Celebrating H.D. — tonight 7PM!

Latest in a series of posts on H.D.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Live from IceHouse Tonight!

Radical Freedom: Poets on the Life and Work of H.D.
Join us September 8th at 7 PM as local poets celebrate the life and work of Bethlehem native Hilda Doolittle with a reading of H.D.’s poetry and their own. Featuring poets Nanette Smith, Sienna Mae Heath, Lynn Alexander, Katherine Falk, and Cleveland Wall—with an  introduction by Jennie Gilrain. This program is brought to you through the generous support of the Lehigh Valley Engaged Humanities Consortium.
———–
Performance will stream on the IceHouse Tonight Facebook page and on the IceHouse Tonight YouTube channel.
———–
Live from IceHouse Tonight delivers local arts to your living room. Presenting a diverse selection of virtual performances, the series is part of the larger IceHouse Tonight series, which features over 100 events each year. The series is proudly sponsored by Fig Bethlehem.
Cleveland Wall
————
Dear Finding H.D. participants,
The first year of Finding H.D., A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle culminated with a new play by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater: “The Secret” premiered at Touchstone Theatre’s Festival UnBound in the fall of 2019.
“The Secret” was scheduled for a second run in April of 2020. Sadly, the spring run  of our play was cancelled due to the pandemic.
The good news is that some of the related events featuring H.D. have become virtual…
Introducing Act 2:  A Series of Performances by Local Artists Inspired by H.D.
Please enjoy Radical Freedom: Poets on the Life and Work of H.D. 
Sincerely,
Jennie Gilrain
———–
P.S. We hope you have enjoyed some of our “Finding H.D.” events–lectures, readings, nature walks, book talks–organized by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater, Bradbury Sullivan LGBT Community Center, Bethlehem Area Public Library and Lehigh University Department of English and the South Side Initiative.  If you would like to be removed from this email list, please email Jennie Gilrain at jega@lehigh.edu.
———-
For Gadfly’s coverage of last year’s “Finding H. D.” series, go to H. D.
on the right sidebar.
———–
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Never enough H. D.! Thursday, February 13, 6:30-7:45, BAPL South Side

logo Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem logo

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Never enough H. D.!

HD discussion

And Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre’s original play The Secret about H. D., which premiered during Festival UnBound in October, returns April 2-5. Get your tickets early! Don’t miss!
Touchstone Theatre

Never enough H. D.! Thursday, February 13, 6:30-7:45, BAPL South Side

logo Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem logo

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Never enough H. D.!

HD discussion

And Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre’s original play The Secret about H. D., which premiered during Festival UnBound in October, returns April 2-5. Get your tickets early! Don’t miss!
Touchstone Theatre

H. D. portrait by Angela Fraleigh unveiled

logo Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem logo

Tip o’ the hat to Gadfly followers who contributed for the H.D. portrait through the BAPL go-fund me page and to the Laros Foundation for pitching in in a big way.

Bethlehem Area Public Library Receives Grant from R.K. Laros Foundation
for Portrait of H.D.

BETHLEHEM, PA (January 28, 2020) — The Bethlehem Area Public Library (BAPL) is pleased to announce it has received a grant from the R.K. Laros Foundation to support the library’s recently completed portrait commission of local literary legend H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), painted by local artist Angela Fraleigh, professor and chair of the Moravian College Art Department. The grant was presented to BAPL Executive Director Josh Berk and Chair of the Board of Trustees Anne Felker on Wednesday, January 22, by Laros Executive Director Sharon Jones Zondag and Trustees Ron Madison and Elizabeth Shimer Bowers. The Laros Foundation is “pleased to be a part of [the Library’s] mission to preserve our shared history and to bring the community into the vivid life of our local library.”

———–

BAPL’s Josh Berk hosted a “sneak preview” of the H. D. portrait last Saturday at the library.

(Gadfly apologizes for the lousy photo quality, captured from video taken with poor lighting. Portrait better seen on the videos below.)

H. D. 1

H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Angela Fraleigh

Video highlights of the “sneak preview”:

  • BAPL director Josh Berk sketches the history of the Finding H. D. project and the portrait with Doug Roysdon’s “H. D.” marionette watching over his shoulder.
  • Artist Angela Fraleigh unveils the portrait.
  • Fraleigh talks a bit about her work.
  • Actors Will Reichard-Flynn and Aidan Gilrain-McKenna, with Liam McKenna on trumpet, perform a scene from “The Secret,” an original play about H. D. that premiered during Festival UnBound in October.
  • Some audience members chatting about the portrait.

“The Secret,” devised by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater Company, directed by Jennie Gilrain, puppetmaker and chief playwright Doug Roysdon, returns April 2-5 at Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem. Reservations:  610-867-1689, or lisa@touchstone.org
Touchstone Theatre

More stories of Bethlehem women in leadership roles: stereotypes and epiphanies

logo 70th in a series of posts on Touchstone Theatre logo

The Secret

The Secret begins one day, in late nineteenth century Bethlehem, when sixteen year-old, Helen Wolle, mother of H.D., entered a Moravian Seminary classroom to rehearse a song she looked forward to performing. Much to her shock and, in fact, trauma, she was roughly told to be quiet, to end “this dreadful noise” by her pastor grandfather, Papalie. And Helen, who loved to sing so much and so well, would never sing again in public. The focus of the panel will be on women in leadership. We will connect the panel to the play via a question that Mamalie (Hilda’s maternal grandmother) asks Hilda in the beginning of the play, and H.D. asks the audience at the end of the play: “Who will follow the music?” 

