Provocative and Magical Show at New England Quilt Museum

 

 

Fierce Planets (through May 3, 2025)

New England Quilt Museum

18 Shattuck Street

Lowell, MA

Tuesday-Saturday 10-4

 

There are only a few more weeks left but if you find yourself anywhere near the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, make sure to stop in to see Fierce Planets. Two things. First, I never really thought about fiber arts until Emily took up quilting and I saw firsthand the intricacies and creativity that go into things most people might consider as utilitarian. As one trained in folklore, that was a major shame-on-me moment. Second, Fierce Planets is such an inherently good idea that I wondered why no one thought of it before. Stay with me; it is a collaboration between the Studio Arts Quilt Association and Johns Hopkins University.

 

Professor Sabine Stanley’s seminars and books on planetary science inspired quilters to render in fabric and stitches what the ever-evolving science of astronomy tells us about the universe and what lies beneath and beyond the Little Blue Marble we call Earth. In all there are 42 works from artists from six different nations. Science and math allow us to imagine many things, but if you think it odd to sew postulates onto coverlets and hangings, know that humankind is still in its infancy insofar as knowing what lies beneath our feet, let alone what lies many light years into outer space.

Dorothy Raymond 

 

 

Libby Williamson

Dorothy Raymond (Colorado) quilted “Dragons Playground” when she mused upon the rivers of lava we believe course in the Earth’s core. Libby Williamson (California) reminds us that what we know of ancient life before humans exits in fossil remnants. Her work “Buried Treasure” is filled with clues that simultaneously provide hints about prehistory, but we can only infer and extrapolate the details based on the little we have found. (We’ve only known since the 1990s that some dinosaurs sported bright feathers.)

 

Laurie Fagen

Eileen Searcy

Cathy Calloway

Consider also that all we know about our own solar system is based on space-based telescopes, flyby unmanned spacecraft that have either crashed or floated thousands of miles above planetary surfaces, or a handful of rovers that have explored tiny portions of Mars. Laurie Fagen (Arizona) gives us “Sun with Mercury” to help us consider how huge the Sun is and how tiny its closest star is. We might never know exactly what Mercury is like–it’s probably a gas ball–because no human could survive there. Mars might be doable, but Eileen Searcy (North Carolina) knows most of it also remains a mystery. Her “Valle Marineris” depicts how she thinks of an area that many believe to be analogous to the Grand Canyon of Mars. One would do well to be wary of analogies based on indirect observations! And what do we do with Jupiter, the elephant in the solar system. Cathy Calloway (Montana) was blown away by consideration of “Jovian Winds,” as would anyone looking at relays from the Juno spacecraft suggesting Jupiter’s powerful wind belts are somewhere from 2500-4000 miles wide.

Mieko Washio

 

 

Judith Constant

 

Maria Eugenia Corbella

 

 

Paula Rafferty

 

What lies beyond they solar system? Only Voyager I and II have gone into interstellar space and they’re not saying much these days! Mieko Washio (Japan) did a clever thing with “Cosmos.” Like an actor breaking the fourth wall, her fabric juts beyond what we imagine should be the shape and regular dimensions of a quilt. Why would be assume regularity in deep space? Judith Constant (California) drew inspiration from stars being born and dying in “Nebulae.” How many are out there? Maria Eugenia Corbella (Spain) embraces what she calls “The Beauty of Chaos,” though Paula Rafferty (Ireland) sees perhaps a more awesome and terrifying “Storm.” 

 

Mary Tyler

 

And then there is the Big Question: Is the universe intentional and created, or an accident whose consequences we and potentially billions of other lifeforms must live with until we become extinct or find new homes under new suns? The secularist rejoinder to creationism is the Big Bang Theory. Mary Tyler (Washington) gives us a possible image in her all upper case “BANG.”  I’m taking the coward’s way out. I’m with Kathy Nida (California) who threw together lots of things and titled it “I’m Floating in a Most Peculiar Way.”

 

Kathy Nida

 

 

Rob Weir

Io Capitano and Illegal Immigration

 

 

 

Io Capitano (2024)

Directed by Matteo Garrone

Cohen Media Group. 121 minutes, R (gore, torture)

In Wolof and French with subtitles.

