This is a touch-sensitive disc on one of a series of interactive displays at the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma.

You press the discs to hear various words spoken in Chikashshanompa’, the Chickasaw language, and then they are repeated in English. The rather bumpy-looking thing shown in the etching is a ceremonial shaker, traditionally made of polished turtle shells.

When I visited the Center, I was struck by the richness and detail of the spoken and written language, and how important that language was and is to the preservation of the Chickasaw Nation as a whole (despite being forced out of their ancestral homelands – what is now Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee - and ending up in Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears, also called the Removal.)

But, I had to smile every time I pressed a disc….each of the voices giving the English translation had a twang you could cut with a knife. The contrast was an aural reminder of how many Native Americans manage to fit into two different cultures, and thrive in both.

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By Lisa TE Sonne

At hang gliding school in Chattanooga, the biggest barrier to flying through the air on man-made wings can be the resistance from the voices inside your head.

© Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

“You feel just like a bird!”

“Oh man, it’s the best high there is!”

“Awesome!”

Those are the “exclamation-point” voices I hear once I get to the biggest hang gliding school in the country, but they are the voices of strangers.

They compete with some of the comma, question mark, double dash and period voices I hear in my head:

“You have nothing to prove—play it safe, and just photograph the others…”

“No, overcome your fears you bawk-bawk chicken—push your limits.”

“Are you nuts? There is nothing between you and the ground. Aren’t there hundreds of things that could go wrong and kill you? Remember that white-knuckled, knot-pinching fear-fest you used to feel on roller coasters?”

The voice of a friend also replays in my soundtrack. “Oh, for heaven sakes,” he said on the verge of rolling eyeballs, “You have already crawled through caves with vampire bats, gone weightless with astronauts, and swum with great white sharks. Just do it. What are you afraid of?”

Good question. I am re-pondering an answer when a woman nudges a clipboard at me and her voice chimes in: “The people who are most afraid often have the best time, and you can always change your mind before you strap in. If you don’t fill out these forms, though, you won’t have a choice.”

My Choice to Glide Through the Air

She had said the magic word: choice. Isn’t that a key force of push and pull in travel—making choices and learning from them? I don’t want to miss an opportunity. Hang-gliding is something I’ve never done before. “And you’ve never hammered a nail into your foot either,” countered a peevish internal voice thinking of all the good galleries and bakeries I could have been exploring in Chattanooga, Tennessee just ten miles away.

Instead curiosity compelled me to choose to be at Lookout Mountain Flight Park. The online brochure says it’s “the largest and most popular full time hang gliding school and resort in the United States.” So far my wonder was overcoming my worry.

Filling out the forms, we are told, “This is not a ride. You are joining USHPA (United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association) as a student and this is a lesson.” That provides a gravitas of purpose beyond a gratuitous adrenaline rush, and a sense there will be a modicum of control in this human experiment of how to fall thousands of feet and land safely.

Okay, so it isn’t a scientific expedition to map a cave or to find extremophile life—motivations that have carried me through niggling fear before. It isn’t a mission to chronicle a new way to explore the oceans, either. But, I rationalize, it is “a lesson.” Hadn’t DaVinci long dreamed of strapping on wings and being a bird? Do I really want to live in a time when such flying is possible and not know what it is like?

I start to read the liability waiver on the clipboard. I stop when the word “death” appears. Someone jokes that at least this is a good way to die. A bit premature, I hope. I am feeling nauseous and prayerful when I remember that this is supposed to be fun. I can still opt out. I still have my precious “choice,” so I sign.

Preparing to Die—or Grin

The people around me seem to have the anticipatory excitement of little kids before unwrapping a big birthday present. I focus on their enthusiasm as we are fitted for crash helmets and a harness, and I try to block out the unwelcome words that move across my brain like a neon ticker tape: death, fate, destiny, idiot.

I meet Dan Zink, the glider-pilot who will have my life in his hands while I have my hands around his body. We will need to move in unison to make the aerial dance work well.

© Chattanooga Area Convention and Visitors Bureau

His handshake is firm and reassuring. He manifests no suicidal tendencies or kamikaze instincts. We will be tandem flying, he explains. Both of us will wear harnesses that hold us parallel to the ground with our hands lightly gripping a bar in front of us. Zink has many years of hang gliding experience and a good reputation. Me? I jumped off the roof as a kid without some cardboard flaps for wings (and without injuring myself). I have previously savored rides in glider planes, dirigibles, helicopters, acrobatic planes, and hot air balloons. But none of that counts right now.

