PUBLIC DOMAIN COURTESY OF RYAN KYUNGROC KIM WEEK 46, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION

Painting occupied Leonardo a central part of da Vinci’s life. He considered it a ‘divine science.’ da Vinci CAPTURING DIVINE LIGHT Page 4

A NUN’S ‘LAST SUPPER’ Rediscovering Sister What ‘Joker’ Plautilla Nelli’s Can Teach Us great masterpiece About Free Will Page 2 Page 9

ESCAPE FROM EAST BERLIN 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former diplomat Jochen Wolter recalls his family’s daring escape to West Berlin Page 6 “Virgin of the Rocks,” circa –  B22 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 2019 THURSDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 7, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION |B3 3

FINE ARTS ALL PHOTOS BY RABATTI & DOMINGIE The signature with the appeal “Pray for the A Nun’s ‘Last Supper’ paintress.” Rediscovering Sister Plautilla Nelli’s great masterpiece

LORRAINE FERRIER Conservator Rossella Lari ho better to paint biblical makes a few scenes than someone who finishing had devoted her life to God. touches. Sister Plautilla Nelli painted 13 Wlife-size male figures, depicting the mo- ment of Christ’s betrayal, across a 21-foot canvas—one of the largest paintings by any early female artist worldwide. Nelli’s “Last Supper,” painted around 1550, is the only “Last Supper” known to have Around eight been painted by a woman. The painting was nuns are recently unveiled in the Old Refectory of the thought to have Santa Maria Novella museum in Florence, painted Nelli’s Italy, after four years of extensive restora- “Last Supper.” tion. It is now part of the museum’s perma- This is one of nent display. Nelli’s most Yet, you can be forgiven for never hav - successfully ing heard of Florence’s first female painter. painted saints. Essentially, it wasn’t until 1938 that Nelli was rediscovered and noted in an article by Giovanna Pierattini titled “Sister Plautilla Nelli, Dominican Painter.” As recently as 2006, only three works were attributed to her. Now there are nearly two dozen. Many of Nelli’s works, like the “Last Sup- per,” have been recovered and restored to their former glory, largely due to fundraising by the U.S. organization Advancing Women Artists (AWA). It was founded in 2009 by the (Above) to a draper. In 1538, at the age of 14, Pulisena attini noted in her 1938 essay. Undoubtedly, examples of hair due to its being hidden of wooden models that the sisters at the (Top) late author and philanthropist Jane Fortune The newly took to the cloth and became Sister Plautilla this rich cultural environment would’ve under the habit. convent may have also inherited. Sister (1942–2018). restored in the Dominican Convent of Saint Cath- As recently aided any artist. The religious artwork in The art historian and artist Giorgio Vasari Bartolomeo was a prominent devotional Plautilla Fortune was intrigued as to why so little “Last erine of Siena, in Florence. Her only sibling as 2006, only Nelli’s convent would have also aided spiri- noted that Nelli “had no great practice in her painter of the San Marco School, who was Nelli’s was known of Nelli’s works considering that Supper,” had preceded her into the convent. Nelli was three works tual contemplation and concentration. art,” in his 1568 publication, “Lives of the inspired by the pre-eminent Italian painter “Last her paintings were popular when she was by Plautilla a prioress at the convent on three occasions, Nelli painted large canvases with biblical Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Ar- Fra Angelico. Bartolomeo’s drawings, con- Supper,” Nelli is alive. Fortune vowed to make other female and possibly when she painted the “Last were attrib- subjects. Her “Last Supper” was a work- chitects.” What he meant was that women sisting of not only Bartolomeo’s works but before now on undergoing artists visible, and hence the AWA’s aim Supper.” uted to Sister shop piece; eight sisters are thought to have were unable to apprentice in a workshop also those of many other accomplished art- be tedious to attempt to speak of them all.” permanent 4 years of is to “research, restore, and exhibit art by display in Nelli continued the artistic tradition of Plautilla Nelli. worked on the painting, all with varying alongside a master. Nelli would not have ists, were a valuable resource for her to copy restoration. To find out more about Plautilla Nelli’s women in Tuscany’s museums, churches, the Old the early 16th-century School of San Marco, Now there are levels of skill. The painting was originally learned to study, draw, and copy living and and hone her skills. “Last Supper” visit SMN.it and storehouses.” Refectory which aligned with the concepts and phi- hung in the refectory of the Dominican Con- natural objects as men did, Vasari wrote. “She, beginning little by little to draw and AWA’s recovery of Nelli’s forgotten oeuvre at Santa losophy of Friar Girolamo Savonarola. In nearly two vent of Saint Catherine of Siena, where at Nelli worked with what she had. She to imitate in colors pictures and paintings by The restoration of Nelli’s “Last Supper” led to the Uffizi’s first exhibition of her work Maria 1495, Savonarola instigated the Bonfire of dozen. mealtimes the sisters were able to reflect on taught herself art through the first book of excellent masters, has executed some works is the result of many expert hands at the in 2017: “Plautilla Nelli: Convent Art and Novella the Vanities, whereby objects that encour- the religious scene, aiding their meditations. meditations on the rules of drawing by Ales- with such diligence, that she has caused the Municipality of Florence, Florentine Civic Devotion in the Footsteps of Savonarola,” museum in aged people to sin were destroyed, such as Although the confines of the convent sandro Allori and M. Agnolo Bronzino, as craftsmen to marvel,” Vasari wrote. Museums, the Superintendent’s Office for which included 15 of the 20 paintings and Florence. cosmetics, art, and literature. At that time, workshop meant that Nelli must have been Vasari attests to in his “Lives,” and simply Indeed they did marvel. Nelli’s art was Archeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of drawings attributed to the artist that AWA Savonarola also supported art created by limited to certain artistic experiences, she through copying great art. Along with the highly regarded by noblemen who believed Florence, Pistoia and Prato, and the Do- had restored over the course of a decade. religious women “as a way to avoid sloth.” overcame these challenges. For example, interior of the convent, which would have that her paintings held a mystical quality. minican friars of the Monastery of Santa Dominican monasteries and convents as a nun she couldn’t study anatomy. In ad- had remarkable devotional works, she had Her paintings were “in the houses of gentle- Maria Novella. The project is detailed in Sister, Prioress, and Painter were places that focused on fostering litera- dition, apart from her own hair, she may inherited 500 of Fra Bartolomeo’s draw- men throughout Florence,” Vasari wrote. the book “Visible. Plautilla Nelli and her Pulisena Margherita Nelli was born in 1524, ture, music, painting, and miniatures, Pier- not have been able to closely study other ings. Bartolomeo also owned a collection “There are so many pictures that it would Last Supper, restored” by Linda Falcone.

ALL PHOTOS BY RON POBLETE The Journey of Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham, Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner

SEBASTIAN GOLLNOW/DPA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES SHIWEN RONG school teacher got him excited about recognized with the 2019 Chemistry chemistry. Nobel Prize. I think you’re BINGHAMTON, N.Y.—In the corner “Those days, you could make chem- And it’s all about perseverance. of the hall on the second floor of the icals, blow things up, and things that “You’re going to make mistakes. successful if Innovative Technologies Complex you are not allowed to do,” he said Don’t worry about that,” Whitting- you’re happy campus at Binghamton University, with a laugh. “So I got excited about ham said. “If you don’t make mis- with what there’s an office decorated with bal- chemistry.” takes, you won’t make the big break- you’re doing. loons. A modest way to celebrate He then made it to Oxford and fin- through.” Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham’s 2019 ished his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. After working for Exxon, Whitting- Stanley Chemistry Nobel Prize. At the end of his Ph.D., unlike many ham realized research and academia Whittingham Now 78 years old, Whittingham colleagues who went to North Amer- was something he always wanted to Ludan Taquiqui offers free boxing classes for homeless and at-risk youth in Las Vegas. Ludan Taquiqui (L) has been boxing since 2003. is still excited about batteries, visit- ica and Canada, he decided to go to 2019 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry come back to. ing laboratories, and giving lectures Stanford University. Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham in Ulm, around the globe. “I wanted to go somewhere with Germany, on Oct. 9, 2019. Young at Heart “So people say, ‘When are you going sunshine,” he said with a laugh. “I’m Whittingham took up a professor- to retire?’” Whittingham said. And still British at heart.” So they started building batteries in ship at Binghamton University in the Mentoring Homeless and At-Risk Youth Through Boxing he’ll reply, “I like what I’m doing. I’m After being there for two months, test tubes. At that time, they didn’t late 80s and continued his research gonna keep doing it.” he was asked to take charge of the have any unique environment, ad- on batteries. And his wife, Dr. Georgina Whit- material labs of the Department of vanced machines, or even theories “I really wanted to do research, ANDREW THOMAS at-risk youth because he wanted to find Every time Taquiqui and his students ous young people’s lives. tingham, who is a professor of foreign Defense for the next two years. on what they might discover. because lots of academia you get a way to give back to his community. For train, their sessions also feature a Bible One of his students’ parents were split- languages, says the same. “Very successful time, I should say. “We knew there was something 18-year-olds every year coming in. Nevada has the largest population of the past two years, roughly 100 kids have study which relates to the sport. ting up, and Taquiqui became a mentor “We keep teaching,” he said. “And During those two years, something there. We didn’t know how big it So it keeps you younger,” he said homeless youth, and the city of Las Vegas come through his gym. to him. The student started getting better my doctor says, ‘Don’t retire.’” even more important happened,” would be.” jokingly. also has many at-risk kids. Ludan Ta- Moreover, he wanted to be able to pro- grades, and became a more focused and For more than 30 years, Whitting- Whittingham said. “I met my wife Whittingham never thought his But in the end, he said what matters quiqui mentors these young people by vide a space for them to go where they respectful kid after he started boxing. ham has been working at Bingham- at Stanford.” invention would change the world. is that he does what he likes. offering free boxing classes, and is mak- could safely learn how to box and learn Boxing instills a mental Another student lost his father, and felt ton University in different positions. “We didn’t waste any time. With- “Even 15 years ago, the phone, you’d “I think you’re successful if you’re ing a significant impact on their lives both positive values. toughness that young people lost after his father’s passing. Boxing gave Currently, he’s a distinguished pro- in I think nine months, we were need a whole briefcase to carry it. happy with what you’re doing,” he inside and outside of the ring. “Boxing is pretty much synchronized him a sense of purpose, and has helped fessor of Chemistry and Materials married.” And I think lithium batteries helped said. Winning a prize certainly helps Taquiqui is 36 and lives in Las Vegas. with life. In life, you’re going to go can apply to other aspects him cope with his grief. Science and Engineering. all these little devices.” as well, he said with a laugh. He’s been boxing since 2003, and it was through what you’re going to go through. of their lives, and creates a Outside of the ring, boxing gives the It’s a place he loves. Next-Generation Batteries In the 1980s, John Goodenough, us- “It’s so motivating that, even at his Manny Pacquiao who inspired him to take You’re also going to have these obstacles solution-finding mindset. students self-confidence, mental tough- “There’s a lot more teamwork here,” After finishing his postdoctoral re- ing the foundation that Whittingham age, he’s still young,” said Anshika up the sport; he looked up to him because which are pretty much like punches going ness, and gratitude for life. Taquiqui also he said. search in two years, he went to work laid, made another breakthrough to Goel, one of his Ph.D. students. “He he too was Filipino. at you,” Taquiqui told The Epoch Times. tries to instill the values of gratitude, He’s a busy man—even more so for Exxon. even more powerful batteries. comes in the lab, he comes to the of- There are many homeless youth who “[It’s like] David and Goliath. It doesn’t respect, integrity, and loyalty. Working since being announced as a key fig- “I was hired to work on energy, but With a physicist’s eyes, Goode- fice every day on time, no matter how stay in tunnels underneath the strip. But Boxing and Life Skills matter how big the problem is, if you’ve with these kids is incredibly rewarding, ure in history. What won him the not petroleum or chemicals,” he said. nough set out to test something that much he’s traveling.” even children who do have a home can Boxing instills a mental toughness that got God on your side you can handle that,” and he enjoys watching his students train Nobel Prize was that he was the first With a keen interest in solar energy they thought wouldn’t work, Whit- “He just replied [to] my email at 3 end up at-risk without proper parental young people can apply to other aspects of Taquiqui explained. newcomers. to develop the lithium battery in the and fuel cells, he started researching tingham said. a.m.; he’s still working,” said Yicheng guidance. The vices of the city, such as their lives, and creates a solution-finding While he teaches his students how to “To see them develop, to see the way 1970s at Exxon. batteries. Following that, in 1985, Akira Yo- Zhang, another of Whittingham’s alcohol and gambling, can also destroy mindset. fight, he also teaches them to use their they end up getting better and better “We wanted to build the next-gen- shino created the first commercially Ph.D. students. the family unit. Without a strong support The sport also instills discipline and skills for good and to defend those who when they fight, to see the way they talk British at Heart eration battery,” he said. “The big in- viable lithium-ion battery. Now 30 years later, he’s still teach- system, many young people end up taking focus. Furthermore, it provides young are bullied rather than become bullies to people, the way they uphold them- He came from a small town—Lin- terest was electronic vehicles because After decades, these three scientists ing, and it’s his passion that keeps the wrong path. people with a way to express themselves themselves. selves, it’s definitely rewarding,” colnshire, England—where his high- of the gas crisis in the U.S.” who changed the world have been him young at heart. Taquiqui trains both homeless and in a healthy, safe way. Taquiqui has made an impact on numer- Taquiqui said. 4B4 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 20192019 THURSDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 7, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION | B55

C2RMF/ELSA LAMBERT ALL PHOTOS BY DAVID VIVES/THE EPOCH TIMES UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE

The effect is mysteriously beautiful, of a great softness. What we see isn’t the mix of colors that the artist has applied from his palette, but the com- bination of colors through numerous layers of glazes. Arnaud Hu, professor of art history

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“La Scapiliata,” 1500–1510, Leonardo da Vinci. The National Gallery of Parma.

