Mischling by Affinity Konar

I will tell you upfront: "Mischling" by Affinity Konar is not an easy read. In alternating voices, the novel follows the journey of Pearl and Stasha, 12-year-old twins sent to Auschwitz. Once there, they become subjects in Mengele's experiments involving doubles and other children he considered special. 

When we first meet Pearl and Stasha, they are arriving at the camp with their mother and grandfather. Music greets the boxcars as the doors swing open. (We learn more about this later.) They are taken from their family and soon have numbers inked on their arms. Stasha says of them, "I hated [Pearl's] numbers even more than mine, because they pointed out that we were separate people, and when you were separate people, you might be parted." 

The girls quickly learn the value of planning and resourcefulness.They allocate "necessities" between them. "Stasha would take the funny, the future, the bad. I [Pearl] would take the sad, the past, the good."

They make friends with the feisty Bruna. She's of interest to Mengele because she's an albino. She tells them that twins are more highly regarded. "...You are still objects to him, mere things. But precious objects. You are the grand pianos of this place, the mink coats, the caviar...The rest of us--just kazoos, canvas, tinned beans."

They make other friends as well. Stasha becomes close with Patient Number Blue, a boy who's lost his other half. Pearl becomes enamored of Peter. When she tells him she loves him, his response is sadly understanding of their reality. "You don't. You could--I think--in time. But you're just saying that to me because you think you won't have a chance to say it truthfully someday, aren't you?"

They become the subject of experiments. Eight hours a day, three days a week. The pain experienced by one girl is felt equally by the other.

As the story continues, unspeakable acts occur. But there's a resilience in the children's spirit that makes you keep reading.

That's all I'm going to tell you about this beautifully written, heartbreakingly difficult story.  I will, however, tell you a bit about what inspired author Affinity Konar to write "Mischling."

Konar comes from a family of Polish Jews. When she was 16, she read "Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz" by Lucette Matalon Lagnado. She learned that of the 3,000 twins who found themselves in Mengele's "Zoo," only 160 survived. The idea to write what became "Mischling" began with that reading.

As to the device of alternating between Pearl's and Stasha's voices, Konar said in an interview with The Canadian Jewish News, "I thought it was important to get two different perspectives, because I wanted one to, sort of, encapsulate a precise, clear, distant voice about the history that was taking place, and that was Pearl. Stasha sort of embodies a raw emotive perspective. Whenever I personally read a Holocaust narrative, I feel like I have those two voices, and I feel like everybody does, warring in their mind. You have a gut reaction, and then you’re trying to process the events. That’s why I decided to split it that way."

"Mischling" is not a book to read in one sitting. I couldn't muster the emotional wherewithal to read much more than a chapter at a time. But it's a part of history worth knowing -- and yet another reminder why the horrors of the Holocaust can never be forgotten.

Surprises at the Tampa Museum of Art

Plensa's "Laura with Bun"

I love a good artistic surprise. I got so excited when I saw the Jaume Plensa sculpture outside the Tampa Museum of Art that I nearly broke into a run (well, jog). And here I'd thought our visit was just a way to kill some time before dropping Maggie at the airport.

When I asked about the sculpture at the admission desk, I learned that I missed Plensa's "Human Landscape" exhibit at the Museum. How could that have happened? Plensa's work is right up my alley. The Spanish artist's sculptures are made of a variety of materials -- steel, cast iron, resin, light, sound -- and are intended to "lend physical weight and volume to multiple components of the human condition and soul."

The good news is that the Museum purchased Plensa's "Laura with Bun" so it is permanently on display. Click here to see more of his striking work.

Feurman's "The Golden Mean"

As we entered the galleries, another sculpture caught my eye -- Carole Feurman's "The Golden Mean." Feurman is a sculptor whose name I recognized. Two of her wonderful hyperrealistic sculptures will be featured at the Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens once it opens later this year. (Click here to see one of these works.)

I was a bit surprised by how different "The Golden Mean" is from her hyperrealistic work. But the theme of the connection between humans and water is the same. It's a concept Feurman has been exploring since the 1970s. "My subjects are swimmers. My medium is water," Feurman once remarked.

