The world is getting spookier by the day. Sometimes, for self-preservation, I need some place to hide. But where?
I could simply cover my face and pretend to disappear. But just like “Peek a Boo, I see you”, I will continue to exist even if I think I’m out of sight. And that could be a problem if I am trying to hide.
Our cat hides under the bed whenever strangers are in the house. Maybe I could join him there, that is, if he gives me his permission. But he will obviously want to be compensated with extra nuggets afterwards. And, since he is overweight, that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Once I considered hiding inside the Colosseum. But I changed my mind this past May when an American tourist skewered himself on the Colosseum’s protective railings. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Apparently, the tourist illegally climbed the fence to get a better selfie and fell on a spike.
Maybe I could go to Villa Ada to hug some trees. Well, at least one very big tree that I can hide behind after hugging.
A shower could be considered a good hiding place. But only if you haven’t seen Hitchcock’s PSYCHO.
Dodie Smith, author of 101 Dalmiatians, gave me this idea. The first line of her I Capture the Castle is “I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” Well, if you can write in a sink, maybe you can hide under the dirty dishes, too.
Some of us have the luxury of just wanting a place to hide. Unfortunately, there are those who are obligated to hide for their own survival. Even Jesus needed a place to hide and we know how that story ended.
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Related: Hiding in the fields – farm workers fearing deportation stay in California’s shadows + Americans hiding their identities abroad + What to know about debate over protesters and ICE agents wearing masks amid immigration crackdowns +
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7
“Evangelicals”, theoretically, believe the Bible is the word of God and therefore must be respected and used as a point of departure for all actions. Well, these “Evangelicals” are either illiterate and have never actually read the Bible or they are, quite simply, fakes.
What are you sowing when you kidnap people off the street and have them disappear? When you deprive children of a meal while you’re stuffing your face. When you barbarically eliminate jobs just to have more tax breaks for the rich. When you kill innocent people with your wars? How much closer to heaven do you think this will take you?
James Talarico is a politician from Texas who knows his Bible. One of the youngest members of the House of Representatives and aspiring preacher, Talarico, a couple of years ago, had this to say about a proposed bill to deny gender affirming health care:
“This bill to me is not only unconstitutional, it’s not only un-American, I think it is also deeply un-Christian,” he told her, as she stood motionless. “And I say that because I believe this bill is idolatrous. I believe it is exclusionary. And I believe that it is arrogant, and those three things, in my reading of the Gospel, are diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus.” He cited Matthew 6:5, in which Jesus urges his disciples to not pray publicly like the hypocrites. … Six days later, he went viral again for calling out Texas lawmakers after a mass shooting in Allen, Texas, that left eight dead. “There is something profoundly cynical about asking God to solve a problem that we’re not willing to solve ourselves,” he said on the house floor. via
When you fall off your horse, don’t linger on the ground. Pick yourself up and get back in the saddle again. Women have been doing it for centuries.
Italy is full of equestrian statues such as that of Marcus Aurelius in Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. Because sitting up high on a horse makes you look more powerful than what you really are. Although equestrian statues always have a man sitting on the horse, women sit on horses, too.
Theodore Géricault ((1797-1824) was a French painter and lithographer. A pioneer of the Romantic movement, his most famous painting is The Raft of the Medusa (1819) regarding cannibalism and the survivors of the Medusa. However, he really liked to paint horses.
In 1816, he went to Italy and discovered Michelangelo. A couple of years later, he had a son with his maternal aunt creating a big scandal. A few years later he would die of tuberculosis. He was only 32.
“Une Amazon au Bonus de Bolognesi” by Alfred Deux
Women were once obligated to ride sidesaddle. That is, to sit aside rather than astride because it wasn’t considered ladylike to straddle a horse. So sidesaddles were invented. The woman may have appeared more ladylike. But sitting on the side made it more difficult to stay on and control the horse.
George Stubbs (1724-1806), an important English painter best known for his paintings of horses, was self taught. Much of what he learned came from copying paintings in important art collections.
In 1754, Stubbs went to Italy to verify his notion that nature is superior to art even to that by the Greeks and the Romans.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852) was a Russian painter during the Romantic period. He’d studied at the Accademy but was not enthusiastic about classical art. He went to Rome where he painted many portraits. Although best known for “The Last Day of Pompeii”, he’s also known for portraits of women.
Bryullov studied at the Academy but was bored with classical art. He went to Rome where he painted portraits. In 1832, he completed the above painting representing the daughters of composer Giovanni Pacini, Giovannina on horseback and Amazilla on the balcony.
Bryullov spent the last years of his life in Italy and is buried at the Cimitero Acattolico in Rome.
