Random Thoughts

Friday I took a bus trip to New York City.  As it was a miserable rainy day, which left me abed with a pounding headache and sore throat the day after, it was not much a day for tripping the light fantastic, or meandering hither and thither in the great metropolis.  I chose to use my cheap roundtrip travel as an opportunity to visit the places I usually wish to go to, but never get to - those museums on “museum mile” on the upper east side.  There was no grand plan, but as the skies never cleared, I took a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, the Cooper-Hewitt, and the Whitney.  It has been decades since I visited the Whitney, and a good long while since I’ve been to the Cooper-Hewitt, and my first visit to the MCNY.  My husband is wishing now for the more upscale briefcase versus his usual backpack - as he was required to check it at all locations.  

The exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York were interesting even if the museum attendants/security were a tad lacking in politesse.  I was chastised for making notes on my iPhone - “No cell phones allowed”.  The phone itself was on silent - but this little device is more than a phone,  I was making notations of stuff.  The doll houses were spectacular - little time capsules of life in a bygone era.

 I found these as interesting as the exhibits of “New York Interiors 1690-1906″.  The Dutch influence of ceramic tiles lining the edges of fireplaces didn’t become “unfashionable” until the 19th century.  
 

New York Interiors (1690-1906)

A New York interior in the Dutch tradition, c. 1690 

There was an exhibit about the theater in NYC, which was interesting but it could have used more exhibit space.  I was hoping for an exhibit of their antique clothes but had to satisfy myself with about two dozen postcards in the bookstore.  

Next stop was the Whitney, which was having its 2008 Biennial.  I could relate a lot to the artists, like Ruben Ochoa and Phoebe Washburn, and was thrilled that such work was being given exhibit space.  I commented to my husband that some of these pieces made my little outdoor “tree” seem relatively tame.

“It Makes for My Millionaire Status” - installation Feuer Gallery Los Angeles 2005 - Phoebe Washburn.  Javier Tellez’ “Letter on the Blind For Those Who Can See” (2007) was a video of the proverbial blind man interacting tactilely with an elephant and discussing the experience.  The visual aspect was as arresting as the suspense in wondering what the commentary would be.  I have pause to consider that the only difference between them and myself, is that they are working and I am not, much.  Sigh.

When I entered the “Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730–2008” exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I don’t know why I always dither about buying exhibition catalogues.  Everytime I don’t, I regret it.  Like this time.  From the drawings and video of the ironwork of Jean Lamour, to contemporary work that utilizes the curve as its construction, such as the fabulous “Cinderella table” of Jerven Verhoeven, the exhibit was a treat for the eyes and the soul.  I could have stayed and sketched for days.  

Cinderella Table
Jeroen Verhoeven (Dutch, b. 1976)
Made by Demakersvan
The Netherlands, 2004
Birch plywood
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Marie-Josée Kravis in honor of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros 

I have gotten curious about the use of the royal prerogative in ordering executions.   Henry VII executed at least seven people for treason, primarily as they disputed his right to the English throne.  One pretender to the throne, Edward Plantagenet 17th earl of Warwick and 7th Earl of Salisbury, was imprisoned in the tower.  He was executed after trying to escape.  Perhaps a more concrete charge, than treason which could anger potential supporters.   

 Henry VIII was rather mercurial in his moods, and after the Act of Supremacy, he had absolute power.  Prior to the Act, executions were focused on challenges to his throne (at least 5) and the executions of Lutheran-leaning heretics (6).  There was also Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent, who prophesied death for King Henry if he was to marry Anne Boleyn.  She was executed along with at least one of her supporters.   The Exeter conspiracy and other insubstantial treason charges claimed 5 more.

The Act of Supremacy began nearly a century of executions based on religious beliefs.  Over 20 Catholic priests and monks were executed because they refused to take the Oath of Supremacy acknowledging the King as the head of the Church, most notably John Cardinal Fisher.  There is a record of one monk being executed because he opposed the dissolution of the monasteries, and refused to surrender Church property to the Crown.  Sir Thomas More is the most famous layperson executed for refusing the Oath.  The four leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace, the popular uprising in York opposing the Act, were also executed.  One wonders about the record on ordinary citizens.  Perhaps the Crown was not much interested, unless one supported a treasonous cause, or was a prominent person like More.   An ordinary person was adrift in a sea of chaos.  Knowing what was the “correct” doctrine of the day, would depend upon how “correct” your clergyman or priest was, and keeping abreast of the changes in Royal opinion.  When the shift in doctrine veered back towards traditional Catholicism with the Six Articles, there is record of 3 laypersons being executed because they would not accept transubstantiation.    It was not good to be too Catholic, or too Lutheran-leaning.  There is a record of 3 people being executed at various times in Henry’s reign because they were essentially “too Protestant”.   And then there is the lone exception - of Thomas Fiennes, Baron Dacre, who was executed for murder.

