Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.
Once more, the annual grand Frolik family vacation adventure took place. This year we escaped the August heat, with a 12 day long expedition to the mountains.
Day 1
Fly out of Pittsburgh to Jackson Hole, Wyoming through Chicago. Jackson Hole, has a small (but very cute) airport with a fabulous display of wildlife photography. We drive down to Yellowstone Lake Village. It’s a beautiful ride and we see bison. Yellowstone Lake itself, the largest body of water in Yellowstone Park, is stunning. The Yellowstone Lake Hotel has porch seats with direct water views. We stay at the slightly less ritzy (but still quite comfortable) Yellowstone Lodge which also makes great use of the tranquil setting for the night.
Day 2
Take an early morning boat tour of Yellowstone Lake while a helpful ranger explains local history and the lake’s ecology. Then we start driving north to Gardiner, Montana. Because of ongoing construction in the park, we take a slightly longer route through the Tower Falls area but can’t complain when we make long distance sightings of bears AND wolves. Would have hiked the Falls but are interrupted by a thunderstorm. Have lunch at Roosevelt Lodge which is smaller than some of the other better known Yellowstone Lodges (like Canyon Village and Old Faithful) but has a wonderful cozy main dining room with a fireplace and the food is spectacular. Eventually arrive in Gardiner and check into the Cowboy Cabin that we’ve rented for the week. We know it’s going to be a great time because on our first evening in Gardiner, we look out our front door and see a mother deer with two speckled fawns practically across the street from us!
Day 3
Today we headed over to Lamar Valley to spend hours gazing at bison (many of whom will cross the road directly in front of you halting traffic), osprey nests, and prong horned antelope. We also do a short hike on the Trout Lake trail. It turns out that the rustic town of Gardiner, where many of Yellowstone’s seasonal employees stay during the summer, is a magnet for elk herds, that can be spotted in people’s yards and in front of the visitor’s center. Elk pay NO attention to humans, but casually go about eating and loafing around in the designated no hunting zone. (Elk aren’t stupid.) This is why in Gardiner, all attempts at flowers and gardening invariably feature metal netting. That night we have dinner at the Mammoth Springs Lodge Dining Hall.
Day 4
Wake up early to the sight of deer out my bedroom window and elk in the driveway. Dad and I do a ranger guided hike from the Mammoth Springs area known as the Claggett Butte Trail. There are eight people, and we see marmots, hot springs, and encounter elk bones as we make a 1,000 foot gain in elevation.
Day 5
We visit Tower Falls, eat lunch at Canyon Village, and then drive to Lamar Valley once more and this time besides the bison, we spot prong horned antelope and big-horned sheep. That evening we do our laundry at a local laundromat in Gardiner.
Day 6
Today another long ranger guided hike of the Garnet Hill Trail that is eight miles long and where we go through multiple eco-systems. That night we go out for dinner at the Raven Grill where they serve delicious elk lasagna and huckleberry crème brulee.
Day 7
Check out the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Upper and Lower Falls. Then do Uncle Tom’s Trail which is a quick but quite strenuous hike of hundreds of steps to get a close-up view of the Lower Falls. That night we go out for huckleberry ice cream in Gardiner.
Day 8
Today, we go horseback riding in Yellowstone Park out of Roosevelt Lodge. The ride takes us past the Lost Falls and through the Pleasant Valley. It’s beautiful and so are the horses but horses can have a mind of their own, and riding can be quite tiring as some members of our party learn so be careful!
Day 9
Leave Gardiner, Montana. Drive past the spectacular Firehole Falls and Canyon area, which also features an amazing swimming hole. Also spot at the Fountain Paint Pot geysers and hike the trail. Finally we arrive at Jackson Hole, Wyoming to stay at the Cowboy Village Motel where we’ve rented two great cabins. We’re only a short walk from the Town Square, and that evening we explore Jackson Hole, which is MUCH larger than Gardiner and far, FAR more upscale. You do NOT see elk or black-tailed deer on the streets of Jackson Hole, but you will find some of the best dining and shopping imaginable. Not to mention some great art galleries and realtor branches of Sotheby’s and Christies as well selling real estate to all the big money that comes into this area. It doesn’t feel as ‘authentic’ as Gardiner, but it’s certainly fun to hang around.
