Saturday, June 28, 2008

"I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man's character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn't any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles."

- first line of The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow.

So hopefully Chicago won't be too somber today... I mean, it is Gay Pride weekend. It is in this "Windy City"(it probably won't be so much windy as humid and sticky) that I'm starting this crazy two month trip across the country and back. My flight's at noon, but, of course, my grandma secured a car to the airport hours in advance so I won't be late. I'm really psyched but also a little nervous. Hopefully I'll be able to update somewhat frequently! I'll wish myself luck!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Chicago: Ideas on Literary Sites?

Here are ideas on literary sites that I've gathered from others so far. If anyone's BEEN to any or if you know of new ideas, let me know: On the literary sites front, I found: "1. Re: literary sites, I really enjoyed Sister Carrie on another level when I was living in Chicago. A number of the real places in the book are still around, or their are alternatives that evoke some of the fictional sites.You can stay in the Palmer House where Carrie's lover stayed.http://www1.hilton.com/...

2. You can also visit historic the historic Marshall Field's Department Store Building (now a Macy's:-( ), and get a taste of what it might have been like to be one of those early 20th century shopgirls. Then while you're visiting Harpo studios or going to one of the really good restaurants in the West Loop neighborhood, or looking at the Michael Jordan statue at the United Center you can make a brief visit to Union Park, which also gets a mention in the book http://www.chicagopark/...

3. If your literary tour includes nonfiction you could stop by the grounds of the Chicago World's Fair (featured in Devil in the White City) near the University of Chicago (I believe the Museum of Science ad Industry is the only remaining building, but some of the famous landscaping remains), and while you're at it

4. visit the U of C stomping grounds of Saul Bellow (not to mention Indiana Jones -- if you are a Raiders fetishist you can visit the Oriental Institute right on campus and see artifacts Professor Jones would have loved to steal).

5. In "homage" to Upton Sinclair you could visit the remaining entry gate for the shuttered Chicago Stockyards, and then go to Gibson's steakhouse http://www.gibsonsstea/... and reflect on the bloody cruelty of it all while eating a ribeye with whatever celebrity diners might be sitting next to you (if no one else is there, the ghost of Frank Sinatra will certainly be dining with the late Chicago gossip columnist Irv Kupcinet).

6. Hemingway's birth home, Oak Park. Oak Park works for both. Hemingway was born a few blocks from all three of the major Wright buildings in town (Unity Temple, his studio and the other house who's name I can never remember). I'm pretty sure the Hemingway house has tours. http://www.ehfop.org/visitors/index.html

7. Raisin in the Sun was set on the south side of chicago

8. Also, there's the Robie House in Hyde Park? Have you heard of that. I got some advice about it.

9. Oh, someone also mentioned Graceland Cemetery, where many notable Chicago figures are buried. I think that's it for now.

Don't be shy to give me your input =)

This was put together from responses to my discussion thread posted on yelp. Here's the link:
http://www.yelp.com/topic/new-york-chicago-where-should-i-go-any-literary-sites

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tentative LITINERARY (you love it)

Tentative Road Trip Itinerary. All comments, insights about LITERARY SITES are welcome:
June 28 - Chicago
June 29 - Cristina's wedding in Chicago
June 30 - Chicago
July 1 - Chicago
July 2 - Columbus
July 3 - Columbus
July 4 - Columbus
July 5 - Ohio
July 6 - Ohio
July 6 – Chicago
July 7 – Chicago
July 8 – Hannibal to St. Louis July 9 – St. Louis to Kansas City
July 10 – drive all day to Denver
July 11 – Denver
July 12 – Denver
July 13 – drive to Salt Lake City
July 14- Salt Lake City
July 15 – drive to Boise
July 16 – Boise
July 17 – Boise
July 18 – drive to Seattle
July 19 – Seattle
July 20 – Seattle
July 21 – Seattle
July 22 – drive to Portland July 23 - Portland
July 24 – driving – southern Oregon? Northern Cali?
July 25 – Sonoma/wine country/San Fran
July 26 – San Fran
July 27– San Fran
July 28 – San Fran/Salinas to LA
July 29 – LA
July 30 – San Diego
July 31 - San Diego
August 1 – Vegas
August 2 – Pheonix/Tucson August 3 – New Mexico August 4 –Texas, driving August 5 – Texas August 3 – Austin
August 6 – Austin
August 7 – drive to New Orleans
August 8 – New Orleans August 9 – Birmingham August 10
Birmingham/driving
August 11 - Florida
August 12 – Orlando
August 13 – Miami
August 14 – Miami
August 15 – Keys
August 16 – Keys
August 17 – Keys
August 18 – Orlando
August 19 - Savannah August 20 – Charleston, SC August 21 – Wilmington, NC August 22 –VA
August 23 – Maryland August 24 – DC/NY
August 25 – back to school??

