Philadelphia Museum of Art: Paint the Revolution

Philadelphia Museum of Art: the approach. Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950. November 27, 2016.

Philadelphia Museum of Art: the steps. Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950. November 27, 2016. 

Philadelphia Museum of Art: the interior. Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950. November 27, 2016. Information here.

A beautiful exhibition, nicely designed.  It'll be interesting to compare with the new exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art: México 1900–1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde. Information here.

Today's Rune: Partnership. 

Vladimir Mayakovsky: 'My Discovery of America' (1926)

In the words of Mickey Newberry, "I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in" (1967): a periodic delving into times gone by. Drop in anywhere and look around: what's different? What's the same? 

For today's time travel experience, let's consider Vladimir Mayakovsky's My Discovery of America, first published in Russian in 1926 (English translation by Neil Cornwell, 2005). Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a lively Soviet Futurist poet at the time of his 1925 shoestring excursion to Cuba, Mexico and the United States. He traveled mostly by ship and rail (whereas today, one would more likely make the same journey by jet and car). Being a Futurist, he was particularly observant about technology, its impact and possibility. Being a Soviet, he was attuned to class warfare, conditions, and attitudes. A few snippets will give some of his flavor.

He notes of the three classes of passengers aboard the steamship Espagne: "The first class puke up wherever they like; the second -- down on the third class; and the third -- over themselves" (page 6). A vestige of this sentiment can be found  today aboard airplanes, usually divided among but two classes of passengers.

In wandering around the US from poetry reading to poetry reading, Mayakkovsky in 1925 picks up on a segment of American rhetoric that he finds humorous: "There isn't a country that spits out as much moralistic, lofty, idealistic, sanctimonious rubbish as the United States does" (page 68). Comments made by Ted Cruz last night -- in 2016 -- remind us that such hayseed rhetoric still persists.

He sees Havana, Mexico City, parts of Texas, Detroit, St. Louis and Chicago, but his descriptions of Manhattan are the most detailed. This part still rings true, beyond Mayakovsky's astonishment of the widespread use of electric traffic lights (a new development for most of the world in 1925):

During the afternoon work commute in Manhattan, "you can see thousands of cars, racing in six or eight lanes in either direction . . . Every two minutes, the green signal lights up on the traffic lights, so as to let through those tearing out from the side streets . . . Fifty minutes is needed at this time of day for a journey that in the morning would take a quarter of an hour, and pedestrians have to stand and wait . . . deprived of any hope of immediate crossing . . . (page 51). 

There's much more, but there's a taste of it. Traffic hasn't changed a mite in the way it manifests, ninety years later. Mayakovsky is dead, however (suicide at age 36); the Soviet Union came and went. Now we have Putin's Russia, Obama's USA and the internet. Lose some, win some. The human condition remains about the same, I suppose, only with a lot more people scampering around, some livelier than others.   

Today's Rune: Signals. 

Karim Dridi: Cuba Feliz

Karim Dridi's Cuba Feliz (2000) gives us a zen musical tale set in Cuba with no overarching narration. We follow El Gallo (The Rooster), Miguel Del Morales, as he visits friends, acquaintances and peers. There is a lot of music and ambience, shot with a single camera and therefore often times carefully constructed. I felt transported after a while into a sort of astral plane of Salsa Blues.

Stuff happens besides singing and playing musical instruments. El Gallo walks, takes trains, gets lifts, sleeps, is awakened by musicians, observes people -- including an older gent doing yoga-like stretches -- and so on. A guitar is handcrafted for him, and he later plays it. Folks of all ages participate in the action -- like a one room schoolhouse for music and culture, with El Gallo moving along to different towns and cities. At one point, a beginning rapper is advised wisely: "First, you have to learn how to listen." 

There's also the beauty and decay of Cuban architecture, the classic cars and the nearby ocean, and even a brief early display of twerking (this in the late 1990s) with a more luxurious consideration of proto-salsa Changüí. 