Day 10
Visit Grand Teton National Park, specifically the Laurence Rockefeller Preserve Center which was the first LEED certified property in Wyoming with composting toilets and a 10kw photovoltaic system. It’s also just incredibly pleasant and relaxing space to be in whether you’re enjoying the mountain views from the deck chairs, checking out the great library where every window feels like a perfect nature photo, or experiencing the full stereo surround room where you hear nature sounds so real you’ll swear you can actually feel the raindrops on your skin. We do a hike up to Lake Phelps which is of course lovely. This part of the country absolutely spoils you for its beauty and its wildlife spottings.
Day 11
Today, I rent a wet suit and go white water rafting in an eight person boat (courtesy of the Dave Hanson Whitewater Rafting Company) along the Snake River. Since I am at the direct front of the boat and we are going through Class 3 rapids, I of course get completely soaked but it’s well worth it. Along the ride we see ospreys and even a couple adolescent bald eagles.
Day 12
We wake up extra early to do the Taggert Lake this morning, while its still cool out and not very crowded and enjoy views of the lake and panoramic views of the mountains. Spend the rest of the day kicking around Jackson Hole, before eating at a great local restaurant called “Local” where I order bison medallions and a smores panna cotta.
Day 13
Fly Back home, and think about what a truly awesome vacation it was! Reality (and Pittsburgh’s humidity in August), will be such a comedown.
Top photo: Grand Teton National Park at Snake River overlook sunset
It’s often forgotten in the whirlwind of grilled hot dogs and sparklers but Labor Day was originally meant to celebrate well…labor and the hard working folks who perform it. So this year along with the mandatory barbecue and fireworks show, consider brushing up on the history of the workers movement with one of the following films. (And remember to tip your server!)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Directed by John Ford and based on John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath recounts the story of the Joad family. After losing their farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression, the Joads make an arduous journey across the west to California where they become migrant workers-and find their troubles have just begun. Starring Henry Fonda and John Carradine, it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two including Best Supporting Actress for Jane Darwell as Ma Joad and Best Director for Ford. It’s also widely considered one of the best movies ever made.
How Green Was My Valley (1941) Based on the Richard Llewellyn novel of the same name, this is the epic chronicle of the Morgan family. The Morgans are a hard scrabble close knit clan living in South Wales where the family members work in the coalfields. Over time disputes between the mine’s owners and workers as well as environmental despoliation from the coalfields tear apart the family and destroy the once idyllic village in which they’ve lived. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Supporting Actor.
Norma Rae (1979) Based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton, Norma Rae tells how its title character (played by the indomitable Sally Field) becomes a union organizer at the local textiles firm after her health and that of her co-workers is compromised. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two including Best Original Song and Best Actress; prompting Field’s immortal “You like me! You really like me!” acceptance speech for her second Oscar win for Places in the Heart. That quote was, in fact, a reference to dialogue in Norma Rae.
Silkwood (1983) Written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen, directed by Mike Nichols (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Graduate) and starring Meryl Streep, Cher, and Kurt Russell, inspired by the life of Karen Silkwood. Silkwood was a nuclear whistleblower and union activist who died under extremely suspicious circumstances at the same time she was investigating alleged criminal behavior the plutonium plant where she worked. Silkwood was nominated for five Academy awards including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay
Made in Dagenham (2010) Directed by Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls, Saving Grace) Made in Dagenham tells the true story of the Ford Sewing Machinists strike in 1968. The strike was prompted by sexual discrimination against its female employees who demanded equal pay. Starring Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, and Rosamund Pike it was nominated for four BAFTA awards including best supporting actress for Richardson and Outstanding British Film.
