Author: JWF

Tidy Tidbits: Art, Angst, & Autism

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BEAUTY IN GLASS

Bromeliads planted like a mosaic

Each year, Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota highlights the work of a notable artist as inspiration for special art throughout the gardens.  Other years have built on the interplay of art and nature in the works of Andy Warhol, Marc Chagall, and Monet.  This year’s focus is on the stained glass art of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  There are pieces both in the conservatory and throughout the landscape. 

Hanging stained ”glass” in the conservatory

 I think it is one of the most successful exhibits in this series.  Tiffany: The Pursuit of Beauty in Nature is on display through June 25th.  It’s well worth visiting!

Desert plants seen through a colored panel

RECENT READING

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

As has been noted, Kingsolver’s latest novel, Demon Copperhead, is a modern variation on Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.  Demon, birth name Damon, is the child of a teenage addict and an absent father.  When his mother dies, he becomes the responsibility of a sorry welfare system and endures a series of mostly terrible foster homes.  Overworked, mistreated, and bullied, he is nonetheless a survivor.  

Lacking in self-esteem, his early shining moments are starring on the football field and being elected homecoming king.  He has artistic talent which he occasionally values, but he lacks the confidence in his abilities to seriously pursue it.  A badly injured knee damages him both physically and mentally, and he descends into a drug-fueled existence.  He functions, but not fully.

The novel is all in Demon’s voice.  The sentences are delivered in a breathless almost hasty tone with occasional staccato-like bursts.  There is humor and coarse language wrapped in a surprisingly engaging character.  

The writing is terrific, but the book is just too long!  I got bogged down with all the teenage boys’ antics and shenanigans about two-thirds in and set the book aside for a week.  Then I returned to it, determined to finish, and felt rewarded by my efforts in the last several chapters.  For me, the ending was a satisfying one.  Overall, recommended with reservations. (~JWFarrington)

OUTSTANDING SERIES

Astrid, season 1 (PBS)

I mentioned Astrid in an earlier blog post and have now watched the entire first series.  It is excellent on several levels.  Astrid works in criminal records and is blessed with an encyclopedic memory and keen observation skills. She is also autistic and at the beginning of the series quite timid in her dealings with other people and the world in general.  Paired with detective Raphaelle Coste, Astrid provides insights and knowledge of previous murders instrumental in solving the latest crime.  She even manages to win over the somewhat crusty pathologist Fournier. 

The cases are intriguing and usually hinge on some connection to an earlier crime.  What was most engaging for me was the growing friendship between Astrid and Raphaelle and watching Astrid gain in confidence, able to practice basic social niceties.  I also enjoyed the interactions between the members of Astrid’s autism support group and the wise guidance provided by William, the group leader.  The series is in French with subtitles.  Highly recommended!

Live plants echo the colors of the glass

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is of a screen at Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota.

Sarasota Scene: Theater, Music, & Talk

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It was a week that showcased some of the best in culture and learning Sarasota has to offer. The play was powerful and timely, the orchestra’s performance moving, and the lecture, food for the mind.

WOMAN POWER & SCIENCE

Silent Sky at Asolo Repertory Theatre

Silent Sky cast, Henrietta at right (Your Observer)

Silent Sky by playwright Lauren Gunderson is a woman-centered work about astronomer Henrietta Leavitt.  A Harvard graduate, Henrietta, was hired as a computer in the Harvard Observatory in 1900 working under the direction of Professor Edward Pickering.  She and Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming, her colleagues, studied and mapped star plates, but were not allowed to work on the actual telescope.  Scientist Peter Shaw made rounds to check up on them.

Henrietta had a bold spirit and a creative mind and saw stars and patterns that eluded others.  This is a marvelous play about women:  the three female scientists and Margaret, Henrietta’s composer sister, and the challenges and conflicts they faced as women.  Highly recommended!  The play runs through March 5.

