Month: July 2015

Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between The World And Me: A Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch

The US government is quick to acknowledge and disdain ethnic divisions that have spurred civil conflict throughout the world; however, we fail to confront seriously the ethnic divisions in our own home. Although we may not have had any ethnic cleansing in the US, we have had and continue to have contemptuous practices that put to shame our status as a developed nation. Both race and color are difficult topics for anyone to discuss. All of us are touched by these issues and we cannot escape the ramifications of the labels that have been placed on us.  America, unlike other countries of the world, identify people based on race and not nationality. Groups in the minority will always fare worse than the majority. As a result, no matter how much we try to see people as individuals, the issue of color is always looming overhead. We have had over four hundred years of this classification, without escape. Honestly, but unfortunately, I notice race when I first meet someone. It’s not to discriminate, but it’s an identification marker. Moreover, race is especially a big issue for me because my brother was the victim of a racial incident in Connecticut twenty years ago. He was severely attacked because of a relationship that he had with a white woman. Amazingly, he was able to move on and work through the issues that the attack caused. I also on many occasions have been questioned by whites when I have been the only person of color at an event. I have been asked whether I had a ticket to attend the event. I have been asked what I do for a living when shopping at a high-end store.  These questions are all based on race.  Many of us have read many articles on race relations. Some we agree with and others we discard. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist and the author of Between the World and Me,  has put forth his theory on race relations in America.

When I received my copy of New York magazine two weeks ago, the cover featuring Ta- Nehisi Coates intrigued me. Much to my chagrin, I had  never heard of Coates prior to the featured article and his image gracing the magazine cover, and I only had a cursory knowledge of the Atlantic magazine for which he writes. A few days later an article by David Brooks appeared in the New York Times about Coates and his new book.  I read both articles in their entirety. I became intrigued to hear his theories on race relations in America. Coates has been featured on news programs in which he has discussed his ideas as well as his new book.  In this book he examines some deep-seated causes for the racial unrest that has been plaguing our country for centuries.  He explains his theory on the root causes of behavior of African-Americans as well as the causes of behavior of whites or those who “call themselves white.” Prior to its release, his publicist sent a copy of the book to Toni Morrison who stated, “I’ve been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates. The language of Between the World and Me, like Coates’s journey, is visceral, eloquent, and beautifully redemptive.  And its examination of the hazards and hopes of black male life is as profound as it is revelatory.  This is required reading.” Thus, with this endorsement in mind, I decided to read Coates’s view on race in America. Coates states at the inception of his book that the success of America is based on violence and on stealing.  He says that the progress of those in America who are white or who want to be what America calls white have prospered from America’s history, and those who are not white have suffered because of it.

Coates book is a letter to his fifteen year old son that discusses his worldview on race and how he came to formulate his opinions. His parents taught him to read and write well so that he would be able to think for himself instead of regurgitating other people’s thoughts.  He had to be able to develop his own ideas and support those ideas with evidence. At an early age, he learned how to navigate the crime ridden neighborhoods of Baltimore. He also learned how to take pride in himself and in people of African descent. At Howard University, his Mecca,  he gained strength through his camaraderie with people from the African diaspora. He learned from his parents and from fellow students to value his skin color and the physical traits of his blackness. Coates opines on black hair, and the lengths that many black women go through to camouflage their hair so that they can blend in with the rest of society.

According to Coates, fear is the major emotion that drives people’s behavior.  He says that people live in fear of what might happen.  Black parents beating their children, he says, is a result of fear. They fear that if they do not beat them, then someone else will if they engage in negative or criminal behavior.  This fear explains why the woman during the recent riots in Baltimore beat her son in plain view when she saw that he was about to take part in the riots. She was vilified for beating her son.  Few people understood her actions. She was trying to save her son from future harm.  Her actions might not have been appropriate, but they were understandable.  Black people fear the police because the police have not been there to protect them.  Coates cites numerous recent incidents such as Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others.  These individuals were either not protected by the police departments or they did not receive justice because those responsible for their deaths were not criminally charged or adjudicated to be criminally responsible. Furthermore, Coates acknowledges that black cops as well as white cops are just as likely to kill black men.  He looks at the structure of the police department in Prince George County, Maryland.  There are many black officers within that police department, yet they were responsible for the death of Prince Jones, an unarmed black man, who should never have been pursued by the police.  Jones came from an affluent family, and was not a criminal. His mother, a radiologist, is the head of her department at the hospital where she works. Her economic status could not shield her son from death. Fear caused the officers to overreact, thereby killing him. Officers, justified or unjustified, fear the effects of nonconformity to a code of police behavior.

Additionally, Coates also examines the school system. He says that schools place more shackles on African-American boys through punishment, while trying to force them to conform to a model of behavior that does not fit many African-American boys. Coates outlines that African-American children are expected to behave according to rigid standards of conduct.  They are often punished for nonconformity, and he says that schools do not adequately educate African-American children They are just gateways for punishment.

Lastly, Coates tells his son that we must struggle against the climate of the country. We must try to work through the challenges we face.  He acknowledges the difficulties, the hindrances. He says that we must struggle for our ancestors, struggle for our families, and hope and pray (he is either an atheist or an agnostic. He appears to waffle of which one best defines himsel) if one is moved, for those who willingly participate in the activities that continue to divide us and destroy our country. One must never give up the struggle. Using the words of Frederick Douglass, “If there is no struggle there is no progress.”

