Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

Nantucket Sojourn

I recently visited Nantucket, an island to the east of the Massachusetts mainland.  It's famed for playing a central role in the history of whaling, as immortalized in Herman Melville's Moby Dick.  On the final day of our visit, clouds closed in and winds caused whitecaps to form in the harbor.  We planned our day for inside activities and visited the Whaling Museum, which is on Broad Street, not far from the harbor.  The museum offers films, multimedia presentations and many impressive artifacts from the whaling era.  The coverage of Nantucket's history was thorough and it explained a few things we noticed on a walk through the village two days before.  I wrote about the first part of that walk in my last post, which is here.  

As my son and I walked up Main Street, we found buildings which were clearly much older than those found on the waterfront or in the immediate downtown.  For example, here's a building erected in 1802 and named after Admiral Coffin, whose family was among the early settlers of the island.   

From Main Street, we walked uphill and then meandered to the right, into a neighborhood whose buildings and homes offered a distinctive look.  Here's one home that caught my attention along that walk.  The trellis, finely clipped hedges and broad veranda of this house and its surrounding yard were examples of themes which recurred often during our walk.  

We continued our walk and eventually looped back, heading toward the downtown on Centre Street. Here, almost all of the buildings dated back to the period that ranged from the late 1700's to the middle of the next century.  Many have been converted to cafe's or B and B's and most had plaques which stated the year the buildings were built. In the heart of this neighborhood, we encountered one of the tallest buildings in Nantucket, a white-steepled church.  

One of the aspects we liked most about our walk was the sense of neighborhood.  Nantucket has been highly proactive in preserving its architectural heritage and the fruits of those decisions were evidenced as we saw entire streets whose buildings hearkened back to the Federalist era of the United States.   There were also a number of clever touches, little gateways from the street into a yard.  Here's one I particularly liked:   

My son and I took a break from our walk, scouting around the downtown for liquid refreshment.  My son opted for a coffee.  I wanted a smoothie, but didn't find it.  Instead, we walked over to Main Street and found a pharmacy which had an old style soda fountain. No smoothies, but they did have a combination of lemonade and orange sherbet, which I purchased.  We strode up the brick sidewalks outside the pharmacy and found a park bench nearby, then chatted while sipping our drinks.  Thus fortified, we resumed the walk, this time turning left off of Main Street onto Orange Street.  We immediately encountered another neighborhood lined with older buildings.  The streets were narrow here and we had to be careful to stay on the brick sidewalks to avoid passing cars.  We meandered again, heading toward the shoreline, which took us through several residential neighborhoods.  We eventually found a spot where the road cut over to the right.  A sign noted an ongoing project to remove invasive species, but there was a walking path.  We followed the path, which led us to a stretch of unfettered Nantucket with wonderful views of undeveloped fields and swamplands.   

Ahead was the proverbial crooked path.  Alongside, tall grasses and shoots waved in the breeze.  New growth plants emerged from vernal pools in counterpoint to the aromatic decay of vegetation, all part of nature's perpetual cycle.  

Even on a sunny day like this, the weather can change quickly in lands by the water.  The heat of midday gave way to the cooling breezes of late afternoon and I zipped up my windbreaker for the last part of the walk.  We circled back through more residential neighborhoods and spotted one house whose combination of weathered shingles and complementary earth tones seemed perfect for this particular street.  

We concluded our walk by stepping along the cobblestones of the downtown and returning to the area near our B and B.  Here's a parting view of Nantucket, as seen from Children's Beach, looking out onto the harbor.   

Visiting Nantucket is truly a walk into history which offers many reminders of colonial America.  We enjoyed this short stay immensely and look forward to returning again to this island of contrasts.    

Nantucket Stroll

Last weekend, we visited Nantucket for the first time. It's the off season, but we had fine weather -- perfect for strolls in the village and along the beaches. We departed from Hyannis. At this time of year, the logistics are easy -- park the car, hop a shuttle and scoot onto the ferry. We were a mite tardy, but they let me grab my tickets. We ascended onto the upper deck and here's what we saw as the ferry began to pull away.

