Category Archives: History

wide ranging with no limits other than it’s already happened

David Byrne’s New Joan of Arc Musical – “In the Fire”

A new rock musical will premiere at the New York City’s Public Theatre on 14 February 2017.  “In the Fire” is set twenty years after Joan of Arc was burned at the stake as a heretic.  Her mother is determined to clear her name.   My novel “Playing with Fire” is still looking for a publisher.  Hope springs eternal.

I can’t wait to see this show.

Here are a few links:

http://publictheater.org/en/Public-Theater-Season/Joan-of-Arc-Into-The-Fire/

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/david-byrne-previews-joan-of-arc-musical-with-new-song-send-her-to-heaven-listen/

Scotland forever

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Portknockie harbor
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Pops’ home on Clunie Street, Banff Scotland
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69 Seatown in Portknockie, my great great grandfather’s home
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My grandfather often spoke about jumping off the wharf into the harbor from the lighthouse. The kids still do it, I was told, but they now wear wet suits.

 

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In Banff, “yes” is prevalent…

Pops, my maternal grandfather emigrated from Banff, Scotland shortly after WWI to America with his family. He had lost two brothers in France during the war, and he, himself, had volunteered at fourteen years old. After a stay in Canada and then Detroit, he ended up in Cleveland, Ohio. His brothers and sisters stayed in Detroit and his mother in Canada. I often heard him tell stories of his North Sea town where all his people were fishermen. This summer I visited Banff and found his home, and that of my great great grandfather, in nearby Portknockie. So today, as the polls are closing in Scotland on the historic vote for their independence, I salute my ancestors, the Cormacks, who fought in the wars and fished the seas, who left their homeland to find a better life in America. IMG_0238

Dominica-The Nature Island

Dominica calls itself the Nature Island.  And so it should.  There are miles of hiking trails, national parks to preserve the luscious waterfalls and rivers, the pristine rain forests and rushing rivers.

Because of the elevations, rain comes and goes with frequency.  Dominica is unique among the islands.  It has recognized its natural heritage and now celebrates it.  If you go there, I recommend taking the local transport which originates at various places. You’ll have to find it via the locals.  It’s reliable, economical and somewhat energizing as the road are hair-raising up and down hair pin turns on cliffs to the sea.  I’ll admit, Dominica is not a typical beach island, but it is well worth the visit.

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George Washington’s Garden

DSC_0070 DSC_0099 DSC_0109DSC_0045 DSC_0028DSC_0050George reluctantly came to the military and political table.  He viewed himself first and foremost, a farmer.  “Nothing in my opinion would contribute more to the welfare of these States, than the proper management of our Lands,” he declared as he noted soil depletion from heavy tobacco planting.  An ardent composter, according to Andrea Wulf’s Founding Gardeners, an outstanding account of our agricultural/horticultural heritage, Washington “was obsessed with manure and the improvement of the soil.”  A man after my own heart.  I visited Mount Vernon several years ago.  Built on the backs of slaves, it remains a moving testament to the conflicts that gave birth to aristocratic rebellion against the British and then less than one hundred years later, a civil war.  Happy Birthday George.

Rock Art Rocks

DSCN3543 DSCN3524 DSCN3572 DSCN3564 DSCN3540 DSCN3534 DSCN3526Tucked away about 20 miles north of Tularosa on New Mexico Highway 54, the Three Rivers Petroglyphs site, managed by the Bureau of Land Management provide a glimpse into the Jornada Mogollon culture that lived in thatched, semi submerged earth dwellings from approximately 400 AD to 1200 AD when so many thriving cultures seemed to have disappeared…Chaco, Mesa Verde, Hovenweep and many others.  Left behind are the rock tablets that depict a common humanity.  Animals, symbols, handprints and iconic faces can be seen easily on a trail and it’s only a fraction of the 20,000 some thousand that have been identified.

For fans of Michael McGarrity’s Keven Kerney series, this is the land.  And it’s a pretty spectacular place.