Prayer will help us work through these difficult challenges that Coates discusses. We must be willing to tackle these issues and see people as individuals.  We have to be willing to step out of our comfort zones and meet and befriend people of other races. We must form bonds with people who come from diverse backgrounds. If we can do that, there will be hope for tomorrow. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Coates is moving with his wife and son for one year to Paris, a city where he feels that he will not be evaluated based on race.  He is truly following in the traditions of Baldwin, Richard Wright, and other black  writers of the twentieth century. I hope he writes about his experiences. I highly recommend this book. Excerpts can be used as informational texts in a high school classroom.

Taking Flight in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings: A Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch

Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, captured my heart when I first read that novel.  She was both creative and ingenious to write a story that was incredibly metaphoric and touching about the life of a young girl as it relates to the life of a bee.  I read her second novel, The Mermaid Chair, but it did not “wow” me.  Most recently, however, I read her latest novel, The Invention of Wings.  After I finished reading the novel, I said to myself, “That was a great novel.” The story had an even greater effect on me than The Secret Life of Bees.  The Invention of Wings enthralled me from its first page.  It is a historical novel set during the first half of the nineteenth century in South Carolina.  Kidd, a South Carolina native, often sets her stories in South Carolina, and uses South Carolina from a historical perspective. South Carolina, unlike the other states in the union had the largest concentration of enslaved Africans, and Charleston was the port of entry for many Africans who became enslaved.  As a result, Charleston was among the wealthiest cities within the original thirteen colonies.  As many as forty percent of the enslaved arrived in Charleston where they were bartered.  Many continued to arrive in South Carolina because of the need for free labor to produce rice.  Africans from Sierra Leone were experienced with planting rice. Thus, their knowledge of planting rice inadvertently fostered the slave trade in South Carolina.  It is with this backdrop of enslaved Africans in Carolina, that Kidd begins her story.  Kidd’s historical novel is about both individual purpose and resolution, alternatingly told through the eyes of Sarah Grimke, the prominent promoter of women’s rights at that time in America and Hetty Handful Grimke, an enslaved woman on the Grimke plantation and Sarah’s personal maid.  The story is told with historical accuracy as it infuses authenticity into the story through historical figures and through historical events that transpired during the first half of the nineteenth century in America. Kidd uses superb metaphorical and lyrical language throughout the text that draws the reader to each page.  She builds the story through both internal and external conflict experienced by the characters that results in the reader rooting for the main characters.  The metaphoric language allows the reader to take the story of the enslaved family’s “invention of wings” folk tale to great height. Both Handful and Sarah both take flight at the end as if they had wings like an eagle enabling them to soar to great heights, accomplishing the unfathomable.  The novel ends with a stunning denouement that makes the reader say, “brava” to Sue Monk Kidd.

The Invention of Wings is historically based on specific events relating to the Grimke family, a prominent planter family in Charleston, South Carolina, during the nineteenth century.  The family was affluent and owned many enslaved Africans on their plantation.  The story is based on the lives of two women and how their lives intersect at different points in their development.  It is also about how these women impact the lives of others around them because of their steadfastness in pursuing their dreams.  This is a story about women’s rights, about abolition, about individual determination, about heartbreak, about love, and about not losing sight of one’s dreams and goals.  Both characters work through what seem to be insurmountable odds.  This story is set during a time in which South Carolinians were staunch slave traders and when women were prohibited from gaining stature through education.  Kidd weaves her story through the abolition movement with Denmark Vesey, with Lucretia Mott, with William Lloyd Garrison, and with the Quakers.  The story includes a foiled slave revolt organized by Vesey, an African American Episcopal Church leader; however, the rebellion was preempted by two enslaved individuals who conveyed the plot to their master. Vesey was later hanged along with several other slaves.  The novel details the inhumane treatment suffered.

Additionally, the novel reveals the individual grit that both Handful and Sarah maintained to work toward achieving freedom, abolition, and women’s rights.  Historically all of these aspirations were eventually achieved at great person cost to Grimke and to others like her.  Kidd elaborates on the difficulties that Sarah and her sister Angelina both faced and endured with the Quakers because the Quakers were not keen on combining the Abolition Movement with the Women’s Rights Movement. The two sisters quickly realized that abolition did not mean equal rights. Kidd incorporates the sentiment of the time that women were only meant to be homemakers, and that any other aspiration was denigrated. “Handful’s resolution to escape the shackles of slavery resulted in brutal treatment.  Some of the exact details of Handful’s life are fictionalized, although she did exist on the plantation and Sarah did teach her how to read and write.  Kidd in her comments at the end of the novel, details to the reader the fictionalized elements used to tell the story as well as the historical documents that she used. She unwaveringly tells us the triumphs and well as the both the obstacles and disappointments that the sisters as well as Handful experienced. It gives us a great picture of the events of that time as it lyrically transports us back toward another time and place. This is a great book for adolescents and for adults of all ages. This book is an excellent companion to James Mcbride’s The Good Lord Bird, a historical novel.

