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.
Father’s Day is coming up, and besides the obligatory gifts of ties, coffee mugs, and socks consider watching one of the following movies with dear old dad.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) The film adaption of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning work starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Mary Badham as his daughter Scout in what is possibly the most adorable father-daughter pairing ever on screen. It also features Robert Duvall in a legendary turn as Boo Radley. To Kill a Mockingbird deals with fatherhood, race, prejudice, the limits of the legal system, and more. It won three Academy Awards including Best Actor for Peck, was nominated for eight more including Best Picture and is nearly universally considered one of the best films of all time.
Paper Moon(1973) This American comedy-drama directed by Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) starred real life father-daughter pair Ryan and Tatum O’Neal as Moze and Addie. Moze is a shady grafter who takes on the nine year old Addie (who may or may not be his biological daughter) as his mascot/sidekick/protégé on a madcap road trip through plains country during the Great Depression. Filmed in black and white it was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay and Tatum O’Neal won for Best Supporting Actress making her the youngest performer to ever win an competitive Oscar.
Field of Dreams (1989) Phil Alden wrote and directed this fantasy drama starring Kevin Costner as novice farmer Ray who becomes convinced that he’s supposed to turn his corn fields into a baseball diamond. The movies ostensible focus is on letting Shoeless Joe Jackson (among others) play ball again but the not so hidden underlying theme is Ray repairing his relationship with his own now deceased father. Co-starring Amy Madigan, Burt Lancaster, James Earl Jones, and Ray Liotta, Field of Dreams was nominated for three Academy Awards and “If You Build It, He Will Come,” is now part of the cultural lexicon.
Finding Nemo (2003) The Pixar Blockbuster about how Marlin (Al Brooks) the clownfish sets off on a voyage through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to find his lost son Nemo encountering Dory (Ellen Degeneres) a regal blue-tang who suffers from short term memory loss, sharks trying to kick the fish eating habit, and surfer dude turtles was an instant classic that won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated in three other categories including Best Original Screenplay. It also inspired a long-gestating sequel Finding Dory that opened on June 17, 2016.
The Descendants (2011) Alexander Payne (Sideways, Nebraska) directed this film adaption of the novel by the same name. George Clooney stars as land baron Matt King whose wife Elizabeth is in a coma and then learns from his elder daughter Alex (Shailene Woodley in her breakout role) that Elizabeth had an affair. Matt’s emotional journey is momentous and important decisions are made but the movie’s ultimate focus is on Matt’s struggle to form a stronger bond with his daughters. The Descendants won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as two Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture-Drama and Best Actor-Drama for Clooney.
Tuesday – Fly out of Pittsburgh International Airport to Dallas.
From Dallas, transfer to a flight to Albuquerque. Despite its incredible popularity as a tourist destination, Santa Fe stubbornly refuses to build its own airport, and so fly to Albuquerque you must. The scenic desert drive from Albuquerque airport to Santa Fe is just 70 miles, which with a highway speed limit of 75 means you can make it in under an hour. My relatives and I checked into the Inn of the Governors on historic Alameda Drive which has the advantage of being only two blocks away from Loretto Chapel, three blocks from Santa Fe Plaza, and directly across the street from the River. The Governors Inn also has a lovely outdoor heated pool, complimentary breakfast buffet, complimentary Tea and Sherry hour everyday at 4 p.m., and its in house saloon Del Charro won seven awards in 2015 Santa Fe Reporter’s Best Of Publication including 1st Place for Best Cocktails, Best Happy Hour, and Best Local Bar. We all have dinner at Del Charro that night as well as eating lunch there regularly and I can attest that their margaritas are indeed wonderful – all the more so if you enjoy them on the outside patio by Del Charro’s giant wood burning fireplace, a welcome amenity considering how chilly it can get in the Sangre de Cristos after dark.
Wednesday
We mostly engage in sight seeing, checking out the beautiful, world famous, Loretto Chapel and its unusual helix-shaped ‘miracle’ staircase. The outside grounds are equally impressive with flower beds, and local artworks commemorating saints. We frequent street peddlers and other shops all over the plaza area, shopping at the Five and Dime and oohing and aaahing at the many spectacular local art galleries. For lunch at Del Charro, I order my first “Frito Pie,”a local dish made with green chili, cheese, and frito chips. It was delicious but quite spicy compared to my usual diet and I had to wash it down with one tall glass of lemonade, followed by two glasses of ice water. That afternoon I frequent a local bookstore, and the whole family pays homage to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum with its collection of 140 of O’Keeffe’s oil paintings and nearly 700 drawings. An evening thunderstorm makes us decide to eat at Del Charro again instead of venturing out. After all, Del Charro makes excellent burgers and quesadillas as well as margaritas.
