A Pause

I’m home drinking coffee from my new mug adorned by Magic the Bengal (a gift from the good folks at the Night Garden Project and Great Lakes Bengal Rescue). Look at those gorgeous eyes! If you’d like one, you can purchase one here.

Last night was the second annual Induction Ceremony for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. I’m tired, trying to catch my breath. It was wonderful event, and I am so proud to be a part of it, but truly it deserves its own post. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe when I can add photos by 8 eyes Photography. It’s so much better to have photos, and I was backstage the entire time and so unable to take any.

I still have so many things to catch up on. I attended an all-day seminar at the Art Institute for volunteers who teach in the schools. It was nice to be back at the Art Institute, to learn about some new and existing resources. I really don’t get down there enough. I also need to bring the kids downtown more often, to enjoy the incredible cultural treasures that Chicago has to offer.

The featured writers along with organizers, Sonya Arko and Anna Golash.

Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art had a wonderful reading series with some of my favorite Ukrainian writers/artists visiting from out of town: Askold Melnyczuk the novelist and founder of AGNI, and  Virlana Tkacz, a poet, writer, and the founder of the amazing Yara Arts Group. It was nice to just sit in the audience and listen.

Virlana Tkacz reading some of her poetry.

Also reading were Alexis Buryk and Roman Skaskiw. I really enjoyed their work, and especially appreciated the voice and characterization in Skaskiw’s writing.

Roman Skaskiw reading his fiction.

It was a mix of styles from writers new and seasoned. Though their voices and perspectives were different, I was struck by the repeating themes of identity, home, and authenticity.

As diaspora writers, we retain a collective memory and vision about our ancestral home–Ukraine. Many of us have been raised with an appreciation of our almost mythic motherland–its physical location, history, and achievement are praised and preserved. Yet we are also a part of a new world, an American reality, and there is a natural desire to also be a part of that world. So we stand on the threshold, between the old and new, longing for two things simultaneously.

In his introduction, Askold Melnyczuk mentioned that as writers, we often have themes or obsessions in our work. I think for me (at least right now) this idea of thresholds is an obsession: I’m fascinated by doorways in between worlds and realities, shades of gray in between the light and darkness, the places where the sacred and profane meet and cross.

“The threshold is the limit, the boundary, the frontier that distinguishes an opposes two worlds–and at the same time the paradoxical place where those worlds communicate, where passage from the profane to the sacred world becomes possible.” ~Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane

That’s the thing about thresholds: they suggest passage, possibility, transformation. A good story is a threshold, as is a good storyteller. They sweep us up in the complex beauty of words that are not truth but become true. We cross over and enter the world of a story, and if the writer is successful and if the reader is open, we bring a little of that world back with us.

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame 2011 Induction Ceremony

Later tonight the second annual Induction Ceremony for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame will be held at the Harold Washington Library’s Pritzker Auditorium, from 6-8PM. Once again the eloquent and charming Rick Kogan will be our Master of Ceremonies, and the audience will be treated to presentations, readings, and even a dance.

You may recall my entries about last year’s event, held at Northeastern Illinois University. (Read a recap here.) Last year we inducted Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Lorraine Hansberry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, and Nelson Algren.

The lovely Elysabeth Alfano from Fear No Art conducted interviews with some of our presenters and acceptors before the 2010 ceremony. You can see highlights here:

If you have never seen Elysabeth’s show Fear No Art, I strongly recommend that you peruse the website to watch interviews from a range of talented artists including David Sedaris, Pat Byrnes, Rick Kogan, Charles Osgood, Marc Smith, Joan Cusack, and so many others. Elysabeth’s show is always an inspiration to me.

At this year’s ceremony, we will induct Cyrus Colter, Theodore Dreiser, Harriet Monroe, Mike Royko, Carl Sandburg, and Ida B. Wells. You can read more about their lives and writing on the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame website.

