2022 was a year for the books, filled with love, travel, and personal growth. I got engaged to the love of my life, made memories in new places, and spent countless hours reading and writing. As I explored the country from coast to coast, I found myself constantly drawn back to the beauty of the Great Lakes, specifically the shores of Lake Michigan. It was there, in Duneland, that I found the inspiration for these poems, each of which is accompanied by personal photographs from Long Beach, Indiana.
I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.
The Escape
Escape with me.
We’ll go far away,
to a place they won’t have already
seen me,
known me,
judged me.
To a place where I can be
without pretense.
To a place like Paris,
or Neverland.
Timbuktu,
or somewhere else.
Escape with me.
We’ll run far,
the world’s wide,
let’s explore it all:
the nooks and crannies,
the alleyways and backstreets,
the mountains, the canyons,
the lakes and the seas.
We’ll go places you can
only reach in your
imagination.
Because we can escape together,
without ever leaving
the place it all began.
A Duneland Sunset
Chicago, I see you there,
you sparkly-eyed silhouette.
Tiny stars fly in against
a Golden salamander sunset.
Metallic waves roll in,
painting a mirror in their wake,
reflecting darkening skies and beauty;
a photo you could never take.
The city from across the lake,
could hit her with a skipped sea stone.
As the sun sets on Duneland,
I miss the bright lights of my home.
But, I listen to my inland sea.
It grows quiet, the sky goes dark.
Like a beacon, still you shimmer.
My breathing, beating birthmark.
Nestletopia
The Autumn sun flipped a switch.
Like magic, the leaves were aglow.
Their light shone on the dune cave,
ivy-covered, hidden from below.
It was a shelter from the coming cold.
A haven for our love to grow.
A sanctuary to find our god.
A refuge from the status quo.
We called it “Nestletopia,”
our perch upon the shore,
and stole stones from the beach,
as if we needed something more
than the art we made at the lake.
In each other, we found DaVinci.
The teacher, master, pupil, servant:
every hat worn by the sea.
Our veins intertwined with the ivy,
until our dying day.
Even then, we lingered still,
like life was just foreplay.
‘Cause we left a golden mark,
constructed a sea-side portal.
A Great Lake upon Eternity,
time travel for a mortal.
Halloween
A tiger striped with turquoise
became a starless night.
A void in the noise;
the Theatre de Fright.
Any horror could ensue
on this stage, once blue.
Dare not misconstrue,
It could happen to you.
"I'm not scared of monsters."
You try to convince me.
"What about witches?"
"This close to the sea?"
Your ego brings you comfort
'til shadows shift with the breeze,
and the beach is overtaken by a
deep, ghostly freeze.
You scoot close to the fire.
There's no need to count sheep.
Despite your fear of reapers,
The sea soothes your soul to sleep.
Glowing embers flicker,
the last of the light.
Your breathing grows weary,
'til your neck is grasped tight.
Murmuration
Emergency! Emergency!
Their whisper whizzed past me first;
so loud, it gave me whiplash,
a neck cramp,
as I tried to identify the culprit.
’Til I saw them,
glorious, in formation,
flocking, flapping furiously
towards their destination.
A murmuration!
“Will we make it?” cried one.
“Stop squawking!” murmured the next.
“Flit faster,” called a third.
“Cooperate!” another twitted.
“We have to stick together.”
“A storm is coming.”
So they swooped and swirled,
close together, well-knit.
The starlings headed west,
’til a reverse split.
“Safety,” breathed in one.
“Shelter,” breathed out another.
“Life,” breathed in the next.
“Future,” breathed out a fourth.
As they floated out of view,
their murmurs became a memory,
and in their place, silence.
The blizzard had arrived.
An Indiana Afternoon
Afternoon.
Days after the storm.
A walk along the frozen lakeshore,
just before the sea and beach
rekindled their romance.
You and I saw
sand cliffs become waterfalls,
ice pancakes become stars,
the sea become the universe.
We watched waves rush in,
and dunes disappear.
Nothing living in sight,
just the wind did we hear.
January in Long Beach,
or maybe we were on Mars.
Check out An Indiana Morning from my first installment of Poems from Long Beach!
Was it You?
The winds sang the song of my ancestors,
people who loved this place before me.
I sat on the pebbled beach,
waves lapping into the shore,
as the sky transformed.
A light show caught my attention
across the horizon,
across from the setting sun.
Stars danced on the water,
getting closer and closer
to my resting spot against the boulders,
til they were upon me,
swirling around me,
engulfing me in the light.
“Who are you?”