Thursday
Ancient ruins in Bandelier National Monument, remnants of an old civilization.
We drive 40 miles to Bandelier National Monument, which is currently celebrating its 100th Anniversary! We arrive at the White Rock Visitors center in Atomic City, and then take the shuttle bus into Frijoles Canyon itself. By chance we arrive on the day they’re holding an official ceremony celebrating a new stamp where cake is being served. At Bandelier ,we hike the 1.2 mile Main Loop trail through Bandelier’s legendary Pueblo Indian Archeological sites. The ladders along the trail allow you to climb into cavates which are small human carved alcoves and the Loop takes you past the Big Kiva and Long House. Most of the ruins at Bandelier date back to 1150 to 1600 CE and the total area encompasses a great variety of habitats and eco-zones. In the afternoon, more window shopping in downtown Santa Fe and we have dinner at the Blue Corn Café where I sample the Santa Fe version of Shepherd’s Pie; hearty and delicious.
Friday
In the morning we drive to Museum Hill to visit the Museum of International Folk Art where they currently have an exhibit on the Morris Miniature Circus. In the afternoon, we pay pilgrimage to St. John’s University (our party includes an alumnus), and the younger among us were entranced by the campus’s koi pond where the fish may sometimes let you touch them. Afterward some of us head back to the inn to catch a nap and others visit Canyon Road for its top notch galleries and shops. That night we dine at the Pink Adobe in their outdoor courtyard area.
Saturday
Today we’re flying out in the afternoon, but I make a point of doing a last visit to the Plaza and to the French Bakery I found in the area, before checking out of the hotel. My bags are considerably heavier this time around, because of all the souvenirs and shopping I’ve managed to cram into the last few days.
Photos from Bigstock Photos
Opening photo: Entrance to the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 23, 2010. The chapel is a Catholic Church now used as a museum.
May 22nd is Harvey Milk Day an occasion celebrated by thousands of members of the Equality Movement around the world on Harvey’s birthday. In the spirit of the occasion consider holding a movie night with some of the following films.
Gay USA(1978) Directed by Arthur Bressan Jr. who was mostly known for his gay porn but who also wrote and directed Buddies the first feature film about the AIDS epidemic, Gay USA focused on the burgeoning gay rights movement of the 70’s just at the time it faced its first organized backlash courtesy of Anita Bryant and her campaign to repeal anti-discrimination policies in Dade County.
Milk (2008) This incredible biopic directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting) detailing the last years of Harvey’s life including his move to San Francisco, his rise as a community activist and politician, and his untimely death by assassination is quite simply a masterpiece. Sean Penn in the titular role deservedly got most of the attention for his extraordinary performance but he was bolstered by a stellar supporting crew including James Franco as Milk’s longtime lover Scott, Allison Pill as Harvey Milk’s campaign manager Anne Kronenberg, and a chilling turn by Josh Brolin as murderer Dan White. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor for Sean Penn as well as being nominated for six more Oscars.
Stonewall Uprising(2010) This excellent documentary (not to be confused with the widely panned 2015 film Stonewall) was directed by married filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilobroner, tells the story of the massive police raid of Stonewall in June 1969, where to the cops surprise the patrons fought back, thus kicking off the gay rights movement as we know it. The movie features eyewitness accounts of the incident including NYPD deputy inspector Seymour Pine and activist Martha Shelley, as well as archived film of the subsequent riots. It originally aired on PBS.
How to Survive a Plague (2012) This directorial debut by journalist David France chronicles the early years of the AIDS epidemic and the efforts of the activist founders of ACT UP and TAG to lobby the government for effective medical research and treatment. It features interviews with Larry Kramer, Garance Franke-Ruta, Spencer Cox and more. It was awarded Best Documentary by the Gotham Independent Film Awards and the Boston Society of Film Critics, as well as a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Documentary and a Peabody.
Pride (2014) Directed by Matthew Warchus (Simpatico) Pride, tells the true story of how in the summer of 1984, gay rights activists partnered with miners during their lengthy strike reasoning after all that they were both victims under the Thatcher administration. Pride is a remarkably sly and witty look at issues of intersectionality that dominate the Left to this day. The all star cast features, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, Andrew Scott, and more. The sequence where Dominic West discos on top of tables alone justifies Pride which is both hysterically funny and inspiring at the same time.
