NATURE? NURTURE?

     DNA? Musicians, composers, lyricists, painters, sculptors, and writers. Artists whose efforts bring pleasure to devotees born hundreds of years after their work was first presented. Often their skills and talents are passed from one generation to the next—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, siblings and if traceable perhaps a great-grandfather or a rumored cousin three times removed.

     Johann Sebastian Bach’s ancestors all worked as professional musicians—church organists, court musicians and composers. His dad was a town musician in Eisenach, Germany. Johann lost his parents at the age of ten and was brought up by his older brother Johann Christoph—the town organist.  John Sebastian wrote music for organ and other keyboard instruments, orchestras, and choirs. His second son, Carl Phillip Emanuel was held in high regard by his fellow musicians—he composed in the then fashionable Rococo style as did his brothers W.F. Bach, J.C. Bach, and Friedemann Bach.

     A self-taught musician, Johann Strauss the Elder, wrote waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and galops. Johann the younger wrote more than 500 pieces with 150 of them waltzes. His waltz titled The Blue Danube established Strauss as “The Waltz King.”

     Oscar Hammerstein I immigrated to America in 1864 and built opera houses that drew a wide audience to listen to some of the finest singers in the world. Times Square became the “in place” because of him. His sons Willy and Arthur presented stars like Al Jolson and Houdini and Willy gifted America with his son Oscar Hammerstein II who wrote lyrics with Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers during the “Golden Age of the American Musical.”. Rodgers begat Mary Rodgers who wrote the music for “Once Upon a Mattress,” and the novel and screenplay for “Freaky Friday,” and Mary begat the Tony award wining Adam Guettel who wrote the music and lyrics for “Floyd Collins” and “The Light in the Piazza.” The sons of Oscar Hammerstein II—William and James—were directors and he nurtured the talent of Stephen Sondheim.

     Actors? Robert Alda gave us Alan Alda, Judy Garland presented the world with Liza Minnelli, Goldie Hawn had Kate Hudson and, America’s Royal Family, the Barrymores, are still going strong with Drew.

    Artists? The Wyeth family is blessed with talent—N.C. Wyeth is the venerable father of three generations of Wyeth-Hurd artists and renowned for his illustrations in grand adventure stories, and classics for children such as Scribner’s Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe. His youngest son Andrew Newell Wyeth is recognized as America’s foremost realist artist. His first daughter Henriette became a fine portraitist and his second Carolyn is known for her introspective work in modern-day painting. Grandson James Wyeth found recognition at an early age with his portraits of people and the animals he painted in his rustic setting.

     And taking pen to paper or fingers to keyboard we have the Brontes—Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Anne’s Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily’s Wuthering Heights. The Waugh family, beginning with Arthur who won the Newgate prize for poetry in 1888, continued with sons Alec who wrote Island in the Sun and Evelyn with Brideshead Revisited and continues with the latest generation, Auberon and Alexander. There’s H.G. Wells and his son Anthony West, Hilma Wolitzer and her daughter Meg, Alexandre Dumas, pere, and fils, and Mary Higgins Clark whose works have sold over 100 million copies and her daughter Carol Higgins Clark who has been nominated for the Anthony and Agatha Awards. High on any list are Stephen King and his wife Tabitha King and their sons Joe Hill and Owen King—writers who keep us up all night.

     Are they any artistic ancestors in your family? How about your children? Do they need, want, love to write?          

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

    

     Seventeenth and eighteenth century musicians faced a slow economy and many chose not to publish their compositions with the traditional publishers of their time. Some publishers paid for neither paper, ink nor the hours the composer spent producing a piece of music that often lived on after they were gone—passed down from generation to generation.

     Numerous musicians chose to self-publish their music to promote their work as composers. They retained ownership of the metal plates and were able to print further impressions whenever extra copies were needed. Many of the composers are known to us today and include George Philipp Telemaan, Johann Sebastian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

     Today we—as writers—have e-books and print-on-demand and many authors have chosen to self-publish just as writers and composers did in earlier centuries. Eighteenth century authors often faced problems when they offered their writings for publication. The majority of booksellers chose recognized authors rather than take a chance on an unknown writer and risk their currency and reputation. Without a patron or sponsorship from an established author and rejection of an unknown’s work a constant, a number of authors chose to self publish.

