I know my last post was actualy on May 1st, but I didn't realize it at the time. Well, I got enough sleep last night for the first time in a week, though I also took another nap yesterday afternoon. It's almost becoming a habit. Anyway, many things to talk about, as usual, and very little time. I'm feeling like the White Rabbit lately, instead of my usual mad March hare. "Oh dear, oh dear! I shall be too late!" 1,016 words today. Unfortunately, they were for a different project than the one I'm nominally working on! I think I'll get back to that this evening, however. It was a beautiful warm spring day. The violet-green swallows are back around the house after two days of snow. They should be nesting soon.
So, yesterday I spent the whole day wading in a creek counting cutthroat trout redds. There's a crossword puzzle word for you, along with lek and furcula. A redd is basically a trout nest--a depression in the rocks on the bottom of the stream wherein she lays her eggs. (Actually, the eggs are distributed in the "tail spill," a lump of rocks just behind the depression.) It was actually easier than it sounds. The day was overcast and chilly, but the water was crystal clear. There aren't really any other fish in our creeks besides the trout and not much disturbs the bottom. The redds are easy enough to find because the fish carefully clear away all the algae and sediment from the rocks, so the first thing you notice is a patch of clean grey and white rocks amidst the surrounding dirty brown. Glimpsed many fine birds, though I purposefully left my binoculars in the car (gasp! I know. How could I?), because I knew if I had them, I'd spend the day looking at birds and not in the water! Still--Cooper's hawk, swallows, cinnamon teals, red-winged blackbirds, snipes, and a Canada goose on her nest, watching us warily as we walked around her with her neck stretched out and down and her beak slightly open, silent and very still. And we counted about 60 redds. So, it was a fun, though tiring day.
But it wasn't over yet! After a shower and a brief nap, which was seemingly involuntary (I don't even remember lying down!), we went out to hear the author Joanne Harris (Chocolat, among many others). She was a very good speaker--funny and interesting. She seemed very tired by the end of the evening (and a number of quite stupid questions from some members of the audience), but was friendly and engaging. She said a few things that particularly interested me, the first was that she seems to work a bit like I do--no fixed schedule, though she writes whenever she can, and she also has several projects going at once. I particularly loved her theory of inspiration. Apparently, goblins come out at night and give you the ideas while you're sleeping. As she says, "It must be true. No one's ever disproven it!" She also described her birthplace as "twelve miles from Wuthering Heights," that is, near Leeds, the largest city in Yorkshire.*
She had a few things to say about "our Jo" as well. She said she'd met J.K. Rowling "several" times, and offered the following about Harry Potter: first, that it was wonderful for getting boys to read (much agreement from the audience), and second, that it was so popular for two reasons: (Hmmm...my sentence construction is starting to look a bit like Deathly Hallows) that is was simply a good story and not "a book about issues" (her example of an "issue" was a crackhouse in Glasgow), and also that "it doesn't take people too far out of their comfort zone." I agree wholeheartedly with the first point (although HP raises a number a issues, it doesn't really resolve them; they are mostly just set-dressing, unfortunately), and partly with the second. Yes, Harry Potter relies heavily on familiar fairy tale and (later) Biblical themes and conventions, but it also challenges what a children's book is and can be about, and pushes a little bit into the idea of Death not being Evil, which I appreciate a lot, certainly.
Ms. Harris was mostly talking about the sequel to Chocolat, The Girl With No Shadow. I haven't started it yet (as I'm working on a few other things currently that I'd like to finish first!), but it sounds fun, and perhaps better than the first one, which I read quickly, but joined my very short list of "books whose movies I liked better" along with The Black Stallion and, amazingly enough, Sense and Sensibility (the 1995 version), even though they changed a number of things from the novels.
She also told us a bit about her experience teaching at Leeds Grammar School (she didn't say which years exactly), where she was the only female permanent member of staff at the historically (and then) all-boys school. She also has a book either about or inspired by those same years...Actually, all in all, although I was not hugely fond of Chocolat, after hearing her speak, I am very interested in reading more of her work. Several audience members praised Five Quarters of the Orange as some of the best writing they'd ever read. That is enough to tempt me, certainly! : )
This morning I got a chance to rest a little. (In fact I made waffles while my favorite neighbor Ethel M. (more about her another day!) ruminated in the yard outside the kitchen window...) Then, this afternoon I went to see a play by a local playwright, Bob Berky, called The Fourth Nail. I heartily do not recommend it. On the one hand, I was happy to support the local theater and a writer, and the actors were all good (including Mr. Berky himself), but, on the other hand, the play was terrible. I was surprised, as Alexandra Fuller (herself a wonderful writer!) gave it a rave review in the weekly paper...(Yes, yes, I know. I live in a tiny town. We have a weekly paper. I have to drive ten miles to the Post Office on Wednesdays to get it. And yet, this tiny Wyoming town is filled to the trout gills with writers and artists and culture. Ask me about our art museum...Another post...) I guess I'll never trust "Bo's" opinion again... ; D
In the first minute or so, my thought was (I'm not sure what exactly this says about me, actually...) "I've written better plays than this!" My second thought was about the historical inaccuracies. You see, the play was not really about the Crusades (it was set in 1099), but nor was it a fully grown satire of our own time (as some reviewers had said). No, in the end it wasn't really about anything. It was a set of mostly unrealized ideas hinting at profundity, but never really coalescing or imparting any truth or wisdom. The play had a lot of promise: it featured an alchemist, a wise fool, a blind king, and two inept knightly con-men, and the first act had some humor and was interesting enough (except for the scenes featuring the alchemist and fool together), but the second half was flat, dull, and utterly meaningless, with an entirely unsatisfying ending, that the author clearly thought was strong. I kept thinking that such a premise in other hands would have been wonderful. I will also add that it pains me to pan something, because I love the theater and acting and writing, and I too have written many things, including a few that weren't nearly as wonderful as I thought they were at the time. But I think I was not alone. The applause at the end (by the audience of 15 for the Saturday matinee--very sad in and of itself, as I think it's really special that we have theater in this little town, in this big empty state mostly filled with ignorance and superstition) could only be described as polite.
As usual, I would love to stay and say more, but time is short, and I need to write a scene introducing the queen...Actually, she's just the mother of the future king, but I'm not going to give it away. I have five days worth of writing I missed and will never make up, though tomorrow is an empty day otherwise, and I plan to work through most of it. So, here's hoping I do!
-Susie
*Oddly enough, we were discussing the use of miles versus kilometers and Imperial versus metric measures while counting redds. My understanding is that, colloquially, some English people still use miles to measure distance. Of course, Ms. Harris has a French mother, and likely tailors her talks some for an American audience. Anyone have any insight on that?
I also could say many things about both Wuthering Heights and Yorkshire, but I will refrain for now. Interestingly, Ms. Harris spoke French at home, despite living in Yorkshire, and learned English in school, at age seven. She also dropped her Yorkshire accent somewhere along the way and now speaks with a very clear English accent, such as one often hears in the movies. Rather a pity, really. ; )
Also, trivia and a question...Matt Lewis (Neville in the Potter films) is from Leeds. Can anyone tell me what the deal is with the golden owls? (In Leeds. I know about the owls in Harry Potter!) : )
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