WISE WOMEN - Subversive storytelling

I am celebrating Women's History Month with a program of folktales about "wise women".
I have had so much fun finding the stories for several reasons.
First, I am newly in love with folktales.
Second, I am not ashamed to admit I have an agenda.

I am celebrating a certain kind of woman - the white haired, often overlooked wise woman.

This makes perfect sense to me - how about you?

My Grandmother, Ellie Hall Keasler Baer was the first wise woman I knew. This is a story I tell about her.

Granny’s Trip to the Beach
Ellouise Schoettler
When I was growing up in Charlotte, NC, I lived at 2001 East 7th Street. I could walk one block and two houses to Granny's house at 2308 East Seventh Street anytime I wanted to.
One day we were sitting on the couch in her living room and she told me this story.
It happened in 1904 and Granny was just 16.

“It was really hot in Charlotte that summer and a bunch of girls wanted to go to the beach. But in those days it was not proper for respectable young women to go on their own - and it would have been a scandal for us to stay in a hotel by ourselves.

We were all working at Ivey’s Department Store and one day we talked it over among ourselves and fixed on the idea that Miss Annie Grose would be just the right person to go with us. She was a milliner at Ivey’s - that’s a hat maker in case you don’t know - and we all liked her - and most important she was a fine up-standing, church going spinster lady - - real respectable.

Well it took some doing but we persuaded her to go with us as out chaperone. We rode the train from Charlotte to Wilmington and then we had to take another electric trolley car out to the beach. We got off at Station One and found our hotel - The Kitty Cottage.

Oh, it was fine.
There was a big porch that went all the way around it and the men and women staying there were sitting in white rocking chairs on the porch just relaxing, talking and enjoying the cool ocean breezes.

We just had the best time. We went swimming in the ocean right in front of the Kitty Cottage and then we dressed real nice for dinner in the dining room. After that we strolled down the boardwalk to the Lumina where there was dancing.

Oh, my, it was so fine.
And we were just enjoying ourselves - to tell you the truth we were having so much fun dancing one evening after dinner that we did not want to go in from dancing when Miss Annie said we should.
So after she went to her room and we went to our room - two of us got up and put our clothes back on. We climbed out the window onto the roof of the porch. It was pretty high up so we could not jump down - but there was a trellis at one end. We hiked up our skirts and climbed down the trellis and went back to the Lumina for more dancing.

We thought we were pretty smart and we had a good laugh over how we had fooled Miss Annie.
But when we came in two hours later - we were the one that got the surprise.
Miss Annie was sitting in the hall right outside our door waiting for us.
And, she was not laughing. Let me tell you she had plenty to say about what we had done.

Right then she turned to me and looked me hard in the eyes.
"So, Ellouise - you just remember this - you might think you are pulling the wool over somebody’s eyes but when you get right down to it - you’ll find out -
you are not as smart as you think you are."
(E. Schoettler, copyright, 2003)

Baby Woodpecker

Outside the Audubon Bookshop this little guy was enjoying a snack at the feeder.

Into the Tube

Today I had a close encounter with modern medicine. I have been to Healthsouth Imaging in Chevy Chase before. It hasn't changed in ten years and that familiarity is comfortable.

Recognize this tube - the MRI Imaging machine. You lie down on that platform and they roll you into the close fitting tube and take pictures of the inside of you.
I had a ride on this platform today - and, like the other times I have taken this ride, I hated it. Its close and tight and reminds me that I have strayed from my diet.

I hated it more today because they were "imaging" the inside of my head - my brain - whoa! They would be looking at the mysterious manager inside my skull. So my head was braced into that little contraption to hold it still. And then, just to be sure I would not move the technician placed an oversize football helmet-like mask over my face. " hey what's this?" And then he tucked me in with a nice cotton blanket.

He placed a little rubber ball in my hand - and assured me - " just squeeze the panic button" if I needed to get out. - I felt a lot like trying it out right that minute. " You are sure you will hear it?" "Oh, yes!" he said, and his voice grew faint as the platform slid down the track and moved me deeper into the tube. "Are you sure?" I did not hear him answer.