★★★★★

 

North Americans are often fixated on south-to-north immigration and forget that peoples from all over are on the move. They emigrate for a variety of reasons, from climate change to war, but poverty is usually the major reason. Io Capitano begins in West Africa where two teenaged Senegalese cousins, Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall) dream of going to Europe. They drastically underestimate how difficult such a journey could be, but despite caring families, it’s easy to appreciate how Europe might seem a better option than life at the bottom in Dakar, Senegal. The boys work at odd jobs, hock goods on the street, and literally bury their earnings in the sand. They sneak off into the night when Seydou thinks they have plenty of money to get to Italy.

 

It might have been if the boys didn’t have to buy forged passports, pay bribes, encounter thieving gangs, and shell out the extortive rates for guides and drivers. It would also have been easier were there stable and honest governments between Senegal and Italy. Instead, their stash is severely depleted before they make it from Senegal into Mali. At each step, Seydou and Moussa experience harrowing border crossings and nightmarish treks across barren lands where marauding nomads and cutthroat bandits are a law unto themselves. In Niger, they are tossed into open vehicles and bounce their way across the rutted and shifting sands of the Sahara in a desperate attempt to outrun pursuers. Fall out of the truck and you will die; no one can stop to rescue you. Riders are promised passage to Libya, but the trucks halt, unload, and the sizable human caravan is turned over to a guide who wordlessly hikes ahead with the same attitude of stop and you’re on your own. Director Matteo Garrone and cinematographer Paolo Carnera punctuate the rigors of such a flight through what seem to be splashes of magical realism but are actually walking dream hallucinations brought on by exhaustion.

 

 In Libya, they are stopped by brutal men who demand that they turn over all of their money. They have a novel way of uncovering those who claim they are broke but have hidden their money in their rectums. The cousins are separated, with Moussa tossed into a Libyan prison that makes Abu Ghraib seem like Club Med. It doubles as a torture chamber, as Seydou discovers first hand. He survives but is sold a slave. Luckily, he and a French-speaking prisoner who is a skilled bricklayer are chosen to build a fence and fountain for a vain, rich Libyan who eventually allows them to go to the coastal city of Tripoli, where there are expatriate Senegalese communities.

 

Will Seydou and Mussa ever reunite? Will either of them make a successful crossing of the Mediterranean Sea? The attempt at the latter gives the film it’s title. Io Capitano means “I am the captain.” Seydou doesn’t have enough money to pay for a voyage, but he is allowed to try by a–shall we say sarcastically–enterprising individual with a rust bucket boat who has collected a large number of paid fares to be ferried to Italy. He really doesn’t much care if the refugees get there or not and isn’t of a mind to make the trip himself. The deal is that Seydou can board the ship if he agrees to sail it himself. Remember, he is 16-years-old. Has he ever piloted a boat of any sort? That would be a hard no!

 

At this juncture I should mention that Il Capitano is not based on a true story. It has been called a “Homeric tale” and shares similarities with The Odyssey (as it does with other immigration sagas such El Norte, Green Border, and the classic Black Girl). By doing a mashup of numerous dangers involved in what we often glibly call “Illegal immigration,” Garrone makes us see the inherent inhumanity of how outsiders are treated without conforming to a predetermined conclusion. In my estimation, his was a bold and effective strategy. The film was nominated for a Best International Feature at the 2024 Oscars. It did not win, but carried off numerous prizes elsewhere. Homeric tales are filled with heroes, fallen warriors, and victims. Which will be the fates of Seydou and Moussa?

 

Rob Weir

MLB West

 

Could the postseason be an all-West Coast phenomenon in 2025? Probably not in the AL, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility in the NL. 

 

 

 

American League:

 

Three teams are vying for supremacy, but I think one will falter.

 

1. Texas Rangers slipped a year after winning the World Series, but look for them to right the skateboard. They live and die by pitching and have exciting young arms–Rocker and (Jack) Leiter– knocking at the door. If everyone else is healthy and kids live up to their hype, who can match them plus Corbin, Eovaldi, deGrom, and (Jon) Gray? Texas had run production problems last year but Pederson, (Aroldis) Garcia, Seager, Higashioka, and Semien should snap back to form. Many analysts see OF Wyatt Langford as MLB’s top prospect.

