Friday, May 28, 2010

Sweet pictures on a Vacation Day!

Jacque Miller just returned from a trip to Africa with her sister, Becky. They were visiting their sister, Katherine, who is in the Peace Corps. Jacque sent a fascinating and informative travelogue, along with a pictures of beautiful flamingos. Just look at the color of the water!

Today is Memorial Day, and I am not at my computer. I am not writing a blog post. Instead, here you have a picture of DeAngleo and Eric. After many ups and downs over the past twelve months, these handsome fellows have officially, happily, and luckily been adopted by friends Kristin and Kate.


http://www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ Try this site for more fun photos.

Enjoy time away from work. And take a moment to think about the powerful reason we have this day.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Pete Seeger and Friends

A few weeks ago, a customer and I were gabbing about my days working at The Golden Ring Folklore Center. Boy, was I surprised when, days later he dropped by with a gift of ten Pete Seeger CD's. Ten! Later that week, I attended a presentation by Stuart Stotts, whose recently released book, We Shall Overcome, includes a forward written by Pete Seeger. Not long after that another customer shared a Pete story with me when she spotted a new children's book called Mama Miti.


Here's the story. Wangari (Mana Miti) grew up in the shadow of Mount Kenya listening to tales about the land and the people around her. She loved the towering trees, but she feared for the natural future of Kenya. Wangari planted trees one by one to refresh the land and her spirit. When women came to her for help with their families, she told them to do the same. Soon the countryside was filled with trees, Kenya was strong again, changed tree by tree. The story seems simple, but her political and environmental activism brought worldwide attention to the issues facing women, the environment, and the importance of sustainability. Mama Miti is the story of 2004 Nobel Prize recipient, Wangari Maathai.


Have I wandered again? Not really. You see, my customer,Jody, told me that Pete Seeger auctioned off his famous banjo, the one with the words "The machine kills" lettered around the drum, (I never understood that) and gave the money to Maathai. Jody also told me there is movement to nominate Seeger for the Nobel Prize. You can add your name to the petition at http://www.nobelprize4pete.org/.


All this Pete info seemed more than coincidental; I'm sure it was part of some cosmic plan to get me into the library, searching for a book about this guy whose music I love. Since I knew very little about Seeger, I grabbed the thickest, and most official looking book on him that I could find. Turns out that How Can I Keep From Singing: Pete Seeger by David Dunaway is considered the epitome of bios on the musician.



Pete Seeger did not spend his days riding the rails, sharing stories and songs around hobo campfires as I envisioned. He was anything but a free spirit, and it was his activism that landed him in the midst of political controversy. Seeger was investigated for sedition, blacklisted, picketed, and interviewed by the House Un-American Activites Committee during the height of the McCarthy era. I suppose that joining the Young communist League got him noticed quickly, but he drifted away from the party in the 50's.

He attended Harvard on a partial scholarship, and while there, he joined - of all things - a puppet theatre. While on a six week tour with the company, Seeger witnessed the plight of the American farmer, and a plethora of societal injustices including anti-Semitism and racial inequalities. His crusade to battle hatred, bigotry and violence began.

Seeger was surrounded by music his entire life, and it was natural that he use music to speak for him. We all know "If I had a Hammer," and "Where Have all the Flowers Gone." I have a vague recollection of him singing "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" on the Smothers Brothers summer show...and then the show went POOF! Reading this book explained why. The song was written about a WWII platoon captain who made some questionable calls, but the American public saw the lyric "We're waist deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to 'push on'" as an allegory about Lyndon Johnson's refusal to pull troops out of Vietnam.


Even though he was questioned at every turn, Pete Seeger never turned down an opportunity to sing out for laborers, or to get down and dirty doing grunt to clean pollution in and around his beloved Hudson River. Whether a concerted effort or not, in 1982 Seeger made what was his first public declaration of his growing personal distaste for communism in its soviet form when he performed a benefit concert for Poland's solidarity movement. He also publicly apologized for his association with the party in his 1993 autobiography Where Have All the Flowers Gone.



So, that's what I learned about 90 year old Pete Seeger.



On Sunday, I attended the Heart-A-Rama Women's Only (in theory; random in practice) Association's inaugural Wild Rumpus. I'm glad we took the time to talk and laugh together when everyone was dressed in normal clothes! That's us...looking a bit like an Up with People album cover shoot!

