Two for Chocolate

chocolate a food prepared from ground roasted cacao beans

A box of chocolate is a welcome gift, even more so if it has two layers. Some chocolate lovers have been known to eat the entire lower level at one sitting, leaving the top layer intact (temporarily) for appearance's sake. The reaction to this from others who finish the top layer and look forward to more treats below, only to find empty wrappers, is predictable. The perpetrator of this gluttonous outrage will never hear the end of it - but will have no regret.

What has chocolate to do with the Arts? It has to do with both cinema and literature. A few years ago moviegoers were treated to a romantic film, Chocolat, which explained as a plot device the origin of chocolate as a confection and as an antidepressant - as well as delivering a charming love story or two. It began as a modest little movie and soon disappeared from theatres. But something unique happened: chocolate lovers told others, and word-of-mouth brought back the film for a long run in multiplexes everywhere. In some theatres, going along with the theme, ushers handed departing patrons foil-wrapped chocolate kisses.

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has made its transition from book to cinema. The subject matter appeals to both children and adults, just as does chocolate candy. Even J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter gives a nod to the matter, also. Now and then some of her characters who end up in the infirmary are given chunks of chocolate to eat in order to facilitate healing.

Do you have a family story about chocolate? A favorite chocolate dessert? What happens when the candy melts in your hand?

Shakespeare said

Sweets to the sweet; farewell!

Small & Smallest

Madonna and Child by Duccio di Buoninsegna

When we think of great works of art, we do not visualize them as small enough to display on our refrigerators along with a child's Kindergarten drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has recently purchased the Madonna and Child for a price said to be between forty-five and fifty million dollars. The painting is dated around 1300 A.D., a Renaissance masterpiece. It is not surprising for that amount of money to be spent on a rare painting by an acknowledged artist; what is unusual is its size: eleven inches high by a little over eight inches wide - the size of an ordinary sheet of typing paper. It is painted with tempera and gold leaf on a wooden panel. Those who have seen it attest to its glowing beauty and commanding presence. The Madonna lovingly holds the Child whose tiny hand is lifted to her veil as if to hold it aside. Small as it is, it is America's treasured answer to da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa in Paris.

Have you ever passed up an artwork at a garage sale because it was too small? What drawings do you have on your refrigerator door? Have you framed a child's artwork or saved it in a safe place for years? What painting is your favorite as seen in a museum or in an art book?

quantum mechanics a theory of matter that is based on the concept of the possession of wave properties by elementary particles
subatomic of, relating to, or being particles smaller than atoms

Light is taken for granted: sunrise to sunset, candlelight to electric light, starlight and moonlight, lightning to fireflies. There are many subatomic particles embedded in an atom, but the most spectacular ones are those we can see, not individually, but by their overall effects: photons. Wherever there is light, there are photons for photons are light itself.

In the August 12, 1997 Kalamazoo Gazette, there appeared an article titled Quantum Magic by Malcolm W. Browne of The New York Times. The subheadline reads as follows:When Miles Apart Separated Particles Communicate Faster Than The Speed Of Light. Those particles are photons.

Briefly, an experiment was set up to send pairs of photons along optical fibers in opposite directions, seven miles apart. One of the pair was given a command and the other, miles away, obeyed the same command simultaneously. The experiment was replicated and verified by other scientists, and gave rise to new thinking about the speed of light.

How many forms of light can you observe near you? Have you studied the effects of differing wave lengths? Will you want to know more about subatomic particles, including photons?

Sir James Hopwood Jeans wrote

Physics tries to discover the pattern of events which controls the phenomena we observe. But we can never know what this pattern means or how it originates; and even if some superior intelligence were to tell us, we should find the explanation unintelligible.

Summer Stock Tips

comedy a drama of light and amusing character and typically with a happy ending

The two faces of Drama are Comedy and Tragedy. Shakespeare used both elements in his serious plays, but we, in summer, prefer Comedy undiluted. Summertime is a season dedicated to as much pleasure as can be squeezed into its short months and long days. A great part of summer's activities takes place on stages of all kinds - indoors and outdoors.

Summer Stock theatrical productions of stock companies presented during the summer

These are performances by travelling companies of professionals who go on tour from city to city, but are sometimes in permanent quarters. They have a repertoire of several plays proven to be universally popular. Some companies feature actors and actresses whose faces and forms are well-known to movie and TV viewers.

Summer Theater a theater that presents several different plays or musicals during the summer

These theaters are often found on the outskirts of cities and towns. They occupy permanent buildings and consist of established professional companies. Some are dinner theaters with outdoor facilities. Most will feature one famous performer sure to draw large audiences. The repertoire consists of the best in light popular entertainment, both plays and musical comedies.

Local Offerings

The best of these entertainments has been saved for a last mention. In every locality there are amateur productions of well-known little plays and other offerings for the amusement of relatives, neighbors, and others seeking entertainment nearby. Some efforts are held in parks and other outdoor settings. Whether in the open or in an auditorium, attendance is good and performances are much appreciated. There is something else to be considered - some of the performers in these amateur productions will be inspired to continue in the dramatic arts and may become the stars of tomorrow. They should be encouraged by everyone.

What plays have amused you most? Where were they performed? Were some of the performers well-known to you? Did anyone you know actually write a play which was performed locally? Was a stage set up in a park?

Thomas Campion wrote

The summer hath his joys.

Two For July One

evanescent tending to vanish like vapor

Scene from the Arch

The serene summer night explodes.
Bursts of evanescent sparks
shower blue and gold, silver and red,
overlay moon, stars, and each other.
Celebratory sounds bombard the ears
and disappear into memory.

ML

In a more quiet way, a gardener may see another side of July and do what little can be done to make amends.

A Gardener's Atonement

At the toe edge of a footprint in warm dry earth,
A tomato worm, ruptured, just past agony, still:
Velvet moss skin, riven, emits yellow-green effluent,
Bulging obesity suspended in slime.

The shadow of a hand sweeps across the blight,
Dims the shining ooze and withdraws,
Leaving behind a sprig of stalk,
Ragged leaf, yellow star blossom
And a bittersweet pungency in the air.

ML

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote

Oh, tenderly the haughty day
Fills his blue urn with fire.