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MARDI GRAS and The CARNIVAL OF VENICE

2/28/2017

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I’ve always associated the famed Carnival of Venice/Mardi Gras with Fat Tuesday (also known as Shrove Tuesday, Martedí Grasso, and Pancake Day), the day before Ash Wednesday which begins the Lenten season.
 
Many historians believe the celebration predates Christianity and, as with most holidays and festivals originating in the ancient past, there is some dispute about its origins. Like many seasonal celebrations and Catholic holidays, Carnival likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons.
 
Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar. Since those extra days were "outside the calendar", rules and customs were not obeyed, resulting in a lot of partying.
 
Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a fast of forty days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.

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SATURNALIA
The festival of Fat Tuesday traces its roots back to the Roman festival of Saturnalia, a celebration held in mid-December to honor the god Saturn. It is also described as a Winter Solstice ritual which compresses the Consualia (for Consus, God of the Storage Bin), the Saturnalia (for Saturn, God of Sowing), and the Opalia (for Ops, Goddess of Plenty) into a single festival, Brumalia.

Either way, because Saturnalia was celebrated first with sacrifices to the gods followed by a public banquet, gift giving, role reversals, and continual partying in an atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms, it’s associated both with Christmas and with Shrove Tuesday.

One author claims, "As often happened with such festivals, Catholics found a way to work the festival into their own liturgical year" just as Pope Gelasius I converted the festival of Lupercalia into a feast day honoring Saint Valentine (although there were three, and no one know which the Pope was referring to).
 
SHROVE TUESDAY
Somewhere, somehow, these pagan festivals were absorbed and combined with Christian beliefs. According to early Christian ritual, during the week immediately before Lent, Christians would meditate and consider the sins or wrongs they needed to acknowledge and changes they had to make in their lives to enhance spiritual growth. To prepare for Ash Wednesday, Christians were expected to go to their confessor and confess their sins. Shrove Tuesday, a reference to "shriving" or confession, is meant to prepare Christians for the fast ahead which lasts for forty days.
 
Some communities use Shrove Tuesday to burn palm fronds from the previous year's Palm Sunday to create the ashes that are used on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of penitence and fasting that leads to Good Friday and Easter.

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Painting entitled "The Fight Between Carnival and Lent", by Peter Bruegel the Elder, 1559
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FAT TUESDAY (a.k.a Martidi Grasso, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, Paczki Day)
The Tuesday before Lent is the last day to “indulge.” Not only was it a last chance to indulge in the “passions of the flesh,” but the last opportunity to consume any fat, milk, eggs, and meat which had been put up for winter that might not stay fresh enough for consumption until spring brought the end of Lent and Easter.

Thrifty housewives would use up all the fats in the house in the cooking of the festive meal on Tuesday (since they could not use them for forty days).
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PANCAKE TUESDAY
In England, Fat Tuesday is also called Pancake Tuesday. The pancake bit comes from the fact that in order to find it easier to abstain, one should use up all the flour, milk, sugar and eggs on Shrove Tuesday, which is a different slant than not wasting food.

While a lot of things can be made from those basic ingredients, long ago the Brits decided pancakes were the thing to make to get rid of these foods.


CARNIVAL (Carnivale, Carnevale)
The word carnival (Italian: carnevale) possibly comes from the Latin carnem levare or carnelevarium, which means to take away or remove meat. A more probable etymology for the word carnevale may be derived from the Latin carne + vale, meaning "farewell to meat". Developed around the Roman Catholic festival of Lent (Quaresima - derived from the Latin term Quadragesima, or "the forty days"), carnival was associated with the pre-Lenten festivals.

THE CARNIVAL OF VENICE

The Carnival of Venice is an annual festival (the Italian Mardi Gras), held in Venice, Italy, which dates back to 1068. It starts 58 days (one source says 40 days) before Easter and ends on Fat Tuesday (
Martedí Grasso). It is said, "A carnevale, ogni scherzo vale!" In other words, "At carnival, every joke goes!"

While the Carnival of Venice may have begun with the usual Fat Tuesday celebrations, it gained momentum from a victory of the "Repubblica della Serenissima", Venice's previous name, against the Patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrico in the year 1162. To honor of the victory, the people started to dance and celebrate in San Marco Square. Apparently this festival started in that period and become official in the renaissance.

By the eighteenth century the wearing of masks by Venetians continued for six months of the year as the original religious association and significance with carnival diminished. On October 17th, 1797 (26 Vendémiaire, Year VI of the French Republic) Venice became part of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia when Napoleon signed the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrians took control of the city on January 18, 1798 and it fell into a decline which also effectively brought carnival celebrations to a halt for many years.