Here are two more participants on the panel that followed a Festival Unbound performance of “The Secret,” the play about H. D.’s life. Moderator Jennie Gilrain gave the eight panelists about five minutes each to talk about their “dreams, hopes, works” and perhaps to recount a time when they were “encouraged or inspired or discouraged and oppressed from following your music.” Gadfly should have said last time that short biographies of these women can be found here.

Nancy Matos Gonzalez ran into the generational wall that college is for the boys but was fortunate to meet a woman who acted as her advocate and mentor. When running for office, she realized that she had to work harder after a man told her that Puerto Rican women are only interested in sex and their men are all on drugs.

Dr. Paige Van Wirt’s story is a story of epiphanies, one saying “O, my god, that’s my path” out of a soul-crushing job as a bond analyst after watching a movie in which a woman wants to be a doctor, and the another saying “I can do that” after leaving a City Council meeting angry and outraged.

to be continued . . .

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

H. D.: Gadfly recycles

logo39th in a series of posts on H.D.logo

Gadfly found this message crumpled on the floor of Touchstone Theatre after a performance of “The Secret,” the original play on H. D.’s life performed during the Festival UnBound.

A message apparently unheeded.

H. D.: in the last two posts, you’ve seen what you can admire and what she can inspire.

https://www.bapl.org/hd/

017

https://www.bapl.org/hd/

H. D.: what it feels like when what was so much is suddenly empty

logo38th in a series of posts on H.D.logo

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

You have read the poem, now listen to this–

my god . . .

——

Nevermore Will the Wind

Musical setting of H.D.’s poem

Fri Oct 25, 8 pm 

Sat Oct 26, 8 pm 

Zoellner Arts Center

420 E Packer Ave, Bethlehem

From composer Steven Sametz of Lehigh

University with 200 singers and orchestra. 

Also Faure Requiem

H. D.: “Never more will the wind / cherish you again”

logo37th in a series of posts on H.Dlogo

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

“Master,” said the Grasshopper, “what good is poetry?”

“Wait, Grasshopper,” said the Master, “till you have suffered loss. And then you will know.”

—–

Never more will the wind
cherish you again,
never more will the rain.

Never more
shall we find you bright
in the snow and wind.

The snow is melted,
the snow is gone,
and you are flown:

Like a bird out of our hand,
like a light out of our heart,
you are gone.

H. D.

Let this little poem by our Bethlehem poet whom we have discovered and celebrated all year sink in for an hour. Then come back to Gadfly again.

“Who will follow the music?” The panel after “The Secret” play about H. D.

logo36th in a series of posts on H.D.logo

Gadfly’s not done with coverage of Touchstone Theatre’s “Festival UnBound” — not by a longshot. He will be featuring several of the panels that convened during the 10-days, panels where important conversations were occurring.

Listen to your high-achieving fellow townswomen talk about their lives.
What can we learn?

“Who will follow the music?”
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP: Inspirations and Obstacles
after a performance of “The Secret”
moderated by Jennie Gilrain

The Secret begins one day, in late nineteenth century Bethlehem, when sixteen year-old, Helen Wolle, mother of H.D., entered a Moravian Seminary classroom to rehearse a song she looked forward to performing. Much to her shock and, in fact, trauma, she was roughly told to be quiet, to end “this dreadful noise.” by her pastor grandfather, Papalie. And Helen, who loved to sing so much and so well, would never sing again in public.

The focus of the panel will be on women in leadership. We will connect the panel to the play via a question that Mamalie (Hilda’s maternal grandmother) asks Hilda in the beginning of the play, and H.D. asks the audience at the end of the play: “Who will follow the music?’ 

Moderator Jennie Gilrain, who also directed the play, here frames the panel:

And here introduces the panelists: Phyllis Alexander, Yalitza Corcino-Davis, Abriana Ferrari, Mary C. Foltz, Nancy Matos Gonzalez, Margaret Kavanagh, Emily Santana, Dr. Paige Van Wirt. See here for short biographies.

Here is the full panel discussion, broken into two parts. Gadfly will return shortly with edited video of each panelist, enabling a better focus on individual stories.

Festival UnBound
Closed but never forgotten

Forest Bathing with H.D.

(35th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Forest bathing was one of the events in our year-long series of events entitled

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Sienna Mae Heath is a storywriter of landscapes, architecture, and gardens. A world traveler with a home base in Bethlehem, she knows how a strong sense of place sparks meaning in small moments. Check out her blog Garden Mindfully.

In the spirit of World Mental Health Day, blogger Sienna Mae Heath discusses seasonal depression. Going forest bathing helped her welcome the autumnal equinox with grace. How do you prepare for winter?

For many of us with seasonal depression, the first cool night signals a warning that it’s time to drop vitamin D infused oil on our morning toast, or else succumb to darkness. The sun sets a little sooner, the window for soaking up sunshine nearly closed. When I awoke on the fourth Sunday of September, I figured, all the more reason to let my blankets release me into the wild of Little Pond to go “Forest Bathing with H.D.”