Ah, September, when the weather grows cooler, the leaves start to change, and everyone goes back to school including everyone in higher education. In honor of this timeless rite of passage consider one of the following films set on campus.
Animal House(1978) No such list would be complete without the immortal classic about a dean’s quest to expel the Delta Tau Chi fraternity from his campus in 1962. With fabulous turns by Kevin Bacon and the late great John Belushi, Animal House is generally considered the definitive frat comedy. Besides being side splittingly hilarious, “Thank you sir may I have another?” it’s also almost scarily on point, as my father (a former fraternity president) and uncle (a former frat rabble rouser) can both attest.
Real Genius (1985) Mitch Taylor (Gabe Jarrett) is one of the youngest students ever accepted to Pacific Tech university (loosely based on CalTech). He and his science club legend roommate Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) partner up on a laser project together. But when their teacher and mentor steals their laser and plans to put it to use as a weapon, they scheme for payback. One of the great 80’s classics.
Drumline (2002) This musical/drama revolves around a fictional historical black college and university marching band and their plans to compete at the BET Big Southern Classic. Starring young rapper Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, at the beginning of her career, and Orlando Jones, it has an over 80 percent fresh rating on the Tomatometer and was nominated for Outstanding Motion Picture by NAACP Image Awards as well as being nominated for three Teen Choice Awards including Best Drama, Best Actor, and Best Breakout Star.
Accepted (2006) In this surprisingly witty, insightful, and even heart-warming comedy a group of various high school students having all been rejected by the colleges of their choice, create their own fake college. Much to their surprise their fake college soon becomes a magnet for scores of other misfits who’ve also failed to find acceptance elsewhere AND starts to function as an actual educational center. Starring a young Justin Long and Jonah Hill not to mention Lewis Black at the top of his game.
Starter for 10 (2006) This comedy-drama is adapted from the novel of the same name and set in the 80’s. James MacAvoy is at his most charming here playing Brian Jackson a first year university student who’s lifelong dream is to appear on the televised quiz show University Challenge. He’s over the moon when he finally makes the team even if the captain Patrick (a hysterically funny turn by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a stuck-up pretentious prig. But complications ensue for Brian in the form of former mate Spencer who feels abandoned (Dominic Cooper) and two very different women aristocratic blond beauty Alice (Alive Eve) and political activist Rebecca (Rebecca Hall).
On August 29 the world became just a little less funny with the news that legendary comedian Gene Wilder had passed away at the age of 83. Gene Wilder performed in several Broadway productions including Mother Courage and Her Children and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest before getting his first film role in the 1967 picture Bonnie and Clyde working alongside Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. But he didn’t really hit it big until The Producers (1968) written and directed by Mel Brooks where as Leo Bloom, Wilder played the straight man to Zero Mostel. Wilder was in a word magical; the scene where Mostel’s Max gets Leo dancing around in a fountain is one for the ages as is seeing the Jewish Leo having to wear a swastika banner on his arm. Wilder was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Mel Brooks (And America!) had found a new Funnyman.
Gene Wilder’s iconic performance in the titular role of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. No offense to Johnny Depp, but no one, no one could play a peculiar, sad-eyed dreamer like Wilder could with those large haunting, melancholy peepers of his. In 1972, Wilder was featured in Woody Allen’s classic Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* But Were Afraid To Ask. In 1974, Wilder starred in two movies for Brooks; Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein both of which are now universally agreed on as not only Brooks best work, not only two of the best comedies of all time, but as two of the best movies of all time. Period. (To this day my father has memorized the whole song and dance routine for Young Frankenstein’s musical number “Putting on the Ritz.”)
Then came the Richard Pryor years following the 1976 hit Silver Streak when Hollywood learned that Pryor and Wilder were a dynamite pairing. The two would go on to make three more films Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1990). The last was the last major film either one of them ever starred in. Pryor became increasingly debilitated due to MS and died in 2005, while Wilder became more retiring in the wake of the death of his third wife Gilda Radner at the age of 42, from ovarian cancer in 1989. He only had a few smaller television gigs, including the role of Mock Turtle in a live action version of Alice in Wonderland, and then retreated to private life completely. But oh what a run he had while it lasted!
