Street Words
So I had a lovely day at the Word on the Street today. Queen’s park road was closed off from car traffic for the day and the park itself was full of cool people doing cool things.
The main reason I went was to see Katrina Onstad read, whose book How Happy To Be I read in just one sitting yesterday. It had sounded just like the kind of book I would enjoy - a cutting, satirical look at the Toronto media scene around the days of the Film Festival, circa 2001 - and enjoy it I did.
I have a strange nostalgia for the early days of the National Post - where Onstad used to write movie reviews - even though its political slant was too conservative for my liking. I loved that their culture articles were cheeky and interesting and full of wit and insight, I loved that there were little expressive line drawings of the smirking authors above the bylines instead of self-conscious photos, I loved the pretty fonts and the punchy layout. But eventually all those writers with the expressive line drawings left the paper, including Onstad, and I stopped reading. The paper may now be using photos above the byline instead.
So seeing her name on a book, a book promising a satire of that newspaper for which I have this strange nostalgia, was exciting, and I picked it up and devoured it in just one day. And yes, I loved it.
But what really thrilled me was how much I loved Word on the Street. My usual instinct at street festivals is to avoid talking to the people sitting in the booths behind piles of merchandise, but today my overwhelming response was yes, please tell me all about your literary journal/Marxist press/artistic association. I collected bookmarks and buttons and back issues and marvelled at how everyone seemed to be so happy and engaged despite the drizzling rain, how many interesting things are going on in the city that I had no idea existed, how many books there were to read and authors to listen to. I guess, being from small towns and small cities, I’m not yet used to this kind of thing being on my doorstep.
And yes, I heard Katrina Onstad read and got her to sign my copy still fresh from yesterday’s fevered page-turning. I also saw the Long Pen (although not in action). And I think What We All Long For (Dionne Brand) must be next on my list.
“Opera Gloves” To Appear in Anthology
I’m deligted to announce that my short lesbian-themed story , “Opera Gloves”, will be appearing in a third alliteratively-titled anthology from Alyson Books: Second Skin: Erotic Stories about Leather and Latex.
It’s due out in April 2007, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and Christopher Pierce, and I’ll post more details as I receive them.
In the meantime, check out the other Fetish Chest books (I have stories in both Sexiest Soles and Secret Slaves):
Sexiest Soles: Erotic Stories about Feet and Shoes
Secret Slaves: Erotic Stories of Bondage
Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories about Underwear and Lingerie
Are the public schools OK?
I had an interesting encounter in a coffeeshop today. I was enjoying the 19th-century part of Orlando and an overly-sugary fruit smoothie when a man approached me, asking if he could ask me some questions.
It came out that he chose me to ask because I looked like I was still in public school (my youth isn’t over yet, but I didn’t think I looked quite that young). He had a thick eastern european accent, and had recently moved to Canada.
“The public schools…are they OK,” he asked, “or should I put my kids in private school?” I assured him that the Canadian public school system is pretty decent. He shook his head and continued: “but what I want to know is, do they teach moral values?” I was confused and wondered about what he meant. They did teach me to share and play nice as a youngster.
Eventually it came out that what he was worried about was sexual education. He wanted to know the specifics of what was taught. “I don’t want them to learn that kids having sex is OK,” he continued.
My instinct at the time was that the program was probably a bit too liberal for his taste, and I think that a liberal sexual education program is a very good thing. I firmly believe that old-fashioned notions of the virtues of purity versus the sinfulness of sex are deeply sexist, repressive, and unlikely to lead to health and happiness. At the same time, I respect the right of parents to bring up their children within a certain value system, and I had no desire to engage him in argument. At this point I pulled a cop-out, saying that it had been a while since I’d taken any sex-ed in school (and that in a different province) and that he’d be better off asking a teacher or the school board about the specifics of the curriculum.
I continued to wonder afterwards how old his children were and what his worst fears about the program looked like. Was he conservative enough to balk at anything other than abstinence-only? Or was he worried that the program would tell his children something along the lines of “sex is lots of fun and everyone should be having it. Here’s how to perform a blowjob”?
I also wondered what is being taught in sex-ed these days, since the last time I encountered it was in 1996. I have a tough time differentiating between the stuff I was taught in school and the stuff that was in all the sex-ed books that my mother left on my bed at age 8. I learned about “the birds and the bees” from one of those books long before I encountered it in the classroom.
I also remember one video shown in school that stated, without equivocation, that homosexuality was both common and completely normal. That would have been a fairly controversial statement in relatively conservative Alberta, but it passed without comment in the classroom. However, when the teacher was asked via the anonymous question box how homosexuals have sex, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “your imagination is as good as mine.”
We learned that there are other sexual activities besides penis-in-vagina intercourse and memorized the definition of masturbation, but didn’t learn what an orgasm was. The clitoris was just a lump on an anatomy diagram, a diagram that the teacher apologized for having to hand out (”I apologize, girls…this one is very rude”).