Our guide was Anisa George. Her mother Bridget, who along with Bill George founded the arts retreat in 1996, motioned for me to park on the mix of gravel and grass across the way from their quaint refinished farmhouse. I nibbled on the edible garden of spearmint, cinnamon basil, and nasturtiums (which I think of as rogue peppery petunias).

“Welcome back,” the mother-daughter duo chimed in unison. Little Pond served as a spiritual and creatively charged oasis during my childhood, and here I was, having owned two houses, changed my career, and circling around from quite a few travels abroad – home.

This gathering brought seven women together. As we settled in a circle near the pond, Anisa shared the history of forest bathing – the English translation for the Japanese tradition of immersing oneself in nature. This tradition is only a few decades old. In the 1980s when workers were collapsing at their desks, the government took action. The result is now a global phenomenon, encouraging humanity to reconnect with the landscape.

Invitations and sharing circles

In forest bathing, there are invitations and sharing circles. Each free-flowing activity is an invitation to savor the sights, sounds, textures and scents around you. When given the sharing piece, similar to a talking stick, we could answer this question: What are you noticing?

“It’s okay to pass. It’s okay to share silence,” Anisa said. This added reassurance made me feel so free. Poetry, though not typically a part of forest therapy, sparks a calming freedom within. Anisa presented scrolls of poems by H.D., the Lehigh Valley poet also known as Hilda Doolittle, who was a great lover of the wild. The first piece of parchment pulled from the cup revealed:

Behold the dead are lost,

The grass has lain

Trampled

And stained

And sodden

Behold

Behold

Behold . . .

The grass rises

With flower-bud;

The grain

Lifts its bright spear head

To the sun again

Behold,

Behold

The dead

Are no more dead

The grain is gold

blade

stalk

and seed within;

the mysteries

are in the grass

and the rain.

“What stands out to me is ‘Behold, behold, behold’!” said fellow forest bather Gerry Nugent. “Even if it’s been trampled, behold, it’s still beautiful. We have four seasons in Pennsylvania. Never know what we’re going to get.”

After this first sharing circle came the first invitation. Anisa guided us up a hill to a mowed oval surrounded by trees. Laying like blades of grass, we became curious of what we’re welcoming on an inhale and what we’re giving on an exhale.

Each person inhaled something of their own and exhaled what they need to give to the world. For me, I welcomed the wind to join my breath. I welcomed confidence in the life I’ve built for myself in the past year. I gave gratitude to the family who helped make it possible.

Mindful of Motion

Prior to our next walk, Anisa asked that we be mindful of movement: “What’s in motion? If the only thing you notice is yourself, you might want to slow down.”

Children are constantly in motion. Inspired by H.D.’s “wild fulfillment” (and I by Brene Brown’s to be bold and play), we spread milkweed seeds to the wind. The pods slipped open, revealing what felt like a thousand dandelion seeds with the texture of a down pillow. I was surprised how many could fit in even the smallest spaces. Tapping into my inner child, I coaxed the next generation of monarch butterflies to pollinate this patch next summer.

Inevitably the group would disperse, like the seeds themselves, so Anisa taught us how to call each other without cell phones – we howled! The lesson learned is, first of all, it’s fun to howl like wolves in the wood, and if I can’t hear one wolf, perhaps I can hear another and then know it’s time to return to the sharing circle.

The Camera and Photographer invitation brought to mind technology once more, but soon we learned it only needed the human eye and hand. My partner was Kait Smart. Having just met, we embarked on this trust exercise. She closed her eyes, and I walked her to a textured stump. Then we switched roles and ended up blowing more milkweed.

“Look at this, this is what I see,” Gerry described the perspective gained by taking pictures in pairs. “How often do we get to do that in our daily lives? Maybe I will after this.”

Bridget George and Sally Cordova shared their adventure, too. When you keep your eyes closed, you can still see, Bridget noticed. “There’s always this flickering. Even when Monet’s eyesight left, he could somehow paint the landscape.”

Finding Home

After all, every molecule of the human body is nature. During our Hide and Seek, we went off individually into the deep woods to look for something that’s waiting to be found. Another poem by H.D. lingered on my journey:

shall I lie in the meadows sweet.

escaped,

escaped from the lot

of men,

like a faun in the desert,

like a wind

by the river bank?

again,

again

shall I rest

ecstatic in loneliness,

apart in the haunted forest

For our last final sharing circle, Anisa surprised us. From her photo lens bag came a bamboo mat, a teapot, and ceramic cups. She steeped goldenrod, which stems from the Latin “solidago” meaning solid, as it is used to heal wounds and make them whole. Flourishing in September, it is a pioneer plant that thrives wherever it is sown. Its presence nourishes the soil.

Coming home to ourselves and to each other was the budding theme. Bridget was the last to join the circle but hearing her howls in the distance we knew she grew near. “I went so far into the woods not wanting this to end . . . and I found this perfectly broken beech tree.”

Joanna also found a tree, smooth with two limbs for arms. Sitting in the groove of this tree, she reflected. She felt comforted, calm, home. “I value the playful space between sharing invitations and all the wilderness of nature,” she said. “I needed structure today but also space for the unexpected.”