Sunday, June 15, 2008

More Boston








Besides the literary sites, it was great to go to Boston to see my old friends Amy, Valerie, Tim and Rachel.  I stayed in Somerville, went out there and walked to Harvard Square and back!  I also got to take the T before heading back to NY on the Chinatown bus.  Here are some pictures of said events =).

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Park, Boston, MA



I suppose I was feeling pretty patriotic after my enthused tour guide told me to "pass on the torch" to the next generation (thank God I'm a teacher), so it was the perfect time to meander along the Charles and find myself in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Park near the Harvard School of Government.  In addition to Kennedy's refreshing words about citizenship and responsibility, I also got to stick my foot in the cool fountain at the end of a hot day. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's House, Boston, MA







Just an amble away from Harvard Square is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's home.  It's gorgeous!  Go there for a picnic, check out the gardens and don't pass up the informative tour.  Honestly, the tour guide seemed to LOVE Longfellow, George Washington and our country.  It was sort of inspiring. 

So Longfellow's house also sevred as George Washington's office/headquarters during the American Revolution - which is awesome.  Boston offers such an American historical education, and it's great to see how history and literature continuously go hand in hand decade after decade. 


(The tour guide said the house could be haunted and in this pic she looks like a ghost.  Notice the portrait of Longfellow's daughters in the background).

So, in the true style of a poet, Longfellow pined and pined after the woman that put a sparkle in his eye during a European venture.  Though she held out for seven years, she finally succumbed and agreed to marry Longfellow, the man who adored her.  

They moved into this beautiful home, yards away from The Charles River and Harvard.  Longfellow was a professor at our country's most infamous university and, judging from his home, seemed to spend his spare time reading, writing poetry and doting on his children and wife.  There are portraits of his three beautiful daughters, Alice, Edith and Anne in one room, and there is a bust of his wife, Fanny (formerly Appleton) in another. 

There was a also a painted picture of "the new world," with a Native American rowing in a boat on the ocean.  The tour guide pointed this out and made a connection to Longfellow's poem "Song of Hiawatha."  Perhaps this picture was the inspiration.  

Like I said, it's definitely worth a trip to this literary site.  The 45 minute informative tour only cost $3 and the stuff here was very caring and attentive.  When I told one Longfellow guide about my literary road trip, she immediately went in the back to get me a class set of Longfellow booklets with information and several of his poems.  She also got me a Teacher's Guide.  "This is part of the Big Read project," she added.  Also, the House has Sunday concerts during the summer and a schedule of other events they cater.  

The House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA






Wow, Nathaniel hawthorne had a pretty sweet life.  I would NOT mind chilling out at the House of the Seven Gables and writing some prose and looking out at the water.  Hawthorne was entertained here for many years of his life, since his family relatives owned the house, and he also lived here for some years. He titled his 1851 novel The House of the Seven Gables after this home.  

Juxtaposition: John Hathorne's Grave, Salem, MA


Ironically, right outside the Witch Trials Memorial is a graveyard.  Guess who is buried there?  None other than the Witch Trials judge responsible for so many deaths:  John Hathorne!  So, they put the innocent next to the guilty and it certainly does add some dramatic value.

"I Am Wholly Innocent," Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, MA



Again, it was exciting to just stumble up on the Witch Trials Memorial.  This year I printed out images of it for my students to look at and discuss, so it was cool to find the memorial when I wasn't looking for it.  Here, the names of all the victims of The Salem Witch Trials are engraved onto stones where visitors can look at them and remember the struggles of these innocent members of the community.  Since Arthur Miller used the real names of teh Salem Witch Trial, victims in his play, The Crucible,  it does feel like I know these people intimately, even if I'm only familiar with their fictional namesake.  

In one picture posted, I am looking sullen and sitting next to John Proctor's name. 

I look forward to showing my students these pictures next year in order to make the reality of what happened in Salem vivid for them.  

Saturday, June 14, 2008

More Witchery, Salem, MA



At the Salem Witch Museum there is more performing, a deeper discussion of black magic's past and even an exhibit on modern day witches!

The Inspiration! Salem, MA





One of the most exciting parts of the Boston trip, for me, involved a Hawthorne site.  The most exciting part of it was:  I wasn't prepared!  It wasn't in my trusty literary guidebook (Traveling Across Literary America) so I didn't know to look for it.   I mean, maybe it was in the guidebook but, though I thought I digested those pages thoroughly, I must have missed it. 

So, without further adieu, the site that got my blood pumping like my morning Starbucks latte does, was St. Peter's Episcopal Church.  Huh?  What's that, you say?  I know, I know, I said the same thing.  So, let me explain. 

