Krishna Loves Butter
Krishna always has a pet cow apparently, because cows give milk, milk makes butter, and Krishna loves butter.
I learned this while attending the Kick-Off Event for One Book Greater Hartford at the Hartford Public Library. The day was filled with Indian dance, music, food, and vendors. The One Book for 2008 is The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. From the author's Web site:
Blending incisive comedy with Hindu mythology and a dash of Bollywood sparkle, The Death of Vishnu is an intimate and compelling view of an unforgettable world.
The event opened with a welcome from Honorary Chairperson Dr. A. V. Srinivasan, primary founder of the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society in Middletown. Dr. Srinivasan spoke about the value of bringing a solitary pastime, reading, into a community setting. He spoke about how sharing this book can connect us with each other and help us to become comfortable being with people of similar interests even though our opinions may be wildly different. (The wild difference of opinions was apparent at the book discussion held at the end of the day!)
Dr. Srinivasan invited us to consider a universal theme developed in the book, and reminded us that this theme can be played out anywhere, even Hartford: How does society deal with the Vishnus among us who live their lives in degradation and wretchedness, but who share with us the same desire for life, levity, and the fulfillment of dreams?
After we were welcomed, David Nelson, ethnomusicologist and Artist-in-Residence at Wesleyan University presented a workshop on solkattu, spoken syllables that are used to teach rhythmic patterns to musicians, drummers and dancers.
He taught participants basic talas, movements of the hands that create specific patterns and bring both performer and audience into the meter of a song. While we struggled to measure out talas with our hands (clap, pinky, ring finger, middle finger, clap, back-of-hand, clap, back-of-hand), Dr. Nelson beat our complex rhythms on his mrdangam, which he had primed with some water and farina (otherwise known as Cream of Wheat).
When asked, Dr. Nelson told us that in India, musicians, especially drummers, have resisted the rush to writing down notation for these rhythms because notation takes flexibility out of performance.
He asked us if we had noticed making mistakes while measuring out our talas. Of course we had!
If you put your learning into your body instead of writing it down, he told us, you know immediately when you've made a mistake. True for many things, I think.
At the conclusion of Dr. Nelson's workshop, participants admired the wares offered by Noor Beauty Supply and Body Oil of Windsor and Black Yak Trading Company of unknown provenance. Food was provided by Taste of India of West Hartford.
Bracelets were particularly popular, abundant, and affordable. Some were only 25 cents!
Kathak Dance was our next subject. Renowned dancer Rachna Rayma Agrawal explained the origins of this 2000-year-old form. Kathak, a North Indian classical dance, was initially a temple dance, but became a popular court dance after the Mogul invasion of India.
Kathak is distinguished by its use of ankle bells - 150 for each ankle, made of copper and zinc, and weighing two-and-a-half pounds per strand.
The feet are used to make a variety of sounds from the bell, from the sharp jangle of a flat foot to a shuddering wave of sound as the toe is dragged across the floor.
After demonstrating a series of standard movements in a fluid dance, Ms. Agrawal performed an expressive, 2000-year-old temple dance describing the beauty of God. The dance has three parts. The first part tells the story of Krishna stealing butter (!) and his mother's reaction. The second part tells the story of a village being devastated by a hurricane. Krishna lifts a mountain with his pinky and uses it as an umbrella to shelter the village. The third part tells the story of Krishna teasing the most beautiful woman in the village, Radha, who ultimately becomes his lover.
Ms. Agrawal's face melted easily between Krishna's stern and disappointed mother, an irritated Radha, and Krishna himself, looking happy (butter!), chastised, benevolent or coy.
The audience was invited to participate in a North Indian folk dance, and a group of brave women of all ages rose to the challenge. The dance involved flowing, jumping, spinning and flirting. It was fun and invigorating. We were also taught hand movements that represented a flower, a bee, a butterfly turning into a bird, waves and (what else?) Krishna petting his cow!
The day concluded with a book discussion led by Elizabeth Davis of the Hartford Public Library.
As this was the Kick-Off Event, it was expected that participants would not necessarily have read the book, but many already had. Opinions varied widely among the group. Some loved the book, while others were happy when it ended. Many were thrilled to learn about Indian culture for the first time. Some found the characters unsympathetic and others found them comical.
The conversation continued over chai tea in the library's soaring Atrium.
As the library closed up for the evening, participants chatted until they reached the street.
Get Gale Out of the House: Art After Hours September 4
It's time to get Gale out of the house, so mark your calendars for September 4 and join us at Phoenix Art After Hours at the Wadsworth Atheneum.
