Back at Home
Mar. 29th, 2023 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreI came back from New York on Monday the 13th - and felt a bit sniffly. By Tuesday, I had a raging cold - all the congestion and coughing I could handle. I did take a COVID test, which was negative, but canceled my theatre plans for Tuesday night in the interest of public health. I tried to give away my ticket, with no success, but Cindy (who did go) managed to persuade the box office at the National Theatre to let me move my ticket to another day. About which, more later. I was still sick on Wednesday, but was pretty much fine by Thursday. Apparently rest and drinking plenty of rooibos tea is effective.
So, let’s see, what have I done over the past couple of weeks?
Women’s Storytelling Festival: Much of what I was busy with had to do with the Women’s Storytelling Festival, which was this past weekend (i.e. March 24th through 26th.) I was coordinating volunteers, as well as emceeing one show. I will write about this fabulous festival in some detail, but I wanted to include it here, because you can still get access to the recordings. And you will want to watch them if you can. You have until Friday evening to buy a ticket, but you get an entire month to watch. See the WSF website for tickets.
Crones and Tomes: This month’s book Was Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I think we all found the story of a Nigerian woman seeking her place in both the United States and in Nigeria to be very interesting, though some of us had issues with her relationship decisions. I’m enjoying the discussions in this group and it serves the purpose of getting me to read things I might not pick up otherwise.
Grimm Keepers: Our most recent discussion was of “Fitcher’s Bird,” which is another story like “Bluebeard” or “Mr. Fox,” in which a woman outwits a murderous man. There’s a lot of interesting imagery involving an egg and a bird, and we had a lot of discussion about its implications about menstruation and sexuality. It’s a nicely creepy story and one I could imagine telling to the right audience.
Leading Jewish Minds at MIT: MIT Hillel has a series of talks by Jewish professors. The most recent one (on March 16th) was by Alan Lightman, who is an astrophysicist, but probably best known for his 1992 novel Einstein’s Dream. He has a newish PBS series called Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science. Mostly, he showed excerpts from that series. That included talking with Jack Szostok, who is trying to understand RNA to create artificial life, interviewing a humanoid robot (Bina 48, who is intended to look like its (her?) inventor’s wife), and discussing what consciousness is with the Dalai Lama. All of this raised a lot more questions than answers. I admit I didn’t stay for the Q&A, because I didn’t want to miss crafts group.
Blue: This is a new opera, which I saw at the Kennedy Center on Friday the 17th. It was one of several things I’d had tickets for in the spring of 2020, by the way. The music is by Jeanine Tesori and the libretto by Tazewell Thompson. The story involves a Black family - the Father, the Mother, and the Son. The Father is a policeman and, as the Son grows up, he becomes rebellious, creating tensions within the family. At the beginning of the second act, the Father is talking to the Reverend and we find out that the son has been killed by a white cop, but we don’t know the circumstances. There are some flashbacks in the final scenes, which make the story even more tragic.
Despite the subject matter, there was a surprising amount of humor in the show. For example, when the Mother’s girlfriends are gathering around her before the Son’s birth, they see pictures of the Father in his Navy uniform (before he became a police officer) and they talk about their love for men in uniform - Army, Coast Guard, Air Force, UPS. But, overall, the opera is intended to get people to think and talk about the plight of Black men in the United States and I felt that it satisfied its intention.
Story Swap: My friend, Eve, hosted a story swap at a library in Maryland on the 18th. It was nominally Irish-themed, but other folk tales were allowed. Leveraging off it being Women’s History Month, I told the Grimm story, “Clever Greta,” and a Mongolian story, “Two Foolish Old People.” I was particularly happy that Margaret told “McTavish,” which is one of her best stories. It was worth the annoying drive, due to an accident on the Beltway.
Jagged Little Pill: Last Tuesday, I saw Jagged Little Pill at the National Theatre, using my rescheduled ticket. In general, I am not really keen on jukebox musicals, and this reminded me of why. Bespoke songs, i.e. those written specifically to fit the story, just work better. This was (as one might expect given its use of Alanis Morissette songs) overloaded with angst. I like some of the songs, but they don’t really fit the context. There were some humorous moments in the book and some good acting (Heidi Blickenstaff as Mary Jane was excellent). But there was also the absolute worst choreography I’ve seen in ages. Just not my type of show.