I barely whispered,
not wanting to dispel the magic.
The winds replied.
“Energy is neither created or destroyed.”
The swirling light got
brighter, brighter, brighter—
‘til suddenly,
with a poof,
darkness swirled instead.
The light was gone,
like it had never been there at all.
“Energy is neither created or destroyed.”
The winds’ words lingered like the tide,
as I wondered where the lights went.
I’ll Dream of the Sea
Metallic blue sea,
come back to me.
Rainbow sunshine,
will you always be mine?
One minute you’re there,
the next, you’re gone.
You smolder and gleam,
then disappear with a yawn.
In your place,
outer space.
Inky scars,
glowing stars.
A different flow,
it’s time to go.
I’ll dream of the sea,
‘til you come back to me.
Bring it on, 2023. ‘Til next time, we’ll dream of the sea.
All strong souls first go to hell before they do the healing of the world they came here for. If we’re lucky, we return to help those still trapped below.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Last Friday on Instagram Live, I spoke with Australian author and artist, Sigrid Wharton. Sigrid is the founder of Sowelu Studios, a small business that focuses on healing through art. She recently published her first book, “Carving the Path,” which explores metaphysical landscapes, the nature of reality, the vulnerability that connects people, and the very heart of the human condition.
An oil painter by background, Sigrid began writing her book because she found herself overflowing with messages she needed to express, but couldn’t paint fast enough. During the pandemic, Sigrid exchanged her paint brush for a pen to help heal herself and others. Her poetry works to understand the mind and is filled with lessons Sigrid wishes people would have taught her during her self healing journey.
Our conversation was insightful and inspiring. You can find the whole conversation on Instagram TV.
Some topics we covered include her book, archetypes, healing through art, energy, the nature of reality, people who inspire us, philosophy, psychoanalysis and much more. We also talked about how creative exploits— such as art, literature, poetry, music, and dance— help remind us of what’s important in life. Creativity can also help us transform as people and help each of us reach a more enlightened state.
In life, transformation often goes from periods of dark to light. Sigrid’s book aims to helps you not be weighed down by the dark times, and look at things from a more aerial perspective. Darkness and lightness— and how both of those live inside of you— is something that philosophers have been looking at since the beginning of time. Shadow work is important for people going through a self-healing journey because, in the words of Sigrid, “fear is something we should befriend. It teaches us well.”
Fear is something we should befriend. It teaches us well.
Sigrid Wharton, Sowelu Studios
That was one of my favorite takeaways from our discussion: Friend fear. Fear is a part of life. It helps us learn lessons and get to the other side, or to “level up,” and can help us understand our inner cycles.
Resources
During and after our chat, Sigrid provided me with a variety of resources to share with my audience, in hopes of inspiring and aiding in others’ healing/self discovery journeys.
People
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Clarissa Pinkola Estes is an American poet, psycho-analyst (studies Carl Jung), and post trauma specialist. She is also an author, and is probably most well known for her international bestseller “Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.” Sigrid was first introduced to Estes’ work as a kid when she listened to her fairytales and folklore via her mom’s cassette tape. Sigrid and I share a similar philosophy regarding fairytales and folklore: these stories are packed with rich symbolism and stories that help you understand yourself and the world better.
Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don’t waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Trevor Hall
Trevor Hall is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. According to his website, Hall’s music is a blend of roots and folk music with touches of electronic elements, and is imbued with a deep love of Eastern Mysticism. Sigrid recommends you check out the stories behind his songs here:
Music was such a love of mine. It was my way of exploring life, my internal world. To be honest, I don’t really know why or why not. It just seems life without it would be death.
Trevor Hall
Aubrey Marcus
Aubrey Marcus is a NYT bestselling author, podcast host, and the founder of Onnit, a lifestye brand that is based on a holistic health philosophy he calls Total Human Optimization. Sigrid recommends his podcast, which can be found here: https://www.aubreymarcus.com/blogs/aubrey-marcus-podcast
To live one day well is the same as to live ten thousand days well. To master twenty-four hours is to master your life.
Aubrey Marcus, Own the Day: Master 24 Hours, Master Your Life
Films
Embrace: The Documentary
You can watch this documentary about shedding negative body image on Netflix. From the documentary’s website, “Embrace is a social impact documentary that explores the serious issue of body loathing, inspiring us to change the way we feel about ourselves and think about our bodies. Released in 2016, this film is relevant, relatable, highly engaging – but above all life changing.
Nominated for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Best Documentary, Embrace has been seen by millions of people across the world and has created a ripple of positive changes.