Sally and I brought back mixed nuts. Beautifully, she shared the phases of life in the form of green and brown chestnuts. My experience was similar. I threw acorns to hear them bounce off the bark of grown trees and returned with a few nutshells, some whole, some broken. This invitation was a mixed bag, I confided in the group. Cradling a white wildflower by the roots, I set an intention to transplant it. So, like fauns in the desert, Joanna led me through gnarled vines, prolific raspberry bushes, and modest granite crystals to her beloved tree. Her temporary home became mine, and then the flower’s.

For future events, visit https://www.meetup.com/Lehigh-Valley-Forest-Therapy-Meetup-Group/ 

Sienna

Don’t miss “The Secret”! Last performance tonight!

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Last showing!

See it tonight!

(The marionettes are booked in Toronto tomorrow)

“The Secret” plays Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p at Touchstone Theatre: http://festivalunbound.com/the-secret/

Touchstone 1

L1000185

photo by Ed Leskin

How to Festival UnBound

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

The Festival’s stunning “Secret”

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

See it tonight!

“The Secret” plays Monday, October 7 – 7:30-9:00p and Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p at Touchstone Theatre: http://festivalunbound.com/the-secret/

Touchstone 1

Anecdote #7 from Gadfly reminiscences of life in the ‘hood when Bethlehem Steel was still the Big Daddy.

We live in a close neighborhood of houses with porches.

In nice weather, going to work for Gadfly meant going to the front porch. Gadfly’s work was to read and write. He sat. He didn’t use his hands. He didn’t get dirty. He didn’t carry a lunch bucket. To his steelman neighbors, he was “college boy” at age 30. He was “Eddie,” not Ed, still at age 50. He was not quite a man though he bred six athletic sons playing street ball right in front of them as they dodged to get to their cars. Not the kind of men to go to a play.

The attitude lingers in the neighborhood.

Sunday Gadfly went to a play — “The Secret.” “Where ya goin, Eddie?” “To a . . . play?” “Don’t you know the Eagles are on?”

Yes, Gadfly went to a play.

And a play based on a series of poems yet!

A combination designed to ratchet a steelman’s briefs three or four sizes tighter.

Women will readily understand H. D.  Men need to.

Hilda Doolittle was a born artist.

She had a gift, a gift little appreciated in the late 19th century Bethlehem of her youth.

Her autobiography virtually begins with the unwittingly brutal choking to death of her mother’s artistic talent by her grandfather.

Take three minutes and listen:

Momma’s voice was low and rich and vibrant. But she never sang again. And all the women felt they had failed.

It’s amazing that H. D. ever got to the equivalency of first base much less world renown in a culture that scorned feminine voices, even unconsciously, as “dreadful noise” and was able to give us her considerable gifts.

So the poem/play has meat, meaning, relevance.

But it is also visually and auditorily stunning. All you need do is go with the flow, as director Jennie Gilrain suggests — just let it wash over you.

The play has beautiful people, but, most of all, it has Doug Roysdon’s fabulous marionettes.

Don’t miss “The Secret”!
Playing tonight and tomorrow night

L1000185

L1000135

L1000129

fabulous photos by fabulous Ed Leskin

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

A special “Secret” on Sunday follows opening on Saturday

(32nd in a series of posts on H.D.)

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Gadfly calls your attention especially to the Sunday showing of the play — see bottom of page for all showings — because of the panel that will follow.  A panel that includes our Councilwoman Van Wirt, my Lehigh colleague Mary Foltz, and a Gadfly former student, the wonderful Emily Santana.

“The Secret: A New Play About Hilda Doolittle”
part of Festival UnBound

The premiere of a new play by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater on the Lehigh Valley’s most influential artist, the celebrated feminist writer and LGBTQ icon Hilda Doolittle, featuring narrative, song, and puppetry.

Post-Show Panel Discussion, Sun., Oct. 6, 2019, Play 1:00-2:30, Panel Discussion 2:30-3:30

“Who will follow the music?” WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP: Inspirations and Obstacles

Festival UnBound at Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem, PA, 18015

Panelists’ Biographies:

Phyllis Alexander has been a champion for social justice for several decades, and civil rights professional for over twenty years working for both corporate America and city government. Phyllis is an experienced coalition builder and trainer and credits her skills to her 28-year affiliation as senior trainer and board president with the National Coalition Building Institute, an international social justice/ social change organization. Currently, Phyllis is a consultant with the Promise Neighborhood of the Lehigh Valley, and is the Project Director for the Leadership Without Limits Leadership Institute. Phyllis retired as the City of Allentown’s Neighborhood Coordinator. Prior to this role, Phyllis worked as the city’s Director of the Bureau of Human Relations & Equal Opportunity.

Yalitza Corcino-Davis is a Learning Specialist and Assistant Professor at Lehigh Carbon Community College.  As a young child, she moved with her family from Puerto Rico to New Jersey. As one of the first women in her family to go to college, she understands the barriers some people experience to achieve their goals.  Yalitza is now in her second year of a doctoral program in education at Lehigh University. Her passion is helping students, traditional and returning adults, achieve their academic goals so they can achieve their life goals.  Yalitza is especially committed to the empowerment of underserved and marginalized populations.