Curious as to whether the curriculum now teaches that kids having sex is OK, I took a look at the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. The following objectives appear:
“affirm that sexual feelings are a natural part of human life”;
“integrate the positive, life-enhancing and rewarding aspects of human sexuality while also seeking to reduce and prevent sexual health problems”
“[help students learn to] integrate sexuality into mutually satisfying relationships”
“sensitively address and resolve conflict that may arise as a result of differing values and beliefs surrounding sexual health and sexuality”
So, it would appear to be generally forward-thinking and pro-sex, which I am fully in favour of, but also find myself wondering where the gaps might be.
I also wonder if that man would have approached me if he’d seen I was reading a book with a naked woman on the cover.
Ring Cycle Double Header: Siegfried and Gotterdammerung
There is a ring-shaped hole in my heart.
Now that it’s over, what is there to look forward to? I saw all the great scenes, all the effects, the singing, Margaret Atwood - and now it’s over.
But the fact that I am sad to see it end is, of course, a good sign. I feel like now I really get The Ring, understand how it fits together and why it’s so important. The man who gave the pre-opera talk mentioned that Wagner began writing the Ring Cycle the same year La Traviata came out. I love La Traviata, but in terms of insight and musical sophistication there’s absolutely no comparison.
As before, I wasn’t really paying much attention to whether the singers were any good, but simply letting myself get caught up in the immensity of it. And in terms of epic sweep, it didn’t disappoint - one thing I loved was how each opera made it apparent that it was but one part of a whole, carrying certain visual concepts and costumes forward from one installment to the next while also, through moving the action from the 19th century to the present day (Hagen and Alberich had iMacs!), invoking the passage of time.
A few posts ago I mentioned that I would like to see a Ring set in the corporate world. Gotterdammerung provided just that, with the Gibichungs in suits and ties, hashing out their plans in a massive boardroom with computer screens that glowed red. I think it’s marvellously effective - what surer symbols of sinister power do we have today than the trappings of executive offices? The Rhinemaidens were brilliantly sexed-up (again, I was wondering if I was about to see a Rhinemaiden makeout) and the Norns had very stylish black outfits.
The Siegfried production took place in a psychological world seemingly removed from time, where Siegfried’s white garb made him look a little like a mental patient (”He’s not supposed to be a depressive”, commented an annoyed patron behind me). It seems as though Wagner had a glimmering of just how astonishingly unsympathetic a character he’d created for his “great hero”, and he makes much more sense in the removed, lonely world created by that production. The dragon was created out of suspended, white-garbed bodies, and was truly unsettling (unlike, I imagine, a more “realistic” dragon would have been).
As I predicted, my rowmates began to get chatty at the Siegfried production. The man sitting next to me had come all the way from England, and we commiserated over people with the audacity to crinkle plastic bags during the performance.
Also, this was the first time I’ve ever heard booing in an opera house, although the audience was generally extremely enthusiastic. It was mostly the directors receiving the brunt of the booing, I imagine because non-traditional Wagner productions are upsetting to a few purists. If anything else, it was an indication that the COC is now playing in the big leagues.
My tickets were worth every penny, and I was seldom bored, even during Siegfried, which is a slog even by Ring Cycle standards.. I don’t know how many chances I’ll get in my life to see a full production of the Ring, and this one was even more exciting than I thought it would be.
Ring Cycle #2: Die Walkure
First, a bunch of Ring-related links:
Scheduled Wotan withdraws from the entire cycle. His replacement had been planning to retire from the role for good, but no such luck.
Trailer for hollywood “Ring of the Nibelungs”
(via YouTube - this was released in 2004. Seems to have been trying to piggyback on the success of Lord of the Rings.)
YouTube again - Finale of Das Rheingold - from a Bayreuth production, 1976.
Die Walkure did not disappoint. In fact, even though I’ve listened to Du Bist der Lenz so many times on CD, I still found it heart-stopping last night. And it was all so much more emotionally moving (rather than just intellectually edifying) than I expected.
I had worried that I’d be stuck listening to Frances Ginzer as Brunnhilde last night. I saw her a few years in Turandot as well as last year in Siegfried, and hated her singing both times. Every note sounded like a struggle, like it was a supreme feat of vocal strength to extract it from her voice box. Of course the music is difficult, but I want to hear musical sensitivity, not straining and struggle. So I was delighted to find that Brunnhilde would be sung instead by Susan Bullock, who had everything - a good sense of phrasing, engaging acting, a sense of youthful energy - that Ginzer lacked.
I also had fun examining the audience members and trying to pick out the true Wagner devotees from the casual operagoers. I developed the following completely unverifiable set of guidelines:
Anyone who:
- Is carrying a libretto or musical score
- Is speaking German
- Is attending all four operas by him/herself
- Is wearing a tuxedo despite sitting in the cheapest of the cheap seats
- Is wearing a costume (I saw more than one horned helmet)
- Is a man sitting in a corner doing needlepoint between acts
…is likely to be a True Believer.
