Travel with Dawn

Last Thanksgiving, as I chatted with Dawn by a campfire, she pulled a suggestion out of her hat: "Let's go to New York."

There's no other possible reply but "Okay."

And so we went home and began searching for plane tickets, hotel rooms, show times, and museum hours. Fast forward three months, and Dawn and Nancy are with Lawson and Hannah on a plane bound for LaGuardia.

It was a great trip, and I learned an important lesson: Always travel with Dawn. With Dawn by your side, lines are short. Employees are friendly. Prices are low (well, most of the time). Hotel rooms are bigger and more luxurious.

The Waldorf Astoria upgraded our room, so we had lots of comfy space to spread out. And Lawson and Hannah were thrilled to have a hotel room with a doorbell. Not only that, but it was Dawn's idea to try to go to the Statue of Liberty on Friday, which was the day we arrived. Now, I always assume that travel days are shot. By the time I land, get baggage, travel to the hotel and check in, most of the day is gone. But Dawn was right. Friday was our prettiest day, and we did manage to get down to Battery Park in time for an afternoon ferry. In fact, when we got to the dock, the ferry had just pulled up as if we had called ahead for it.

Dawn's luck lasted all through the trip. Lines were short at the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We walked right into the George Gershwin Theater to see Wicked, and when the show was over, the crowd had already thinned when we visited Lawson's favorite spot: M&M World. Even when we ice skated at Rockefeller Center, the line was short, and we were on the ice in no time. Okay, so there was a two-hour wait for sundaes at Serendipity, but Dawn took care of that too. She put our name on the list and told the host we were going across to Patsy's Pizzeria to eat dinner, then to Dylan's Candy Bar before coming back for our frozen hot chocolates. "No problem," he said. "Come back at about 4:30." And that's what we did. And that was one tasty sundae.

One fun New York project: photos of various versions of the Statue of Liberty. The wallpaper on my phone is a photo of the Statue of Liberty in McRae, Georgia. As we ferried across the harbor toward Ellis Island, I enthusiastically shot a photo of the real Lady Liberty as a companion to my McRae photo. Then Dawn had a brilliant idea: Why not take photos of all the Statues of Liberty I find and make a montage? So I did. Here it is. Guess which statue is in McRae?

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Anna Karenina, Part III

This is what I have read so far. I'm 510 pages into this novel, and I'm not even halfway through it yet. See my previous Anna Karenina posting for my remark about long books.

Though much of Part III seemed unnecessary to me, I did find it had some wonderful lines. For instance, on the first page, Tolstoy writes, "To Konstantin Levin, the country was the background of life, that is of pleasures, endeavors, labor." I loved that sentence. It captures Levin's character to a tee. And the mowing chapter, Chapter 4, is delightful. Levin's brother has come to visit, but is only interested in lying about. Levin, on the other hand, finds satisfaction in hard work. I love the scene in which Levin returns from a day in the field only to have his brother remark, "Well, so you're content with your day. And so am I. First, I solved two chess problems and one a very pretty one--a pawn opening." Tolstoy seems to love marking stark contrasts between Levin and other characters.

I wrote comments in the margins next to several lines in this part. I'll share a couple of them here, with my comments in orange italics.

"Perhaps it may all be very good; but why should I worry myself about establishing dispensarie which I shall never make use of, and schools to which I shall never send my children, to which even the peasants don't want to send their children, and to which I've no very firm faith that they ought to send them?" Hmm. Sounds like Savannah Chatham County Public Schools.

"And truly Levin had never drunk any liquor so good as this warm water with green bits floating in it, and a taste of rust from the tin dipper." I just love this image from the mowing chapter.

And then there's Anna's confrontation with Karenin and his refusal to divorce her. I must say, although I wasn't surprised at his attitude toward her, I felt sorry for the poor son, who did nothing to deserve Karenin's contempt: "Everything relating to her and her son, towards whom his sentiments were as much changes as toward her ceased to interest him." Poor kid. He's only about nine year old, right? Up until this point I sympathized with Karenin, but no more. I find it interesting that "Alexey Alexandrovitch could not without horror contemplate the idea of a pistol aimed at himself and never made use of any weapon in his life." How ironic that Karenin can't stand the thought of a duel over Anna, yet Anna later shows she has the constitution to throw herself in front of a train.