Abriana Ferrari is 15 years old and in the 10th grade. She’s been homeschooled for 10 years and hopes to become an environmental lawyer when she is older. She loves the sciences (especially physics!) and aims to assist in the battle to conserve our environment. As for performance experience, she has been among the cast of many theatrical productions (including three Wizard of Oz’s, two Lion King’s, and two Beauty and the Beast’s in the span of three years). One of her favorite experiences was singing in Canterbury Cathedral in England. Outside of performing, she loves to write, compose, and play Dungeons and Dragons in the basement with her nerdy theatre friends.  Abriana is a cast member and composer for “The Secret.”

Mary C. Foltz is an Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University; she also offers classes in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies as well as American Studies. For the past years, she has served as the Director of the South Side Initiative, a program at Lehigh that brings community members and Lehigh faculty and students to engage in research that benefits our communities and inspires increased civic engagement. With South Side Initiative, Mary has developed an  LGBT oral history project, LGBT community reading group, and an online newspaper to highlight issues of import for residents of South Bethlehem as well as participating in a variety of public arts and humanities projects.

Nancy Matos Gonzalez, Magisterial District Judge, was elected to office in 1991, when at the age of 25 she became the first Hispanic Magisterial District Judge in the State of Pennsylvania.  She has since continued to preside in South Bethlehem, attaining commendable audit compliance standard reports at both the State and County level. She has also served as President of her County Judge’s Association. Judge Gonzalez and her husband support varying youth athletic organizations in South Bethlehem. She also partners with multiple schools in and around her district to encourage the educational and personal advancement of youth.

Margaret Kavanagh, head custodian at Freemansburg Elementary is married and lives in Bethlehem with her three dogs. In her 20’s, she worked enough to travel to every state (all but Alaska). In her 30s, she was a massage therapist and house painter.  In her 60’s, she and her wife will retire to South Carolina and travel in their RV, transporting rescue dogs to their adopted homes. Kavanagh has been working for the Bethlehem Area School District for 11 yrs. When not working, she volunteers with local animal rescues, plays djembe and recently joined the volunteer committee for Celtic Classic! Kavanagh founded an advocacy group for pitbulls, Mispits. She is passionate about truth, kindness and recycling!

Emily Santana is your friendly neighborhood waitress having worked at Jenny’s Kuali, in South Side Bethlehem, for over 6 years. She always knew she wanted to work for and with under-served families and worked in that capacity as a community resource coordinator for the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley for three years. She has now embarked on a new journey as an ER Tech in St. Luke’s Sacred Heart campus located in the heart of Allentown. She believes she is one step closer to melding her dream of working in the medical field, being a social justice advocate, and teacher, in her community.

Dr. Paige Van Wirt is a physician who co-founded a mobile medical practice that cares for Lehigh Valley seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care; her practice cares for over 2500 elders and now employs 23 people. She is a former urban planner with the City of New York, and is currently on Bethlehem City Council. She lives in Bethlehem with her husband Tim and 15 year old twins. She believes passionately in the power of local government and in an activist city council which truly represents the people.

——

DATES & TIMES:

Saturday, October 5 – 5:00-6:30p | Talkback 6:30-7:00p

Sunday, October 6 – 1:00-2:30p (Audio Description) | Panel 2:30-3:30p

Monday, October 7 – 7:30-9:00p

Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p

VENUE: Touchstone Theatre | 321 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA

PRICE: $25 adult & $15 student/senior; limited amount of Pay What You Will tickets for purchase; please call 610-867-1689 to order.


How to Festival UnBound

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Get your tickets for “The Secret”!

(31st in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Come on, now, it’s time to get your tickets for the original play on H.D.’s life,  The Secret, by Bethlehem’s own fabulous Mock Turtle Marionette Theater.

Marionettes 1

DATES & TIMES:

Saturday, October 5 – 5:00-6:30p | Talkback 6:30-7:00p

Sunday, October 6 – 1:00-2:30p  | Panel 2:30-3:30p

Monday, October 7 – 7:30-9:00p

Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p

VENUE: Touchstone Theatre | 321 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA

PRICE: $25 adult & $15 student/senior; limited amount of Pay What You Will tickets for purchase; please call 610-867-1689 to order.

http://festivalunbound.com/the-secret/

Lehigh University photo

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

H. D. play (and panel) challenges us to follow our music!

(30th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Listen up! Festival UnBound starts this week. In which is the original play on H.D.’s life,  The Secret, by the fabulous Mock Turtle Marionette Theater.

H. D. marionette

Here’s what Jennie Gilrain says about the play’s relevance:

“I am in the midst of designing the panel that will take place after the second performance on Oct. 6th. The focus will be on women in leadership. We will connect the panel to the play via a question that Mamalie (Hilda’s maternal grandmother) asks Hilda in the beginning of the play, and H.D. asks the audience at the end of the play: “Who will follow the music?’  The women on our panel will talk about their work and dreams and tell a story about a moment in which they were encouraged/ inspired or discouraged/ oppressed/ prevented from following their music. We hope to explore ways in which we as a community can encourage women to follow their dreams.”

DATES & TIMES:

Saturday, October 5 – 5:00-6:30p | Talkback 6:30-7:00p

Sunday, October 6 – 1:00-2:30p  | Panel 2:30-3:30p

Monday, October 7 – 7:30-9:00p

Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p

VENUE: Touchstone Theatre | 321 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA

PRICE: $25 adult & $15 student/senior; limited amount of Pay What You Will tickets for purchase; please call 610-867-1689 to order.

http://festivalunbound.com/the-secret/

Gadfly has always tried to march to a different drummer — how about you?

