68th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival

I love works of art that make you stop without a second thought. Today I went to the 68th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival at Bush Pasture Park with my brother. I had fun; got some color, enjoyed the music, ate some candy, and went to as many art stands as I could. There were local artists from Oregon and also artists who were from California and Washington (probably more states, there are a lot of people who showed up). They are all gifted at their craft. They have performing artists at the festival, too. There are stands lined up where the artists display their works. Some of them have photography, others have paintings, sculptures, jewelry and it’s all beautiful, filled with imagination. The best works are the ones that make you wonder how they could have created such a beautiful work of art. Those works are the most marvelous ones of all.

The Salem Art Festival is happening July 21- 23 at Bush Pasture Park in Salem, Oregon. I highly recommend people go and see for themselves because there is a lot to see and a lot to do.

Moulin de la Galette

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Moulin de la Galette, Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 69” (130.8 x 175.3 cm). Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was one of the artists who was associated with the Impressionist movement. Some of the other Impressionists include Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), Edgar Degas (1834-1917), and Claude Monet (1840-1926). Their view of Impressionist painting was a never-ending metamorphosis of sunlight and shadow. The world as we really see it: not a fixed, absolute perspective illusion in the eye of a frozen spectator within a limited frame of a picture window, but thousands of glimpses of changing scenes by a constantly moving eye. Renoir created a lovely dream world in Moulin de la Galette of pure joy and beauty. It is the commonplace Sunday afternoon dance, painted in 1876 in the picturesque Montmartre district. Lights flicker off the men and women in rose, blue, and yellow. Renoir paints in loose brushstrokes. He is not concerned with details, yet he uses velvety brushwork that softens their forms and enhances their beauty. This is also seen in works Renoir would create in later years.

REVIEW: The Majestic Sphinx by Mark Twain

The Majestic Sphinx is a non-fiction work by Mark Twain. It comes from a collection of travel letters from 1869 called Innocents Abroad, and placed in an anthology called, Into the Mummy’s Tomb: Ancient mystery—and terror—unearthed by the world’s greatest writers. Some of the other writers include Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, and Edgar Allan Poe, so who knows what else is coming up next.

I began with Mark Twain because I didn’t expect Twain to write a story about a mummy, (although you never know what to expect of some of these great writers) and because this is far different from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He begins The Majestic Sphinx as if the Sphinx was waiting for him all along. Twain describes the Sphinxes face as “sad, so earnest, so longing, so patient.”

Twain calls the Sphinx a “stone” that seemed “sentient.” It “was thinking.” The Sphinx gazes out into the horizon and stares into an ocean of time. Twain uses this opportunity to give us a glimpse into what the Sphinx has looked at in the past and what it was thinking about: wars, empires, nations, life and death.

At one point Twain says he shall feel the same way when he stands before the “awful presence of God.” He says it with certainty and without a doubt, as if standing before the Sphinx confirmed his beliefs there is a higher power.

When he sees relic-hunters described as “well-meaning reptiles” who “had crawled up there” (on the face of the Sphinx), Twain is brought out of the trance-like state he is in when it was only him and the Sphinx. Twain is so annoyed he proceeds to call upon a Sheik “to arrest” or “warn” the relic-hunter about the “laws of Egypt.” After the Sheik speaks to the relic-hunter, he “desisted and went away.”

As soon as the relic hunter is gone, Twain returns to the trance-like state he was in before. His focus is on the Sphinx again. “The Sphinx: a hundred and twenty-five feet long…” Twain begins by including the measurements of the Sphinx. He compares the “block of stone” as large as the Fifth Avenue Hotel “before the usual waste (by the necessities of sculpture) of a fourth or a half of the original mass was begun.” Twain says he set down the “numbers and remarks” to suggest “the prodigious labor of carving of it so elegantly, so symmetrically, so faultlessly, must have cost.” (The Fifth Avenue Hotel was demolished in 1908. It stood for only 49 years. It took around three years to construct it.) Twain wonders how the Sphinx could remain so sharp and unmarred after so many thousands of years weather exposure. He ends with the question archaeologists have trouble answering to this day: “Now did it take a hundred years of patient toil to carve the Sphinx?” It seems probable. “It seems probable.”

REVIEW: Vogue Magazine JUN: Gold Standard

REVIEW: VOGUE MAGAZINE JUN: Gold Standard by Hadley Freeman.