Also, I was thisclose to Margaret Atwood in the throng of people exiting the theatre afterward. She seemed to be in high spirits.
Tomorrow: Siegfried. There will be fewer surprises with this installment, since I saw the test run last year (and was impressed). Even so, I’m looking forward to it. The dragon is really cool.
Ring Cycle #1: Das Rheingold
One down, three to go.
I have no idea whether that was a good Das Rheingold or a mediocre one. I wasn’t sitting there wondering if Wotan’s voice was cavernous and commanding enough or whether the orchestra was truly disciplined. Instead, I was revelling in the music and the story, setting aside my habitual criticisms and simply feeling thankful to be finally attending a complete performance of the Ring Cycle, the penultimate experience for an operagoer.
It comes at just the right time. My long-held enthusiasm for opera has been slowly fading and the Bohemes and the Carmens, as much as I love them, have begun to seem a bit tiresome. But this is something else, something that reminds me what a really great night at the opera can do.
And now, enough gushing.
The story opens with three cavorting Rhinemaidens. They were dressed in white nightgowns and were having a pillowfight, making me wonder if they would soon begin making out. The arrival of Alberich, an ugly drawf, interrupts any planned makeouts and they begin to tease him. After humiliating Alberich, the Rhinemaidens foolishly tell him all about the gold they are guarding. The gold can be forged into a ring that gives the wearer ultimate power (sound familiar?), but only by someone who vows to renounce love forever. The Rhinemaidens aren’t worried about anyone stealing their gold, however, since they’re convinced that no one would ever completely sacrifice love for wealth or power. They’re proved wrong when Alberich promptly renounces love and steals the gold.
And, well, a bunch of other stuff happens, but no need to detail it here. The production was very visually striking, with the billowy curtains of the first scene replaced in the following scenes with industrial revolution steel and victorian costumes (one memorable visual moment is when the Rhinemaidens’ flowing white nightgowns were corseted and then encased in massive Victorian mourning gowns during the transition).
Depicting the gods as the established aristocratic powers, Alberich as an upstart capitalist, and the giants as working-class labourers is perhaps not “traditional” (in the way a horned-helmet-and-breastplate production would be) but quite aligned with Wagner’s original vision, since there are indications he originally intended it as a socialist political allegory. I have heard of a Ring set in the corporate world, and would be very curious to see it.
A few other notes:
- Alberich commits the classic mistake of movie villains - explaining, gleefully and at great length, all the details of his evil plans for world domination.
- I liked the finger-chopping-off bit. Having Loge wipe up the blood afterward was effective.
- The scheduled Wotan was suffering from laryngitis, and his short-notice replacement acquitted himself very well.
- During the Rhinemaiden scene, Wotan was asleep on the floor, centre stage. I’m not sure what that was supposed to signify.
- The Ring Cycle is even kinder to its women than I had thought. The female characters have more brains and dignity than most of the male characters (Siegmund might be an exception, but the men generally have few redeeming values). One of the overarching themes of The Ring is the sacrifice of love for wealth and power, and the women, as the frequent sacrificees, are the ones who eventually upend the corrupt rule of the gods and redeem humankind.
Das Rheingold isn’t anyone’s favorite opera and is probably the weakest of the four, but I have never heard a more enthusiastic audience. I found myself wondering if the people sitting around me would be attending the rest of the cycle, and whether we would be chatting with each other by the time we got to Siegfried. It felt like An Event, as the first Canadian Ring should feel, and I have more hope than ever that the complete experience will be satisfying.
Next On the Calendar…
As I am gearing up for tomorrow’s premiere of the COC’s Das Rheingold (the first in the four-part der Ring des Nibelungen, presented in its entirety for the first time in Canada) and consequently for a slew of opera posts, it’s serendipitous that today I came across this, via parterre box (links NSFW).
So far he’s done Colin Ainsworth, William Burden, David Daniels, Simon Keenlyside, Nathan Gunn, and Erwin Schrott - beautiful men all (and some of them beautiful singers), even before their, um, enhancements.
Pictures from Das Rheingold
Pictures from the Das Rheingold dress rehearsal. I’m beyond excited.
The Many Travels Of
The other day, I looked a little more closely than usual at the $10 bill I was about to hand to a hot dog vendor, and noticed a stamp on the face with a website address: www.cdn-money.com.
Curious as to what the website could be, I gave the vendor a $20 instead (sorry, hot dog lady) and hung onto the stamped bill. As I suspected, the website turned out to be a currency-tracking site where users can see where their money has been since it left their wallets.
I saw a Bookcrossing book in a park a year or two ago and have always regretted not picking it up. Tracking my travelling former possessions, whether money or books, has always sounded like a delightful idea to me - reminding me of the big wide world and all the people in it who might, one day, handle the bill I spent at a coffeeshop or the book I “released” at the student lounge.