beautiful ugly things

I like to go to a friend's Fair Haven scene shop in a run down industrial part of New Haven and look at the abandoned brick power plant across the river. It must have been built in the 20s because it has elegant art deco architectural details. It's monstrously big, and probably toxic. I love to think about how dangerous it must be to go inside. It might be one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen.



I also love to look at war planes, like this B-25 and the B-24 and B-17 behind it at the Oxford airport on Thursday. They are exceedingly dangerous too, with guns on all sides, and large parts of their insides dedicated to holding bombs. And they are sleek, stunningly powerful looking, and gorgeous in every way.

going in circles

Me losing a race on Saturday night to Scarlet O'Hurtya.

When I first joined the CT Roller Girls I was a far better and faster skater then any of them. No surprise since I've ice and roller skated for 30 years and had been practicing with the intimidating Providence derby league. In CT I was the big star.

Now, 4 months later, they can keep up with me, and some are faster yet. I don't win the races anymore. Loosing my star status might be upsetting, except that I take a lot of pride in being part of their progress, which is far more gratifying then being the fastest was.

I started derby as I start every new undertaking-- running away from previous undertakings which have become problematic. It was meant to be a distraction, but it turned into a difficult, epic adventure, and I decided early on if I was going to jump in all the way I'd only stay for as long as I was needed. Now that my prodigies have matched me, I wonder a lot lately if it's time to go. Especially when I'm lying on the rink after being punched in the chest, unable to breathe, as happened last week. I thought between wheezes: maybe, if there is not a rib puncturing my lung, it's time to go back to ice dancing.

But every time I think so, derby miraculously returns me to my roots, and strengthens them. When I started skating in Warwick RI, I had no idea I'd joined up with a bunch of other RISD grads, who have become friends. I've met new puppeteers, firespinners and artists via rollergirl connections. Derby PR events have provided me with some performance opportunities I've always wished for. And I never expected that a reporter doing a story on derby would end up in my studio interviewing me about my books for a teachers magazine. (Hello, Jessica!)

It's all fantastic, but even so sometimes I get a little antsy. I wish I could find a place to go from time to time where I truly was another person with no connection to Linda Wingerter whatsoever. But karma goes in circles and no matter how fast you are you can't outrun it. Especially when you're on the right path.

fairy magic

I've felt guilty enough that my blog hasn't been much about picture book illustration lately, and now that I have to come up with a picture book topic every week for the Blue Rose Girls Blog, it's even harder to come up with another for this blog.

It's not that I don't think about picture books anymore-- I do all the time. But maybe because I've been thinking about it for so long, nothing I come up with seems interesting or revelatory.

But here's a nice thing that happened this week in addition to the arrival of my 6th book. Yesterday I found another mysterious cardboard box on my porch. Again I scrambled to remember what I might have impulse ordered online one late night. But it was a lovely collection of all the new stationary products Peaceable Kingdom Press has made of one piece of art I did for them a while ago. These three little fairies have taken off and multiplied over a dozen cards, gift tags, bags, posters, stationary, etc. It's a very welcomed surprise.

small souls

My mum calls me "druid" because she read somewhere that druids believed everything alive and inanimate had a soul. In childhood I had the sense my stuffed animals and dolls were soul-filled creatures, and I treated them as such. I still do. I am not able to throw away anything that is shaped like an animal or person, for the fear it will feel abandoned. So I have hundreds of stuffed animals, figurines, and dolls tucked away in every corner of the house. I keep them in pairs or groups so they won't feel lonely.

My mom thinks it's a sickness, and in fact I've read about a similar diagnosable condition. But I think it must have been the puppets. What else could be expected from raising a kid in a puppet theater where foam and wooden figures move around and talk, and are cared for with great reverence? It was the puppets, mum, the puppets!

Photo: my first try at making a hand puppet, for the Quinnipiac class; and a stuffed Garfield I found in the street last week. Washed and revived of course.

jam

A link to a video of a jam this Tuesday. I'm the jammer (the racer) in white and grey.

I'm in awful form. It was the first night my new team was together as a team, of which I'm captain, and we were down a blocker or two. Jamming was harder then usual. I hadn't fully transformed from Linda to Polly. I was shaking, breathless and nauseous from nerves, realizing just then what a responsibility I've taken on. But at one point my blockers cleared a wide inside track for me so that I could just breeze by the whole pack. I was so proud of them and so tired that through the last half of this video I'm crying hysterically. They must all think I'm crazy.