After a long absence, including being banned by Mussolini, the Italian government in 1979 decided to bring back the history and culture of Venice, and sought to use the traditional Carnival as the centerpiece of their efforts. Today, approximately 3,000,000 visitors come to Venice each day for Carnival. One of the most important events is the contest for the best mask, placed at the last weekend of the Carnival. A jury of international costume and fashion designers votes for "La Maschera piu bella" (the most beautiful mask).
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VENETIAN CARNIVAL MASKS

Venice (and many Italian cities) in the Middle Ages and Renaissance had a long tradition of mask-wearing among the nobility while engaging in activities of a questionable nature -- gambling, drinking, not to mention romantic and sexual rendezvous. Their activities were so outrageous that laws were passed to restrict the wearing of masks to certain times of year. One of those times was Carnival.
 
Masks were also worn by the lower classes to allow them to mix unfettered with the aristocrats in such situations. The mask, after all, was a great equalizer in a social setting. This was especially common in Carnival, with its traditions of role reversal and celebration of the fool. Some of those typical costumes include the following:

            Moretta                                  Bauta                      Medico de Apeste           Volto Larva                
Moretta is a traditional mask, worn only by women (only by patrician women in the 18th century), a black oval mask that is held in place not with a band or string, but by a button on the inside of the mask that is held clenched between the teeth of the wearer.

Bauta is the whole face, with a stubborn chin line, no mouth, and lots of "gilding". One may find masks sold as Bautas that cover only the upper part of the face from the forehead to the nose and upper cheeks, thereby concealing identity but enabling the wearer to talk and eat or drink easily. It tends to be the main type of mask worn during the Carnival.
 
It was thus useful for a variety of purposes, some of them illicit or criminal, others just personal, such as romantic encounters. In 18th century, the Bauta had become a standardized society mask and disguise regulated by the Venetian government. It was obligatory to wear it at certain political decision-making events when all citizens were required to act anonymously. Only citizens had the right to use the Bauta. Its role was similar to the processes invented to guarantee general, direct, free, equal and secret ballots in modern democracies.


Today the masks are even more elaborate, colorful, and creative than ever.. Even the holiday Halloween, which had never been celebrated in Italy with costumes, has achieved great popularity because of the costumes and masks.                         
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Venice
http://www.twistedimage.com/productions/carnivale/
The Portale de Venezia "Carnivale in Venice" Site
http://www.venetianmasksshop.com/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia
http://web.eecs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/Saturnalia.htm
http://heirloomjc.com/venetian_carnivale_masks_30.html

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BLACK WOMEN IN THE ARTS

2/17/2017

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Because I like to know a something about the Celebration Days I post, I tried to follow up on the International Month of Black Women in the Arts. While I was unsuccessful at running down who declared February as the month, how it was acclaimed and by whom, I spent quite a while researching black women in the visual arts and found a number of wonderful artists working in various media.
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Visual artists get little attention and few accolades from the public in general. Unfortunately, most Americans have little knowledge of contemporary artists of any sort unless visual arts are of particular interest to the individual. Of those who do get attention, black women artists tend get the least amount of the limelight. And I'm sure the Visual Arts field is not the only place this occurs.

Even if you're not into art, I hope you will appreciate the marvelous talents of these women. All of them have received many awards and are exhibited nationally and internationally. At least, drop some of their names at a party and see if your friends know anything about them. Watched for glazed over eyes and then enlighten them.


MICKALENE THOMAS​

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Artist Mickalene Thomas (born in Camden, New Jersey, 1971) is known for her depictions of African-American women which express her multifaceted insights on "what it means to be a women." Her elaborate collage paintings use mixed media comprised of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel, the inspiration arising from her study of art history and classical genres of landscape, portraiture, and still life. She also works in the mediums of photography, collage, printmaking, video art, sculpture, and installation art.

According to Artnet.com, her works, often based in photography "utilize both the aesthetics of Western painting and the heavily sexualized blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Through appropriated imagery the artist addresses issues of femininity, race, and beauty alongside personal histories and childhood memories." She also draws inspiration from pop art and visual culture to examine ideas around femininity, beauty, race, sexuality, and gender.​​

KARA WALKER
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American born Kara Walker (1969) is best known for room-size tableaux of cut paper silhouettes that focus on the "underbelly" of racial and gender tensions in America i.e. racism. She addresses controversial themes such as history, race, sexuality, power, and repression.  She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Atlanta College of Art and her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1994.

According to TheArtStory.org, "Fresh out of graduate school, Kara Walker succeeded in shocking the nearly shock-proof art world of the 1990s with her wall-sized cut paper silhouettes. At first, the figures in period costume seem to hearken back to an earlier, simpler time. That is, until we notice the horrifying content: nightmarish vignettes illustrating the history of the American South."

​Thematically, she is a history painter "with a strong subversive twist" who helped revive the tradition of European painting of scenes based on historical or literary events. Her long titles are appropriate to this tradition.