What am I reading? The School of Essential Ingredients.



These are some of the amazing tuplips at the West garden...and they smell unbelievable!

Monday, May 17, 2010

A Dog Blog for Jordan

I was watching yesterday - now that You Know Who keeps the front door open - I watch. That is my main job during the day. So, I was watching, wishing I could run after the robin that swooped past, or visit with the nice lady walking by, when I had a thought. I finished the book I started right after my last post (about six months ago) and figured that maybe I could distract YKW long enough to commandeer the computer for a few minutes.
Once the doggy brain (the powerful machine that it is) shifted into high gear, I just couldn't decide if I should write about the book, the bird or the lady, and then I remembered that good things have happened for my friend, Jordan, and thought that a nice dog blog celebration would be good.

About three years ago, Jordan got some bad news. She got cancer. That's not something I know about, but from the sad faces on her grandparents who live next door to me, I figured it couldn't be good. Jordan and her brother Jacob live in Iowa, but they always come over to see me when they are in Manitowoc. And they bring me presents...dyed Easter eggs, seashells from the beach, and pictures they have drawn. Jacob even sang me some Christmas carols, but I can't remember when that was. Maybe around Christmas or some time like that. They try to take me for walks, but even though I like them both a lot, I'm just not the walking type. Like I said earlier, I'm a watcher.

Jordan had to have lots of chemotherapy. It went on for almost three years. She didn't like it very much, but guess what? It worked. She lost her hair a couple times in the process, but she looks real nice in a hat. Sometimes she wore a scarf tied around her head and I thought that maybe she had run off to Holywood and become a movie star. She looked so glamorous. Not everyone looks good in a hat. I'm one of the not so good looking in a hat types. I don't have the right kind of ears to hold one up. But Jordan...now there's someone who can wear a hat! One of her legs stiffened up on her, too, but I think that was a nerve problem that an amazing doctor fixed for her.

Jordan is my bravest friend. I'm pretty sure that all those needles, and pills, and fevers, and infections must have tired her out. Plus, she couldn't run around and chase a soccer ball very well for a long time. Still, every time she came to visit me, she had a big smile, and looked like she had just finished a nice long nap in the sun.

I sure am glad that everything is bright an sunny for Jordan now. Hey, I have an idea. Do whatever it is you do to send good thoughts, and lots of strength to people who need to be brave like Jordan. Me, I wag my tail each day when I am feeling happy about how well Jordan is doing.

Last month, Jordan, her mom and her dad, and Jacob got to go to Disney World, and boy, did they deserve it. I could hear them laughing all the way from Florida. One night, I heard some real funny sounds while I was trying to sleep. My neighbor told me it must have been Jordan and Jacob snoring. They did so much each day in Florida, that when they got back to their hotel, they slept like two litle bear cubs.
Jordan was treated like a princess by everyone at Disney. I think that anyone as brave and strong as Jordan should be treated like a princess for the rest of her life. The rest of her life...I like that phrase!
Here's a nice little picture of my hero, Jordan, helping with a Locks of Love event in Iowa.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Annual LDD HAR Awards

Heart-A-Rama went so smoothly this year. Most people have forgiven us for moving to Two Rivers, and those who haven't stayed home, allowing their seats to be filled by new, enthusiastic patrons.


This cast was awesome! I don't mean to slight the crew that work so very hard on our show, but my contacts are mainly with the cast. so, here you have the Annual LaDeDa Heart-A-Rama Awards.....


The BREAK A TAIL FEATHER Award goes to Jen, who took a big digger during the seagull song and dance number on the second last night of the show, and landed right on her tailbone. I missed witnessing the incident itself, but I did have the opportunity to see Jen, bent over in the dressing room, fighting back tears of pain and the laughter that comes with the absurdity of such events. Think about it...a giant seagull walks into the emergency room and says, "Doc, I..." well, you get the picture. Jen was back on her feet enough to belt out a funky rendition of "Me and Bobby Magee" with the band later in the night.




Rick gets the HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING Award. Every night, Rick dons he Dr. Seuss hat and composes a pre-show poem which he reads as a show warm-up for cast and crew. His inspiration comes mainly from cast bad behavior. However, we have to wonder if someone sedated this year's cast, since they provided very little fodder for the poems. In past years we have messy incidents involving potted plants, and the amazing supportive undergarment exchange. None of that this year. Despite repeated pleas from Rick to "try harder" the cast simply did not comply, still, his poems were mighty fine.