Goodbye Gene, and I hope you’re riding off into the sunset now somewhere with Gilda, Richard, Zero, and Cleavon Little.
Besides spawning blockbuster film franchises, one of the things that’s made such series as Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight so iconic is that they were hugely popular not just among their targeted “young adult” audience but among people old enough to drink as well. It just goes to show that YA fiction has come a long way and it’s possible these days to find books that will appeal both to tweens AND their parents alike. Here are some examples.
Daddy-Long-Legs (1912) By Jean Webster. This epistolary novel follows young Jerusha “Judy” Abbott an orphan, who receives a full college scholarship including monthly allowance from a trustee at the orphanage who asks that she write him a letter each month, but he asks that she write to “Mr. John Smith,” since he prefers to remain anonymous. Knowing only that her mystery benefactor is a tall long legged man, Judy addresses the letters to “Daddy-Long-Legs” as she keeps him informed of her life at an all-girls Eastern College.
The Black Pearl (1967) By Scott O’Dell. This Newberry Honor book is a coming of age story that stars sixteen year old Ramon Salazar whose father Blas Salazar is the most famous pearl dealer in Baja, California. Salazar’s best pearl diver is Gaspar Ruiz known as “The Sevillano,” and Ramon dreams of following in Gaspar’s footsteps. After days of dangerous dives, Ramon finds the Great Pearl of Heaven – a magnificent Black Pearl. Little does he know this is only the beginning of his troubles.
Charmed Life(1973) By Diana Wynne Jones. Before there was Harry Potter and Hogwarts there was Jones Chrestomanci series. Set in a parallel universe, Chrestomanci refers to a British government office in charge of regulating the use of magic and enchantment, that works out of Chrestomanci castle headquarters and residence to the current Chrestomanci (Christopher Chant) himself. Charmed Life is the first of the series where orphaned young Eric (Cat) Chant and his evil, manipulative sister, Gwen, are sent to live at Chrestomanci castle. It won the annual Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, a once in a lifetime achievement award.
The Giver (1993) Lois Lowry. This Newberry medal award winning novel was a young adult dystopia novel LONG before young adult dystopia became a thing. Eleven year-old Jonas lives in a community where pain and strife have been eliminated thanks to a cultural commitment to “Sameness.” Jonas is chosen to become the Receiver of Memory (aka a living storage unit of all memories before Sameness) and soon becomes conflicted by the new emotions he’s experiencing in stark contrast to the colorless society in which he lives. It’s widely ranked among the best YA novels of all time; but it’s also one of the most challenged books as well. (Ironically proving Lowry’s point.)
The Goose Girl (2005) By Shannon Hale. Based on the classic Grimm fairy tale of a princess who is displaced by her evil lady in waiting and thus takes the role of a goose girl rather than her rightful place as Queen. Hale finds new life and depth in the story with complex characterization and great use of magical realism. It became the first in the popular series known as The Books of Bayern but in order to really appreciate the series (and the world Hale painstakingly builds) it’s best to start with the beginning and how Princess Anidori-Kiladra in her early years learned the language of birds.
John Keats orders a Venti iced caramel Frappucino. He sits down at a table by himself, sighs dramatically, and doesn’t drink it.
Literary Starbucks is apparently a popular tumblr that I was completely unaware of until its authors (Jill Pskanzer, Wilson Josephson, and Nora Katz) bothered to put out a collection in book form. (This tells you all you need to know about how not well connected I am to digital media; I don’t tweet and I never mastered the art of Kindle, which leaves me woefully unconnected.)
Doubtless some of you reading this are already familiar with the tumblr. For those of you like me were not, the concept is that famous classical authors (from Nabakov, to Emily Dickinson, to Chinua Achebe) and some of literature’s most iconic characters (everyone from the Bennet sisters to Frodo) all frequent Starbucks. Their drink orders (and coffeehouse etiquette) contain the essence of their souls.