LORNA SIMPSON
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Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1950, Lorna Simpson received her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, New York. By the time she graduated with her MFA from the University of California, San Diego, the art world considered her a pioneer of conceptual photography.

Motivated by the need to redefine photography for "contemporary relevance, Simpson was producing work that engaged the conceptual vocabulary of the time, as clean and spare as the closed, cyclic systems of meaning they produce."
​

"Her initial body of work alone helped to incite and significant shift in the view of the photographic art's transience and  Malleability" text quotes: lsimpsonstudio.com.

In her 2016 multimedia series (India ink and screen print on clayboard), the work entitled Polka Dot & Bullet Holes #2 "a bifurcated image juxtaposes a woman’s polka-dot dress with a constellation of bullet holes. The circular fissures serve as bleak foils to the stylish garment, the stark contrast of expressing one’s identity and losing it, swiftly and utterly. The austerity of the print only makes it more unnerving; the discomfort of knowing something is a symbol without knowing what it symbolizes. It’s the eeriness of a dress spotted on the side of the road, its wearer nowhere to be seen." Priscilla Frank, Art Critic, Huffington Post.               
WANGECHI MUTU
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Artist and sculptor Wangechi Mutu was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1972. She is an important contemporary African artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
She pieces magazine imagery with painted surfaces and scavenged materials into collages which depict the split nature of cultural identity while referencing history, fashion, and contemporary African politics.  Her work is her own form of storytelling.
​

Exhibits of her work have been shown worldwide. Her first solo exhibition at a major North American opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario in March 2010. Her first US solo exhibition opened at the Nasher Museum of Art in March 2013

If you are interested in learning more, here are some other outstanding artists to look up, just to name a few.

● Emma Amos                        ● Carrie Mae Weems
● Ellen Gallagher                   ● Amalia Amaki
● Joyce J. Scott                     ● Alison Saar
● Faith Ringgold                    ● Elizabeth Catlett
● Sandra Rowe                      ● Julie Mehretu


Resources
http://www.atlanta.net/events/national-black-arts-festival/
https://www.facebook.com/nationalblackartsfestival/
http://www.forharriet.com/2013/02/15-black-women-visual-artists-you.html#axzz4YDaYjX6m

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickalene_Thomas
http://www.artnet.com/artists/mickalene-thomas/
http://mickalenethomas.com/

https://www.artsy.net/artist/kara-walker
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-walker-kara.htm

http://www.lsimpsonstudio.com/
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/global-culture/identity-body/identity-body-united-states/v/lorna-simpson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lorna-simpson-interview-salon-94_us_57eeb9cde4b082aad9bb375b


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HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS -- An Ode to Chocolate

2/12/2017

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​GOOD NEWS ON VALENTINE'S DAY

Instead of talking about Saint Valentine, today I'm going to talk about "Saint Chocolate", with whom Saint Valentine is joined at the hip.

According to a plethora of recent medical articles, you may eat your Valentine's Day chocolates without guilt. Chocolate is good for your health.  Yay!

Well, within certain limits, that is. You know the lecture about "all things in moderation."

OUR FRIEND THE CACAO BEAN
The cacao is an evergreen tree native to humid and wet (tropical) regions of Central and South America. Its white flowers become cacao pods. When ripe the fruit is orangish and weighs about a pound. The flesh is eaten or made into juice, and the beans, or seeds, inside are the source of cacao powder which is made into chocolate. The fat from the seeds in made into cacao butter.

The use of cacao has been around for a very long time. The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica recognized the medical benefits of cacao before the time of Christ (1900-900 BC), and used it to treat stomach and intestinal problems. To those societies it was very valuable.

Cacao is also part of the Mayan Creation belief. Deemed of holy origin, the Mayans believed the Plumed Serpent gifted cacao to humans after they were created by the goddess Xmucane. Named Theobroma -- "The Food of the Gods" – it was restricted to the elite of society.

Fast forward two thousand years, give or take a few.

​When the Spaniards came to the western hemisphere, cacao made its way to Europe. Christopher Columbus was the first to bring it, but it didn't catch on. Cacao by itself is very bitter. Later it became popular as a medicine and aphrodisiac.

Cocao and Cocoa are often used interchangeably but, in fact, cocao refers to the tree, pods, and beans – the natural products. Cocoa means the products manufactured from the beans. Just sayin'.

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THE LOVE OF OUR LIVES
Cacao beans are rich in chemicals with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, and anti-clotting properties. The heroes in cacao, flavanoids and flavanols, widen blood vessels, reduce blood pressure and loosen platelets, preventing them from forming clumps which reduce blood flow. They also may increase production of nitric oxide, which helps improve insulin sensitivity. In addition, Flavanols protect brain cells and improve cardio vascular function, so more blood reaches the brain.

