The Annual Venice Oceanarium Moby Dick-A-Thon - Plus

It sure was a beautiful weekend in Venice, highlighted by the annual reading of Moby Dick on the sand at the Breakwater. It's an all day/all evening affair put on by the Venice Oceanarium each year on the sand.

There are maritime props set up like a whale bone and a harpoon next to the chair and microphone for the readers. Listeners post up in the sand, and there's something just so lovely and mellow about lying on the sand and being read to as the sun sets.

It all got even lovelier as the sun sank below the horizon, when the kind folks from Enterprise Fish Company showed up with their donated delicious clam chowder and warm bread from Bay Cities. As the evening had turned chilly in the sea air, this was a most welcome warm up.

Several young students were sprawled across the sand, probably to get extra credit for a class, but it was nice to see all of them so eager to participate in a quintessentially Venice tradition. All read with gusto, and most likely also created themselves a wonderful memory. I know I did. Thanks always to the Oceanarium's Tim Rudnick for being such an advocate of the sea, and for putting this on each year.

I had a birthday party to get to, but along the way there was something I wanted to check out in the Canals. I'd seen on Facebook that there was to be an interactive tap dance light show at a house on the canals, and everyone was invited. Of course, I was there.

A gracious host called Hilary invited us in to his gorgeous home (bedecked with a big Jules Muck cat portrait on the side), offered us libations, and introduced us to the friends gathered for the performance by Laura Kriefman of the Guerilla Dance  Project. They brought out a bunch of containers of dry ice to create a smoky stage outside, then Kriefman tap danced in an LED light dress that changed colors as she danced. The music was controlled by the tap shoes and the lights were controlled by the music. It was interesting and cool and the kind of out there experimentation that I love to see continuing to thrive in Venice. Thank you to Hilary for his true kindness and generosity in opening his home to a bunch of stranger Venetians. That's how we all build bridges. I loved it.

Sunday finally brought sorely-needed rain to Venice, and a farewell to Danny's Deli closing party that I totally blew it by missing. I had in my head that it was a night-time affair, but it ended at 4. Shoot. I'm so sad to have missed the chance to celebrate all the good memories created in those walls over the years. We're all very sad to go, and can only hope and pray that whatever replaces this Venice institution will do right by it and honor its history. Please.

Thanks to everyone for another classic Venice weekend! We can all use all the fun we can get these days ... keep up the good work!

The Annual Breakwater Reading Of Moby Dick

I finally got to go to one of the greatest, coolest traditions around Venice last weekend when I finally remembered that it was the annual reading of Moby Dick put on by the Venice Oceanarium.

I went down for the sunset segment on Saturday, and a good portion had already been read (It goes from 8 am to 10 pm, both Saturday and Sunday!). All sorts of different people were sitting around in the sand near the Breakwater, where a microphone had been set up with a p.a. and nautical props like whale bones, a spear, and a little model ship set the stage for the salty tale.

It was so picturesque, with the sun setting, the clouds dancing and the waves crashing against the rocks behind ... you can imagine how very pleased Mr. Melville would be to see his great work honored in such a way in these modern times.

There's something very nice about being read to ... it frees up your mind to really imagine as you listen, rather than focusing on the words yourself. I thought of my little story hour reader at our library back home (RIP, Mrs Swanson!) and how she had set me on the path to love reading and writing. There were several obvious students there, taking notes and following along in their own copies ... but that's a pretty cool way to get extra credit.

I didn't take a turn reading as I somehow got a gnarly cold and would not have made it through many sentences without hacking, but I certainly appreciated the readers who got up there and brought the quest for Moby Dick to life. Some got into character, some offered their own digressions (like David Bush who didn't want to read next to the spear, as he's a pacifist. I love Venice), and though one clearly couldn't stay for the whole thing, I'm quite sure that they all greatly enjoyed it.

Just as I was starting to freeze and sniffle more, hot clam chowder arrived on the sand, donated by Enterprise Fish Company. So now we're listening to Moby Dick as the very last streaks of sun etched the sky, eating clam chowder and taking snaps off a thoughtful friend's flask. What a perfectly gorgeous Venice evening, truly.

There are wonderful, unique, supercool things like this going on all the time around town, and once you take part in them, you don't want to miss them again.

Thank you to all involved in this magical event ... I'm going to come on Day Two next year to find out what happened! (Ha).

Read The Circle - By Dave Eggers

With the weather cooling down and even some slight precipitation in Venice recently, it's that faintly perceptible shift of the seasons that we do get here that makes you want to just stay in and read sometimes.  That was my feeling last week, and it perfectly aligned with the arrival of the new novel/cautionary tale by Dave Eggers, The Circle.

Eggers has long been one of my very favorite living authors and inspirations (he founded the excellent 826 tutoring centers across the country), and he proves to me why with every new project he does. This one should be required reading for every person in the world to read, or be read to. After being at dinner recently and being the absolute only person not looking at my phone, I've had many a conversation about how social media is really making us all more anti-social. It's sad. I rebel.

The Circle addresses this - to the extreme. The Circle is like a all-encompassing Facebook, that links every account you have and everyone can keep track of exactly where you are and what you're doing, even to the point of full "transparency," where cameras show what everyone (including Governments) are doing at all times. If you don't agree to transparency, then you're instantly suspicious. This kind of life is a complete nightmare to me, but it's not too hard to see it coming to fruition. This is Orwell's 1984, for now.

This is a super important book, that I flew through, enjoying every page, all while mounting concern for the reality of it all grew in my mind. Please read The Circle, and let's have some good discussions about it/figure out how to save each other and the world. 


*Happy Birthday, B!