“Maria de Medici” by Rubens
The Marie de’ Medici Cycle is a series of 24 paintings by Rubens. The intent of the paintings was to depict the trials and triumphs of Marie’s life. The paintings are now at the Louvre.
When King Henry IV, Marie’s husband, died, their son Louis was only eight years old so Marie took command of the throne. But at age 15, Louis wanted to assume his role as king. Mom was so uncollaborative that she was exiled to Blois. Eventually mother and son reconciled. Marie returned to Paris to redecorate the Luxembourg Palace. She commissioned Rubens to do a series of paintings based on her life . But in 1631 Marie was once again banned from France and spent the rest of her life exiled in Belgium.
Queen Isabel of Bourbon Equestrian by Diego Velazquez
Around 1635, Velazquez made a portrait of Elizabeth of France riding a horse.
Elizabeth of France (1602-1644) was the wife of Felipe IV and the daughter of King Henry IV of France and to Marie de Medici. It’s said that Marie was not fond of her daughter and let it show.
Although Elizabeth was very beautiful and affable, her husband had mistresses. So she got a lover, too, only he was murdered
Lady Godiva was a 13th cen Anglo Saxon Nobel woman and wife of Leofric the Earl. The couple were known to be generous. However when Leofric wouldn’t lower rents for his tenants, Lady Godiva had a fit. So Leofric said he would lower the rent only if she would ride a horse in town naked. So she did.
John Collier (1850-1934) was an English painter and writer focused on Pre-Raphaelites. He married twice and both times to daughters of Thomas H Huxley. First he married Mady but she died in 1887. Two years later he married Mady’s sister Ethel. But they had to go to Norway to do so because at the time it was illegal to marry your sister in law .
Exhibition “Karl Bryullov and Italy” + The Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Rome (IL CENTRO RUSSO DI SCIENZA E CULTURA a Roma è aperto dal 2011. La sede del Centro si trova nel Palazzo storico Santacroce (XVI secolo) nella immediate vicinanza di Piazza Campo dei Fiori)+ Karl Brjullov: memorie di pietra dal Cimitero Acattolico di Roma + La Galleria Tretyakov presenterà una mostra dedicata a Karl Bryullov +
At the end of their TV show, King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, and his wife, Dale Evans, would sing “Happy Trails to You” wishing their viewers a pleasant journey. It’s a song that reminds me of a few road trips that, as a child, I took with my cousins on the way to see our grandparents. We were an animated bunch and thus easily bored. After 20 minutes into the trip, we would start asking “how much longer until we get there?” It was at this point that my aunt initiated her Road Trip Activities for Kids routine. It’s here that I learned to sing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall”. As long as we were singing, we weren’t asking questions.
Kids love to ask their parents questions that parents sometimes find difficult to answer. You know, stuff like “where do babies come from?”
Gianni Rodari(1920-1980) was an Italian writer known mainly for his children’s books. His dad died when he was a young boy and his mom was left to raise him on her own. That may explain why Rodari studied in a seminary while an adolescent. At 17 he became an elementary school teacher. This experience with children helped form him as a pedagogical writer.
During Mussolini’s reign, Rodari was forced to join the Young Fascist Party in order to work. But, in 1944, Rodari joined the Communist Party as well as la Resistenza (the Resistance). Once the war was over, he began writing for the communist newpaper, L’Unita.
In 1950, Rodari published his first children’s book “Il libro delle filastrocche” (The Book of Children’s Poems) and continued writing until his death. The last book published was “The Book of Whys” (Il libro dei perche).
For moms with curious kids, “The Book of Whys” offers a helping hand in answering typical kid questions. You know, questions like “Why doesn’t the moon fall from the sky?” and “Why do roosters crow?” and “Why do rainbows come out after the rain?”
Rodari answers the questions with a simple explanation embellished by related rhymes. For example, “why does hair grow? (perché crescono I capelli?). Rodari explains that “Hair is planted in the skin, like plants in the earth, and has roots (the blood vessels of the bulb) through which it nourishes itself.” But this is followed by a quirky little poem about growing flowers on our head instead of hair. That way, you can tell what kind of person someone is by the kinds of flowers growing on their head.
When small children begin making connections, they start asking “why?” all the time simply because they’re trying to understand something. One study I read said that children from 2-5 years of age ask over 100 questions in an hour. That’s a lot of answers for a young momma to come up with. Maybe a creative elementary school teacher out there will come up with a more contemporary and practical version of “The Book of Whys”. Elementary school teachers would better know the typical questions children ask and how to answer them.
The Narrative Within 