Welcome to a World of Spiritual Harmony

So during a break in the tennis action, friend Diane and I went to the movies: and saw Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. A good film, not excellent. But the locales and backgrounds were worth the trip, especially Bali. I expect them to have a major spike in tourism!

Julia was to me not particularly believeable, and especially in the early scenes, melodrama rather than drama. A different actor likely would have been better. The flashback scenes of her courtship and wedding - especially where their first dance together turns into him breakdancing in front of her - were interesting - as was the dance of forgiveness in India, very real. The holy man / psychic in Bali was good - with his psychic wife in the background. Julia was more real there than anywhere. And Texas in India was terrific.

All of it was interesting, and a way for us (mostly women) to share the communal cultural experience of having read the book and seen the movie more or less together. Being in that dining room in Rome, in that ashram in India, and anywhere in beautiful Bali was plenty enough for me.

That’s the official and important title of the tournament held out near Kings Island each summer - one of the 13 top tournaments on the entire planet. My friend and I go get a hotel room and stay out there for the entire men’s tournament. It started off a little slowly this year, or maybe we just know most of the players now, and the first two days didn’t feature many matches we cared about.

Things really heated up on Wednesday, when everyone we cared about was in the mix. Roger Federer, my favorite player, had 13 minutes on court before his opponent injured an ankle and retired. The next day, his next opponent exacerbated a shoulder problem and withdrew, so that was a walkover. Finally, on Friday, Roger got to play Davydenko - it was more like a clinic, and quickly over, even though Davydenko is number 6 in the world. And on Friday, Rafa Nadal was beaten by a red-hot Marcos Baghdatis, so my friend’s favorite was gone. Roger met Baghdatis in the semis on Saturday and lowered his energy level in a fairly easy match. Two Americans met in the other semi - Andy Roddick, my fav, and Mardy Fish, at nearly 30 playing the best tennis of his life. In a surprise result, Mardy took it.

So on Sunday, Roger met Mardy on Center Court at noon, and they fought it out for nearly 3 hours. Roger prevailed, but at a couple of moments, it was a real nailbiter. Tiebreaks the first two sets, then a break of serve by Roger late in the 3rd set. A few minutes after that, Roger was the crowned champion for the fourth time. And the trophies this year were not the Waterford of every year I’ve attended. They were gorgeous Rookwood Pottery, made in the same way at the original trophies at that first tournament here in town, 111 years ago.

A fitting way to cap such a great week and honor a great player.

I could keep on going… but those are the highlights. Hurray for tennis in Cincinnati and for all those great players!

I saw Inception, the dreaming movie, again a couple of days ago, with a group of friends. It sure went a lot faster the second time. And still had way too much boy stuff in it: lots of spectacular things blowing up (whole city blocks, an entire Paris market), lots of shooting and killing (except in dream time, killing doesn’t kill - it just wakes you up). Underneath all the racketety boom, it is still a very interesting deep film.

My friends were often confused about whether, in the film, a given scene was part of a dream, or reality. In some ways, that didn’t matter much to me. Particularly since I already recognize a lot of daily life as a movie set, and enjoy holding layers in my mind. There are three layers in the major dreams the plot turns on - wonderfully managed and edited, so we never got lost there.

Leadership and trust were more visible the second time, particularly male and female styles of leadership, in the dreams and out. The dream sharing concepts are exciting to think about. Our dream group already does community dreaming - the film presents another whole level.

On the one hand, the film makes dreaming exciting perhaps. On the other, if women who aren’t dreamers decide dreams are like this, it may turn them off.

Go see it and get your own thinking and musing process going - Inception will definitely stimulate that!

Friend Diane and I are headed out on Monday morning to the Western & Southern Masters Series out by Kings Island. Just followed my Best Player Forever Roger Federer as he beat Novak Djokovic in Toronto in the semifinals. So he’ll play Andy Murray of Scotland in the finals there tomorrow, then head here. Which means he will probably play Tuesday night - the tournament will schedule him so he has a chance to get used to being here, and have some time to practice on the court before he has to play a match.

Murray beat Diane’s favorite player, Rafael Nadal, earlier this afternoon. Sounded like a good match, just that Rafa did not come out on top. Yesterday, Roger beat Tomas Berdych, who beat him at Wimbledon. Evidently, the crowd stood up in the tiebreak of the last set, and stayed standing - urging Roger on, giving him their energy. The whole sport would like to see Roger back on top again.