ASTOUNDING MUSICIANSHIP

Sarasota Orchestra, A Romantic Affair

Pianist Tsujii (Sarasota Orchestra)

The Sarasota Orchestra is in another transition year after the untimely death of the newly hired music director, Branwell Tovey, last July.  That means this season brings another string of guest conductors, selected to deliver the programs that Tovey had developed.  This most recent concert was simply superb!  

Conductor Peter Oundjian, in his second appearance, was warm in his opening remarks and sprightly on the podium.  We heard a spellbinding performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii and a rousing rendition of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor.  This orchestra was at its very best!

EUROPEAN POLITICS

Macron’s Europe – or Is it Putin’s? (Global Issues series, Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning)

Author Walker (Facebook)

Martin Walker had a long career as a journalist for The Guardian and UPI and then a second career working with various think tanks.  His talk about the challenges faced by France and the European Union in dealing with Russia was informative and insightful.  The Chief Penguin and I found it worthwhile but could have done without his opening humor.  

There was a large crowd in attendance, probably partly due to Walker’s third career as the author of the Chief Bruno mysteries set in France.  It’s also worth noting that he has been a SILL speaker for thirty years.

CURRENT READING

The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton

More about this accessible biography in a future blog post

Note: Header photo is of the bell tower at New College of Florida ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidy Tidbits: Books & More

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READERS’ FAVORITES

Here are a some of the book recommendations I received from my regular readers.  You will see a few familiar titles here as well as new ones. 

And There Was Light by Jon Meacham (nonfiction about Abraham Lincoln)

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Booth by K. J. Fowler

The Swimmers by J. Otsuka

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken (historical novel about Ukraine in the 1930’s)

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (YA novel by an Indigenous author about two teens’ clash of cultures)

For other recommended titles see the public comments on the blog site at https://www.jauntingjean.com/reading-favorite-books-of-2022/

A NOVEL FOR OUR TIME

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Boylan & Picoult (mysteryandsuspense.com)

I’m always leery of novels written by two authors, but I’m a fan of much of Jodi Picoult’s work.  She has a history of tackling contemporary issues, often divisive ones, from abortion to racism to genetics.  Her latest novel is co-written with Jennifer F. Boylan, author of several novels and the memoir, She’s Not There, which I can also highly recommend.  

This is a novel about secrets, what we choose to share with others, and what we keep private.  It’s also a love story, a book about how we define ourselves, and a suspenseful courtroom drama.  Olivia and her son Asher escaped to New Hampshire when Olivia left an abusive marriage.  She takes over her father’s role as a professional beekeeper.  Ava and her teenage daughter Lily move from Seattle and California.  Ava is a forest ranger working in the woods.  Lily becomes a student at the local high school, plays cello in the orchestra, and meets and likes hockey team star Asher.  Without revealing too much, these four lives become intertwined in unexpected ways.  

This is an absorbing, gripping, and sensitively written novel.  As the work of two writers, I found it seamless.  And it’s a book I would gladly place on the shelves of any and every high school library! (~JWFarrington)

WATCHING: NEW SEASONS

Whitstable Pearl, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Pearl & Mike (IMBd)

In Season 2, oyster bar owner and private detective Pearl Nolan becomes more of a private eye, and the cases she helps solve are more tragic than in the first series.  Detective Mike McGuire remains dispirited over the death of his wife, but has a new partner, upbeat Kate.  Pearl appears to have moved on with her own new squeeze, schoolteacher Tom, but there are still intense glances between Pearl and Mike.   Overall, the series is darker than Season 1 and, except for one episode I found somewhat silly, entertaining drama.  

Under the Vines, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Griff, Louis, Daisy, Tippy, & Gus (Libertine Pictures)

Daisy and Louis are still together running their jointly owned New Zealand vineyard in this lighter-hearted series.  As the season opens, Louis’s son and wife are both visiting, creating a crowded house, and upending the fragile developing romance between him and Daisy.  Secondary characters, Griff, Gus, and Tippy, bring gay and Māori perspectives to the series.  It’s funny, but not fluffy, and serious at points without being somber.  New episodes are being released weekly on Mondays. 

Note: Header photo of a school library courtesy of az12.org.