The ferry itself was quite modern and designed for speed. Nantucket is 27 miles from Hyannis, but we made the trip in an hour, reaching speeds of up to 40 mph when on the open seas. I'm accustomed to having time to read and relax on ferry trips, but this time I sighted land after reading just a couple items from the Sunday paper. The water vantage point offers fine views of the village:

We stepped off the ferry and quickly found a casual place to eat -- the Easy Street Cantina. My wife got the last of the lobster salad rolls, but my son and I were content to munch on falafels and sip from raspberry lemonades. We were staying at a B & B, so we set out to find it after lunch. We ended up walking a bit too far, but enjoyed a stint out in the bright sunlight. We circled back and soon found the right spot. We got settled in pretty quickly and then checked out the view from the deck attached to our room.

It was wonderful to be able to stay at a place right near a small beach and within easy walking distance to the downtown.  My wife decided to nap on the veranda, but my son and I set out to explore the village.  We walked toward the center of town and soon encountered cobblestones underfoot on the roadways and inlaid brick on the sidewalks.  Soon we reached Main Street and found a sign which helped to orient us -- turns out we were only about 3700 miles away from Paris.  

We turned back to Main Street and began walking up its slight incline.  The street is lined with numerous shops.  We'd noticed the buildings near the waterfront all looked relatively new, but the buildings seemed to get older as we walked further up Main Street.  A bookstore on the left caught our eyes.  Inside, the books were neatly arrayed on the shelves and I quickly found myself thumbing pages of books by David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon and Robert Silverberg.  Tempted, but not hooked, we eventually moved on.  I'll finish this post with a glimpse of Main Street as it looked on this comfortable spring day.  

In my next post, I'll talk more about our walk into Nantucket's history and reflect on a few of the sights we met along the way.  

Talking and Writing

This has been a busy writing week for me. I'm getting ready to attend the Muse and the Marketplace writing conference, put on by Boston's Grub Street, this Saturday. I've participated at the conference the past two years and have gotten a lot of value out of it. I blogged about last year's conference here.

I've also been working on my second novel for quite a while and recently finished my first draft. The catch is that about two-thirds of the book is still contained in four notebooks written in longhand. I am very pumped to get ALL of the text into my PC, but this will keep me busy for quite a while. Recently, one of my writing friends told me that she'd been having good luck working with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software from Nuance. Aha. Possibly a way forward which might give my typing fingers a break. So, I'm trying it.

I opened up the package this past weekend and loaded it onto my laptop. That part was simple. The next step was to find the time to get my user profile established. Since the software needs to recognize your speech and then turn it into text, tuning it to your individual speech is essential, or so it seems. The first time, I worked on getting the profile established. This was relatively painless. The software wanted me to read a few text selections, which included excerpts from John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech. That part was fun, though they cut me off before the exhortation concerning what you should do for your country. They also wanted to get samples of content from my hard drive. Hmm. I let them go ahead. Finally, the profile was done.

Next, putting the software to work. On the first night, I fumbled around and spent a lot of time making manual corrections. One annoying thing was that Microsoft Word uses curly quotation marks by default and Naturally Speaking uses the generic type. I did an online lookup and the consensus seems to be that editors don't care which one is used. However, a mix of the two is distracting, so that'll need to be resolved down the road. My first attempt to turn the curly quotes off didn't manage to penetrate the fog of Word's autocorrect logic. Anyhow, after an hour or so, I'd moved about 430 words to my PC. Okay, but hardly a breakthrough.

The next night I tried again. This time I was more persistent and started reading longer stretches of text. The results were encouraging. The software did seem to be making adjustments and I had many fewer corrections than on the prior night. Despite various distractions in the background -- the current broadcast of American Idol -- I kept at it. The results: 2300 words in about 2 hours. I was pleased.

Two days into the experiment, I'm enthusiastic about the possibilities for this software to accelerate how quickly I can turn my hard copy into editable PC-based text. I'm still learning more about the software -- for example, on it's correction features -- but it's already getting me thinking about how using this tool might change my writing process for the better. I'll keep at it and report back on this blog as I gain more experience.

Eight Views of Paris

I've probably visited Paris on about ten occasions during the past dozen years, but it never fails to inspire me.  In this post, I'll share a few photos from my latest visit along with verbal impressions.  

Just imagine waking up in the morning and looking out as dawn is breaking.  This is what I saw.  

Paris is a city of contours, but one can see Sacre Coeur and Montmartre from almost anywhere that offers a clear view.  I love the way this perspective is draped in shadow.  

