The Gatlinburg Game

You can just feel the excitement.

Bridge is a partnership game, which is one of the things that makes it so much fun.  Having said that, I never quite "got" how many relationship skills bridge requires until Maggie and I sat across the table from each other for what seemed like zillions of hours last week at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Bridge Tournament in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  At its heart, a bridge partnership is about communication; the better you and your partner communicate, the greater the likelihood that you will do well.  (In case you're wondering, a kick under the table or a deer in the headlights look when your partner leaves you in an unexpected contract does not count as "communication.")   Over the course of a 10+ hour day spent with cards in your hands, there are a lot of highs and lows. The trick is to figure out how to enjoy the highs without losing focus and learn from the lows without getting (too) irritated with each other.  Yep, it's a lot like life.

Maggie and me atop the Smoky Mountains

The other thing I learned last week is that it is key to incorporate non-bridge events into a bridge "vacation."  Happily, Maggie and I had the good sense to do that.  Really, what's the point of being in the Smoky Mountains if you spend all of your time sitting in a conference center?   And so one morning we headed up on the Ober Gatlinburg Aerial Tramway, a 2-mile ride that drops you at the Ober Gatlinburg Ski Resort and Amusement Park.    From there we took a chair lift up to this magnificent view of the mountains.  While I love living in Florida, it is a bit flat here, so taking in this vista was thoroughly enjoyable (especially without the prospect of getting down the mountain with skis on).  The only downside of our adventure was that I spent the rest of our time in Gatlinburg with the song "On Top of Old Smoky" in my head--the "meatball" version, of course.

I had been told that Gatlinburg was not a cultural mecca, but I took that to mean that it would be a two horse town.  Nope.  There's lots of entertainment in the area.  On our way from the Knoxville airport to Gatlinburg, Maggie and I drove through Pigeon Forge, a town chock full of strange attractions like Dollywood and a Titanic museum and the Hatfield and McCoys dinner theater.  Maggie was highly intrigued by the mysterious WonderWorks, an upside down building that is apparently an interactive museum of some sort. (Next time, Maggie!)   Gatlinburg itself offered diversions like moonshine tasting and this "Wheel of Death" outside the Amazing Mirror Maze.  I was just as happy to be at the bridge table.

For any bridge players out there, I'm pleased to report that Maggie and I came away from the tournament with 2+ gold points (after miraculously having a 63% game one night) and 4+ red points.  More importantly, we had a lot of laughs, and both our friendship and our partnership remain intact (although there were a couple of touch and go moments!)  And gluttons for punishment that we are, we're already looking at the ACBL website for future opportunities to do it all over again.   

ArtPoems 2014

ArtPoems by Myra Roberts

Sometimes the sum truly can be larger than its parts.  And so it is with the collaboration of artists and poets (not to mention dancers and musicians) in the ArtPoems project.  I'd heard about the project--now in its eighth year--in the past, but have never made it to the show.  This year I attended the Multimedia Stage Presentation at which the artists and poets talked about the process and the poets read their poems.  Very fun.

Here's how ArtPoems works:  Twelve artists and twelve poets get together at a meeting in the fall with five of his or her works of art or poems in hand.  At the meeting, each poet draws an artist's name and each artist draws a poet's name to determine the 24 partnerships for the show.  The result is 12 works of art that have been inspired by poems and 12 poems that have been inspired by artwork.

Sometimes the artist/poet looked at his or her choices at the meeting and made an immediate selection. But not always.  Some poets shared that they brought five paintings home and lived with them for a time to see which spoke most loudly.  And some artists brought the poems home and read them over and over, waiting for an image to emerge in their minds.  The result is an exciting show with some wonderful poetry and art work in media ranging from paintings to jewelry to sculpture to photography.

Peg Cullen

Not surprisingly, I have several favorite pairings from the show. Artist Peg Cullen's colorful work was inspired by Sid Simon's "The Grading Game Fraud," a poem about helicopter parents and the pressure on kids today to achieve from the time they leave the womb. (It's hard to tell from the photo, but the work features ribbons that have been awarded to the kids.)  The poem reads, in part:

"..You want your son or your daughter in our College?
You must begin before they enter kindergarten.
We recommend that you start grading your children, on everything!
Start posting grading sticky notes immediately on your nursery walls.