Sure enough, Sonia Friedman is recognized in London and New York as an accomplished producer both on and off Broadway. She has her own company and she is respected and hailed has the most powerful person in British theater. One of the plays she has in production at the moment is an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, starring Reed Birney, Tom Sturridge, and Olivia Wilde. She also has a two-part show of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is planned for Broadway in 2018. It’s about the adult Harry “struggling” with fatherhood.

Friedman has been called J.K. Rowling’s “evil twin” because they share a striking resemblance. Not only do they look alike, but they understand the play because lived it themselves, having grown up estranged from their own fathers. It didn’t take much to persuade Rowling to go forth with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The duo thought Harry would be the perfect character to answer the question: Do great men make good fathers? There have been attempts at Harry Potter plays, but it seems only Sonia Friedman was able to pull off a successful production.

It’s no wonder she was recently nominated for 31 Oliviers (the British equivalent of the Tony awards), and won eleven, nine which went to Harry Potter. She is respected in her field as a producer, writer, and a woman. Hopefully this is only the beginning of a long and prosperous career.

REVIEW: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: KING TUT’S DNA; Unlocking Family Secrets

REVIEW: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

KING TUT’S DNA

Unlocking Family Secrets

Who were King Tutankhamun’s parents? What ailments did he suffer (and ultimately die) from? What family secrets are hidden in the young pharao’s DNA? These are some of the questions that Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s head archaeologist, seeks to answer.

Hawass’ passion for archaeology is evident from the beginning of the article. He expresses his respect for the mummies and a brief family history of King Tut. The DNA experts have 10 mummies, and geneticists must extract DNA from deep inside the bone tissue in different locations. This is necessary because the mummies have been in the tombs together for over 3,000 years and it is to avoid cross-contamination with each other, the people who first mummified the bodies, geneticists, and anyone who handled the mummies in the past. Hawass explains the science of DNA in a fast, efficient way to understand the methods they will use so there is no confusion.

King Tut is suspected to have been born out of incest, which was not uncommon in royal families. Tut’s biological parents are thought to be Akhenaten and a mummy known as the “Younger Lady” who is mother to Tutankhamun and full sister to Akhenaten. DNA experts proved Tut’s parents were siblings, and it explains why he died at the tender age of 19. Tut suffered from a club foot and a partial cleft lip; both deformations that could result from incest. Results from his DNA test showed he could have died from malaria. Malaria was a common disease at the time, but he may not have had the immune system to overcome it.

There were fetuses tested which may have been King Tutankhamun’s daughter’s with Ankhesenamun, his wife. Her identity is also somewhat of a mystery, but after DNA testing it is sure that the fetuses are Tut’s daughters.

Overall, it was fascinating to find out more about King Tut’s family history from a scientific point of view. There was not much information about his discovery in 1922. However, Hawass does mention that Tutankhamun’s tomb went undiscovered for so long because his tomb was smaller than others. He ends with Ramses the Great in a new dynasty with hopes for better times ahead.

POEM #6

I am a nameless soul
Beside this creek
Under the Moonglow
I am painless

I have no limits
The water flows in peace
Tranquility passes through me
One deep breath and life is perfection

POEM #5

He stares ahead, God knows where
Clearwater-green eyes dare me to sit beside him
In this hushed meadow,
Ever welcoming and heavenly,
He reflects often,
No, he is not shy.
He speaks when he wants,
Analyzes and observes all around him.
What a fascinating place,
Full of wonder and possibilities,
Beauty and mystery.
Fireflies dance around us,
I take in this moment, and his eyes are on me.

POEM#4

 

I sit in silence
The feeling of life drained
As I wander in my thoughts
Like a dream I can’t wake from

The feeling of life drained
I change my path when I come back
Like a dream I can’t wake from
I hide and hug myself

I change my path when I come back
I can’t help but cry inside
I hide and hug myself
Because what I thought that was, is not

I can’t help but cry inside
As I wander in my thoughts
Because what I thought that was, is not
I sit in silence

 

 

POEM #3

Say yes,
Allow this for yourself:
Smile,
Listen to the world around you.
Don’t think,
Drift to the moon.
Do what you love,
here, now, always,
Exist.
learn from the past
forget the future
happiness is now

POEM #2

The Awakened Heart
In all its Glory
Knows no boundaries.
My love for you,
Though pure and true
Is freedom in purgatory.
Trapped for all eternity.
One reckless moment and
Yesterday’s enemy becomes
Tomorrow’s greatest exaltation