Naturally, I chose to read the advance copy over a tall hot chocolate (no whipped cream or mocha drizzle) and a slice of classic coffee cake heated up. I found Literary Starbucks to be a fun and breezy read over a cuppa. It’s clearly aimed at English Literature majors and rather cliquey at that, but it’s also quite clever and amusing as it imagines such scenarios as Emily Bronte, Tolkien, and Ray Bradbury filing a lawsuit because everyone misunderstands their work; Susan Pevensie being refused service for wearing lipstick before joining the other “bad girls” Daisy Buchanan and Daisy Miller; or famous sonnets re-imagined as odes to caffeinated beverages. “How do I take my coffee? Let me count the ways.” It won’t last you more than an hour, but just like a tall Blonde it does serve as a nice pick me up.
I hold secrets that don’t belong to me; secrets that would blacken the names of the defenseless dead.
So writes the late Lucy Evans in her the opening pages of the journal she leaves behind that makes up one half of Heather Young’s spellbinding novel The Lost Girls. In 1935, six year-old Emily Evans disappeared from her family’s lakefront summer home in Minnesota. This event had deep and terrible consequences for both her parents and her elder sisters, Lucy and Judith. Sixty four years later, Lucy is the only survivor and in her final days she transcribes the events of that tragic summer where thirteen year-old Judith came of age, Lucy felt left behind, and Emily was their mother’s favorite. It’s left for Lucy’s grand-niece, Justine, to find the truth behind Emily’s disappearance.
Justine’s story supplies the other half of the narrative and her story is also a dark and complicated one. Justine never knew her father, her mother dragged her along on a miserable vagabond existence and before she turned 20, she became pregnant, the baby’s father father an addict. She’s now a single mother of two, on the run from a terrifying manipulative and controlling former lover. Lucy’s home has been left to her and she moves in hoping for a fresh start. But she has to cope with her increasingly troubled older daughter, her unstable mother coming home hoping to get Justine’s inheritance for herself, and worst of all, the return of her stalker ex.
Young creates a wonderful sense of mood, particularly in Lucy’s memories of her family in the final days before Emily vanished. But as great as her descriptions are, the novel’s true strength lies in her incredibly rich characterization and understanding of family dynamics as layers upon layers of lies and betrayal are slowly unveiled. We slowly begin to realize how and why a little girl going lost in the woods over sixty years ago can be key to one woman saving herself and her daughters today.
She was not afraid of spiders. There was no reason to be afraid of spiders.
My brother is one of the biggest fans of horror movies and novels I know. He devours stuff that would give most people nightmares, but even though Ezekiel Boone’s debut horror novel The Hatching is one of the freshest, most engrossing entries to the genre that I’ve come across in years, my brother refuses to read it. Because in The Hatching, Ezekiel Boone imagines an global apocalypse not borne by the usual suspects of zombies, bio-engineered plagues, or nuclear war but by the rebirth of ancient species of spiders. And my brother has severe arachnophobia.
Thanks to Ezekiel Boone a lot of other people soon will, too. He opens his novel with a South American tour guide literally eaten alive by what appears to be a black river but is actually a swarm of carnivorous creepy crawlies. Further incidents start to take place everywhere from Minneapolis to China, to New Delhi, to Scotland, to L.A and the end of times may be upon us with eight legs. As you read on in growing horror and dread you find yourself periodically checking to make sure nothing’s crept up on your shoulder.
Boone amply keeps the tension rising with his main characters, FBI agent Mike Rich, spider expert Melanie Guyer, President Stephanie Pilgrim and her chief of staff and lover Manny (who happens to be Melanie’s ex-husband.) In most novels of this genre, the disaster is compounded by human stupidity and while we have some of that here as well, Boone’s brilliance lies in showing numerous authority figures responding appropriately to the threat – but even so it might not be enough given what they’re facing. And the worst part is that The Hatching is only the beginning of the series! The Skittering is due out in 2017!
