Author: The Coastal Crone

From Sundance to Rockport

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“Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will.” – Buck Brannaman.

"Buck" directed by Cindy Meehl

“Buck” is a documentary film directed by Cindy Meehl.    Meehl is an equestrian and artist who attended Brannaman’s classes for several years on how to relate to  horses and was inspired to make a film about this real life horse whisperer.  She states that his lessons for horses really translate to lessons for people.  The film won an award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.  The win was described this way, “The Audience Award: Documentary was presented to Buck, directed by Cindy Meehl, for her story about the power of non-violence and master horse trainer Buck Brannaman, who uses principles of respect and trust to tame horses and inspire their human counterparts.”

Next week it will be one of the featured films in the 2011  Rockport Film Festival which will be November 3 – 5.  The website describes it as “International in Scope, Local in Flavor.”   A trailer for “Buck” can be viewed at the website.  Maybe you will bump into Robert Redford there…well, maybe not!

If you miss this Texas film festival,  you might want to make plans to attend the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 19- 29.  You will surely see Robert there!   Here is the link to all the details.  http://www.sundance.org/festival/

 

Graham Greene and the Anglo-Texan Society

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Anne L. Armstrong of Texas was the United States Ambassador to Brittain  from 1976-1977 and was the first woman to hold that diplomatic post.  Writer Graham Greene did his part to foster good relationships between Texas and Brittain.  His biographer, Norman Sherry, chronicles Graham’s efforts  in his book, “The Life Of Graham Greene, Volume II, 1939-1955.”

graham-greene1

“The Life of Graham Greene, Volume II, 1939-1955” by Norman Sherry

It was 1953.  Greene and John Sutro  were in Edinburgh to see a play and were having drinks before the play when a group of Texans on a conducted tour of Norway and happened to be passing through Edinburgh.  Two attractive young ladies from the group, Miss Crosby and Miss Alexander, ended up attending the play with Greene and Sutro and were shown around the city later in the evening by them.

The next day the traveling Texans continued their tour. Greene and Sutro took a train back to London and on the way while drinking black velvets decided something must be done to help friendly Texans who were visiting England.  As a joke they decided that they would found an Anglo-Texan Society and placed a letter in The Times soliciting members.  The interest was suprising and thus the hoax became reality.  At one point Sutro organized a meeting at the Denham studios.  The air force brought over three steers from the Houston Fat Stock Show for the festivities.  Over 1,500 Anglo-Texan members showed up.  The American ambassador showed up and was redesignated by Texas Governor Allen Shivers as Texas ambassador to Great Brittain.  A good time was had by all.  The society was active until 1976. When John Sutro died his obituary mentioned the fact that he and Green had formed the Anglo-Texan Society to promote friendship between Texas and Brittain.  Sherry quotes Greene on the formation of the society with, “…what started this great event was the ignoble hilarity of two tipsy travellers when they plotted their little joke.”  Who knew Graham Greene had a sense of humor?  He died in 1991.

 The Harry Ransom Center(HRC) at the University of Texas at Austin has obtained several collections of Greene’s papers and letters.  I think that he would be pleased.  Check out this site at the HRC for pictures of the young ladies and more details of their trip and encounter with Greene and Sutro.  http://www.utexas.edu/opa/blogs/culturalcompass/tag/john-sutro/

“I ain’t here for a long time – I’m here for a good time.”

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George Strait 2011

George Strait

     Finding a topic for my post this week has not been easy.  I had what I thought was a catchy title – “Ties that Blind” – and completed a reasonable word count.  It was about my husband’s collection of unusual ties which includes art by Van Gough, Salvador Dali and Edvard Munch (The Scream).  The intention was to tie (pun intended) it in somehow to the bland solid color (red or blue usually) ties that politicians wear and especially the ones they wear in debates.  I contemplated suggesting ties that various Republicans seeking the presidential nomination might wear to make a sartorial and political statement.  Governor Rick Perry’s choice would be easy.  His tie should be the Texas flag or perhaps the Alamo.  But it was not working and I hated to drag my husband’s wardrobe into my post. I hit delete!

     All week I tossed around other possible topics:  tattoos, Camille Paglia, travel on the Orient Express, my next to last cat, # of days left until Christmas, Kronos Quartet, hummingbirds in the back yard.  Nothing worked.  Perhaps I had writers block.  I was committed to one post a week.  Perhaps I would have to post one of my poems, “Havana Browns,” as a last resort.

     Saturday morning I got up and decided to run before I would post my poem in creative defeat.  During the week I listen to classical music on NPR, but if I run on Saturday I listen to a country and western radio station.  When I turned on the radio and put my Sony headphones on I heard the end of a  song, “I ain’t here for a long time – I’m here for a good time,” from  George Strait’s  new album, “Good Times.”  I smiled and got happy dancing feet as I headed down the sidewalk!  George plays boot scootin’ music!

     As I ran I thought about how short life really is and how we should make it a good time for ourselves and others while we are here. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I am reminded of family and friends who have battled cancer successfully and unsuccessfully.  It was a beautiful day to be alive and well in the sunshine.

     Before I got home the radio DJ played the song again so I heard it from the beginning.  As I ran toward home… tears flowed down my face.  Sometimes I need a good cry when I’m happy.  Click here to hear the song.  http://www.georgestrait.com/index.asp

Quote for today

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“To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of year, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.”  ― Rachel Carson

Seashore

FLYING in BLACK and WHITE

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The glamour days of flying are over.  It is more like preparing for a trip to hades.