And that's not all. Pictured here is a scene you might expect from a Werner Herzog film (documentary or otherwise). El Gallo appears to be receiving some sort of blessing in a little chapel-like space in what seems to be Santería, a syncretic mix of Catholicism and Yorùbá religion. Yes, the woman giving the blessings is balancing holy water on her head.

Post script. Because of his moniker, El Gallo / The Rooster reminds me of another troubadour, Curtis "Rooster" Wheeler, last seen playing "Katrina Blues" in New Orleans. More on the latter here.

Today's Rune: Signals.   

Sugartime

Finally checked out Sugartime (1995), the HBO movie directed by John N. Smith about the amour fou romance between Sam the Cigar Giancana (John Turturro) and Phyllis McGuire (Mary-Louise Parker) of the goody two-shoes McGuire Sisters. Inherently interesting in both the time-bound and timeless ways of the world.

And then there are the intriguing connections between Chicago, Vegas, Miami, Cuba, Fidel Castro, the Kennedys, Dan Rowan of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In -- and Frank Sinatra. Reality is a wild ride, but how closely do the dots connect? 

Of the three McGuire sisters, Phyllis is the only one still living -- she's 82 and lives in Vegas. 

Mistress mayoress complained 
that the pottage was cold;
"And all long of your fiddle-faddle," quoth she.
"Why, then, Goody Two-shoes, what if it be?
Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle," quoth he.
(-- Charles Cotton, 1670)

Today's Rune: Fertility.      

Elmore Leonard, RIP

A fond farewell to Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), the writer and the person. It hasn't been but a few days since I unpacked his Cuba Libre (1998) from a box shipped from North Carolina. Oh, yeah. 

And how could I ever forget The Moonshine War (1969)? My sister Vickie took me to see a matinee showing of the 1970 movie version when we were but kids -- Richard Widmark, Alan Alda (yes) and Patrick ("Secret Agent Man" / The Prisoner) McGoohan as the major players -- a sort of foreshadowing of The Omega Man (1971) and Deliverance (1972), which we also saw when they came out. The joys of babysitting. I paid it all forward by taking our younger brother Jamie to see Wise Blood (1979), Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Kids Are Alright (1979). Haha. And the beat goes on. 

Elmore Leonard, RIP.

Today's Rune: Flow.       

Diaspora

The Greek-derived word concept of "diaspora" was widely applied to Jewish historical patterns first, and then adopted by other cultural groups, nations and archetypes. There is a scattering and a far-flung replanting. There is a real or perceived Motherland, Fatherland, Homeland, Lost Land, Eden or Shangri-La. 

The concept can be helpful or banal or mystifying. Depends on your point of view, I suppose, and sense of scale. 

We could speak of a Cuban diaspora, for instance. Or an Armenian or Irish one. Or we could go continental and speak, write, think or conceive of an African diaspora. If Earth had to be abandoned and earthlings forced somewhere out into the rest of the universe, one could identify with an earthling diaspora.

Can we speak of a school diaspora? Maybe in a low-key kind of way. All our college or high school or grade school friends and peers were together a while, and then dispersed into the world. In which case, the Lost Land might be one of those institutions. Then there's the veteran diaspora. And so on. 

Out there in the wider world, do you feel "the mystic chords of memory" hearkening back to some Lost World?  That is, do you feel or have you ever felt diasporic?   

Today's Rune: Movement.  

Gitmo and "The American People"

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counterterrorism efforts.  It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed.

Now, Congress determined that they would not let us close it -- and despite the fact that there are a number of the folks who are currently in Guantanamo who the courts have said could be returned to their country of origin or potentially a third country.

I'm going to go back at this. I've asked my team to review everything that's currently being done in Guantanamo, everything that we can do administratively. And I'm going to reengage with Congress to try to make the case that this is not something that's in the best interest of the American people. And it's not sustainable.

The notion that we're going to continue to keep over a hundred individuals in a no-man's land in perpetuity, even at a time when we've wound down the war in Iraq, we're winding down the war in Afghanistan, we're having success defeating al-Qaeda core, we've kept the pressure up on all these transnational terrorist networks, when we've transferred detention authority in Afghanistan -- the idea that we would still maintain forever a group of individuals who have not been tried, that is contrary to who we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it needs to stop.

