The City of Wolves, Part 1
One day, a few years ago, the image of a woman with a beautiful, contagiously happy smile and a wonderful way with words appeared on my livejournal friends list. For several months, she was known in our household simply as "the smiling lady"... and then, in 2009, we had our wedding party, and the smiling lady became a reality. Valya (charyvna) traveled all the way from Chicago to celebrate with us, bringing her warmth and support and intellect and creativity with her. My life has been the richer for her friendship... and the world is a more stimulating and exciting place because of her presence in it.
Valya and me during one of her book tour visits for her beautiful novel, The Silence of Trees.
Over the years, kylecassidy has had the opportunity to visit her during various photography workshops, organized by Valya in Chicago, but something has always prevented me from joining him, until last weekend. When Valya originally told us about An Evening to Honor Gene Wolfe, it looked like we wouldn't be able to attend... but with a few pulls and tugs at the schedule, we RSVP'd and began planning for what promised to be a glorious event. Preparations for me included reading everything I could, in the time permitted, of Gene Wolfe's life's oeuvre. Not an easy task considering the breadth and beautiful density of his work. However, after reading Soldier of the Mist, I am bent on reading the entire series and discovering what becomes of Latro. Does he regain his memory? Does he find his home? His family and friends? Or is he still wandering out there, somewhere in the mist?
kylecassidy and I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon and were met by Carl Hertz, a friend of Valya's and now ours too, who took many of the stunning photos over the weekend. We met up with another friend, and fellow-photographer, Braden, at the vegetarian Chicago Diner for a delicious lunch before driving to Valya's lovely home, where we were met by the entire family, including Valya's husband, Mark, and their three amazing children, who completely charmed me with their antics and crooked glasses and desire to eat vegan food. When Kyle ran off with Braden to photograph the local Roller Derby league, I stayed home to enjoy more of family life, and then, after the children's bedtime, helped Valya stick signed book plates into 150 copies of A Walking Tour of the Shambles, co-authored by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe.
The following day, Valya and Mark were going to the event venue, the Sanfilippo Estate, to drop off items for Saturday, so Kyle and I took the opportunity to explore some of Chicago, a city I'd never visited, but always heard so much about and longed to see. We went to the local station to catch the Metra train into central Chicago, and met tigerinvaseline there as she was coming into the station from Wisconsin and our train was just arriving. It was all very Anna Karenina and would have been sad, if we hadn't known we'd be seeing eachother again that night and spending the rest of the weekend together.
The entire weekend was unseasonably warm, and I feel we were cheated out of a part of our "Chicago in the Spring" experience; no winter parkas and no snow boots for us! The entire city seemed to be rejoicing, enjoying the beauty of the lake and the clear blue skies. Even President Obama was in town, having a fun-filled day, I'm sure, and foiling our plans every time we turned around... first blocking our entry to the pub where we wanted to eat and then making it almost impossible, with his motorcade, to cross the street to see the Art Institute. This actually all added excitement to our experience and a sense of comraderie between us and the other people lining the street.
We also made a point of walking down State Street, since I love the Frank Sinatra song and couldn't resist documenting our visit, stopping traffic in the process, like every good tourist.
While we navigated around the president's entourage, we met the power rangers, who were trying to maintain order.
We were afraid we'd miss seeing silveringridd on this visit since she was tied up playing host all weekend, but it happened that this was the day she and her brother were also enjoying the beautiful Chicago weather, and we were able to meet for drinks on the Navy Pier, a meeting that was all too brief.
When we left silveringridd, we headed over to The Steppenwolf Theatre Company to see "Time Stands Still," by one of my favorite playwrights, Donald Margulies. His plays are always so thought-provoking and often deal with questions of ethics in the art world and the complexity of human relationships. One of my most challenging and rewarding acting experiences was playing Lisa in his "Collected Stories." This particular play touched on ethics within the photo-journalistic world, and forced us to question how we want to put our stamp on the world. So, it was a thrill to see such a beautifully staged production of a great play at a theatre company I've always wanted to attend, in a city not my own, with the man I love. It's a play we're still thinking about, and will be for a long time to come.
I snuck a photo during intermission of the incredible set. Every item seemed handpicked by the characters themselves, which made our minds paint scenarios of where they had been and what they had done in their lives. The art of set-dressing at work!