Strange Coincidence: At last week’s crafts group, I discovered that another woman in the group and I had lived in the exact same apartment building in Berkeley. She was there from 1973-1974 and I lived there from 1983-1985. Yet another woman in the group currently lives on the same street.
So, let’s see, what have I done over the past couple of weeks?
Women’s Storytelling Festival: Much of what I was busy with had to do with the Women’s Storytelling Festival, which was this past weekend (i.e. March 24th through 26th.) I was coordinating volunteers, as well as emceeing one show. I will write about this fabulous festival in some detail, but I wanted to include it here, because you can still get access to the recordings. And you will want to watch them if you can. You have until Friday evening to buy a ticket, but you get an entire month to watch. See the WSF website for tickets.
Crones and Tomes: This month’s book Was Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I think we all found the story of a Nigerian woman seeking her place in both the United States and in Nigeria to be very interesting, though some of us had issues with her relationship decisions. I’m enjoying the discussions in this group and it serves the purpose of getting me to read things I might not pick up otherwise.
Grimm Keepers: Our most recent discussion was of “Fitcher’s Bird,” which is another story like “Bluebeard” or “Mr. Fox,” in which a woman outwits a murderous man. There’s a lot of interesting imagery involving an egg and a bird, and we had a lot of discussion about its implications about menstruation and sexuality. It’s a nicely creepy story and one I could imagine telling to the right audience.
Leading Jewish Minds at MIT: MIT Hillel has a series of talks by Jewish professors. The most recent one (on March 16th) was by Alan Lightman, who is an astrophysicist, but probably best known for his 1992 novel Einstein’s Dream. He has a newish PBS series called Searching: Our Quest for Meaning in the Age of Science. Mostly, he showed excerpts from that series. That included talking with Jack Szostok, who is trying to understand RNA to create artificial life, interviewing a humanoid robot (Bina 48, who is intended to look like its (her?) inventor’s wife), and discussing what consciousness is with the Dalai Lama. All of this raised a lot more questions than answers. I admit I didn’t stay for the Q&A, because I didn’t want to miss crafts group.
Blue: This is a new opera, which I saw at the Kennedy Center on Friday the 17th. It was one of several things I’d had tickets for in the spring of 2020, by the way. The music is by Jeanine Tesori and the libretto by Tazewell Thompson. The story involves a Black family - the Father, the Mother, and the Son. The Father is a policeman and, as the Son grows up, he becomes rebellious, creating tensions within the family. At the beginning of the second act, the Father is talking to the Reverend and we find out that the son has been killed by a white cop, but we don’t know the circumstances. There are some flashbacks in the final scenes, which make the story even more tragic.
Despite the subject matter, there was a surprising amount of humor in the show. For example, when the Mother’s girlfriends are gathering around her before the Son’s birth, they see pictures of the Father in his Navy uniform (before he became a police officer) and they talk about their love for men in uniform - Army, Coast Guard, Air Force, UPS. But, overall, the opera is intended to get people to think and talk about the plight of Black men in the United States and I felt that it satisfied its intention.
Story Swap: My friend, Eve, hosted a story swap at a library in Maryland on the 18th. It was nominally Irish-themed, but other folk tales were allowed. Leveraging off it being Women’s History Month, I told the Grimm story, “Clever Greta,” and a Mongolian story, “Two Foolish Old People.” I was particularly happy that Margaret told “McTavish,” which is one of her best stories. It was worth the annoying drive, due to an accident on the Beltway.
Jagged Little Pill: Last Tuesday, I saw Jagged Little Pill at the National Theatre, using my rescheduled ticket. In general, I am not really keen on jukebox musicals, and this reminded me of why. Bespoke songs, i.e. those written specifically to fit the story, just work better. This was (as one might expect given its use of Alanis Morissette songs) overloaded with angst. I like some of the songs, but they don’t really fit the context. There were some humorous moments in the book and some good acting (Heidi Blickenstaff as Mary Jane was excellent). But there was also the absolute worst choreography I’ve seen in ages. Just not my type of show.
Strange Coincidence: At last week’s crafts group, I discovered that another woman in the group and I had lived in the exact same apartment building in Berkeley. She was there from 1973-1974 and I lived there from 1983-1985. Yet another woman in the group currently lives on the same street.
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Date: 2023-03-30 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-30 12:16 pm (UTC)