I e-mailed with a most friendly Susan Carey, Visitor Services Manager at the Atheneum, and got an advance description of the event. (I love these Atheneum People! They've all been so pleasant when I've interacted with them! Props to the Atheneum People!)
5-8 pm: LIVE JAZZ
The Kenny Reed and Norman Gage Quartet play bebop jazz. Outdoors in Gengras Court, weather permitting. Wear sunglasses at the admission desk and receive a $1 beverage coupon.
6 pm: ART TALK
"Between Reality and Reverie" Join New Haven-based artist Christopher Mir for a gallery talk on works in the collection that inspire his own creative process. Christopher Mir was featured last year at the Wadsworth Atheneum in a solo exhibition in MATRIX 157.
8 pm: FREE FILM
Symbol of the Unconquered Outdoor screening with an introduction and live musical accompaniment by William Hooker. 1920. USA. 60 min. B&W.
Admission to the event is $5. It's free to museum members and employees of the Phoenix. Let's Go Arts members, buy one admission, get one free.
And don't forget to see "Bare Walls, No Boundaries." It's running through August 17.
Hartford Votes: The Soundtrack
On the way down, Kanye West:
I need to recruit all the soldiers
All of God's soldiers
We at war
We at war with society, racism, terrorism, but most of all we at war with ourselves...
To the hustlas, killers, murderers, drug dealers even the strippers
(Jesus walks with them)
To the victims of Welfare for we living in hell here hell yeah
(Jesus walks with them)...
(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me)
The only thing that I pray is that me feet don't fail me now...
On the way back, Tom Petty:
Well she was an American girl
Raised on promises...
No comments on my musical taste, please, but man that sh*t was freaky!
One Book for Greater Hartford: The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri
This year's book is The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri.
At 11:15, there is a welcome by Sheena Shrinivasan, founder of the CT Valley Hindu Temple Society in Middletown.
At 11:30, ethnomusicologist David Nelson will lead a workshop on solkattu/konnakol, a form of vocal percussion.
From 12 - 4:30 there will be an Indian market with food and various handcrafts.
From 3 - 3:30 there will be a performance of Kathak dance by Rachna Rayma Agrawal.
The Death of Vishnu will be discussed from 3:45 - 4:45. Copies of the book are available at all library branches.
Additional activities and programs will take place during the fall, culminating in a talk and book-signing by author Manil Suri on October 24.
I'm pretty jazzed about the book selection this year. In fact, I'm going downstairs to read it right now.
Let's Chat
What do you think are the biggest problems facing Hartford?
How can Hartford improve?
And while we're at it, what's good about Hartford?
I'll go first:
One of my biggest frustrations with the city is the lack of response from city services. Many of you have read my ranting comment below about the illegal construction project going on in my 'hood.
If you haven't, here it is, short and sweet: My neighbor has been building a two-story addition to his house for over two years. Its foundation is constructed of carefully balanced cinder blocks and pieces of wood. The exterior is warped and rotting. He doesn't have a permit. I have been calling the city about it for over two years. Only after the intervention of the mayor's office during the last election cycle was a stop-work order placed. In July of 2007. After the election, the mayor's office stopped returning my calls. Since then I have continued to call, left many messages, and even took a day off from work to go to Licenses & Inspections to ask for help. No one has returned my calls and my visit to License & Inspections changed nothing. The neighbor recently started working on the project again.
OK. Fine. I'll do it.
This frightens me a little (I'm honestly afraid of retaliation), but here's a blurry photo of a small part of the foundation:
Nice, isn't it?
The city should do something about this. This thing should come down. I shouldn't have to make one more phone call about it.
So there.
I'll think of something good about Hartford when I've had a chance to calm down.
Well, there's always Coyote Flaco. Don't need to think about that.
Peace out.
Hartford Heads-Up from Emily G: Taste of Hartford Restaurant Week
It's taking place August 3 - 9, all around the city.
For $20.08 you can get yerself a fine, multi-course meal.
If you check out the Web site, you can click on a restaurant name and see what's on offer.
Sounds like a good chance to visit some restaurants that are usually reserved for really special occasions (at least at the Dixon house), like Costa Del Sol and Max Downtown.
But the list is long, so have a look.
Coyote Flaco is participating too, which, as you know, is the most important thing.
Thanks EmGee!
Vacation in Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
We arrived at around 12:30 and were greeted by an extremely friendly guard and an extremely friendly front desk lady, which made us happy immediately. We were invited to join a guided tour of portraits that was scheduled for 1:00, but opted instead for lunch because I was hungry and get very grumpy if I don't eat when I'm hungry.