Top photo: A bust of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected public official in the U.S., is posted outside his former legislative chamber in San Francisco. Bigstock photo.
As you can see the facial mask simply slips off the skull.
So says surgeon Robert Laing as he performs an autopsy on a schizophrenia’s brain during the first ten minutes of High-Rise. Yep they really do show him slipping the skin right off the skull and that gives you an idea of the mixture of horror and artistry this movie regularly hits. High-Rise directed by Ben Wheatley begins with Dr. Laing (Tom Hiddleston at his sexiest) adjusting to what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Mad Max style dystopia in a concrete high rise. We flash back three months prior to when Laing moved into the newly constructed tower block which architect Royal (Jeremy Irons) designed specifically to be its own self contained society. It has its own store, its own fitness center, a pool, and even a rooftop garden complete with a horse where Royal’s wife Ann (Keeley Hawes) plays Shepherdess just like Marie Antoinette.
Of course like any society there are also class stratifications as well. The lower floors house the poorest residents and those with children, like documentary maker Richard Wilder (Luke Evans) and his wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss). The middle floors tend to include the professional classes like Laing and his lover Charlotte (Sienna Miller), while the top floors house Royal and other elites. In case we fail to see the symbolism already they make sure that Laing gets thrown out of a penthouse party where everyone else is dressed like the court of Louis XIV. The building, Royal explains, is experiencing ‘teething problems’ like frequent power outages and clogged garbage chutes. As these problems escalate pre-existing tensions become ever more violent.
Wheatley isn’t aiming for subtlety here in his adaption of J.G. Ballard’s novel but he certainly delivers great cinematography. The movie often feels like a collection of beautifully photographed vignettes. As a film itself it feels rather well…flat. Because everyone here are stock figures and representations rather than real people you can warm up to. I was reminded a lot of Snowpiercer another visually brilliant allegory about class warfare. While Snowpiercer’s storyline was even more outlandish than High-Rise, I wasable to invest in the people on screen, something I did not feel this time around. Ultimately High-Rise the movie feels like its titular structure; stylistically impressive but lacking in a solid foundation.
I want one of your many selves to sleep with me tonight. You can choose which one.
John LeCarré’s master of the espionage novel has always been obsessed with the fluidity of identity. Spies by definition have to take on so many roles for so long that they frequently lose themselves altogether. Titular Manager Johnathon Pine (Tom Hiddleston in some of his best work to date), fortunately was already familiar with having to change skins like a chameleon to please the needs of his guests. He learned the arts of invisibility and deceit long before being recruited by intelligence agent Angela Burr (Olivia Colman of Broadchurch) to take down international arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie best known for House.) As Johnathon uses extreme methods, including deliberately provoking a particularly horrific beating on himself to infiltrate Roper’s organization, he becomes involved with Roper’s mistress Jed as well (who Elizabeth Debicki plays with surprising layers and vulnerability).
The series is gripping, tension laid, and exciting. We benefit from truly gorgeous sets, to the point where the series feels like travel porn but never forget the underlying stakes thanks to great writing and uniformly excellent performances. Tom Hiddleston’s Johnathon Pine can convey more with his eyes and tension in his upper lip than most actors could with pages and pages of dialogue and he has a worthy on screen foil. Hugh Laurie makes Roper affable one minute and repulsive the next. His congenial manners, a thin mask for the cruelty that lies beneath. He’s a man whose glamorous and beautiful lifestyle of champagne and skiing in Zermatt or cordial family gatherings on islands near Mallorca is founded on unbelievable acts of horror and brutality. As one percent, Roper waxes lyrical in interviews about the need for freedom of capital. You realize that this is clearly a villain for the 21st century and it gives The Night Manger a feeling not just of drama but immediacy to our modern day and age.
The Night Manager airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on AMC.
Top photo: Left to right: Olivia Coleman, Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Laurie at the The Night Manager Premiere Screening at the Directors Guild of America on April 5, 2016 in Los Angeles, CA/Bigstock images
Turn on your webcam if you’re doing it. Like we talked about. You’ll inspire me. You’ll inspire so many people like us.
The Watcher in the Wall opens with teenage Adrian being picked on at school. There’s no particular reason that Adrian is the victim here; he dresses funny, he’s quiet, he had no protectors. The usual stupid reasons, but Adrian becomes the designated victim of his class and after a humiliating photo is posted to Facebook, Adrian that very same day hangs himself. It’s tragic and infuriating but when Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the FBI-BCA violent crime task force are informed by Stevens daughter about the incident, they can’t consider it a crime….at least not until they learn that Adrian was egged on by someone in cyberspace known as Ashley Frey. A voyeuristic psychopath who revels in driving teenagers to kill themselves so they can watch. Even after discovering the horrible truth, Stevens and Windermere are still on shaky legal ground. Urging someone else to commit suicide is after all protected by the First Amendment.