The theobromine in falvanols is a stimulant which inhibit the vargus nerve which is responsible, in part, for the cough reflex.

The most cultivated species, Theobroma cacao, contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, sulfer, and the chemicals phenylethylamine and anandamide.
The most beneficial chocolate – dark chocolate -- contains at least 85% cocao and cocoa butter, not added palm, coconut, hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated oils. Cocoa butter's saturated fats contain stearic acid, so cocoa butter doesn't raise cholesterol levels because it's converted in the liver to heart-healthy oleic acid. (Eric Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist and faculty scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health).

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Refined sugar, used to sweeten the bitter taste of chocolate, is bad for the same health benefits Cacao is good for. Choose the darkest chocolate. UC San Francisco research say to limit intake to 7 ounces per week of dark or semi-sweet chocolate. That's about two bars.

The nine health benefits of chocolate (by Diane Wedner, Lifescript Health Directive and reviewed by Edward C. Geehr, Chief Midical Officer, Lifescript) are as follows:
     1. Lowers the risk of heart attacks.
     2. Protects against blood inflammation.
     3. Reduces risk of diabetes
     4. Helps control weight by limiting the number of calories the body can turn into fat.
     5. Improves memory and task performance, and slows cognitive decline,
         particularly in seniors.
     6. Improves math skills.
     7. Controls coughs.
     8. Improves mood by stimulating production of natural opioid chemicals such as endorphins.
     9. Reduces stress by lowering levels of stress-related hormones cortisol and catecholamine.
         
Like you really wanted to know that!


IT'S ALL IN THE SUGAR
All very well and good. As you are munching happily, don't forget about the refined sugar added to make chocolate sweet. If you eat too much, you've cancelled out all the benefits of the cacao with the deadly affects of the sugar.
​

That's a real Valentine's Day Buzz Kill! Maybe this photo will help!

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RESOURCES
http://www.macfieldmd.com/uncategorized/chocolate-and-the-brain/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-resilient-brain/201410/dark-chocolate-good-your-brain
http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/heart_health/articles/the_health_benefits_of_chocolate.aspx
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270272.php
http://www.medicinehunter.com/brief-history-cocoa
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/24/future-of-the-chocolate-industry-looks-sticky.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295615.php?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_News_Today_TrendMD_0
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235756.php?sr=&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Medical_News_Today_TrendMD_0
http://www.naturalnews.com/041178_cacao_history_chocolate.html


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HOME INVASIONS and OTHER UNRESTRAINED BABOONERY

2/3/2017

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​In 2008 I traveled in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. In that part of Africa, you can't help noticing the baboons everywhere. They are such wonderful caricatures of human behavior, I became fascinated with them. Consequently, one shows up as a secondary character in the last book of my romantic suspense series, which, hopefully will be released at the end of 2013.

​BORN FREE
In South Africa and other parts of southern Africa, baboons and wart hogs run free like squirrels or coyotes do in most of the southwest US where there is suitable habitat.        
Aren't they cute? Who could resist that smile? They're so human-like.
​
All of the five species of Baboons live in Africa and Arabia. The species vary in size and weight, but all of them have long, dog-like muzzles and powerful jaws, close-set eyes, thick fur except on muzzles, short tails, and protruding butts--well, what did I just say about being like humans?--that are callused, hairless and nerveless pads for sitting. And bright red.
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Well, that's not so human…I hope.

They are ground-dwelling social animals who live and travel in structured troops of anywhere from five animals to two hundred and fifty, depending on species and circumstances. Fifty is about the average.

​The characteristic sound baboons make is called a bark but it's more like "Wa-hooo." A baboon bark can be heard for miles. They also grunt, screech, and click to communicate. In addition to vocalization, baboons have a consistent repertoire of facial expressions, postures, and gestures, all of which have meanings. Baring the canines, which are long and sharp, is the response to a threat. Gestures of submission are expected in return. If not, there will be a fight.

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​​He's not so cute when he isn't smiling.

In fact, baboons can detect from vocal exchanges between individuals what the dominance relationships are between the individuals. They tend to take more interest in disputes between families and authority challenges than other types of disagreements within the troop.

Who knew?

Although mostly herbivorous foragers (and not carnivores), they will eat just about anything including insects, fish, shellfish, rabbits, birds, vervet monkys and small antelopes. They can be active at irregular times during the day and night but generally "get up" around 7 or 8 am and spend time with the troop grooming their long hair while the "kids" play. Then they leave in columns to forage and return to their sleeping place about 6 pm and engage in more grooming.

The males dominate the females and will cuff them around if they stray too far, and the females are often cause for aggressive fights among the males. So much for the textbook description.

DON'T COUNT ON YOUR LOCKS
Did I say baboons are so human-like? Human juvenile delinquents, that is.

