My View of Life on the Dock
I received these great shots of a healthy looking coyote in Gloucester, Ma. The photos were taken about 6pm on November 3, 2018 and lend themselves to clever captioning, especially photo 1! What do you think?
Rabbi Steven Lewis welcomed the community to the November 2, 2018 Kabbalat Shabbat at Temple Ahavat Achim. Organizers had an idea just how big the support and need could be when four hundred RSVP’d. Every seat was taken downstairs and upstairs– where it was standing room only– a full house of interfaith harmony, beautiful music and prayer. It was heartbreaking and hopeful.
Mark your calendars-
Public progamming and community engagement is robust at Temple Ahavat Achim and informed its architecture. For those far away, you can get an idea of just how big the crowd was by seeing the interior. For those lucky enough to worship and/or visit, upcoming announcements mention several collaborative interfaith events (see Facebook), and the date for the annual Lobster Trap Menorah lighting is December 4th, 2018.
*I hope to add a link to the program and the interfaith Facebook page
Fantastic, thoughtful feature profile about Karen King, by Lydialyle Gibson in the current issue of Harvard Magazine, November-December 2018.
Early Christianity. The bits the Bible Left Out: Karen King. the Harvard University Hollis professor of divinity and a historian of early Christianity, studies texts from Christianity’s first centuries to reinterpret the history of the early church
excerpts:
“…I think a history of Christianity, which is a kind of story, serves us better if it has all the loose ends, the complexities, the multiple voices, the difficulties, the things that don’t add up, the roads not taken—all of that,” she says. “We need complexity for the complexity of our lives.”
“Karen’s book really shifted the discussion,” says Princeton religion scholar Elaine Pagels, Ph.D. ’70, LL.D. ’13, whose 1979 bestseller The Gnostic Gospels dislodged the idea of early Christianity as a unified movement and launched the conversation that What Is Gnosticism? later took up. “Karen’s book showed how those terms”—Gnosticism, heresy, orthodoxy—“were coined, how those concepts were shaped, and how late they came into scholarly discourse,” says Pagels. “It’s like clearing away the brush, so that people could look at these texts with a much more open mind.”
“As an undergraduate at the University of Montana in the early 1970s, King took a religious studies course from John Turner, one of the scholars working to edit and translate the Nag Hammadi texts. In class, she and other students read unpublished drafts of English translations that the wider public wouldn’t see for several years. It was electrifying. King had never imagined that there were early Christian writings beyond the Bible. “Why these texts and not those?” she wondered. And: “Who decided, and why?”
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (November 2, 2018) – The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present a pirate storytelling program for kids on Saturday, November 10 at 10:00 a.m. It’s all hands on deck for a morning of stories and songs celebrating pirates with the King Serpent Variety Troupe. Treasure map making will be available after the presentation. Free for families with children. To register or for more information, please call (978) 283-0455 x16 or email sarahflanagan@capeannmuseum.org.
The King Serpent Variety Troupe is an outlaw themed performing group based in New England. With music, dance, singing, and storytelling, they have invaded a wide variety of venues and made away with the hearts of audiences young and old. Led by director and lead writer David Breen, the King Serpent has performed on many stages around New England, including Topsfield Fair, Mahi Mahi Cruises & Charters, and Cape Cod Irish Village Hotel.
November 10, 2018 is CAM Kids Second Saturday. The Museum is free for families with school-age children from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month — come in to discover & explore!
Flyer click to enlarge, print and share
Image courtesy of King Serpent Variety Troupe.
Flag your calendars, next week at Cape Ann Museum:
Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates Local author to speak at the Cape Ann Museum
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (November 2, 2018) – The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to welcome Eric Jay Dolin, author of Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates, for a book presentation on Saturday, November 10 at 3:00 p.m. Dolin’s latest book spotlights America’s history of pirates, including some from Cape Ann! This program is free for Museum members or $10 for nonmembers (includes Museum admission).
Books will be available for purchase in the Museum shop. For more information or to make a reservation visit capeannmuseum.org or call 978-283-0455 x10. Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy’s “Golden Age”—spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s—when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and the Indian Ocean. In this talk and slide presentation, bestselling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of colonial solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among them towering Blackbeard, ill-fated Captain Kidd, and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey. Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Black Flags, Blue Waters provides a wholly original account of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the precarious nature of American colonial life.
