Flowers in February–Photos by Anita M. Harris
February 7, 2010
Flowers in February Photos by Anita M. Harris
February 1-28, 2010
I hope you enjoy the photos, which are available for purchase from Anita Harris Photography (see below) or at the Town Hall Exchange, 25 Lincoln Rd., Lincoln, MA.
———Anita Harris
Anita Harris Photography
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-576-0906
harris.anita@comcast.net
anharris.myphotoalbum.com
www.harriscom.com
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscomblog and Ithaca Diaries blog.
Eek, mice, please advise, cont.
January 23, 2010
I live on the fifth floor of a brick building near Harvard Square–and have mice. The 
building management has given me traps–but these being Cambridge mice, they appear to be outsmarting us.
Will attack ads backfire in Coakley/Brown Senate Race?
January 14, 2010
I’m still voting for voting for Martha Coakley but am dismayed at the attack ads her campaign has unleashed on her Republican opponent for the Massachusetts Senatorial Seat– Republican State Senator Scott Brown.
Unfortunately, the ads fail to emphasize the important things Coakley stands for: health reform, civil rights, regulating greed, and finding intelligent ways to fight terrorism. They disseminate untruths about her opponent who, on Monday’s hourlong televised debate, said that he supports abortion (albeit not late term) and emergency contraception for rape victims (albeit not if it goes against health provider’s personal beliefs) and, despite earlier statements, that he believes that global warming is not only natural, but also manmade.
Worse yet, the ads give Brown a perfect opportunity to appear reasonable, dignified and unflappable–Senatorial, if you will, compared with the ham-handedness evident in ads Coakley apparently approved.
A Brown win could end possibilities for health reform in the current Congressional session and beyond.
I’m very concerned that the ads will backfire– and, given my own strong reaction against them I believe they will. (I don’t want to contribute money that could be used to fund them).
I just hope that Massachusetts citizens will look beyond the ads to Coakley’s strong record of accomplishment amd her belief in a government based on human and civil rights –hold their noses–and give her their votes.
–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish HarrisComBlog and Ithaca Diaries blog.
Painters Kadish and Morgan: Intrigue at the Clark
January 10, 2010
Metal, materials and process bond the largely abstract landscapes of Timothy Kadish (New Paintings) and Jessie Morgan (Night Tides) in this month’s intriguing show at the Clark Gallery, 145 Lincoln Rd, in Lincoln, MA.
Both sets of works provoke the viewer to ask–”What is this made of? And how did the artist do that?”
Morgan’s elegant abstract, monochromatic work appears, at first, to be photographic or film-based but the explanatory materials attest that it is acryllic painted on aluminum or plexiglass–with wide brushstrokes seeming to form landscapes-sky, ice, water, snow, trees exhibiting a shiny, reflecting (and reflective?) quality. A few of the works use vibrant blues and greens.
Kadish’s colorful paintings– primitivistic, childlike and seemingly whimsical, are full of 
suprises–geometric shapes, animal figures, thick goopy coils of oil paint, metallic oraments painted, glued, stapled, pressed or otherwise attached to the canvas…which isn’t necessarily canvas.
Neophotosynth – 2009, for example, is an 80 x 60 oil including all of the above,
as well as gouache, silver and gold leaf on silver-colored lead on copper that completely covers a frame .
The longer I stood in front of each painting, the more I found in it and the more I enjoyed it.
Both artists involved me in a process of discovery that allowed me to absorb, one step or stroke at a time, how their concepts and motions brought their work into being.
The exhibit is worth seeing. It will be up through January 30.
—Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish HarrisComBlog and Ithaca Diaries Blog.
Essaydi’s Les Femmes du Maroc a must-see.
January 3, 2010
Les Femmes du Moroque-Reclining Odalisque
Lalla Essaydi’s Les Femmes du Maroc is a must-see. Today is its last day at the DeCordova Museum, in Lincoln, MA, but it will be soon travelling to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum in Rutgers, New Jersey.