My Personal Connection to South Carolina

My maternal grandmother, Rosamae Hill, was born in South Carolina in 1911 and was a descendant of the enslaved Katy Dawkins. William Dawkins, the slave owner of the plantation in Union County, South Carolina where Katy Dawkins resided had children with three enslaved women: Katy, Millie, and Rosetta Dawkins. Katy Dawkins died in 1870 and William Dawkins died in 1872.  In William Dawkins’s will, he left the entire plantation, 750 acres of land, and all of the farming equipment to the other two women who remained on the plantation.  Dawkins’s white family contested the will.  He did not have a legal wife or any other children outside of these three enslaved women.  His family did not prevail, but the ‘wives” in essence won because their children were legal heirs to the property. (It is not known why Katy’s son, Randall, did not try to gain any of the property, but we know through my grandmother that the family was aware of the property.) As a result, many of the beneficiaries became college educated.  They became physicians, teachers, ministers, and attorneys.  Their descendants went on to achieve financial prosperity seven years after emancipation – a time in which it was difficult for most “Negroes.” It truly “reconstructed” their lives.  My branch of the family did not initially fare as well both educationally and financially.  It was about five generations later before the descendants of Katy Dawkins saw its first college graduate.  Having a level playing field makes a difference.  The plantation is still in the “family.” Currently, the descents of Millie and Rosetta Dawkins, have been meeting annually since 1926.  Next summer in July, the ninetieth reunion will take place on the plantation in Fishdam, South Carolina in Union County.  For the last six or seven years a few of the descendents from Katy Dawkins have joined the rest of the family in its annual meeting.  Thanks to my second cousin, Eleanora, a genealogist, the family history was unearthed and is being preserved.  Possibly in 2020, the reunion will take place in New York City.  Just maybe we can get the descendants of Katy Dawkins to fully participate.

The Color-line and Sexual Abuse in Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child: A Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch

After reading the first seven novels that Toni Morrison wrote, I declared a personal moratorium on her novels.  I enjoy complex novels, but I decided that I needed a respite from the great complexity. That respite, however, lasted eighteen years. I recently decided to purchase her most recent novel, God Help the Child.  The title grabbed me, and the first page transfixed me. Sweetness, one of the characters in the novel says, “I’m light-skinned, with good hair, what we call high yellow, and so is Lula Ann’s father.  Ain’t nobody in my family anywhere near that color.  Tar is the closest I can think of yet her hair don’t go with the skin.”  Because of these issues, Lula Ann wrongly accuses a woman of sexual abuse.  She desires her mother’s attention, and therefore, engages in mendacity to achieve it. Unmistakingly, Morrison is making social and political statements within the novel in reference to both the color line in America, and to sexual abuse, and she makes it plain enough for everyone to comprehend. Frederick Douglass first coined the term the color- line and W.E. B. Dubois, later in his book, The Souls of Black Folk, expounded on the issue that was plaguing the world, not just America. The color-line is the relation of the darker to the lighter races of people throughout the world.

The first page of the novel riveted me because I myself have felt a fair amount of disdain from within my own race because of my skin color, although, my parents loved me and never made disparaging remarks about my color. My mother is a light brown complexion and my father and I shared a similar complexion. I still, however, felt the contempt from school children and from others within my own home for the color of my skin.  As a result of my adolescent experiences, I have during adulthood and continuing, put myself on a journey to like every aspect of myself including both my hair and my skin color. I tend to show both an increased amount of love and affection for darker skinned children because I know that they are not often esteemed as lighter skinned children. I wish that I did not feel as if I had to treat children differently based on skin color.  I am a victim, and equally a contributor to the issue still plaguing the world. Thus, when I began reading the first page of the novel, I easily identified with the main character in the novel. I hesitate to call her the protagonist, because in many ways she is no hero, but is a victim of the tragic mistakes that parents often make with their children. Although these issues are prevalent within the black community, I am sure it is not restricted to the black race. Through her novel, Morrison is making a statement about how childhood trauma, sexual abuse, and neglect, often leave long-lasting scars on children that affect them for the rest of their lives. The novel ends with the statement, “God, help the child.”  Indeed, God help the child!

God Help the Child is centered around a woman, renamed Bride (Lula Ann), and her friends who each have suffered a traumatic event in his or her childhood. She renamed herself Bride because of the connotations associated with brides. Brides often wear white. Bride, at the suggestion of a friend, began wearing white to reflect the beauty of her own black skin. She wears every shade of white and only white.  As a child, she was often alienated because of her “blue-black” skin. She has had difficulty working through all the conflict that her color produced.  She was rejected not only by both parents but by others in her community.  She spent her entire childhood trying to get her mother’s love, but not without detrimental effects. Bride and her friends also spend their lives trying to work through both the abuse and the trauma they have either witnessed or experienced. She and her two friends are all connected by some form of trauma, even though they are unaware of their connection.