“Madonna of the Yarnwinder,” 1500–1510, Leonardo da Vinci and his students. Private Collection, United States Artmyn 2019.

The da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre celebrates the 500th “Virgin of the Rocks” circa 1483–1494 (Paris version), by Leonardo da Vinci. Wood transposed on canvas. Infrared reflectography of the “Virgin of the Rocks.” “Christ and Saint Thomas,” 1467–1483, by Andrea del Verrocchio. anniversary of the Italian painter’s death. The Louvre Museum, Paris. Bronze. Church and Museum of Orsanmichele, Florence.

FINE ARTS Like any other student, Leonardo didn’t intended to transform ordinary, physi- superimposed on each other—layers so touch any brushes during his first year— cal light into divine light in a way that thin that it defies the imagination. except to clean them. He was initiated Like any it could penetrate the churches and be “The effect is mysteriously beautiful, into the methods of his teacher. Legend other student, witnessed by and instruct all believers. of a great softness. What we see isn’t the has it that Leonardo was charged with Leonardo During the Renaissance, the momen- mix of colors that the artist has applied painting an angel on the canvas of “The didn’t touch tum of Italian painters was unstoppable— from his palette, but the combination Baptism of Christ.” The angel was so their work surpassed all that existed of colors through numerous layers of beautiful that Verrochio, upon seeing his any brushes until then. According to Arnaud Hu, glazes,” Hu said. young student surpass him, never picked during his professor of art history who also attended This elusive light no doubt enhances up a paintbrush again. first year— the exhibition, though other schools of the expression of the characters and the Leonardo painting existed outside of Italy—such as beauty of the scenes. In Quest of Perfection except to the Flemish School—the Italians were the According to Frank, Leonardo learned Leonardo da Vinci attracts hyperboles. clean them. sole ones to see the potential of painting how to capture the essence of life in According to Louis Frank, curator of the here, over any other medium. Louis Frank, the curator of to express light. motion, which means the contradic- new exhibition at the Louvre Museum, “We look at Leonardo today as if he the Leonardo da Vinci exhi- “The painters picked up on the Theol- tion between the human mind and one’s the number of books on Leonardo is were lost across an extraordinary laby- bition at the Louvre, on ogy of Light, which inspired the creation deepest feelings—as in his master’s statue da Vinci Oct. 22, 2019. “truly enormous.” The efforts from the rinth of scientific discoveries, yet paint- of stained glass windows. And the work of Christ and St. Thomas. The position curators are just as impressive. ing was at the center of his life. It was his on light by the artisans of the cathedrals of St. Thomas’s body’s suggests a deep It took more than 10 years of work for essential preoccupation. For him, it was continued with the Italian painters. impulse, a wish to join and greet Jesus, CAPTURING DIVINE LIGHT Louvre curators Louis Frank and Vin- elevated to the level of science. He used The goal was to make divine light vis- but his hand seems to hesitate. Looked cent Delieuvin to prepare the exhibition the expression ‘divine science,’” Frank ible to those looking at the painting,” Hu at from a different perspective, it’s hard dedicated to the Italian genius. Trans- explained. We look at said. Several techniques, such as chiar- to say whether Thomas is smiling or is A new Louvre exhibition shows the formed into diplomats, the curators had “Some think that Leonardo didn’t like oscuro, later popularized by Caravaggio, thinking of something else, as his doubt to seek permission from Queen Elizabeth to paint, because he painted very little. Leonardo emerged. But always, the goal was to challenges him at that moment. importance of painting in his life for drawings from the Windsor Royal But that’s false. All his life, he worked on today as if reveal the light of divine beings. “In the context of religious paintings, Collection, from Venice’s Accademia paintings, and some of them were never he were lost Leonardo thus created his famous “sfu- Leonardo wanted to understand pro- Gallery for the loan of the “The Vitru- finished,” he said. across an mato” (derived from the word “smoke”), found meanings. What was the state of vian Man”—which was nearly refused to The Christian faith isn’t explicitly ref- an optical effect that smooths out the mind of the Virgin when she saw Jesus DAVID VIVES Thomas.” Thomas is almost smiling, hap- them—and from the Hermitage Museum erenced in Leonardo’s “Codex Urbinas,” extraordinary contours, and highlights the colors and play with the lamb, which symbolizes his & MICHAL BLEIBTREU NEEMAN py to see Christ again; one hand hesitates, in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the “Benois his treatise on painting. But the nature of labyrinth lights of the characters being depicted. sacrifice and his ultimate mission? Her searching for his savior’s wounds, but Madonna.” the divine had a particular significance of scientific In 2010, researchers, using a technique smile is as joyful as it is melancholy. She ARIS—The Gospel of John tells stops in mid-movement. What Thomas From the Industrial Age, where his for him, as for many of his contempo- called X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, tries to hold him back, but she under- us that the apostle Thomas discovers on that day is his own doubt. sketches of flying machines left people raries. It’s as if painting allowed him to discoveries, worked to uncover the secret of Leon- stands that the lamb is his ultimate mis- did not believe in the resur- In 1467, the same year he started the dumbfounded, to the film “The Da Vinci attain and reach higher aims than those yet painting ardo’s technique. sion,” Frank explained. rection of Jesus until he saw statue, Verrocchio welcomed a new Code,” which explored the master’s se- of mortal beings. In “Codex Urbinas,” was at the And they found the answer. After hav- When Leonardo went to France at the and touched his wounds. Jesus young student in his atelier. He was 17 crets (such as mirror writing), Leonardo Leonardo wrote, “The divinity which is center of ing finished his painting, Leonado added invitation of King Francis I—he would Pactually invited Thomas to see for him- years old, and the drawings presented has become a legend through the centu- the science of painting transmutes the transparent layers—a glaze. To obtain a spend the last three years of his life self, but told him (in the New King James by his father were promising; the youth ries. The Florentine painter’s fame has painter’s mind into a resemblance of the his life. visual effect of transparency, artists can there—he brought with him three paint- version), “Thomas, because you have seen seemed to have a future in painting. conferred upon him a mysterious aura, as divine mind.” superimpose different layers of glazes. ings: the “Mona Lisa,” “The Virgin and Louis Frank, Me, you have believed. Blessed are those And thus, seeing the statue in the studio well as abundant literature. The accumulation of these different lay- Child With Saint Anne,” and “Saint John curator, who have not seen and yet have believed.” and being face-to-face with Thomas’s Finally, the Louvre succeeded in gather- The Light of Divine Beings ers result in a diaphanous effect. the Baptist.” These were three unfinished Louvre Museum The great Italian sculptor Andrea del disbelief, the student saw, believed, ing 140 of his works, including an impres- Guiding the Gothic architecture of 12th- In the case of Leonardo’s sfumato, re- works that he would try, for the rest Verrochio took 16 years to capture this and understood. His name was Leonardo sive number of sketchbooks and studies. century cathedrals, the theology of light searchers found multiple minute layers, of his life, to finish—and perhaps, to scene in his bronze statue “Christ and St. da Vinci. But painting seems to be most prominent posited that stained glass windows were measuring between 1 and 2 micrometers, understand. 6B6 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 20192019 THURSDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 7, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION |B7 7

GERARD MALIE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Escape From East Berlin 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former diplomat Jochen Wolter recalls his family’s daring escape to West Berlin