Continue to Page 2 of Chattanooga Hang Gliding

Across the whole of Dublin city, and through more than two dozen other places in the island of Ireland and beyond, September 23rd is celebrated as Culture Night Ireland. At first begun as a sort of open house evening in Temple Bar, the part of Dublin city centre which has been re imagining itself as Dublin’s cultural quarter, Culture NIght has quickly become an event that arts organizations, artists and presenters look forward to as much as do those who come to take part in their activities.

These activities range a cross a wide spectrum. In Dublin, for example, many painters, sculptors, and other visual artists have open studios: some allow you to make small items and others demonstrate their work, while others discuss what they do. There are guided tours of major institutions such as The National Gallery of Ireland and the Chester Beatty Collection. The Guinness Storehouse offers free admission and tours on the night, while over at the Dublin Writers’’ Museum there are readings by poets and authors, who then host an open mic for all comers to share their own works. There are experimental films and historical ones, including one on the history of Quakers in Ireland that will be shown in in Temple Bar and one of the history of Irish music at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. The ITMA also hosts musicians performing live on their premises, the RTE National Orchestra will play as well, there will be architectural tours and acting classes on offer, and all sorts of music, from choral performances to musicians playing along the streets in several quarters.

In Dublin more than 150 groups have something planned, but the event, which is intended to get people thinking about the lively role of arts and arts organizations in daily life, is by no means taking place only in the capital of the republic. Belfast, Derry and the Strabane area are among places in Northern Ireland whose arts organizations have events planned, and there are celebrations on tap by Irish communities in London and in Belgium. In the republic, there are also events taking place across the country from Cork to Clare to Leitrim to Mayo to Galway.

It’s bound to be a lively night, and the organizers hope, one that will bring both residents and visitors back to take part in and support the arts in future. If you’ll be in Dublin — and even if you won’t – there’s an interesting 28 page guide at the culture night’s web site which offers maps and plans for explorations of the arts across Dublin city. If you’d like to get a little closer to the fun but won’t actually be able to attend, Radio Culture Night Near 90FM in association with Dublin South FM, Phoenix FM and Temple Bar Cultural Trust will broadcast live from Temple Bar between 4 and 8pm Irish time on the night, with a schedule which includes in studio interviews with venue people and artists, roving reporters in Temple Bar, and features from artists, musicians , and museum gallery curators. You can catch this in the Dublin area on Near 90.3fm, DSFM 93.9fm and Phoenix 92.5fm and wherever you might be in the world, you can listen in online at www.near.ie , www.dublinsouthfm.ie and www.phoenixfm.ie

The Culture Night web site has details on Dublin events and links to details of the celebrations in other areas.

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Sap, sap, sap, sap, sap, (x2)
Mun pet mun sab sap kaothung shaong,
Tom Thai tom lao hat hung,
Pat Thai tom pai hat hung,
Tom yam tom kang aroy,
Sud May Kaidee nun sep elee elee

There are no references to May Kaidee’s pumpkin hummus in her Thai-language “Sap Cooking Song”, which we all sang during the morning session of her fun-filled (and very filling) cooking class, held twice daily at the Samsen Road branch of her mini-empire of vegetarian restaurants.

Perhaps there should be, however, because it’s the jewel in her vegetarian food crown. After 5 years of eating my way through May’s bulletproof menu of Thai classics without the meat, I’ve settled on the hummus (made with a Thai twist, of course) as my favorite dish.

Served with a mound of nutty long-grain brown rice, May’s pumpkin hummus is a simple mixture of cooked pumpkin, flavored TVP (textured vegetable protein), cashew nuts, sesame seeds, and coriander pounded together in a mortar bowl. The coriander is the “glue” ingredient that links the balanced flavors of this light dish, and perfectly accentuates the pumpkin, cashew nuts, and sesame. The hummus goes well with the rice, but can easily be eaten by itself.