The name of the characters in the novel all symbolize some trauma of their lives, and reflect their coping strategies. Bride’s best friend, Brooklyn, rescues her from a severe assault from the woman Bride wrongly accuses of sexual abuse.  The name Brooklyn is symbolic of the original Dutch name, “Breukelen” meaning “broken land” and even the American meaning for “brook” is significant; it means water or stream. Brooklyn is indeed broken by childhood abuse, and she provides herself as a lifeline for Bride. Water, is a sign of life. Bride’s lover, Booker, as his name implies, is concerned with books and with writing (He is broken too.). He is a deep thinker, which negatively impacts his ability to work through the trauma of losing his brother because of a sexual predator’s actions. He relives the trauma of his brother’s death, and cannot forgive his parents for their ability to move forward.

I wish that I could say that this story ends on a positive note.  At first glance it does. Bride is pregnant out-of-wedlock. The Bible says in Proverbs that “Children are a treasure from the Lord.” Unfortunately, neither Bride nor her lover have worked through the trauma of their lives for this child to feel the treasure that she will be.  They have not reconciled with their parents and with the events that have shaped their lives. The reader knows through the words of Sweetness, Bride’s mother, that the path for her unborn grandchild will be fraught with challenges. Sweetness says silently in her thoughts, “Listen to me. You are about to find out what it takes, how the world is, how it works and how it changes when you are a parent. Good luck and God help the child.”

The novel provides subject matter that causes the reader to pause for reflection.The novel is both somber in tone and in content; it allows for both personal and powerful rumination for both parents and their adult children. Do not expect the typical Toni Morrison style of unfettered complexity, but perhaps upon careful meditation, one may accept the challenges of parenthood with both alacrity and God’s help. I recommend it, but the reader must know, that the novel is thought-provoking, with the hope that it will spur both parents and children toward positive action.

Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Deirdre M. DeLoatch

The Staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch
The King and I performed at The Lincoln Center Theater
The King and I performed at The Lincoln Center Theater. Used with permission.

I had been looking forward to seeing The King and I directed by Andre Bishop at the Lincoln Center Theater all year. When it was announced that Ken Wantanabe was going to play the role as king, I was excited. I looked forward to seeing him in the role as king. I, however, did not know that he had just ended his last performance of the show on July 12th, and that Jose Llana, from The Public Theater’s Here Lies Love ( I did not see it) would be taking over the role. He, to my surprise, was stunning as king, despite lacking the traditional stature that one typically associates with a king. Kelli O’hara, who plays the role of Anna, won her first Tony Award for her performance.  Ruthie Ann Miles,( also from Here Lies Love) the Tony award winner for her portrayal of Lady Thiang, plays a genteel, and at times austere (her interaction with Tuptim shows her austerity) royal wife.  She also sings beautifully with an excellent range. A colleague and friend, who saw The King and I a few days before me, sent me an email to me about the performance.  His email caused me to reflect on something that I might not have thought about otherwise about the performance. He said, “When I first saw the show as a boy, I was at a small community theater production, and I identified with the kids.  When I saw it again in Atlanta in my 20’s, I identified with the young lovers.  When I directed it at my school in my 40’s, I identified with Anna. But at Lincoln Center I felt the greatest connection to the King, whose position required him to appear calm and confident, but who struggled constantly with doubts about how to do the right thing.” Thus, as I began to watch the staging of this performance, those ideas were percolating within my brain. I saw the film version many years ago, but it did not prepare me for the: stunning choreography, the royally staged set, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s music, Thai costumes, well-developed script, acting gesticulations, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera (from the show). And, what I learned from the performance will stay with me forever.

Kelli, O'hara as Anna Used with Permission
Kelli, O’hara as Anna
Used with Permission
Ruthie Ann Miles as Lady Thiang.   Used with Permission

The King and I, set in the early 1860’s, and based on the novel, Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, tells the story of a strong-willed resolute English school teacher who goes to Thailand to teach young children English. She becomes acquainted with the equally headstrong King of Siam, who hired her, and who has a harem and countless (although he counts them) children. The King worries about colonization from the French and from the British (Thailand is the only southeastern Asian country to not be colonized), as well as how other nations perceive him. He gets word that world leaders see him as a barbarian, and he, therefore, asks Anna to help him, his royal wives, and his children learn some European customs and behaviors so that he will appear less barbaric when they come to visit.  The Thai women, however, see some of the English customs as strange, although they willingly try to learn them. Throughout the story there is conflict between Anna and the King, because each other’s customs are contrary to what the other has learned. Anna does not believe in polygamy, but believes that a woman should not be given as a present, unwillingly, to a man. Tuptim, a woman from Burma, was given to the King as a wife. Tuptim does not love him, and runs away with her lover, but not before the performance of “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” in traditional Thai attire (pun intended) that includes a cultural ballet. “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” was a restaging of, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the famous novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. That restaging was the backdrop for the story about the confines that are placed on people against their will, and how people work assiduously, vehemently, and often treacherously to shake the shackles that bind.  In the end, Tuptim is captured, and her lover is killed. Flogging is the traditional castigation. Anna pleads for mercy for Tuptim, seemingly to no avail.  But, at the moment that the king begins to flog Tuptim, Anna calls him a barbarian. That word has a dehumanizing effect on him, causing him a moment of reflection. He does not inflict the punishment, but he is never the same afterward. He wants to do what is right and he struggles with the internal and external conflict. The King and Anna do not speak for some time. He later relinquishes his kingdom to his son, adeptly played by Jon Viktor Corpuz.. Before the king’s death, he and Anna reconcile their differences and she is given everything for which she asked. The new King, subsequently, annuls some of the customs that his father previously embraced, because they do not advance kingdom harmony, but rather have the effect of denigrating the royal wives, the townspeople, and the children.