In her large-format photos of women in chadors, and, sometimes veils, Moroccan- born Lalla Essaydi presents a beautiful and provocative challenge to perceptions about Muslim women going back centuries.
The limited palette photographs in henna, black, and gray on white, depict individual or groups of women in chadors and, sometimes, veils, in poses or situations modeled after paintings by great European masters, reproductions of which accompany most of the photos. 
But instead of emulating the rich color and sexual innuendo of the paintings, Essaydi changes gestures, replaces men with women, and covers much of the surface area with arabic writing–illegible even to those who know the language.
As described on the DeCordova Web site, These women inhabit a place that is literally and entirely circumscribed by text, written directly on their bodies, apparel, and their surroundings by the artist herself.
In commentary provided through cell-phone dial in (difficult to hear because Lincoln has limited cell service) Essadi explains that she wants to make clear that the work of male artists of centuries past has done a disservice to Muslim women by objectifying them as sexual objects, often in harems.
She points out that writing was a form reserved for men, and that one of the original painting is so extraordinarily beautiful that one can easily overlook the subject matter: a naked woman being sold as a slave.
She brings up the difference between private and public space–that painters would never have been allowed into women’s homes, which were considered private space–but thought nothing of bringing women into their studios and showing paintings of them in public spaces–which were ordinarily reserved for men.
Essadyi also provides a complex interpretation of “the veil”. On the one hand, its use is sometimes considered a way of subjugating women, of keeping them out of public life, of denying them equality, full citizenship. On the other hand, she says, she herself sometimes appreciates the veil and finds it freeing–because it protects her and her privacy from a potentially dangerous outside world.
Organized by Senior Curator Nick Capasso, Les Femmes du Maroc will travel to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, January 30, 2010 – June 6, 2010.
——-Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscomblog and Ithaca Diaries blog.
Eeek! May I borrow your cat? Mice. Please advise.
December 18, 2009
Should I just give the mice names and adopt them as pets?
Claire
Compliments of an Australian client...
Dear G….The mice are freaking me out. I think there are three more…ot at least 2. In the last 24 hours, a big one and a small one have come from under the stove and the refrigerator…and the sink….and the other day one came out from behind the sofa in the living room. I’m guessing they’re living around the pipes.
Thanks, Gus.
Dec. 18
Gus, someone left four sticky traps outside my door. I’m collecting advice on my blog… so far, it ranges from wearing a cat costume to sprinkling dried coyote urine around….Eeeew. Anita
Oh my! If you want to stay at our house for a couple of days, or work in my office until they get rid of the mice, you’re more than welcome. I’d be freaked out too. I hate having uninvited critters sharing my space.
Re: Eeeeek!
Edna, thanks–I appreciate it. The guy who owns the building said he can’t do anything because if he poisons them they will go into the walls and smell bad…I’m asking friends if I can borrow their cats….It’s kind of funny when I think about it…But not when they scoot around, here. Evidently, it’s a common problem. The super says HE has them, and so does the woman who works in our office…but they’re not bothered by them (or by killing them). A friend told me that her husband had to keep mouse traps under his desk at the New York Times… Another friend’s said he sees them at MGH…Eeeeek! I’ll let you know if I need a place to stay…. tho I think that the landlord or the building owner, should pay for a hotel.
Anita
Dec. 19 From Lisa: GaaROOOsome!! I didn’t see a single one at your b-day party! When I was at Simmons, the two things that worked were: 1. peanut butter to attract them; 2. steel wool pads to block their entry. The problem w/ having a cat is that you’ll then have dead mice all over the house. Don’t know which is worse. Well, yes, I guess I do.
Saturday Dec 19 At Haymarket, I told the cheese vendor that the mice won’t touch his low fat feata. He told me to forget the cheese. “Use pate,” he said. (Well, this IS Cambridge).