     In 1901, The Tales of Peter Rabbit received a few rejections, and Beatrix Potter self-published. The firm of Frederick Warne & Co. who at first rejected the stories soon picked up the book and turned it over to the youngest brother—Norman. The company published 22 additional books during the next 40 years and in 1906 Beatrix and Norman became engaged. Tragically Norman passed away before the wedding.

     Marcel Proust paid to have his masterpiece published 101 years ago. Swann’s Way remains a literary classic.

     Written and self-published by Irma S. Rombauer in 1931, The Joy of Cooking has sold well over 18 million copies. The jacket was designed by her daughter Marion. Later versions, edited by her family, can be found in kitchens all over the world today.

     Non-democratic nations have often banned publication of books written by prominent writers who opposed a regime’s ideology. Fans often manually reprinted a copy that would be considered illegal—another form of self-publishing and a way for a book to reach the reader.

     How many of you have or intend to self-publish and how many have chosen traditional publishing?

WORLD ENOUGH AND CRIME

  

Art courtesy of David Teniers the Younger 1610-1690

 

   So many crime novels, so many good authors, so little time. Do you cross borders for books? Travel around the world via the printed page or app to sample a recommended author? How many authors of crime, suspense, noir, cozy and detective fiction that you read come from a nation other than your own?

     As an American, I read Nancy Drew during childhood, later learned about the Navajo Tribal Police with Tony Hillerman’s Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, studied the alphabet with Sue Grafton, and the law with John Grisham. I read every book written by Dennis Lehane and Elizabeth George. Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent had me on the edge of my seat and Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is said to have enthralled the mob as well as his readers. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird remains a must for any author while Walter Mosley’s writing entertained a president as well as many of us who borrowed the book from the library and...for a book I return to whenever I need to escape I choose Jack Finney’s Time and Again.  

     I admit to being hooked by British detectives. I’d go anywhere with Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse and cannot put down the Dalziel and Pascoe mysteries by Reginald Hill. Daphne du Maurier wrote Rebecca—I’m sure—for the romantic teen-ager that was once me—there’s still a bit of the romantic hanging around my book shelves and P.D. James with her Commander Adam Dalgliesh is on my top shelf. I join every lover of mysteries by begging and borrowing every Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Miss Marples and Hercule Poirots penned by Dame Agatha Christie. Then there’s J.J. Marric a.k.a. John Creasey who wrote about Commander George Gideon. 

     Canada is home to Louise Penny and her Inspector Armand Gamache—her newest came out this month. Israel has Batya Gur with Detective Michael Ohayon. The Welsh gifted us with Ian Rankin and the fun loving Alexander McCall Smith. The French are known for George Simenon’s Inspector Maigret. Italy for Umberto Eco and The Name of the Rose and Russia Feodor Dostoyevsky’s works live on—think of Crime and Punishment. Swedish crime novels are in today—what American can resist Steig Larson’s heroine? Then there is the Wallender series by Henning Mankell with his unshaven, melancholy hero.

     What country do you reside in, where do the characters you write about live and which “crime” authors have you read that are from other nations?

Bests,

Elise

CLIP...CLOP...TEN-FOOT COPS

Photo Courtesy Dreamstime_s_24409748

     Police officers sitting on glossy mounts are a nation’s friendly ambassadors—dubbed 10-foot cops because together they can be spotted even in a crowded area. The team draws children of all ages—one partner is often patted on the nose—and they are amongst the most popular couples ever to be photographed by a camera. The mounted police help with traffic, manage crowd control, rein in lawbreakers and encourage busy citizens of and visitors to a city to pause, admire, and smile.

     London’s Bow Street Horse Patrol became the first mounted police force in 1760 and employed eight men though many historians believe the first use of mounted horses began with King Charles’s Articles of War published in 1629. Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street magistrate, produced a plan for mounted patrols to deal with highwaymen who preyed on travelers using the roads that led in and out of the city. By 1805, more than 50 men—dressed in scarlet waistcoats, blue greatcoats and trousers and black leather hats and stocks—were able to protect all the main roads within 20 miles of Charing Cross. Their role changed in the early 1800s when poverty in rural areas led to the theft of domestic animals—the patrols carried swords in addition to sabers as apprehending thieves was considered a highly dangerous job.