The most fabulous part of this performance was its staging. The stage was extended downstage allowing the audience to have a more intimate interaction with the characters, especially if one were sitting in the orchestra. At times during the performance, the actors were placed upstage, and that had the effect of giving the King more power over his subjects, but when he moved downstage, the audience could see his humanity and the internal struggle with the social mores of the time. For example, during the staging of the play within the play, the actors were downstage and placed close to the audience. The staging of “The Small House of Uncle Thomas”, was the best part of the play. The choreography of traditional Thai dance with its grand costumes was beautiful. It was captivating and that part of the script illuminated the conflict that society has with its own popular or unpopular mores, illuminating the unpopular social fabric that is deeply embedded within cultures around the world. The pillars that moved up and down and sideways, superbly and dynamically portrayed the royal kingdom without overwhelming the audience with an overly ornate set.The set design and the costumes give us a glimpse into Thai culture. The staging of the set allows the audience to establish the significance of each scene. When the play within the play is staged downstage, the pillars of the kingdom are no longer on the stage. This allows the audience to focus on “the play within the play” and to take the focus off of the eminence of the king and his physical palace. That scene was aesthetically pleasing as the blocking helped the audience to focus on Tuptim and possibly identify with her longing to be free. On the otherhand, the chandeliers (European and not Thai), that were placed upstage during the dinner that the King had for his European guests, allowed his guests to see the king in a new light. He was placed further away from the audience also enabling the audience to see his eminence.

Jose Llana as the King of Siam Used with Permission
Jose Llana as the King of Siam
Used with Permission

Tuptim, played by Ashley Park, gave a noteworthy performance. I identified with her desire to be free from the ties that bound her to the King. As she tells the story of Eliza and her desire to escape from slavery, I could feel the anticipation of her own imminent escape. Also, I could not help but feel that some audience members reflected on a time in which they wanted to be with their lover, but were not allowed. When she interacted with her lover, Lun Tha, played by Conrad Ricamora, the chemistry between them was passionate.

The music was well conducted as the actors moved and danced with precision to some of the most famous tunes in musicals. Kelli O’ Hara, sang “Getting to Know You” beautifully. While watching the show, the gentleman sitting next to me tried hard, although at times unsuccessfully, to resist humming the tunes. When Anna and Llana danced to  “Shall we Dance”, they moved around downstage waltzing to the music that transfixed the audience. I wanted more.  A reprise at the end would have been great. The passion  with which they danced, though unspoken, was evident.

*Personal Note*

I identified most with Tuptim and with Lady Thiang. I identified with Tuptim because sometimes I have followed my heart even when others around me did not agree with decisions that I wanted to make.  Sometimes the decisions that we make do not always turn out as planned, but as Polonius said in Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own/self be true.”  Tuptim’s actions were at a great personal cost, but she was willing to do what she felt was best for her. Throughout history, people have wanted freedom from social constraints that often limit our experiences. Tuptim was no different.  Moreover, I also identified with Lady Thiang. She has to make a difficult decision to confront Tuptim and her illicit love affair. Even though the play did not show her grappling with the decision to confront Tuptim, I believe that she struggled with making such a difficult decision. Sometimes, I have had to make an unpopular decision to expose something that had the potential of harming others.  Most people ignore the situation because they do not want to get involved with exposing something perceived as wrong.  Usually people say, ” Who am I to judge?”

Please see this performance.  It is beautiful, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! Those are the most often repeated words in this musical and any other musical I know. Those words, each time uttered, brought a smile to my face. Until the next time, when a review of Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child is posted.

Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Deirdre M. DeLoatch

Triumph and Tragedy in What Happened Miss Simone? : A Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Used with permission

Often both melancholy and musical genius operate simultaneously. We see this in the current 2015 documentary, Amy, the film about the musical genius Amy Winehouse. Similarly, Nina Simone was a musical genius who suffered with depression. She used her artistry to provoke blacks and whites to action.  She also used her ingenuity to propel blacks to have pride in their culture and in themselves individually and collectively. She was a tragic figure in the sense that her politics both gripped and consumed her to the point of ruining her career. She was a focused musician who believed that her music should have a purpose.  Because she had not had a “voice” to speak out about the racism during the Jim Crow Era, she used the Civil Rights Movement as the catalyst that ignited her to action. She began to surround herself with artists and activists of the time so that she could gain intellectual knowledge and support for her music and to develop pride within her race. The Brooklyn Museum, last year featured a civil rights exhibit that played a recording of Nina Simone’s audacious song, “Mississippi Goddamn.” I had never heard her song about Mississippi before that day. To my recollection at the exhibit there were no dialectics to explain what prompted her to sing that song. After seeing that exhibit, I researched Simone’s work, and I later read an article in The New Yorker about an upcoming movie, starring Zoe Saldana, about Nina Simone.  There has been some controversy about Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone (Saldana’s face is darkened), and whether the movie will make it to the big screen is somewhat dicey because it does not have the support of Nina Simone’s daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly. Kelly is the owner of all the footage and the one who holds the rights to the music. As a result, the movie is still in flux.