Baboons are smart, clever, and adaptable. They get into all kinds of mischief to the point of creating serious problems for tourists and authorities. They can learn how to manipulate all kinds of locks, and they've also learned that it's easier to steal food than to hunt for it. Put those together and what do you get?

Breaking and Entering
At our first stop at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, we had rooms with French doors that folded back against the wall so the room was completely open to the balcony. No screens. The view from the room was incredible and the weather pleasant, so most of the time we kept the doors open. Even the restaurant had no windows but was open to nature, including bugs (but that's another story).
However, the clerk at the registration desk warned us never to leave the room unless the doors to our balcony were closed and locked from the inside. Why? The baboons will get in your room and plow through your things, looking for food. 

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​While that didn't happen to me, another couple in our group were in their room when several baboons entered through the open doors. The woman ran out, and her husband chased the animals away, but not before they messed up their luggage and broke his expensive camera.

Home Invasions
My friends in South Africa, Lana and Eric Smal, told me a baboon had invaded their house. When Lana got up in the morning, she found a baboon sitting on her kitchen counter eating out of her fruit bowl.

The Smals always kept their house locked, but apparently the baboon unlocked the screen on the window of their extra bedroom and opened the window. It cost them a lot to replace all the locks in the house with baboon-proof devices.
​
Trash Can Trashing
Even the trash cans in South Africa have baboon proof locks, unless you want this kind of mess.

Highway Robbery and Harassment of Tourists
Baboons also break into cars. In fact, they have even learned how to stop cars on the road.
​At Knowsley Safari Park, 2009, a troop baboons broke into the luggage compartment on top of a car and ripped apart clothes searching for food, although one did try on a hat. They'd been known to break side mirrors and windshield wipers but this was unprecedented. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yUtcr-gZ1k                                              Photo by Cyril Ruso/Midden Pictures  
Authorities in Cape Town report that baboons lie in wait at busy tourist locations and listen for the "tweet" of the locking system. If they don't hear it, when the people leave they open the car door and forage for food.
​
Pick Pocketing, Purse Snatching, and Highway Robbery
                                                                                             http://youtu.be/NUJwZZMYBcw
Baboons on the Golf Course
My friend Lana also told me that baboons are "very naughty." They love to roam the golf course and steel the golf balls. It looks like the baboon below stole a golf cart…at least the food inside. 

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
By now you get the picture. Baboons are not sweet cuddly animals. They're not "out to get you" and can be perfectly fine neighbors if you understand them and take appropriate precautions. But don't cross them. If you see a baboon raise his eyebrows, bare his teeth and shout "wa-hoo!", get the heck out of Dodge. You don't want to be close.
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​THE CHARACTER IN MY NOVEL
ALL FOR A BLAST OF HOT AIR

The fifth book on my Tour Director Extraordinaire series, All For A Blast Of Hot Air, includes the character Manny Balzac—Balzac for short.
                                                                                                                                  Meet Manny
When my heroine falls out of a hot air balloon into the African bush, Balzac shows up with her lost cell phone and they get acquainted. 
Actually, Balzac is a Mandrill, which used to be referred to as a baboon but technically is a larger species. Mandrills are the largest of the monkeys and are shy and reclusive, but still social animals.