Now, it's a hard case to make because I think for a lot of Americans the notion is out of sight, out of mind. And it's easy to demagogue the issue. That's what happened the first time this came up. I'm going to go back at it because I think it's important.  

News Conference by the President, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Washington, DC. Link to full remarks just to the right of this colon: News Conference by the President | The White House

So I ask any representatives of "The American People" to weigh in here. Shut Gitmo down or not?  Do something about the prisoners or do nothing and let the chips fall where they may? And: why?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Van Gogh in Hot Springs

Van Gogh did not visit Hot Springs, Arkansas, but if he were alive today, he'd probably derive inspiration from the interior of Angel's, an Italian place on Central, the main avenue in the historic district. There's a second Angel's (in the Park) attached to the Park Hotel (built in 1929). There's plenty of other art in Hot Springs, too -- ranging from various architectural creations through kitsch and formal museum (the MOCA, for example -- Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in the repurposed Ozark Bathouse, originally completed in 1922). Back at Angel's, besides the absorbing interior that includes a colorful gantry bar space, I usually go for appetizers like antipasto, crab cakes, bruschetta and house salad. However, everything looks good, from pizza to more upscale offerings. Spicy aromas add to the atmosphere. 

Besides Angel's, downtown Hot Springs eateries and watering holes that I've tried and liked at one time or another include: The Ohio Club (former gangster and performance haven); Rolando's Nuevo Latino Restauraunte (Ecuadorian); Granny's Kitchen (breakfast, with a couple of groovy Cuban posters in the way back); Andrews Restaurant and Bakery (Louisiana style, a second floor eatery with interesting interior, initially lured in by free beignets); the Venetian Dining Room at the Arlington (compare with The Shining); and Maxine's ("a former brothel," named after Maxine Temple Jones -- the Hot Springs equivalent of CBGB, with bands like the Legendary Shack Shakers and poetry nights, too). Not an eatery but also not far from Rolando's is the Mary Shrine, on a corner perch above St. Mary of the Springs Church, always worth a visit at different times, thanks to ever-changing ambient light.  

Today's Rune: Joy.   

Rewind: Funky Christmas, Santa Baby

It's weird how we lose so many right around Christmas. I'm so glad to have seen James Brown, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, doing his thing, before he died in 2006, before I ever have to die. Merry Funky Christmas, indeed!










I've plugged the book on Cuba's own Alberto Korda (Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez); now I'll plug the documentary, Hector Cruz Sandoval's Kordavision (2005). This guy was way cool and, like Diane Arbus, lives on as a role model for any still-aspiring hepcat photographer . . .




















Next, I love the fact that Charo (i.e. María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten) and Don Rickles are still touring -- I used to smile big time watching them on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show when I was a kid staying up late on school nights (much as I still do).

I'm also sad to note the passing [in 2008] of another late night (and Batman) favorite, South Carolina-born (like James Brown) Eartha Kitt, who performed the original 1953 "Santa Baby" and more. Zowie!

Carry on, those of us happy enough to still count ourselves among the living, and RIP to those gone (but not by any means forgotten) . . . Merry Funky Christmas to all!

Basque Culture in the Americas

There's a chapter in Elizabeth Little's Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of America's Languages (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012) called "Nevada: Basque" that delves into Basque linguistics and culture, anything ranging from vocabulary to Picon Punch ("tasted like lighter fluid mixed with battery acid . . .") to the "Basco Fiasco" or National Basque Festival in Elko, Nevada, held every year (God willing) right around July 4th. There are Basques and people of Basque descent in every state of the Union -- including a small handful in West Virginia -- but most live west of the Mississippi River.
   

The Basque language is distinct from Indo-European languages, but most people would recognize the influence of Basque in names like Saint Francis Xavier (Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, 1506-1552), for instance, and Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Iñigo Loiolakoa, 1491-1556). 