The novel’s best bits are its examination of Ashley’s victims and their sense of hopelessness and despair and a malevolent Iago like figure who never lays a hand on anyone while creating destruction. The dictates of the thriller genre mean the third act devolves into more standard fight scenes/bloodshed and it’s a little hard to believe the main baddie was able to mask his steps online with such sophistication. Still in the end, it’s a compulsively readable entry by Laukannen (author of The Professionals and The Stolen Ones) with an utterly repulsive (though sadly believable) villain, that can be devoured in a single sitting.
Maternal bonds have always been one of the most enduring themes in literature. With Mother’s Day coming up let’s take a look at these examples of important mother-child stories.
The Good Mother by Sue Miller (1986) Recent divorcee Anne Dunlap lives for two things; her young daughter Molly and her lover Leo the first man to awaken sexual passion in her. But then her relationship with Leo is used against her by her ex-husband in the custody battle for Molly. Miller examines how society has such rigid attitudes towards maternity and remains uncomfortable with the idea of mothers as sexual, autonomous beings in their own right. In 1988 it was adapted into a movie starring Liam Neeson and Diane Keaton.
Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987) Set after the American Civil War, this devastating novel of grief and guilt examines the legacy of slavery through the story of Sethe an escaped slave who slays her own child rather than allow her to be re-enslaved. It was a finalist for the 1987 National Book Award, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, and is now part of the canon and assigned in lots of college classes. The 1998 film adaption stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) Focusing on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco you get three mothers and four daughters, (the final mother dies before the novel begins,) and their relationships with one another examining how the past is never the past and how trauma can echo across generations. It was a widely praised best seller that spawned a movie adaption in 1993.
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante (2006) Middle aged divorcee Leda is alone for the first time after her daughters go to live with their father. Initially exhilarated by her sense of freedom an encounter with a young family prompts serious introspection as Leda considers whether she should have even had children in the first place.
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (2014) Single mom Jess Thomas has two jobs and two demanding children. But her (possible) salvation comes in the form of tech millionaire Geeky Ed whose house she cleans and who offers to help drive her family to the Math Olympiad so her genius daughter can compete. But Geeky Ed has issues of his own, this is yet another comedy/romance from the author of Me Before You.
With Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, a lot of us are thinking more about the state of the planet. Indeed some people have even gone so far to write entire books around it. Here are some more examples; and to be super eco- friendly you can try downloading them on Kindle. (Or at least getting a copy from the library.)
Yosemite by John Muir (1912) Famous Scottish born naturalist and Sierra Club founder Muir, wrote the timeless account of his travels through the High Sierras, and its majestic beautiful and incredible wildlife. This text was also part of Muir’s successful efforts to preserve the area by establishing Yosemite National Park which would be designated a World Heritage Site in 1984.
Bambi by Felix Salten (1923) Long before there was the classic Disney film there was the book by Austrian writer Salten detailing the coming of age of a young roe deer-and the evils of human hunters. Critics now believe Bambi to be one of the first environmental novels and Salten would publish a sequel, Bambi’s Children in 1939
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (1949) This series of essays by American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist Aldo Leopold that combines natural history, scene painting, and philosophy to advocate for land ethics. The collection was published a year after Leopold’s death by his son and is now considered a landmark of the American conservation movement.
Letters from Yellowstone by Diane Smith (1999) In 1989, brilliant botanist A.E. Bartram is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park. The study’s leader is shocked to find out that Bartram is a woman but on the advice of his mother he goes ahead with the expedition anyway along with some other colorful characters to catalogue the natural wonders of the park. Smith gives us a scrupulously researched and beautifully written tale told entirely through the epistolary style that deals with the intricacies of science, nature, economics, and human relationships all at once.
Saints at the River by Ron Rash (2004) Saints begins with the tragic drowning of a 12 year old girl in the Tamassee River that marks the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. From there on told from the point of view of young photographer Maggie Glenn who covers the story. Along the way we see how the broader community becomes split over the environmental issues poised by the question of whether to remove the body or leave it where it is. It won the Weatherford Award for Best Novel and is also assigned summer reading for incoming freshman at Clemson University, Temple University, and University of Central Florida.