Excerpt
     I hurled downward, screaming, snatching at the air as my cell phone careened into the trees, outdistancing me. Blood pounding in my ears, I crashed through the dense foliage. Thick branches flexed, broke my fall, and snapped back, bruising my bones as I bounced from one to the next.
     Long, sharp thorns viciously slashed my skin with deep painful gouges. I tried to cover my face with my arms. Seedpods ripped at my hair and tangled in it.
At last, I came to a jarring halt wedged in the crotch of the tree trunk, chest down, backpack up, still on me. In agonizing pain, I hung there, stunned, a throbbing lump, until I could draw in a deep breath. Bits of broken branches, seedpods like earlobes, and the chittering of animals and birds drifted down around me.
     Held tight in the V of the tree trunk, I was able to turn my head enough to see the Zulu Warrior still above the trees, moving away. Elizabeth and Chanya hugged the edge waving and screaming. Will's voice wafted on the breeze, swearing. "Goddammit, Peter, put this damn thing down. We have to go back."
     A blast of the burners roared and the balloon rose higher.
     "Wait…" I cried, sucking in dust and a bug. As I coughed, the balloon vanished from my line of sight. "Don't leave…me." Those last words, a mere whisper.
My throat clogged with tears of anger and frustration…and maybe because I hurt so much.
     I closed my eyes, too weak and strung out to do anything else.
     Ssss!
     The hiss close to my ear and an unpleasant odor sent a spike of adrenalin tingling along my nerves. Gagging and shuddering with revulsion, I opened my eyes…to an open maw full of sharp, yellow teeth and long incisors surrounded by a nimbus of grayish hair only inches from my face.
    A blue and red nose surrounded by a thick mane. Close-set beady yellow eyes. Stinky monkey breath.
     With a screech of alarm, I jerked backwards, the sudden motion wrenching my body out of the crotch of the tree. I tumbled, ass over teakettle, down the trunk, bumping and scraping my arms and legs along the rough bark.
     I hit the ground with a resounding thud and remained there on my stomach, whimpering while the baboon peered down from the high branches grunting and hissing in triumph.
Above me, high in the distance the red, green, and black balloon drifted farther away. My heart pounded with fear as I watched it get smaller. Then, I dragged myself into a sitting position and struggled to free the backpack which had twisted around me in the fall. In my mind, I replayed what had happened, step by step.
     I had been foolish to lean out of the basket. No question there. But as I thought about it, I reached the only possible conclusion.
     Peter tipped me out of there on purpose. The realization left me breathless and without resources. Why would he do such a thing?
     Blowing out a long breath, I fumbled in the backpack for my water bottle. I took a deep swig and swallowed my panic along with the tepid but refreshing water. Even if my cell phone, which had preceded me in reaching the ground, had died an early death in the fall, even if I couldn't find it, the internal GPS would continue to send its signal.
     Whatever Peter's motive, before they'd gone far, Will would force him to land the balloon whether he wanted to or not. Will would come looking for me. Until then, I needed a somewhat safe place in the vicinity, out of the sun, where I could hang out for a while. Encouraged, I recapped the bottle and put it away.
     A loud screech from nearby caused my breath to catch. My head came up with a jerk, and I shifted my gaze across the meadow. There, about fifty feet away, two dark-brown baboons tussled in the undergrowth, one small, one much larger. The small one screeched and clutched something in one hand, trying to fend off the other. The bulky aggressor smacked it in the head. With a cry, the small one skittered away, loping toward me with the large male in hot pursuit, both of them howling.
     Holy poop. They're coming right at me.
     Steeling myself to the pain, I scrambled to my hands and knees and levered myself to my feet. Baboons were nasty animals. After surviving my fall more or less in one piece—I wasn't sure about the number of pieces—I had no intention of ending up in the middle of a confrontation between two rabid monkeys. I'd already seen enough baboon to last me a lifetime.
     Driven by fear and haste, I moved a step toward the tree with the intent of sheltering behind it. My shoe sank through the soft ground into an animal burrow. My ankle twisted. New pain spiraled up through my leg, and I sprawled flat on my face. Spitting out a mouthful of dirt, I pulled myself to my knees and crawled toward the tree, moaning as I dragged my backpack behind me across the bare ground.
     As I reached the trunk, a flash of brown flew from the branches above, coming so close the rush of air brushed against my face, and I sniffed a nauseous gamey scent.
     Startled, I threw my body against the tree trunk. The baboon with the blue and red nose landed on all fours in front of me and sprang at the two charging baboons, snarling ferociously through bared teeth. I held my breath and covered my ears as a dust cloud enveloped the fighting animals.
     Calloused red butts waved in the air, spine-chilling howls like ghouls on steroids made me cringe. Tufts of hair flew. I half-expected to see blood and furry brown body parts scattering.
     Then it was over.
     The two brown baboons darted off in opposite directions, still emitting ugly barks, and the big male from the tree, with the red and blue nose, sauntered in my direction. A few yards in front of where I sat, he plopped down on his haunches in a sort of squatting position, exposing obscene male body parts.
     I gagged and swallowed hard. Not because of the display in front of me. Oh, no, nothing like that. The male waved the prize he'd wrested from the others and actually flashed me a toothy grin.
     
In his human-like hand, he held my cell phone. I collapsed against the rough trunk, moaning.      Why me? Why is nothing in my life normal?
□

Resources
http://science.jrank.org/pages/704/Baboons-Communication.html
http://stolenmangoes.blogspot.com/2011/02/counting-baboons-teeth.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/science/09babo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baboon
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/baboon/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/baboons-south-africa-invade-house_n_3148897.html
http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/baboon
http://www.imfene.org/baboon-biology/dispersal-and-philopatry-in-baboons
http://www.imfene.org/remove-baboon-attractants
 http://www.outtoafrica.nl/animals/engbaboon.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/may/20/baboons-ransack-house-cape-town-video
http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/baboon-info.htm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mandrill/
http://www.outtoafrica.nl/animals/engbaboon.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/murder-in-the-troop/communication-skills/vocal-communication/2995/
http://youtu.be/_0TcXkMf8VI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFkShMwKrE
http://youtu.be/T6E6uK2QWQc
 


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THE POWER OF FIRST LINES

2/3/2017

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Common wisdom in the writing world claims the opening line sells your book and the closing line sells your next book. Whether that wisdom is accurate or not, most writers seem to agree the first line of a novel is oh, so very important. It can make or break your novel.