Sunday Dec. 20:
Last night, I was watching TV when a little dark brown one ventured from behind the sofa (again). I jumped; he jumped back. I got up and opened a box of sticky traps. Put them in big Trader Joe’s paper bags, which I laid out near the sofa and stove. This morning: nothing. Eeeeeek!
—-amh
Thursday, Dec. 24. Still nothing. I’m hoping that its being Christmas eve, not a creature will be stirring…not even…
Monday, Dec. 28
Last night, returned from weekend away. Nothing in gooey or “hotel” traps, despite non-fat cheese. Bought “bounce” per Judy’s suggestion– put sheets of this fabric softener under sofa, stove, fridge; smelled so bad I had to put it in a ziplock bag to store. Saw mouse scurry out of closet toward corner wall, so put one in there, too. This morning, nothing in traps; my eyes watering, sore throat due to Bounce smell–so forget that. Today I am calling the health department.
January 7, 2010
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Wiseman’s La Danse: Three-and-a-half stars
December 17, 2009
Url for LaDanse Trailer on U-Tub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iU2l0XFrek&feature=player_embedded
My friend E. and I made it a point to sit in on the aisle in the last row when we went to see Frederick Wiseman’s latest film, La Danse, last night at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge–in case we needed to leave in a hurry. We’d heard it was very long (120 minutes) and that it needed some editing.
But we ended up staying through to the end–partly because we wanted to take part in the question and answer session with Wiseman, but mainly because, despite the film’s length and some imperfections, we found it quite beautiful.
It’s cinema verite, shot by Wiseman with a handheld 16MM camera, of practice, dress rehearsals, and behind the scenes discussions at the Paris Opera Ballet, over 13 weeks in Paris in 2007.
I was fascinated by the sessions in which choreographers and coaches viewed and critiqued dancers such as Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, and Agnès Letestu, among others. In those scenes, Weisman provides the rare opportunity to understand what emotions the dancers are asked to convey and how they do it; the detailed movements that go into that; and the occasional difficulty some dancers have in translating direction into specific action.
A photographer myself, I enjoyed the interspersing of arty still views of stairwells, window casings but, because some outside shots of Paris and the Opera House seemed to repeat, I wondered if Wiseman had come away with too little covering footage.
It was also great to see some of what happens behind the scenes: the painstaking sewing of sequins into costumes, one by one; the serving of apparently overcooked broccoli and fish with sauce in the cafeteria; the cleaning of the performance hall, and, especially, meetings of administrators discussing their fundraising efforts–which, combined, give some sense of what’s involved in producing some 250 performances a year.
Wiseman did a wonderful job of filming rehearsals for seven ballets: Genus by Wayne McGregor, Le Songe de Mede by Angelin Preljocaj, La Maison de Bernarda by Mats Ek, Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, Casse Noisette by Rudolph Noureev, Orphe and Eurydice by Pina Bausch, and Romeo and Juliette by Sasha Waltz. Some of the more modern pieces seemed to go on and on but most were mesmerizing–and unlike any I’ve seen in the US.
Wiseman could, perhaps, have left out a few–and, because it’s hard to stare at a screen for three hours straight, I’d have appreciated an intermission. (And, no doubt, so would those who got up to go to the rest room in the middle, blocking our view of the screen).
I found Wiseman’s fly-on-the-wall technique a bit disturbing–mainly because it showed almost no verbal interaction among the dancers, who were portrayed as objects to be molded and by teachers and administrators. But perhaps that’s how it is in the dance world and in the company, described by artistic director, in one segment, as “hierarchical.”
In the Q&A, Wiseman seemed reluctant to answer questions about content or meaning. (When someone asked why he’d included a scene involving beehives on the roof of the opera house, he said that’s for the viewer to figure out–perhaps, I thought, because it’s too obvious a metaphor).