Well, I am happy to report - that with the help of modern pharmacology - Xanax - I toughed it out and would have probably slept right through it - - if those magnets did not make such a racket. Because they were just interested in my head they let me keep my rings on - so everytime the magnets started to roll I felt my fingers jumping. Strange.

When I told a doctor friend of ours, a neurologist, I was scheduled to have it - I joked to cover my nervousness -, "what it they find out I don't have a brain?" "Don't worry about that - just tell them not to tell you." Good idea.

The people who work with you when you come in for these tests are all nice, soft-spoken, reassuring - exuding confidence that everything will be OK. It helps you get through the testing and you hope and pray they are right.

Dennis Olsen at Gallery 10

Dennis Olsen: Prints and Porcelains

Gallery 10
1519 Connecticut Avenue
Hours: Wed - Sat 11 - 5
March 5 through the end of March

A show worth seeing. The works are complex, multi-layered, mysterious and fine.

At the opening, a man, an artist, commented to me:
"this is the best show I have seen in Washington this year - museum quality, superior work, really deep, offering you skill and more."



Dennis Olsen teaches at the University of Texas at San Antonio and is President of the Santa Reparata Art School in Florence, Italy.

Here he is explaining the process for his monotypes to photographer, Margaret Paris and sculptor, Nancy Frankel. Olsen's teaching shows through in his easy pleasure in talking with people about his work.

Three Blog Favorites - 2 storytellers and a gallerist

Lately I have been exploring the blog world - it takes time to be sure. Time I should be doing other things, true. But once I got started linking and linking and linking - - further and further out - -
I just got hooked.

For awhile I saved everything in the "favorites" but now I am winnowing and only keeping the
gold. These are at the top of my list - - take a look.

Last October I met MN storyteller Gwen Calvetti at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN. She told me she kept a blog - I did not even have to write the title down to rememeber it. "Its called bird brained stories." Would you forget that? Well - take a look and you will be glad you have: http://birdbrainedstories.blogspot.com Then check out http://musingsonstoryandlife.blogspot.com I enjoy her writing and like the storyteller she is - she opens her experience to you as a story. Then what to my wondering and wandering eye should appear? Another aspect to this woman. Not just a birder, not just a storyteller - she is also an active subversive artist. http://subversiveactsofartisticjoy.blogspot.com Is that fun or what? Is this the answer to cleaning out my studio with no regrets? Enjoy.

Storytelling brings out another incredible blog. I wrote to Storytel, an international storyteller listserve community I follow asking them:"If you were telling a program "Wise Women" (which I was) what stories would you include?

Patricia Digh wrote back leading me to a story she had included in her blog 37 Days.http://www.37days.typepad.com Don't miss this blog. She won an award as a Best Blog of 2005. She writes one essay a week - wonderful, thought provoking takes on life - beautifully written.

Closer to home and so that I can keep up with what's happening in the Washington, DC art scene I routinely check on Lenny Campello's blog Washington DC Art News. http://dcartnews.blogspot.com Campello is an artist and as co-owner of Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, calls himself a gallerist. I must have been asleep when that new title emerged but it seems to identify many on the art blogs. Reading this blog is like getting a shot of insider news, which I thoroughly enjoy - and checking out the blog links on his side bar kept me busy for a few days. Linking and linking and linking. If you are an artist or art-interested and live in the DC area I recommend reading this blog. The man seems to be "everywhere" and freely shares his info.

DADA at the National Gallery

DADA may be saying they are "nothing" -
But
this show is really
SOMETHING!
Terrific.

















www.nga.gov/exhibitions/dadainfo.shtm

In the Country

Things are busy for everybody in our family so we are having fewer week-ends at the place we call "the Apple House". We call it that because it is on the edge of other peoples orchards in rural PA. So the week-end we did get away together was precious - not that we did anything particularly special - we didn't - its the joy of being together.