Australian Mounted Police

     Between 1800 and 1850, mounted police units were founded in Dublin, Ireland and Calcutta, India. Australia used mounted patrols during the 1851 gold rush and to hunt fugitives who evaded the law. Today, the units locate people lost in rough country and recover stolen domestic animals.

     Horses have been used by New York City’s police since 1845. By 1857, officers rode horseback to halt runaway horses and carriages. A headline in The New York World—written on September 9, 1897—tells this story.

“Policeman Stops a Runaway Trotter.”  

 “Mounted Policeman Frawley and the bay Stallion, Belton, driven by John Kelly, figured yesterday in a big but unexpected event at Fleetwood Park...The wild animal shot past the field and reached the head of the stretch when Policeman Frawley seeing the situation dug the spurs into his horse. The race to the wire was a hot one, but the policeman won...leaning he caught the runaway by the bridle and stopped him a few feet beyond the judge’s stand.”

     The United States Police Horse-Mounted Unit, created in 1934 with one horse rented from a stable, is one of the oldest police equestrian organizations in the United States. Parks with equestrian paths, a stretch of land, picnic grounds, and ball fields could be more efficiently safeguarded by horse patrols than by foot patrolmen or vehicles. Horse mounted patrols were later expanded and used in Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan area, New York City, and San Francisco during parades, and public meetings.

     Approximately 30-years ago, The Boston Parks and Recreation System formed The Boston Park Rangers Mounted Unit in nine parks—called the Emerald Necklace—designed by Frederick Law Olmstead more than a century ago. San Francisco’s mounted patrol unit began with 30 steeds helping to protect the city, today there are 13 patrol horses in Golden Gate Park—training is difficult—they must follow commands and go through a program that acquaints them with the clamor of large, urban areas. The horses are skilled at crowd control on New Year’s Eve. Curious and friendly, the horses make a noticeable impression and can restore order without injuring people.

     Beginning in 1899 and for more than a century mounted officers could be seen all over Philadelphia including Fairmont Park, and Rittenhouse Square. Today twelve officers remain. Philadelphia’s stable of fifteen horses include a Dutch horse who performed a series of difficult exercises in his former career in dressage, and a rescued Belgian draft who had worked pulling farm wagons.

     Horse-mounted patrols are used by the Los Angeles Police Department, established in 1987, as part of the Metropolitan Division. Thirty-five policemen and forty horses are present at assemblies, festivals, parades, public parks and beaches during the summer plus the search and rescue of lost and missing persons in mountainous and dense terrain.

      A mounted police officer, his uniform a vivid red coat and a Stetson hat and his horse have represented Canada since 1880. “The Mounties always get their man,” is a familiar saying to anyone that loves motion pictures.

      Height, weight, gender, age and disposition are important. Large horses—approximately 15.2 hands tall and between a thousand and twelve hundred pounds compliment the weight of sturdy officers. Police departments prefer horses between three and seven years old—Clydesdale mixes, American quarter horses, and Tennessee Walkers—who will have a long career on patrol encouraging warm personal relations between the mounted officer and the communities they serve.

     Despite the fine work achieved by the mounted police, their numbers have diminished. Police cars, motorcycles, bicycles and foot patrolmen are seen more often today while the elite horse mounted units are used as a supplement to traditional patrol units, for crowd control and for special occasions such as parades and funerals. The horse continues to encourage warm personal relations between the mounted officer and the communities they serve—ambassadors of good will.

Bests,

Elise

 Scene Stealer, my cozy mystery, may be purchased through Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Carina Press and wherever ebooks are sold.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL.