Today, there are lots of Basque-related people living outside the Spanish-French "heartland," particularly in Latin American countries such as Chile, Argentina (where, for example, Che Guevara had Basque lineage), Mexico (also of Basque lineage, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, 1651-1694; José Doroteo Arango Arámbula aka Francisco Pancho Villa, 1878-1923), and Cuba.

Today's Rune: Joy.    

Visit Cuba

If every picture tells a story (don't it?) -- what do these want to tell you about Cuba?

Today's Rune: Fertility.  

The Long Art

"Life is short, and Art long; the crisis fleeting; experience perilous, and decision difficult." Hippocrates (ca. 460 B.C.-377 B.C.)

Or, as Gore Vidal has compressed it, "Life is short, but the art is long."

Some things have persisted through a lifetime, and remain there seemingly as always. Cuba. Israel-Palestine, North Korea/South Korea. James Bond. The Rolling Stones. Bob Dylan. Space shots. Civil rights, human rights, gender issues. China. 

Some things have morphed. Vietnam. Ireland/Northern Ireland. Germany. The Cold War. The Soviet Union. Eastern Europe. The Balkans.

And the ball keeps spinning. Some plots thicken, some plots thin. Cuba is changing. Korea will, either in a violent spasm or in some unexpected manner. Palestine will become a nation.

In my lifetime, though these things seem slow, they have changed, even as the population has increased, half again as big in the USA alone (though half as small in Detroit and, probably, New Orleans). South America has changed, Africa has changed, and both continents will change at a quicker pace. All of Africa, not just North Africa, perhaps following the Arab Spring, may begin throwing off dictators. Who knows? What will happen in Mexico? How will the drug wars end? How about Iran, India and Pakistan? And so on. I remain as curious as a cat about all of it, but with vegan meals added. 

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Jean-Luc Godard: Le gai savoir, Part 1

Jean-Luc Godard's Le gai savoir (1969) mixes in many late 1960s cultural and political icons and touchstones, ranging from texts and images of the 1968 unheavals, the US-Vietnam War, the Black Panthers, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William S. Burroughs, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Cuba, the Pentagon, the Beatles, Mao, William Faulkner, Noam Chomsky, Superman, Spiderman, the Hulk, competing maps of the world and its conflicts, Bertolt Brecht, pop advertisements, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Mozart. Even if it had no other value (it does), Le gai savoir remains a vibrant document still hot off the press from more than forty years ago.

Patricia Lumumba (Juliet Berto): "No, listen, we study links, relations, differences. . ."

If everything seemed to connect in 1968-1969, it still does in 2011. A of people in the know about the workings of the world just got tired, I guess, or are almost forgotten. All one has to do, now as then, is look and listen, with curiosity, and pay attention. Where there's a will, there's a way; where there's no will, there's no way -- in or out of a big ball of confusion.

Today's Rune: Strength.

Cuban Cuisine

I like Cuban cuisine: Cuban sandwiches, plantains, empanadas, rich Cuban-style coffee, anything and everything. Fifty years into this ridiculous US embargo, the popularity of Cuban cuisine is spreading. One can get at it in Fort Worth, in Detroit and Ferndale, in Cary, North Carolina, and in Durham, just to give a handful of examples. Good! It costs no more than fast food, so it's really just a matter of preference in the 21st century. Now how about some Cuban cigars legally available in the USA?

How about you -- are their any types of cuisine you like that were rare or little known when you were growing up but that you now can find without too much trouble?  

Today's Rune: Separation (Reversed).

Hector Cruz Sandoval: KordaVision, Part 2

KordaVision continues, carrying us along through a lawsuit that Korda won against Smirnoff Vodka in London (its world headquarters) for using his iconic Che Guevara photo in an advertising campaign without due credit and for corporate profit, which Korda did not like (to say the least).

Korda (Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, 1928-2001) then happily observes -- a playful (and proud) gleam in his eye, reminding me in appearance of the late George Carlin -- "I had the luck" of photographing four Nobel Prize winners: Jean-Paul Sarte, Pablo Neruda, Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel García Márquez.