I have to add - we can be together without the sound of newscasters blaring out the latest - their voices filling the space - because we have never hooked up an antenna or cable. We choose our own entertainment - either the delicious quiet, general conversations or we watch movies - from old classics to a newer run DVD from Blockbuster. Last year when Karen added her set of I Claudius to the Apple House video library, I relished every moment of revisitng that PBS classic.

When these family times happen I often think of Thornton Wilder and his play Our Town - when he has the Stage Manager tell the young heroine - Emily, I believe - who wants to go back to the living for just one day - "chose an ordinary day - that will be special enough."

In the fast paced life of today sometimes our whole family ( the East Coast contingent anyway ) is lucky enough to have an ordinary day together it is very special.

These days with grand-daughter, Juliana temporarily further East in London - and our West Coast group, daughter Robin, her husband, Brad, and their 3 sons, Jamie, Danny and Scottie holding firm in SF. Jim and I treasure all moments "in the bosom" of any part of the family.

I tell a story about my grandmother, Ellie Hall Baer, which starts off - I lived one block and two houses from Granny - and I could go there anytime I wanted to. Never realized that would be "once upon a time" in my own life.

( pictures; Jim, Jr works on a class he is teaching at Georgetown U., Jim, Sr. catches up on journal reading, no TV but we do have wifi - a concession to modern reality - Karen, Monica and Alison juggle laptops and search the internet, Leia parries with the ball, hoping someone will toss one for her.)

Our First Snow of 2006

At first glance the snow is a beautiful and perfect white blanket for the world. It erases blemishes and muffles all sound.
















Then reality sets in and the work begins. Fortunately the snow is light weight and fluffy. Karen and Jim clearing off the cars in case the snow plow comes through and we can go somewhere. I watch it all from behind the camera.







Leia discovered a new playground and enjoyed it most of all. Except - enlarge picture and notice the feet and legs - she comes back into the house covered with little ice-balls where her fur is matted with snow.

Birds

Common birds seen near the creek in Rock Creek Park.
Stopped the car and pulled out the camera. From the front seat I managed to get these shots.
I am enjoying noticing the birds around me - taking notice of things I have just been taking for
granted.

A Canada Goose and a pair of Mallard Ducks.

Art Talk

People talk about the lonely artist studio. Its true.
When I completed my MFA and was no longer in a teaching studio several times a week, the thing I missed most was cross-talk with other artists about our paintings and constructive critique from a painter-professor. That said, its no wonder a group of artists waits impatiently for Luciano Penay to return from his native Chile.
Luciano Penay, American University painting professor emeritus, meets with a group of his former MFA students every year for a series of critique sessions.
Each artist brings in a group of current work or work they want feedback on. The group looks intently and then each person comments on the group as a whole and then individual pieces.
After all the comments are in Penay adds his thoughts. Its a work-out for your eye and your art talk. Pictured is a group of collages I brought in recently.

Penay's approach is totally open to all media and forms of expression.
"Ah, these are the answers. What was the question?"
Working with him is helpful with your own work and stretches your range of openness to other work.


(Luciano Penay, Claudia Vess and Gloria Turner)

Lots of Stories

I have started the 06 series of Audubon Storytime programs in the schools. My head is filled with animals that talk and play tricks.

Leaves no room for the gloom and doom of the news. That's a secondary benefit of being a storyteller.

Goes without saying that I thrive on telling the stories to larger groups of children. Beyond that I enjoy going to the schools. each one has a different flavor and you catch that within moments of walking in the front door by the sound systems and their music; the school DJ and announcer; or the quiet lack of that practice. I like the walls - where the students work if displayed.
This year I have decided to photograph some aspect of the school building and something from the walls.














At Garrett Park there was a wall of collages based on Eric Carle's, "The Hungry Caterpillar". This was my favorite.











Started the week at Wood-end. The February Storytime in the Audubon Snactuary Bookshop.

I Just Got Tagged

Its late. I was just surfing around when I ventured into Gwynn's blog and got tagged. This is a first for me - so here goes.

Here are the rules:

1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing

To my surprise the most impressive thing for me in OKC was the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

This is the 5th sentence from a post on 8/15, "Remembering Oklahoma City". I had just returned from the National Storyteller Network Conference.