One of my favorite ways to see a city is from the water.  I highly recommend taking one of the boat tours on the Seine.  I've had good experiences with Les Bateaux Mouches and the pictures here were taken from a ride during a late afternoon.  Here is a view of Musee D'Orsay which shows one of it's magnificent external clocks.  It's not hard to imagine the museum in its prior incarnation as a train station from this angle.  

Further up the river, we began to approach the small islands which have formed the center of the city from its earliest days.  The cathedral of Notre Dame is very well known, but always worth another look for its remarkable architecture and fine details.  From the river, we got to see it from many different angles in a matter of a few minutes.  Here, it rises up above one of the iconic stone bridges which span the Seine.  

The ride along the river was leisurely, though the boat moved along at a steady clip.  Life was good as we bathed in the sunlight and watched the city pass by, with captions offered by a recorded spiel in five languages.  We listened to both the French and English, picking up a bit of history along the way. After looping around Notre Dame, we took a right fork down the Seine and soon the city center receded behind us.  After passing the Louvre on our right, the Eiffel Tower became more prominent as we rode down the river.  In this view, I like the way the tower rises up in counterpoint to the church in the foreground.  

I took several more pictures from the water, but I'll continue this visual tour from the land.  As I mentioned in my last post, my son Jason and I swapped tips about Paris throughout the trip.  He had grown rather fond of walking along the Seine on the cobblestones by the water and looking up at the bridges overhead.  Here is a glimpse of two of the stone grotesques who had been frozen into place in their role as underpinnings of a stone bridge.  

My son spent many hours of his time in Paris sitting in the Louvre and copying drawings and paintings from the great artists whose work was on display.  One of his favorites was the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, the man whose paintings of voluptuous women inspired the adjective Rubenesque.  Late one afternoon, I took the metro to the Louvre and walked into the courtyard adjacent to the controversial pyramid designed by I.M. Pei.  The pyramid lines up in perfect synchronicity with the obelisque at Place de la Concorde, with the Arc de Triomphe and the huge empty picture frame which marks La Defense.  Note the mini-version of the Arch in the background at the border between the Louvre and the Tuleries -- more symmetry.  

One of the treats for both of us during this visit was to walk around Parisian neighborhoods like Le Marais, Ile St. Louis, St. Michel and Porte Maillot as the dusk turned into night.  As the natural light faded, the streetlamps would take over, giving the cityscape a totally different ambience.  Here is the massive Arc de Triomphe glowing amber in the night.  

When we walked in the early evening, this was also a signal that it was time to start looking for a restaurant.  Our goal was to find food that we would both enjoy and to try several different types of cuisine.  As noted in the last post, Jason's desire for vegetarian food presented some challenges, but we managed to find a number of places that worked for both of us.  On our last night in Paris, we returned to the outskirts of Le Marais and found a French restaurant called Le Marche.  Its menu was written in chalk on large blackboards. After eating seafood most of the week, I opted for a rich Poulet Supreme, a chicken dish stuffed with goat cheese and surrounding a mound of finely mashed potatoes. Jason ordered their vegetarian special, which featured endive.  The wine was a red Sancerre; it was young, but opened up as we ate our meal.  Our seating was al fresco and we had a fine view of the adjacent courtyard.  

The light reminded me of the look and feel of Woody Allen's recent film, Midnight in Paris, and we could hear the chime of church bells on the hour.  Real life did intrude; the smell of tobacco from smokers at the next table wafted in our direction from time to time.   

We chatted as the night slipped away and the cool air of the normal Parisian spring began to descend. We celebrated this last night with dessert, a Creme Brulee for Jason and a robust Tarte Tatin de Pommes for me, all of which was just right.  Soon it was time to step out into the courtyard and walk a couple of blocks to the nearby St. Paul metro.  Our sojourn in Paris was now complete.  Or, as one of my French colleagues told me earlier in the week, a la prochaine (until the next time).  

