Friday, 22 November 2024

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Arts & Life

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Kwame Dawes. Courtesy photo.

What haunts this loose sonnet by Carrie Green is loss, anticipated loss, but loss, nonetheless. Yet, what emerges is an elegant “pre-elegy.”

A tender anthem to a father and to the sweetness he represents, an anthem made more intimate by the choice of addressee: “Brother.”

ROBBING THE BEES
By Carrie Green
after John Wood

Brother, one day the grove and hives will empty:
the neighbor’s trees frozen back to stumps,
our father’s bees scattered across the scrub.
But today the scent of orange blossom
reaches our patch of sand, and the beeyard
teems with thieving wings. Our father works
the hives, white shirt buttoned to the neck,
hands glove-clumsy. Veiled, he’s mysterious

as a bride. Brother, we’ll want to recall
the pollen-dusted light kissing scrub oak
and sand pine, the needles smoking in tin,
the bees’ stunned flight as our father offers
a taste of honey on his pocketknife.
Our tongues steal sweetness from the rusted blade.


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2020 by Carrie Green, “ROBBING THE BEES” from Studies of Familiar Birds, (Able Muse Press, 2020.) Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2021 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.
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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — This year the Middletown Art Center celebrates seven years of serving Lake County and is doing so by transforming into the MAC.

As part of this growth, the MAC is calling everyone (artist or not) to help visualize their future with an art competition for a new logo.

First place prize is $500.

After popular demand the deadline has been extended to Sept. 24.

The winning design will be the basis for a new MAC logo, which will be installed as a sign on the MAC’s home at the junction of Highways 175 and 28, the most traveled intersection in South Lake County.

The design winner and runners-up will be recognized at the MAC For Lake County launch event on Oct. 9.

Submission deadline for designs is Sept. 24 and competition guidelines can be found on the MAC website.

Celebrate the Middletown Art Center officially becoming MAC at the MAC For Lake County event on Oct. 9.

Event will include a collaborative and interactive artwork, Lake County speakers, a tour of MAC’s 3D Virtual Exhibit living archive, complimentary wine tasting, a silent auction and more.

Visit https://www.middletownartcenter.org/7-year-sign.html for more information.
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Last year, the US Open tennis tournament in New York proceeded without fans and only a handful of media were on hand to cover the event.

This year, due to the outdoor nature of the venue, full capacity is allowed for fans, but much less so for the media.

Once again, our coverage is limited to the remote method, which is about thrilling as grocery shopping or standing in a queue for more than a day to be among the first to see the newest “Star Wars” film (apologies to the hardcore fans).

Maybe being remote this year is just as well. US Open distributed a media guide which informs that only every other workstation will be available, meaning you would have an empty desk next to you. Are people aware that many commercial airplanes are flying at full capacity?

As of this writing, the US Open’s media-only site has malfunctioned, adding to frustration on coverage options. Here’s hoping that next year we are back to in-person reporting, especially to chronicle the awesome fan experience.

What’s more, the media dining room isn’t open for food service. Media have to dine in the food courts, but on the plus side, the daily meal allowance has been doubled. The good news for the media and the fans is that this year’s food experience looks to be better than ever.

The largest retail and dining experience in the world, Eataly is a new concession. The gourmet sandwiches of Brooklyn-based Stuf’d make their debut. Also new is Stacked Sandwich Shop offering a vegan muffuletta. Hunger pangs are setting in now.

One sign that the pandemic has taken a toll is that the US Open has launched a mental health initiative to support the players with the “necessary resources to compete at the highest level.”

On Opening Night, tennis legend Billie Jean King remarked that the “heart of New York City is Broadway and Broadway is back,” thus introducing the evening’s entertainment prior to the first match.

Beginning first with the backup singers, the Tony award-nominated “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” provided a taste for the fans with show stars Aaron Tveit and Natalie Mendoza headlining the ceremonial performance.

A coincidence of bad timing, this year’s US Open suffers from the withdrawal of several marquee players. For the first time since 2003, both American sisters Serena and Venus Williams are not participating.