Used with Permission

A documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone, however, was both recently produced and released via Netflix.  It was directed by Liz Garbus and produced by Amy Hobby. It has the complete support of Ms. Simone’s daughter, who, along with others, attempts to explain the rise and fall of her mother. The documentary explores Simone’s (born Eunice Waymon) beginnings as a pianist, and her rise to fame.  It also charts her career, through archival footage and interviews of her coterie of friends including: her business associates, her husband, her child, and her neighbors. It explores her legendary career as a blues, folk, and jazz singer who ultimately became a civil rights activist through her musical career.  Lastly, the documentary explores what may be interpreted as Simone’s character flaws or mistakes as both a musician and a human being. Her work became all-consuming, and it catapulted her to heights that no black female musician of the time had reached. After seeing the documentary and reading subsequent articles about Simone, I now have historical context for her music and for the trajectory of her life. If Simone had anger as a character flaw it was because her passion for racial freedom was intense. She was not able to temper the extreme passion that she felt was needed to speak out against racial injustice, and to give blacks a sense of culture and pride in their race.

Used with permission

The documentary opens with a statement from Maya Angelou that stated, “Miss Simone, you are idolized, even love, by millions now.  But what happened, Miss Simone?   Her daughter attempts to answer that question through the documentary as it continues with Simone performing a concert in which she is described as “the incredible, unique, and fantastic, one and only Nina Simone.”  Indeed Simone was all of the adjectives described and more. The film attempts to explain the triumphs and the heartaches suffered by Simone. Nina Simone suffered a series of disappointments as an adolescent and as a young adult. The movie charts Simone as a young girl who was taught how to play the piano by her mother.  She was noticed by a white woman who began to give her lessons in classical piano.  Simone continued playing the piano, practicing nearly eight hours a day, making her further alienated by both the white and the Negro communities.  She said that she felt isolation, “All the time, even when the kids used to play with me.”  Children often asked her to play the piano or to dance.  They were not interested in her for any other reason.   As a child she was not taught to consciously deal with race.  It was not talked about in her home. Her piano teacher, however, was an anomaly during that era. She started a fund to pay for her to further her musical education. Simone excelled as a pianist, and later applied to Julliard where she was enrolled for a year and a half until the money for enrollment was depleted. She later applied to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission, and later realized months later that she was denied because she was black. Ironically, two days before her death, she was granted an honorary diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. Simone had but one hope, which was to become the first classical African-American pianist to play classical music at Carnegie Hall. Sadly, she never fully achieved that goal.  When she was allowed to play at Carnegie Hall (through her husband’s promotion), she was not allowed to play classical piano.  She was forced to sing jazz and blues tunes, the music for which she had become known. One song that she chose to sing at Carnegie Hall, one may believe, was in tribute to the audience. The lyrics included ” I can’t go on without you/ Your love is all I’m living for/ I love all things about you/ Your heart, your soul, my love. The lyrics fully explained the ebullience that she was feeling to finally sing at Carnegie Hall. Her career reached greater heights after that appearance.

The documentary moves methodically through Simone’s early years as a singer as she began to incorporate civil rights activism within her music.  In an interview she is asked  the question about what it means to be free.  She states that it is hard to describe.  Ultimately, Simone says freedom means having no fear. She says it is just a feeling. She says “you know it when it happens.” The lyrics to one of her songs says ” I wish I could share /All the love that’s in my heart/ Remove all the bars/ that still keep us apart/ I wish you could know/ what it means to be me/ Then you’d see and agree/ That every man should be free/ I wish I could give/ All I’m longing to give.” This song fully sums up Simone’s beliefs about the integration of humanity.

The film also chronicles the abuse Stroud inflicted on Simone. Specifically, Simone details one of his brutal assaults against her. Like many women, she continued to stay with him, believing that he would not physically abuse her again. He gives a cursory statement about one of the arguments that he and Simone had, and tries to minimize the effects of the abuse. She later leaves him, and subsequently divorces him because of the abuse and because he did not share her same passion for the music she began to write.

This movie is worth seeing. It gives a great view of Simone’s life, and the predilections that drove her to fame and infamy.  I cannot help but wonder if making this documentary was cathartic for Kelly because of the devastating events that she suffered during her childhood. The music in the film is also great and it was nicely infused into the entire story . The lyrics to the music were written out to further highlight the passion and genius of Nina Simone. The film superbly begins and ends with the song about wanting to be free. The racial sentiment of the sixties as well as life’s disappointments resulted in Simone’s uncontrolled anger and rage.  That is what happened to Miss Simone.

Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Deirdre M. DeLoatch

The Rise and Fall of Amy Winehouse: A Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Amy Winehouse, used with permission
Used with permission

I happened to have been in the United Kingdom four years ago when the BBC announced that six-time Grammy Award winner Amy Winehouse was found dead. It was a tragic media frenzy, and many Londoners went near her home as they were tragically stunned at the death of such a great jazz singer, who at such a young age sang as well as the greatest jazz musicians of the twentieth century.  For days, her death was in the media as the public was awaiting the autopsy report.  I admit, regrettably, that I had not followed Winehouse’s music at the time; however, after her death, I began to think, like others, about her music and wondered about her life.  I wondered how could such a great singer be dead at an early age from the abuse of drugs and alcohol.  When the autopsy was released, it said that Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning and that her blood alcohol level was about four to five times the legal limit.  When I visited London several months ago, I was reminded again of Winehouse’s music and of the fan base that she had while living, and that she has had since her death. After her death, her then manager, realized that the life of Amy Winehouse needed to be told so that fans around the world would know about her rise and fall.

Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia, chronicles the rise and fall of Winehouse who tragically died at the age of twenty-seven in London in July 2011.The film uses footage from personal videos, television interviews, and concert footage. Her family, her bodyguard, her managers, her fellow musicians, and her best friend all give statements that are played while some of the footage (without audio) is shown.  The documentary shows how Winehouse, as a nascent singer, first achieved fame then fortune, and how she became obsessed with Blake, the man who became her husband. The film infuses her music, with the lyrics textualized to ensure understanding of every word.The film is an unbiased attempt to show how Winehouse spiraled downward and how others around her tried to help, but lacked the fortitude and the wherewithal to assist her in the capacity that she most needed. Winehouse was a strong-willed talented singer whose emotional instability caused her to obsess on a man who lacked the ability to help himself as well as herself. The film captures the sentiments of those closest to her, especially her managers and her dad.  Winehouses’s mother states that her daughter was always a strong-willed child, and she had difficulty setting limitations on her. Currently, her family feels that this documentary is an inaccurate depiction of Winehouse and that her father’s statements have been mischaracterized.

According to archival video, Winehouse’s dad felt that she did not need rehabilitation. Winehouse adored her father.  She wanted nothing more than to please him, and thus would have done whatever he recommended.  He, however, did not get her the help that she needed, but began to exploit her by taking advantage of her fame. Her father tried hard to profit monetarily off of her success.  He does not appear to be nefarious, but a person that put his own desires ahead of his daughters.  I believe that he did not think that she would die at such a young age, and thus, she had time to get her life together. He felt that it was her decision to attend or not to attend rehabilitation. Although Winehouse was never a teetotaler, she began to use alcohol as her drug as she began to let go of cocaine and heroin.  However, they noticed that she was bulimic and that was also contributing to her ill health.

The most tragic part of the documentary is that those closest to Winehouse were pushing her to perform, even when she did not desire to sing songs from her most successful album, Back to Black.  They continued to push her because their careers depended upon her’s.  As long as she was making money, they would continue to make money.  When Winehouse was scheduled to perform shortly before her death, she had no desire to sing songs from the Back to Black album, but her manager and her fellow band members told her that her audience was demanding that she sing those songs.  As a result, she relapsed into inebriation.  The shows were ultimately canceled and she died a few weeks after their cancellation.

Prior to her death, there was nearly a two-year period of time in which Winehouse did better without the alcohol and the drugs.  Her manager and her friends told her that they would not allow her to perform as long as she was an addict. Thus, she began to detoxify her life of the drugs and alcohol. Moreover, when her husband (they later divorced) was arrested, she was able to clean up her life because she did not have a drug partner.

Tragically, the UK media, as well as the American media began to satirize and ridicule Winehouse when she was most vulnerable. Various late night television shows poked fun at Winehouse’s drug and alcohol use.  As usual, the media fixated on negative news. Some media outlets did not understand why her closest confidants did not take more drastic measures to get her the needed help.  I am reminded that the love of money is the root of all evil. Because of the negativity of Winehouse’s life, her lifestyle became fodder for the media.

What captured my attention the most about this documentary is that Winehouse was interested in neither the fame nor the fortune.  She just wanted to sing and write music. She wanted to write lyrics that were meaningful to her, and that she would enjoy singing.  Unfortunately, the others around her were interested in affluence and in reaching an opulent lifestyle. When Winehouse performed with Tony Bennett, her humility showed.  She so wanted to sing perfectly because she was singing with her icon.  Bennett said it best when he said that Winehouse belonged in the category of Ethel Waters and Sarah Vaughan.

If you have not seen the documentary, it can be viewed at many local theaters.  It will give you great insight into the life of Winehouse and possibly cause you to sympathize if not empathize with her tragic life. Also, download some of her music to see the potent and inimitable Amy Winehouse.  You will not be disappointed! Comments welcome.

Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Deirdre M. DeLoatch

It’s a Tale Told by an Idiot but Signifying Everything: A Theatrical Review

Posted on by Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Playing until July 12, 2015 at The Public Theater in NYC. Running time: 2hrs and 15 minutes with no intermission. Picture used with permission.