A sticky note, 0 - 100, for every activity they are involved in.
Oh, yes, when they to go the Potty, 0-100.  When they wash
their hands, or don't pick their nose, or chew with their
mouth closed, everything.  Teach them, 0-100.  Teach them..."

Poet Dorothy Brooks and photographer JR Roberts were the only pairing who provided the inspiration for each other's contributions to the show.   Dorothy's poem entitled "What Remains" was inspired by this photograph.  It reads, in part:

"Beach Tree" by JR Roberts

"Like a woodcut from long ago
the lines are firmly chiseled,
lines of water, lines of cloud,

even the perfect droplets
where a now-distant wave
has broken on the rocks, perfectly

preserved.  And in the center
that dark, brooding outline,
a skeleton of a tree

forever lifting
bare branches
to the sky---...."

"Malala" by Myra Roberts

You might remember the story last year of a young girl in Pakistan who was targeted for execution by the Taliban for taking the public position that girls are entitled to receive an education.  Her courage inspired what was perhaps my favorite pairing:  Lorraine Walker Williams' poem "Malala," which was created in response to Myra Roberts' painting of the same name.

Williams' poem reads, in part,

"...A world away a courageous girl,
Malala becomes the voice of young girls
kept in darkness, the darkness of illiteracy,
simply because they are born female,
girls who hide books under their clothes,
   girls who risk to learn...."

It was quite a special evening.  In addition to hearing from the artists and the poets, music was provided by Barbara Kraichy on the harp and Ted Myerson on the guitar during the reception before the program began.  Each of Kraichy and Myerson also performed original music while some of the poems were read.  Members of the Fort Myers' Dance Alliance similarly performed several dances whose choreography was inspired by the art/poetry pairing.

If you want to see more, you can find some of the art work and poems by going to the ArtPoems website.  (Click here.)  Mysteriously, not all of the works are included, which is a disservice both to those artists/poets whose works are not available and to arts lovers who'd like to see the entire exhibit.  If you're in the Fort Myers area this week, the show runs through Thursday at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center.   It's definitely worth a visit.

Viewpoints: All Sewn Up

"Mud Cookies"

I first discovered the work of Patricia Anderson Turner at an exhibit at the Visual Arts Center.  Turner is a fiber artist who finds herself increasingly incorporating social commentary into her work.  I was immediately drawn to her "Mud Cookies."  It's a beautiful quilted work featuring the "cookies" that Haitian women make out of mud, clay, salt and shortening.  When food sources are short, you make do with what's available.  The work was powerful, and it stayed with me long after I left the show.  And so I was intrigued when I heard that an exhibit of Turner's social commentary pieces would be on display at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Port Charlotte.  It's a thought-provoking show.

"Dripping Down the Drain"

Each of the mixed media works in the show highlights a social ill, ranging from the torture perpetrated by the United States at Abu Ghraib to the effects of climate change to the circumstances giving rise to the Syrian Uprising. The wall card for each work includes a brief explanation of the issue that Turner is addressing.

Turner uses her "Dripping Down the Drain" to bring focus to what is becoming a global water crisis.  People living in the United States use an average of 176 gallons of water each day.  In Africa, people use a mere five gallons. According to a report by the United Nations, by the year 2025, two-thirds of the global population will face water shortages.  Ironically, I received an email today with a flyer highlighting April as Water Conservation Month.  If I hadn't just seen Turner's show, the likelihood is that I would have deleted the email without even looking at it.  Instead, I took a look at the "water challenge" that students are being asked to participate in.  Click here to find out easy ways that you can conserve water in your daily life.    

"DARkly FURgotten"  

Turner's "DARkly FURgotten" highlights the treatment of women in Darfur.  Again, the wall card filled us in on the scene pictured here.  A doctor treated the woman depicted in the work for wounds to her wrists.  She had been raped, tortured and hung from a tree for three days. The sea of trees represents the other victims who remain nameless and faceless. (Note:  Both "DARkly FURgotten" and "Mud Cookies" were recently purchased by the Museum of Michigan State University, a Smithsonian affiliate, for its permanent collection.) 