Glimpses of Paris

I arrived in Paris in late March and was greeted by delightful weather -- warm days and lots of sun, accompanied by an extra hour of light at day's end. This was my second visit this year, but the bitter cold and snow of February had been replaced by balmy breezes. My son Jason had just finished a two month stint at a local art studio in Paris and was still in the area, so we met near my hotel by the Porte Maillot metro stop. We quickly agreed to head for the green fields and trees of Paris's largest park. We walked through a tunnel, followed several paths and crossed a few streets until we'd reached the Bois de Boulogne. It was midday and lots of people were out walking, but the park is so large that we found several paths that were relatively unoccupied. Eventually we reached a large pond, where many people were lolling about. We kept on walking and circumnavigated the pond, then cut over to a wood area which had paths which were mostly empty. During the walk, Jason regaled me with tales of his prior weeks and I interspersed his words with stories from some of my previous visits. Thus we began a process which we continued through the week -- comparing experiences and swapping ideas on places to go and things to do.

We had begun to loop back after seeing the pond, but the park seemed to go on and on. Signs did confirm we were indeed heading back toward Porte Maillot, so we took our time. By now, I'd taken off my leather jacket and we'd both worked up a sweat. From here, we decided to take the metro to the the St. Germaine des Pres area on the Left Bank for a late lunch. We surfaced right by one of my favorite cafes, Les Deux Magots, but kept walking. We soon reached Rue de Buci, which is crammed with outdoor markets, cafes and bistros. We found a spot in a small restaurant which we both liked and perused the menu. Jason is vegetarian and I love seafood, so we had to be careful all week long in choosing restaurants which would work for both of us. At this place, he ordered an all vegetable salad and I settled on an old favorite, Salade Nicoise. We watched the passersby, listened to a mix of eclectic rock music blaring from loudspeakers and basked in the sunlight. My son's casual conversational French worked well for him as he chatted briefly with our waitress; by contrast, my own French felt rusty from lack of use. My meal was everything I'd hoped for; the salty anchovies anchored a diverse mix of crunchy field greens and my son happily accepted the eggs that I didn't want. His dish was also fine. Paris is not known for vegetarian cuisine, but the French love of food comes through in most of the dishes.

From here, we meandered in the direction of Jardin de Luxembourg, which has become a favorite spot for me on recent visits. On this day, the park was gorgeous, but people were jammed into every nook and cranny where they were allowed. The only exceptions were for a few spots where no sitting on grass was permitted. We enjoyed our walk through the park, but didn't mind leaving the crowds behind. We continued our walk -- my pedometer had recorded 31,000 steps by the end of the day -- looping in the direction of St. Michel. For me, the walk tripped numerous memories, since I'd stayed in this part of Paris both on my first visit in 1982 and seven years later when I returned with my wife during our honeymoon.

Jason had developed a penchant for bookstores in Paris, so he took me to one which is among the most famous, Shakespeare and Company. Here is what it looked like late on this busy Sunday afternoon.

By now, my legs were exhausted, so I found a chair outside the shop and relaxed while Jason browsed the books inside.

From here was crossed over to Ile St. Louis and walked upon the cobblestones of narrow streets, occasionally sticking our heads into galleries. We weren't too far from the Bastille area, home to one of my favorite brasseries, Bofingers. We continued our walking tour, passing the Rue de Rivoli and finding the little side street which housed the restaurant. Alas, the menu, while replete with several different types of choucroute which appealed to me, really had nothing that would suffice as a main course for Jason.

We walked on, heading toward the side streets of Le Marais. Here we found a delightful Italian restaurant called Le Caruso and found pasta dishes met our needs. We spoke French with our Italian waiter and accepted his recommendation of a carafe of Chianti Classico to accompany dinner. The food was delicious and nicely complemented by the dry red wine. After dinner, we hopped onto the metro and went our separate ways. Truly an auspicious beginning for a week in Paris.

I'll offer more thoughts and glimpses about the trip on my next post.

The Barnes and Noble Blues

Ordinarily when your largest competitor goes out of business, it's a great opportunity. But Barnes and Noble is struggling to find its way, even though they bought rights to the customer list of Borders. In recent news, Barnes and Noble has announced weak earnings and is comtemplating selling off one of it's crown jewels, the Nook e-reader. From a business standpoint, B & N is caught in a classic dilemma. They've got a well known brand, but their mainline business -- bricks and mortar book and music superstores -- is experiencing revenue declines. On the other hand, they've got a growing online presence with barnesandnoble.com, they've had a modicum of success with the Nook e-reader and their erstwhile major competitor is gone.

