INSIDE THIS EDITION:
- LLC'S SPRING CONVOCATION – Mar 14
- TINY MEMOIRS: SEARCHING FOR SYLVIA’S PLATH GRAVE by Adelina Axelrod; MORNING by Catherine Cochran; LUNCH by Bill Hudson; EXHAUSTING DAY AT WORK by Jeanne Medeiros; THE DAY MOMMY GOT IT RIGHT by Ruth Mills; TINY MEMOIR by Robin MacAusland; GRAND LARCENY? by Joe Petteruti; TANNER AND GYM CLASS by Sam Shamoon
- CULTURE CORNER: CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD (Providence Singers) – Mar 9; MELVILLE AND THE GREAT WHITE WHALE (Bristol BookFest) – Mar 10; MUSEUM READS (Newport Art Museum) – “a book group especially for art enthusiasts”
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LLC SPRING CONVOCATION
Thursday, March 14
10 AM - 1 PM
Temple Beth-El and via Zoom
Tiny Memoirs
A story appeared in a January issue of The New York Times, “Teen Tiny Memoirs: The Winners of Our 2nd Annual 100-Word Narrative Contest.” It challenged students to see if they could write a story about a meaningful life moment in just 100 words. Members of the Writing a Memoir class have taken up the challenge.
SEARCHING FOR SYLVIA’S PLATH GRAVE
by Adelina Axelrod
Driving all afternoon to reach Heptonstall in West Yorkshire.
The sky metal gray, the clouds promising rain.
Where is the church spire?
Circling the valley twice, we finally spotted Hebden Bridge leading us to the churchyard of St. Thomas the Apostle.
No church spire - struck by lightning in 1875
The groundskeeper lifted the latch on the wrought iron fence.
The cemetery sheltered by old trees and luxuriant leaves
The air smelled of sheep, wet wool.
“Love, you’re not going to find her headstone.”
It was in the caretaker’s shed, defaced by feminists who chiseled away her surname, “Hughes,” the villain in the marriage after her suicide.
“Not the first time or last time.”
I imagined women hacking away at the lead-lettering by moonlight.
Her grave laden with weeds and lavender
I added a red tulip.
MORNING
by Catherine Cochran
I wake to hot breath, and wagging tails begging for attention. The room is still dark, not my usual hour at all, and I am thinking that something has stirred these Interlopers from sleep. Perhaps my yard bunny is up and about.
Normally I open the back door, let them out, and run back to my covers, but due to the hour, I grab leashes and slippers and head to the yard. There is snow falling around me, and a white blanket covers the trees and grass. As I stand in awe of the moment, I hear the sounds of a city waking up.
LUNCH
by Bill Hudson
When I was a little boy, my mother would take me with her shopping in downtown Indianapolis. We caught the bus at the end of our block. At one stop two or three nuns in full black habits would get on the bus. As they walked up the bus aisle, scared, I scrunched up against my mother. Perhaps they were devils.
After shopping downtown, we went to Woolworths for lunch. Seated at the counter, mom standing behind me, delicious ham salad sandwiches would appear. We ate our sandwiches not aware of the memory we were making.
EXHAUSTING DAY AT WORK
By Jeanne Medeiros
Managed to get to day care before they started imposing fines for late pick-up. My three-year-old son Bert was as grouchy as I was, so take-out pizza seemed like the dinner plan. Waiting at Bertucci’s, Bert looked into the open kitchen and groused, “Mommy, what are those men doing?”
“They’re cooking our pizza, sweetheart.”
At the top of his lungs – “I don’t want to eat food cooked by men!! I don’t want to eat food cooked by men!!”
I wanted the floor to open and swallow me. How had I raised this little sexist demon child?
THE DAY MOMMY GOT IT RIGHT
by Ruth Mills
Strange creatures ambled up the street. Purple spikes, clothes held with chains, serpents inked on arms, jewelry attached through unnatural holes in the flesh.
“Mommy, why do teenagers look like that?”
My authoritarian voice tried to erupt. “You will never pierce, ink, or otherwise mutilate yourself.” That admonishment would have landed with a thud.
My gentler, teasing voice emerged: “Oh Rachel, some day you’re going to shave one side of your head, tattoo your cheeks, and put a ring in your eyebrow. You will look strange but I will still love you.”
She asserted, “I will never do that.” And she didn’t.
TINY MEMOIR
by Robin MacAusland
I lay in bed, in silence, wondering - how will they be today?
Glancing out the window; birds flying erratically, the sky highlighting bare trees, my sleepy winter garden - my smile grows gently inside.
I sit on the edge of my bed. Leaning forward, I sense strength in my legs, to stretch me tall.
Will they lift, will they drag or be stubborn as glue?
If I fall, I’ll get up. If I fail, I’ll try again.
Regardless I’ll keep moving, gingerly, shuffle if I must.
And with my perseverance and hope, I know I will be all right.
GRAND LARCENY?
by Joe Petteruti
The boy cousins were bored. The younger one said: “Let’s steal something.”
