11 Tuesday Sep 2018
Posted in Art
When it comes to astronomy, as Father Guido Sarducci used to explain, there are two kinds of planets: one of them is “a-coming” & the other one’s “a-going.”
In the realm of art, the same distinction would seem to apply: there’s Rebecca’s collages, coming to be by layers, and my own décollages, getting stripped away.
11 Tuesday Sep 2018
Posted in Travel
11 Tuesday Sep 2018
Posted in Education
(Sung to the dying strains of an American classic, with apologies to all the members of the Western Writers of America, not to mention without sincere regard and my abiding respect for a fine Italian tradition. I just couldn’t resist!)
As we walked about in the streets of Spoleto
As we walked out in Spoleto on multiple days,
We spied an old hill town, all draped in white linen
And every other bolt of fabric a clothier would buy.“I see by your outfit, that you are a tourist,”
These words they did say as we slowly passed by.
“Come stand here beside me and hear my sad story,
For I’m a-fishin’ for business or else I will die.”“Oh once to the Market I used to go dashing,
Oh once to the Market I used to go gay.
First down to Rosie’s, and then to the art house,
Took a big hit to the hip, and now here I lay.”“Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
Someone please pay the piper as you carry me along;
Take me to the green valley, there try to restore me,
For I’m an old cowboy and I know we’ve done wrong.”
10 Monday Sep 2018
The last time we went to a contemporary opera
, we struggled a bit to keep the distance between atonal harmonics and noise. Non c’è un problema in this case.Or else, when it was, the opera offered lots more to sustain us. Like the video, starting in the open air before closing in on a hill town, projected on a screen.
A house is seen. Lights, projected on the scrim, let us peek inside. It is evening. It is quiet. A mother and her daughter prepare for bed. Nature, off stage, sings.
This commissioned work is dedicated to the inhabitants of Valnerina, the nearby valley where two earthquakes hit on each side of our Spoleto visit in 2016.
Yet the idea comes from the sound of bells, an instrument “strongly linked to the territory and to the most intimate parts of us,” explains the musical composer.
Plus it’s connected (by the kindly provided synopsis) to an Emily Dickinson poem. Not to mention there’s dialogue also screened if you can decipher it.
Last but not least: the plot. After the first night, the Event. The veiled screen falls. The routine of the characters is repeated (indeed, reversed) and changed.
Lontano da Qui, when Google speaks, means “away from here.” For us, two years ago, that signified we were safe. It also affirms the effort to start over.
10 Monday Sep 2018
09 Sunday Sep 2018
Posted in Travel
More and more, with older records of each visit stacked, taking stock of what’s in store for Spoleto becomes a significant piece of our business. At times we know well in advance; on other occasions we are taken completely by surprise.
We knew before we left in the spring, e.g., that 9 Cento would soon be moving. Soon can be a relative term, of course–as Andrea was soon to learn in earnest. So yesterday was opening night, and “everybody who was anybody” was there.
08 Saturday Sep 2018
Posted in Education
You should have heard the lady with the dog, finding herself in the middle of a petish accident on the sidewalk past Piazza Garibaldi, share with us her outrage.
& you should have seen the recognition in her eye when, a stanza of contempt later, she saw our sympathetic yet deer-like looks of modest comprehension.
(For those who know how to draw the lineaments of that familiar visage, insert a fair approximation of our selfie in the spacious confines of this blog post below.)
06 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted in Travel
Maybe we’re still jet-lagged. For we seem to have our days reversed, and to be going up to rock around the Rocca when the sun is just starting to come down:
That only makes us ever more grateful that the 6 Towers chain “keeps the lights on for us,” enhancing the view by the time we reach the north face of the Ponte.
05 Wednesday Sep 2018
Posted in Food
All I can say is, “panzanella, caprese, e bruschetta: motto buono!”
05 Wednesday Sep 2018
Posted in Education
Everywhere we look: Saldi Saldi Saldi. So far Rebecca has played her part quite well: acquistare acquistare acquistare. Even Grazia had to laugh at all the bags.
My time will come. But for now I am going back to my Italian lessons, applying myself this time to a Reader’s Digest version of All the Books of Summer 2018.
The top line: 1 for 3 (with a walk online to check my Latinate best guesses)
Next up: 2 for 2 at the start (before the idioms starting throwing curve balls)
On the verso: I breeze past the White House, knowing what the meaning of is is.
On the recto: faith and science go together like “Spahn & Sain & Pray for Rain.” I am most intrigued, however, by the way fede goes from “wedding ring” to “faith” in the course of my transcription of the individual words into Google Translate.