So when I got to the next scene in which Karenin has tea in his study, I was struck by the following line: "Over the easy-chair there hung in a gold frame an oval portrait of Anna, a fine painting by a celebrated artist. Alexey Alexandrovitch glanced at it. The unfathomable eyes gazed ironically and insolently at him. Insufferably insolent and chalenging was the effect in Alexey Alexandrovitch's eyes of the black lace about the head, admirably touched in by the painter, the blackhair and handsome white hand with one finger lifted, covered with rings. After looking at the portrait for a minute, Alexey Alexandrovitch shuddered so that his lips quivered and he uttered the sound 'brr,' and turned away." What a wienie.

Chapter 13 is one of the more boring chapters in Part III, but it also has some of the best lines. Tolstoy describes a party attended by "Sappho Shtoltz and a young man beaming with excess of health, the so-called Vaska. It was evident that ample supplies of beef-steak, truffles, and Burgundy never failed to reach him at the fitting hour." I laughed a lot at that line.

Later, though Tolstoy describes Sappho Shtoltz as a "blonde beauty with black eyes." In the margin, I wrote, "Yeah. That would happen." Why is it that so many authors want to give their characters black eyes? I've never seen anyone with black eyes, let alone a blonde person.

But eyes are not the only striking aspect of Sappho, oh no: "On her head there was such a superstructure of soft, golden hair--her own and false mixed--that her head was equal in size to the elegantly rounded bust, of which so much was exposed in front." More laughter from me there.

Chapter 19 includes what I think is probably the longest paragraph in western literature. It spans 2 1/2 pages. Perhaps Tolstoy was a strong influence on William Faulkner. At the end of page 445, I wrote, "And so ends another chapter in which absolutely nothing happened." I think that was the chapter in which Vronsky balanced his check book.


And so we finish another part of Anna Karenina. For those of you following along (all two of you), here's a sixty-second synopsis:

After making a scene at the horse race, Anna confronts her husband. "I hate you. I never want to see you again. I love Vronsky." Karenin, however, stands his ground: "Tough beans, chick. I'll not let you bring scandal to my house. Now pack up your summer duds and get back home to me by Tuesday." Anna complains to Vronsky, who expects a duel. He need not worry. Karenin shudders at the thought. Meanwhile, our friend Levin gets over Kitty's rejection of him by mowing the fields on his farm. When Kitty moves to the neighborhood, he takes special care to avoid her. Though he has no interest in public service, he shows much interest in the well being of his workers and eventually resolves to organize labor on his farm. However, when his brother labels him a communist, he gets mad. Apparently nobody ever taught him about sticks and stones.

Now on to Part IV...

February 15, 2011

Some nights call for a good old-fashioned bedtime story:

How to Be a Basketball Fan

Well, basketball season is over. At least it is for the St. Peter the Apostle Sixth Grade Rams. And I would be remiss if I didn't start out this posting with a big word of thanks to Coach Scott King for his tireless efforts in coaching this great group of boys. Scott has served as coach for the sixth grade football and basketball teams, so he's been with this same group for the past six months. Few people have the stamina and skill to coach these budding athletes in two sports. Few people have that much time to invest in the practices and the games. So crack open an ice cold bottle of Bud Light, oh sultan of the sidelines. Thanks to you, our boys are in a league of their own.

Although I didn't set out to become a basketball expert (and I am far from that), I did learn some of the ins and outs of the game while sitting in the stands watching the sixth grade boys play their hearts out. Although I'm not ready to try to explain the rules to anyone else, I can teach a novice basketball spectator a few helpful pointers when watching any basketball game. If you follow these tips, you'll at least look like you know what you're doing:

1. When the ball gets near the basket, no matter who's shooting, yell "Rebound!" That means you want your team to get possession of the ball. In fact, whenever the ball is on its way toward the basket, I start yelling "Rebound!" immediately. I've only looked like an idiot about five or six times.

2. When the opposing team has possession of the ball, yell "Walking!" Walking is a bad thing in basketball, and as it turns out, one can be walking even when one is rolling on the floor. Sometimes one can be walking when he is standing still. All a player has to do is lift up his little heel, and he can be considered walking. Nevertheless, basketball players always walk, especially those players on the other team. When opposing players walk, the referees never see them. But folks in the stands do. Because walking happens so frequently, it's easy to yell it often because even if you haven't seen a player walking, someone probably has been doing it. If you do see a player walking, and if it's perfectly obvious that he was doing so and the referee didn't call it, you can help the officials out more emphatically by rolling your fists in front of you while yelling.

