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December 8, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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December 8, 2006
 
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1932 book by shop owner is no antique Author 's insights about life on Main Street , Hyannis, stand test of time By Edward F. Maroney emaroney@barnstablepatnot.com The Sturgis Library has a nice collec- tion of books about Cape Cod, arranged to tantalizejust steps from the microfiche reader that brings our readers the Early Files column. It's tempting to browse the books after an hour of squinting at tiny type on the screen. Intimate Incidents of an Antique Shop and its 128 pages is worth the time of contempoary shopkeep- ers who'd like to turn back the clock to the late 1920s and join Huldah Wellington Spaulding and her mother as they open a store in the fashionable West End of Main Street , Hyannis. Ensconced in a new home in Chatham, they are drawn nevertheless to the "Center," a.k.a. Hyannis. "During the summer the 'Center ' resembles nothing more than Fifth Avenue dur- ing after-theatre hour," Spaulding writes, "with ever known make of motor car from the diminutive 'Baby ' Austins, the beach wagons and Ford road- sters, to the high-powered Rolls Royces and Italian Isottas. But in November it is all wrapped up for the winter." There, at the corner of Sea and Main, is a new business block with "Stores to Let." Impul- sively, mother and daugh- ter stake their claim and CONTINUED ON PAGE C:2 Sippewissett or Life on a Salt Marsh By Tim Traver Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, Vt., 2006 Hardcover, 250 pgs., $22.50 By Mary Richmond Arts@barnstablepatnot.corr Tim Traver, an envi- ronmental scientist, has written a com- pelling and poetic book about Sippewissett Marsh, an area he and his family have explored and called home for several genera- tions. Great Sippewissett Marsh, like all salt water marshes, is a place of mul- tiple beginnings and ends, a place where life teems and swells with the sum- mer tides and where the sun's energy is transformed to food and fodder in ways that make an evolutionary scientist' s heart race with excitement. Situated in Falmouth on Buzzards Bay and feeding into several nearby ponds , Sippewis- sett Marsh was named by the Mashpee Wampanoags and means "little cove" or "little river." Because of its proximity to Woods Hole, Sippewissett has been home to many scientific studies and observa- tions, including many of those written about by Rachel Carson. Salt marshes have been abused and used in the name of advancing civiliza- tion for a long time. Often seen as lost, useless land as well as breeding places for disease, salt marshes were filled in and built upon, as in the cases of Boston and New York City. It wasn't until fishermen started to decry this prac- tice as destroying fisheries that salt marshes began to be regarded as the important , diverse environ- mental areas that they are known to be today. Traver 's descriptions of the comings and go- ings of fish as the tides and seasons advance and retreat is as beautiful as it is informative. He takes us on night walks and fishing expeditions with a brother- in-law and friend that stir philosophi cal and scientific ponderings on the mean- ings and mechanics of evolution. He stands where Rachel Carson once stood and quotes the words she spoke from that spot. He takes his son, his nephew and the dog for a boat trip through the creeks looking for blue crabs and kayaks under the moonlight with CONTINUED ON PAGE C:2 CONTRIBUTED PHOTO NOW APPEARING IN BOSTON - Victoria Egan's love of the dance was kindled at age 4, when she took lessons with Susan Friedman at Dance Designs in Hyannis. This month,the 13-year-old Yarmouthport resident is appearing inthe Boston Ballet's Nutcracker production at the Opera House in Boston. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO POPS FOR THEPUBLIC-John Hagon,retired chair of music educationat Berklee College of Music,willleadthe Cape Cod Conservatory Concert Bandinafree Pops concert Dec. 10at 3p.m.at Marstons Mills East Horace Mann Charter School on Osterville-West Barnstable Road. Selections from the opera and Broadway realms will be offered along with seasonal music and, of course, a stirring march. Holiday movies at senior center Love 'em or hate 'em, the cinema's Christmas classics are here again. The Barnstable Senior Center has a good selection this month, allfor free at 1:30 p.m. On Monday, you can see the 1990s versionofthe 1947Miracle on34"'Street , starringRichard Attenborough rather than Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, the man who believes he'sSanta Claus -and who'sto say he isn't? Next Friday, take another look at It's a Wonderful Life. Yes,you've seen it a hundred times, but go again and marvelat the wayliveswere connected in the era portrayed. It took acommu- nity to raise Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey, and it took George Bailey to save his community. On Monday the 18th , throw rational thought to the winds and glory in an over-the-top performance byJim Car- rey asthe lead character inDr.Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.It's a colorful assault on the senses that doesn't wastemuch timeonmessages. See you in WhovUle! An artful gift Artist Mary Richmond is accepting orders through Dec. 15for hand-paint- ed ceramic ornaments featuring your cat, dog, or other pet. They're available for a donation of $25 to the MSPCA. Ready-to-go animal ornaments may be purchased at Mary Richmond De- sign in Mashpee Commons for $15, all of which goes to MSPCA as well. Call 508-477-2121. Good conduct Congratulations to James Neal of Barnstable High School. The alto sax player conducted the Cape Cod Sym- phony Orchestra in Leroy Anderson 's "Sleigh Ride" at Sunday's concert in the BHS Performing ArtsCenter. The opportunity was supported by the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank. Chatham writer's in the Soup A story by AvisDrucker of Chatham is included in the new book Chicken Soup f orthe Shopper 's Soul- Celebrat- ing Bargains,Boutiques &the Perfect Pair of Shoes. CONTINUED ON PAGE C:2 ¦ ¦ ¦ -^—*" * —** ¦ .. ¦ ¦ • - >¦ f^S^f* capepoet@yahoo.com "Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be." Bob Dylan L ast Saturday, I went up to Cambridge to experience a rare appearance made by the great poet and political activ- ist, Father Daniel Berrigan. This guy is now 85 years old, so I wanted to make sure I saw him before the winter of his life came to an end. In his opening remarks, he made mention of the turbulent Vietnam era, and how "those times have returned to us." This comment led me to wonder what the life and work of a poet are truly all about. The following Berrigan poem helped drive that home for me: Ambition I wanted to be useless As life itself; so I told the president so And told the pope so And told the police so And one and all chorused Like furies, like my friends AND WHO TOLD YOU SO? The dead told me so The near dead; the prisoners All who press faces Against a wall of glass A grave, a womb's thrall. I read their lips, alas. I told the poem. So. This poem comes from Daniel Berrigan's new chapbook Beyon d Alchemy (Arrowsmith Press, 2006). This poet and this poem got me thinking about what it means to be a poet. In this day and age, it seems to me that every poet ought to have a personal mission statement, some- thing that directs a sense of purpose. I understand that everyone's purpose varies. I also understand that some folks' ideas of purpose are career-oriented and full of shameless self-promotion. It's as if HBO's Def Poetry Jam and the Slam Poetry movement have pushed Spoken Word Poetry into the mainstream media, and like everything pushed into the main- stream, have become commercialized. For example, a number of years back when the U.S. women's hockey team won the Olympic gold medal, the Nike corporation ran a commercial tribute to the team. The poet who wrote the poetic commercial got paid royally; rumor in the poetry mills was $70,000. 1haven't seen much of that poet since. Maybe retirement sounded appealing? I can only wonder what would have happened in the course of human affairs had fame and money found poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Daniel Berrigan retiring. Certainly both the personal worlds of these poets and the world at large would have been much different indeed. Some (excerpt) '"Why do you stand,' they were asked, 'and why do you walk?' 'Because of the children,' they said, 'and because of the heart, And because of the bread." 'Because the cause Is the heart's beat, And the children born And the risen bread.'" Daniel Berrigan had ajob description, a personal mission statement. This is a man who, withThomas Merton, founded the interfaithcoalition against the Vietnam War. He and Wellfleet resident and historian Howard Zinn traveled to North Vietnam to negotiate the release of U.S. pilots held captive. Their mission was so opposed by J. Edgar Hoover that places they were supposed to visit were bombed while they were there. Nevertheless, their mission succeeded. Father Daniel continued in his work, writing poetry,plays, essays, sermons and meditations on scripture. He also led anti-war protests and was im- prisoned for his actions. He was leader of a group that burned draft records with homemade napalm. He was also busted once for protesting the war by pouring blood over draft records. Later, in 1980, he led anoth- er group into a GE nuclear missile plant in Pennsylva- nia, where they proceeded to literally hammer on two nose cones for Mark 12A warheads. Many have called this poet America's single most important dissident of the twentieth century, after Martin Luther King, Jr. So when I read and study some ofthe great American poets, such asDaniel Berrigan, and then hear a slam or open mic poet tell me of the importance of their work being heard, I can only respond with, "but what are ^ CONTINUEDON PAGE C:2