 Photo courtesyimages.mpg.org

 

 

     John Shakespeare enrolled his seven-year old son William in The King’s New School of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1571.Latin was the most important subject taught and many children later became scholars at Oxford University but Will wanted to grow up to be just like the traveling players who performed medieval, religious and new pastymes (plays) in Stratford’s Gild Hall and the Bridge Street innyards. Stratford had amateur mummers (actors and mimes) and two touring companies, The Queen’s Men and the Earl of Worcester’s Men who played Gild Hall. Artificial light did not exist and spectacles and dramas took place during daylight hours. Limelight, gaslight, electricity, incandescent lamps and computer light boards, had not been invented in the 16^th century. 

     Portrayals of Will’s life between school and the time he arrived in London differ  Some accounts state he was apprenticed to a butcher, others think he was a schoolmaster or believe he left Stratford because he was caught poaching in the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy, a local justice of the peace.  Many are convinced a theatre company passed through Stratford and invited Will to join their troupe as a minor actor and scrivener (dramatist).  

     When William Shakespeare arrived in London in the late 1580s, he explored a vibrant and dramatic city of contrasts that stimulated his imagination. Shakespeare’s London had tall buildings and the majestic St. James Palace, the residence of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. Londoners shopped at Cheapside, a large market where country people displayed their goods, a butcher’s market in Eastcheap and a fish market on Fish Street Hill  People had to watch where they stepped in London; beggars and artful dodgers roamed; garbage, body wastes and dead animals were thrown into streets and alleyways and epidemics of plague often raged.

     The English navy scored a great victory over the Spanish Armada (an invasion fleet of about 130 ships) in the 1580s.  Francis Drake, the explorer and naval hero and Walter Raleigh, a navigator, writer and colonizer, had returned after their voyages of discovery which led to the expansion of trade in the Americas.  When Will crossed London Bridge on foot, the only crossing over the River Thames, he joined crowds of people—London had two hundred thousand inhabitants. On the bridge were houses—some over four stories high plus shops, a chapel and gatehouses on both ends. The bridge had been rebuilt many times and a nursery rhyme told its story.

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down

London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady

     Shakespeare lived in a section of London called Bishopsgate in the gloom cast by the Tower of London. When he crossed the Thames, he could see coal barges moored in front of the Tower and wherries carrying passengers. The Tower was a prison for high ranking citizens. Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in the Tower, suspected of participating in an assassination plot against the Queen, Elizabeth I. Elizabeth signed her death warrant and Mary was put to death on Feb. 8, 1587. Shakespeare mentioned the Tower in many of his plays such as Richard III, Henry VIII and Henry VI Part III. There were 18 prisons around London; each held a special class of criminal. Newgate held felons, debtors and those awaiting execution. Ludgate held bankrupts and the Fleet held offenders waiting for their day in the Courts of Chancery. 

     Shakespeare worked with many theatre companies before joining James Burbage and his sons as an actor and dramatist. He soon became a charter member of a new company known as The Lord Chamberlain’s Men that appeared by royal command. Shakespeare became one of the most popular playwrights of the day. 

     London’s Lord Mayors disapproved of plays believing they encouraged irreverence, and idleness; when trumpets blasted the air and flags were raised announcing a performance, workers were lured away from jobs. To avoid restrictions imposed by the authorities, theatres were built outside the walls of the city; across the Thames in Southwark, easily reached by boat or bridge and close to bear-baiting rings, prisons and cockpits.

     The Queen’s Privy Council protected the actor/managers because the Queen enjoyed being entertained. Elizabeth I wrote poetry and music and took pleasure in drama, plays at Christmas and masques—a dramatic entertainment based on mythological or allegorical themes. She appointed a Master of the Revels, who acted as a producer/director and guardian of morals, in addition to providing costumes and a hall to be used for performances. Composers worked at the Chapel Royal in St. James Palace.

     Beginning in 1598, the first Globe Theatre was raised in Southwark and the plays Henry the Fifth, and As You Like It were written for the theatre in 1599. Considered the glory of the Banke, the Globe had a central “discovery place.” Double doors, covered with finely embroidered hangings, a curtain or both allowed the actor to reach the upper level for balcony scenes. Above that was a room with machinery for special effects – cannon were fired, angels or ghosts descended and a trap door in the floor led to hell.  Wooden stage posts, painted to look like marble, supported a canopy representing heaven filled with clouds, stars, moon and the sun; the canopy also protected the actors and their costumes from the sun. 