So,
If you are reading this
NOW -
YOU are tagged.

London Bound

Granddaughter Juliana stops at Bob's Big Boy at Maryland House on Hwy 95 N on her way to the Philadelphia Airport for a last bite of USA fast food before flying off for a semester in London.

She is excited.
Her mother is a little sad
as her first chick steps to the edge of the nest.

To tell the truth
I am just plain jealous
thinking of the adventure ahead for her.


How did this happen -
overnight she has reached a point to wing off on her own?

Time

Time

Time

Everything feels like its about time.

Thanks, Betty

Betty Friedan died Saturday February 3, 2006
Her 85th birthday.
My daughter said, "Didn't you know her."
"yes, and no."
Like millions of women I read The Feminine Mystique when it was first
published. I was a young mother at home with her three children. Reading her book gave me words for the restlessness I felt. That book gave me ideas - that I might do more and be more.

I never dreamed that the paths I took -
to a small Catholic women's college
to a NOW consciousness raising group-
to becoming an activist-lobbyist on behalf of women artists-
to my first REAL job as ERA Campaign Director for the League of Women Voters-
would bring me close to the woman who prompted me to open the first door.

As an artist-activist I was an eye-witness and minor player to many things of that era -
Marches for ERA, IWY Houston, United Nations Conference on Women,
Nairobi, Kenya.

ERA brought people who were working to pass it together. I talked with many people I would never have dreamed I would meet much less strategize with. One was Betty Friedan. We had several phone conversations; I sat with a group in her New York apartment. And one morning when she called me at the League on ERA business I thanked her for her book that took the hook out of women's cheeks.
"You are the only one who could do it - if anyone else wrote questioning the roles of women and men it would seem they were attacking you."

So, did I know her. Not really. Did I respect and appreciate her - absolutely. She was a forward looking, strong woman - with the courage to stand up and take risks...and that's what women needed.

Was she always right? I doubt it. But she started the movement that opened doors and gave women choices. I am most grateful for that - for me, my daughters and my grand-daughters.

Thanks, Betty.
and
good-bye.

More Birds

More birds at the Audubon.

Song Sparrow.
I had no idea there were so many kinds of sparrows until we opened the Peterson Guide to identify it.
















Black Capped Chickadee - well, maybe. That's what it looked like to us in the Petersen Guide - but a more experienced birder said, "no, way. I can tell you around here its a Carolina Chickadee." I can see there is more to this than I thought.

















Red Bellied Woodpecker.

This bird was perched high up in a very tall evergreen tree. The new camera is really showing off.

Birding - Opens a New World

I bought a new digital camera with much more zoom capability than my old camera had. I want to test it so have been walking my neighborhood looking for birds. Ornithology was Jim's favorite course in college so he is also interested in joining these expeditions.













Fortunately we live within several blocks of an Audubon Sanctuary - forty bird-friendly acres.We decided to visit the bird feeder outside the ANS Sanctuary Shop. Early in the morning birds dart in for the seeds and then flit and hide in the near-by twiggy bushes.













This little guy turned his back to the camera.





















But, a little bit later along came this Cardinal.


























I also captured a shot of this "white headed watcher."

I love the new camera!

We are fascinated by observing the bird community around us.

A new world is opening up.

Beginning Again

My last post was in early October.

How can that be?

Do you know the feeling?

The days and weeks since October have been fast paced
with "to do" lists dominating everything.

Does it make any sense to have that much on your calendar?

I don't think so!

"squared", collage

October -
The start of a new month
A clean slate
Checking lists, calendars and schedules
Orderly
Quiet
Possible

Life has not been heard from.

Summing Up September

"delicate balance", collage
That surely sums up September.

Surprise

Late afternoon light
and fragile dried fowers
blend
suggesting
timeless mystery.

It is in the book.
All Isiah Harrison descendants
are related to Abraham Lincoln.

But - we are southerners!

Another genealogy surprise.

Fort Harrison, Dayton, VA
September 25, 2005