Always remember – 9/11/01
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Category: Travel
Marilyn Monroe and the Portrait Gallery
They stood silent, trying hard to hold their poses. The first to catch my eye was Marilyn Monroe. A bit over-the-top – the hair too blonde, the lips too red, the famous white dress too stereotypical. Perhaps. But then it did draw my eye to their presence.
A dozen of them, each dressed in some iconic fashion. Was that Arthur Ashe in a suit and tennis racket? An unexpected Annie Oakley? Frida Kahlo? Forming a double line their presence was reflected in the Portrait Gallery’s floor fountain, a thin film of water that greets visitors to the museum’ atrium. Ten minutes or more they stood silently. Costumes beckoning stares from curious lunchers. Then, suddenly, a group of itinerant tourists enters en masse and wistfully lines up opposite the fountains from the animated art. At first they seem uncertain what will happen. The tension breaks as each poser in rapid fire bellows an introduction. Then Marilyn (after staring for so long I felt I was on a first name basis) commands all to “Follow Me.” And they did, marching past astonished onlookers and into the caverns of the gallery.
As curious was their statuesque presence, their abrupt departure was even more intriguing. I wanted to follow. What was this?
A poster in the museum’s lobby gave me a first hint. “Mr. Time,” it said, “Portraits by Boris Chaliapin.” A prolific portrait artist called up on 413 occasions to create covers for Time magazine, Chaliapin’s work is currently on exhibit at the Portrait Gallery. Rather than simply display the works, the museum enlisted the help of local teens to write and perform a series of vignettes to highlight the exhibit. “Portraits Alive!” it cajoled alluringly. Not only can you see the art on the wall, you can see the art portrayed in person.
Marilyn Monroe once said, “It’s all make believe, isn’t it?” Perhaps, but then sometimes the make believe comes to life. The Portrait Gallery has done that.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Within These Walls – Ipswich at the Smithsonian
Yesterday, after shipping out a copy of my book to Nikola Tesla’s grand-nephew William Terbo, I took a break and headed downtown to Washington DC. I had read in the “Wicked Local” online version of my hometown paper, Ipswich Chronicle, that The Actors Company would be performing Within These Walls at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I had to go.
For those who didn’t know it, an entire house once located at 16 Elm Street in Ipswich was disassembled in 1963 and reconstructed at the Smithsonian. The exhibit is one of the largest objects in their collection, and is displayed such that visitors can look into the various rooms of the house and experience the respective lives of five residents over the years.
Within These Walls was written by playwright, actor, and director J.T. Turner, who was asked by the Smithsonian to tell the stories of the people who lived there. As the house itself looms behind them, the play opens with the two Ipswich housewives, Kay Thompson and Helen Lunt, pleading with the demolition man not to tear it down. Reminiscent of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, as the workman settles in for the night intending the demolition to start the next morning, he begins to hear the house reveal its history. As he questions his sanity, residents of the house appear in sequence representing major historical time periods.
It begins with Abraham Choate building the house in 1760 for his growing family. He is followed by Abraham Dodge, a revolutionary war patriot who explains how Ipswich came to be known as “The Birthplace of American Independence” (hint, it has to do with being the first to refuse to pay taxes to the British crown). Ahead to the Caldwells, active in the fight to abolish slavery prior to the Civil War, then to the Lynch family of Irish immigrants struggling to pay the $50 a year rent to the wealthy Heard family who then owned the house. And finally to the Scott’s as they supported the World War II effort at home while their two sons fought overseas.
Throughout the play the spectators become entranced both by the individual stories of the people who lived in the house and by the historical periods they represent. Having been born and raised in Ipswich, and just recently spent my 4th of July holiday there, the play was especially poignant as the family names and stories remain part of the ongoing life-thread of the town. At times the memories it invoked became personally emotional. After the play ended I was lucky enough to have a brief conversation with J.T. Turner. As I thanked him for his wonderful writing, the actress who played “Grandma” Scott gaze at me with that look that actors get when they see how their craft affected others. I can safely say that I was affected by the performance. Thank you all.
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Book Review – Bolívar: American Liberator by Marie Arana
I recently received a copy of a new book and was asked to read it and write a book review. This is that review.
Simón Bolívar liberated six South American countries from Spanish rule. An amazing achievement. Marie Arana has accomplished no less an amazing achievement in her mighty tome Bolívar: American Liberator (Simon & Schuster, 2013). Arana’s book is impressive, both in its girth (464 pages of text plus over 100 pages of notes) and the depth of research conducted into Bolívar’s life.
Born into a wealthy family in 1783 Caracas in the Venezuelan portion of the Spanish empire, Simón Bolívar hardly seemed destined to be a revolutionary. A slight 5’6” in height and only 130 lbs, he nevertheless was a “spirited youth.” He grew up in luxury in a country in which the Spanish crown had imposed strict divisions between the classes and races. A trip to Europe as he came of age exposed him to even greater privilege, but also inspired him to pledge that he would liberate his homeland. Arana captures this coming of age in a story that reads like a novel.
After two revolutions fail to take hold, Bolívar finally is able to lead the creation of a third republic that begins a constant battle that would consume him for the rest of his life. Arana deftly intertwines the events of the United States (War of 1812) and Europe (Napoleon, Spanish wars) with the major battles and exploits of Bolívar and other key players both within and without of his control. In what we now might call “mission creep,” the revolution to rid Venezuela from the Spanish spreads across greater Granada and beyond to encompass what now includes Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and the newly created Bolivia (named after Bolívar). The “George Washington of South America,” Bolívar liberated the people and yet in the final years of his short life had the people turn on him. He died in exile, in poverty, and bed-ridden with tuberculosis, in his prematurely-aged 47th year.