"High Frequency Trading"

My personal favorite work in the show is Turner's piece lamenting high frequency trading.  I learned about the phenomenon of HFT only recently when I saw an interview with Michael Lewis on the Daily Show.  (Lewis was promoting "Flash Boys," his new book on the subject.) Apparently the issue has been on Turner's radar screen for a while.  I love the crazy colors in this piece that reflect the freneticism of the trading.  And Turner's insertion of couple from Grant Woods' "American Gothic" is a bit of comic relief in an exhibit that otherwise doesn't give you much to smile about.

"Viewpoints:  All Sewn Up" will be on display at the UUF through the end of the month.  I urge you to stop by to see the show if you get the chance.

To learn more about the art of Patricia Anderson Turner, you can go to her website by clicking here.  

Asolo Rep Presents 4000 Miles

The attention to detail that the Asolo Repertory Theater gives its productions is just one reason why going to a performance there is always a treat.  Take, for instance, the set for 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog.  As the play opens, we find ourselves in the living room of a brownstone apartment somewhere in lower Manhattan. The windows to the apartment were situated on the left hand side of the stage, and when day broke the sunlight filtered through the curtains.  We could hear the traffic outside the window, much as I myself heard every day during the 13 years that I lived in New York.  It was a small touch, but one that I noticed and appreciated.

I was glad that I noticed these details before the play really got underway because once it did, I was fully engrossed.  At its heart, 4000 Miles involves the relationship between a woman who is facing her mortality and her grandson who is struggling to come to terms with a recent tragedy.   Lois Markle is a wonderful actress who is appearing at Asolo Rep for the first time.  Her credits include performances on Broadway in True West (with the much-missed Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and The Grapes of Wrath (now being performed on the Asolo's main stage).  Markle was superb as Vera.  She fully inhabited her character both physically and emotionally. While Vera is definitely spry for a 91-year old, she is a bit stooped and has trouble hearing.  She is funny at times, and more than a bit insightful.  I realized later that Markle reminded me of Frances Sternhagen, an actress whose performances I always enjoy.  I hope we'll see more of her.  

Ben Williamson took on the role of Leo, her grandson.  I didn't have a chance to look at the program before the show began, and I was astonished to learn that Williamson is a third year student in the FSU/Asolo Conservatory Theater program.  He was excellent and had every bit the stage presence of a seasoned actor in a role that could have easily been overplayed.  (Given the caliber of performance the second year students have put on this year, I really shouldn't have been surprised.)

Of course, strong acting alone is not enough to make a theater performance enjoyable  You need a good script as well, and 4000 Miles more than filled the bill.  The show was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won the 2012 Obie Award for Best New American Play, and was lauded by Time Magazine as the "best play of the season, hands down."  It's a story about dealing with loss and change and relationships.  In other words, it's a story about life.  4000 Miles is playing at the Asolo Rep through April 27th.  It's worth making a trip to Sarasota to see.      

Fifth Annual Pedal and Play in Paradise

Pedal and Play in Paradise is the epitome of what life in Punta Gorda is all about.  The event celebrated its fifth anniversary this year, and it was my third time as a participant.  Each year I've enjoyed the event more.  I'm sure that's in part because I know more people.  But I think it's also because my appreciation of the commitment people have to making Punta Gorda such a special place also continues to grow.

Jennifer French

This year, the Yoga Sanctuary joined in the fun with two yoga sessions.  On Friday night, Jennifer French led a sunset class at Laishley Park.  Needless to say, I was all over that.  What could be better than yoga by the water with a cool breeze flowing over you?  (Sure, some people would say that sitting at the Tiki Hut having a cocktail--and watching people do yoga--is more fun, but I'll take my downward dog any day.)  We all laughed when Jen reflexively instructed us to bring our collective gaze to the ceiling.  It made me think of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song and the room without a roof.