Still a teenager, Coco Gauff, who reached the third round in her first appearance at the US Open and now ranked No. 23, is clearly someone to watch, but lost to fellow American Sloane Stephens in straight sets. Notwithstanding the loss, Gauff competes in women’s doubles.

On the men’s side, stars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are out due to injuries. Thus, the path may be cleared for Novak Djokovic to pull of the feat of winning the grand slam of the four major tournaments if he takes the Open’s championship trophy.

Even if the star power of the top tennis icons is missing, it’s worth watching on ESPN to see if Djokovic prevails or how far an American player goes.

While thirteen American men advanced to the second round, the most since 1994, setbacks still remain since America’s highest-ranked male player John Isner lost in the first round.

CABLE TV PREVIEW

This should be a preview of upcoming programs, but for the Hulu streaming service the fall season has mostly begun, notably with Steve Martin in a comedic murder-mystery series he helped to develop with creative partners Dan Fogelman and John Hoffman.

“Only Murders in the Building” follows three strangers (Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short) living in an apartment building on New York’s tony Upper West Side and who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one.

With this triangle of two Boomers and one Millennial as amateur sleuths investigating a murder, we not only get a great cast with chemistry but a delightfully funny series. Adding to the comic formula is Nathan Lane in a recurring role.

Based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling book, “Nine Perfect Strangers” is an eight-episode series with an ensemble cast that include notable figures who converge at a wellness resort that seems as dull as it is pretentious.

The Tranquillum House spa is run inexplicably by Nicole Kidman’s Masha, a Russian as autocratic as Vladimir Putin but at least not riding a horse shirtless like the leader of her homeland.

After viewing a few episodes, it seems that the visitors for the ten-day retreat are asking themselves how did they end up in this lush yet dubious place. I started asking myself the same even when it was fun to watch Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Cannavale sparring.

A limited series inspired by Beth Macy’s book, “Dopesick” arrives later this fall to examine how one company triggered the worst drug epidemic in American history.

In the struggle with opioid addiction, “Dopesick” has its heroes emerging in an intense and thrilling ride to take down the craven corporate forces behind this national crisis.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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CABLE TV PREVIEW

The Walt Disney Co. owns so many entertainment properties, including networks, cable channels, and film studios, that it is a wonder the behemoth corporation has not become a monopoly, but probably not for a lack of trying.

“Doogie Howser, M.D.,” a medical drama starring Neil Patrick Harris in the titular role as a teenage physician, ran for four seasons on the ABC television network, which was acquired by the Walt Disney Company a few years after the end of the series.

Fast forward to now, the Disney+ channel is releasing a coming-of-age dramedy inspired by the hit medical series “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” and an obvious nod to this original show is captured in the title of “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” which is shot on location in Hawaii.

This Disney+ series follows Lahela “Doogie” Kamealoha (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a 16-year-old prodigy juggling a budding medical career and life as a teenager, a premise sounding quite familiar to any viewers of the ABC series.

Marketing the show may be easier with “Doogie” in the title, and during the TV press tour executive producer Kourtney Kang in referring to this reboot noted that “Doogie” is a physician’s nickname that is “apparently a thing that happens to young doctors.”

Guiding the new Doogie is her career-driven mother Dr. Clara Hannon (Kathleen Rose Perkins) who’s also her supervisor at the hospital, her doting father Benny (Jason Scott Lee), her free-spirited older brother Kai (Matthew Sato), and various friends and colleagues.

Since we are on the subject of Disney programming, it is worth noting that on October 1st the ABC network will present a spectacular television event, “The Most Magical Story on Earth: 50 years of Walt Disney World.”

Hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, the two-hour program will take viewers on a historical journey spanning half a century and beyond at Walt Disney World in Florida with impressive visuals and musical performances.

The musical talent features Christina Aguilera and Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” Halle Bailey in front of the legendary Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park, accompanied by the renowned Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.

Interviews are conducted with iconic actors, actresses and athletes, Walt Disney World cast members, Disney Imagineers and executives past and present, who have all played their unique part in sprinkling pixie dust over “The Most Magical Place on Earth.”