Edward VI did not live long enough to deliver a voluminous quantity of death sentences.  There were the Seymours who eventually gained enough enemies to be executed for treason, even though they enjoyed positions of great power in Edward’s Court.  The issuing the book of Common Prayer was the last straw for some of the long suffering English faithful, and they arose is opposition in the Prayer Book Rebellion.   At least 8 were executed in connection with this rebellion, but it should be noted that over 5000 citizens were slain in the battles and violent reprisals.  Robert Kett was also executed for treason.  There is also Joan Bocher who was executed for her heretical Anabaptist views. 

Queen Mary has been given the moniker “Bloody Mary”, but in comparison to her sister, Elizabeth, this judgement is unfair.  History is written by the victors, after all, and our impressions of Queen Mary have been overly influenced by the writers of the Elizabethan era.  Her reign began with the executions for treason (3) for those involved with putting Lady Jane Grey on the throne for less than a fortnight, for those in Wyatt’s rebellion (2).  There were about 50 “Marian martyrs” who were burned at Smithfield for their Protestant beliefs.  There were at least five prominent Anglican clergy who met their end under her reign, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer who started it all and at least seven other clergy. 

Elizabeth I is not commonly considered a tyrant, but she was in a delicate position.  The Pope in Rome had declared her essentially a “pretender” to the throne as she was considered illegitimate by the Holy See.  To be loyal to the Pope was to be opposed to her rule.  After it became a capital offense to be a Catholic priest in England, the stage was set to root out papal supporters in England.  Almost four dozen Catholic priests were executed during Elizabeth’s reign and over twenty people were executed for either succoring priests, having or printing Catholic books or practicing Roman Catholicism.  There were those executed in relation to the “Irish troubles” (at least 3), and those for political treason in the Babington plot (6) including its centerpiece, Mary Queen of Scots, and those who supported Robert Devereaux the 2nd Earl of Essex (3).

After the experience of such history, and the bloodbath of the English Revolution, which was the seventeenth century reprise of religious based strife, it is little wonder that the thinkers of the eighteenth century were so fervent about the support of, as John Adams put it “the rule of law not the rule of men”. 

Note: this is by no means an accurate count of Tudor executions.  it is only the summary of my curiosity and collection of information.

I am finding the Showtime series, the Tudors, being one narrative of the life of Henry VIII of England that makes plausible the inner motivations of the king, not just the political ones.  It is one of the most “authentic” stories of that time, if one can overlook the conflation of certain characters, and the frequent wild anachronisms in dress.  The court scenes are quite elegant and certainly a lot cleaner than the actual court or Henry VIII probably was. The costume designer has taken considerable artistic license which when it was confined the mainly the women’s headpieces I could tolerate.  One can forgive the sewing of the sleeves to the bodice as in modern times.   However, Queen Anne Boleyn appeared in the latest episode in a high necked dress that reeked of Victoriana.    It also showed St. Peter’s Basilica with the completed dome and forecourt neither of which were complete in the time of Paul III.  [1590 and 1667 respectively]

However, this is the most plausible interpretation of Henry VIII, I have ever encountered, in print or in film.  It shows the evolution of “King Harry” from a playboy prince who acceded to the throne young, and spent the early part of his reign leaving the affairs of state to others to the autocrat who ruled with absolute power, and too often motivated by emotional whims.  However, I believe it is accurate in revealing that despite his despotic nature, Henry was a quite a thinking man, and hints that one of his motivations for changing his feelings about Anne Boleyn was his regret over the execution of his former advisor and chancellor, Thomas More.

I have the crappiest computer ….

Wrote a new clown skit on the way home.  a tear jerker set to the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah”.  Can’t use the lyrics but the music has perfect accompaniment and versatility to help tell the story.  Not too many instrumental recordings of it out there.  A challenge to find a pianist …. but then I could “score” it to the piece.

It is a little story of why I became a clown … about holding on to hope when there is no rational reason to do so.  I was writing the professional paper and had to go back in time to the pit of bleakness, when I would just cry buckets when I read “Along the Green Velvet Path”.  {find that quote}

it is a reality that I have accepted that “home” is something I may never have.  It is a tragic when your personal growth takes you so far past the vision and values of those who were your first family and home.  You may be able to visit and “pass” again when you return, but the heartbreaking fact is that the truth of you is not really welcome.  You wander through life with the deep desperation to reconnect, to find a community to replace the one you have lost.  Someone once defined home as the place that they have to take you in.  I may have a few places that I can come and perch - I am fortunate in my sisters and brother.  But outside that - I am a wandering soul.  I belong nowhere - there is not one place, group, community that I’ve ever found that really wants me - all of me, the truth of me.  The closest I’ve ever found is the gay community - a welcome in the group of those similarly outcast for daring to live truth of themselves openly.  But not being gay myself …. well, I really don’t belong there either.

This was a piece of me that was ripped open for inspection in the “Place” seminar of the 2nd year of the Creative Pulse.   I had to stop and face this seeking that had been going on since I had been six.  Always hoping to find “my place”, but never finding one that would celebrate the entire truth of me.

that is why the clown is so appropriate.  she can be accepted everywhere but really belongs nowhere.