So, what does B & N need to do now? It's re-invention time, baby, and the company needs to act while it still can to leverage it's brand and figure out a new business model that will make sense as the content markets continue their acceleration toward digital media. Their mainline business can still be an asset, but they really need to look at all of their resources and try to establish business plans that get them a bigger stake in the digital economy, while retaining their ability to distribute books and other content directly to customers. They've just signed a deal to distribute content from the New York Times onto a subsidized version of the Nook, so they may have a few tricks left in their toolkit.

I work for a company that develops hardware and it is a very different business than publishing. I think Barnes and Noble would likely be better off spinning the Nook business off to people that really know the hardware business and can define a more pro-active market strategy. However, Barnes and Noble should still license the Nook for their own use, so that they still have a stake in it's success. Nobody else has duplicated Apple's recipe for success in well-designed premium media products, but I would expect there's still room for products that have decent margins and aren't just being used as a way to drive content sales. It's a changing world out there. Barnes and Noble need to take a fresh look at the businesses they are in and decide what business models make sense over the next several years. The past is gone and they need to be looking forward.

As a reader, I'd like Barnes and Noble to stay in business, because I've enjoyed shopping at their stores and where I live, there aren't many independent bookstores. As a writer, I'd like to have readers be able to continue to see real books on bookshelves. However, the Print on Demand business model probably makes a lot more sense than the current system of shipping books and then throwing most of them away when they get remaindered. What do you think? Will Barnes and Noble survive? Do you want them to?

Cloudy Day on the Ridge

Last week I was in Asheville, North Carolina. One of the great things about this city is that you're never very far away from the fabulous Blue Ridge Parkway. In this region of two large rivers, the French Broad and the Swannanoa, the parkway forms another ribbon that connects different parts of the city. Last Tuesday, the rains broke into scattered clouds and we had some time on our hands, so we took a ride. We began just off of Rt 191. The road quickly elevated upwards and we could feel our ears popping as we roamed from 2000 feet on up to higher points. Very soon, we were far above the valleys below and could look across to other mountains across from us.

We continued our drive, which included a series of short twisty tunnels. The leaves had all been shed from the trees, but this late fall season offered a wide variety of shadows and chiaroscuro images. We'd been at a remarkable church called Jubilee on Sunday and had purchased a CD which featured music from their jazzy house band and a variety of guests. The parkway brings you into close contact with nature, so the ethereal music from the CD offered a tasty aural backdrop to the scenes which spun out before us. Just imagine what it's like as the air grows thin and your car is climbing the switchbacks, going up and up and up.

We approached Mount Pisgah, and as we did, the clouds which we'd seen above from lower points were now at the same level we'd climbed to. It's a weird feeling to walk inside a cloud. My youngest son took his new Ipod Touch out and began to take videos of the pluming fog. So, that was the peak of our journey.

Later in the day, we picked up a friend from the airport and couldn't resist heading back up into the mountains, but once again we encountered fog right near Mt. Pisgah. We re-traced our steps and soon arrived back where we'd started. Before leaving the area, we made one more stop along the French Broad River. The area here was very quiet and you'd have to work hard not to relax while watching the river flow by.

That's a glimpse of the life outdoors near Asheville.  The city offers a myriad of culture, cuisine and the arts, but the wonders of nature are never far away and stand ready to spark your imagination.  

Visiting Red Square - Winds of Change

Last Saturday, I woke up in a Moscow hotel and ate a tasty breakfast. After a busy work week, I'd finally have a chance to tour the downtown. I checked out, then was joined by a Russian friend. We walked across the street the metro and took the red line downtown.

When we emerged, we were near the Bolshoi Theater, where we'd spent an enjoyable evening on the prior Thursday. I blogged about that experience here.

Next, we looked up the street and my friend pointed out the location of the former KGB. It's the building in the middle of this shot (tan and brown).

This picture also shows the contrast between different architectures in the downtown -- older, classic styles co-exist with Soviet era buildings and in some parts of town, notably the business district, it's all new, dominated by tall glassy towers.

We skipped getting a closer view of the KGB and walked a few blocks toward Red Square. The weather was cool, just above freezing, but there was moisture in the air which helped the cold penetrate. On a day like this, staying in motion was a good strategy for staying warm.
Very soon, we reached one of the entrances to Red Square.

