Summertime and the livin is easy…

Well, it’s finally summertime, and as we roll into that too-short-a-season once again, our minds tend to wander to thoughts of… summer lists? In my mind, summer is the official season for list making. It’s also a time of the year that we hold onto with a zealous grip in Northeast Ohio, and as a result, there are related qualities, sensations and experiences that uniquely define summertime for each of us. Think about it: as soon as the days heat up and the sun stays around a little longer, each of us digs in our subconscious closets for the items, opportunities, and ideas that bring out that summer smile. Sure, we may have a favorite place to get a hot cup of coffee in the depths of February, but do we really look forward to it?

I’m talking about the kinds of things that make your spirits soar and your smile broaden and remind you that you are alive. Maybe you, like me, recently rediscovered that your car’s sunroof actually works, or that mowing the lawn can be a Zen-like experience, or that there are real people living in those other houses on your street. Summer is full of such moments of heightened awareness, moments that we have come to treasure and even to… quantify! Let me try to identify some classic examples, and I encourage you to add your own as we celebrate the (hopefully) glorious summer of 2009!

Top summer/beach books: I like to read all the time, but usually it’s nonfiction. Summer is when I like the frothy stuff: thrillers, messy family epics, broad historical fiction, etc. I love the old west tales of Larry McMurtry, the seafaring epics of Patrick O’Brian, the brilliant book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and of course, The Soloist by Steve Lopez.

Top movies: Where does one begin? I am a sucker for The Natural with Robert Redford - I will watch it every time! Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge over the River Kwai are my picks for epics, Cinema Paradiso is my favorite foreign film, and this summer I heartily recommend Star Trek and The Soloist (again!)

Top Foods: potato salad, steak on the grill, corn on the cob, the fresh catch of the day, and lots of fruit that is actually ripe for once! I have pretty simple tastes.

Sensations: blue skies, green leaves, the smell of suntan lotion at the beach, feeling the heat of the pavement through your shoes, cutting across the wind on my HobieCat in the afternoon sun, the sound of the ceiling fan lulling you to sleep, or just sounds, period: birds, breeze, music, laughter, thunder, all through the open windows of your house!

Places: Lakeview Cemetery, the end of my dock at sunset on Lake Chautauqua, Cedar Point, Wade Oval, Blossom, Progressive Field, Coventry, and the Outer Banks.

Admit it - you’re probably smiling as you read this and adding your own answers and lists. Please feel free to enlarge these or begin anew. Summer in Ohio is a great gift; I pity those poor folks in Southern California who never realize what they are given every day.

Have a great week!

Teach Your Children Well

"Teach your children well..." Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Many of you may have read the article that appeared at the bottom of the front page of the Metro section of Saturday's Plain Dealer that detailed significant cuts in the Friends of Cleveland School of the Arts' operations due to shortfalls in fundraising efforts. It seems like every day we read news like this from the local arts & culture sector, but this is one example that is really painful.

The Friends of the School of the Arts (FSA) are the fundraising branch for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's (CMSD) School of the Arts magnet program. The program is a great success story within the district, consistently producing some of the highest test scores and graduation rates within the system. The FSA has always been considered a model of successful cooperation between the community and the public school system, so the news that they are coming up short despite their very best efforts is quite disturbing. It is my hope that the community rallies behind the FSA, and that their record of significant impact continues unabated into the future. The Music Settlement has several programs that we offer in partnership with the School of the Arts to enrich the arts educational experience for their students. We feel there are few organizations better positioned to reach out to our community and strengthen our school system.

Speaking of the CMSD, another great arts-based program they provide is the All-City Musical (ACM) program, which allows talented students from across the district to be featured in a major musical theater production staged at Playhouse Square. I attended the production of Dreamgirls last year, and can honestly say it was the most impressive high school-aged production I have ever seen, actually one of the best performances I've seen, period. The ACM program this year is called A Decade of Dreams and is a tribute to its first 10 years - an event not to be missed. The production will be presented at the newly renovated Hanna Theatre downtown (a treat in itself) and runs Friday May 29th at 7:30 pm and Sunday May 31st at 3:00 and 7:30 pm. There is also a special gala event/performance on Saturday the 30th beginning at 6:00 pm. Call (216) 241-6000 for reservations. This is an excellent chance to support CMSD's art and culture efforts and have a great time to boot! The Music Settlement also is a major supporter of the ACM, providing training for the singers and pit musicians and underwriting professional musicians in the pit as well.

It often falls to unique partnerships like The Friends of CSA or The Music Settlement's support of both CSA and ACM to fill the gaps that develop in providing quality arts education in public schools. With so much at stake, it's critical that all levels of education offered to our children prepare them for the greatest possible success. Placing the arts squarely in the foundation of the educational plan has been proven to positively influence the academic performance of students in all disciplines. I urge you to help organizations like the friends of CSA and The Music Settlement build that foundation. We need your support- buy tickets, make donations, volunteer. Do not allow such efforts to disappear in the tidal wave of economic hardship. Let's ensure that subsequent news items are all about success, not despair. The future of our children and our community is in our hands. Make the best of it!