The front desk lady gave us directions to the café and warned us to allow our eyes to adjust to the Bare Walls, No Boundaries exhibition before walking through it because it was dark in there (video exhibition). She was right. As I headed in the direction of the café, guided by my exception internal compass, I thought to myself, "Wow, it really is dark in here!" and promptly walked into a wall.
We didn't linger at Bare Walls, instead heading straight to the café, which is the companion restaurant to The Russell at the corner of Trumbull and Pratt Streets. (I believe owner Hugh Russell worked at the Atheneum Café prior to opening his restaurant, and then opened the café at the Atheneum. That's a pretty cool story, but please correct me if I'm wrong!)
We had a great lunch.
After remembering we were on vacation, we each ordered a glass of wine (Pinot Grigio for me, Riesling for Shane). We decided to split some appetizers and a sandwich: lobster salad (recommended by the front desk lady), coconut shrimp, and a tuna melt. The food was quite good. I'm not a food critic by any stretch, but I thought that the lobster salad was slightly overdressed. The coconut shrimp, with it's marmalade dipping sauce, was really yummy. I love coconut (and love saying coconut), and the shrimp was nice and crispy but not at all greasy which really let the coconut flavor come through. The sandwich was tasty. The tomato was really fresh and "tomato-ey" which was a treat.
Our waiter was attentive, helpful, unobtrusive, and cute!
The highlights of my visit were the paintings in the Avery Court (where the fountain is), and Bare Walls, No Boundaries.
In Avery Court we found Picasso, Dali, Chagall and Klee among others.
The Bare Walls, No Boundaries exhibition, presented by the Amistad Center for Art & Culture, blew me away. From the brochure:
This exhibition is a contemporary commentary about race and its impact on the development of Black identity in America. The words of poets and musicians, such as Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Marvin Gaye, and Lupe Fiasco, guide viewers through the exhibition and remind them of the genesis of this present-day conversation. The artists in this exhibition question common understandings of the concept of "Blackness" and the boundaries associated with them... Bare Walls, No Boundaries is witty and sometimes biting. It is an observation about the various conflicts and triumphs that have shaped and continue to shape the consciousness of many Americans. Most importantly, by examining America's painful past and imperfect present, it looks toward a promising future with no boundaries.
As I wandered through this exhibition, I kept thinking about sharing what I was seeing with the readers of the liveinhartford bloggie. "Oh! This is the best one!" I thought, and then "Oh! This is the best one!" and then "No, this is the best one!"
- Imagine the tension captured in a slow-motion video of the climax of the 2006 Miss Texas beauty pageant.
- Witness love and trust between an inter-racial couple who share their blood during simultaneous blood transfusions.
- Take the opportunity to project your own shadow onto a wall where the silhouette of a young man is cycling through postures we've come to associate with Black masculinity.
- Experience the dissonance and then tenderness created when listening to universally-themed "white" music as it's lip-synced by sober Black faces.
That last piece is called Juke, by Jefferson Pinder, and it went straight to my heart and made me cry.
Bare Walls, No Boundaries is at the Atheneum through August 17.
Admission to the Atheneum is $10 for adults ($5 on First Thursdays from 5-8 p.m.), $8 for seniors, $5 for students, and free for children under 12.
If the price of admission is a hardship for you, you can get a museum pass using your library card at the Hartford Public Library. Go to the circulation desk where they will provide you with a piece of bar-coded paper that you present at the front desk at the Atheneum.
Critical Splash - An Intimate Success
Kerri, Shane, Elizabeth and I met up at Goodwin Park Pool yesterday evening for some chatter, a couple of laps, lower back massages from the jets in the pool walls, and bouncing in the shallow end.
Much to my regret, there was no synchronized swimming.
It was great to meet and introduce folks. We talked about movies, Hartford stuff, and Facebook.
Juan, our Friendly Lifeguard, spent some time with us, and is interested in sharing info about efforts to revive Batterson Park. Hopefully we'll have more on that later.
The water was warm, but things got a little chilly when the sun went behind a thick field of clouds.
I'm hoping we can have another Splash before the pool closes in late August.
Thanks to everyone who came!
Julie
Driving in New Britain, and Vacation
I've always found driving in New Britain to be a challenge, and I never look forward to it.