Monday and Tuesday at our tournament are a total madhouse, chaos everywhere, as all the players are playing on 10 different courts, squeezing in practice where they can. So while watching one match, keeping an eye on the scoreboard for other matches, and paying attention to the ebb and flow and buzz of the crowd, to figure out where Roger or Rafa will show up next - it is hectic. We’re going out at 10 Monday morning, and probably won’t get back to our hotel until midnight. Wiped out and expecting to be blissful!

So you won’t hear from me til next Sunday evening the 22nd.

P. S. Next year, I’ll have a laptop, iPhone and iPad - so I’ll be blogging from there. : >

Tales of Wonder : Adventures Chasing the Divine by Huston Smith with Jeffery Paine, is called an autobiography - but it is more a memoir with travel narrative - and a foreword by Pico Iyer, one of my very favorite writers.

I of course had heard of Houston Smith and his many books on religion, plus his series with Bill Moyers, but had never read him. And this book on the bargain table at Joseph-Beth seemed like just the light summer reading I was looking for. It turned out to be perfect.

Houston, now in his 90’s and in an assisted living facility, mostly because of arthritis, is still an excellent writer, still living an adventurous life. The book is divided into the Horizontal - My Life in Historical Time, and the Vertical - Living in Sacred Time. So the first part is his life story, growing up, marriage, children and grandchildren, plus tracking his career and achievements. The second tallies his birth into Christianity, and his journeys to study and live other religions in a faithful way, while also experiencing spirituality via primal religions / peyote, etc, mysticism, and psychic phenomena. The underlayment is Christian - but a very loving and open Christianity.

I could wish for one more book. He alludes frequently to his marriage, his wife and her psychic / spiritual gifts, and his learnings in that relationship. At the same time, he will talk about a religious experience in a foreign land, and only casually mention that Kendra was along for the ride. If he can see his own marriage well enough, and can get out of his own way enough - and bring Kendra into the conversation - that would be another book worth reading.

A good book, a fast read - watching a white male grow and change, adapt, become more self aware and more caring. All very reassuring, as far as the future of the planet goes.

Well, I sure waited too long to get to this place! I almost got there last year - got to the door. Then my friend just wasn’t up for it. But it felt so good to me, just standing at the door, that I spent the intervening year occasionally trying to persuade friends to head out that way. I sure should have pushed harder!

So, Terry’s Turf Club, way out on Eastern Avenue in Linwood, nearly under the Beechmont Levee, is a burger place. If you’re not there when the door opens at 4 p m, you’ll be waiting 45 minutes or so. So just do it. Get a drink, or take a walk, or clean up your Blackberry. Or actually have a conversation. Whatever. I guarantee it will be worth it!

The outside looks like a cheap bar in the Florida Keys - and it has nearly as many signs inside as the American Sign Museum (which is moving from Walnut Hills to Camp Washington sometime soon, by the way). We took a walk, checking out the ‘hood and catching up with each other.

They don’t have a veggie burger - but they have a portobello mushroom burger. And great fries. And wonderful inventive creative fun toppings. I know it sounds like I’m raving - but they live up to it! Everyone is calm, nice, friendly, helpful. It just feels good. The burgers made with meat are cooked to order, and it takes a while ’cause the place is really packed. Just eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor (that reminds me of the old La Normandie) which you’re waiting. And check out the specialty drinks. And when your burger, as high as any sandwich Dagwood made, comes out with sauces and stuff everywhere - just ask them for a knife to cut it with.

This was very enjoyable. They could fix up the airconditioning. That’s the only thing not over-the-top good.

Okay, so Mayday is a bar, and not primarily a restaurant. But if you’re a hotdog fan, this is your kind of place!

At 4227 Spring Grove Avenue, corner of Dane, in Northside (near Spring Grove), this a comfy place for all kinds of humans. I really enjoyed being there - and having their vegetarian hotdog. The bun is amazing, the hotdog has the same shape and size as the real ones, the toppings are just terrific. And the real hotdogs are terrific, too - thus speaketh the folk at the meeting with me. And the bun is wonderful - not white bread death that balls up and stays in your stomach forever, but a sturdy whole grain pretzel bun. Just excellent!

So on your little personal menu, first you pick the kind of hotdog - lots of interesting choices, including vegetarian. Then you circle your side - chips or salad (and a fresh greens beautiful salad, at that!) Then you can pick from four signature dogs, or build your own, with great topping choices.