3. Don't expect the referees to acknowledge you. They're always hard of hearing. I think it's a requirement for the position.

4. Learn the players' names. That's key because even if you don't know what's going on during the game, you know who's got the ball, and you can simply yell the player's name. I spent much time this season yelling, "Adam!" or "Drew!" or "Garrett!" or "Mills!". I especially yelled "Lawson!"

5. Sometimes it's appropriate, when your team has the ball to yell "Shoot!" But you have to be careful with this one. You have to know that shooting is appropriate. Sometimes I found myself yelling for a player to shoot the ball, but then he did, and the opposing team intercepted it. When I feel uncertain about this call, I wait for someone else to yell it, and then I chime in.

6. When all else fails, let someone else do the yelling. For instance, tonight Leslie Ducey was giving the officials what for. I can't even remember what she was saying, but she sounded like she knew what she was doing. So then, I turned around and said to her, "You tell 'em, Leslie!" That makes me sound like I know what she's doing too.

7. If your son gets hit on the head, like mine did tonight, it's best to sit in the stands and watch from afar as the coach takes care of him. Although every bone in your body wants to dash across that gym to make sure the eyes aren't black or the nose isn't bleeding, it's best to sit still. While the coach would probably be understanding about it, your son would disown you.

So that's what I have learned from the 2011 basketball season. Maybe next year I'll understand what a press is and why tripping over somebody's shoes is considered a foul. The next season is only eleven months away.

Anna Karenina: Part II

I hve finished Part II of Anna Karenina. I've read 341 pages of Tolstoy's epic novel, and I'm still not even halfway finished with it. Call me simple. Call me inappreciative of written art. But I can't help thinking that no book really needs to be this long. Okay, I take that back. Pillars of the Earth needed to be that long, but I can think of no other book that really needed to be so many pages that I have to cut it up into sections just to read it comfortably.

Nevertheless, I will stick with it.

Here are my thoughts so far:
This book brings back a simple but strong memory: When I was a little girl, living in a ranch-style brick house on Pine Level Drive in Hawkinsville, Georgia, I daily spied a book on the big, black book case my father built in our living room. It was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. At the time, I was about six. And when I read that title, I silently said it phonetically in my head: "Anna Kara-NEE-na." It was years before I realized the pronunciation was different. And for a short time, when I was about nine or ten or so, I honestly thought there were two books. I would hear people refer to Anna Ka-REN-ina, and I would think, Why would someone write a book with that title when there's already a book called Anna Kara-NEE-na? The two titles are too similar. I know, I know. But in my defense, it was only a very short while before I figured things out.

You'd think I would have learned from the Chevrolet misunderstanding. You see, when I was about four or five and attending Mrs. Linder's kindergarten, my friend Kim Tripp always bragged that her parents drove a Chevrolet. She thought that car was hot stuff. I thought, That must be a pretty fancy car. I always looked for it in parking lots. I saw scads of Chev-er-LETs, but never any Chever-LAYs. For a while, I thought the Tripps drove the only Chver-LAY in the world and they kept it a big secret.

Anyway, now that I'm reading the novel and I see the name Karenina, I think about that misunderstanding with the character's name.

Speaking of that title character... I don't like her. I'm trying not to be so judgmental, but she makes that almost impossible. I've done a bit of research on the novel, just some scratch the surface stuff to help me understand its structure and development. One tidbit of knowledge I've learned so far (aside from what I've already written in earlier posts) is that Tolstoy did not intend to pass judgment on his title character. According to one expert, Tolstoy does not explicitly praise or condemn Anna because to do so would "usurp Godly privilege" (and he was a strong opponent of usurping). I, however, do not oppose usurping as strongly, and I have no problem judging Anna at all. She is self-centered and spoiled. Besides, from the looks of Tolstoy, I get the impression he condemned her just a wee little bit, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

But I love Levin... I just love him. Kitty was stupid to refuse him. One of my favorite scenes so far is when Levin makes Oblonsky look like an idiot. True, that's not very hard to do, but still. First, Oblonsky wants to sell his forest without first having counted the trees. Levin tries to make him understand that he's selling the property for much less than it's worth. And then, when Oblonsky still tries to make the deal with his buyer, Levin steps in and offers to buy the property from Oblonsky at a higher price, just to keep Oblonsky from being cheated. Levin might be just a simple farmer, but he's a smart man and a fair one too. Did I mention that I like him?