In this sculpture, she captures the moment before a high diver springs off his platform. (I wanted Maggie to replicate the pose for a photo opp, but she refused.) In Greek philosophy, the golden mean is the middle between two extremes. It's a place of symmetry, proportion and harmony. Feurman's sculpture captures this delicate balance.

Oliva's "The Great Journey"

The Museum's Complicated Beauty: Contemporary Cuban Art exhibit also yielded some surprises. The description on the website had not enticed me. But the exhibit itself is filled with thought-provoking and clever works.

Pedro Pablo Oliva's "The Great Journey" depicts Cuban refugees traveling in an umbrella to get to sanctuary. Although his work has elements of humor, the intention behind it is deadly serious.

The danger associated with open waters for refugees was highlighted by Yoan Capote's "Isla (Umbral)," a work situated just around the corner from "The Great Journey." The piece is a canvas filled with black fishing hooks and nails. Maggie noted the different perspective of Americans about oceans.To us, they symbolize vacations and relaxation. But to others, they represent the perils of trying to reach a better way of life. (Click here to see a different work by Capote in seascape series along with his explanation of the series, in which he draws a comparison between the sea and the Iron Curtain.)

Poblet's "Simplemente Bellas"

While the concept behind "Simplemente Bellas" by Mabel Poblet Pujols was also serious, the work made Maggie and me laugh with pleasure. The reason was simple -- when looking at the piece up close, you can't see the image of the woman. She emerged only when I stepped back and aimed my camera at the canvas. It reminded us of my trouble seeing Lincoln in Dali's "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Homage to Rothko)." (Click here for this amazing work, which a guard eventually taught me how to see using a pair of sunglasses.)

The idea for Poblet's work came from a visit to a Cuban women's prison where the inmates made plastic flowers from recycled materials. Poblet incorporates hundreds of these plastic flowers into her work, which explores "notions of aesthetics, identity and freedom." 

I came away from our visit to the Museum with a continuing appreciation for the creativity of artists and the way they use their work to provide commentary on today's world. It's an increasingly important endeavor at a time when our government is silencing those within it whose views--borne out by research rather than alternative facts--differ from the party line. 

brownsville song (b-side for tray) at Florida Studio Theatre

"Stage is a method of dialogue. It is a conversation the actors have with the audience each night." So said Kate Alexander, director of Florida Studio Theatre's upcoming production of "brownsville song (b-side for tray)."  The play, which was written by Kimber Lee, premiered at the prestigious Humana Festival for New American Plays in 2014.

FST believes the issues raised by "brownsville song" must be discussed in today's world. The show tells the story of an African-American boy about to head out into the world.  Tray lives with his grandmother and nine-year old sister in Brownsville, a rough area of Brooklyn. He is a good kid who's trying to get into college. But we learn in the opening scene that Tray was killed when he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tray's grandmother Lena opens the play with a heartbreaking monologue that Ms. Alexander compared to the foreshadowing sometimes seen in Shakespeare's plays. This excerpt will give you a sense of the emotion that hits the audience from the start.  The words in parentheses are stage directions.

"Do not begin with me
Do not start your telling with me
Trust me
It ain't the way you want this story to begin...
I got words crowdin up from my belly
through my neck
shoving my mouth into the same shape
forming the same out loud thought over and over
HE WAS NOT
HE WAS NOT
HE WAS NOT...
He ain't been in a gang
He ain't run with no crew
He ain't beef with anybody
He was not
And what he is
(Pause)
(A jagged breath.)
What he was
(The rage begins to breach her control -- she struggles, gets it in check....)
He was going to college this fall
He was a Golden Gloves Champion...
He was goin to the dentist next week and get his first filling
Eighteen years old and never hadda cavity...
He was a terrible liar and semi-reliable bout everything but his baby sister and boxing...
He was not the same old story...."

Director Kate Alexander

While there are moments of lightness in the show, it is not an easy show to watch. "It will definitely be hard on the audience," Ms, Alexander said, "Which is fantastic." 