COURTESY OF JOCHEN WOLTER THE EPOCH TIMES

For sheer symbolism and the most glaring contrast between the evil of communism and the virtue HERBERT W. STUPP of the West, An old f we assembled a panel of experts on photo of communism and asked them to recall it is hard to the Wolter the symbol that best represented the top the Berlin family. evil of that philosophy, we would elicit an array of responses. Some would Wall. Imention the Soviet gulags described so elo- quently by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, where “patients” and inmates were tortured re- Jochen Wolter is a former diplomat who fled lentlessly, even to death. Others would point East Berlin with his family at the age of 8, in the to the closing of houses of worship across fall of 1961. Red China, the Soviet Union, and other of- ficially atheist communist bloc nations. Still or verbiage in that empty space. Overnight, others would point to the unprecedented families were separated, sometimes with killings carried out by Marxist-Leninist spouses, parents, and children stuck on states that still defy precise computation. opposite sides of the Wall, never to see each At least 2 million human beings were killed other again. by the Khmer Rouge in the small nation of As the wall was being completed, commu- Cambodia, and over 80 million were put to nist forces added miles and miles of barbed swimmers and dinghies. West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early Nov. 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point death or starved in China, and another 60 wire, watchtowers staffed by armed soldiers With jumping, swimming, and sprint- between East and West Berlin, near the Potsdamer Square. Two days before, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist Party boss, declared that starting from midnight, East Germans would be free to leave the country without permission, at any point along the border, including the crossing-points through the Wall in Berlin. million in the Soviet Union. with “shoot to kill” orders, mounted shrap- ing proving fatal, East Berliners seeking But for sheer symbolism and the most nel guns, and “kill zones” with concrete freedom sought to escape under the Wall. The sleeping MIKE SARGENT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS/GETTY IMAGES glaring contrast between the evil of com- plazas and trenches designed to thwart any During the Wall’s infamous 28-year pres- interview with Wolter seemed to be the best munism and the virtue of the West, it is pill didn’t attempted escape by speeding vehicles. ence in Berlin, some 75 tunnels were begun, option. hard to top the Berlin Wall. to give freedom-seekers another option for From the time the Soviets first occupied have an effect Looking for a Way Out emigration. HERBERT W. STUPP: What was your child- their “zone” of Germany in 1945, following on me, so I Even as the cement was drying on the Most of the excavations, however, could hood in East Berlin and East Germany like? the end of World War II, up to the summer infamous Wall, East Germans were actively not be completed. Scores of those involved JOCHEN WOLTER: I was born in 1953, and of 1961, Germans could move freely within remember all seeking ways around, over and even under in digging the tunnels were arrested by East was 8 years old when the Wall was built, Heinz Meixner, the city of Berlin. My own mother and her the hated barrier. More than 5,000 East Ger- German secret police (Stasi), facing long and later that year, my family began plan- with his fiancee family were summarily expelled from the details of mans succeeded in escaping through and prison terms. Though many crawled and ning to escape. As a preschool kid, daily life and her mother, their modest house in the eastern Pankow around the wall, though over 100,000 tried. scraped their way into West Berlin, others was probably not much different than in Frau Thurau, that journey show how neighborhood by the Soviets. Though the Sadly, as many as 245 died trying to escape, died in tunnel collapses, from oxygen depri- other parts of Germany. We owned a nice to freedom. they arranged house had lost one room due to Allied night the last being Winfried Freudenberg, who vation, and shots fired by pursuing commu- summer cottage at a lake on the outskirts of themselves bombings during the war, it was still habit- perished just months before the Wall was nist police. Reporter Greg Mitchell catalogs East Berlin where we spent summers and Jochen Wolter in his Austin- able, and the Soviets installed officers in our breached, as he fell from the hot air balloon this spellbinding subterranean story in his weekends. Healey Sprite family’s hearth. There was no compensa- he hoped would deliver him to freedom. book, “The Tunnels.” Childhood life changed when school to drive tion for this Soviet larceny, but at least Mom The Wall’s first casualty, just days after it Still others, aided by pro-freedom groups started. The obligatory oath of allegiance through a could travel freely to the West, and then on was completed, was Ida Siekmann, who in the East, managed to bluff and cajole every Monday morning on the schoolyard checkpoint at to New York and New Jersey in spring 1947. lived on the fourth floor of a Bernauer Stras- their way through the Wall and its check- was a first and clear sign of state-controlled the Berlin Wall, Although the “Iron Curtain” that Winston se walk-up. The Wall was directly below her points. I happen to know one of these brave influence of young boys and girls at a very Germany, circa Churchill described in 1946 conformed to window, and after tossing down bedding Berliners who made it through the Wall, as early stage of life. The official request and 1965. the borders dividing East and West Ger- and other furniture, she leaped to what she an 8-year-old in 1961, led by his parents. strong peer pressure to join the commu- many, and the boundaries between free hoped would be freedom, the western side My wife and I became friendly with nist youth organization, “Junge Pioniere” President Ronald Reagan was the topic of education for them. With already so tight that the risk was too high. and communist nations to the south, there of the Wall. Sadly, she died from the impact Jochen Wolter and his American-born wife, (Young Pioneers), was another method of addresses the people four kids in school, the prospects to go to This was not an option. was unrestricted transit within the city of of her fall. Before long, the communists Susan, during his posting in New York as a ideological influence. Therefore, my parents of West Berlin at the university later and have a high-profile Berlin. Subways and bus lines served and (Below) Soldiers were closing all building windows near the member of the German Diplomatic Service. didn’t allow me to join, which I held against base of the Brandenburg education were almost zero. The communist MR. STUPP: Children are notorious chat- connected all sectors of the city: the three building the Berlin Wall wall, sealing them with fortified bricks. From 2009 to 2014, he was the press officer them. For us it seemed fun to be with others Gate on June 12, 1987. ideology wanted radical change in society. terboxes. Was it difficult for your parents to as instructed by the East free zones and the large communist sector Perhaps the most famous murder at the for the Consulate General of Germany, after the same age. The President’s words The strategy was to take privileges, keep you and your siblings from “spilling German authorities, in in the east. Berlin Wall was that of young Peter Fechter having earlier served in New York in the 90s could also be heard on including higher education, for offspring the beans” about their secret escape plans? order to strengthen the the eastern side of the in 1962, about a year after the barrier’s con- at the German Information Center. What sort of work did your of educated people and give the working It probably was, but they did existing barriers dividing MR. STUPP: wall. “Tear down this MR. WOLTER: struction. He made a run for freedom, seek- Wolter’s last post was in Berlin with the Soldiers of the The Wall Goes Up East and West Berlin, in parents do in those days? Were they disad- wall!” he said to Soviet class special treatment by opening colleges a good job. My brother and I never heard East German That all came to a screeching halt on Aug. 1961. ing to traverse a barbed-wire fence. Without German Federal Press Office, where he was vantaged by not being members of the East leader Mikhail Gorbachev. and universities for them. That created a or noticed anything until the very last day. National 13, 1961, when the communist East Ger- warning, a rifle-toting East German guard responsible for public information about the German Communist Party? His address that day class of obedient citizens, thankful for the My sisters may have known more, but they People's Army man government, assisted by their Soviet (Bottom R) A young fired on 18-year-old Peter, stopping him Ministry of Energy, Research, and Sustain- MR. WOLTER: My father was a chief doc- is considered by many unexpected opportunities and reluctant to for sure had been instructed to keep their (NVA) erecting masters, began hurriedly constructing cin- woman is seen through cold. Even more heartless than the shooting ability, from which he retired earlier this tor in a state hospital. My mother, a trained to have affirmed the criticize or oppose the regime. mouths shut. People in East Germany in barbed wire derblock walls between West Berlin and the semi-transparent was the communist response: they literally year. nurse, managed the family of six, including beginning of the end of the Before the Wall was built, the variety of general were used to being careful and si- fences to close East, preventing East Germans from cross- portraits of people allowed Peter Fechter to bleed out and die But perhaps a bit like the “Superman” my two older sisters and my twin brother. Cold War and the fall of freedom and choice was a little more dif- lent in public because one never knew who off a street in ing into the west. The so-called “Democratic who were killed trying on the barbed wire, retrieving his body only character Clark Kent, Wolter only appears Although my father was often asked to join communism. ficult to achieve, but still possible. My older was listening. preparation for Republic of Germany” (DDR to Germans) to cross from east to hours later. Another “don’t even think about to be a mild-mannered civil servant. In fact, the Communist Party, he never did because sisters even went to schools in West Berlin. the construction west across the Berlin was clearly embarrassed that some 3.5 mil- it” message was sent by the East’s dictators. he and his family succeeded in escaping until the Wall was built, there was always The Wall changed everything. Because my MR. STUPP: Tell me about the organization of the Berlin Wall, at the Bernauer lion of its people had fled to the West. Berlin has many rivers, canals, and through two heavily-guarded checkpoints the opportunity to leave the DDR. After the parents didn’t want to give up any freedom, and the brave East Berliners who helped Wall on Aug. Strasse memorial on 14, 1961. The Subway lines were suddenly terminated at Aug. 13, 2011. The tributaries, with more bridges than Ven- in the Berlin Wall, with the derring-do, Wall was built, the pressure became almost they decided to leave the DDR, whatever it your family to escape. What did they do to first concrete the east-west border, with tunnels bricked wall was equipped with ice and Amsterdam combined. The East pluck, and ingenuity worthy of a John le unbearable. would take. prepare you to get through the Berlin Wall emplacements up to prevent underground escapes. Before watchtowers, armed Germans observed some escapes by water, Carré or an Ian Fleming novel. My father was able to keep his position in two cars? were erected on long, subway maps in the East treated West guards, and trip-wire and quickly moved to deploy armed soldiers To do justice to the story of the Wolter only because they needed him there. But MR. STUPP: Do you recall overhearing or MR. WOLTER: A longtime childhood friend Aug. 17. Berlin as a “blank,” with no subway lines triggered machine guns. in gunboats to capture or shoot departing family’s 1961 escape from East Berlin, an from then on, he had to be very careful Before long, otherwise learning about your parents’ of my father’s, a Protestant pastor in West about what he did and said. There were ears plans to escape East Berlin, after the infa- Germany, contacted a Swiss student group KEYSTONE/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES East Berliners everywhere just waiting for a critical word mous Wall was built by the communists? which had developed strategies and con- or comment to provide a reason to fire him. were hugging MR. WOLTER: No, they never talked about crete plans for escapes from the DDR. Mem- He was aware that his situation as an un- it in front of us kids. Although we noticed bers of the group came as day visitors to East touchable doctor wouldn’t last forever. their long- a dramatic change of their mood from Berlin and contacted my parents. estranged August 13, 1961, on, when the border to West The plan they presented was based on our MR. STUPP: What sort of freedom were your Berlin and West Germany was hermetically traveling to West Berlin as “returning day parents hoping for in the West? How much neighbors closed. visitors” from East Berlin with fake Swiss were they bothered by the lack of freedom My parents arranged a family vacation in passports and included a separation of of worship, no freedom of speech, no free in the West, Thuringia in September 1961 on short no- the family in three groups using different elections, no work or career decisions with- as others tice, which we later found out was meant to checkpoints. My mother agreed, but only out communist government involvement, check out the “Grüne Grenze” (the “green” under the condition that she would not be and the lack of consumer goods that were climbed on heavily wooded border with and to West separated from her 8-year-old twin sons, taken for granted a few miles away? top of the wall Germany) looking for an unguarded hole in my brother and me, which was originally MR. WOLTER: In addition to all the sorts of the fence to get through. But border control planned differently. freedom you’ve mentioned, most important to celebrate. with armed guards and trained dogs was The change of the ContinuedCONTINUED on Page ON B8 8 B88 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 2019 THURSDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 7, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION |B9 9

KEYSTONE/GETTY IMAGES

WISDOM FOR MODERN TIMES Escape From KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES East Berlin 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former diplomat Jochen Wolter recalls his family’s daring escape to West What ‘Joker’ Can Berlin