Laurie and Kevin are the dual recipients of out WELCOME BACK KOTTER Award. We're glad they're back after a brief respite from the wackiness.

I hope they stay!


Finally, for reasons they will understand, I give the STORM TROUPER medal to Laurie Bogart and Chris Zahn. I was on headset with these two most nights of the show, and I know how fast and hard they worked to get everyone mic'ed and on stage on time.

HAR 2010 left us with no colorful stories of cast/crew escapades to share in years to come, it did feel like new life was breathed into our forty year old organization. It was the perfect hit of adrenalin needed to begin building for the next forty.
***Now, it's time for me to open a book and start reading again. My book group is discussing Push this Friday. That's the book that inspired the movie, "Precious." Should be a good discussion.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Tumor Board

Months ago, Loreen Niewenhuis sent me this unbound copy of her manuscript. Receiving an unbound manuscript directly from an author is a thrill and an honor. Really. Advance reader copies come from publishing companies that want us to read, and then, of course, stock the sent item. But Tumor Board came directly from the author, and since Loreen is still shopping for a publisher, her only hope was that I would read it and enjoy. You can see by the folds, and bruises that I have had it for some time. I read it as soon as it arrived, and put off blogging about it since I know I can't do it justice. I will do my best, with apologies to the author.

You might recall that earlier this year Loreen stopped in Manitowoc to rest her feet. She was walking around Lake Michigan, journaling, and communing with the thing she loves most in life...water. She kept a fascinating record of her walk at http://www.laketrek.blogspot.com/.


Tumor Board focuses on the past, present and future lives of a group of people all associated with Grace Hospital in Detroit. The title refers to a number of doctors who meet once a week to discuss treatments and the prognosis of patients with particularly challenging cancers. We see the devastating effects of having to make tough decisions, as well as the troubling gallows (or scalpel?) humor doctors use to disconnect from difficult realities. The cast of characters is wide and varied - each navigating the complexities of the board in varying degrees and with varying purposes.


Loreen' s style is fresh, and complicated. I remember talking with her briefly about her skill at writing in present tense - a technique that frequently results in an icy presentation, allowing for little connection between reader and character. But this is not the case with Loreen's work. Because she exposes characters in multiple phases of their lives, the tense ebbs, flows and blends effectively throughout the story.


The medical drama takes center stage in Tumor Board. Loreen, who has worked in medical research, knows the lingo, and applies it generously. Without stopping the tempo of the action, she manages to contextually clue pea-brain readers like myself into the meaning of each specialized term.


Last I heard, she was shopping for a publisher, and had one or two houses in New York giving it a second look. I am hoping for the best for her, and hoping that you all will get a chance to read this well crafted novel.

Note to Loreen...I know you're out there lurking. What was up with that Pablo scene? I laughed, but knew full well that I should not be laughing. I wanted to skip past it, yet I kept reading. It was too long, and yet not long enough. (Is this becoming too Dickensian?) Just thinking about it make me shiver!

*****I spent an interesting morning on Saturday with a friend, playing a firefly at the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association conference. Don't ask. Suffice it to say, I got up at 6:00, after two nights at Heart-A-Rama, to help a Wisconsin playwright with a reading. She handed me a script with four lines...just four lines...highlighted. My friend Chuck got one line. But, there were donuts and coffee.

The title of play escapes me, but it has won a couple monetary awards, and I need to stay on Ludmilla Bollow's (the playwright) good side. Her neighbor is a personal friend of Tim Burton, and she has given Lu's novel, Dr. Zastrow's Sanitarium to him. Apparently, my boy, Johnny Depp, has been mentioned for the lead role of the hypnotic Dr. Zastrow. I'm sticking close to this one. Ludmilla Bollow is the best writer on the face of the earth, perhaps in all the universe, and I admire her more than I can say. I am really, really, really lucky that I know Lu, and that I loved her book, and flitted like a firefly for her. Here's a picture of Chuck and me looking more like grizzly bears hopped up on caffeine than fireflies.

If you can, stop in on Saturday to meet Jennifer Kitchell, author of Girl with Skirt of Stars. Check our events blog for more info.http://www.ladedainfo.blogspot.com/
*****Heart-A-Rama ended on a nice high note. More on that next week.

Thanks for stopping by.