 

Tidy Tidbits: Political & Personal

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WATCHING: POLITICAL HISTORY

Argentina 1985 (Amazon Prime)

Prosecutor Staserra & his deputy

This political film is inspired by real events. It focuses on the groundbreaking 1985 civil trial of nine Argentine military leaders.  These individuals were charged with being responsible for the kidnappings, torture, and disappearance of hundreds of people during the country’s dictatorship period.  The main character is prosecutor Julio Stassera, a man who didn’t want the job and felt pressured into it and is also fearful.  It’s a gripping story of how Julio and his deputy and a team of young lawyers gathered accounts and assembled a group of individuals willing to testify in open court.  Recommended!

EXCAVATION: LIFE IN SCRAPBOOKS

Packrat Tendencies

I took a long trip down memory lane this past week.  I’ve made it my January project to sort, toss, and scan the contents of a closet.  This closet has essentially been untouched since we moved to Florida more than 8 years ago.  It was filled with stacked black plastic bins and one large cardboard carton. The large carton had not been opened since it was packed for a cross country move in 2007.  What I have discovered inside these boxes is a treasure trove of memorabilia going back to the 1960’s and earlier:  loose photos, scrapbooks, and photo albums. The pages in the oldest albums are fragile and crumble easily.

As a teen and through college, I was an inveterate saver and scrapbook keeper.  Every postcard I think I ever received or purchased from 1961 to about 1968, lots of programs for school plays, and concerts (Chad Mitchell Trio, for one), sports nights event lists, church choir festivals, birthday and graduation cards and selected correspondence.  To this day, I’m still a saver, but perhaps a more disciplined one.

Winter Wonders

I was reminded of the Christmas our family of six drove to Michigan with a stop in Ohio to visit cousins.  We had three Christmas celebrations, one with each set of grandparents and another with our cousins. We stayed in a motel one night each way. I saved postcards from the Tally Ho Motel in North Kingsville, Ohio (so cold a room we almost froze!) and from the Tiptop Motel in Canton, Ohio.  In Canton, we were all squeezed into the one available room.  My younger sister and brother shared a twin bed, one at each end.  The radiant heat (advertised on this postcard) was so hot, we departed at dawn’s crack.

Midst the many black and white photos were images of my siblings and me playing outside and running around with the neighbor boys (for a time, very few girls lived our street). Also black and white snow scenes of our driveway and yard after the Blizzard of ’66.  We lived in town and that was the only time I can ever remember getting three days off from school for the weather! 

I also discovered class photos and report cards from kindergarten through 4th grade from my elementary schools in Syracuse and Auburn.  I remember fondly my two favorite teachers, attractive young Miss Rosa (2ndgrade) and seeming-to-me very old, Miss Peterson (3rd grade).  Miss Peterson lives in memory for her teaching, but also for falling forward, fainting,and hitting her head on my desktop.  It was scary, but she was fine.

Scrapbook Maven

My mother had a special talent for creating noteworthy scrapbooks for anniversaries and other special occasions. I smiled and chuckled as I re-discovered these works.  The first one was for my Hancock grandparents’ 40th wedding anniversary in 1961.  It was done in the format of a magazine called ”Family Fortune” with an image of John Hancock on the cover. Contents included family photos, cartoons, and humorous anecdotes, plus letters from the grandchildren.  \

In 1972, for my other grandparents’ 50th anniversary, she designed a scrapbook as a yearbook in recognition of my grandfather’s long career at the University of Michigan. My siblings and I and our cousins contributed to both of these volumes. 

In later years, the Chief Penguin and I were the recipients of “International Cooking with Jean & Greg” on our 10th anniversary and then “Father and Son” (Dec. 1986) highlighting life with Tim.  Birthday scrapbooks followed for me (2001) and each of my siblings illustrating our individual life stories along with photos of our grandparents and great grandparents.  

Whether these volumes will be of interest to the next generations or not, they document lives well lived.  And thanks to the Chief Penguin, scanned copies will now live in the cloud. 

Note: Header image of scrapbook spread by JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)