ContinuedCONTINUED from FROM Page B7 7 MR. WOLTER: They probably had. If so, they kept it to themselves. The dimension of the plan was possible. risk they took became apparent only after it Teach Us About To minimize the risk of disclosure, none of was all over. My parents confessed later that our East Berlin friends knew anything, with they wouldn’t have taken the risk if they one exception: very trustworthy friends hadn’t had children. For our future, they took our family dog, Mira, a dachshund, were willing and ready to take the risk. later to a parking lot on the transit highway Free Will between West Berlin and West Germany MR. STUPP: How happy were they to be liv- Two mothers can only wave to their children and grandchildren in the Soviet sector of Berlin from and gave Mira to West Berlin friends who ing in freedom? across the Berlin Wall in this file photo. took a not-so-accidental break at this place MR. WOLTER: They never regretted their deci- at the same time. sion. The freedom to live your life the way Mounting Protests December, and went on to greater things you want it, to articulate your opinion free During the 1980s, as President Ron- in politics. MR. STUPP: The day your family escaped is a of the fear of oppression and being a part of ald Reagan was funding new weapons Events continued to move quickly, with drama worthy of a spy thriller movie. Tell us a real democracy was most important for systems, increasing defense spending, the Brandenburg Gate re-opened on Dec. about “escape day,” with your father driving them. There was no room for compromises. and partnering with Chancellor Helmut 22, truly democratic elections occurring one car, and your mother driving another. Kohl to deploy medium-range missiles throughout East Germany on March 18, If the world is cruel, then do MR. WOLTER: Escape day was November 11, MR. STUPP: Do you think the family’s experi- in West Germany, many Soviet leaders 1990, the demolition of the Wall begin- we follow it into cruelty? And 1961, a rainy Saturday. My parents let my ences under communism influenced how realized they couldn’t keep pace with the ning in June, and the formal merger of brother and me watch a TV movie late in the your parents and your siblings have voted challenges posed by the U.S. and its allies. the former East with the democratic West if it is harsh, then do we add to evening, which was very unusual for us. As since 1961 escapes? The Soviet Union, due to deaths in office, happening on Oct. 3, 1990. This “Day of an explanation, we were told that the whole MR. WOLTER: I’m pretty sure it influenced my experienced four General Secretaries German Unity” has been a national holi- its harshness? family would later visit an uncle in West parents. It did influence me. I can’t speak of the Communist Party in short order, day ever since. Berlin who had an enormous model railway for my siblings. But with our experience, from 1982 to 1985. They finally selected When in Berlin, one can visit an array of at his house. we all definitely became sensitive to com- Mikhail Gorbachev as their fourth leader, museums and memorials that catalog the The next thing was to change clothes. ments that trivialize communist terror and and before long, his policies essentially ac- horrors of the Nazis’ 12-year reign of terror. My mother chose different outfits to put oppression when and where they occur. A knowledged the Soviets’ inability to meet And to understand the cruelty of the Wall on, which had only labels from companies forgiving look back with a statement like the Reagan challenge. and the barbarism during the 45-year run in Western countries. That was a precau- “not everything was bad” plays down the Domestically, Secretary Gorbachev ush- of East German communism, there are tionary step in case of a strip search at the crimes and forgets the victims of the brutal ered in policies of “glasnost” (openness) also interesting, poignant options. checkpoint: a Swiss day-visitor would and inhumane communist regime. and “perestroika” (restructuring), which There is the DDR Museum and also the surely not wear clothes with an East Ger- included limited private business devel- Checkpoint Charlie Museum, right near man label. opment and other freedoms, from 1985 that chokepoint between east and west. At night, the six of us drove in the fam- through 1988. But as these changes were Off the beaten path near Berlin’s eastern ily car, a Wartburg, toward downtown taking hold across the Soviet bloc, the East city limits is the Gedenkstaette Berlin- and parked somewhere near the opera A forgiving look back German communists were among the last Hohenschoenhausen, an actual Stasi house. In pitch darkness, we met our with a statement like hard-liners. prison and interrogation center, preserved Swiss helpers, and the group was sepa- Protests mounted in Poland, Hungary, for visitors. The East Germans took pos- rated. My mother and we twins got in a ‘not everything was bad’ and other communist-bloc nations, session of this facility in 1951 from the car with Swiss car plates and a stranger plays down the crimes eventually leading to unrest in East occupying Soviets, and it held political at the wheel. The next task was sleeping Germany. Though suppressed for over 40 prisoners until 1990. pills to make us boys sleepy and a Swiss- and forgets the victims of years, church pastors were among the key Committed anti-totalitarian though I Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the role of Arthur Fleck and his alter ego, the Joker, in “Joker,” arrives at its premiere in Hollywood, Calif., on Sept. 28, 2019. sounding first name for each of us in case organizers of demonstrations demanding have been my entire life, the Stasi prison somebody at the border checkpoint would the brutal and inhumane freedoms and an end to the communist and memorial was even more chilling than ask us directly. At that point it became communist regime.. dictatorship. I had imagined. Tours are offered, with the JOSHUA PHILIPP of reality itself. It’s what Friedrich Nietzsche Lucan tells the story of another battle amidst it. Don’t expect people to be kind in clear to us that something very strange One who was unsettled by all this was most popular docents being former prison- warned of when he observed the coming where a soldier named Scaeva enters a unkind places, but also don’t let yourself be was going on. Jochen Wolter Erich Honecker, the long-time General ers at Hohenschoenhausen. Occasionally, here’s something familiar about age of nihilism: “Beware that, when fight- similar trance, throwing himself over a bothered by them. The sleeping pill didn’t have an effect on Secretary of the East German Commu- even in 2019, a former Stasi prison guard the deeper theme in “Joker.” It ing monsters, you yourself do not become a wall into a sea of enemies where he fought He explained in his “Meditations” what me, so I remember all the details of that MR. STUPP: Do you have any thoughts on nist Party. More in tune with the ruthless will challenge a tour guide with a variation follows a character who is a victim monster.” and held off their advance. He was so badly happens when a person instead becomes journey to freedom: the long car line at the how we can help students and young people totalitarians running Cuba and North of “those people deserved to be here.” of his own kindness, who is cast In his rebellion against cruelty as he sees injured as he continued fighting that Lucan at odds with the natural state of things: checkpoint, the unexcited conversation in to simply accept or at least be open to the Korea, Honecker pleaded with Mikhail In an otherwise vibrant and beautiful Tout and rejected by the world as it is, and in it, a monster is what the Joker becomes—a wrote, “His vital parts were safeguarded “The soul of a man harms itself, first and the front of our car between my mother truth about life under communism and Gorbachev to dispatch Soviet troops to city, the immediate neighborhood sur- his isolation becomes a parody of society’s comedic parody of cruelty itself. by spears that bristled in his body. Fortune foremost, when it becomes (as far as it can) and the driver as if they were long-time other dictatorships? East Germany in order to put down the rounding the Stasi prison offers classic downfall. saw thus waged a novel combat, for there a separate growth, a sort of tumor on the partners. The border guard was a heavy MR. WOLTER: Archives and personal testi- protests. After all, the Russians sent tanks examples of drab, Soviet-style, substan- He is eaten away by his expectations that The Death Trance warred against one man an army.” universe; because to resent anything that woman with a strong Saxon dialect. She monials documenting the conditions of life and troops to Czechoslovakia to depose dard apartments. There, you can imagine the people around him should be kind and In “Joker,” we watch as a man kills and In the Japanese samurai text, the happens is to separate oneself in revolt acted extremely unfriendly, maybe wanting under dictatorships and documenting the reformers in 1968, as they had in Hungary life from 1961 until late 1989 in East Berlin, courteous. So he gives up, and in his disap- simulates his suicide. Through this, he’s “Hagakure,” Yamamoto Tsunetomo ex- from nature, which holds in collective em- to prove that she could be as tough as a man crimes of undemocratic authorities should in 1956. This time, Gorbachev refused, and where if you stepped out of line, you faced pointment follows the restlessness brood- shown as being liberated from his former plains a similar state: “The way of the war- brace the particular natures of all on the job. She concentrated on the adults never be closed or silenced. It’s important the dictatorships in Poland and Hungary prison and torture, and if you were an ing beneath society’s façade, where he fuels cares. He discards his old identity, and in rior is to be found in dying. If one is faced other things.” and luckily didn’t pay much attention to us to present these records to young genera- fell in 1989, leading to free elections. ordinary, compliant citizen, you lived to the growing flames. his new persona dances down the stairs of with two options of life or death, simply in the back seats. tions in an objective, dispassionate, and The Berlin Wall, justified by dictator work where assigned, accepted minimal his own decline. settle for death.” Tests of Character unbiased way. Honecker as “our anti-fascist protection consumer choices, and dared not dream of A Cruel World He enters the death trance spoken of in The principle is the same: Soldiers who Jordan Peterson made a great observation MR. STUPP: Seeing your mother and father I think Germany has done a good job rampart,” suddenly seemed pregnable free expression, real elections, or the right After Civil War Gen. William Sherman ancient literature—the fearful state of a man decide to die don’t retreat, they ignore mor- in a presentation that good men are the reuniting in West Berlin, along with your teaching the public, including young itself. Cheered on by late 1980s concerts to worship. And the coup de grace: that burned homes of civilians in the South, he who has chosen to die. tal wounds, and in their doomed resolve ones most capable of great evil. A peaceful siblings, must have been a very emotional people, about the crimes of the Nazi regime from David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and Wall compelled you to surrender all hope famously declared: “War is cruelty. There’s In “Pharsalia,” Lucan recounts a group of feel liberated from consequences. man is someone most capable of inflicting moment. Can you describe it? and the fate of its victims. It is vital to keep David Hasselhoff near the Wall, the dem- of another life. no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, Roman soldiers during Caesar’s civil wars, There’s a destructive freedom in embrac- harm, because without that ability, he’s MR. WOLTER: The meeting point was a central those memories alive, and an accurate his- onstrations grew in size and frequency. Though not explicitly about the Wall, the sooner it will be over.” who find themselves cornered and out- ing death. For soldiers, crossing that line is not peaceful, he’s just harmless. It’s only late-night café in West Berlin where we ar- tory should open eyes and ears and make there are at least two films that give us a Sherman lamented the cruelty of war. He numbered during a battle at sea. The leader what makes heroes. But for times outside when we are given choices, when we have rived first. It was already after midnight. I people alert for the dangers of repetition of East Meets West picture of life under communism in East stated, “You cannot qualify war in harsher turns to his men, and asks them to “choose of war, there are few states more dangerous the options to do good or evil, that we can remember that my brother and I, now pretty cruel and inhumane regimes. Finally, on November 9, 1989, East Berlin Berlin. A comedy about the transition terms than I will.” But he also saw himself death; desire what fate decrees.” for a person to enter. demonstrate our choice to do good. tired, kept asking my mother when the oth- party boss Guenter Schabowski appeared from dictatorship to freedom is “Good Bye as just a player in the drama, carried by the From there, they fight without fear, and People risk entering a type of meta- Only when our souls are tested can we ers would come. I have admired her all my MR. STUPP: As a newly-retired diplomat who at a news conference with a mission of in- Lenin!” which won the 2003 European state of the world as it was. without care for worldly consequences. Lu- physical suicide, where rebellion turns not show our mettle. life for her self-control and coolness in that had real-life experience with communism, terpreting the government’s new policies Film Award for “Best Film.” In 2006, a The world is sometimes cruel, and the can writes, “The band devoted stood, proud against ordinary conditions, but toward The world is filled with trials, all of which moment. She answered us several times very what concerns you most as you look out at on emigration. He began reading that the gripping movie that centers on Stasi sur- world is sometimes kind. The question is of their promised end, and life forsworn, the basic foundations of life and existence. could crush us if we allowed them. patiently, reassuring us that our father and the world in 2019? communist state would “allow citizens to veillance of East Berlin residents was “The whether we can change the state of the and careless of the battle: no debate could Albert Camus observed in his book, “The If the world is cruel, then do we follow it sisters would show up any minute. MR. WOLTER: Communists determine and exit East Germany and East Berlin.” When Lives of Others.” It won the Oscar for Best world, or whether we need to find peace shake their high resolve.” Rebel,” that we’re now living in an age into cruelty? And if it is harsh, then do we

When they finally came, there were tears, tell people how to behave and what to think asked when this order would become of- Foreign Film that year, and launched the despite its cruelties. DMITRIJS BINDEMANIS/SHUTTERSTOCK influenced by this type of suicide—where add to its harshness? Knowledge of good hugs, and gratitude. But the night was and say. They claim the right to determine ficial policy, Schabowski ad-libbed, in er- career of Sebastian Koch, now a star in the People who look to change the state of movements of revolt seek to overturn real- and evil was that first curse on mankind, not over yet. We then rang the doorbells what’s good and what’s bad, what’s right or ror, and said that “As far as I know, it takes “Homeland” series. their lives usually look to eliminate their ity as it is. yet in our recognition of all the wrongs in at homes of friends who had no idea that wrong. Whoever doesn’t follow these strict effect immediately, without delay.” So aside from actually visiting Berlin, sources of hardship—such as moving on to Camus explained that this “absolute ni- life, our gift is the free will to choose for we would come. But people in West Berlin definitions can suffer fatal consequences. Though broadcast primarily by the free how best to commemorate this 30th an- a new job or making a change to their daily hilism, which accepts suicide as legitimate, ourselves between good and evil. those days were somehow prepared for sud- I see tendencies of a growing intoler- West German television stations, these niversary of the destruction of an edifice routine. leads, even more easily, to logical murder.” The Joker chooses the path of evil, and den visits from people on the other side of ance toward different opinions when they programs were routinely (though ille- that actually prevented the free move- But people who are at odds with the na- At the root of this, he said, is an indiffer- we witness the sad descent of a man into the Wall, which could never be announced are publicly expressed, and sometimes in gally) accessed by East Germans. Within ment of peoples, trapping millions in an ture of reality itself are faced with a much ence to life, established by a logic that sees his own destruction. He expected life to be in advance. We found open doors, warm private conversations, too. Political topics hours and sometimes minutes, thousands all-controlling system of evil? larger trial. Escaping hardship on this scale everything as equal—or rather, a belief that something it wasn’t, and in his banishment beds, and loving care that night. The first like migration, climate change, or racism of East Berliners massed at the Wall and Watching a movie or documentary, requires the destruction of evil as they in- all things could be equal, were it not for from society, he rebelled against the order purchase the next day, a Sunday, was six are examples. Unacceptable and dangerous the key checkpoints leading to the West. reading a book, and listening to actual terpret it. The cruelty they fight against isn’t certain worldly forces. of the world as it existed. toothbrushes surprisingly found at a kiosk! fanaticism is a development we see at edu- The newly empowered Easterners shout- former East Germans are all valid, inter- the cruelty of a single person or condition, Such a person, Camus writes, “believes If “Joker” leaves us with any valuable les- cational institutions in the U.S. and more ed, “Schabowski said so.” The normally esting, and potentially emotional ways to but instead reality as it is. that he is destroying everything or taking son, it’s that we should learn to laugh at the MR. STUPP: Did the West Berlin government and more in Europe, too. deadpan border guards, overwhelmed gauge just how “total” this now-defunct This ties to one of history’s greatest, yet everything with him; but from this act of chaos of the world. He achieved this, but in or other organizations help you to resettle in Radical student groups protest violently by the throngs yet still under “shoot to form of German and Soviet totalitarian- most overlooked, lessons: It’s often those self-destruction itself a value arises, which, its shadow form. His downfall was that he the west? against a scheduled [commencement] kill” orders, capitulated and allowed the ism was. But as socialism becomes more who seek to eliminate cruelty from the perhaps, might have “made it worthwhile laughed out of spite; while we should learn MR. WOLTER: Since we literally left every- speaker who might have a controversial crowds to move forward and through to acceptable in polite society chatter, it is world who themselves become the forces of to live. Absolute negation is therefore not to laugh despite it. thing behind in East Berlin, there was a opinion on a subject. The intolerance of the West. Some joined in the merriment. worth hearkening back to Jochen Wolter’s cruelty, and those who would do away with consummated by suicide. It can only be It’s here we find the old humor that Dante need for a new life with all its ingredients. protesters is bad, but even worse is when Before long, East Berliners were hug- advice that we remain vigilant against evil in the world often become the forces consummated by absolute destruction, of observed as he climbed the mountains of We all got a basic set of clothing and prob- universities give in and disinvite criticized ging their long-estranged neighbors in the any rise in despotic ideas and systems. of evil. oneself and of others.” heaven. When looking down on the evils ably some money at the official welcome speakers. The dominant rule over public West, as others climbed on top of the wall Certainly, people like Wolter, my moth- Thomas Molnar wrote in “Utopia: The He adds, “Here suicide and murder are of the world he observed that people strive camp where every refugee had to register. speech can be a first step to damage democ- to celebrate. As NBC’s Tom Brokaw (by er, and many millions of witnesses know Perennial Heresy,” that the “one intolerable two aspects of a single system, the system for power without realizing that the divine We didn’t need much more because we got a racy and establish a dictatorship. Education- chance in Berlin on assignment) reported ... and remember. fact to the utopian is the scandal that evil of a misguided intelligence, that prefers, to is in control; that in the wheel of karma or lot of help from family and friends. al institutions should be places of discourse from the just-breached Wall, my mother exists in an otherwise perfect or potentially the suffering imposed by a limited situa- sin, those who harm others harm them- and dialogue, places to learn and practice in Queens cried tears of joy for the Berlin- Herbert W. Stupp served in the presiden- perfect world.” tion, the dark victory in which heaven and selves. The victim is the victor in the eyes of MR. STUPP: Looking back on the entire ad- critical thinking, and not places that back ers she left behind 42 years earlier. tial administrations of Ronald Reagan The problem, as Molnar explains, is that earth are annihilated.” God. That’s the heart of the divine comedy— venture, which included a real risk of harm down in the face of controversy. Though not among the protesters on and George H.W. Bush; Stupp was also a “utopian thinking is itself evil ... and it leads A similar state was noted by Marcus Au- and may we all learn to laugh at its humor. and likely prison had your parents been that Nov. 9, one young East German Ph.D. commissioner in the cabinet of New York people to commit evil.” It’s only when we are given choices, when we relius, who encouraged people to manage caught, did your mother and father ever (The interview was edited for in quantum chemistry, Angela Merkel, City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. His mother It’s the plight of the Utopian, the fate of have the options to do good or evil, that we can their expectations according to what life Joshua Philipp is a senior investigative second-guess themselves? brevity and clarity.) joined the pro-democracy movement by was a refugee from East Berlin. the rebel whose fight is against the nature demonstrate our choice to do good. will naturally bring, and find contentment reporter and host of “Crossroads.” 10B10 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 2019 THURSDAY,WEEK NOVEMBER 46, 2019 7, 2019 HANDOUT/THE EPOCH TIMES BOOK REVIEW FOR KIDS ONLY i s Dancing Week in Through the History The Flag Goes By WHAT DO YOU CALL A YOUNG ARMY? Darkness of by Henry Holcomb Bennett Hats o˜ ! Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ru™ e of drums, A flash of color beneath the sky: Mao’s China Hats o˜ ! CALCULUS The flag is passing by! IS Tia Zhang’s journey of pain and triumph is Blue and crimson and white it shines, Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines, brilliantly told in ‘Dancing Through the Shadow’ Hats o˜ ! BORN