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

The H.D. event this Saturday on hold!

(29th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

From organizer Jennie:

Regretfully, H.D.’s Bethlehem: A Walking Tour, which was scheduled to take place this coming Saturday, Sept. 28th, must be rescheduled. Our tour guide and H.D. scholar, Seth Moglen, needs to recover from an ankle injury before he can lead the walk! Stay tuned. We will let you know when we have a new date!

Our next event is part of Festival UnBound at Touchstone Theatre, http://festivalunbound.com/the-secret/

The Secret 
The premiere of a new play by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater on the Lehigh Valley’s most influential artist, the celebrated feminist writer and LGBTQ icon Hilda Doolittle, featuring narrative, song, and puppetry.

DATES & TIMES:

Saturday, October 5 – 5:00-6:30p | Talkback 6:30-7:00p

Sunday, October 6 – 1:00-2:30p (Audio Description) | Panel 2:30-3:30p

Monday, October 7 – 7:30-9:00p

Tuesday, October 8 – 7:30-9:00p

VENUE: Touchstone Theatre | 321 E. Fourth Street, Bethlehem, PA

PRICE: $25 adult & $15 student/senior; limited amount of Pay What You Will tickets for purchase; please call 610-867-1689 to order.

Gadfly thanks followers who made contributions to the H. D. portrait fund, but we still have a long way to go.

The Library GoFundMe page shows contributions of $5, $10, $20, as well as some higher.

Please pitch in!

See the library’s GoFundMe page to make online contributions.

Festival UnBound
Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Can you pick out H. D. from this gallery of Bethlehem women?

(28th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

Next event: H.D.’s Bethlehem: A Walking Tour, Saturday, September 28, 2019. 1-3 pm, Rain date: September 29, 1-3 pm, Meet at the Bethlehem Area Public Library, 11 W. Church Street, Bethlehem, led by Seth Moglen, Professor of English, Lehigh University.

Can you pick H. D. out of this album of Bethlehem women noteworthy for their dedicated public spirit?

Wow! Good going! You are special!
It was the hair-style that gave her away, right?

But we want to make sure that H. D.’s face as well as her work is recognizable by everybody in town.

To wit: the Bethlehem Area Public Library has commissioned Angela Fraleigh, painter, professor, and chair of the Moravian College art department to do a portrait of H. D. that will hang in a place of honor in the library (there is already a plaque outside).

We are talking a high quality, museum-class portrait.

Contributions toward the $3500 goal for the portrait are still 2/3’s short.

If Gadfly followers donated $5 each we’d be over 50% there. And do the higher math.

See the library’s GoFundMe page to make online contributions.

Easy!

Tip o’ the hat from Gadfly.

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Celebrate Bethlehem’s great native artist Hilda Doolittle in this new play, part of Touchstone Theatre’s “Festival UnBound”

(27th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

dollar sign

Contributions to fund the museum-quality portrait of H. D. by local artist Angela Fraleigh that will hang prominently in the library are REALLY lagging. Can you please help? Visit http://www.bapl.org/hd/

 

Doug Roysdon’s marionettes are fabulous — don’t miss!

H. D. marionette
World Premiere!
“The Secret”
A New Mixed-Media Play about H.D.
by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater
Sat Oct 5, 5 pm with talkback at 6:30 pm
Sun Oct 6, 1 pm with panel discussion at 2:30 pm
Mon Oct 7 @ 7:30 pm
Tues Oct 8 @ 7:30 pm

Touchstone TheatreFestival UnBound
321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem
From artistic director of Mock Turtle Marionette
Theater and chief writer Doug Roysdon, featuring
narrative, song, and puppetry. Directed by 

The Play:  The Secret begins one day, in late nineteenth century Bethlehem, when sixteen year-old, Helen Wolle, mother of H.D., entered a Moravian Seminary classroom to rehearse a song she looked forward to performing. Much to her shock and, in fact, trauma, she was roughly told to be quiet, to end “this dreadful noise.” by her pastor grandfather, Papalie. And Helen, who loved to sing so much and so well, would never sing again in public.

So begins The Secret, our community-inspired and community-produced celebration of Bethlehem’s great native artist, Hilda Doolittle. It is a play that follows H.D.’s poetic adventure to London, Greece and Vienna. Yet, the lessons and events of her Moravian childhood, memories that dramatically shaped her life and writings, fill the play as they did H.D.’s life and work. And so, as The Secret moves from myth and ritual to the devastating realities of the London air raids . . . it never entirely leaves Church Street.

The Project:  Over the past year, a partnership including The Bethlehem Area Public Library, the Lehigh University English Department, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, and Mock Turtle Marionette Theater has fostered a wide-ranging community initiative with a single unified goal. That is to assert poet and feminist visionary, Hilda Doolittle’s place as the most important and accomplished artist to hail from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In this, we strive to join other American communities who understand the importance of celebrating their gifted daughters just as they have always recognized their native sons. The Secret represents the culmination of the Finding H.D. Project, a year of programs featuring the many facets of H.D.’s artistic work.