The documentary was supported by 8909 KickStarter pledgers who responded to the fundraising trailer released in 2014. The trailer has now had over 45 million views.”
The Shift
Per Amazon, “In this compelling film Dr. Wayne W. Dyer explores the spiritual journey from ambition to meaning. The powerful shift from the go constructs we are taught early in life by parent and society— which promotes an emphasis on achievement and accumulation— are shown in contrast to a life of meaning focused on serving and giving back.”
I watched this movie with some friends the other night and found it to be thought provoking. Directly afterwards, we watched a short film based off The Egg short story by Andy Weir. These two resources in tandem are guaranteed to change at least one thing about how you think about the world!
You can pretend to be something other than who you are but eventually you will run out of energy to continue because that’s not authentically you.
Caroline Myss
Healing the Core Wound of Unworthiness by Adyashanti. Sigrid also recommends listening to the audiobook.
and the most amazing thing happened. That love that I had experienced didn’t budge, it didn’t cower, it didn’t pull back from his criticism. In fact, I felt such a sense of appreciation and gratitude and joy because him telling me ‘I shouldn’t have left and I shouldn’t have come back’ I realized that it didn’t budge that quality of love that had been poured into me. And I felt so grateful…it provided a perfect contrast to what I was experiencing.
Adyashanti, Healing the Core Wound of Unworthiness
Another great resource is Sigrid’s FREE course: an intensive, self-paced 7-week program called The Soul’s Palette, which is designed to take you on a journey of vulnerability from darkness to light. She gives you the tools you need to carve your own pathway, while filling your spiritual coffee cup. This course has even more resources for your self-discovery and enlightenment journey.
It’s funny to me how words seem to flow, Only after a person is gone. But I want to express the love in my heart, Before my loves venture beyond.
I gave these poems as gifts, But they mean too much not to share. The people who inspired them Are amazing beyond compare.
Poetry makes a thoughtful gift for the holidays, a birthday, or just because. All of these poems were written by me, Kristina Parro, as Christmas gifts this year. The recipients gave me permission to share— to help inspire the flow of your own words and maybe even your own poetry.
Tina’s Tip: Be vulnerable with yourself and others. It feels good to put words to your feelings and even better to share them with those you love.
Poem for my Mom
My Mother, My Captain
If my life were the ocean, We’d have seen The sunniest days And stormiest of seas.
Through it all, My captain, Who weathered each Alongside me.
My mother, My captain, My light, And my world.
Without you, I’d be ship-wrecked. My survival, Up to the sea’s swirls.
Poem for my Dad
A Daughter’s Debt
If I had ten million dollars, And spent it all on you, I’d never be able to repay The debt to you that’s due.
Remember when I was little? I’d fall asleep in the car. You’d carry me inside, But I was heavy and it was far.
Then, when I grew older, You taught me how to be. Generous, inquisitive, and stoic. All the advice you gave for free.
You taught me to work hard, To think, to create, and to love. To be true to myself, And to hold my family above.
We are cut from the same cloth, You and me are two peas in a pod. I’ll always pick you as the MVP: My favorite on the squad.
I’m grateful for what you’ve given me, But more thankful for our bond. We will be together forever, Whether we’re here, or the beyond.
Poem for my Brother
Yin and Yang
She was the sun, He, the moon.
Different, but complementary. Separate, but together.
Yin and yang. Brother and sister.
They say a connection between the two Brings harmony so powerful Wars would stop And world peace would be had.
They say, infinity is found, Between balanced opposites. Like with you and me, And the relationship we’ve fostered.
In this kaleidoscope world, Often separated by distance and reality, I’ve become grateful for adversity, For it only strengthens our bond.
Poem(s) for my Grandma(s)
Grandma’s House
Blue was the color of the house Where I made those childhood memories.
Ivory were the keys of the piano, Which played your lyrical melodies.
Coffee was the smell in the air, When the words “Good morning,” you exclaimed.
Sweet is the smell of the flowers After which that beautiful street was named.
Warm was your smile When I walked inside Lily of the Valley in my hand.
Full was my heart When we got to do all the fun things you had planned.
Stamped and Etched
Remember when you called me, Just a few weeks ago? To thank me for the pictures and poems From the beach, so well, you know.
“Thank you,” you said, enthusiastically. Then you repeated it five times. Your voice made me so happy, I thought that I might cry.
“Thanks for sharing your creativity and your talents with the world.” Words like that, from a woman like you, Gave my heart a little twirl.
Your voice made me so happy, I’ll remember it forever. Stamped with love in my memories, And etched in every endeavor.