I also showed up for the 6:40 pre-ride yoga stretch on Saturday morning.  I wasn't thrilled when my alarm went off at 6 a.m., but it felt great, and it was a fun way to get the day started.

One benefit of arriving so early was that I had the chance to see a little bit of what's involved in putting on this event. Volunteers had been there since 5:30 setting up registration tables and the breakfast spread, and everybody had smiles on their faces. At 7:00 sharp, riders started showing up. Being in the midst of people who are excited and looking forward to the day can't help but make your energy level soar.  With over 500 riders, that was a lot of positive energy!

Me, Dorrit, Bruce and Emila

As in years past, I hemmed and hawed over which ride to do.  The 62 mile ride was out of the question, but I always consider the 30 mile route, with the 15 mile ride as my back-up plan.  And, as always, I ended up doing the shortest ride, an 11 mile poker run.  In the past, the event's shortest ride has been a "mystery tour."  Riders were given a list of questions to find the answers to along the way.  It was lots of fun to search out the number of stop signs at Fishermen's Village or what's unique about the way armadillos breed.  (In case you're wondering, most armadillos give birth to quadruplets of the same sex.)  Event organizers mixed it up a bit this year with the poker run, with stops along the route to pick up our sealed envelopes with cards.  It just seemed like too much fun to miss out on, and I figured I can always go for a long ride on my own, right?  (Sadly, similar to my intent to do early morning yoga on my own, can and will are two very different things.)

Aahhhh

As you can imagine, I was pretty tight after the intense 11 mile ride (punctuated with four stops along the way where we chatted with other riders and picked up additional water, snacks and our cards).  And so I took advantage of the free massages being given by two therapists from the Therapeutic Wellness Center.  Kathleen Kelley was my therapist, and she was awesome.  Despite the fact that there was a lot of activity going on around me, I was transported to a calm and quiet place, and I staggered around a bit when I got off the table the way you do when you've had a really good massage.

Jim Morris

Before we knew it, Jim Morris began the entertainment portion of the event, playing his own brand of trop-rock.  And then it was time to eat again.  (Seriously, even if you do the 62 mile ride, you run the risk of gaining weight at this event!)   Both breakfast and lunch were delicious, and actually very healthy if you limited yourself to one cookie.  

My hand

It was finally time for the big reveal, and tension mounted as the 100 or so riders who participated in the poker run tore open their envelopes to find if Lady Luck was on their side.  It was a bit chaotic as participants -- many of whom were not experienced poker players -- tried to figure out if their hands had a chance of winning.  (As you can see, mine was pretty lame.)  After a lot of discussion, three winners were announced -- two people with flushes and Emila with three tens in her hand).  Prizes were given out and the crowd disbursed, with many riders continuing on with the City Manager Tour.  Unfortunately,  a prior commitment prevented me from going on that ride, but I understand it was great. City Manager Howard Kunik showed off where the new library will be built and where exercise equipment will be installed on the Linear Trail (compliments of the Rotary Club) along with a variety of other interesting things going on about town.

I almost forgot to mention that the purpose behind the event is to raise money for two great causes. Pedal and Play is co-sponsored by TEAM Punta Gorda and the Isles Yacht Club.  TEAM will use its share of the proceeds to promote bike initiatives in Punta Gorda.  (Last year's earnings are being used to print brochures with information about the bike loaner program and local bike routes.)  The Isles Yacht Club will donate its share of the proceeds to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  (The event is the portion of the IYC's annual Leukemia Cup supported by the Club's cyclists.)

As they say at the Academy Awards, too many people were involved in putting together this year's Pedal and Play to name each one individually.  Special kudos go out to Marilyn Thomas, Ray Starsman and Robin Adair, who headed up event planning on behalf of TEAM and IYC, respectively.  It was a wonderful day in our wonderful city, leading me to ask my rhetorical question once again, "Aren't I lucky to live here?"

Reading by Ear

There's an upside and a downside to the phenomenon of audio books.  The upside is easy: when I'm under the spell of a good audio book, I find myself wanting to walk further, work out longer, so that I can find out what happens next. The downside, though, is the frustration of not being able to mark a wonderful passage to savor later and share.  And this is the situation I found myself in with not one, but two, terrific books that crossed through my sound barrier recently.