If you’re in Chicago, I hope that you’ll join us. It is free admission to get into the ceremony, although you’ll need to reserve a ticket here.

Following the ceremony, we’ll be heading over to Brando’s Speakeasy, where they will feature six literary martinis created in honor of the evening’s induction ceremony.

Cocktails and Coffee Cups

I began this entry a week ago and am only now finishing it. This Autumn has been like that, full of bumps and detours.

A few weeks ago, Mark was in NY for business, and I met him in Manhattan so that we could have a belated tenth anniversary getaway that coincided (not coincidentally) with Cynthia von Buhler‘s Speakeasy Dollhouse performance.

The luxury of 48-hours together was wonderful, and Mark and I had a lovely dinner at a local bistro and then walked around Times Square. The next day we had the luxury of a lazy morning, followed by lunch at the historic Coffee House Club. Now that I’m a member of the Cliff Dwellers (as Artist-in-Residence), I have privileges at reciprocal clubs all over the country (and a few overseas). Each club has its own unique history and character.

Inspired by other Arts-related clubs founded around that time (like The Cliff Dwellers) in cities across America, a group of friends who called themselves The Foes of Finance Dinner Club held their first meeting in the old Brevoort House on February 5, 1914. After a few more members and a few different locations later, the Coffee House was born and resided in the Hotel Seymour for the next sixty-seven years.  In 1982, the hotel was demolished and the Club moved  a few doors to the west at No. 70 and then again to its current location in the 2000s.

The club has rules, but one of the rules is that there are no rules:

No officers

No charge accounts

No liveries

No tips

No Set Speeches

NO RULES

Upon quietly slipping into the club, we were welcomed by one of the members and invited to sit at the round table in the parlor. We were served drinks from the bar and waited to dine together at the one large table in the dining hall. Over drinks, we chatted with two members about the history and membership of the club. We then joined the other eight people who were seated around the communal table. Our orders were taken, and we enjoyed a delicious, hearty lunch care of chef Irene. The conversation was lively and varied, and only after he left did I find out that Mark had been sitting beside E.B. White’s stepson, writer and New Yorker editor Roger Angell!

I don’t know the names of other members who were seated at our table that day. Formal introductions are not allowed at the table. You sit down at the next available seats and like the lottery, it’s a matter of chance to whom who you end up talking to over your meal. On any given day, you can show up for lunch and meet artists and writers who have helped to shape the creative history of our times: New Yorker editors, artists, journalists who reported on the latter half of the last century.

The sad reality is that many of these social clubs are not drawing new, young members. With so much networking happening online, the Arts clubs of the past are being replaced by the online clubs of the present. While this may allow for a greater breadth and diversity of membership, I can’t help but ponder what is being lost in the process.

Later that evening, Mark and I dressed in out 1920s finery and stopped by Spano’s Bakery for “cannoli” (the codeword that allowed us to enter the speakeasy) where we were joined by the stylish Madeline C. Matz and her friend Annalisa from Connecticut. Together we slipped into 1920s New York City, and it was such fun!

The immersive theater experience was set in a beautiful former speakeasy. The setting was lush, and the actors were convincing and playful as they interacted with the audience. Artist Cynthia von Buhler created a vivid world and a provocative piece of theater in response to the unsolved mystery of her grandfather’s murder. You can read about her process here. The evening was also recorded by director Susan Marks  (of  the documentary “Of Dolls and Murder“) who is creating a sequel documentary on the Speakeasy Dollhouse.

While attending a theatrical performance (much like when I read), I easily and eagerly suspend disbelief. I love Art that engulfs me in an alternative world. Sitting on a velvet couch sipping a cocktail from a coffee cup while intrigue unfolded around me, I was delighted.  Cynthia and her actors swept us up in their mystery, and I was happy to be a part of it.

Then, just like that, it was over. The next morning, we returned to Chicago, to the kids, and the everyday.

But that’s another post.