KordaVision then backtracks to the 1950s. Prior to his primary association with the Cuban Revolution, Alberto adopted the moniker "Korda" to distinguish his (and partner Luis Peirce Viers') studio from others, and because it sounded like Kodak, which then dominated the photography business in Cuba. He explains that Korda is derived from the names of two Hungarian actors.

Studio Korda worked in fashion photography; Alberto often used a Rollei flex camera like his American role (and "roll") model, Richard Avedon. During this time he met his future (second) wife Norka, a comely and photogenic muse and fashion model (they later divorced).

In 1959, he traveled with the Cuban delegation to New York City and there showed Avedon his porfolio; Avedon advised him to stick with photographing the Revolution, which would have a greater impact than fashion photography.

Back in Cuba, Korda's empathetic turning point came when he went out to the Cuban countryside, taking pictures of the common people; especially photographing Paulita, which resulted in the above image, La niña de la muñeca de palo (1959).  Note how she is hugging a small wooden log as a doll substitute -- heartbreaking.

KordaVision continues to follow Korda's arc as a photographer; we follow him to the USSR with Fidel Castro, their visit with Nikita Khrushchev and onward. Much more recently, Korda and his compatriot photographers meet with Castro, an arrangement requested by Hector Cruz Sandoval, the director.

We see Korda during an exhibition in Chicago that also landed in Baltimore and L.A., near the end of his life. At the Chicago exhibit, Korda waxes poetic. "There are three things in life -- do you know the song? Health, money and love. Whoever has these three things should give tribute to God. With good health, one lives free from worries. That's why I want everyone to understand the chorus of the song:  'Whoever has (one) love, let him cherish it . . . Health and money, do not waste it.'"

Later, regarding the art of photography, Korda cites from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince / The Little Prince (1943): "You can only see with your heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes."  A fitting observation for a fascinating and wonderful film.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Hector Cruz Sandoval: KordaVision, Part 1

In the beginning of this spirited 2005 documentary, director Hector Cruz Sandoval* provides background on how he became drawn to his subject. He grew up in an urban Catholic Mexican American milieu in the 1960s, becoming more aware of things as he went along. "The Vietnam War was a big issue, taking a toll on our families." In 1969, an uncle was drafted and served in the war. By the time of his return, group conciousness had been raised further and, with many relatives, they became involved in the Chicano civil rights movement; Our Lady of Guadalupe, César Chávez, Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa and Che Guevara were among the movement's icons.

On August 29, 1970, the Chicano Moratorium anti-war rally in East L.A. drew a violent police crackdown. Hector Cruz Sandoval: "I realized that day that to voice one's opinions and to ask questions leads to the truth."

In 1998, he was posted to Cuba to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II. Cut to the Pope's words during that trip: "The world must get closer to Cuba."  The U.S. travel ban on Cuba seemed as ridiculous then as it does now.

Cut back to a deadly explosion on the docked freighter La Coubre in Havana Harbor on March 4, 1960, an act of sabotage (and still, by some accounts, a mystery, like the sinking of the USS Maine in 1898) perpetrated by CIA operatives. La Coubre was unloading munitions from Belgium.

At the memorial service the next day, Cuban leaders, supporters and VIP visitors Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir paid homage to those killed in the explosion and aftermath. Alberto Korda, using his Leica M2 with 90 mm lens, photographed the event. He took two shots of Che Guevara, a portrait and a landscape angle. One of these shots, "a photo that was pure chance," as Korda reflected, became the iconic shot of Che the world has known particularly since 1967, after Che's death: Guerrillero Heroico.

*Note: I'm working from the 2008 DVD; in it, the main credits go with Héctor Cruz Sandoval and KORDA VISION; other variations drop the Spanish accent mark in Héctor, modify the title slightly to KordaVision and add informal subtitles like "The Man Who Shot Che Guevara" and "A Cuban Revelation." The film itself is bilingual with Spanish subtitles during English sections and English subtitles for Spanish sections, a very effective approach.

Excellent documentary. Part 2 tomorrow.

Today's Rune: Signals.  

