recap

It's been a busy week. And at the same time, not so busy. Mostly, this week has been a time to relax punctuated by unique opportunities. Allow me to recount them here.

The first event was a trip to Salem last Sunday with a group of fellow grad students from my dorm. The following pictures offer a taste of what I considered to be the best parts of Salem. It actually seems like a rather sad little city if you spend enough time there. It's completely a tourist trap, running off a single gimmick (does this sound like anything familiar? possibly west river?). And the sad part is what it is remembered for. Yes, the witch trials happened there, and yes, it was a tragedy that shouldn't be forgotten, lest we repeat scapegoating behavior. But the city of Salem has done a lot for the US in the past, including being one of the major shipping ports of the coast in the hey day of American shipping. One of America's great writers, Nathaniel Hawthorn, also came out of Salem. But all people remember is the witch trials--and not even the trials so much as the association with witches. It's a strange thing, really, that at the same time as we memorialize those wrongly executed during the hysteria (in a monument that really ought to be labeled better so people don't assume it's a vacant lot), the city has been permanently associated in the minds of Americans with real witchcraft. I would have thought that since the general assumption today is that those executed were innocent (no doubt we're convinced more by "The Crucible" than strict historical fact, but that's beside the point) we would associate the town with not having witches. But instead, enthusiasts and wiccans alike flock to the place. Everything in town has to do with witches, and most of the touristy shops smell funny from incense and offer various amulets and herbs purported to make one successful in love and other aspects of life. The first such shop was amusing, but the next 47 got progressively more annoying. Thankfully, I was not the only one in the group who was interested in seeing more historical sites.


Ironically, Salem is already decorated for Christmas. I rather enjoyed the juxtaposition of this sign by the witch dungeon. Here they charge us eight dollars to see a reenactment of a trail that was carried out by a bunch of mannequins and two women arguing. In the basement they have reconstructed a model of the dungeon the accused were kept in, which was full of more creepy mannequins.

After eating our sack lunches on the wharf, Christina and I took a tour of the Friendship, a reconstructed merchant ship from the early 1800s. We also got to see the customs house where captains would register their cargo and pay taxes. Also, Nathaniel Hawthorn apparently once worked there as a clerk, which he uses the first chapter of The Scarlet Letter to complain about. There was only one other person on the tour, so our National Parks guide gave us extra time and attention, which was great. Here's the ship:

After our tour, we went to the oldest candy shop in America, where I bought some traditional recipe molasses stick candy, which I still haven't tried. Our next stop was the House of Seven Gables, also made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorn. Unfortunately, this site also charges admission, but we didn't feel like paying twelve dollars, since we had less than an hour at that point anyway. So Christina talked the girls behind the counter into giving us stickers and letting us onto the grounds just so we could go to the gift shop. Even though we had promised not to tour the buildings, there was no reason not to take pictures of the outside. So here it is, Nathaniel Hawthorn's House of Seven Gables:

The house he was born in is also on the site, having been moved there sometime in the past.

So, all things considered, Salem was an interesting place, and I wouldn't mind going back again so long as we stuck to the historical sites. Perhaps next time I'll actually go into the House of Seven Gables, or visit the rather random Pirate Museum.

My next big event was Thursday afternoon. I believe I already mentioned that I was going to take a field trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery with SCoSAA. Because the trip had been rescheduled from last week, a lot of people had to cancel, and it ended up only being three of us who got the tour. It was great. We didn't even see half of the place, at least not closely, and I would definitely go back again in the spring. The site is absolutely beautiful, because it was designed to make the existing trees and the monuments work together. The result is breathtaking--I can totally understand why people would want to have Sunday picnics there. It is designed to be very peaceful, to allow for and inspire reflection not only about departed loved ones but about our own mortality. And the statuary on most of the monuments is incredible. The first picture is an example of a "curbed" family plot.

And here is one of the statues I was talking about:

It was cloudy the whole time, and began to rain just as we were getting back into the car, so we had perfect timing.

On Friday I went swimming for the first time in a couple months, and it felt great. At the same time, the water was turned off in my dorm because something was flooding in the basement. thankfully they got it dealt with quickly this time. In the evening we had a movie night and discussion in the dorm. There have been instances of hate speech on the residence campus lately (more details provided later, I don't feel like going into it right now), so our RA showed us a documentary from the 90s that consisted of eight men of different ethnicities talking candidly with each other over the course of a weekend. Of course, what they said was almost overshadowed by what they were wearing, and they were all in the same class as far as fashion sense--all of the men had flamboyant neon patterned shirts.

And today, in the midst of off-and-on rain showers I made my way downtown to the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, where I spent the afternoon gawking at beautiful old books and manuscripts that I would never be able to afford in my lifetime. I saw first editions of Tolkien and Lewis that would bankrupt me for a single volume, let alone the set, and more famous works that cost more than my college education. The 1928 edition of Candide illustrated by Rockwell Kent is valued at $25,000, and I saw it today. I also saw, under glass and brought over by booksellers from England, a set of first edition Lord of the Rings, valued at $80,000. By the end of it all, I couldn't even focus on what I was seeing. However, I collected a great many business cards and free catalogs, so I can continue to drool over the rare and valuable volumes available. Coming back, I got absolutely soaked. I wasn't wearing my rain boots, and in order to avoid walking into trafic, I had to step through a puddle that turned out to be much deeper than it looked. It will probably take a couple days for my shoes to dry out comletely.

This evening I attended a production of the Simmons Theatricla Society entitled "May the Farce Be With You." It is a superhero comedy, and it was performed by a bunch of girls and one random guy. The budget is clearly limited, but the actors and audience were all enjoying themselves. A couple girls from my program were in it, and I'm glad I could see them perform. Emma was a very good gibberish-spewing alien.

Now it's off to bed--tomorrow N.T. Wright is speaking at church, and in the afternoon a few of us are going to the MFA to listen to a talk about a new exhibit. Actually, we're invited to hear one of the workers practice her speech about the exhibit, but I'm looking forward to it.

-Kim