FST doesn't expect "brownsville song" to be a mega-hit like this season's "Million Dollar Quartet" has been. But that's okay. The hope is that the show will make people think about the cost to society of gun violence and, perhaps, gain some compassion for those affected.

Ms. Lee was driven to write this play after reading a blog post about the death of a real high school-aged boy in Brownsville.  In an interview with Seattle Repertory Theater, she said, "..It lodged in my gut and wouldn’t let go. I kept thinking about this boy’s family and loved ones. I kept thinking about the tremendous loss of life in some of our communities, and how easy it is in this soundbite world for these losses to disappear from our consciousness, and how that is especially true for a neighborhood like Brownsville, which only makes the news when something bad happens. Then everyone forgets about it until the next incident, and nobody bothers to look more deeply into the fact that Brownsville has been an under-served, ignored section of New York City since its inception. Often there can be this sort of head-shaking resignation–“Oh well, that’s just what happens there”–or an assumption that if you look a certain way and live in a certain zip code, your life is worth less, you matter less, and this sort of wall silence descends around the loss..." (To read the interview in its entirety, click here.)

To facilitate a conversation about the issues raised by the show, there will be post-play discussions following each Thursday night performance of "brownsville song." In addition, FST is hosting two special panel discussions that will focus on the issues raised by the play.  On March 6, Dr. Eddy Regnier will lead a discussion about the Social Status of the Young Black Male.  And on March 13, Michele Redwine will lead a forum on the topic of Mothers and Daughters for Black Lives. Each event will take place at 5 p.m. in Bowne Theatre.

"brownsville song (b side for tray)" opens on Jan. 25 and will play through March 26.

Stalking the Bogeyman at Florida Studio Theatre

Here's a clue. If you find yourself wondering why a play was set in a seemingly random location, the likelihood is that it's a true story. Last summer at EdFringe, I asked Wendi why she thought "My Eyes Went Dark" was set in Russia. "It's probably based on something that actually happened," she said. It seemed improbable given the storyline, but she was right.

So I should have suspected that "Stalking the Bogeyman" was fact-based when I asked myself why it was set in Alaska. This knowledge makes the play even more worthy of theatergoers' time.

As the play opens, David is studying a map to determine the best place to commit a murder. The man who raped him when he was a child has reappeared in his life. Never having told anyone about the rape, he believes there's a high probability he can get away with the crime. 

David at seven years old

The audience is then whisked back in time to 25 years earlier when seven year old David and his family moved to Alaska. His parents become friends with their neighbors, whose high school son is a star athlete. When they get together, the two "kids" hang out in the basement. Things get out of control quickly as the neighbor turns into a sword-bearing rapist.

The rapist (whom David calls the Bogeyman) assures David that if he tells his parents what happened, they will hate him. How could David know better? And so he kept the secret and vowed to never find himself alone with the Bogeyman again.

I don't want to give too much away about the story in case you're able to see the emotionally-charged show, which runs through Jan. 20th. I will, however, say that "Stalking the Bogeyman" isn't a play you leave behind when you exit the theater. In fact, Tina and I couldn't stop talking about the show on the way home. She noted that using the same actors to portray David and the Bogeyman as their child and adult selves drove home the point that whatever happens to you as a kid remains with you forever. (And here I just thought it was a question of economics!) 

Holthouse testifying before Alaskan Senate

in favor of Erin's law

We both were struck by David's comment that he didn't know who he would be if he hadn't been raped. Of course, a violent incident like this stays with you forever and can alter the course of your life. But neither of us had considered it from quite this perspective. The sense of lost possibilities was palpable.

The show continued to linger with me after I got home, so I decided to do a bit of research about its history. I noticed then that the playwright and the lead character had the same name. What?!!! 

David Holthouse is an investigative journalist who, in 2004, bravely wrote about what had happened to him when he was a child. The story begins, "This time last year I was plotting to kill a man."