Interesting patterns: I can't help noticing that just after we see Karenin circling his house as he debates whether he should confront his wife, we see Levin touring his farm. Karenin debates whether he should reprimand his wife; Levin actually does reprimand his employees.

Karenin and Vronsky have the same first name.

Levin shoots a bird. Vronsky shoots a horse.

As Anna becomes more and more despicable, Levin becomes more and more sympathetic.

Imagery to go back and examine after reading: I learned a long, long time ago that if an author spends significant page space describing something, it's important. I've spotted two important images. The first is the bird that takes flight when Levin and Oblonsky are hunting. And the second is the horse Vronsky has his eye on before the race. That horse has to be representative of Anna somehow. But I'll have to go back and examine both images after I've read the whole novel.

Some good sentences: I know in my discussion of Part One, I complained of some really bad sentences. But I've read some really good ones in Part II. Here's an example: "Everyone had something to say in censure or ridicule of the luckless Madame Maltischtcheva, and the conversation crackled merrily, like a burning fagot-stick." Great simile!

So here's the sixty-second synopsis of Part II:

Anna and Vronsky still have the hots for each other, and Vronsky, with the help of Princess Betsy, finds ways to cross paths with Anna whenever he can. Karenin suspects foul play, and at first questions whether he should call Anna to the carpet, but when it's pretty clear infidelity's afoot, he lets her go to the summer home alone, preferring to stay in Moscow to work. Anna gets pregnant (gasp!). Meanwhile, Kitty, having never received a proposal from Vronsky is so embarrassed and heartbroken that the doctor declares her sick and prescribes travel abroad. So off go the Shcherbatskies to Germany for Kitty's convalescence. There she meets a lovely young lady named Varenka, who is just too good to be true. She and Kitty become fast friends. Meanwhile, Levin is back at his farm, getting over Kitty and making Kitty's brother in-law look like a big fat idiot. Back in Moscow (or is it Petersburg?) Vronsky falls during a horse race. Though he is unhurt, his horse suffers a broken back and must be shot. Anna weeps for Vronsky, which makes Karenin angry.

And now on to Part III. Susan, I await your reflections on the novel.

Lawson's Competitive Week

This week was Catholic Schools Week in the Diocese of Savannah, and Lawson celebrated it by competing with both mind and body.

Saturday, he participated in the free throw contest, sponsored by the St. Peter the Apostle chapter of the Knights of Columbus. While Lawson demonstrated much skill, the ball did not cooperate, bouncing all around the basket, but only agreeing to go in it a few times. Still we're proud of his spirit and good sportsmanship.

Then today, he represented the whole sixth grade of St. Peter the Apostle School in the Deanery Spelling Bee, making it all the way to round four before erring with the word monstrosity.

Actually, I thought Lawson was taking me up on a pre-bee bribe. After watching a number of spelling bees, I've always been amused at how kids calmed themselves by asking a series of questions: "What's the part of speech?" "What's the definition?" "Can you please use it in a sentence?" So I told Lawson I'd pay him ten dollars if, when presented with an impossible word, to ask all of the above questions and then follow it with, "How do you spell it?"

I just wanted to see what the judges would say if that happened.

Anyway, when Lawson got to round four, the priest (I'll just call him Father Gabe) gave him his word, and Lawson asked for the definition. With my video camera focused right on him, I thought, Here he goes.

But at the last minute, Lawson thought, I can spell this word. And he did. Just incorrectly.





Ironically, toward the end of the spelling bee, Father Gabe did mispronounce several words, to the extent that the remaining contestants began to ask, "Is there another pronunciation?" or they would ask Father to repeat the word several times. Eventually, one of the last two contestants got the word virulent. Two or three times, the boy asked Father Gabe to repeat the word, and at the fourth request, Father Gabe replied, "Virulent. V-i-r..."

I wonder if that kid's mom gave him ten bucks.