I picked the Mayday Dog - carmelized onion, grilled peppers, spicy mustard, house catsup and house relish. It was piled high and quite wonderful. Made me totally happy. I’m going to make my own choices next time - maybe the curry apricot catsup, spicy red relish - or maybe the sauerkraut. There’s also chili - both regular and vegetarian. And pbj, on that pretzel bun - made in house, as well.

Who knew such a place existed in the ‘Nati? Pool tables, an outdoor patio, special nights with music and all kinds of un-Cincinnati type things happening. And as comfy and homey as you’ll find. Go for it!

Red Azalea, a memoir written by Anchee Min, and published in 2006, is a young girl’s memory of growing up in Mao’s China during the Cultural Revolution. Graphic and gritty, and surprisingly full of sex, it is a very dark picture of a very dark time in human history. I had not realized that the Cultural Revolution was the equivalent of the killing fields of Cambodia (with less direct murder, but murder nontheless), and of the insanity of other dictators who were willing to kill their people in order to force them to change back into simple children of the land.

Min’s first experience was being brainwashed / coached into denouncing her very best teacher ever. The description of the process was painful to read. The rest of her growing up included the family being forced into ever smaller and dingier quarters, less safe - largely because the parents were educated. This was a culture that saw virtue only in poverty and degradation, and declared it virtue.

Mao took one child (at least) from each middle class / city family and assigned them to become peasants - that is, to go work in the countryside on farms. Many adults were sent out into a world they were unaccustomed to, with awful results, as well. In Min’s case, at 17, she was sent to Red Fire Farm on the edge of the China Sea. Where the soil was not fit for farming, and the management was all about control, not about nurturing the earth and the participants. A mindless bureaucracy run at the lower levels by folk in their 20’s, expected and encouraged to use cruelty and authority to destroy the spirits of their charges.

The book is beautifully written, delicate in many places, and is a fast read - a simple narrative of events. It is also ugly and violent. And the truth. Read it at your own risk.

Blithe Spirit, being currently performed by the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, is a Noel Coward play set in 1941 in Kent, in Britain.

I’ve always liked the sophisticated / smart / spot on while being slightly acerbic wit of Noel Coward. Set in a British country house, depicting the Agatha Christie feel of those times. And of course this play includes a medium, a seance, and a ghost who wants her husband back - even though now, 7 years later, he’s married to someone else.

Fun play, excellent performances. And actually the psychic stuff was spot on as well. The only sour note was when Madame Arcati said she didn’t know what to do about the ghost who showed up. Basically, ghosts have to do what you tell them - after you ascertain what sort of spirit you have on your hands, that is.

The problem here was caused not by the ghost(s), but by an untrained psychic. Of course, since most everyone is psychic and few folk are trained, that problem exists all around us. But most folk are not really manifesters - don’t have the kind of focus / attention / powerful intention that can change the world. This one did. My thought is that the untrained one just said something, not out loud, but powerfully, like “I want this house all to myself.” And the train of events thus unleashed resulted in just that situation.

Not that any of that was talked about in the play itself, but it’s what I saw! Made for a rollicking good British mystery story, with some great characters and great acting putting it all in front of us.

You’ve got two more weekends to see it! The Perfect Summer Play!

I don’t think I’ve ever had another opera affect me more than La Boheme at Music Hall last night. Puccini, of course, produced real magic. So many of the arias and melodies have made their way into our culture. And the sad love story is over the top, as opera always is.

I had seen it before, and was expecting more of a workhorse/well worn opera. Instead, this remake, set in 1930’s Paris. had me from the first moments. The voices of the two principals, Rodolfo and Mimi, were perfection, and when they sang together, the entire audience melted. They fell in love at first sight, as she came to ask for help in re-lighting her candle. Then she lost her key, and when he found it, he kept quiet until she agreed to go out with he and his friends for supper. Where they encountered the sexy Musetta, who was an ex-lover of Rodolfo’s friend Marcello.

So we’re following two love stories, and the increasing cough of Mimi. The gray buildings in the background, with snow falling, as they try to work things out. And then her final visit to the apartment of Marcelo and Rodolfo - just after the 4 guy friends had really been celebrating and having fun, forgetting all their troubles.

The little touches Puccini inserted were so real, and the staging - so inventive, with two buildings moving into various configurations in nearly the blink of an eye. But it’s the music, those soaring voices, the beautiful singers who had us standing and applauding for at least 10 minutes after the last note.

Hurrah for Cincinnati Opera. Another star in their crown!