Eric Jay Dolin is the author of Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which was chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and Providence Journal, and also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; and Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America, which was chosen by the Seattle Times as one of the best nonfiction books of 2010, and also won the James P. Hanlan Book Award, given by the New England Historical Association. He is also the author of When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail, which was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of 2012; and Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse, which was chosen by Captain and Classic Boat as one of the best nautical books of 2016. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his PhD in environmental policy, Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family. For more information on his background, books, and awards, please visit his website, ericjaydolin.com. You can also follow Dolin’s posts on Facebook on his professional page, @ericjaydolin.
About the Cape Ann Museum The Cape Ann Museum has been in existence since the 1870s, working to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of the area and to keep it relevant to today’s audiences. Spanning 44,000 square feet, the Museum is one of the major cultural institutions on Boston’s North Shore welcoming more than 25,000 local, national and international visitors each year to its exhibitions and programs. In addition to fine art, the Museum’s collections include decorative art, textiles, artifacts from the maritime and granite industries, two historic homes and a sculpture park in the heart of downtown Gloucester. Visit capeannmuseum.org for details. The Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $12.00 adults, $10.00 Cape Ann residents, seniors and students. Youth (under 18) and Museum members are free. For more information please call: (978)283-0455 x10. Additional information can be found online at www.capeannmuseum.org
Perry McIntosh shares a save the date for the Annisquam Sewing Circle annual Christmas fair stressing that it’s traditionally slated after Thanksgiving which comes early this year. Don’t miss it!
CHRISTMAS FAIR
Saturday, December 1, 2018
8:30 am – 12:30 pm
Annisquam Sewing Circle
Annisquam Village Hall, 32 Leonard Street, Annisquam, Gloucester
“For years, residents of Cape Ann have lined up at the Annisquam Village Hall before the doors open for the annual Christmas Fair to purchase the beautiful greens, gifts, and gourmet goodies made by the ladies of the Annisquam Sewing Circle.
The fair is known for its beautiful wreaths, but there will also be decorated boxwood trees and mantle and table centerpieces suitable for smaller spaces.
The abundance and variety of handcrafted items will dazzle the eye—sweaters, socks, hats and mittens; placemats, potholders and monogrammed dish towels; needlepoint tree ornaments created by the members of the Annisquam Sewing CIrcle just for this fair, as well as many more one-of-a-kind items that will not be found anywhere else! Once again, Circle member Grace Murray has knitted one of her unique hats (her 335th!), which will be offered in a silent auction. Only one of these hats becomes available to the public each year.
Beautifully wrapped foods and baked goods grace the gourmet table —from homemade preserves to fancy cakes, gluten-free items and even Food for Fido and your Favorite Feline. The fair also features a glittering display of costume jewelry which for many shoppers is a destination itself. Hostess baskets and grab bags are also popular traditional items at the fair.
A delicious three-course luncheon will be served at 12:30. Tickets are $18 and reservations are recommended (visit Annisquamsewingcircle.org)
Founded in 1837, the Annisquam Sewing Circle is one of the oldest continuous independent societies of women in the United States and is the oldest one on Cape Ann. All proceeds from the Fair are contributed by the Annisquam Sewing Circle to Cape Ann community programs.”
State tournament bracket for GHS varsity boys soccer – from Coach Armando
First Round – GHS boys soccer vs. Watertown (4th seed) tomorrow. Lynnfield is ranked #1 going in
Early voting at Kyrouz Auditorium, City Hall, Gloucester, MA, today to 7:00 PM and Friday, November 2, 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
Ballot questions Pro/Con one sheets WGBH
In the tv show, Who Do You Think You Are? (March 5 2010), produced by Lisa Kudrow, season 1, episode 1, Sarah Jessica Parker learns that her tenth great grandmother, Esther (Dutch) Elwell, was found guilty of witchcraft in 1692. Her arrest was the last formal accusation recorded during the Salem witch trials. The grisly court was dissolved days prior to her sentencing because spectral evidence was banned. Esther lived to be 82 years old. Parker visited Danvers to meet with historians and inspect the original records, and then on to Salem to pay respects.
Did Sarah Jessica Parker come to Gloucester?
Well, not according to the final edit. The show could have filmed here.