Nor was Wiseman forthcoming about his thought processes (or lack, thereof) in structuring or editing the film. He spent a day looking around the building, then started shooting, he said. After 13 days, he returned with 130 hours of film; spent a year reviewing, culling, editing, reviewing, adding, cutting–and here we were.
It seemed to me that the film could use more structure and that some scenes were repetitive–but given the beauty and grace of the dancers, I’m hard-put to say which sequences I’d leave out.
—–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish HarrisComBlog and Ithaca Diaries Blog.
Lincoln MA, Reading: Ithaca Diaries
December 15, 2009
Last night’s reading in Lincoln went well. People laughed. In the right places.
That’s Neil O’Hara, facilitator of The Write Stuff, my wonderful writers group, in the background. The reading was held held in the beautiful Lincoln, MA, public library, which along with the Lincoln Review, sponsors our group and the occasional public event.
Other readers included Susan Coppack, Mary Ann Hales, Ellen Morgan and Manson Solomon. Here’s a link to the Write Stuff Blog, http://lincolnwritestuff.blogspot.com/ which, in turn, links to this and other write stuffers’ blogs, courtesy of blogmeister Geoff Moore.
Mark S. Hoffman took the photo. Thanks, Mark!
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscomblog and Ithaca Diaries blog.
Ladino Music Group Aljashu Debuts in Boston
December 11, 2009
Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the debut concert of Aljashu, a group formed by vocalist Julia Madeson to perform songs sung in the Ladino language, a combination of Hebrew and Spanish spoken (and sung) by Jews in Spain and Portugal before the Spanish Inquisition,which began in 1492.
The group’s name derives from a Turkish-Jewish Passover dessert of matzoh (unleavened bread) piled with dried fruits and nuts, drizzled with honey. With this metaphor of an often afflicted past wherein Jewish populations have been forced out of various places over their history while adopting sweet and savory local gifts, Madeson writes in the program notes, the group hopes to bring Ladino’s modal infused music to a wide audience.
- photo credit Adeline Goldminc-Tronzo;
For several centuries before their 1492 expulsion, it is believed, 90 percent of all Jews lived in Portugal and Spain a multicultural environment that after included Catholics and Muslims. After 1492, some Jews remained on the Iberian peninsula, openly converting to Catholicism but secretly practicing Judiasm (Conversos, or Moranos). Many others traveled by ship to the welcoming Ottoman Empire, to live in cities such as Istanbul, Izmir (then Smyrna) and to locations in and beyond the Greek Islands, such as Rhodes, Salonica, and Morocco–carrying their language, music, customs and traditions with them.
Yesterday’s concert, at the Berkelee College of Music, t featured songs and music several centuries old; modern compostitions by the late Judy Frankel; and instruments played by students and graduates of the Berkelee Guitar Department, where Ms. Madeson is employed.
The music–which sounded like yiddish or kletzmer melodies at some points–like Latin or flamenco at others, and quite frequently, like a mix of both–was played on the Turkish oud (a lute and guitar relative), the lute-like saz, the banjo-like cumbus–manufactured only in Istanbul, and on fretted and fretless guitars. The percussion instruments represented the cajon–widely used in Spain, and the dumbek, riq and zils, played extensively in Turkey.
Julia’s operatic voice blended beautifully with the instrumental sounds of Tev Stevig, on strings, Brian O’Neill, percussion, and Berkeley students Sabi Saltiel on guitars and saz, Cagri Erdom, Jussi Reijonen, and Jean-pierre D’Alencon, on guitars, and with the voice of guest vocalist Sarah-Jane Pugh, who, with Madeson performed a lovely duet called Shaba.
The concert was performed in honor of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. A spring concert, entitled “Everlasting Spring,” is in the works.
Photo credit #1David Buckman,
Photo credit #2, 3,4, Adeline Goldminc-Tronzo
MA Senatorial Primary: Who Gets My vote?