Think about it. A reader wanders through the bookstore (or in this electronically-oriented world, wanders through a website), spots a catchy cover, and picks up the book. Or, perhaps, this reader goes directly to the shelves holding the desired genre and studies the titles and author’s names
Next, read the cover blurb. “Hmm. That sounds interesting.” And then … the reader opens the book and skims the first paragraph.

That’s when you have to hit ’em right between the eyes! Knock ’em dead! [Figuratively speaking. You don't want to damage a reader's eyes]
Picture
It's the first thing they read of the story itself, the first impression.  You’ve only got a few seconds to sink in your teeth.
It better be good!

If an author doesn’t make the effort to sculpt the words of the first line into a masterpiece, what level of attention has he/she taken with the key moments in the novel when interpretative pressure is at its peak, when capturing a complete fictional world is at its most pressing?

As one writer put it, “Screw up the opening, screw up the book.”

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO
So, how does a writer come up with the perfect first line? I wish I knew. If there was a failsafe formula, someone would be out there selling it and making a bundle.

Instead, there are a plethora of opinions and guidelines—things an author should and should not do—and those vary to some extent. However, they all agree it should be intriguing and capture the reader’s interest. It’s the how of it they disagree on.

Well, maybe not even the how, but more what
is interesting and compels the reader to go on.

Picture
The First Lime Should be:
● Be intriguing,
● Hint at things to come,
● Be compelling,
● Set the tone and flavor of the book, show what kind of book it is,
● Incorporate the mood or theme of the story.
● Establish an intriguing question that makes the reader want to find out more.


The First Line Should Not Be:
● Bland or trite.
● An overused references to the elements or time of the year.

If you choose to write about the weather, be careful. You run the risk of inviting comparisons to “It was a dark and stormy night,” (Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s classic first line from his 1830 novel, Paul Clifford) and your book won’t stand a chance.

 

SUZANNAH SAYS
Here’s another version from Suzannah over at Write it Sideways, who lists what to do and not do in your opening lines.

Picture
​What not to do in your opening line:



● Dialogue
Suzannah feels dialogue is all right somewhere on the first or second page, but not in the first line. She feels the reader won’t know who’s speaking or care.


● Excessive description
Some description is good, but not when it’s long winded.  Skip the purple prose and opt for something more powerful.

● Irrelevant information
The first few lines of your story are crucial, so give your reader only important information.

● Introduction of too many characters
I’m not sure how you introduce too many characters in one line, but I supposed it’s possible.
In this case, it seems the comment applies to the first paragraph or first page. Suzannah doesn’t like to be bombarded with the names of too many characters at once. How is the reader supposed to keep them straight?

Picture
What you should do in your opening line:

● Make your readers wonder
Put a question in your readers’ minds. What do those first lines mean? What’s going to happen? Intrigue with unanswered questions and they’ll keep reading.

● Begin at a pivotal moment
By starting at an important moment in the story, the reader is more likely to want to continue so he or she can discover what will happen next.

Picture
Picture
​● Create an interesting picture
Description is good when it encourages people to paint a picture in their minds. Often, simple is best so it’s the reader who imagines a scene, instead of simply being told by the author.

(Introduce an intriguing character
The promise of reading more about a character you find intriguing will, no doubt, draw you into a story’s narrative. Most often, this is one of the main characters in the book.

​● Start with an unusual situation
Show us characters in unusual circumstances, and we’ll definitely be sticking around to see what it’s all about.

● Begin with a compelling narrative voice
Open your story with the voice of a narrator we can instantly identify with, or one that relates things in a fresh way.
 
BEST FIRST LINES OF NOVELS
It’s always interesting to compare advice to actual first lines. Below, I’ve listed a sampling of the first lines I’ve collected over the years; some good, some not-so-good. And sometimes it takes more than just one line. There is quite a variety, and several are first paragraphs rather than first lines. Personally, for me a powerful first line is the best.

You’ll note quite a few were penned by mystery writer Dick Francis who, in my opinion, is one of the Masters of the First Line.


At the end, I’ve provided a link to the American Book Review List of the One Hundred Best First Lines in American literature. I can’t say that a lot of those resonate with me. Quite a few break one or two of Suzannah’s rules for what not to do. Others, while they are first lines from great works of literature, aren’t exactly catchy as stand-alone opening lines.

I believe the first lines considered good and great may vary depending both time and location.  For example, in my opinion, British readers are generally much more tolerant of lengthy sentences and difficult words than American readers.  Although I haven’t really studied this topic in detail or done extensive research, it seems there are difference in “best first lines” in books written in earlier centuries (such as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe written in 1719) and more recent works, as well as difference between literary and popular fiction.