 

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Festival UnBound

Ten days of original theatre, dance, music, art and conversation designed to celebrate and imagine our future together!
October 4-13

Just added: new event in the year-long Finding H. D. series

(26th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

dollar sign

Contributions to fund the museum-quality portrait of H. D. by local artist Angela Fraleigh that will hang prominently in the library are lagging. Can you please help? Visit http://www.bapl.org/hd/

 

HD sametz 1

 

H. D. events in September and October + portrait contributions needed!

(25th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

dollar sign

Contributions to fund the museum-quality portrait of H. D. by local artist Angela Fraleigh that will hang prominently in the library are lagging. Can you please help? Visit http://www.bapl.org/hd/

 

Forest Bathing with H.D. 
September 22, 2019. 2-5 pm
Rain date: September 21, 2-5 pm

Little Pond Arts Retreat
92 South Penn Dixie Road, Nazareth
A meditative Shinrin Yoku practice with readings of
H.D.’s work. Limited to 10 participants. Register by
emailing jega@lehigh.edu. First come first served.
Given by Anisa George.
 
H.D.’s Bethlehem: A Walking Tour
September 28, 2019. 1-3 pm
Rain date: September 29, 1-3 pm

Meet at the Bethlehem Area Public Library
11 W. Church Street, Bethlehem
Led by Seth Moglen, Professor of English,
Lehigh University.

World Premiere!
“The Secret”
A New Mixed-Media Play about H.D.
by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater

Sat Oct 5, 5 pm with talkback at 6:30 pm
Sun Oct 6, 1 pm with panel discussion at 2:30 pm
Mon Oct 7 @ 7:30 pm
Tues Oct 8 @ 7:30 pm

Touchstone Theatre Festival UnBound
321 East 4th Street, Bethlehem
From artistic director of Mock Turtle Marionette
Theater and chief writer Doug Roysdon, featuring
narrative, song, and puppetry. Directed by 
Jennie Gilrain.

Mark your calendars: “H.D.’s Bethlehem: A Walking Tour”

(24th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

dollar sign

Contributions to fund the museum-quality portrait of H. D. by local artist Angela Fraleigh that will hang prominently in the library are lagging. Can you please help? Visit http://www.bapl.org/hd/

 

Mark your calendars Sept. 28 for “H.D.’s Bethlehem: A Walking Tour,” led by Seth Moglen. Further details will be announced.

Those of you attending “Finding H. D.” events or following reports of them here on the blog (see Hilda Doolittle on the sidebar) know that H. D. left Bethlehem at age 10, but returned to it artistically throughout her life, and was buried here in Nisky Hill cemetery.

People come to Bethlehem to pay homage at her grave site.

H. D. not only adds to the artistic luster of our town but continues to chip in economically too!

HD Nisky

 

 

 

Gadfly has heard more than one talk of difficulty finding the site.

Seth will guide us.

photo by Jennie Gilrain

 

 

 

One visitor wrote: “The old granite is covered in tokens left by visitors; pebbles, shells [familiar imagery], feathers and folded sheets of paper tucked under a rock and recently plastered to the stone by a night of mid-summer rain. Often, visits to grave sites are lonely affairs, a simple place to stand and be reminded of a literary life well-lived. But H.D.’s memorial does not feel that way. Rather, it suggests that it is its own destination, a place where the writer came full circle, a place others have visited recently and where more are sure to swing by soon; a writer’s end very much connected to her beginning.”

Bethlehem was very special in H. D.’s life.

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Finding H. D. — Funding H. D.

(23rd in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

What a difference one letter makes!

So Gadfly went all in for a donation to the GoFundMe for Angela Fraleigh’s commissioned portrait for the Bethlehem Area Public Library described to you in his last post on H. D.

He dug up a Chef Boyardee spaghetti can with cash in it planted in the backyard for safe-keeping during the Cold War and peeled off $100.

That figure shouldn’t scare you.

Just $5 – $10 each from certified, card-carrying Gadfly followers would seal the commission. More, of course, would be welcome.

Now if we and others don’t come through financially, it’s true that we have adorable options.

Just look at these contributions from H. D. fans among kid library patrons!

H. D. kids 3

But don’t let the kids out-do us.

Go to http://www.bapl.org/hd/ for information on how to donate either by check or online.

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

The Bethlehem Area Public Library portrait of H. D. needs our help

(22nd in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

hildadoolittleh.d.

A few days ago Gadfly reported that Moravian College’s Angela Fraleigh was commissioned to do the portrait of H. D. that will hang in the Bethlehem Area Public Library, literally on the spot where she lived as a child.

“Not only is H.D.’s poetry evocative and mesmerizing,” says Fraleigh, “but her work aligns with my own interests, as she helps reconstruct a mythic past for women. It’s an honor to receive this commission.”

Fraleigh is a distinguished artist — take a look at her work here.

And see her talk about her work here: “Inside the Artist’s Studio: Angela Fraleigh”

Fraleigh_ Where the Bones of Us

Where the Bones of us Hunger for Nothing
Angela Fraleigh 2014

The H. D. portrait will be a museum-quality work of art by a professional painter.

As Gadfly writes, the library has raised $515 of the $3000 goal.

Gadfly is in — how about you?

Go to http://www.bapl.org/hd/ for information on how to donate either by check or online.