The first is Joshilyn Jackson's A Grown Up Kind of Pretty.  I got this book from the library on a nifty MP3 player (which both the librarian and my friend Wendi had to show me how to use).   I read Jackson's Someone Else's Love Story last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I'm happy to say that she's two for two.

I fell into this book from whatever the equivalent is of the opening page.  Jackson herself is the reader, and her easy Southern accent lends an authenticity to her family of characters: Big/Ginny, Little/Liza, and Mosey.  As the story begins, we are in a "trouble year."  When Big was 15, she had a baby girl.   Liza, that baby, gave birth to her own little girl when she was 15.  Now, Mosey, the third generation of the family, is having her 15th birthday, leaving them all to wonder what trouble the year will hold.

I don't want to spoil the story, but I will tell you that Mosey is good as gold, and does not make the family three for three on the teen-age pregnancy front.  There is indeed trouble for the family, though, and as we begin the book, Big is about to head into a conference room filled with lawyers and a long-time enemy.  When we return to this room at the end of the story, Jackson says of the impending encounter, "It's like high stakes poker, and my opponent's got a pair of lawyers in her hand."  This is just one example of her turns of phrase that made me long for a copy of the book and my little flags.

I loved A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty from start to finish.  Sure, there were some things that weren't wholly believable, but I didn't care.  Her characters are richly drawn, and I could envision each of the three women clearly.  Their stories are told through chapters alternating among the three women's voices.  Each is ultimately struggling with the same issue, but from her own unique perspective.  And that's all I'm going to say, except that you should put this book on your "to read" list.

Next up was Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings.  When I started listening to this book, I thought that Kidd would be at the Author Dinner for the Southwest Florida Reading Festival that I recently attended.  She didn't make the event, which was the cause of much disappointment for readers there, several of whom had brought copies of the book in hopes of getting her signature. Now that I've finished the book, I can understand why having a signed copy would be a coveted possession.  I also understand why this book was one of Oprah's picks for her 2.0 book club.

Like Secret Life of Bees, The Invention of Wings deals with race relations, strong women, and their complicated relationships.  And like A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, the story is told through the alternating voices of her protagonists:  Sarah and Handful.  Two different narrators play the women, an oddity in audio books, but one that I greatly appreciated.

The Invention of Wings takes us through nearly 35 years of these women's lives, beginning more or less with Sarah being "given" Handful as her waiting maid on the occasion of her 11th birthday.  Even at that tender age, Sarah was appalled at the idea of owning another human being.   As the story progresses, we learn through Handful's eyes what life is like as a slave.  And we learn through Sarah's eyes what it is like for a privileged girl/woman with a deep social conscience to live in those times.

The story is gripping, and I don't want to reveal any more of its details as this is a book you will want to read for yourself.   One thing I will tell you, though, is that Kidd included an author's note at the end of the book in which she tells readers where her novel diverged from fact into fiction.  (Kidd narrates this portion herself on the audio book, and it was powerful to hear her talk about the story in her own voice.)

Kidd got the idea for her novel on a visit to see Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.  ("The Dinner Party" is an "icon of feminist art" that deserves more than a passing nod here.  If you haven't seen this installation piece, it is worth a trip to New York to take in.)   One component of "The Dinner Party" is a heritage floor on which the names of 999 women -- both historical and mythical -- are written.  Kidd noticed the names of two sisters -- Sarah and Angelina Grimke.  She was intrigued, and became even more so when she learned that the sisters came from Charleston, South Carolina, where Kidd herself had lived for ten years.  The true story of their work as abolitionists and women's rights advocates provided the basis for The Invention of Wings.

I'm heading off soon on a 1700 mile road trip to, of all things, a bridge tournament in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  (Don't worry -- I won't regale you here with stories of the ways in which I misplayed my cards or share tales that only bridge players would think even mildly interesting or funny.)  Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch is coming with me, 32 hours of story that I'm hoping will make the miles fly by.  I'll let you know.  If you have any great books that you'd like to share, please pipe in with a comment to this post!