Bel Kaufman Talks About Her First 100 Years

I got this e-mail yesterday from Laura DeSilva of Open Road Integrated Media and enjoyed watching the video of Bel Kaufman, at 101, discussing her early years and what convinced her to become a teacher. Thought you would find it interesting as well.  She's certainly an inspiration to all of us crones.  I suspect her optimistic outlook, despite early challenges,  was a major factor in her longevity.

 Bel Kaufman sitting on the knee of her grandfather, the famous Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem

Hi Joan,

I'm writing because I loved your "crone of the week" piece on Bel Kaufman in July, and I thought you might be interested in the news that on September 18, 2012, Open Road Integrated Media will launch the first ebook edition of Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase, bringing "the most popular novel about U.S. public schools in history" (Time) to new generations of readers.

 

One of the very special facets of this debut is our new video interview with Ms. Kaufman. At 101 years old, she exhibits the same warmth and wit that made her such an unforgettable teacher and champion of education - and she offers a bit of inspiration for today's teachers, I think. I'm so pleased to share the video with you, here: http://www.openroadmedia.com/authors/bel-kaufman.aspx. If it moves you, I hope you'll consider sharing it with your friends and readers. 

 

Kaufman is also the author of Love, etc. (1979), a powerful, haunting, and poignant novel rendering life as fiction. Open Road Media will release Love, etc. on September 18, with La Tigresse and This and That! to follow on October 30.

Street Art & Shoes: Celebrating New York in the Fall

 Last Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, was a perfect fall day under a flawless blue sky, and New Yorkers each marked the anniversary of 9/11 in their own way.  I was in the city for a quick visit and decided to walk 30+ blocks down from 80^th Street on the Upper East Side to Rockefeller Center and back again, photographing some of the visual delights that make New York my favorite city, with surprises around every corner.

In Central Park, someone had embellished the statue of Alice in Wonderland by stretching a pair of red child’s pants over the ears of the White Rabbit.  No one took it off, and everyone who passed by smiled.

 From a taxi I had glimpsed the series of whimsical sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle on Park Avenue, but this time I walked the street from 60^th to 52^nd, photographing each one. I originally thought these playful, voluptuous figures were meant to celebrate the pleasures of summertime, but learned that the exhibit was to mark the tenth anniversary of the artist’s death.

A sour review in the New York Times by Ken Johnson called these nine pieces  “woefully outdated, more tacky than visionary”, but I felt they matched perfectly with the New York summer vibe.  

I’ll cast my vote with Kelsey Savage from Auction Central who wrote  “The vibrant women meld perfectly with all the color surrounding them on the iconic avenue—vibrant sundresses, the perfect summer blue sky, men’s rainbow tie.”

This sculpture, called “The Three Graces” (“Les Trois Graces”) was right in front of Lever House, the famous skyscraper where I started my first job in 1964.

Across the street, in the courtyard of the Seagram Building, are some tubular abstract metal sculptures by John Chamberlain resembling giant worms or intestines.  They’re made of crushed sheet metal. 

I loved watching the mad-men in suits coming out of the Seagram building as they reacted to (or ignored) the sculptures. My favorite thing about street art is watching sophisticated New Yorkers interact with or ignore it.  

Many years ago (and also last year), there were super-giant spiders by Louise Bourgeois in the courtyard of Rockefeller Center.  I loved photographing the passers-by and guards casually walking under and leaning against these terrifying-looking monsters.

On my way down Park Avenue I also found art in the shop windows: like this gown made of autumn leaves

And angels in the architecture.

Barney’s windows on Madison Avenue are always worth a detour—inevitably they’re wacky and surprising.  Right now all Barney’s windows celebrate shoes. 

There’s the window with live fish and floating shoes called “Swimming with the Louboutins”. Another window called  “Barney’s 500” has stilettos on tiny cars zipping around a multi-level track. 

My favorite window was stationary—“Count the Shoes.”  The contest, which continues into October, is to guess correctly the number of shoes in this window to win a huge shopping spree.  Naturally I went inside to submit my estimate.

I had lunch in Rockefeller Center on the spot where the skating rink is in the winter, but in summer, it’s the Garden Café.  I got a table very close to the statue of Prometheus that dominates the scene.  I even treated myself to a frozen margarita.

I think half the joy of walking in New York is people-watching, for instance this well-dressed elderly couple.

The next day, Wednesday, I scooted over to the Metropolitan Museum to get a sneak peek (thanks to Members Preview) of the “Regarding Andy Warhol” show,  which opens on Tuesday.  Then I took the elevator to another favorite spot—the roof garden of the Met—where there’s usually intriguing outdoor sculpture and fantastic views of the city. 