“Writing. Love is writing.”

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Forest Bathing with H.D. (21)

(21st in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

—–

It is time to register for our next Finding H.D. event:

Forest Bathing with H.D.

September 22, 2019. 2-5 pm
Rain date: September 21, 2-5 pm
Little Pond Arts Retreat
92 South Penn Dixie Road, Nazareth
A meditative Shinrin Yoku practice with readings of
H.D.’s work. Limited to 10 participants. Register by
emailing jega@lehigh.edu. First come first served. 

Given by Anisa George.

The white violet / is scented on its stalk, / the sea-violet / fragile as agate, /lies fronting all the wind / among the torn shells / on the sand-bank.

009

The greater blue violets

flutter on the hill,

but who would change
for
these

who would change for these

one root of the white sort?

Violet / your grasp is frail / on the edge of the sand-hill, / but you catch the light — /

                                               frost, a star edges with its fire.

 

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

photo by Jennie Gilrain
taken in her Southside neighborhood

Portrait of Bethlehem-born poet H. D. commissioned, fund-raising campaign steps up (20)

(20th in a series of posts on H.D.)

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle

Bethlehem-born writer Hilda Doolittle — H. D. —  (1886-1961) is
the “Lehigh Valley’s most important literary figure.”

—–

Kate Racculia
Bethlehem Area Public Library, Development & Marketing Specialist
kracculia@bapl.org     610.867.3761 x 259

Bethlehem Area Public Library Commissions

Portrait of H.D. from Local Artist

(Bethlehem, PA) — The Bethlehem Area Public Library (BAPL) is thrilled to announce it has awarded its portrait commission of local literary great H.D. to Angela Fraleigh, painter, professor, and chair of the Moravian College art department.

The completed museum-quality portrait will hang permanently in the Main Library at West Church Street, commemorating H.D. as a citizen of Bethlehem who made a tremendous contribution to literature and the world–and who, as a child, lived on land where the library now stands.

Bethlehem native Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961), known as H.D., drew on the experiences of her hometown throughout her long writing life. H.D.’s innovative and experimental poetry and prose established her as a leading Modernist in the early twentieth century, and she is widely recognized today as a queer, feminist visionary. She remains the most influential literary figure born in the Lehigh Valley.

Angela Fraleigh received her BFA in painting from Boston University and her MFA in painting from the Yale University School of Art, and was a Core Artist in Residence in Houston, Texas. She has mounted solo exhibitions at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York; Inman Gallery in Houston, Texas; and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Her work “weaves together realism and abstraction in lush and complex works…that reimagine women’s roles in art history, literature, and contemporary media.”

Angela Fraleigh graduated with an MFA from Yale University and a BFA from Boston University.  She has exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO and has been the recipient of several awards and residencies including the Yale University Alice Kimball English grant, The Sharpe Walentas Program Brooklyn, NY and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE. Fraleigh most recently created a site-specific body of paintings for a solo exhibition at the Vanderbilt Mansion Museum in Hyde Park, NY, the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY and the Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack, NY. Fraleigh looks forward to upcoming solo exhibitions at the Delaware Art Museum in 2019 and the Reading Public Museum in 2020. Her work “weaves together realism and abstraction in lush and complex works…that reimagine women’s roles in art history, literature, and contemporary media.”

“Not only is H.D.’s poetry evocative and mesmerizing,” says Fraleigh, “but her work aligns with my own interests, as she helps reconstruct a mythic past for women. It’s an honor to receive this commission.”

The portrait is commissioned in conjunction with Finding H.D., a 12-month long public exploration of the life and work of the poet, culminating in the premiere of a new play by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater in October of 2019 at Touchstone Theatre’s Festival Unbound. Finding H.D. is a partnership between the Lehigh University English Department, Mock Turtle Marionette Theater, the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, and BAPL. BAPL announced an open call for portrait submissions in the spring, and the commission was awarded by a committee of Finding H.D. stakeholders, artists, and community members.

“The idea for a portrait of H.D. came from renowned portrait artist Ben Fortunado Marcune, who approached us with a proposal in 2017,” says BAPL Executive Director Josh Berk. “Unfortunately, Ben passed away before work could begin on the painting. We were so saddened by this loss, but decided to move ahead with the portrait of Bethlehem’s greatest literary figure. We worked with our friends at Lehigh University as well as ArtsQuest, the City of Bethlehem, and the local arts community to conduct a search for a portrait artist. We were so impressed with all the submissions and so happy that Angela Fraleigh was chosen. It is going to be a beautiful work of art and a wonderful way to honor H.D.!”

The portrait is expected to be unveiled before the end of the year. To learn more about the library’s fundraising campaign for the portrait, please visit bapl.org/hd.

About the Bethlehem Area Public Library

On December 1, 1900 nine prominent women from Bethlehem’s north, south and west sides met to “consider the need of a Public Library in the Bethlehems and to devise methods by which it might be established.” On February 1, 1901 the doors to the free reading room and library officially opened to the public, and the Bethlehem Area Public Library has faithfully served the community since. Committed to the public good, the Library educates, informs, and inspires by providing community, engagement, and free and open access to materials and information. bapl.org

Finding H.D.:
A Community Exploration of the Life and Work of Hilda Doolittle