Examples
Please note that the quote marks at the beginning and end of the first line or paragraph are there to indicate this sentence(s) is a quote from the book, not dialogue. A single quote is used for dialogue within the quote from the book.


"I have often recalled the morning when the first of the anonymous letters came."
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

"Three days before her death, my mother told me—they weren’t her last words but they were pretty close—that my brother was still alive."  Gone For Good by Harlan Coben

"A man called Berg, who changed his name to Greb, came to a seaside town intending to kill his father."  Berg by Ann Quin


"Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person."  Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (2001)

"Living in Trenton in July is like living inside a big pizza oven.  Hot, airless, aromatic."
Four To Score
 by Janet Evanovich

"The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut.  You don’t really know what it’s about until you bit into it.  And then, just when you decide it’s good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt."  Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich (2004)

"You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law."
A Frolic Of His Own by William Gaddis (1994)


"I sat at Michael’s desk, buried under a mountain of third-class mail. October 7, 1983. The second plea from Newsweek: YOU HAVE NOT RENEWED. PLEASE TELL US WHY. I answered for him: Because I died. Then I signed his name."
Death In A Sunny Climate by Diane Shalet (1994)

"Murderers do not usually give their victim notice."
A Certain Justice by P. D. James (1997)

"I don’t mean to bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favor for a friend of a friend. Never have I taken on such a load of grief."
“L” Is For Lawless by Sue Grafton (1995)

"James Lassiter was forty years old, a well-built, ruggedly handsome man in the prime of his life, in the best of health.  In an hour he’d be dead."
The Reef by Nora Roberts (1998)

“You’re a spoiled, bad-tempered bastard,” my sister said, and jolted me into a course I nearly died of."  Flying Finish by Dick Francis

"The Earl of October drove into my life in a pale-blue Holden which had seen better days."
For Kicks by Dick Francis

"I stood on the outside of disaster, looking in."  In The Frame by Dick Francis

"I intensely disliked my father’s fifth wife, but not to the point of murder."
Hot Money by Dick Francis

"I inherited my brother’s life.  Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress.  I inherited by brother’s life, and it nearly killed me."
Straight by Dick Francis

"Gordon Michaels stood in the fountain with all his clothes on."
Banker 
by Dick Francis
]
"The trouble with reality was that it was so dammed real."
The Spiral Path
 by Mary Jo Putney (2002)

"The last time I saw Mason City I went up there in that big black Cadillac with the Boss and the gang, and we burned up that new concrete slab, and it was a long time ago—nearly three years ago, for is it now into 1939.  But it seems like forever,"
All The King’s Men
 by Robert Penn Warren

"Dusk seemed to hold its breath as the gunshot’s echo reverberated against the canyon’s rocky walls."  I’ll Remember You by Barbara Ankrum (1999)

"Carmela nervously clutched the burlap bag that held her other dress, some water, and the small package of food she had been able to save for the trip north, across the border."
Open Season
 by Linda Howard (2001)

"They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days. Not anymore, though."
My Cousin Rachael by Daphne DuMaurier (1952) Note: This novel begins and ends with the same line.

"The room was dark. He sat in the chair, his arms hugging his legs.  It was happening again. Charley wouldn’t stay locked in the secret place.  Charley insisted on thinking about Erin. Only two more, Charley whispered. Then I’ll stop."
Loves Music, Loves To Dance by Mary Higgins Clark (1991)

"She’d gotten through the entire evening without killing anyone. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, cop to the bone, figured the restraint showed enormous strength of character."
Visions In Death
 by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) (2004)

"Since Maria had decided to die, her cat would have to fend for itself. She’d already cared for it far beyond the point where keeping a pet made any sense. Rats and mice had long since been trapped and eaten by the villagers."
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008)

"It seems there should have been some warning, but I felt none. Events were already in motion."  Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (1991)

"Quiet Town wasn’t."
A Western, unnamed  (I think this may be from a movie, but I like it.)

"It was a bright cold day and the clocks were striking thirteen."
1984 by George Orwell

Congratulations! If you are reading this, you got through all those first lines and paragraphs. Kudos! To get the most out of the exercise, compare the ones you really like and the ones you really don't like to Suzannah's do's and don'ts.

 
RESOURCES
Articles on First Lines
http://www.blog.ljboldyrev.com/2010/06/importance-of-first-line.html
http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/fiction/2006/04/that_allimporta.html
http://kaitnolan.com/2007/08/30/the-importance-of-opening-lines/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2007/may/10/openingsentencesblog
http://alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00117
http://www.bluecubiclepress.com/store.htm


First Line Literary Journal
http://www.thefirstline.com/


How to write the first chapter of a novel
http://www.ehow.com/how_4679283_write-first-chapter-novel.html
http://murderby4.blogspot.com/2009/11/your-first-line-hook-that-gets-your.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art48800.asp
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0934311.html
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html

 
​
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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

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