Issue #14: Of Libertas & Long-Gone Elephants
My trip to New York, a new issue format, Queen Katherine Parr, and elephantine archaeology.
Ah, nothing like the scent of briny sea-breeze and car exhaust in the morning. I recently went to New York City proper for the first time and experienced both the harbor and the city in all their odoriferous glory.
Thank you for your patience, dear reader, as I’ve struggled to get back to writing (across the board, to be honest). Here’s hoping I can move back to a new weekly cadence in addition to posting regular book reviews.
Additionally, I’m including three new sections in this issue that I hope will be interesting: TBR Reads, Book of the Week, and Artifact of the Week. TBR Reads curates some of the most intriguing links I discovered on the interwebs. In Book of the Week, I’ll share one of my favorite books that I’ve either read or is on my TBR list. Lastly, Artifact of the Week showcases a unique or unusual archival photo or museum object. I hope you look forward to these!
Broadway, Museums, and Landmarks, Oh My!
Ah, New York. The city of bad traffic, haze, and wayyyyy too many people for this small-town girl. I visited the city last month with family and generally had a great time, minus the haze. I happened to be in Central Park when the haze turned everything into a sepia-tone filter.
Utterly crazy, not going to lie. Still, we partook in some pretty incredible things:
Seeing Once Upon a One More Time on Broadway (princesses singing Britney Spears song while upending fairy tale tropes)
Hitting up the Guggenheim and the American Museum of Natural History (and I also hit up the Met before I went home)
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (touristy, I know!)
Central Park
And the best bakery I ever went to: Angelina Bakery in Times Square
The Harry Potter store and the Nintendo store
And random wanderings
My favorite outing was probably the Met. Here is a small representation of their incredible collections:
If you’re ever in NYC, I highly recommend visiting the Met!
TBR Reads
Ahead of restoration projects in Kingswood, England, archaeologists are employing ground penetrating radar in an attempt to locate the remains of a captive elephant. Called Nancy, the elephant traveled as part of the Bostock & Wombwell’s Menagerie in Victorian England. A local tale alleges that she succumbed to yew leaf poisoning, and efforts to locate her remains may allow us to see, according to zooarchaeologist Lorrain Higbee, “the impact of its life as an entertainer…[which may] include evidence of confinement including trauma from shackling the animal or arthritis. It may also be possible to detect injuries or strains resulting from its performance duties, such as repetitive movements.” (via ArtNet).
A version of Queen Katherine Parr’s Prayers or Meditations that hid in a chimney for over 300 years before its rediscovery is now on display at the Fleur de Lis Museum in Faversham, Kent, England. (via BBC News)
In The Travel, Aaron Spray writes about the partial restoration of an ancient Hawaiian heiau (religious temple) and how visitors can now visit it. King Kamehameha the Great built the Pu’ukoholā Heiau as part of his efforts to united the Hawaiian islands under one rule.
Book of the Week: The Politzer Saga
On September 12th, Linda Ambrus Broenniman published The Politzer Saga, the compelling story of the Hungarian Jewish side of her family. Broenniman traces over three hundred years of history, bringing to life a myriad of characters and how they suffered and thrived during some of the most tumultuous times in history. Read my review below!
Artifact of the Week: Perseus with the Head of Medusa, Antonio Canova
Italian sculptor Antonio Canova captures the essence of this Greek myth in his early 19th-century statue. Constructed between 1804 and 1806, this sculpture depicts Perseus right after he beheaded the snake-crowned Gorgon. Canova was known as a Neoclassical artist, and the influence of classical works from antiquity can be clearly seen from the dramatic pose and the subject matter.
You can view this beautiful work of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Thank you again for your patience as I contended with work and travel and took some time for my mental health. Let me know what you think of the new format!
Cheers,