Celebrity participants include Gary Sinise, John Stamos, Melissa Joan Hart, NFL athletes Tom Brady and Phil Simms, and creative forces George Lucas and James Cameron.

This special event offers a look at Walt Disney World’s humble beginnings in the Florida swamplands and its evolution into a cultural phenomenon, as well as a never-before-seen-on-TV glimpse into the journey to bring Walt’s vision to life and a look at grand plans for the future.

THE NEW LOOK OF THE TCM CABLE CHANNEL

Turner Classic Movies, or TCM, has been the venerable leader in airing uncut, commercial-free classic films for nearly three decades, engaging film buffs not only on a premium cable platform but also with an annual classic film festival.

Now TCM is unveiling a cable network rebrand that’s a “New Look, Same Old TCM,” however, they are calling their new tagline “Where Then Meets Now.” TCM is based in Atlanta, so I was wondering if they remember the fiasco of New Coke, which was quickly abandoned.

According to Wikipedia and most sentient beings at the time, the failure of the reformulated soft drink remains “influential as a cautionary tale against tampering with a well-established and successful brand.”

We hope that the idea of establishing the network as the destination and catalyst for reframing the conversation around 20th century films for contemporary times is not ill-advised.

“Everything old is new and classics movies are no exception,” said Pola Changnon, general manager of TCM in a press release touting dynamic creative packaging of a new logo that focuses on the energy of the letter “C” in TCM that comes to life in print and video.

Changnon goes on to claim that TCM’s new look “better reflects the vibrant brand and respected industry authority that TCM has become over the years, with an eye toward the future.”

That “fans can still enjoy the same curated classic film experience, now presented with a bold new energy that reflects today’s audience” may offer some comfort, but what does this mean anyway?

Does TCM want to target more millennials or other demographic groups that might not be drawn to black-and-white films? For young adults, it could be a challenge to gain appreciation for the classics.

In a video clip, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz notes the refresh of the brand is to “stay culturally relevant,” and the only new difference is “we’re doing it with a cool new logo and a spiffy 21st century set.”

TCM remains committed to showing the films from Hollywood’s Golden Age and in Mankiewicz’s words “putting them in context and telling stories of the artists who made them.” This may be the message we need that the new look won’t detract from enjoyment of great films.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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Kwame Dawes. Courtesy photo.

Jehanne Dubrow’s finely crafted sonnet, her own “simple machine,” reminds us so well of that moment, full of contradictory emotions, when the things we think are “unfailing”, fail us. She reflects on the fear of having to put aside an old, cherished thing to acquire what she calls “clean and bright” things. In the end, time wins.

The poem is from a collection of sonnets recently published in her book, “Simple Machine: Sonnets.”

[“Sometimes we wonder what unfailing means…”]
By Jehanne Dubrow
Sometimes we wonder what unfailing means
when nothing’s warrantied to last. Our car
breaks down among the clay-red hills, ravines
unmarked. Nowhere, New Mexico. We’re far
from cities that we know. It takes three days
to tow our brokenness across the state,
driving half-speed and braking for delays,
the detours up ahead. I navigate.
You drive. I tell you, I want clean and bright,
to trade in clattering and rubberneck
for speed or just fidelity. The light
is leaking from the sky, our trip a wreck.
You say, repairing engines is an art—
all of these small devices split apart.


American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2020 by Jehanne Dubrow, [“Sometimes we wonder what unfailing means…”] from Simple Machine: Sonnets, (University of Evansville Press, 2020.) Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2021 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.
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Kwame Dawes. Courtesy photo.

It’s been some months since our last election, but it is always good to be reminded, in this poem by Kamilah Aisha Moon, of how precious and hard-won the right to vote and the act of voting are.

1st VOTE
By Kamilah Aisha Moon

It was hers.
She had this choice
behind curtained bliss,
Dad’s chest full on the other side
as her tapered hand
pulled the lever.

No matter how wide
the final margin,
a lone ballot
never counted so much.

American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2013 by Kamilah Aisha Moon, “1st Vote” from She Has a Name (Four Way Books, 2013.) Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2021 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.

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