     Groundlings (commoners) paid one English penny to stand in the open yard of the Globe, two pennies would purchase a seat on a bench in the gallery, protected from sun and rain by a thatched roof made of water reed. A cushioned seat close to the stage cost three pennies and six pennies bought the most prestigious seats of all – the Lord’s rooms – behind and above the stage. Music underscored Shakespeare’s plays – the audience entered the theatre to the faint throb of a drum then the musicians of the Globe would   begin playing trumpet, cornet, sackbut and percussion. The players filled the stage and a stave pounded the floor. The music gradually increased in volume and intensity, adding to the excitement until every onlooker felt a part of the drama as it developed.

     Commoners, known as stinkards because they rarely washed themselves or their clothes, stood in a yard covered with a mixture of hazelnut shells, cinders, ash and silt. They fought amongst themselves and critiqued the actors with rousing cheers, hisses or a missile of fruit, often an orange. A useful piece of fruit, the orange could be used protect the nose from the stench of the unwashed or eaten to stave off pangs of hunger.

     Shakespeare describes the Globe in his prologue to Henry the Fifth when the chorus asks the audience to use their imagination, Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France? Or may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt?

     When Elizabeth I died in 1603, she was succeeded by James VI of Scotland who became James I of England. James valued the arts, particularly theatre and the Chamberlain’s Men. He demanded they come under his patronage and granted a royal patent. Their name changed to the King’s Men.

     Shakespeare’s company played the Globe in winter and summer. When epidemics of the plague caused the Privy Council to close the theatre, they became traveling players.    Fire destroyed the first Globe theatre in 1612. During a performance of Henry VIII, a piece of wadding fired from one of the stage cannons, landed on the thatched roof, smoldered, smoked – the audience was too engrossed in the play to notice – and burst into flame. In less than an hour, the fire consumed the Globe but the three thousand spectators managed to escape through the two exits. One patron’s pants began to burn but his companion, used his wits, and doused the flames with a bottle of ale. Quickly rebuilt, the second Globe, was built on the foundations of the first, and protected by a tiled roof.  It was said to be the fairest that ever was seen in England.

     In 1949, the Shakespeare Globe Trust was founded and the new Globe, modeled after the first, was inaugurated in 1997 with Henry the fifth. It stands today, as a living memorial to the greatest playwright of all time.

Bests,

Elise

MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370

    

 Artwork courtesy of Wikipedia Commons


     We feel sorrow, sympathy and fear when we read the newspapers or see photographs of the southern Indian ocean where victims of Flight 370 are said to lie. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends but we are writers and there is something inside of us that will write an ending if it is not found.

     More than 100-years ago, our parents learned of the Titanic--a 46,328-ton British liner that sunk after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage to New York. At least 1,500 people are said to have drowned. Prominent members of society, the rich and the famous were amongst the lost.
     Books were written, films made, posters, television shows and even a Broadway musical. Writers had to write about the dramatic circumstances, the beautiful people, the tragedy. 
     In 1985, the ship was found by American and French researchers on the bottom of the ocean south of Newfoundland.
     Today, no one knows why or how Flight 370 was lost and writers will pen tragedies, fantasies, mysteries and scientific novels about the passengers, the pilots, the conflict between nations and the plane's diversion by using their imagination to construct an ending.
     Are you one of the writers?

Bests,

Elise

WARM-UP

Courtesy of Wikepedia

     This morning as I sipped my coffee and listened to WQXR, our city’s public radio station for classical music, Jeff Spurgeon—the knowledgeable and delightful morning host of the program—was about to play one of George Gershwin’s most famous songs I Got Rhythm. Spurgeon mentioned that Gershwin was inspired by a musician he heard warming up by practicing several notes on his trumpet.

     Seeds of future writings often take root in authors, when we become fascinated by bits of dialogue overheard in a restaurant, shop or train, the look on a person’s face, a memory of something that happened to ourselves, a friend, relative or acquaintance, a walk on the hard concrete of the city’s streets or a landscape that in our mind defines a foreign country. Weeks, months, years later the bits and lines we jot down in a notebook or on a scrap of paper and throw in a drawer—our warm-up—becomes  a cast of characters—people with needs, desires, opportunities and thwarted hopes. The landscape may be the backdrop or part of the action. We begin a short story, a play or a novel with the scraps that have grown, been transformed, and conjured into something new, something different, a tale we want and need to tell. 

