Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs

The “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art is worth seeing, even if the ticket price is higher than most art exhibitions and even if you know nothing about Tutankhamun or Egyptian art. It’s just a little sad that most of the objects in the exhibition were placed in the boy king’s tomb approximately 3,500 years ago to help him survive and protect him in the next life, but here they are, halfway across the world, for our viewing pleasure, raising funds for the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

On a weekday night there was no problem in getting tickets, and entry to the exhibition occurs every half hour. I am sure weekends are crowded and tickets are not so readily available—to be safe you should pre-purchase tickets via the museum’s website if you are a member and through Ticketmaster if you are not a member. Going through the 11 rooms took approximately an hour and a half without listening to the audio program, but with reading every description and history of the objects that were provided. The rooms were dark and the objects lit with spotlights and music playing in the background, making you feel like you were exploring through the tomb room by room. I liked how large black and white photographs of the Valley of the Kings, the entrance to the tomb, and of Howard Carter and his team discovering the objects were dispersed throughout the galleries.

The first few rooms provided a little history as the objects in these rooms were from Tutankhamun’s predecessors’ tombs. His father, Akhenaten and his father’s wife, Nefertiti, were the rulers that worshiped only one god, the sun. Tutankhamun reestablished the worship of many gods during his short reign. One of his ancestor’s beautifully carved wooden sarcophagus is on display, being one of the larger pieces in the show. Most of the objects brought from Egypt for this exhibit are small, but they are all very detailed and beautiful. Looking at some of the photographs on the museum’s website, I thought they were larger but you can see them quite well and can walk completely around most of the objects.

“Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” continues through the holiday season and does not end until mid May in Dallas. I intend to go listen to one of my former art history professors give a lecture on Egyptian afterlife, go back in January and even pay the extra money for the audio tour, and finally to go see Dr. Zahi Hawass (Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities) speak at McFarlin Auditorium at SMU in March. Dr. Hawass is the guy you see on most of the TV shows about Egypt (he usually wears a hat and jeans).

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The HERetic’s Daughter

Historical fiction is increasingly becoming one of my favorite genres of fiction. This type of fiction combines good stories with true events relevant to history. The latest book of this genre that I just finished reading is The HERetic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent. I had noticed this book on the shelves at bookstores for the past few weeks. Only when I read that the author was going to speak and sign books at a new store in Plano did I decide to read the book. After only three nights and one lunch at various bookstores, I had finished reading the book from cover to cover. I decided I would actually buy the book and go hear Kathleen Kent speak the next day and get a copy signed.

The HERetic’s Daughter is the story of one of the victims of the Salem witch trials from 1692 to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. Her name was Martha Carrier and the author is a descendent of this innocent woman, which made the story even more interesting. Ms. Kent writes from the viewpoint of Sarah, Martha Carrier’s 10-year-old daughter. Sarah Carrier was also imprisoned for months and suffered greatly before being released. Thankfully, she was not hanged, as was her mother.

If you read this book you will recognize that Ms. Kent did extensive research to prepare for the book. She said researching and writing the book actually took approximately 5 years. She does a fine job of helping the readers believe we have been transported back to the time of the Puritans, when survival on a daily basis was so difficult. This difficulty not only included the threat of Indians, disease, and starvation, but also the travesties of justice caused by greed, envy, revenge, etc. that will always be prevalent in humans.

I enjoyed the book because of the author’s excellent style of writing from a child’s perspective. A similar novel told from a little girl’s point of view relevant to the times is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a familiar book to most. Even though when you begin to read the first chapter of a book of historical fiction (Ms. Kent did read the entire first chapter to the audience), and you know the ending will not be good, you are compelled to find out the details and motivations of the characters, both good and bad, from the particular author’s angle. Will he or she be sympathetic or judgmental of each of the characters? How does this author see the events and what are his or her conclusions?

I read The HERetic's Daughter having forgotten everything about the Salem witch trials, even though I read The Crucible and saw the movie years ago. I think I will reread Arthur Miller's play again because now it has new meaning for me and I want to once again view Miller's commentary on the McCarthy era. From surfing the net, I have noticed another book about the witch trials and another victim, Bridget Bishop, entitled The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry. Intriguing . . .

It's ELECTION DAY!

GO VOTE!!!






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Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky is a new movie from the UK that has recently been released here in the US. The film has won prizes at a slew of international film festivals including New York, Toronto, Telluride, and Sydney. The film stars Sally Hawkins, an actress I last watched in a PBS version of Jane Austen's "Persuasion." Happy-Go-Lucky is an enjoyable film about a young woman in London who encounters all kinds of negative situations with the ability to shrug off the bad and enjoy the good. One of the best scenes is the very first when she skips jollily into a bookstore to look around and the only other person in there is the non-responsive shop clerk. Poppy, the young woman, carries on a nice conversation with herself as she looks around, then leaves only to find her bicycle stolen. What made me laugh was that she talks to herself saying that "she didn't even get to say good-bye"--to her bike. She shrugs and then merrily walks home. Now is a good time to go see someone with a positive, Pollyanna-like attitude, just to remind us that what is important is how we react to adversity.

In the film, Poppy meets lots of difficulties besides her bike being stolen: she takes driving lessons from a horrible man who has a great big chip on his shoulder, hurts her back practicing on a trampoline, deals with one of her primary school students bullying, meets a bum who is mentally ill, and is berated by her sister for not living the life her sister thinks she should lead. But Poppy does learn to drive better, gets her back fixed by a chiropractor, takes flamenco lessons, gets to the bottom of the bullying problem, and meets a great guy in the process. By the end of the movie Poppy and the driving instructor never resolve their differences, but that is life and it doesn't deter her from still moving forward.

So in this time of election and other woes, an unstable Wall Street, and war, a movie like this is wonderful.