My friend remarked that this entrance had formerly been totally open to the square beyond, but it had deliberately been closed off to prevent the old style military parades which had shown off elaborate and large weapons. Next, we walked inside. Looking up, a flag was waving atop a building in the Kremlin; it meant the President was working on this day.

Red Square offers a juxtaposition of many different images, of different historical eras all sharing this one space. The red brick wall we see in so many shots is the Kremlin wall, which surrounds the seat of today's Russian government, but formerly was the place where the Soviet era leaders presided. Here I am standing in Red Square and you can see the Kremlin behind me.

Looking further in another direction, the towers of St. Basil's Cathedral offer a richness of color and intricate design which was even more elaborate than I'd anticipated. This is perhaps the most prominent image one associates with Red Square, but the prior pictures I'd seen did not do justice to the beauty of this building.

All of the pictures you've seen here were taken in the course of about one hour. By now, the November weather had chilled us, so we walked across the square into a modern looking building which is actually a very high end shopping center. So this is what we see in today's Red Square - a place where multiple eras of architecture co-exist and we can also see the layers of political ideology, religion and capitalism mixing in a strange brew which is all part of today's Russia.

In the weeks before this trip, a band I play with has been exploring a beautiful song called Wind of Change, which was originally written and performed by the German band Scorpions. It's set in Moscow and is a song about the many changes that took place twenty years ago. As I walked through Red Square and then on to see other parts of downtown Moscow, this song ran through my head and added another layer of meaning to what I saw.

These are scenes I will never forget. If you ever have a chance to tour Red Square, please go. You'll see so much in a short period of time, but the images will linger and work their way into your soul.

Bopping at the Bolshoi

This past Thursday I had a spectacular experience: a visit to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow to attend the premiere of the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. We had a tough time getting to the theatre, but it was worth the trouble. Our adventure began when a colleague told us he'd been able to purchase tickets for a performance at the Bolshoi. This was particularly special, since the theatre has undergone a $16 billion renovation during the past several years and is only now re-opening.

After our business meetings had concluded for the day, we drove on city streets in the direction of our hotel. We never made it. The traffic was so bad, we eventually had to ditch the car on a side street, walk to the nearest metro and then travel several stops on the subway. When we emerged from the station, it was just a short walk to the theater. Here is what it looks like from the outside during the daylight:

We found our seats and the anticipation was high among the audience. The theatre itself was mesmerizing. Here is a view from the fourth balcony where we were sitting:

Yes, it was simply a sight to ravish our eyes. And all that trim on the sides that looks like it's lined with gold? Yes, that's right, more gold than I'd ever seen in one place, even outdoing the royal palace of Versailles in France. Let's take a closer look at the seating arrangements.

Now you know where at least some of the $16 Billion was spent. And after walking up several flights of stairs, we had more than one reason to have our breath taken away.

Looking up, there was more to see, a brilliant chandelier, which had also restored to magnificence.

A few minutes later, a few announcements were made, which included a request not to take photos. And I did try to comply -- with some help from weak camera batteries -- for most of the remainder of the program. With all of this visual eye candy, you might have thought that the progam itself would be an anticlimax. But when the lights dimmed, the audience quieted and the overture began. Music from the fifty piece stage orchestra easily filled the hall and the sounds blended like a well woven fabric.

This was the first time I'd attended an opera, so I really wasn't quite sure what to expect. But when the curtain rose, a large cast of singers was dressed in period costume, attending a wedding feast. So began the story. The theatre featured several high tech elements which helped those of us who didn't speak Russian. Far up above the stage, the words of the songs were displayed in both Russian and English. So as the soloists began to hit their high notes, we could follow along with the story line.

In the first act, we were introduced to Ruslan and Lyudmilla, but also found that their dreams of wedded bliss would be interrupted. By the end of the first act, they'd been banished to different parts of their country. For the rest of the performance, the two young lovers would have to overcome all kinds of obstacles in order to find each other again. But first, the curtain rose and we had our first intermission.

By now, the three of us had not eaten since lunchtime, so we headed upstairs to the grande cafe, along with many other members of the audience. This was fun, since both the men and women were decked out, often in beautiful clothing. Many of the women wore formal black, often with matching high black boots or 3 inch heels, but others wore colorful scarves, furs and many other variations. All of the finery and lively conversation helped sustain the sense that we were truly taking part in a special event.