I used to make pilgrimages to May Kaidee’s branch on Tanao Road, a quiet alley running perpendicular to Hell on Earth Khao San Road, strictly for the massaman curry, but since the hummus introduction during that four-hour cooking class a few years ago, I’ve gradually phased out the heavier curry in favor of one or, yes, sometimes two orders of this creamy goodness.

I’m now armed with the recipe and it’s fairly easy to make, but not quite the same at home; maybe it’ll help if I sing the “Sap Cooking Song” next time.

There are three branches of May Kaidee’s Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurant in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai. Cooking classes are offered every day, as long as there’s enough people, at 9am and 1pm. The cost is 1200 baht for adults, 600 baht for children 10 years and under. For more on May Kaidee, including info on how to order her cookbook, visit maykaidee.com.

We could play the “Must-Eat Food in Bangkok” game every day for years and still have plenty of culinary fodder to feature. In that sense, the “BKK Must Eats” series will not be comprehensive, nor will it exclusively list dishes that are “the best” of anything (though it might, from time to time). The modest goal of this series is simply to spotlight, somewhat randomly, damned delicious dishes in Bangkok that I’ve indulged on many occasions, and that I recommend you indulge too.

More BKK Must Eats:
+ Early Evening Pad Thai on Soi Chidlom
+ Salmon Agemusubui at Sukishi
+ Spicy Tuna Roll at Yaki Ten
+ Grilled Squid at Pantip Plaza

_{Photo credit and copyright Brian Spencer}

Jorma Kaukonen has shared his passion for finger style guitar and roots rock Americana music in venues across the world, as a member of The Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, as a solo act and through teaching at his Fur Peace Ranch. Cathie Ryan has taken her thoughtful and heartfelt original songs and interpretations of music from the Irish tradition across the world as well, headlining venues from the Kennedy Center to the Milwaukee Irish Fest and appearing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony. Both of these internationally renown artists are looking forward to playing the intimate listening room atmosphere offered by the Sanctuary Concerts in Chatham, New Jersey.

People have been making music in Chatham since the early 1800s. That’s a tradition that continues these days at the Sanctuary Concerts, which are held at the Presbyterian Church in Chatham Township. It is a series which for nine years has been featuring top class songwriters in an atmosphere which focuses on listening and sharing, on the connection between artist and audience.

“The Sanctuary… this is a new one for me and I’m really looking forward to it,” says Kaukonen. “I mean, how can you not like a gig with a name like that?” The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member will be bringing his guitars and songs to a performance on 17th September. It promises to be an evening made to order for those who love creative guitar playing as well songs that draw on blues, rock, and country roots of Americana music. “I’ll be joined by my friend Barry Mitterhoff who will bring his talent as well as a gaggle of instruments to the show,” Kaukonen adds.

Ryan is known for bringing deep thoughtfulness and connection to her concerts, as well as warmth and humor. That’s a balance with which she conveys the range of Irish music. Ryan will appear on October 1. “I have heard wonderful things about this series from singer songwriter friends, “ she says. “I look forward to singing in this venue because it is run by people who love folk music and are consummate professionals — they really care about presenting music. As a result they have done everything to the highest standard . The setting is beautiful, the acoustics and sound are excellent, and working with them has has been a great experience. They want their audiences to have the best experience possible and they are giving us the same.” Those who come to Ryan’s concert can look forward to a mix of songs in English and Irish, from the tradition and from contemporary writers as well as those Ryan has written herself.

The setting at The Sanctuary Concerts is, as the name suggests, in the church sanctuary. It’s a welcoming setting that lends itself to listening and to connections among audience, artists, and the music they share. Ryan is thinking that the healing power of music may be especially welcome amidst the turbulence of recent events. “ A very positive place, The Sanctuary, and we all need that right now,” she says.

Kaukonen will be performing on September 17th, and Ryan will appear on October 1st. The Sanctuary series hosts concerts about every two weeks. In addition to Ryan and Kaukonen, Slaid Cleaves, Shawn Colvin, and Tom Paxton are among the top level artists on the schedule this autumn.

“Great music, good friends, dessert’s on us,” says The Sanctuary Concerts web site. It’s true: in addition to music in a warn and welcoming setting, your ticket includes a home baked dessert at the break. There’s more information about tickets, schedules, and location at The Sanctuary Concerts Series web site. Chatham is located in central New Jersey.

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