The colors before us fly; INFANTRY. Gottfried Willhelm But more than the flag is passing by. Leibniz. LUIS LOURO/SHUTTERSTOCK RYAN MOFFATT destined to suffer for it. Sea fights and land fights, grim and great, DOMAIN PUBLIC In a desperate bid for freedom, 10-year-old Fought to make and save the State: ometimes the impact of mass tragedy Tia and her family attempted to move to the Weary marches and sinking ships; gets lost in the statistics. When death safe haven of Taiwan. But a harrowing near- Cheers of victory on dying lips; tolls are in the tens of millions, large- death journey shattered that prospect, and the Days of plenty and years of peace; scale suffering becomes remote and family was forced to relocate to Qingdao and March of a strong land’s swift increase; As we express our Suntouchable. The human capacity for empa- eventually back to Beijing, where their life of Equal justice, right, and law, gratitude, thy has reached its limit. privilege unraveled into one of destitution. Stately honor and reverend awe; n Nov. 11, is credited with the On the other hand, personal accounts of It became increasingly apparent that there we must never Sign of a nation, great and strong 1675, German discovery of calculus. those who lived through atrocities do more was no escape from the Communist Party’s To ward her people from foreign wrong: forget that mathematician In addition to to shed light on them than any sterile statistic grasp, especially for a family like Tia’s that Pride and glory and honor—all the highest Gottfried Willhelm great contributions could. One such story is told by Agnes Bris- once held a privileged position in the ranks Live in the colors to stand or fall. O Leibniz demonstrated to mathematics, tow in “Dancing Through the Shadow: A True of the Kuomintang. appreciation the fi rst formula of Liebniz infl uenced Hats o˜ ! Story of Survival and Courage Under Mao’s is not to utter integral calculus: y=f(x). philosophy, physics, Brutal Regime,” a first-person account of life Hope Through Dance Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ru™ e of drums; Several of the notations biology, politics, law, in Mao Zedong’s China. Life carried on, however, and even when words, but to And loyal hearts are beating high: he used are still used history, and more. He The book tells the true story of Tia Zhang, Mao’s Great Leap Forward caused millions Hats o˜ ! live by them. today. Liebniz, along was a key fi gure of the a ballet dancer who came of age during the across the country to starve, Tia’s family The flag is passing by! with Sir Isaac Newton, Enlightenment. time when Mao’s grip was slowly strangling found a way to survive. The daily struggle JOHN F. KENNEDY ANDREW ANGELOV/SHUTTERSTOCK the country. The simple yearnings and trap- to meet the basic necessities of life affected MARIAN WEYO/SHUTTERSTOCK THATSMYMOP/SHUTTERSTOCK pings of childhood, adolescence, and mother- the entire nation, and Tia’s family was no hood are beautifully woven together against exception. a backdrop of totalitarian brutality. It’s a re- Through hard work and talent, Tia secured markable novel that humanizes the plight of a coveted spot in Beijing’s Ballet Academy, This would have been difficult enough with- By Aidan Danza, age 13 a nation coming to terms with its new reality staffed with professional dance teachers from Tia’s journey out Mao’s policies and the ever-present threat Tia Zhang, a as a socialist state. Soviet Russia. The school operated more like of being sent to a labor camp or worse. Love ballet dancer ALL PHOTOS BY MACAUYLAY LIBRARY The communists took power in China in a military academy than a dance studio, but is one of pain, was a risky proposition in Mao’s China, and who came of 1949, ending a decades-long civil war that Tia nonetheless received a first-class dance triumph, and both Tia and her husband would spend hard age in China when the TELLING BIRDS APART: SOMETIMES IT’S TRICKY had left the country weary and looking for education. a true testa- time in China’s labor camp system. change. At first, there was hope that the new Dance was used as a tool for communist The novel follows Tia through each stage of country was government would improve life for the aver- propaganda, and because the school was ment to the her life as she navigates marriage, mother- under Mao’s communist Cooper’s Hawk age citizen. favored by Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, Tia had human spirit. hood, and an escape from communist rule. leadership. GREATER AND greater scaup’s head is completely Sharp-shinned Instead, China under Mao’s leadership the opportunity to perform for Mao and his All the while, Mao hangs like a shadow in the circular. Hawk began a descent into violent revolution that dignitaries. The stark contrast between lavish background, dictating the terms and condi- LESSER SCAUP In terms of color, the birds are would result in one of the century’s great- Communist Party banquets and the starving tions through which Tia must find her way. These two ducks are among the identical except for the head. Male est humanitarian disasters. The statistics population left a lasting impression on Tia, trickiest to tell apart. The key to tell greaters have an iridescent green are staggering. Conservative estimates put foreshadowing her disillusion with the Party Lessons From the Shadows he ever- them apart is in their head shape. head, while lessers normally have the death toll at 65 million. The Great Leap and communism. Tia’s journey is one of pain, triumph, and a present question in a The lesser’s head is thinner purple. However, the lesser’s head Forward, Mao’s attempt to collectivize agri- By the time Tia became an assistant in- true testament to the human spirit. At once when viewed from the front. When can also appear green, like the birding expedition is, viewed from the side, the head greater, so this is not foolproof. culture, resulted in the worst famine in his- structor at the academy, Mao had unleashed tender, traumatic, and terrifying, the story is “What kind of bird is that?” comes to a small peak in the back. Greaters and lessers often mix in tory. Forty-five million people were beaten, his Red Guards. Like a plague, this frenzied gripping enough to warrant the level of detail This is not a crest, like the northern flocks, and when they do, lessers starved, or worked to death. group of students and children of Party of- Bristow uses as she expertly combines Tia’s Most people are able to tell cardinal has; this is simply the are noticeably smaller than the This was the world in which Tia Zhang had ficials brought mayhem to the country in experience with enough political analysis apart a swan from a peacock, shape of their head. In contrast, the greater, hence the name. to make her way. a wave of revolution and violence. The Red to shed light on life under Mao and how his but most are much trickier Guards were brainwashed from childhood policies resulted in such a high death toll. COOPER’S hair. Sharp-shinned hawk’s cheeks are than that. There are some birds more of a light rusty color, whereas the From Prosperity to Destitution to be Mao’s devoted servants. They were the It is difficult to fathom the desperation of a Greater Scaup AND SHARP- that look very similar, but are Coopers’ are light gray. Tia’s father was a high-ranking official with perfect vehicle for his Cultural Revolution as populace forced to react in fear to nearly every SHINNED HAWK There is yet another di˜ erence: the Kuomintang, the governing party at the they marched the streets, berating and beat- happenstance. not the same! There is always Coopers’ hawks have squarer heads, ‘Dancing Lesser Scaup This one is a bit simpler, but the time, and provided a lavish life for his fam- ing anyone without fear of repercussion. This book is a worthy read for those who a di˜ erence, the key is just to while sharp-shinned hawks have ily, complete with a residence in the heart of At one point, the ballet academy was over- Through the entertain any romantic notions about com- solution also lies in the head. smaller, rounded ones. Juveniles are notice it. Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks Beijing. It was a harmonious existence far run by its Red Guard students, who bru- Shadow: A True munism or Marxism. With extreme ideologies much trickier; follow the same rules Story of Survival both have slate-gray crowns atop of head shape, but the coloring of removed from the dangers that lurked just tally beat the senior teachers and berated on the rise in the West, Tia’s story serves as their heads, but the Cooper’s hawk’s around the corner. The oldest of her siblings, the assistants, punishing them severely for and Courage a reminder of the human cost beyond the both birds is the same. Sharp-shinned crown only is on the top of the head; hawks have much thicker streaks Tia was coddled and disciplined in strict Chi- their education methods by forcing them to Under Mao’s statistics. Many Chinese of that generation with the rest of the head light gray. On on the belly than Cooper’s. Young nese traditions, groomed by her mother to be clean latrines and perform the most degrad- Brutal Regime’ will be able to identify with her plight. the other hand, sharp-shinned hawks’ Cooper’s hawks also have yellow eyes, a lady and destined for a life of privilege and ing duties. Agnes Bristow The book is ultimately about love, loss, cour- crowns extend all the way down to while juvenile sharp-shinned hawks obedience. Tia suffered her fate in silence, complying age, and the intricacies of life amplified by the back, and looks almost like a boy’s have a darker orange. Editions du Marais That fate was irretrievably altered when with the demands of her brainwashed stu- the desperation of circumstance. Tia’s story Paperback, 517 pages the communists arrived in Beijing and the dents. Like many others, she was forced to is a truly beautiful vehicle for exploring the (also available aMazing Escape Maze Kuomintang suddenly and unexpectedly ced- bury her empathy and face the world with human cost of political ideologies taken to on Kindle) ed power. Hopes that the communists would as much indifference as she could muster. the extreme, where the human spirit is put 1 2 3 offer a reprieve from the strife of war and that During all the turmoil, she found love but to the test. Down the promised utopia would be ushered in were had to face the disapproval of her family and 4 1 Medals (9) quickly dashed when it became apparent that traditionalist mother who wanted her to have For more information, see 5 6 7 anyone once loyal to the Kuomintang was an arranged marriage. DancingThroughtheShadow.com 2 Monument (8) 3 Conflict (3) AMAZING START 4 Feeling of accomplishment (5) 8 6 General’s pride (6) How Chess Changed the Life of a 9-Year-Old Refugee 7 Esteem (10) 9 10 11 If you want ____, prepare for war (5) TAL ATZMON/NTD ESCAPES! SHIWEN RONG That was the moment when Tani Tani’s next goal is to become a 12 “...in order to form a more discovered his love for chess. He grandmaster at age 11 or 12, the perfect ____ ...” (5) NEW YORK—In a nearly new apart- then joined his school chess club, youngest in the world. 11 12 13 13 General’s commands (6) ment in Midtown Manhattan, in the where he began to take the game Since his big win, Tani has re- 14 15 14 Many a veteran sacrificed their ____ (4) corner of a fully decorated room, seriously. ceived nationwide attention and has USE THE FOUR NUMBERS IN THE CORNERS, AND THE OPERANDS 16 there is an old-fashioned chessboard. changed the life of his whole family. (+, AND ×) to build an equation to get the solution in the middle. There may be 15 Many veterans were ____ (5) In March, Tanitoluwa “Tani” Ad- Championships They received an apartment, which more than one “unique” solution but, there may also be “equivalent” solutions. ewumi was known as the homeless One day, Tani told his mom, Oluwa- has been filled, piece by piece, by For example: 6 + (7 × 3) +1 = 28 and 1+ (7 × 3) + 6 = 28 chess boy, but his life changed after toyin K. Adewumi, that he would kind-hearted strangers, with love. 17 18 winning his first New York State take home a trophy. But it wasn’t “Honestly, what America did, I Easy puzzle 1 Medium puzzle 1 Hard puzzle 1 Scholastic Championships tourna- his time yet. never have seen it,” said Kayode. ment for his age group. In 2018, after two months of train- “Because they show love to us, to

4 9 3 12 18 23

Tani’s father, Kayode J. Adewumi, ing, he had his first competition. But the immigrants, it’s wonderful. I N S