We joined the queue for refreshments and two of us opted for champagne when we reached the front of the line. The pour was Russian and a mite sweet, but the bubbles tingled as they should and the liquid went down easy.

We returned to our seats and relaxed, waiting for the second act. The nine time zone time change was starting to catch up with me, but I enjoyed the singing and the visuals of the stage sets were impressive. The tale itself was quite predictable, but there were many outstanding musical moments. In particular, Albina Shagimuratova, who sang the part of Lyudmila, had a wonderfully expressive soprano range and kept my attention whenever she sang with her melodic sense and graceful ascension up the scales.

The third act brought us to the anticipated denouement, where the Ruslan and Lyudmila were reunited and the cast gathered again to complete the wedding celebration. And here is where I was able to snap one more picture of the scene:

When the curtain fell, the audience responded with loud applause. The cast came out to take their bows and were eventually joined by the charismatic orchestra leader Vladimir Yourovsky. Finally, the last shout died down and the final curtain dropped. It was late, so we collected our coats and walked back to the subway. Red Square beckoned just a few blocks away, but that visit would need to wait for another day.

Celebrating the Book - Boston Bookfest 2011

This past Saturday I attended the third Boston Book Festival, which took over Copley Square and environs for the day. We had cooperative weather -- mostly sunny and with temperatures in the sixties -- though the occasional gusts of wind were a reminder that we'd recently slipped into October. This was the place to be for anybody in the Boston area who loves books and thousands joined in.

I began the day by attending a workshop on Navigating the Publishing World. This session was conducted by Alan Rinzler, who has edited numerous well known writers including Tom Robbins and Hunter Thompson.  He's old school, but knows the publishing industry very well and recognizes the massive changes underway. He reviewed statistics from the first half of 2011, noting that ebooks make up about ten percent of the business, but are growing at a phenomenal rate of 163 percent. This compares to a decline in hard copy sales of 22.9 percent during the same period. He summarized the current situation by saying that the publishing industry is in a state of crisis, but couldn't resist saying that in his experience, "this has always been the case".

He confirmed that traditional publishing firms work exclusively via agents and wasn't very encouraging about the prospects for writers to find an effective agent. But he also said that doing well in self publishing is a good way to convince publishers and agents that a writer has both a platform and an audience. It was a good example of how the conventional wisdom on self publishing has changed radically in the past year due to success stories like Amanda Hocking.

After a brief diversion for lunch at the Atantic Fish Company on Boyleston Street -- which offered a delectable crab cake melt -- I returned to the Trinity Church and stepped into the magnificent chapel just in time to attend a session on Frontiers in Science. The three speakers covered very different subjects -- the ancient philosopher poet Lucretius, the current state of cosmological physics and cancer -- but offered a stimulating discussion that took me way out of my normal areas of knowledge, but reminded me of why I'd fallen in love with books in the first place.

The next session I attended took me to more familiar territory. Bob Blumenthal talked about his experiences getting to know jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins and following his work over the past fifty years. He recently collaborated on a book devoted to Rollins with photographer John Abbott. The next speaker was Tim Riley, who's recently been getting quite a bit of attention for his biography of John Lennon. Some of his more interesting comments were about the way that Lennon is viewed very differently by Americans as compared to the British. It seems when John re-located to New York and never came back to the UK, many of his countrymen were upset.

Next, I attended another workshop called Jumpstart Your Writing conducted by author and instructor Lynne Griffin. She had lots of energy and walked us through several warmup strategies.  She likes journals or free writing to warm up the writing muscles and tap the unconscious to write more deeply. After listening to other writers speak during the past several hours, I relished the chance to do a bit of writing myself.

My final session of the day was on learning. I had to leave early to catch my train, but first got to hear Nicolas Negroponte and Sugata Mita of the MIT Media Lab talk about their labor of love in trying to put laptops and tablet PCs into the hands of children within third world countries. Both of them shared numerous success stories on how young childen could quickly learn to use computers and how, with guidance, they could work together to solve complex problems. This was easily the most fascinating session of the day.

The entire day pulled me out of my normal patterns and help me reconnect with my love of books and lifetime learning. This is what weekends are all about.

If you love books, be on the lookout for book related events in your area. There is so much amazing work being published. This is an industry going through turmoil, but the book -- be it electronic or hard copy -- can still evoke the sense of wonder which originally drew me to books in my childhood.