on display in the Museum were actually owned by Ringling and donated to the State of Florida as part of his estate .  When I was talking with one of the guards, he told me that Ringling owned another 500-600 paintings that are in storage because there just isn't room to display them.   Truly a collector on a grand scale. 

The highlight of the Museum can be found in Galleries 1 and 2 -- five huge "cartoons" done by Rubens on the theme of the Triumph of the Eucharist. The works were commissioned by Rubens' royal patron, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, to provide the basis for a series of tapestries that would be woven and presented to the Poor Ciares, the Franciscan convent of the Royal Discalced Nuns in Madrid and are the actual size of the tapestries.  As you walk into the first Gallery, the space opens up majestically and you are surrounded by four amazing paintings . It truly takes your breath away.  One of the tapestries is also on display in the foyer as you enter.   If you are interested in reading more about Rubens and his works on display at the Ringling, you can go to http://www.willemswebs.com/ringlingdocents/pages/Galleries1&2.pdf

I then exited the Museum into a sculpture garden and courtyard that took me by surprise.  Once again, the Ringlings' love of all things Italian was front and center.   The setting was reminiscent to me of the Vatican with the sculptures (of saints???) on the roof of the building looking down at the visitors. The marble and bronze sculptures are beautiful--I particularly liked the horses and chariot pictured at the right.

The piece d'resistance, though, is the sculpture of the David that is at the end of the courtyard.  I had to laugh--the vision of the David, my all-time favorite sculpture that I spent hours in front of at the Academia in Florence, surrounded by palm trees was just too incongruous.  When I approached the sculpture, though, I learned that it is a 20th century bronze case from the marble original by Michelangelo.  Crazy! 

Needless to say, I will be visiting the Ringling Museum of Art many times in the years to come.  I haven't even mentioned that the Historic Asolo Theater is also on the grounds.  http://www.asolorep.org/    But that is a topic for another day.

Life is Just a Three Ring Circus, Act II--Ca'd'Zan Mansion

The second stop on my visit to the John and Mabel Ringling property was Ca' d'Zan Mansion, the Venetian-style home that they commissioned to have built for them for $1.5 million.   We're talking 1926 dollars, so you can imagine that it is not exactly modest.   It has been described as the last of the Gilded Age mansions to be built in the United States and it rivals the homes in Newport that I've toured.  Only the ground floor of the 22,000 square foot four story mansion is open to the public and I think I will go back and take a tour of the whole home at some point.  (If you pay an additional $5 for a docent-led tour, you get to see the second floor.  If you spring for the "private places" tour, for an additional $20, you also get to go up in the 61' Tower and see John's exercise room--I'm thinking he didn't have an elliptical machine!--study and game room and some of the 32 bedrooms.  The Mansion had to be restored in the 1990's at a cost of $15 million and I can't begrudge them trying to recoup some of those costs.)

The first room that I visited was the West Ballroom and it was truly fabulous.  The room itself is on the intimate side--definitely not the size of a ballroom that you might find in other mansions of the era.  What was striking, though, were the 22 paintings on the gilded ceiling.  Hungarian artist Willy Pogany, best known for his Art Nouveau illustrations of classic myths and legends, was apparently given free rein to do what he wanted and he chose to depict dancing couples from different nations. The photos I took do not begin to do them justice.  Each painting was unique and the subjects ranged from mythological figures (above) to Japanese geisha girls to African Americans who appear to be at a speak easy to the couple on the right who seem to be early incarnations of Fred and Ginger.  Pogany apparently did some paintings on the third floor of the Mansion as well that included portraits of the Ringlings dressed in Venetian Carnival attire and some of their pets--maybe I'll have to do the private places tour at some point to seem them!

The next room I visited was what was referred to as the "Court" and, once again, the ceilings were the main attraction for me.  This is the room where John and Mabel entertained such luminaries such as Will Rogers and Flo Ziegeld.   The furnishings in the room were "typical" heavy Italian, with abundant amounts of gold leaf.  The ceilings were plaster painted to look like wood, however, and the semi-folk art feeling paintings seemed somewhat out of place in all that opulence. The paintings in this room were apparently done from unset cameos that Mabel Ringling owned, which is pretty astonishing in and of itself.    

Nothing in the rest of the interior of the first floor of the mansion warrants mention here but my socks were knocked off when I walked outside onto the terrace.  The mansion has 1,000 feet of waterfront property on Sarasota Bay (Jay would definitely be drooling) and it is truly stunning.  John Ringling docked his yacht there and Mabel, in the Venetian spirit of the home, had her own gondola that was housed at a small island just off the terrace that no longer exists.  The view from the terrace today includes parts of downtown Sarasota.  I can only imagine how fabulous it was when no other buildings dotted the horizon.   Sadly, Mabel Ringling died in 1929, so she only got to enjoy her home in Sarasota for a few years.  John Ringling died in 1936 and he willed the entire estate to the State of Florida.  It is truly a Florida treasure.