If you've read the "Introduction to The Scarlet Letter, something that I'm sure most of my students missed, you hear Hawthorne's explanation of what inspired him to write this classic American novel documenting the shame and guilt of our early nation.  in addition to the fact that he was shamed and stupefied by his ancestor, John Hathorne's, behavior during the salem Witch trials, he also had an experience while working as a town official in the Customs House.  While up in the attic, he says that he uncovered something - a letter.  I probably don't need to go further because you see where this is going.  yes!  This was indeed the letter that inspired THE letter with the florid complexion, that triggers thoughts of lust and which garners much attention.

So yeah, while wandering through Salem, trying to find the "other" witch museum, we went down the wrong street and saw a plaque explaining the significance of St. Peters.  It was in THIS church that Hawthorne cooked up his beautifully tragic story of Hester Prynne.  I really felt privy to a wonderful literary secret and I'm happy to share it with you.  

There was also a wedding going on when we passed the church.  From a distance, several feet of the bride's white gown was visible through the bright red (what a coincidence, though they weren't scarlet) door and it was really pretty cool.   I never got to see the faces of the bride and groom, and I didn't seem to capture the lovely moment quite so interestingly in my photo, but hopefully you'll get the idea.  


Hawthorne, Hawthorne Everywhere, Salem, MA


Basically, Boston and its environs are Hawthorne's

Witch Dungeon Museum, Salem, MA









I was So excited to see this place after I heard that they do reenactments of the Salem Witch Trials!  This is perfect for teaching "The Crucible."  When we got there, it was everything I expected.  There were dummies propped up in a fake courtroom on the stage.  Judge Hathorne sat on the stand (Yes, Hathorne without a W, even though he is Nathaniel's ancestor!  Nathaniel Hawthorne was disgusted with his uncle's behavior during the witch trials and his subsequent REFUSAL to apologize for his ugly behavior.  Nathaniel supposedly added a W to his own name to distance himself from this guy, who is now commemorated on stage at the Witch Museums as a stuffed puppet-like animatron thing). 

Then, an actress comes on stage and sets the scene for us in the 1600's.  The audience is sitting in actual pews, just like a church, the setting where the trials did take place in the 1600s.  After the explanation, two more actresses come out.  One plays Elizabeth Proctor, an innocent woman in the town of Salem, known for her kindness and Christian ways, and the other plays Mary Warren, Ms. Proctor's servant who has now turned on Ms. Proctor, turning her in to the courts as a witch!  The two dramatically perform, using lines directly transcribed from the trials in the 1600's.  If you've read "The Crucible," you'll notice that Arthur Miller also stayed very accurate with his dialogue.  

This performance goes on for about 15 minutes.  Mary Warren enters spectral evidence into the trial, claiming that Ms. Proctor sent her spirit out in the court, in the form of a bird.  Mary starts screaming and covering herself, feigning protection from the bird.  Thankfully, because of these trials, spectral evidence was outlawed in U.S. trials. 

After the trial, the hostess took our group downstairs into the DUNGEON!  This was so cheesy but cool.  It was pitch black down there and there were actual cells set up with puppet/plaster prisoners.  There is, however, one wooden beam from the original Salem witch dungeons.  

The tour guide told us that prisoners would be chained down there next to each other for days.  They would get soar, tired and very dirty, since there was no opportunity to get up and use the toilet.  This explains why John (Daniel Day Lewis) and Elizabeth Proctor (Joan Allen) look so weary and run down when they got out of jail and are reunited.  My students got "grossed out" at this scene in the film version of the drama.  

The Witch Dungeon also had a Giles Corey cell set up and I took a picture of him getting pressed and, though there was no audio, we could hear him saying "No Weight."  He would rather die with honor than risk his soul and confess to false charges of witch craft.  


Salem: Witch Country!







I was sooo excited to go to Salem!  Ever since I was a little kid and learned about it, I had been dying to spend Halloween there!  After this trip and seeing how "witched up" the town is, I'd still love to go back for All Hallows Eve.  When we got there, my first priority was to find the witch museum.  First, though, we had to stop for authentic New England clam chowder (see pic) and my first lobster roll ever. 

Friday, June 13, 2008

Concord Area





It was sweet to drive around quaint Concord, especially when we stopped in the downtown area, in route to Salem, MA.  The streets were sweet and there were local book and candy stories everywhere.  I soaked it in as we quenched our thirst with raspberry Italian sodas =)

Wayside




The Wayside is a house in Concord, just down the road from Emerson's abode and The Orchard House, where several famous authors lived and spent time.  It most notably belonged to Nathaniel Hawthorne after the Alcotts sold it to him in 1852.