December 8, 2009
I’ve been impressed with Michael Capuano’s record, his forthright rejection of the war in Afghanistan, his progressive stance on health insurance reform, and his staunch support of Massachusetts’ biotechnology industry.
But all running in today’s Democratic Senatorial Primary–Michael Capuano, Martha Coakley, Alan Khazei, and Steve Pagliuca –have great backgrounds and are outstanding progressive candidates.
Khazei, a Harvard grad, founded the grassroots nonprofit City Year; Pagliuca, a Celtics co-owner, built a lucrative career in business consulting; Coakley and Capuano are both established public servants–with Coakley elected to Massachusetts Attorney General, and Capuano having spent years as Somerville’s mayor.
All favor abortion rights (against the Catholic Church of which all but Pagliuca–an Episcopalian– not that I care) are members). All favor the Obama health insurance legislation–tho Coakley and Capuano have said they’d vote against any bill ruling out out abortion funding.
On last Monday’s Greater Boston, on Channel 2, host Emily Rooney struggled to get the candidates to differentiate their positions on major issues.
Capuano seemed most adamantly opposed to prolonging the war in Afghanistan, suggesting that the American mission there, of routing out Al Khaida terrorists, has been accomplished.
Khazei tried to articulate a complex program of economic reform.
Pagliuca focused on the need for job creation but had difficulty, when grilled, about whether he had suffered as a result of the current recession (I don’t understand why he was singled out on this point, when everyone already knows he’s a successful businessman). .
Coakley has made it clear that she’s a peoples’ candidate–who would readily take on Wall Street cheats. She came out well when her economic acumen was called into question. (Supposedly, she has only $12,000 in savings–she explained that always been a public servant who is not in it for the money but she’s not stupid; her funds must be in trust or in the name of her husband, who is a retired Cambridge cop). .
So–how are we to choose? If not by positions on the issues, is it by background, knowledge, personality or style?
Khazei comes across as earnest, softspoken, a nice guy, smart, well-reasoned, a Harvard grad with nonprofit background, who, from my perspective, also seems amateurish, and a little bit of an “itch.” (Whose idea was that TV ad featuring babies with adult voices in which Khazei evidently changes a diaper, then holds it up saying, “Someone’s got to clean up the mess in Washington?” Gross!)
Pagliuca is smart, but does not seem comfortable or convincing in his proposed political role. (There’s that strange ad in which he says he really wanted to be a teacher but by somehow–by mistake?– fell into a lucrative career in business consulting). I believe he understands the economy and would do well in a position that involved creating businesses and jobs– but that he’d face a large learning curve on the national, policymaking stage.
Capuano is impressive, brilliant, outspoken, in an up-by-the bootstraps sort of way. His ads are geared toward an ultra-liberal, antiwar audience of Cambridge/Somerville liberals–but do they address the concerns of others across the state?
At the start of Greater Boston, I was in his camp–but when he called Pagliuca on the carpet, saying “Steve, you have to read the bill,” he seemed like an arrogant know-it-all with a humiliating style. While some believe his feisty manner would bring fresh air into a Senate filled with windbags, I question whether he has the respect for others and the statesmanship needed to get things done.
That Monday night, Coakley hung back, listening, staying out of the fray, coming in to sum up, makin intelligent points. She’s been an elected official, taken unpopular stands. I disagree with her vow to vote against health reform legislation that includes an abortion ban, but believe she’s got much needed practical, statewide experience in enforcing laws, and in taking difficult stands. I find her ads about growing up in Western MA tasteful and convincing, and those who know her say she has a firm, but compassionate hand.
I’ve not studied the Republican field because it’s so clear that one of the above will certainly win–and, given the similarity of the Democrats positions on the issues, I’d be happy with any of them.
In voting, this time around, I’ll be deciding based on which candidate has the background and talent to hit the ground running–to effectively translate ideas into action with credibility and sophistication at a time when so many major issues are at stake.
The polls are about to open– gotta go. Coakley’s got vote.