Right now there’s “Cloud City” by Tomas Saraceno—an interactive environment that you can climb around in—something like a jungle gym. I passed on that privilege, because it was time to drive back to Massachusetts.  But I’ll be back soon to get another fix of New York in the fall, its most exciting season.

Become a Film Producer in the Next Two Days

As you know, I am a collector of antique photographs, including daguerreotypes, and have focused my collection especially on photographs that address the subject of race.   Many of my posts --subtitled "The Story Behind the Photograph"-- (there's a list of them at the right) --have dealt with the ways early abolitionists (and anti-abolitionists) used the  new "science" of photography as propaganda for their views --utilizing photos like "The Scourged Back" and "A Mulatto Raised by Charles Sumner" above, not to mention all the "white slave children" from New Orleans whose photos were circulated and sold by abolitionists during the Civil War.

Professor Gregory Fried from Suffolk University has created a website called "Mirror of Race" using antique photos to explore people's understanding of the race question.  Now, working with filmmaker, story teller and musician Derek Burrows (below) he is raising funds for a documentary film in which 12 antique photographs will be used to question people from different cultural backgrounds about their attitudes toward race.

The finished documentary, "Reflections on Race" will be shown at film festivals and at schools and universities.

But the filmmakers have only two more days--until Monday--to hit their goal of $25,000 under a   Kickstarter  campaign to raise funding for the project. (Kickstarter, in case you don’t know, is a crowd-funding website for projects in the arts:http://www.kickstarter.com/.     )

Right now--at noon on on Saturday-- they're up to  just over $15,000.

You can see the Kickstarter proposal here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1772524191/reflections-on-race-a-personal-documentary 

The filmmakers will accept donations as small as a dollar and, as the donations increase in size, you get more goodies for your money.  I just donated $250 which will get me an invitation to the premiere in Boston as well as  a signed poster, DVDs of the film, etc.  If you donate a thousand dollars you even get an original historic antique daguerreotype of your own.

So check out the kickstarter proposal above and see if you want to help produce this important documentary film that uses antique photographs and contemporary interviews to explore the very prickly and ever more important topic of attitudes toward race.

Reflections on Race is a personal documentary of my exploration of race though a series of interviews using 19th century photographs.

 

• Launched: Aug 2, 2012
• Funding ends: Sep 10, 2012
• Remind Me

“REFLECTIONS ON RACE”   (Your donations are tax deductible)

“Reflections on Race” is a personal documentary about my exploration of race from my childhood of growing up in the Bahamas, through my arrival to study music in the United States, and what it means in my life and the people around me today.

Through interviews with people from all walks of life, “Reflections on Race” uses these conversations, together with stories, artistic reflections, to create a dynamic documentary about my journey as I explore how we view the Other—and ourselves.  

WHY THE PHOTOGRAPHS?
My distinctive approach is to show people very early photographs, some more than 150 years old, and then to ask them what they think they are seeing without giving them any information. These images from a distant past have the power to jar people out of their defensiveness, to move them to speak in ways that they would not in everyday life. I ask them to say what they think they see, then to reflect, to tell their own stories as evoked by the images.

My working assumption is that imagination is the key to understanding. When we listen carefully, the stories we tell teach us about ourselves. Our ways of seeing the stories we tell may contribute to a broader conversation about how we can achieve unity through our diversity.

WHO AM I?
I am Derek Burrows — storyteller, musician, web designer, and filmmaker (http://derekburrows.com). My work as a performer and educator uses stories and music to teach people about the rewards of exploring cultural diversity and how to understand and relate to each other.

OTHER IMPORTANT PEOPLE WITH THIS PROJECT ARE ITS PRODUCERS:
Greg Fried and Marie Johansen.

HOW WILL THE FUNDING BE USED?
Funding for “Reflections on Race” will go towards the making of the documentary as well as a series of short films. Using twelve 19th century photographs, I will interview a number of people of different cultures for each image as we explore together what these images mean to them. These interviews will be used to create a series of three minute films centered around each specific image. Making these films and the documentary involves travel to interview people, transcribing interviews, editing, and producing each piece which will be put up on a website so that they can be available to educational institutions and the general public.


WHERE WILL “REFLECTIONS ON RACE” BE SHOWN?
The documentary “Reflections on Race” will be screened for a variety of audiences, both at film festivals and at schools and universities.

 “Reflections on Race ” is also part of a larger, web-based project called Mirror of Race (mirrorofrace.org), a federally recognized nonprofit organization devoted to teaching, learning, and talking about how we see the Other.  Each of the short films in “Reflections on Race” will be connected with an image exhibited on the Mirror of Race website.  Access will be entirely free and open to the viewing public. The interviews will be integrated with other educational materials, such as essays by scholars and other writers, artworks and teaching guides that invite teachers to bring these images, interviews, essays and other works into the broader conversation of the classroom.