First, you must present your papers.   Then all personal belongings are all taken away from you – purse, laptop, shoes, jacket,  billfold, cell phone, magazine, change, teddy bear, keys, cap – and placed in an institutional bin and conveyed to inspection via x-ray.  Depending on the airport, you will be directed to go through a metal detector or advanced imaging technology which means that someone will see an image of your body that reveals every bulge, sag and curve of your naked image.  It is all very anonymous, we are told.  If you set off the metal detector, you will have to undergo a pat down or you may be randomly chosen for a pat down.  You pray that you are spared the humiliation of setting off the metal detector and slowing down the line.  Once you are cleared, you and the other refugees scramble to collect your stuff, put your shoes and jacket back on and regain your dignity.  All of this is carefully choreographed by the Transportation Security Administration, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security.

Casablance

Casablanca

Maybe I’ve watched too many classic black and white movies from the 1940s, but it seems that flying was more civilized back then.  In the airport scenes the men wore a coat and tie; the women chose  to travel in tailored dresses or smartly cut suits and  hats and sexy high-heeled pumps.  (Think Joan Crawford style.)  Passengers walked openly from the terminal to the waiting plane with its propellers revving up in anticipation of the long flight.  Yes, it was Hollywood’s version of flying, but it is still a nice illusion in black and white.

Who can forget that final scene in Casablanca at the airport?  It’s dark.  Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) is dressed for travel in a skirt, jacket, white blouse and hat that reflect the uncertainty and tension of the departure.  Her eyes are brimmed with tears.  Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is noble in his overcoat and fedora as he puts principle above love and makes sure she boards the plane with her husband, Victor (Paul Henreid).  When the plane is safely airborne, he and Captain Renault(Claude Rains ) walk away into the night.  Rick and Ilsa will always have Paris – in black and white, of course.I realize the TSA and the government only want to keep us safe, and I appreciate that.  For my next trip I think I WILL fly…well, maybe another time.

Run for your life!

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By this time next year the final avalanche of red, white and blue balloons and confetti will have fallen in Charlotte, NorthCarolina and in Tampa, Florida.  The delegates from every state will cheer wildly as the candidates embrace and raise their joined hands high as their proud families gather around them on the stage.  We will all have watched it on television.  The candidates will then be off and running for president and vice-president of the United States.I have been running for years…not for any office but for my well-being and sanity.  Granted I don’t run as fast as I used to, and some days it is more of a fast jog that a run.  Running is a mostly a solitary form of exercise and that suits me.  I put on my old-fashioned Sony headphones with the antenna and take off toward the bay or the park.  Depending on my mood, I listen to either classical via  National Public Radio or a local country and western radio station.  On good days I make it to the public library and back.  Running releases tension and sometimes even inspires my creative side with a new idea or solution.  It is not for everyone.   If I don’t run fairly regularly, at least three  times a week, I become a rather cranky crone.  I know that someday I will have to slow down to a walk, but in the meantime I will keep moving.

Run for your life!  Election 2012 is coming and the campaigns and debates have just started.   See you at the voting booth!

CREATIVE CREMATION

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 Maybe it was the heat of August, but as I was out running one morning  last week I thought of cremation.  And when I think of cremation I am reminded of the San Francisco Columbarium that I visited several years ago.  As part of a post-graduate technical writing class I had taken, I had written a piece about cremation versus burial and had mentioned the San Francisco Columbarium in it.  I managed to shock my younger fellow students with the clever title of “The Tomb or The Torch?” 

San Francisco Columbarium

The San Francisco Landmarks website describes it this way:

“Columbaria, first built by the classical Romans, are buildings which contain cremated remains. The word is derived from the Latin columbawhich means dovecote.

The San Francisco Columbarium, containing over five thousand niches, was designed by British architect Bernard J. Cahill and opened in 1898 in what was then the 167-acre Odd Fellows Cemetery. In 1910, San Francisco passed a law prohibiting cremations, and the crematory was demolished. Later all bodies in the cemetery were relocated outside the city. The Columbarium survived but from 1934 to 1979 it was abandoned to raccoons and birds, mushrooms and fungus.  The Neptune Society acquired the building in 1979 and over the years has performed a dazzling restoration.”

Inside the San Francisco Columbarium

It is an incredible place full of beauty and surprises around every curve.  The dome,  stained glass and marble floors presents a cross between a cathedral and a museum with a quiet sense of  reverence, mystery and art.  The rounded walls blend with the dome which is capped with stained glass.  The rotunda gives it a feeling of infinity, but  the small alcoves gives one a sense of intimacy.  The settings seem so much more personal than a mausoleum or a cemetery.  Each niche is like a compact memorial.  In some niches the urn is sealed inside with only the name and life dates on a plaque.  Others have a glass front with the urn and a few personal mementos visible –  passport,  picture,  locket,  teddy bear,  rosary,  lock of hair,  good luck charm – to reflect the life departed life of the ashes that now reside there forever. 

Check out the San Francisco Landmarks website and click on the photos there for a closer view of the ones I posted here. 

Cremation makes sense to me, but I just don’t know what I want done with my ashes.  The San Francisco Columbarium is too far away.  Composting would be practical but quite undignified.  I see no reason to have them kept around the house like some odd vase that nobody can find the right spot for but will feel obligated to keep.   To bury them seems to defeat the purpose of cremation.  So scattering seem the best solution.  But where?  I’ll have to be creative.