E D A R A P N E R U D N

had owned a printing press in Ni- the process of winning wasn’t with- really thank God.” 32 20 10 Across E Across M E O C

geria with 13 employees and had out failures. “I’m just going to thank God, that’s F O D N O I T A N

Tanitoluwa Adewumi playing chess with his brother in their new house on 1 USAF enlistee (6) I

W R O N E E V O

a good life. However, he feared for “Physically I lost, but technically what I’m going to do,” said Tani. 3 9 1 8 8 22 L 1 USAF enlistee (6) 12 GI attire (7)

! S E P A C S Sept. 21. E

M R O F I N U

3 Battle injuriesP (6)

T

his family’s safety when Christians it’s just learning, because its a pro- For everything he and his fam- S 3 Battle injuries (6) 14 Cherish deeply (4)

M E H T N A S S E L F L E S

G N I Z A M

were attacked by the terrorist group gee, starting a new life in a foreign “We have this chessboard, but not cess of learning,” said Tani. ily have received, they want to give A 5 Remember and celebrate (11)

R L A

+ − × ÷ + − × ÷ + − × ÷ D 5 Remember and celebrate (11) 16 Our land (6)

E C I T S I M R A I

Boko Haram. country wasn’t easy for his family really a chessboard, its another type A year later, Tani won first place back. 8 High point of 1918 (9A )

D M D R

In 2017, Tani and his family es- of four. of game called Latter,” Tani said. “So in the K through 3rd-grade section Kayode started a foundation in Solution for Hard 1 L 8 High point of 1918 (9) 17 Stick out (6) I D E O Solution For Easy 1 Solution for Medium 1 O

− × − 22) (23 8) (18 (18 9 Altruistic (8)

R E T A R O M E M M O

caped from Nigeria and fled to the While living in a homeless shelter, he made Play-Dough pieces that he at the New York State Scholastic Tani’s name, to share with those C

− × − × 4 9 + 3 9 12 8 1) + (3

× − − 8 22) (23 18 18 9 Altruistic (8) 18 Memorial Day event (6) P A E

United States to search for a new life. Tani’s brother decided to teach Tani learned. We put it there and started Championships tournament and who are in need just like they 10 "Play ball!" preceder (C 6) S D N U O W N A M R I A

From a business owner to a refu- chess with a self-made chessboard. playing.” took home several trophies. once were. 10 “Play ball!” preceder (6)

15 5) ( _ ___ e r we s n a r e t e v y n a M 12 GI attire (7)

14 4) ( ____ r i he t ed c i f i r c a s an r e t e v a y n a M

13 Cherish deeply (4) 6) ( s and m m o c s ' l a er en G 14

12 5) ( " .. . ____ t c e f er p e r o m a m r o f o t r e d r o n i ... "

Our land (6) 11 5) ( r a w r o f e r a p e r p ____, t an w ou y f I 16

7 ) 0 1 ( m e e t Es

Stick out (6) 6 ) 6 ( e d ri p s ' l a er en G 17 18 Memorial Day event (6)

Down 1 Medals (9) 2 Monument (8) 3 Conflict (3) 4 Feeling of accomplishment (5) B1212 | LIFE & TRADITION THURSDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 7, 2019 Week 46, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION | 13

Courtesy of Brian Flintoff American Values. Traditional Journalism.

Master carver Brian It’s the only sane newspaper Flintoff outside his amidst all this insanity. workshop in Nelson Stan Krzyston, pastor on New Zealand’s South Island.

Craftsmanship “I’d like to try that.” The what I was doing, and they next time, I was on holi- started giving me advice day in Nelson on New Zea- too, just gently steering land’s South Island. I picked me and advising me in my up some bone that had work. Reviving the Traditional washed up on the beach. I I guess because I was went home and with the few useful, I obviously loved tools that I had, I started to what I was doing, and I play around, so it became wasn’t trying to make a a hobby. name for myself that I’ve I was teaching at the had wonderful support time, and it was some- from the Maori communi- thing to relax me after ty throughout the country. $1 Maori Music the frustrations of work- When I wanted to ing with special educa- extend my bone carving FIRST MONTH tion children, who I loved to beyond just making working with, but it was a pendants, I made some of New Zealand full-on day. of the traditional musi- I had been doing bone cal instruments. There carving for quite a while weren’t many on display Brian Flintoff, master carver of Maori musical instruments before I read something in museums at all, so I ReadEpoch.com that said that this may had to do quite a bit of SUBSCRIBE NOW! not be appropriate for guesswork at the start. I (917) 905-2080 non-Maori to be doing. then got the confidence Lorraine Ferrier the traditional Maori musical him to his craft and how It was a big shock to me. to approach museums to instruments he makes. Flint- the Maori community helped It’s a pakeha way (a New look at their full collec- Until some 40 years ago, off’s instruments are in pri- him through their songs, Zealander of European tion in storage. traditional Maori music was vate and museum collections mythology, and storytell- heritage) that if you can Then, by chance, I met thought to be all but lost. around the world, including ing. This is the story of how learn something, then you Richard Nunns, who was Then Brian Flintoff, along the Musical Instrument Mu- Maori songs were reunited just learn it. also a teacher. He was with a band of other enthusi- seum in Phoenix, Arizona. with their music. We had a lot of Maori working and teaching asts, began a revival of Maori In New Zealand, in 2010, children in the school. himself how to play the flute and instrument making he was awarded the Queen’s The Epoch Times: How did When they saw what I was instruments, and I was TRUTH AND TRADITION and playing. Service Medal for his art. you get involved in carving? doing, they encouraged teaching myself how to Now a world-renowned Flintoff humbly explains Brian Flintoff: The first time me to do a few pieces for make the instruments. master carver, Flintoff over- by phone how, as a non- I saw some bone carvings for them. Fortunately, a few flows with enthusiasm for Maori, serendipity guided sale, something in me said, Maori senior people liked Continued on Page 16 B214 | LIFE & TRADITION TUESDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 12, 2019 TUESDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 12, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION | B315

POETRY PAPER SHEET PHOTOS BY MM_PHOTOS/SHUTTERSTOCK THE PITY OF WAR: e Remarkable Poets of World War I

WILLEQUET MANUEL/SHUTTERSTOCK JEFF MINICK fi ghting with the sentiments associated Eliot, and Stephen Spender. with past military struggles. March of Some critics have contended that the or most of us, November is one 1915 saw the publication of Rupert poem off ers too little protest of the war, of those in-between months, Brooke’s “
e Soldier.” Brooke died that but in “ e Great War and Modern Mem- in this case a pause between same year from sepsis, the result of a ory,” American critic Paul Fussell only October’s glorious colors and mosquito bite, while on a military ex- partially agrees, praising “In Parenthe- the iron-dark days of winter. pedition in the Mediterranean. sis” and writing that “ e tradition to FNovember brings Americans
anksgiv- John McCrae was a Canadian poet and which the poem points holds suff ering to ing, with its family gatherings, sumptu- physician who served as a surgeon dur- be close to sacrifi ce and individual eff ort ous feasts, and for some, football games, ing the war. After a friend’s death, he to end in heroism; it contains, unfortu- followed immediately by Black Friday, wrote a poem urging others “to take up nately, no precedent for an understand- the Christmas shopping day after the torch” against the enemy. “In Flan- ing of war as a shambles and its partici-
anksgiving when all the cra- ders Fields” became immensely pants as victims.” zy sales begin and retailers popular on its publication in Jones spent the last years of his life, ac- long for crowds at the doors 1915. Dr. McCrae died three cording to the Poetry Foundation, “qui- of their stores and shops. For years later from pneumonia, etly working, trying to salvage the rem- Roman Catholics and some while he was still serving in nants of traditional Western culture from other Christians, Novem- his unit in France. the onslaught of the twentieth century.” ber means All Saints Day Other poets sounded a dif- In Poets’ Corner in Westminster Ab- and All Souls Day, when ferent trumpet call, describ- bey, a slate monument commemorates they remember their saints ing the horrors of the brutal 16 British poets from  e Great War.  e and pray for their dead. fi g h t i n g . inscription on the slate, taken from the And for some who are writing of Wilfred Owen, reads: “My historically minded, No- e A n g u i s h subject is War, and the pity of War.  e vember is the month to re- Best-known of these Poetry is in the pity.” fl ect on the disaster that was Wilfred Owen, On target, Lieutenant Owen. On target. was World War I. whose “Dulce et Requiescat in pace. Decorum Est” e War to End and “Anthem for Jeff Minick has four children and a All Wars Doomed Youth” growing platoon of grandchildren.
e year was 1918. continue to ap- For 20 years, he taught history, At the 11th hour on pear in textbooks literature, and Latin to seminars of ARTS & TRADITION the 11th day of the of literature and an- homeschooling students in Ashe- 11th month, the Great thologies. Owen died ville, N.C., Today, he lives and writes To advertise, call 212-292-8359 War, as some later called in action one week before in Front Royal, Va. See Jeff Minick. PUBLIC DOMAIN or email [email protected] it, came to an end. World War the war ended. His mother re- com to follow his blog. As leaves fall, mid-November invites us to remember fallen soldiers, especially those of World War I. I killed 17 million soldiers, sailors, air- ceived notifi cation of his death on Ar- men, and civilians; it wounded, crippled, mistice Day, while church bells across and maimed many others. It toppled Britain were announcing the end of the kings and empires, sounded the death slaughter. knell of European colonialism, brought communism to Russia, ushered in the e Survivors rise of fascism in other countries, and left
e poets who survived the war contin- the United States the leading economic ued to explore in their verse the agonies power in the world. they had endured. Life in the trenches during this war
ough he made his living by writ- featured a hell on earth unimaginable ing such novels as “I, Claudius” and to most of us today.
e stench of sweat, “Claudius the God,” Robert Graves was excrement, and rotting fl esh of corpses; fi rst and foremost a poet. He wrote 141 the mud and the rain; the shelling, snip- war poems—he destroyed many others ers, and gas attacks; the rats, lice, and rather than publishing them—and he was lack of basic human hygiene; the mass also the author of a classic war memoir, assaults in the face of artillery and ma- “Goodbye to All
at.” Like Siegfried Sas- chine guns—the British, on the fi rst day soon, Ivor Gurney, and some of the other of the Battle of the Somme alone, on July poets who survived the war, Graves suf- Become a Published Author with Dorrance. 1, 1916, suff ered over 57,000 casualties, fered from neurasthenia, which would including some 19,000 dead. All these later be called “shell shock” or “post- horrors and more caused some hopeful traumatic stress disorder.” We want to read your book! Actual Size observers to label this confl ict “
e War David Jones, a Welsh poet and convert to End All Wars.” to Roman Catholicism, took years to Actual Size
ese same trenches also produced write “In Parenthesis,” a poem of epic Actual Size some of the fi nest war poetry in the Eng- length describing the trials of a fi ctional Trusted by authors for nearly 100 years, Dorrance has made lish language. John Ball and his fellow soldiers from their departure in England to France to e Idealists the Battle of the Somme. Published in countless authors’ dreams come true. Despite the slaughter and grubby life of 1937, “In Parenthesis” won high praise trench warfare, some poets viewed the from poets like William Butler Yeats, T.S.

KAREN FALJYAN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Some poets

viewed the fi ghting with Complete Book the sentiments Publishing Services associated with FIVE EASY STEPS past military Our staff is made up TO PUBLICATION: struggles. of writers, just like

you, and we are 1. Consultation 4. Distribution dedicated to 2. Book Production 5. Merchandising making publishing 3. Promotion and Fulfillment dreams come true.

(Top) Poet Wilfred Owen from his Call now to receive your FREE Author’s Guide “Poems” published in  (Bottom) The wild poppy will long be asso- 877-655-4006 or www.dorranceinfo.com/epoch ciated with Flanders Fields and the poem to salute those who had fallen there. 16 | LIFE & TRADITION Week 46, 2019 Week 46, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION | 17

all photos Courtesy of Brian Flintoff “Nguru Whale Tuhoe” the flute, then you’re able by Brian Flintoff. The to keep the basic concepts nguru is a short flute of what the flute is doing. with a soft sound that One part of the flute is has a semi-enclosed left smooth, and the other bore, which is unusual part is carved. The carved in the music world. bit balances the smooth The flutes were an bit. For the carving, I add a kowhaiwhai design (a embellishment for singing specific pattern with a because music didn’t exist particular meaning to embellish the story) based as just sounds; it was the on the painted style that the old Maori used. I carve song and the words that it instead of paint it on the were important. body of the flute to de- pict the music going out, Brian Flintoff, master carver making nice shapes in the silence as it drifts up to the sky father.