Jenkins' Ear and The Mose Forts

The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748) pitted the British Empire (and allies) against the Spanish Empire (and allies). On the North American mainland, the Anglo-Americans operating out of Georgia wanted to take out Spanish Florida and vice versa. A Spanish raid on the Georgia coast was repelled and the British incursion into Florida was likewise turned back.

When the Anglo-Americans approached in 1740, Francisco Menendez, the freedman commander of Spanish Fort Mose, withdrew his charges into the immediate defenses of Saint Augustine, which was then put under siege with the aid of British ships of war descending via the Atlantic. Menendez subsequently led a surprise assault to take back Fort Mose, and succeeded, though the fort was set on fire during the fighting. The Anglo-American force of about 170 men at Fort Mose was decimated, the British ships withdrew and the main Anglo-American land forces returned to Georgia, abandoning their siege guns.


A second Fort Mose was completed in 1752 not far from the first, though slightly larger and on higher ground.* It was later abandoned by the Spanish as a result of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian (Seven Years') War and ceded Florida to the British in exchange for retention of Cuba.

The Spanish government relocated the Saint Augustine and Fort Mose population mostly to Cuba; freedman and mestizos developed San Agustín de la Nueve Florida (Ceiba Mocha, Matanzas). For more on that, see the remarkably detailed essay by J[ane] Landers, "An Eighteenth-Century Community in Exile : The 'Floridanos' in Cuba," in: New West Indian Guide/ Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 70 (1996), no: 1/2, Leiden, 39-58.

*From what I understand, remains of the first Fort Mose are now preserved under water, while remains of the second are on dry land.

Today's Rune: Protection.  

Wim Wenders: Buena Vista Social Club

You like music? You like cultural survival? You got an open mind and heart? If any of these apply, you just might totally dig Buena Vista Social Club, Wim Wenders' 1999 documentary. It's amazing stuff, vibrant, visually colorful, musically terrific.

Ry Cooder and crew assemble old school Cuban musicians and singers for recording sessions in the studio and on the road. We catch all sorts of glimpses of Cuban life and texture, embracing but not limited to music, cars and architecture. There are many touching snippets, interwoven with beautiful singing and sumptuous instrumentals. Swirling (and dizzying) takes of Ibrahim Ferrer's dueting with Omara Portuando, folks talking in their domeciles and in various interiors and exteriors -- it's all memorable. And I loved seeing dudes in their 80s and 90s smoking cigars and taking a nip, quite hale and hearty and happy.

Today's Rune: Journey.

The West Indies/Caribbean

The West Indies/Caribbean region, a microcosm of global rivalry glimpsed through archaeological layers, modern diversity and cultural syncretism, supports a population that barely exceeds Canada's. It is in between, sort of part of North America and sort of not; partly Latin America and partly not.

A big thanks to Jim Hampton for suggesting this region. I have been to Puerto Rico and several of the islands, barely skimming the surface but catching some understanding of historical context and global economics.

Places to go, see, stay?  Of course, I do wish to explore Cuba.  And a return to Martinique, home of Angelique Bouchard Collins, is in order.  But just about anywhere in the Caribbean holds a certain fascination, including Puerto Rico. 

Really interesting stuff relating strongly to the Caribbean: Sidney W. Mintz, Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (1985, 1986+). 

Today's Rune: Initiation.

A Handbook to Luck

Following character arcs, Cristina García's A Handbook to Luck (2007+) provides glimpses of life in the USA, El Salvador, Cuba, Iran and Korea. Many of the characters are discontented with their situations, whether because of poverty, political turbulence, personal or family constraints; they either do something about their discontent or try to. I found the novel sad, culturally enlightening, and well-done.

A Handbook to Luck is not tied into a neat bow; rather, we follow parallel arcs, ones that intersect and ones that touch only tangentially. Overall, the book is absorbing. I particularly like García's economical technique of visiting her characters sporadically, from 1968 to 1987; one perceives the interrelated threads of history, and luck, and personal choices, things discerned more clearly through a contemplation of time's passing.

Today's Rune: Strength.