 

2. Seattle Mariners might finally snag a Wild Card. Their problem, as always, is that the Mariners always look better on paper than on the field. There is no reason for a team with Arozarena, (Joely) Rodriguez, Crawford, Solano, and Polanco not to hit, though they are not big power guys. Robles either hits or goes down as a hyped mediocrity. Several pitchers are on the IL right now, which puts a burden on young pitchers like Vargas, (Bryce) Miller, and Woo to produce. If they do and Castillo adds more W’s than L’s behind his stats, the M’s should be alright, though they have a history of disappointment.

 

3. Houston Astros won the division last year, but they deleted such talent as Bregman and Tucker. They still have Altuve, Pena, and added Walker, but if Rogers can’t hit outside of Colorado’s thin air and Paredo (from Tampa) doesn’t either, the Astros will be challenged to score runs. Their pitching­­–Valdez, (Hunter) Brown, (Luis) Garcia, McCullers, and Blanco–is strong and Hader is one of the best closers in baseball. Pick the ‘Stros  to surprise one way or another, either by being better or worse than expected.

 

4. Sacramento Athletics: Another team displaced and, like Tampa, calling a minor league park home. Let’s see, a team 16^th in batting and 24^th in ERA competing to stay out of the basement with one 19^th in batting and 25^th in ERA. Go with the A’s but don’t get too excited. What do Andujar, Medina, Sears, Severino, Urshela, and Waldichuk have in common? They were all dumped by the Yankees. Springs from the fellow homeless Rays will help. It’s hard to see the A’s putting up a lot of runs, so don’t be shocked if they flip their weak batting and pitching rankings.

 

5.  Los Angeles Angels: Trout will be 35 this year. Even if he claws back from several years of injuries he is destined to go down as one of baseball’s best players never to play in a World Series game. Angels ‘pitching could improve if Kochanowicz (25) and Soriano (27) come into their own, but don’t expect miracles from Cubs castoff Hendricks or Kikuchi whose career ERA in 4.57. Besides Trout, the offense offers Moncada, who has been around long enough to call a bust, Ward, and catcher O’Hoppe. Ouch!

 

National League:

 

Two Wild Cards could come from the NL West. The only sure thing is that the Dodgers will win the division. I wouldn’t bet against them to repeat as World Series champs.

 

 

1. Los Angeles Dodgers: This is what a billion dollar investment looks like: Freeman, Muncy, Betts, Edman, Conforto, (Will) Smith, (Toescar) Hernandez, and Ohtani. If the Dodgers ever let Ohtani pitch again, they’re nuts! Here is a partial list of possible starting pitching: Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, May, Sasaki, Stone, Gonsolin, and Kershaw. They could trade for anything they need in a nanosecond. Only an earthquake that swallowed Dodgers Stadium could stop them from winning the Series again.

 

2. San Diego Padres: In a fair world the Padres would be a favorite to win the division. They have a fine pitching staff­–Cease, Darvish, King, Musgrove, Pivetta–and a terrific lineup of Bogaerts, Machado, Merrill, Sheets, and Tatis. Hayward has never lived up to his hype, though.

 

3. Arizona Diamondbacks: If the Holy Fathers slip, the Snakes could slither past them. The pitching is solid–Burnes, (Shelby) Miller, (Eduardo) Rodriguez, (Merrill) Kelly, and some youngsters in the pipes. Aside from Carroll you may not know the lineup but Marte, Gurriel, Perdomo, (Eugenio) Suarez, (Josh) Naylor, and the underrated Gilchuk are capable. Right now the pitching is okay but not dominant. Pick them for fourth if that doesn’t change.

 

4. San Francisco Giants: They play in my favorite MLB park and have a good team that suffers from being in MLB’s best division. Best case scenario is that one of their rookie hurlers (Roupp, Birdsong) catches fire and pushes Webb, Ray, converted reliever Hicks, and aging Verlander to surpass expectations. Ditto a potentially productive lineup of Adames, Chapman, Encarnacion, Flores, and Yastrzemski that’s good but probably not good enough to contend for a Wild Card.

 

5. Colorado Rockies: The future isn’t now. You’ve heard of Bryant, but probably not any other hitter. Likewise, you might know that Freeland is their ace. There are young arms waiting, assuming they don’t have to check into asylums from pitching in the Rockies’ mile-high gopher ball facility.

 

Rob Weir