The Epoch Times: Please A bone porutu by tell us about Maori music. Brian Flintoff. The Mr. Flintoff: Maori music porutu has finger is microtonal, and so to holes toward the the untrained ear it is very lower end, enabling boring. It’s like having the musician to jump all the notes that we have between two octaves. in our European scale squashed down into about five notes, so the changes between notes are very subtle. Perhaps that’s why, when European “Pumoana Karoro,” by Brian Flintoff. Shell music came along, the trumpets have the Maori people were able to common name of harmonize without even putatara. In the past, thinking about it, because putatara were made their ears were so well- from a specific shell. trained. Brian Flintoff calls his Basically, the flutes were shell trumpets pumo- an embellishment for ana when he uses singing because music other shells. didn’t exist as just sounds; it was the song and the words that were important. Fortunately, the songs were not lost. A lot of the songs were sung under- Brian Flintoff carved this piece, “Putorino with ground, so to speak, and Moth,” to tell the story of Raukatauri, the goddess where Maori communi- of flute music. The flute is the shape of her cocoon, ties were strong enough. and she is seen as the central singing figure. The The songs have become a carving at the top is Pepe, the male moth who has touchstone for us in reviv- been attracted by Raukatauri’s sweet singing. ing things. There were a few ancient wax record- ings that were recorded when there were still Maori players using the A Maori shell trum- pet, called a putatara, instruments, which has made by Brian Flint- been a great help. Craftsmanship Continued from Page 13 human; the deer bones are off. The Maori are one Within the last 40-odd very close to that. of only a few cultures years that we’ve been do- Once we got together, in the world that add ing the revival, we found because we had comple- The Epoch Times: Can you a mouthpiece to shell only one old person who mentary skills, we started please explain about the trumpets. had been taught to play as to make progress. Then we human-bone flute? a boy. He hadn’t used the Reviving the Traditional were invited by the late Mr. Flintoff: Well, mostly instrument for some 20 Dr. Hirini Melbourne, who it would be to honor an years at that stage. When really led the revival, to ancestor, to make music he heard about what we a meeting of Maori writ- from his or her bone. And were doing, he started ers and artists where they sometimes, if the enemy playing it again, which brought together people got the flute, it would be was wonderful. who had an interest used to mock the ancestor. There is a bit of trouble Maori Music in this. The Maori concept of life, in my mind that too many Hirini was a wonder- a little like the yin-yang of our young musicians ful musician, composer, we know from the East, want to use them in the of New Zealand linguist, and storyteller. is taking the two comple- way European instru- He had all sorts of skills. mentary opposites and ments are played, just to The Maori language was finding their balance point play their own music. I his only language until he to create harmony. They prefer when it’s played Brian Flintoff, master carver of Maori musical instruments was in his teens, so he had have different words for as an embellishment to a wonderful knowledge it, but it’s the same basic Maori song. of the mythology and all concept. That’s why you things that were necessary can understand the flute The Epoch Times: What to drive this. could be used for those the heartbeat: the sound mated, she lays her eggs this is a little flute person. have the instruments Even though Hirini was two opposite purposes. of Papatuanuku, mother in the case and then she The trees outside are tree taught you? a lecturer at the University The essential thing in earth. Her first partner was dies. When we make the i people. It’s a wonderful The rhythms Mr. Flintoff: Humility! I of Waikato, he persuaded Maori art is the storytell- the god of the sea and, of instrument, it has a male way to look at the world, used to growl at Richard. the university faculty ing and the mnemonics, course, the rhythm of the voice which is played like In Maori as well as looking at what are seen as He’d come out to have a that they should take the because the arts were re- stones rolling up and down a trumpet and a female music we make. look at an instrument and revival process out into ally their written language on the beach as the waves voice which is played like traditions, I add a similar face on the heartbeat: make it play, and then the marae, the small Maori equivalent. The songs were come in—the rhythm of the a flute. musical the other end, but that the sound of he’d take the music away villages, throughout the written down and are waves. It was their children These ideas, especially to instruments face has two noses. This with him. Because as soon country and do work- some of the most accurate and grandchildren who young people, they cotton are is because to play the Papatuanuku, as he left, I couldn’t get shops. It was a labor of love histories. And when they became the ancestors of on to them. To me, it was members of instrument, you’ve got to anything out of it! But also mostly done on weekends. did the art, it acted as a the different types of wonderful because my the families bring it up to your lips, mother earth. they’ve taught me perse- In the workshops, we mnemonic to remind you instruments. study was in science and of the gods. which then brings it up Brian Flintoff, verance, to keep on trying. used sheep leg bones, of little bits of story. All the flutes are known math, and so logic was to your nose, and in the master carver There’s so much that the which are about the same from Raukatauri, the god- important. But the Maori traditional Maori greeting instruments have taught size as the traditionally The Epoch Times: How dess of flute music, who mythology is still so intact (called a hongi), you bring me, because the stories used albatross wing bones. does your flute making loved her flute so much that you can see the logic your nose to the other that go with them are Because of the lightness relate to the storytelling? she decided to turn herself throughout. I think that’s person’s nose and share stories that improve the the albatross has to have Mr. Flintoff: There are into the humble little case what really helps children your breath. Therefore, way we run our lives. The in its wing, the wing bone wonderful concepts about moth, which is a little to understand and enjoy when you play, and your philosophy that’s in our has a unique sound, but why we have the instru- moth that lives in a case. it, because of the logic instrument is held up to stories is a philosophy that the sheep bone was as ments. The music is made That case was the shape of that’s inherent in the my- your nose, you share your I think the world is look- close as we could get. up of tunes and rhythms, the little putorino flute. thology. breath with the instru- ing for in many places. Then we started to ex- and then we add our per- The female doesn’t turn On most of the instru- ment’s breath and the two tend, where we could, to sonal experience—that’s into a flying moth; the ments, I put a face on breaths combine to make This article has been ed- large bones like deer and the words. The tunes are male does. When she the blowing end, which music. The face with two ited for clarity and length. emu bones because they called Rangi; Rangi is the wants him, she has to represents the face of the noses is the face of the were being farmed here. sky father. What happens sing. You may think, ah, instrument itself. Maori music, showing that the To find out more about “Nguru Kokako” by Brian Flintoff. The nguru is a short flute. This design incorporates a kokako, The most important flute to the tunes after we’ve a caterpillar singing—but believe that everything two breaths can make Brian Flintoff and hear a bird that according to Maori legend was gifted to Maori was the human- heard them? They drift off if enough of them do it, is personified, so putting something special. some of his musical with the ability to sing like Raukatauri, the goddess bone flute, often made up to the sky father. apparently there is an au- a face on the flute helps By putting those two dif- instruments visit of flute music. from an arm bone of a The rhythms are seen as dible sound. After they’ve people to understand that ferent faces on the end of JadeAndBone.co.nz B618 | LIFE & TRADITION TUESDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 12, 2019 TUESDAY,Week 46, 2019 NOVEMBER 12, 2019 LIFE & TRADITION | B719

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE FINE ARTS Mark Jackson grew up in Spring Val- ley, N.Y., where he attended a Waldorf FILM INSIGHTS school. At Williams College, his pro- fessors all suggested he write pro- fessionally. He acted professionally WITH MARK for 20 years instead. Now he On Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ writes professionally about JACKSON acting. In the movies. PUBLIC DOMAIN MANFRED VON PENTZ