Joey (older but not wiser) said to Rick: “Why? What? Where?”
Joey, having survived two years of the Baltimore Catechism, knew “Thou shalt not steal.” Sister Immaculata had done her job. “No stealing!”
Rick, a public-school student said: “Let’s steal something from Bernie’s porch.”
“But Bernie’s our friend” exclaimed Joey.
Gate opens, Rick grabs Bernie’s yellow jacket.
Joey said “Wait!”
Mrs. Mendillo opens the porch door and says: “May I help you boys?”
Rick drops and runs. Joey freezes – “I am going to Hell.”
TANNER AND GYM CLASS
by Sam Shamoon
Two things I dreaded at Cathedral Boys School. Tanner – big, fat, mean – delighted in bullying little me. As for Gym class, it was boxing and wrestling. One day, Coach Croft matched me against Tanner. I knew he would kill me. But I also knew he couldn’t move fast, and I could. So, when he lunged, I pivoted, and Tanner crashed down, face-first. Instantly, I pinned him. “You’re out!” shouted Coach Croft to Tanner, while he raised my arm in triumph. Did we shake hands and become friends? No. But Tanner never bullied me again.
THE CULTURE CORNER
CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPHERD
March 9, 2024 @ 7 PM
Waterfire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, Providence
On Saturday, March 9, at the Waterfire Arts Center, Providence, the Providence Singers, a 100-voice concert choir that performs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic will present Considering Matthew Shephard. Directed by Artistic Director Christine Noel, they will be joined by guest singers, soloists, a diverse instrumental ensemble, and video.
Considering Matthew Shepard is a three-part fusion oratorio composed by Craig Hella Johnson and set to poetic text by a wide range of voices: Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Brown, Rumi, and 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen. Also included are passages from Matthew's personal journal, interviews, newspaper reports, and writings from his parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard.
The Rhode Island Gay Men's Chorus will also perform, opening the concert with selections that include a world premiere of a work by their artistic director, composer Kim Kuda.
Several local LGBTQ+ organizations will be joining the Providence Singers for a pre-concert networking event to share their mission with guests.
Bristol Book Fest presents Melville and the Great White Whale
Sunday, March 10, 2024 @ 4 PM
St. Michael's Church, 399 Hope Street, Bristol
Tickets $25
On March 10, AUREA, “a performance ensemble engaged in a joyous pursuit to investigate and invigorate the harmony of music and the spoken word,” and the Bristol BookFest will present Melville and the Great White Whale.
This string ensemble’s concert features an exploration of the life and times of Herman Melville alongside Moby-Dick, Melville’s letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne, weaving in works of Beethoven and Webern, sea shanties, and harmonica improv.
At the Newport Art Museum: Museum Reads
“a book group especially for art enthusiasts”
Celebrating its 11th year, Museum Reads, the Newport Art Museum’s art-themed book group for adults, kicked off on January 18, 2024. Open to all art and book enthusiasts who relish engaging conversations and the pursuit of knowledge, this monthly gathering is led by Museum Educator, Mary Ann Creto.
Museum Reads provides a unique opportunity to delve into diverse ideas and expand perspectives through discussions on a wide range on art and interdisciplinary topics. Many book selections are inspired by the Museum’s current exhibitions, and featured authors often join the conversation.
Gatherings take place at lunchtime every third Thursday of the month, both in person at the Museum and on Zoom.
To register go to the Museum’s website: newportartmuseum.org/events/.
March:
The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel
Thursday, March 21
12-1 PM
At the Museum and virtually on Zoom
In honor of the Museum’s current exhibition, Unfinished Business, we have selected the recent bestseller, The Story of Art Without Men. Discover the glittering Sofonisba Anguissola of the Renaissance, the radical work of Harriet Powers in the nineteenth-century USA, the Dutch Golden Age, the astonishing work of postwar artists in Latin America, and the women artists defining art in the 2020s. Have your sense of art history overturned, and your eyes opened to many art forms often overlooked or dismissed. From the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan this is the history of art as it has never been told before.
April:
Carrying the Torch: Maude Howe Elliott and the American Renaissance by Nancy Whipple Grinnell
Thursday, April 18
12-1 PM
At the Museum and virtually on Zoom
The daughter of Julia Ward Howe, Maude Howe Elliott was a Pulitzer Prize–winning writer and a tireless supporter of the arts, particularly in her adopted city of Newport, Rhode Island. Elliott is perhaps best known for co-writing a biography of her mother—a major figure in the political and cultural world of New England, a woman’s suffrage leader, and a leading progressive political voice. But Elliott felt the culmination of her life's work was her founding of the Art Association of Newport in 1912 (now the Newport Art Museum). In honor of the Museum’s current exhibition, Unfinished Business, we have selected this informative and inspiring biography written by the Museum's Curator Emerita Nancy Whipple Grinnell.
Author Nancy Whipple Grinnell will join us in person for the discussion.