When we arrived back at Valya's, nearly midnight now, the house was full of people all wildly making last minute adjustments to programs and packing away books and name tags. I sat next to mcmatz, the phenomenally talented artist, whose work we've been following since she created the picture of Steampunk Roswell, now amazing i-pad merchandise you can buy!, and we cut and pasted and chatted and ate vegan marshmallows until the job was done and it was time for bed.
Valya and me during one of her book tour visits for her beautiful novel, The Silence of Trees.
Over the years, kylecassidy has had the opportunity to visit her during various photography workshops, organized by Valya in Chicago, but something has always prevented me from joining him, until last weekend. When Valya originally told us about An Evening to Honor Gene Wolfe, it looked like we wouldn't be able to attend... but with a few pulls and tugs at the schedule, we RSVP'd and began planning for what promised to be a glorious event. Preparations for me included reading everything I could, in the time permitted, of Gene Wolfe's life's oeuvre. Not an easy task considering the breadth and beautiful density of his work. However, after reading Soldier of the Mist, I am bent on reading the entire series and discovering what becomes of Latro. Does he regain his memory? Does he find his home? His family and friends? Or is he still wandering out there, somewhere in the mist?
kylecassidy and I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon and were met by Carl Hertz, a friend of Valya's and now ours too, who took many of the stunning photos over the weekend. We met up with another friend, and fellow-photographer, Braden, at the vegetarian Chicago Diner for a delicious lunch before driving to Valya's lovely home, where we were met by the entire family, including Valya's husband, Mark, and their three amazing children, who completely charmed me with their antics and crooked glasses and desire to eat vegan food. When Kyle ran off with Braden to photograph the local Roller Derby league, I stayed home to enjoy more of family life, and then, after the children's bedtime, helped Valya stick signed book plates into 150 copies of A Walking Tour of the Shambles, co-authored by Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe.
The following day, Valya and Mark were going to the event venue, the Sanfilippo Estate, to drop off items for Saturday, so Kyle and I took the opportunity to explore some of Chicago, a city I'd never visited, but always heard so much about and longed to see. We went to the local station to catch the Metra train into central Chicago, and met tigerinvaseline there as she was coming into the station from Wisconsin and our train was just arriving. It was all very Anna Karenina and would have been sad, if we hadn't known we'd be seeing eachother again that night and spending the rest of the weekend together.
The entire weekend was unseasonably warm, and I feel we were cheated out of a part of our "Chicago in the Spring" experience; no winter parkas and no snow boots for us! The entire city seemed to be rejoicing, enjoying the beauty of the lake and the clear blue skies. Even President Obama was in town, having a fun-filled day, I'm sure, and foiling our plans every time we turned around... first blocking our entry to the pub where we wanted to eat and then making it almost impossible, with his motorcade, to cross the street to see the Art Institute. This actually all added excitement to our experience and a sense of comraderie between us and the other people lining the street.
We also made a point of walking down State Street, since I love the Frank Sinatra song and couldn't resist documenting our visit, stopping traffic in the process, like every good tourist.
While we navigated around the president's entourage, we met the power rangers, who were trying to maintain order.
We were afraid we'd miss seeing silveringridd on this visit since she was tied up playing host all weekend, but it happened that this was the day she and her brother were also enjoying the beautiful Chicago weather, and we were able to meet for drinks on the Navy Pier, a meeting that was all too brief.
When we left silveringridd, we headed over to The Steppenwolf Theatre Company to see "Time Stands Still," by one of my favorite playwrights, Donald Margulies. His plays are always so thought-provoking and often deal with questions of ethics in the art world and the complexity of human relationships. One of my most challenging and rewarding acting experiences was playing Lisa in his "Collected Stories." This particular play touched on ethics within the photo-journalistic world, and forced us to question how we want to put our stamp on the world. So, it was a thrill to see such a beautifully staged production of a great play at a theatre company I've always wanted to attend, in a city not my own, with the man I love. It's a play we're still thinking about, and will be for a long time to come.
I snuck a photo during intermission of the incredible set. Every item seemed handpicked by the characters themselves, which made our minds paint scenarios of where they had been and what they had done in their lives. The art of set-dressing at work!
When we arrived back at Valya's, nearly midnight now, the house was full of people all wildly making last minute adjustments to programs and packing away books and name tags. I sat next to mcmatz, the phenomenally talented artist, whose work we've been following since she created the picture of Steampunk Roswell, now amazing i-pad merchandise you can buy!, and we cut and pasted and chatted and ate vegan marshmallows until the job was done and it was time for bed.