Have a great week!

“…So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet.” - William Shakespeare

Here I go again, recommending a web item after complaining last week about our obsession with computers and the internet .…

My ever-vigilant-for-the-perfect-moment assistant, Nancy, sent me a link to a YouTube video that set off bells in my head. It records a delightful example of a phenomenon recently occurring world-wide, the “impromptu movement,” as I call it. The video documents - what we old geezers used to call a “happening” - in a train station in Belgium that links art and expression with the appearance of spontaneity and, dare I say, magic. The crux of the video is that, without warning, a group dance event occurs in a public space that allows spectators to be surprised, thrilled, or even annoyed while being lifted out of their daily routine and comfort zone. Intriguingly, when the moment passes, the performers return to their “normal” existence as if nothing unusual happened at all.

Now, what seemed to occur spontaneously was carefully choreographed and rehearsed, of course, although its freshness and immediacy suggest otherwise. But there is a growing movement out there to take art and self-expression from the sanctity of the concert hall or performance space and into the streets, and to perform it without the formality or the guarantee of connectivity between artist and audience that we all typically expect when we set out to experience art. (I hesitate even to say that we “experience” art, since we’ve been socialized in this country to be spectators of art rather than to truly experience it.) There’s an attempt within this movement, however, to deny the permanence of art or the assignment of value to it, much like the Tibetan monks who ritually discard the sands over which they so painstakingly labored to produce a mandala painting. The effort to create, the moment in which the effort occurs, and most of all, the shared experience of discovery and celebration are what’s most important. There’s something about this idea that is remarkably refreshing and yet vaguely familiar.

I have been known to lament the fact that our country seems to have lost the ability to celebrate on the micro and the macro levels. We keep our heads down and walk a straight line to our destinations, not making eye contact, both metaphorically and in reality. Yet what is it about a drum circle that so stirs our blood, or an event like a parade that draws people to them in the thousands? I believe it is human nature to gather in common areas, seeking ways to be touched by the act of creation. Unfortunately, in 21st century America that means sitting politely in a uncomfortable seat next to dozens or hundreds of others (trying not to make contact, of course), waiting for the cue to applaud, laugh, cry or fidget. But…if the stars align, sometimes we are in the cauldron itself - where emotions are stirred without cues or programs, and we are moved in ways we never thought possible.

Invite the unexpected into your life and the lives of those around you. Do a victory dance if you feel like it. Sing a song when the moment strikes you. Speak aloud the verses in your heart to the ones you love. Celebrate the moment….then let it pass.

By the way, here’s a link for the YouTube video:
Watch it and let me know what you think!

Enjoy and have a celebratory week!

“Under the spreading chestnut tree…”

I read with great interest an online article concerning the effort to reintroduce the American chestnut tree into the yards, fields, and consciousness of Americans, and it got me thinking.

It seems that scientists have developed a hearty version of the chestnut - the tree that dominated much of the eastern old growth forests until the first part of the twentieth century – after an invasive mold from Asia nearly wiped these stately 100-foot tall giants from our midst and our memory. It is quite amazing what science has been up to lately, from turning cars into “smart” cars that are more efficient and intuitive, to allowing your Jack Russell terrier to live again (and again…) through cloning. I’m not really sure where science is going with all of this, but undoubtedly, I will get plenty of Facebook and Twitter updates on my iPhone (if I had one…) to keep me posted on the progress.

Now more than ever, it’s challenging to know where real value lies in the world around us. Despite the fact that we want global news at our fingertips 24 hours a day, we seem less and less interested in understanding the stories in depth. It’s also hard to grasp the impact of such information when any clown with a computer (like me, for example) can blog to their heart’s content about events, happenings, and the relative veracity of weather forecasters without the filter of perspective or scale applied for balance. Each of us must apply our own measurement of worth to these scatter-shot offerings, and often we vote with our fingertips, choosing with a single keystroke either to tarry or to race onward to the next info-bit.

For a change of pace, I recommend that you step away from cyber-reality long enough to truly embrace the real thing. Take the time to breathe in the art of the world around us, the symphony of existence. Enfold yourself in the sights, sounds, and feel of Northeast Ohio in May. Consider introducing this awareness into your daily routine. Each turn you take on your morning drive reveals the beauty of spring; take the time to really see it. Go so far as to vary your drive from day to day, and see what’s blooming. Better yet, walk or ride a bicycle! Turn off the computer and grab a book or listen to music. Even better, make your own music, and encourage others around you to join in. Or read a poem aloud to others - after all, that’s why they were written.

Don’t get me wrong, I like much of what technology has brought to modern day life. But when those chestnut trees come back, and your grandchildren gather under one of them to catch some shade or escape the raindrops, what could possibly be better than hearing them breaking into a verse or two of “Singin’ in the Rain”, or a spirited rendition of “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

By the way, if you would like to read the chestnut story (on your laptop, outside, under a flowering Buckeye tree!), here’s the link.

http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/44257292.html

Have a stimulating week!