Witches of Gloucester
Beckoned to Gloucester, Salem teenager and accuser, Betty Hubbard, officially confirmed the false suspicions in 1692. And just like that three women from Gloucester– Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe and Rebecca Dike– were arrested for killing Gloucester resident, Mary Fitch, by witchcraft. Historians determined that nine women from Gloucester were caught up in the witchhunts, jailed, and released (by the spring of 1693). Accused were more often than not related and at odds with accusers, well off, and/or “trouble”. Collaborating institutions and collections have gathered and digitized 17th century documents. You can peruse them here: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/17docs.html
Later history of witches in Gloucester revolve around Dogtown. In the 1896 book, In the Heart of Cape Ann, Charles Mann described Gloucester’s Dogtown as “practically the only ruined city in America.” By then Dogtown legends persisted about “witches” like Tammy Younger (died 1829), her aunt Luce George, Peg Wesson, and Judy Rhines. Percy Mackaye’s 1921 poem Dogtown Common acknowledged Mann’s book, “curious reader may learn many strange, half fogotten facts concerning the old Puritan life of that region…” Here’s the eerie opener setting a fitting scene for Halloween.
Inland among the lonely cedar dells
of old Cape Ann, near Gloucester by the sea,
Still live the dead–in homes that used to be.
All day in dreamy spells
They tattle low with toungues of tinkling cattle
bells,
Or spirit tappings of some hollow tree,
And there, all night–all night, out of the
dark–
They bark–and bark.
Apparently, when Sarah Jessica Parker starred in Hocus Pocus (1993), she did not know this family history. Some of the movie was filmed on location in Salem and Marblehead.
Shopping at Nichols candies, Gloucester, Ma. They’re open till 8pm!
Cape Ann participated in the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) statewide cultural district convening which was hosted by the Natick Center for the Arts. Statewide district gatherings occur once or twice a year: the last two were held in Cambridge, and Beverly. Representatives from Gloucester, Rockport and Essex cultural districts were in attendance. (Manchester and Ipswich do not not have a designation at this time. Gloucester could have seven.)
Massachusetts Cultural Council Director, Anita Walker, welcomed the crowd, and introduced officials from Natick and new additions to the MCC staff. Jill Cahill, Gloucester’s Director of Community Development, brought a gift from the Mayor and the City to add to a send-off of thanks and well wishes for Meri Jenkins, longtime MCC leader who managed cities and towns through cultural facilities funding and district designations. Luis Edgardo Cotto and Justina Crawford will be taking over the MCC Community Initiative programs managed by Meri.
The MCC approved five year district renewals for both Rocky Neck and Rockport last year. District renewal for Gloucester’s downtown is underway. Essex received official citations for their renewal at this convening. Here’s a photo of Christopher Stepler, artist and Manager of Essex Shipbuilding Museum, and Lee Spence, former Director. One update they shared was that the successful historic exhibition The Women of Essex – Stories to Share displayed at Essex Town Hall in a renovated bright space on the top floor above the TOHP Burnham Public Library (thanks in part to Cultural Facilities funding) was selected to travel to the NPS regional Visitor Center in Salem.
prior GMG post with MCC October news
Long Beach – big waves even at low tide after Saturday’s October 27, 2018 storm.
Continue reading “Colors of the season- fall charm on Cape Ann”
press release from Cape Ann Museum:
Exhibition Opening & All Day Celebration
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (October 25, 2018) – The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present a day-long celebration to mark the opening of the special exhibition, The Little House: Her Story, on Saturday, November 3, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Throughout the day, watercolor painting in the CAM Activity Center and origami daisy making in the gallery will be available for all ages. The Little House will be read by Museum staff at 10:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. At 1:00 p.m. there will be a film-screening of Virginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place with film producer Christine Lundberg. Light refreshments will be served in the gallery from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. This program is free for Museum members or with Museum admission.
The Little House: Her Story is a special exhibition featuring the work of beloved children’s book author & illustrator and founder of the Folly Cove Designers Virginia Lee Burton (1909–1968). In addition to Burton’s drawings, book illustrations and prints, an artfully-created scale model of her “Little House” will be on display in the gallery. The exhibition will remain on view through March 31, 2019.
The “Little House” model was fabricated in Japan for a highly-anticipated exhibition held at the Takenaka Corporation Gallery A4 in Tokyo last summer in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the publication of Burton’s famous tale, The Little House. The exhibition paid tribute to Burton’s books and her work as the founder of the Folly Cove Designers, which have garnered widespread acclaim in Japan. The Tokyo exhibit was organized by Gallery A4 curator Michiyo Okabe, using original artwork and archival materials lent by the Cape Ann Museum, the Sawyer Free Library, the University of Minnesota, and the Burton-Demetrios Family.