It's such a weird hobby to take up. Especially when I'm making serene and gentle puppets and picture books the rest of the day.

the studio 8-9-06

The Blue Rose Girls Blog posed the question "What's on your desk?" A lot, but mostly puppets, puppet books, and a wedding dress. Puppets and puppet books: because I'm getting ready to co-teach Intro to Puppetry at Quinnipiac University this fall. Wedding dress: inexplicable.

fish and bird

blog mania

The Blue Rose Girls now have a collective blog, and it's already pretty interesting. If you're into children's books keep an eye on it.

I am a Blue Rose Girl so I'm contributing a weekly post on Thursdays. Today is my first.

escape

Tired of the humidity, rt 95, and other troubles that plague me in CT, on Sunday I dropped everything and flew to Naples, Italy, and took the ferry to the beautiful Isle of Capri. The weather was bright and breezy. There were lemon trees, white washed cottages decorated with cobalt blue ceramic tiles, and everywhere I went people spoke a language I could not understand, which came as great relief. Every thing I ate was freshly picked, and I spoke no words except "grazie", and "bonjourno", and "bella".

Actually, it was just Long Island, where I had family matters to attend to. But it was a lovely day, the food was good, and the ferry ride was pretty relaxing.

fame (fortune still missing)

Polly had every form of media covered last week. She was the lead interview on a Channel 3 TV spot, on WPLR radio, and in the Record-Journal newspaper today. I only wish Linda, the children's book illustrator, could get a fraction of this kind of publicity.


Jayne Bondage and I get interviewed by Diana Rocco of Channel 3 and Chaz from the Chaz & AJ Show.



Jayne and I are confused by unexpected questions. Neither of us are familiar with morning radio banter. And we stink from skating in the hot sun all morning in our smelly gear, as evidenced in Diana Rocco's face.


Us with News Channel 3's Scot Haney, who was as cool as his amazingly cool pants.

This picture makes me realize how much smaller I am then the others. I think of myself as a lot bigger. Maybe I shouldn't have seen this.

relic #3

Blue light.

beach skating

Roller girls skate, wrestle and flyer the West Haven beach at the Buried at the Beach festival.

Our charm gets us on tv and the radio, some excited new fans, and Elvis takes a liking to us.

relic #2

The Inspiration of Saint Matthew, Caravaggio, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

relic #1

"And Polo said: 'The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here.... There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure.' "

the studio 7-22-06

It's a disaster. Too much paperwork. Too many books. I'm trying to purge. Maybe I'll uncover a few buried relics of past inspiration.

ode

...to L.O.L.A., my car. That stands for Lap Of Luxury Automobile. She's a 98 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. She has power windows, fabric seats, and rides like a dream. She is reliable and comfortable enough for sleeping. I love her. She enables all my adventures, like this trip to Vermont.

This is my mum's house, which was a dumpy little hunting cabin when she bought it. She's added the section on the left, the porches, the garage, and the steeped roof, and the gardens. She's also just clear cut trees all around so the place looks like a grand estate hidden in the shady woods of Vermont. I barely recognized it.


This is my mum, who I know will be mad at me for putting her picture up. But she is amazing. She's surveying her mother's clematis which she has revived.

This is also an ode to my mum. I love her too.

WaterFire

Fire, water and a good friend once again make for a night of mystery and magical occurrences.

An evening passagio at WaterFire in Providence, RI, which felt more like an imaginary Venezia with gondolas, chandeliers beneath bridges, a carnation-bearing commedia dell'arte clown, tango dancers in the street, and music from the canal echoing through the city.

And fire.

Miss Understood

Lots of people are unhappy with me right now. I count a dozen at least, probably more I'm not aware of.

I know it's hard to understand why I'm so set on roller derby which takes up a whole lot of time and seems to be a pointless risk to my health. Though I was led to it by synchronicity, in getting to know the other women I've discovered there are actually logical reasons behind it. And those with preconceptions from the past about what derby is now, cast them away, because the revival is not what you think.

And rollergirls are not what you think either. They are tattoo artists, biker chicks, stay at home moms, marketing executives, nurses, yoga instructors, chefs, therapists, veterinarians, elementary school teachers-- and a children's book illustrator, just in my league alone. All very different, all equally wonderful, and very many with a recurring theme in their background that I share, and which I'm now sure is the common denominator that has drawn us to this uncommon sport.

Good and unexpected things are coming from this. All will be revealed in time. Meanwhile, please have faith in me.

Photo: me, as Polly Sonic, in the silver helmet.

rabbits

Thanks to Grace and Alvina's blogs, I found this little quiz, What Book Are You? How flattering. Take the quiz and post what book you are in my comments!

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.