It’s rare to see a play in which the traditional conventions of casting (race, gender, age) are cast aside (pun intended). The Elevator Repair Service (ERS),an experimental theater in NYC, did just that. Known for taking literature and /or document based writing and dramatizing them, the ERS performed an unorthodox rendition of William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. It was directed by John Collins. The title The Sound and the Fury, takes its name from a line in Macbeth in which Macbeth says “…it is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing.  I saw two of ERS’s past productions, Gatz, a word for word performance of The Great Gatsby performed in its entirety, and Arguendo, a play based on a U.S. Supreme Court case on obscenity. I was thrilled late last year when The Public Theater announced that The Sound and the Fury would be part of its current season of performances.  Because I thoroughly enjoyed the previous performances that I saw with ERS, I waited expectantly to see another great performance. Additionally, because I had not read The Sound and the Fury, I knew that I needed to read it. Although I was familiar with Faulkner’s style of writing, I knew his complexity would be an impediment to thoroughly understanding the text. Unfortunately, I did not finish the book by the date of the play.  As a result, when I saw the performance, I had a difficult time identifying and following the many characters. I then decided to complete the text and see the performance again. I can totally say that I enjoyed the performance much more the second time because I was thoroughly familiar with all of the characters and with “the stream of consciousness” with which the story was written. The opening scene of the play orients the audience to one of the major events taking place during the story. There is a traveling band with a banjo playing and everyone is dancing and enjoying themselves. The scene repeats itself during the show to illustrate for the audience the background of this travelling show in the community in Mississippi.

image
From Left to right: dilsey played by Greig Sargent and Benjy played by Susie Sokol. Picture used with permission.

Faulkner’s stream of consciousness throughout the novel makes understanding the plot difficult.  It is not told in chronological order, and Benjy (called an idiot for his developmental delay), the first narrator, remembers events out of sequence. In the first chapter, we find out that Benjy keeps focusing on the relationship that he had with his sister Caddy. He is reminded of her and begins to cry because he hears the word caddie spoken by some golfers nearby. This causes him to reflect on various events concerning her and how he felt around her. Benjy is now thirty-three years old, and it is his birthday. Although he is his age chronologically, the text says that developmentally he has been three for thirty years. Luster, Frony’s (Dilsey’s daughter) adult child, is put in charge of Benjy. He looks after him and becomes his primary caregiver. No one wants to be bothered with Benjy because he is always making noise and crying. He needs constant care and attention. He cannot talk, but he obviously feels emotions like sorrow and happiness.The only way that he can express himself is through sound which appears meaningless to others. Only Caddy treats Benjy with love and affection. Benjy is reminded of his sister often. Caddy, unfortunately, illegitimately becomes pregnant, (before chapter one ) runs away, and later marries a wealthy man who is not the father of her child (this information is given out of sequence).

Quentin, one of the Compson brothers, goes to Harvard (the family sold a  piece of their land in order to afford to send him to Harvard) where he is mistakenly accused of sexual impropriety which reminds him of Caddy’s actions.  Quentin, distraught over his sister’s pregnancy, tells his father that he committed incest by having sex with Caddy (how incredulous). He did not want her to suffer either blame or humiliation. Quentin (suffering from his own neuroses) fantasizes about death, and ends up committing suicide.

Caddy’s daughter is raised by her family and is named Quentin (in the text she is often called Miss Quentin), after Caddy’s brother. Caddy, now estranged from the family, desires to see her daughter and provides economic support to her. Miss Quentin absconds with the money that Jason has hidden for years.

Jason, Caddy’s brother who is perpetually angry, takes Caddy’s money for himself, while giving only a little of it to Miss Quentin. Jason convinces his mother not to take the money because it comes from a “whore”. The mom  does not know that he covertly cashes the checks regularly and stashes the money. Miss Quentin, because she is ill-treated by Jason, sneaks out of the window to be with her boyfriend. The family believes that this type of behavior is in her blood, therefore they do not expect anything more from her.

Dilsey, the maid, has raised the Compson children. Through all of these characters we get glimpses into the prejudices that we have toward one another. Even the members of Dilsey’s church evaluate the guest preacher on Easter sunday by the way he looks. In the end, Dilsey “endured” living with the Compsons.

The twelve member cast is exceptional.  Many of the characters play multiple parts. some of the most notable are: Susie Sokol, who plays Benjy, Ben Williams, who plays Luster as well as other characters, Daphne Gaines, who plays multiple parts- most notably Jason, Greig Sargeant, who plays Dilsey as well as others, and Caddy played by Rosie Goldensohn and Tory Vazquez. The characters put much vitality into their roles.  All of the emotion from each character is infused within the story. The characters have the accents and the mannerisms that accompany the temperaments of the characters. Through the rhythm of their language and their gestures, the characters transport the audience back to the the early 1900’s and to the roaring twenties, although the 20’s were anything but roaring for the Compson family.image

The set and the props are inclusive of a family home with all of the southern comforts. It is not elaborate, but it reflects the cozy home atmosphere, in spite of the dysfunctional family.  It includes fourteen lamps (possibly for a technical issue to allow the audience to focus on certain illuminated performances, while others are less in focus), a Persian or oriental rug (possibly to depict their former status, nineteenth century furniture, a large radio of the time period, and a large stove for heating purposes in front of which Benjy often sat for comfort.

This performance is worthwhile seeing, with one caveat.  It is essential to have a fresh reading of the text. Without knowing the story plot, one is likely to be both lost and confused because of the stream of consciousness and because of the inability to decipher the cast members because of the interchangeability of the characters and the unorthodox casting by the Elevator Repair Service. It runs through July 12th, 2015.

Deirdre M. DeLoatch
Deirdre M. DeLoatch