Yesterday Shane and I went to the New Britain Museum of American Art. It's a neat place. We toured the first floor, which houses Colonial paintings, Impressionism, paintings from the Hudson School, and a corridor of illustrations, including some garish, hair-raising ones from pulp magazines. After the first floor, we had a little lunch and then visited the second floor, which displays modern art, contemporary art, and an experimental gallery (see NEW/NOW at this link), as well as their rotating exhibitions. The current exhibition is about glass.
We ran into Dennis Peabody there, which was really nice.
I'd definitely encourage folks to check out this museum. It had a breadth and depth that I wasn't expecting at all.
But back to driving in New Britain.
I'd always thought it was me. I'm confused by the streets that twist and turn while having the same name; the narrow streets actually squish in three lanes - left, right and straight; the strange configuration of highway entrances that defies my strong internal compass (not a moral compass, but a directional compass; north is behind me at the moment, for example).
Yesterday I realized it wasn't me. I watched, vindicated, as cars switched from one lane to another, and then switched back again. At a red light a man rolled down his window and asked for directions. "Sorry. We don't know. We're lost, too." I made a wrong turn at one point and we found ourselves in a neighborhood that didn't make us feel too comfortable; the street names at that particular intersection were so similar that I misread them.
So go to the New Britain Museum of American Art, but if you're not familiar with New Britain, consider bringing reverse directions to get you home. Reading the directions you used to get there backwards didn't work for us. (Well, not exactly true. We're home.)
I tend toward anxiety, so was quite relieved to find myself on a familiar road.
Don't worry. I'm not going to glorify the ease of finding your way around Hartford. It must feel just as mysterious to the uninitiated.
And now vacation.
Our plan today was to go to the Mark Twain House and have a picnic in Elizabeth Park. We think the picnic is out because the ground is too soggy, so we're considering where to have a nice lunch. Probably the Pondhouse Cafe. We shall see.
We're psyched that the Mark Twain House is open on Mondays. Despite growing up in Bloomfield, and living in Hartford for 23 years, I've never been there. Not even on a school field trip.
Vacationing in Hartford, and Facebook
Shane and I won't be taking an elaborate vacation this year because of major work done on the family homestead (new kitchen, new roof, complete restoration of the front of our house).
Instead, we're vacationing in and around home. Will the time at home stand up to the glorious marketing job I did in House Swap?
I'll count yesterday as the first day of vacation even though we didn't work on Friday. Friday was A Day for Important Things, and as such, not terribly relaxing (at least until the evening). On Friday evening we sat in the backyard surrounded by exploding gardens and had one of the best conversations we've had in a long time. We ate three tomatoes from the garden, sprinkled with sea salt. We also had a nice visit from our friend Jeanie.
We've made a list of things we'd like to do in and around Hartford during our week off. Yesterday we crossed a couple of them off:
- We took Gracie on a leisurely walk (don't worry, she'll get more than one).
- We went to see The Dark Knight.
- We had dinner at First & Last with my brother, sister-in-law, and the three kidlets.
- We sat around doing some reading. I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and Bonk by Mary Roach (both worth the time) as well as some great SF in Asimov's SF and Analog SF & Fact (yes, Virginia, Julie is a nerd who hopes to go to Connecticon next Saturday and scoop up some Hello Kitty merch).
Shane has been raving about Facebook, 'cause he's able to use it to keep in contact with his nieces and nephews. Shane's from Ireland, so having a free and streamlined way to communicate with his family is a real boon. It's great to see pictures of Jennifer, Kate, George, Richard, Cara and Sean as they travel the world.
So far I've been able to find my niece Caitlyn, and hook up with my youngest cousin Emily and a few friends from college and elsewhere. I've also looked up people I've had fallings-out with over the years and was pleased to see pictures of them looking happy and healthy. Facebook is much more fun than LinkedIn, the professional networking site encouraged by Ye Olde Employer.
Facebook is also weird. One of the first things I did was upload some pictures of my animals. Then I uploaded some pictures of the kitchen renovation. I wondered: Does anyone really care to see these things? And how do I feel about expanding my digital footprint so radically? I predict that Facebook might really be an exercise in self-involvement for me. I've already flipped through the photo album of me created through tags about three times. (Oooh! Look at me on a horsie! My hair was so long then, and I don't look too fat!)
So here's hoping that our vacation doesn't turn into a Facebook Festival. We're going to the New Britain Museum of American Art today, which I've always wanted to visit. And then we're going to bake and freeze multiple loaves of zucchini bread, as the garden has offered up a bountiful harvest and it'll be nice to taste a bit of summer in the dead of winter.
And this evening we're hoping to have another meandering, meaningful conversation in the backyard.