Bests.

Elise

 

UNFINISHED STORIES

     

 Photo by Qtrix Dreamstime.com
     I have unfinished stories rattling around in my brain. bits of information stored in files on my computer, jotted on pieces of paper--sometimes a line, sometimes a title, once in awhile an entire paragraph or page.
     The story is waiting for the heroine or the hero. Perhaps I have to decide on the villain. Often I have met the characters but the plot is fuzzy. Then one day--often when I least expect it--the story jells and I can sit down at the computer and begin. When I reach the end, I go back to the beginning and as Oscar Hammerstein wrote, "A very good place to start."
     My characters often change my mind about things. The villain declares he is not really evil and the heroine says she is definitely not  a namby-pamby while a secondary character tries to get into the act. It's time to rewrite and then go back again and again. Read the story aloud and decide if it's good to go.

     How about you? Is your brain rattling with unfinished stories waiting to escape?

Bests,

Elise

CLOUDS, MOON AND IMAGINATION

     Clouds over the Grand Canyon

Remember when you were a child? You lay on your back and gazed at clouds--drifting--so far, so far away. And as you gazed you thought you could see trains and boats or a whale swimming through the sky. You could picture lions and giraffes, perhaps a swan and you would make up stories about everything you imagined. Adults told you they were collections of water droplets or ice particles suspended in mid-air but to a child they were real. Cumulus clouds were shaped like mountains or a cauliflower, while the Cirrus were feathery like something worn on a giant's hat. The clouds changed their form as they passed--magically turning from one shape to another. Sometimes they were dark and menacing, sometimes as soft as a comforter. You could see things in the moon too although that was harder after men walked on heaven's night light. I envisioned a castle with a moat--I was the princess, of course, waiting for my own personal Prince Charming to rescue me. 

Did you compose stories when you looked at clouds or the moon? Did you make up stories in early childhood?

Bests,

Elise

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MOCA

 Photo courtesy of Anne Lowe 

PublicDomainPictures.net

 

      In the heart of New York City’s Chinatown—the largest Chinatown in the USA, streets bustle with restaurants and chop suey joints, vegetable markets sell snow peas and ginger, exotic pears, lichee nuts and comquats and busy fish stalls offer seafood so bright and fresh and shiny you can smell the sea’s brine. Chinese New Year will be celebrated in the streets and its celebrated dining places on January 31.

     Here, at 215 Centre Street, Museum of Chinese in America presents a fascinating journey into the history and culture of the Chinese people and their thorny relationship with America.

     Through artifacts, collections of memoirs, photographs, videos and exhibitions of art, visitors and students may study and research the events and chronicles of the Chinese in the Western Hemisphere.

     An introductory video disc transports us back in time to the 1600’s before Chinatown was Chinatown and the region was home to Native Americans who traded with the Dutch at Werpoes Hill and Center Street; by 1626, the Dutch had purchased Manhattan Island and small farms dotted the area. Tanneries used the standing water in nearby swamps and provided employment and pollution around the area that is Worth, Centre and Mulberry Street in the late 18^th century and butcher shops occupied Mott, Pell and Bayard Street.  The neighborhood was crowded, filled with the stench of the slaughterhouses and the poverty of the poor. Free blacks and escaped slaves moved into the area in the 1830’s, labored in the tanneries and were active in the abolition movement. Then Irish and German immigrants arrived in America in the 1850’s, crowding tenements and Italians and East European Jews followed them. Today, the area is becoming though visitors may tour the past in the Tenement Museum at 970 Orchard Street, the St. Paul Chapel dating from 1766, that miraculously survived September 11, and the Eldridge Street Synagogue built in 1887. Though Chinese traders and sailors brought tea and silk to our ports in the early 1830’s, permanent Chinese residents in the neighborhood in the 1850’s only numbered about 150.