he Gothic era, an epoch so marvel- ous, magical, and perplexing that Martin Scorsese’s to this day it has Tnever been fully fathomed, triggered the rebirth of yet another magnificent period. Magnificent Mafia That rebirth, of course, was the Renaissance, which dis- covered the great cultures Magnum Opus of our forebears, Greek and Roman alike, and polished them off with Christ’s max- ims. And so, the first liter- ary giants of Christianity MARK JACKSON ‘The Irishman’ stepped onto the stage and D i r e c t o r Humanism was born. obert De Niro. Al Pacino. Joe Pesci. Martin Scorsese Amazing heroines such Harvey Keitel. Martin Scorsese. On as Petrarch’s Laura and the strength of those names alone, Starring R Robert De Niro, Dante’s Beatrice captivat- you know you have to see this movie or miss Al Pacino, ed the hearts of educated out on an instant classic that will inform Joe Pesci, Italy and those beyond. As American pop culture for years to come. Harvey Keitel, a result, the veneration of What about these guys being past their Ray Romano, the weaker sex received prime, to the point that a newfangled youth- Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale, (Top) Robert De Niro underwent some techno-youth-ification in order to cover the entire adult life yet another elevation of ification technology is needed in order to Jack Huston of Mafia hitman Frank Sheeran, “The Irishman.” (Above) Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Bufalino their status. The first was stretch the time spans they can believably has never been better. the highly romantic if not play? It matters not. It’s a little fake, but it Rated R quasi-divine spheres the allows all these elder statesmen of mob-sto- female reached by way of rytelling in America to have themselves a Running Time Letizia Battaglia’s work during one of the wife cigarette breaks) to attend their law - the troubadours. But now grand finale. And at three and a half hours— 3 hours, 29 minutes bloodiest Cosa Nostra crime sprees in Italy. yer’s (Ray Romano) daughter’s wedding. dukes, popes, counts, and Now my guess is, and more To the left hovers a winged contrary, see it as reason- Love for the sad, the poor, it’s quite grand. Release Date That’ll sober up your romantic notions quick; Hoffa soon after disappears, forever. condottieri, all with an “The it can’t be, that this friend couple, firmly embracing able that the winged young and the downtrodden. But is it good? Of course. Fabulous. It’s Nov. 27 all your musings: Ah! Look at what excellent infallible sense for beauty Birth of with whom he had a little each other and loosely clad couple, together on the left, Love for a tree, a butterfly, Scorsese. How could it not be grand? Up- (Nov. 1, limited release) cooks they are, slicing that garlic clove with Performances and elegance, had their Venus,” chat was the venerated hu- in a sky-blue cloth. They represents the Lord God and a sunset, a bird, a dog; Love lifting? Mob movies? I saw a musician Ins- a razor blade, who knew? No wonder Italian Hoffa is a tailor-made Al Pacino role if there spouses, daughters, and 1486, by manist and poet Leon Bat- fly in a cloud of wild roses Creator of the World. for children; Love between tagram meme recently about the romance of food is so excellent! Battaglia’s photos will ever was one—the kind that makes you mistresses educated, usu- Sandro tista Alberti. It came to pass and both are blowing air, Never before has the Cre- a man and a woman. Love the road. Musician wannabe says, “You’re in throw ice water in your face. It’s an excellent chuckle slightly, in awe and appreciation at ally by the best scholars Botticelli. that they forged an emotion- in this way producing a ator been represented in for the divine creation in a band? Wow, I bet you get to see a lot of re- chaser to follow a film like “The Irishman.” the towering rages, so electrifying are they. money could buy. Uffizi ally staggering and philo- breeze that pushes the god- European art as a deeply general; and Love as man- ally cool places!” Photos of really cool places: De Niro is staid, reliable, slightly uncom- Where previously the Gallery, sophically overwhelming dess ashore. There waits intertwined man and wom- kind’s ultimate and highest the backseat of a van, a highway, a seedy gas An Italian-Speaking Irishman fortable, seeing that his character is basi- Florence, wealthy proudly exhibited allegory as an underpinning a young woman, ready to an, sparsely veiled on top of achievement, key to a single station bathroom. Irish-American Frank Sheeran (Robert De cally a glorified gofer to very dangerous men. Italy. their ladies’ outer splendor, for the world’s most beauti- receive her. She holds a that. The lady on the right fulfilled life and hope for a Directors Francis Ford Coppola and Scors- Niro), home from fighting Nazis, is driv- Frank needs to tread carefully for survival’s they now touted with equal ful work of art. finely woven cloak, I see as representing better future. ese have romanticized mob life in America, ing hulking, bloody sides of beef around sake. De Niro shows us that man. Late in delight that these ladies Leon Battista, by the way, clearly intend- mankind, anx- In other words, the paint- but, like a seedy gas station bathroom, mob in freezer trucks for a living. Not being a the 3.5-hour run-time, Frank confesses to could read Aristophanes in was the first Christian lyri- ing to wrap the Apart from ious to receive ing is not only a grandiose life’s not glamorous. It’s killers; it’s dangerous particularly ethical fellow, he sees a business a priest in a senior home, and you can feel the original and, perhaps cist to write an elegy on the goddess into it. its breathtaking the goddess, example of Greek mythol- human animals. Limited-education-having, venture and starts stealing from his delivery the festering soul-rot of the karma he carries over a glass of sublime death of his beloved dog, a Apart from beauty, what then to cover ogy but, in fact, one of the flashy, nouveau-riche predators. Just like the trucks, giving the beef to Philly-based Felix with him and hopes to absolve himself of. Montepulciano, embark mongrel, which is, at least its breathtak- makes the painting her and thus most beautiful arguments Russian mob. Just like mobs everywhere. DiTullio (Bobby Cannavale). on a spirited critique of his in my book, one of the finest ing beauty, so unique is its to honor and for the validity of our Chris - A good antidote to getting caught up in He’s soon taken note of by Philly “capo di doubts and certainties. credentials a true human- what makes symbolism. protect her. tian faith ever conceived. romantic notions about the Mafia is to have tutti i capi” Russell Bufalino (a never better Small wonder, therefore, ist can advance if asked to the painting so Why do I make So there she stands, the a look at Sicilian crime-scene photographer Joe Pesci), who takes a shine to Frank, in that Lorenzo the Magnifi- declare himself. unique is its symbol- this assertion? Be- most supreme of all god- part due to Frank’s ability to speak fluent This Hollywood royalty cent, ruler of Florence in In any case, the “Birth of ism. Scholars often accept cause, indeed, Love is the desses, and I cannot imagine Italian (having been stationed in Italy), and of pretend mobsters those times, decided one Venus” was born. the secondary figures in the greatest and most wondrous a greater compliment for our (Left) Al Pacino (C) is com- starts improving Frank’s status. day to bestow immortality painting as minor Greek de- gift ever bestowed upon hu- womenfolk than she. pelling as the crooked union Bufalino introduces him to mobbed-up has shone a spotlight on an exceptionally lovely ‘The Birth of Venus’ ities. But remembering that manity by its Creator. boss Jimmy Hoffa. union boss Jimmy Hoffa (a rip-roaring Al on the American Mafia maiden. He entrusted the The goddess of love stands the painting was only dis- Often misunderstood only Manfred von Pentz previ- (Below) Anna Paquin, as the Pacino). The Mafia, in this telling, gets Presi- task to a preferred protégé, in a large seashell that rests covered in 1815 without any as a sensually induced emo- ously worked in advertis- daughter of Frank Sheeran dent John F. Kennedy elected. Which means and exposed it. the artist Sandro Botticelli, close to the shore. She is historical documentation tion, Love is much more: ing, graphic design, and (Robert De Niro), provides Kennedy’s in mob-debt. But JFK doesn’t get and to imbue it with a mea- immensely beautiful, with as to its name or its mean- Namely, it is a rational real estate development. the film’s moral compass. Cuba reopened to mob business. And then sure of subdued passion shimmering blond hair and ing, and more importantly attitude to life, as an all- Now a writer and painter, chief counsel Bobby Kennedy harasses the This is Joe Pesci’s best work to date, and it and complex intellectual light-green eyes. Though na- acknowledging that the embracing sentiment, as he is the author of novels mob legally. So it makes sense that some must be said of him, he actually looks hand- depth, as was the habit in ked, she radiates an impres- Italian Renaissance forged an eternal philosophy, and such as “The Crimson capo di tutti i capi said, of Kennedy, that somer at age 76. His is a Mafioso don of restraint those days, he most likely sion of virginity and purity. new philosophies, combin- as a divine principle. Love Goddess.” His artwork can phrase you hope you never hear the mob and wisdom and even empathy. Whether the invited a close friend to get She covers her loins with a ing ideas from antiquity and for the good and beautiful; be found at manfredvon- saying: “He’s gotta go.” real Bufalino had those traits is debatable. some ideas. strand of her long hair. the Middle Ages, I, on the Love for truth and justice; pentz.net Meanwhile, Frank’s become a hitman for Anna Paquin, who plays Frank’s daughter, Bufalino, while becoming bosom buddies is the silent conscience of the film. She says with Hoffa, who, with his uncontrollable two sentences throughout, and yet power- temper, eventually aggravates enough capi fully holds the film’s moral center through di tutti i capi that they all finally agree—Hof- her unspoken disavowal of her father’s dark fa’s “gotta go.” So much of the movie is about profession. Feminists have made much of (L–R) Al Pacino, Martin Irish Frank trying to calm the Italian bosses her lack of lines, but when it comes to act- Scorsese, and Robert De down, regarding his anger-management- ing, it’s not always about, “Don’t just stand THEATER REVIEW himself with a support team song cycle.” Niro at an event for “The needing friend. there—do something!” The more powerful of prestigious specialists: Di- But another reviewer has Irishman,” in London on Oct. Then, circa 1975, Frank Sheeran and Russell choice is sometimes, “Don’t just do some- rector Thomas Kail with his written: “[the] exquisite 13, 2019. Bufalino, with wives in tow, drive to Hoffa’s thing—stand there.” Tony award-winning stint of harmony of this unusual home base of Detroit (with lots of amusing Dazzling Talent but So-So Music “Hamilton” is reunited with show” and “immersive the- MIKE MARSLAND/GETTY IMAGES Magnum Opus Alex Lacamoire, another ater with great music.” Tour de force. Last hurrah. Since Francis Ford Tony winner for “Hamilton,” And, as mentioned earlier, Coppola’s 1972 “The Godfather,” these are the DIANA BARTH as an animated film at the Mariana (Ciara Renée). Un- ‘The Wrong Man’ who here is responsible for performer Joshua Henry men who have shown us the seamy under- Tribeca Film Festival. fortunately, her husband, a music supervision, arrange- makes it all worthwhile for belly of American organized crime. This is EW YORK—Though In this production, the convicted criminal known Robert W. Wilson ments, and orchestrations. many. our American reality, so it’s good that all this MCC Theater Space Hollywood royalty of pretend mobsters has billed as a musical, jewel in the crown is the only as Man in Black (Ryan 511 W. 52nd St. Choreographer Travis Wall N “The Wrong Man” masterful actor and singer Vasquez), is incredibly jeal- New York is recipient of a host of theat- shone a spotlight on it and exposed it. This is features completely sung Joshua Henry (nominated for ous—so much so that he rical awards, including two the final chapter; this will not happen again. Running Time rather than spoken words. a Tony and Grammy for the murders Mariana and an- 1 hour, 30 minutes Emmy wins out of eight Creator Ross They had to coax Pesci out of acting retirement Does this make it an op- recent revival of “Carousel” other man, and pins the (no intermission) Emmy nominations. His Golan has to do it. It’s a Hollywood mob swan song. era? No, no, no! There’s not on Broadway), who carries crimes on Duran. Closes stark, angular choreography So what are the takeaways? My take- a whiff of Puccini or Verdi. the show on his shoulders. Duran is arrested and Nov. 24 adds to the sometime edge- surrounded away was, not having been particularly interested in Kennedy assassination con- The story—of an ordinary Henry creates a tangible spends the remainder of the Tickets of-your-seat excitement. man who encounters bad character as Duran, a ne’er- show insisting that he’s “the 212-727-7722 or Betsy Adams’s dark, some- himself with a spiracy theories, a kind of a “Doh!” moment luck—is its own thing, un- do-well living in Reno, who wrong man.” [email protected] what mysterious lighting support team when it was suggested that it was a mob hit. der the banner of pop music falls for a married woman, Golan has surrounded supports the doings onstage. Another takeaway: I’ve always wondered if composer Ross Golan, who MATTHEW MURPHY However, the songs are re- of prestigious you put De Niro up against Pacino, who wins? wrote the book, music, and petitive. Although, as noted, They were pretty evenly matched in 1995’s lyrics. Golan’s background there are remarkable pedi- specialists. “Heat.” But after “The Irishman,” I say Pac- includes the 2016 BMI Pop grees here, the script isn’t ino’s the better actor. At least in this movie. Songwriter of the Year strong and the language of That’s what makes the ball- A takeaway scene from “The Godfather” award. He has also served as the lyrics is rather pedestri- game of theater. Certainly, was Clemenza comedically telling Michael writer of songs for the likes an. How many times can one audiences enjoy it. I attended Corleone that he didn’t silence the pistol of Ariana Grande, Selena say: “I’m the wrong man”? a Wednesday matinee, and so as to get rid of “annoying” innocent by- Gomez, Justin Bieber, and There’s a divergence of the house was packed. standers—this line is paid tribute to in “The other high achievers. opinion regarding the qual- Irishman.” Obviously a labor of love ity of the production. One Diana Barth writes for What’ll stick in my mind long after “The for Golan, this current work reviewer has concluded: several theater publica- Irishman” has faded is that when the mob has been on the drawing “Their hardworking efforts tions, including “New says to you, “I heard you paint houses” (the board for more than 10 Joshua Henry (C) aren’t enough to make ‘The Millennium.” She may be title of the biography on Sheeran). It means years, appearing as a con- and the cast of Wrong Man’ feel like more contacted at diabarth99 that they know you paint houses red. Blood cept album last summer and “The Wrong Man.” than a dramatically inert @gmail.com red. And they could use a man like you. B820 | LIFE & TRADITION TUESDAY, NOVEMBERWeek 46, 12, 2019

ALL PHOTOS BY BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS FILM REVIEW An Engrossing Road Film About Second Chances IAN KANE grade off enses. Unfortunately, the You’d think the fi lm would lock state of California expanded on this on to the initial sense of melancholy dopt a Highway” is a haunt- law by requiring that misdemeanor- and curbed prospects. But Marshall- ing yet hopeful road movie grade off enses be treated as severely Green (who also wrote the script) “ that marks the directorial as felonies. suddenly takes us for an unexpected debut of Logan Marshall- ” at law, plus little in the way of detour. While visiting a dumpster Ex-con Russell Millings (Ethan Hawke) has to learn the ins and outs of a now, AGreen. From the outset, we see that employment programs for those near his lodgings one evening, Rus- technically oriented world, in “Adopt a Highway.” Marshall-Green and his superbly returning to society, caused many sel hears the faint mewling of a baby skilled crew have carefully studied people to fall through the cracks, from inside of it. ‘Adopt a Highway’ cons as disposable. Hence, he makes the indie fi lm ethos, as his equally never to re-emerge. He discovers a gym bag with a dis- it his mission to care for Ella. Director nascent cinematographer Pepe Russell was one who was snagged carded infant in it. ” e only thing Logan Marshall-Green However, their bonding is short- Avila del Pino captures some poi- up by this very law for a relatively accompanying the unwanted babe lived. One day, Ella falls off his motel- Starring gnant opening shots of a man being low-level crime, and he had to pay is a piece of paper with the scribbled Ethan Hawke, Chris room bed and is injured. Panicked, released from prison. the piper in a very severe way. Re- words: “Her name was Ella.” Sullivan, Elaine Hendrix Russell takes her to the local hospi- Newly freed, ex-con Russell Mill- leased from prison, he’s returned Russell is struck with a sense of tal where she is quickly taken from Running Time ings (Ethan Hawke) has a lot on his the belongings he initially came to uncertainty for a moment. When  hour,  minutes him. Harboring a foundling with- mind. Having been imprisoned for prison with, two decades prior: some he regains his composure, his be- out notifying the police—no matter Rated possession of narcotics with the clothes, an old watch, and some wilderment is subtly replaced by re- NR the intentions—is considered felony intent to distribute, marijuana in keys. From there, he lands a job as solve; the baby must be rescued. ” e kidnapping in the eyes of the au- Release Date this case, he fi nds that the world a dishwasher at a local restaurant ex-con understands the correlation Nov.  thorities. As such, Russell’s parole, has changed immensely during and attempts his fi rst forays into an between the forsaken baby and his along with his newfound freedom, his 20-year lockup. All around him almost unrecognizable society. own forsaken life. Society views ex- is threatened. are new technological advances that At the end of the fi lm, Marshall- bewilder him—everything from the Green again deviates from the pre- internet to cellphones and even the dictable. ” ere is a sense that there capability to send emails. All of these is yet hope for Russell, as if some sort are alien to him. of rebirth is still possible. Avila del Pino takes his time with Hawke’s performance as an ex- shots, as if to force us to behold the con trying to adapt to a sometimes irony of Russell’s situation. He’s indiff erent society is extraordinarily now free, yet still tethered to the understated, and he uses his consid- parole board and its system and all erable acting chops to convey Rus- that comes with doing hard time. sell’s challenges. In his triumphant Hawke imbues his character’s rather directorial debut, Marshall-Green precarious situation with a muted even manages to weave patches of listlessness evident in his droopy- subtle, wry humor into the script, shouldered posture and somber ex- elevating the story with occasional pressions, at least during the fi lm’s slivers of brightness. fi rst act. “Adopt a Highway” is a fi lm that touches on the overly severe three- Dangerous Legislation strikes law and the many people One of the more memorable events who had their lives ruined by it. But of the 1990s was the highly contro- it’s also about second chances and versial “three-strikes” law. During moving on with one’s life, despite that time, legislators signed into law its challenges. the ability for courts to hand down mandatory lifetime prison sentences Russell Millings (Ethan Hawke) finds a mission in life after discovering an abandoned baby Ian Kane is a fi lmmaker and for those convicted of three felony- (Savannah Sucher) in “Adopt a Highway.” author based out of Los Angeles.

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