Life is Just a Three Ring Circus, Act I--The Ringling Circus Museum

I had to get my car serviced in Sarasota last Monday so I had a couple of hours to kill.  Since the dealership was kind enough to give me a loaner, I decided to check out the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota (http://www.ringling.org/) and it is well worth the $25 admission charge.  (I thought it was free on Mondays, but that's only if you want to limit your visit to the art museum.)  The art museum is situated on a 66 acre piece of land on Sarasota Bay and your admission also includes a visit to the Circus Museum (which was my primary destination) and John and Mabel Ringling's home, Ca' d'Zan Mansion. I'm going to break my visit down into three separate posts since each aspect of the estate is worth writing about. 

My first stop was the Circus Museum, which was fascinating.  There is currently a poster exhibit on display from various circuses.  Some of the graphics are really terrific, and I had to chuckle to myself when I read about the consolidation of circuses that occurred over the years.  (Having lived through the consolidation of the financial services industry during the last 15 years, I can empathize!) 

I enjoyed looking at the posters but was much more taken with the photographs and newspaper articles.  Harry Atwell was the official circus photographer for the 1909 season and did a series of photos entitled "The Clown and the Show Girl".  While staged, some of these shots are fantastic and are intended to evoke the idea of Beauty and the Beast. I was saddened to read about the fire that occurred under the Big Top in 1944 in Hartford and claimed the lives of 168 people.  Five individuals who worked for the circus were arrested following the fire, which was attributed to a stray cigarette being tossed on the ground.  If this interests you, the website (http://www.circusfire1944.com/)  has extensive information.  (Maybe I was particularly interested in this because I'm watching the series Rescue Me on Netflix now!)

Of course, there was lots of information about clowns.  I'll be the first to admit that, like many people, I find clowns to be a bit creepy.  It was interesting, though, to learn a little about the place of clowns (more precisely, the predecessor to modern day clowns, the court jester) in history.  For instance, did you know that the role of a jester can be traced back to 1818 B.C. China?  Or that in the Middle Ages, court jesters were given a unique freedom of speech that was often a catalyst for social change?  In relatively recent history, clowns have provided social commentary to circus-goers.   Emmett Kelly, one of the world's most famous clowns, is remembered for his "Weary Willie" persona that was developed during the Depression.  His most famous routine was trying, unsuccessfully, to sweep up a pool of light being beamed from a moving spot light.  (I've had those Sisyphus-like days myself!)

Like all circuses, the Ringling Brothers Circus had its share of the spectacular.  One exhibit featured the human cannonball, which has to be one of the craziest acts of all time.  In the 1940s, Ringling Brothers' cannonball act involved two sisters being shot through the air 140 feet at a speed of 125 miles per hour.  That is just downright ridiculous!

Cecil B. DeMille recognized that the circus was a fantastic subject for a movie and made the Greatest Show on Earth in 1952.  The movie won in the Best Picture and Best Writing categories.  The cast is fabulous and includes Jimmy Stewart, Charlton Heston and Dorothy Lamour.  Edith Head did the costumes for the movie (and earned a nomination for her work).  I have to admit that my curiosity has been piqued and the movie is going to be added to my Netflix queue.  The question is will I watch the movie before or after I re-read Water for Elephants?

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

I am a huge library person.  Call me cheap, but I find it difficult to justify spending $25+ for a hardback book when I'll be able to get the book from the library in the not-too-distant future.   This is especially true since my tastes in reading tend to the thriller/mystery genre.  (I recently realized that as a young reader, the Nancy Drew and Bobbsey twin series featured high on my list, along with biographies of strong American women--that about sums it up, doesn't it?!!)  So, when I break down and not only buy a book, but pre-order it on Amazon, you know that I am really, really anxious to read it!

Lee Child's Worth Dying For arrived at my front door step about ten days ago.  I was particularly anxious to read the latest in his Jack Reacher series because his preceding book, 61 Hours, was a cliffhanger.  Unlike the TV show 24, it was unusual for one of his books to end with a question as to whether Jack had survived, and I have to admit to being a bit agitated when I finished.  Stephen King's Misery came to mind in which a fan became so upset that an author had killed off her favorite character that she held him hostage in an attempt to get him to resurrect the character (a la Bobby Ewing in Dallas back in the '80s).  But I digress even more than usual.

I am happy to report that Jack is in fact back and he's as smart as ever, although he is suffering the physical after-effects of the events from 61 Hours.  In this latest installment, Jack stumbles upon a town that is controlled by a family that is evil to the core.  He gets involved when he drives a drunken--but not totally incapacitated--doctor for a house call to a wife who has been beaten up once again.  Jack being Jack, he just can't leave it alone until his own brand of justice has been done.  This is the fifteenth book in the Reacher series and I would rate it as good but not his absolute best.  I love introducing people to Jack and cannot urge you strongly enough to read this series from start to finish if you are a fan of thrillers.  For info about the books, just go to http://www.leechild.com/.  Trust me, you will not be disappointed!

Postscript:  In the NY Times Readers' Greetings section appearing on November 26, 2010, Janet Maslin named 61 Hours as one of her top ten favorite books for 2010.  Go, Jack!