      Displays of artifacts and memoirs illustrating the dispersion of the Chinese to the Western Hemisphere mesmerize. The Chinese immigrated from the coastal provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, fleeing a deteriorating economy, floods, food shortages, government corruption and violence. Called Collies or “Bitter Strength,” in Chinese, they came to find their Gold Mountain. Many arrived in San Francisco in 1849—thousands of others traveled to Peru, Trinidad, California, Montana and Oregon seeking a new life in a new world. They labored in gold mines and later ten thousand men were recruited to build the first transcontinental railway while others washed, ironed, served food and harvested crops. The immigrants found lives of harsh manual labor and prejudice based on race.

     When the Union Pacific and Central Pacific joined tracks at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad transformed the West—no longer needed by the railroads the immigrants were used as replacement labor in a depressed economy.  Mob violence and discriminatory laws followed and many Chinese fled to larger cities; their ghettoized neighborhoods becoming known as Chinatowns. By the 1880’s, the number of Chinese in New York was close to one thousand—the foundation of the largest Chinatown in America. 

     The United States reacted to the hostility toward the Chinese by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 which prohibited laborers from entering the United States.  Merchants were exempt under Section Six of the act.

     A current exhibition features The Lee Family of New York Chinatown Since 1888. Harold L. Lee and Sons, Inc. outlines the growth of a small foreign exchange company, founded in 1888, to it’s success today as a national insurance agency. This year is the agency’s 125^th anniversary.

     The Exclusion Act was finally lifted in 1943 and China, our war-time ally, given a small immigration quota. In 1968, the quota was increased, the population grew and today, Chinese citizens are prominent in the arts, science, technology, medicine and politics.

     Amongst the highlights in past exhibits were Chinese American Designers such as Vera Wang, Anna Sui and Vivienne Tam and Shanghai Glamour between 1910 and the 1940s. Shanghai was a modern city by the 1920s with its fashion known worldwide.

     Currently on display is a more serious presentation  Life in Chinatown On and After September 11.  The display communicates the experience of Asian New Yorkers during and after the World Trade Center attacks through documents, images and artwork and is dedicated to those that lost their lives.

      Chinese American art historians and students founded the museum in 1980, as the New York Chinatown History Project, to show the “Chinese experience as part of the larger history of America” MocCA’s mission is “to reclaim, preserve, and broaden understanding about the diverse history of the Chinese people in the Americas.”

Happy Chinese New Year

Elise

    

THE POWER OF WORDS

     When I was in my teens, I studied Shakespeare with a teacher who read Hamlet to us, relished the monologue and as she read the words pronounced them “trippingly on her tongue.” This probably encouraged my love of words.

     Words and how they’re used may shape, enlighten, or defame. Influence elections. Judge human frailties.  Prod, push and urge fanaticism. Cause one nation to fight another. Incite murder. Words are debated, memorized, and changed as they pass from one generation to the next. Whispered, sung, and shouted. Sighed over and repeated when chosen to encourage love or lust. Thought about and constantly rewritten when used in fables, stories, plays, histories and religious texts.

     The Torah: The Five Books of Moses that Christians call The Old Testament is studied by Jews and Christians today. The New Testament is read by the faithful in many interpretations throughout the world—the King James Bible, from the year1611, one of the most popular. The Koran, the sacred text of Islam is believed to contain the revelations made by Allah to Mohammed.

     Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species explained the evolutionary process. Controversy followed and is still debated because it disagreed with the literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

      Democracy, Capitalism, Socialism and Communism have many roots: The Republic written in 380 BC by Plato, Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man, and On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx brought about changes in government in many parts of the world. The words in these documents all reverberate in our day.

     Jacob Riis wrote How the Other Half Lives bringing attention to the poor in the United States. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and the Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir changed the lives of women. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet A. Jacobs under a pseudonym and The Narrative of Frederick Douglass focused on the lives of enslaved African Americans and led to the unforgettable words of Martin Luther King. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair—a novelist and social reformer—exposed the horrors of the Chicago meat packing industries and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson alerted the public to the dangers of environmental pollution.