Stalking Sunsets

                                              The Acropolis, Athens, from the roof of the Grande Bretagne Hotel

Whenever I travel, especially in the company of my two daughters, by late afternoon we usually find ourselves sitting by the water somewhere with a glass of wine, waiting for the sunset.  That’s when I really know I’m on vacation.

Many years ago I learned that Key West has a sunset party on the beach every night, with fire-

eaters and dancers and all sorts of celebration of the beauty of the evening sky. On Santorini, in Greece, every sunset is a party as well.  The white-sugar-cube buildings turn gold and orange and the roofs and balconies become crowded with onlookers who applaud as the sun disappears into the Aegean.

                                                                            Cats at Hydroneta on Hydra

Some sophisticated bars, like Franco’s on Santorini, and Hydroneta on Hydra, cue their music so that it reaches its climax at the moment the sun drops out of sight. (At Franco’s in the town of Thera on Santorini, you’d better reserve a lounge chair in advance—although every spot on Santorini has a drop-dead view.)

                                                                                   Windmills on Mykonos

On Mykonos, the bar called Veranda, overlooking little Venice, is our favorite spot to drink and savor the show.  That’s where my profile photo with windmills in the background was taken by Eleni some years ago.  (She keeps telling me it’s time to replace it with something more up-to-date.) And that’s where this photo  of a sailing ship was taken.

Corfu also has sunset views that could make you weep.  Here’s a spot I always stop to photograph—showing the fortress overlooking the harbor.

As soon as we arrive in Corfu every year, we head for a drink on the roof garden of the Cavalieri Hotel, perhaps the most romantic spot ever for sunset watching as the swallows wheel, shrieking, overhead in a frenzy of bug-chasing, and the retro sounds of Frank Sinatra provide background music.

The most dramatic sunsets I’ve ever seen, night after night, were in Nicaragua, on Playa del Coco, the beach where sea turtles flock to lay their eggs in August to December and the babies emerge to head for the sea in January and February.  Every night on Playa del Coco we’d go down to the beach, sit on the rustic chairs and watch the light show in the sky.  And say, as we lifted our glasses toward the horizon, “Now we’re really on vacation.”

Living Large at the Costa Navarino -- Amalia's Grecian Odyssey Part 6

Several years ago a luxury resort complex called Costa Navarino opened in Messinia in the Peloponnese--the triumph of a man's dream to revive his native part of Greece.  His name was Captain Vasilis Constantakopoulos and he lived long enough to see his 25 years of preparation come to fruition, providing jobs for thousands of his fellow Greeks and introducing something for every visitor, while maintaining strict ecological standards.  The complex provides its own water and electricity, replaces every olive tree that has to be moved, and has a nature hall to introduce visitors to the flora and fauna of the region.  Now his three sons continue his work.

There are two resorts in the complex--the Romanos and the Westin--and a third, the Banyan Tree, will open soon.  It's a dream destination for families with children.  Amalia, just under a year, was too young to be part of the "Sand Castle" crew, ages 4 to 12, kids who can be entertained, fed, and cared for every day by young counselors in the area that includes an Aqua Park, an American-style diner, and a "Sand Castle" full of crafts, movies, child-sized bathrooms, even facilities for sleeping overnight in the Castle on Fridays and Saturdays.  (For grown-up fun there are swim-up bars and trendy restaurants and clubs and two world-class golf courses.)

A hamburger in the Diner comes with "Smiley Face" french fries.

Amalia loved playing in the Aqua Park with her Papou and her Mommy.

She watched while they slid down the large water slides.

She also enjoyed swimming in the private pool outside her room.

And collecting  rocks on the beach.

As for dining--she tried it all.  Here's just a corner of the bread selection at Breakfast.

She liked watching the sunset while listening to live music during happy hour.

Here is Mommy enjoying some "Mommy juice" at the  Souvlaki restaurant in the Agora--a kind of central village gathering place in the  center of the resorts.  There, in additional to many kinds of restaurants, there are often programs  demonstrating traditional Messanian cooking, dancing, and theatrical programs.

On August 15, the Virgin's holiday, Amalía and a lot of other children went with their parents to take communion in the small church in the Agora section of the resorts.  The church got very crowded so Amalia and others listened from outside the church, where Amalia made friends, including this young man.

And after church was over, there was a program, spoken in Greek and English, about an old grandmother who made special breads for every holiday. Her bread-making was an almost religious ritual celebrating her culture and her family.

Then Greek dancers demonstrated their skills and taught everyone the Kalamatianos.  It was Amalia's first theatrical production.

She loved it, doing a little dancing herself, and hoped she'd be able to come back to Costa Navarino again next year.