One of the strengths of the book is the way Arana is able to delve into the imperfections of Bolívar as a man – his many mistresses, his adeptness with military command yet inability to command the politics of effective government, and the many mistakes he made as he tried to create democracies in lands mired by corruption and 300 years of subservience. Arana superbly brings this complex man to life. Often vilified in that life, Bolívar’s legend has grown in the nearly two centuries since his death to the point where leaders from Venezuela and environs attempt to invoke the name of Bolívar to support their own policies, even though those policies may be the antithesis to everything for which Bolívar toiled.
I highly recommend Bolívar: American Liberator. Those with family ties to the region will benefit from the knowledge of both the accomplishments and imperfections of the man. Those in the United States and elsewhere will benefit from the opportunity to learn about one of the most important men in modern history, one most of us likely don’t know much about at all.
Marie Arana’s website: http://mariearana.net/bolivar/
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!
Winner of ASJA Educational Foundation Scholarship Award
The weekend started with a very welcome email. Alexandra Owens, the Executive Director of the ASJA Educational Foundation, wrote to tell me, well, I’ll let her say it in her own words:
It is with great pleasure that I hereby notify you of your selection as a recipient of a 2013 ASJA Writers Conference scholarship. Congratulations! We were very impressed with the quality and number of applications we received, and yours was indeed a standout. We are very happy to offer you a place at the Conference.
For those who don’t know already, ASJA is the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Their annual conference is at the end of April in New York City. I had applied for a scholarship that would cover the cost of the two-day registration (which, as you might guess, is not cheap). So I’m in. Ah, but it doesn’t stop there (or perhaps, “But wait, there’s more!”).
Not only do I get the registration fee waived, they also toss in a ticket to the ASJA Awards Presentation event being held that Thursday evening. While Friday and Saturday are open to non-members, Thursday is reserved for special sessions open only to ASJA members (of which I am not one…yet). I still can’t attend the day events but I’ll get a chance to sit in as ASJA acknowledges the work of their members in various categories. And as luck would have it, an acquaintance of mine turns out to be one of the winners. Is that karma or what?
But that isn’t all. I also get a 30-minute mentoring session with “an established, professional writer specializing in your topic of choice.” Now all I need is a topic of choice.
All in all this is exciting stuff. And that’s even before figuring in all of the great presentations and workshops during the two days. Keynote speaker A.J. Jacobs will tell us about his most recent experiences trying to become “the healthiest person in the world.” In fact I recently finished one of his earlier books The Know-It-All, which chronicles his mildly insane project of reading the entire 32-volume hard copy Encyclopedia Britannica. I’ve heard him speak before so know that it will be an entertaining luncheon.
Of course, I’ll likely mention a time or two about my forthcoming book on Nikola Tesla. I had some great news on that front earlier in the week as well. But wait there’s more! (Couldn’t resist). Two other exciting events happened this past week as well. I’ll save those for another post. For now I’m off to get myself psyched for New York City. And what better way to do that than listening to Alicia Keys.
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Martin Luther King Assassination Anniversary
Today is the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, the famed civil rights leader. He was shot April 4th while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s contributions and impact on American society are well known, and yet immeasurable. The following short YouTube clip explains the assassination well:
In 2011 a memorial was erected to Martin Luther King along the tidal basin in Washington DC. You can see some of my photos in this piece from last year.
More information on Martin Luther King can be found here.
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The Orchids of Tenerife
As you read this I’m on my way to an island adventure (more on that later), which got me thinking about a past island adventure – Christmas in Tenerife. A quick Google search will show you that Tenerife is the main island in a group called the Canary Islands. Located off the coast of Morocco in northwest Africa, the Canaries actually belong to Spain. So my snowy escape from Brussels got me to frigid Madrid and then on to the nicely toasty Tenerife. [Toasty at sea level anyway; the summit of the volcano in the center of Tenerife was covered in ice and snow.]
Back to the toasty, even downright tropical, climate near the sea. While roaming the island and visiting Loro Parque I fell into a pod of orchids. Now I’m no orchid expert (to say the least), so I’m counting on all of you to let me know what to call the orchids that follow. Enjoy the photos.
Okay, that last one was an Orca, not an Orchid. My bad.
I also suspect not all the orchids are orchids. Any orchid experts out there?
More on my travels.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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Ripley’s Myrtle Beach Aquarium – Believe it or Not
One of the 45 aquariums I have visited around the world is the Myrtle Beach Aquarium in South Carolina. Officially the Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, the aquarium boasts thousands of fish, a very long underwater tunnel, and even a replica of a Civil War ironclad.
At 340-feet in length, the glidepath (with both man-powered and moving walkways) is one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world. [The longest is in Shanghai and is 509 feet; I’ve visited there too and will report in a later post.] You can see the ironclad in the background of the photo below.
Like most aquariums, Ripley’s works hard to provide a variety of habitats. Visitors can stop in the marine education center, visit Rio Amazon, explore the colorful reef fishes at Rainbow Rock, touch a stingray (stings removed), and cozy up to some poisonous frogs and lizards. Along the way they can greet a huge catfish:
Say hello to one of the many large Arawana:
And be afraid of barracudas…[some day I’ll tell the story of a barracuda following me around for an hour while I did marine research in Bermuda…a day after a huge barracuda had come straight for me out of the murky entrance to a small bay]
My favorite, however, was the sawfish. The aquarium had several that wandered the “big tank” (approximate 830,000 gallons). For some reason I really liked these guys.
Overall, the aquarium was worthy of a visit. The area around the aquarium has many restaurants and bars, so plan to make a day of it and stay for dinner. Take your camera. Ripley’s also has opened an “Aquarium of the Smokies” in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, so I’ll be adding that to my list of aquariums to profile in my book.
More on aquariums.
David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!
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