     Shakespeare’s plays influenced our view of history and are still selling tickets today. (Personal note: When I saw Henry the Fifth at the Globe Theatre in London, I found myself enthusiastically cheering for the English before the realization struck—I was an American and should have been cheering for the French who helped during our revolution.)

     Examine the ancient history of enemy warfare and learn about the first documented manuscript, titled The Art of War, written in 400 BC, by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist and philosopher who advised the use of deception as an instrument of conflict. The book includes a chapter on counter-intelligence. “All war,” Sun Tzu wrote, “is based on deception.” Sound familiar?

     In the play Amadeus, the author Peter Shaffer, accuses Antonio Salieri, a court musician—who taught Beethoven Liszt and Schubert—of jealousy leading to the murder of Mozart. Didn’t happen but the power of Shaffer’s words persuaded many in the audience. John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, a play about a priest who is suspected by a nun of molesting a child led to discussion by playgoers that sometimes lasted for days. Did he or didn’t he? The argument goes on.

     By the end of a narrative—document, biography, history, fiction—no matter the genre, a connection between the writer and reader will encourage conversations with others about motivations, the truth of what has been written, and what the story means to them—each takes something different away from the page. We may not write a book that will last through the ages, we may not become a 21^st century Jane Austin or Charles Dickens but we can write books that will bring enjoyment, discovery, escape and the hunger for another manuscript.

Bests,

Elise

    

MELBOURNE'S TRAMS

 

 MELBOURNE’S TRAMS

Thought about a trip my husband and I took to Melbourne several years ago. A complimentary ride on Melbourne’s City Circle introduced us to a city famous for its network of trams. Wide streets, tree-lined boulevards, gardens and history awaited us as we traveled along Flinders Street in a colorful burgundy tram with gold and cream trim

The city’s first horse trams began on a suburban line in 1884; cable trams were initiated one year later. In 1889, electric trams took over and the City Circle Line has served tourists and city residents since 1936.

We spot the City Circle logo and board at Treasury Gardens; the oldest in Melbourne.  Directly to the rear is Fitzroy Gardens and Captain James Cook’s Cottage commemorating the English navigator, his life and his voyages in the southern hemisphere.

The next stop is the Gold Treasury Museum; we’re interested in its permanent collection Built on Gold. Eight of the vaults that stored the gold bullion now show how Victoria’s precious metal fashioned Melbourne’s destiny—the diggings, bush rangers who attacked the diggers on their journey to Melbourne to sell nuggets or dust, buyers working the fields who offered diggers a lower price than banks and bullion merchants and escort troops who charged one shilling per ounce of gold.

By switching to Tram No.16 at Swanton Street and St. Kilda Road, visitors may travel to the Shrine of Remembrance—a memorial completed in 1934—dedicated to men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve freedom. A climb to the top of the complex is rewarded with magnificent views of Melbourne’s skyline. Tram No.16 also carries beach lovers to St. Kilda where Melbourne’s citizens walk and cycle along the palm lined shore, sit at outdoor cafés, and gaze at Port Phillip Bay’s panoramic scenes.

Back on the City Circle Tram the following day, we arrived at Melbourne’s Aquarium where Giant Sharks and Sting Rays reside in a 2.2 million litre oceanarium then onward to La Trobe Street where Flagstaff Gardens is located on the highest sector of land in the city. A shiver of fear attacks when we stop at the Old Melbourne Gaol, the site of 135 hangings between 1842 and 1929 including that of infamous bush ranger Ned Kelly.

  

The tram turns on Spring Street where the Princess Theatre home welcomes generations of theatre goers, luminaries and ghosts. Notably, the ghost of the baritone “Frederici,” who died of a heart attack while performing Mephistopheles in Gounod’s opera Faust; another shiver when I learn he returned to take his bow.

We wait for Tram No. 55 on Elizabeth Street; the tram will deposit us at the Queen Victoria Market. More than 1000 stalls offer meat, fish, bakery products, fruit, vegetables and an abundance of general merchandise and knick-knacks. Cafes are close to the Queen Victoria and Sundays a wine market is in residence.

This is the second century of electric trams in Melbourne; it provided us a delightful and inexpensive overview of Melbourne and the inner suburbs. 

Bests,

Elise