The exhibition celebrates the life, art, and work of Virginia Lee Burton, one of Cape Ann’s most important artists whose legacy lives on today through her books and in the lifelong memories created for so many children. Burton, who lived and worked in the Folly Cove area of Gloucester for most of her adult life, was one of the 20th century’s most admired children’s book authors; a versatile and uniquely talented artist who enjoyed dance, design, writing, illustration and teaching. Through her children’s books – Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Katy and the Big Snow, The Little House, and Maybelle the Cable Car among many others – she achieved her widest acclaim and was awarded the coveted Caldecott Medal in 1943 for The Little House. It was her fourth book, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, and was translated into Japanese in 1954 by Momoko Ishii, later becoming an international success. In 1964, Burton traveled to Japan for two weeks, invited by the American Cultural Center in Tokyo and was hosted by Ishii.
The Little House is a timeless story of a small, simple house in the country that gradually changes as urban expansion threatens its quiet, pastoral existence. Larger buildings, traffic, and development encroach on the house as it endures unwelcome change through the seasons and neglect once its owners move out. But, the family’s descendants realize its value, load it onto a trailer, and relocate it into the country once again. The Little House is a story about honoring beauty, the past, the natural world and all of its peacefulness. It has captivated readers from all cultural backgrounds for decades.
This exhibition and related programming was made possible through the support of the Takenaka Scholarship Foundation; the Cape Ann Savings Bank; Nancy LeGendre & Walter Herlihy; Mary Craven; Margaret Pearson; Christine & Stephen Kahane; Arthur Ryan; J.J. & Jackie Bell; Gib & Sarah Carey; Paul & Christine Lundberg; and Andrew Spindler. For more information about the exhibition and related programming, please visit the Museum’s website www.capeannmuseum.org.
Image credits: Courtesy of the Cape Ann Museum.
About the Cape Ann Museum Continue reading “ALL DAY celebration for momentous Virginia Lee Burton exhibition at Cape Ann Museum! November 3, 2018”
Come on inside the Virginia Lee Burton Writing Cottage which was once the acclaimed artist’s former studio of her own. Virginia Lee Burton’s personal studio was rescued and nestled into the Lanesville Community Center property. The center’s clubhouse and grounds, established in 1954, seem to be the ideal spot for a summer rec program, even more so now. As one enters the cottage through the custom built door, there’s a brand new window straight ahead where the stove and chimney – and asbestos– had been. Virginia Lee Burton needed a wood stove. Today’s visitors won’t. New materials and insulation make the cottage cozy and warm.
At the celebration presentation on October 21, 2018, Chris Wagner, President of the Lanesville Community Center and project manager, recounted some history. Virginia Lee Burton purchased her studio from the Building Center in 1963. It was a pre fab home that she repurposed for her needs. He explained that the volunteers leveraged outreach. The Building Center responded with “anything you need,” and was so supportive of the cottage regeneration that they offered the volunteers a $5000 credit towards building materials. It takes an inspiring and talented village. Other area businesses stepped up: Timberline donated shingles; Argentino handled plastering; Closed Cell Structures out of Reading handled the spray foam so the cottage was winterized; Carpenter & MacNeille designed and commissioned door and windows custom built by Chris Roe from Bayview; architectural drawings from Dore and Whittier; KML Electric; plants and flowers from Generous Gardeners; and cut sunflowers for the reception from Shaws. How inspiring to learn that Camilla MacFadyen, artist and textile extraordinaire, had a hand in this studio-raising. Character, warmth, and charm were added to the new exterior wood work. Volunteers salvaged what they could of the studio and rebuilt a gem. Work is still underway. When Burton exited her sanctuary studio, she faced the ocean. Now it’s an ocean of love. Plans for future community programs and events (see below) are underway and volunteers welcome.
Support for the cottage renewal came from residents of Gloucester via CPA funding and donations, various city staff departments (e.g. conservation and community development), and a slew of committed volunteers. Like Russell Hobbs! Here’s the modest presentation listing some key volunteers:
The poignant celebration was held inside the Lanesville Community Center and concluded with an apt recitation from a Little House passage read by Christine Drohan.
“Come celebrate the artists who have shown with us over the last 10 years (2008-2018) in our final two shows: #1 thru November 4 and #2 Nov 10 – December 16. SUPPORT LOCAL ART!”
The pull of the ocean 🙂
when productions prompt a double take- film & television magic!
Good Morning Gloucester 