The piece was published in Denver's Westword and picked up as a podcast in 2011 on "This American Life." (Click here to hear the podcast.)  This coverage gained the attention of some theater types. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Holthouse's story doesn't end with "Stalking the Bogeyman." There have been further developments in the case, which he shares on his website. (Don't read this if you are going to see the show.)

Although Holthouse may not know who he would have become if he hadn't been victimized, he can be proud that he's grown up to be an advocate for the prevention of child sexual abuse. In addition to raising awareness about the issue through his writing, Holthouse testified before the Alaskan Senate in support of Erin's law. The law, which passed, requires schools to provide age appropriate K-12 sexual abuse education. While the existence of such education might not have prevented David from being raped, it might have enabled him to share his burden instead of carrying it alone for 25 years.

Kudos to Florida Studio Theatre for producing "Stalking the Bogeyman" as part of its Stage III series. The programming focuses on "edgy" topics that might not appeal to broader audiences. Next up in the series is "Gidion's Knot," a show dealing with the topic of bullying. The final production will be "Grounded," which tells the story of a female fighter pilot who is reassigned to drone operation when she becomes pregnant. 

The Olga Hirshhorn Collection at the Baker Museum

Detail from Morris Broderson's

"Lizzie Borden with Clock"

Washington, D.C. is filled with wonderful museums. And while I've visited many of them, I've never made it to The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

It turns out a trip to D.C. isn't required to enjoy works of art from the Hirshhorns' collection. Joe and Olga Hirshhorn moved to Naples in 1969, where Olga became involved with the Naples Art Association and what is now Artis-Naples and the Baker Museum. When she died, she left 400 works of art from her eclectic collection to the Baker Museum.  The wonderful Olga Hirshhorn Collection is on display at the Museum through July 23. 

Olga wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her parents were Ukrainian immigrants who landed in Connecticut. In 1938, the 18 year old Olga married John Cunningham, her high school English teacher. The couple had three children. Olga ran her own employment agency to help support her family. Her career choice opened the doors to her later life.

Romare Bearden's "Salome, from the Prevalence of Ritual III Suite"

I had to chuckle at the tactful way the Baker Museum describes Olga's divorce from Cunningham and marriage to Joe Hirshhorn.  "After a number of years, her life changed. In 1961, Joe Hirshhorn, a Latvian entrepreneur and art collector, called her agency looking to hire a chauffeur. After many phone conversations, Joe invited her to visit his newly purchased mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. They became friends and later married."

In an interview about her life with Joe, Olga said, “I had to choose whether to learn about art or finance or mining, and  chose art.”  I suspect it wasn't a hard decision.

Olga developed a passion for modern art and began to collect on her own. The Hirshhorns became friends with many artists, including Picasso, Man Ray, Larry Rivers and Georgia O'Keefe. The exhibit includes several works with inscriptions by the artists to the Hirshhorns. If that weren't cool enough, there are works that feature the Hirshhorns, like this collage by Jimmy Ernst entitled "One Good Date Deserves Another."

In addition to two-dimensional works, the Hirshhorns collected sculptures of all varieties. Following Joe's death, Olga purchased a carriage house in Washington, D.C. where she spent a portion of her time.  She dubbed the 500 square foot residence the "Mouse House" and filled it with intimate works from her collection. The exhibit includes a number of sculptures from the Mouse House, and they are true gems.

Ella Tulin's "Female Figure in Two Pieces"

Olga embraced the idea that art is personal and doesn't have to be to one's liking to be worthy of consideration.  "...I feel art is something that does create an emotion, whether it's an emotion having to do with offensiveness, puzzlement or love, interest, any of those things. With it, you've created something. I think that's important.  I've looked at a piece of art, and I've been repulsed by it, I have learned that the artists are constantly searching and creating. They stimulate you...You are forced to look, think and wonder what the artist is trying to do."

While I doubt there are works in the exhibit that anyone would find offensive, the modern collection might not be everyone's cup of tea. I loved it, though, and look forward to more visits while it is on display. I'm also hoping to take in the talk by Stephane Aquin, chief curator of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, on March 29. Perhaps I'll see you there.