Poem for my (future) Sister-in-Law
A Distant Memory
Inside you is a spirit, That I remember With sparkling clarity and vivid color, Yet hadn’t known, Until you wandered into my life, On the arm of my baby brother.
Maybe it’s your energy, Or a distant memory from a past life.
All I know, is that Life finds a way Of returning to you Those whom you need to find.
Poem for my Boyfriend’s Brother
Trip of a Lifetime
If years were measured in miles, This would be your longest one yet. Countless hours spent in your van, On a quest for a life sans regrets.
How many spend their lives wishing To travel far and wide? But not many would forgo their comfort To live a life outside.
You made the most of the pandemic, Doing what others wish they could. I’m inspired by your trip of a lifetime, And the challenges you’ve withstood.
My Poetry Writing Process
While writing these poems, I began with a brainstorming session: writing down some of my favorite memories, stories, or concepts that reminded me of the poem’s inspiration. I read poems that others had written about their loved ones. I meditated and tried to connect with my deepest feelings. From there, I built the message and prose for each individual poem. Finally, in order to make sure the flow and rhythm worked, I read the poems out loud— over and over.
Comment on this post with your best poetry tips, or a poem that you have written for a loved one! I’d love to read them!
Lights, rocks, the beach, the lake, and the sunset. Photo by Kristina Parro.
There’s nothing quite like spending time at the beach in autumn. Leaves falling like rain. Fiery sunsets. Nights by the fire. Waves crashing into the shore.
It is magical for me, being so near the place where the water meets the sky. Cleansing. Inspirational.
I love to wake up early and watch the sun rise on the horizon, while drinking my latte and listening to the surf. I enjoy long walks on the beach, while talking and taking in the views. I cherish moments spent with my friends and family; moments spent with my thoughts and my notebook.
These photos were taken and words were written on the shores of Lake Michigan in Indiana.
Enjoy!
An Indiana Morning
Waves crashing against the rocks of Long Beach. Photo by Kristina Parro.
Morning. Two lovers. A walk along a hazy, pebble-covered beach.
The sky is aglow, painted by the rising sun. The tide is high; waves crash into the shore. The froth rushes out, leaving behind reflected rainbows in its wake.
Still water snakes along the lovers’ path, leaving sand islands between them and the lake. As the sherbet hues dance in the stillness, the couple stops to take in the view.
She leans in for a kiss, then they pause for a moment, faces pressed against one another. Just being, together.
The smell of his Nivea lingers on her face, long after the walk is over.
Who knew an Indiana morning could be this beautiful?
Surreal
A figure walks along the shores of Lake Michigan, the sky and setting sun are reflected in the water. Photo by Kristina Parro.
Dive into my dreams.
Learn each square inch of my sun-lit cliffs and the shadowy depths of my valley floors.
Take a dip into my subconscious.
Learn who I really am. Deeper than I even know?
Bathe in my rivers. You shall learn, then be rewarded.
But, beware of the depths. Don’t drown.
Constant
The sun sets on a rippled Lake Michigan. Photo by Kristina Parro.
Spring turns to summer, then fall to winter.
Things grow, then die.
Love burns, then withers.
The circle of life: nothing is constant but change.
Water and Fire
A couple walks on Long Beach at golden hour. Photo by Kristina Parro.
The waves crash behind me. I’m warmed by the fire in front of me.
I sit on the beach, thinking about the people who have sat here before me. The Potowatomi’s, pioneers, and Presidents. Simon Pokagon, Harry Tuthill, Joe Biden.
My grandparents.
I want to ask them, “Were the colors always this vibrant? Was the sand always this soft? Were the sunsets always this beautiful?”
Time changes everything, but maybe this beach is beyond her grasp.
The lake grows dark behind me. I’m enlightened by the crackle of the flames.
A November Sunset
Unedited photo of the sunset on November 7, 2021 on the shores of Lake Michigan in Long Beach, IN. Photo by Kristina Parro.
As the salmon November sun sank into the glassy water, the world, momentarily, was set on fire.
Brushed stripes of magenta and apricot appeared painted on the turquoise sky, then reflected in the tide.
Just above the horizon, lead clouds were lit from underneath. For a moment, just a moment, the entire world glowed.
The beach doubles as a panoramic stage for the ultimate virtuoso to show off.
Last week I was interviewed by the amazing Shannon Lane for her new bookish YouTube channel. Shannon is another independent author of contemporary fiction. Check out Shannon’s book, Soul on Fire! Make sure you like the video above and subscribe to Shannon’s channel!
One of my readers (and a friend!) sent me this adorable of their cat with my book. She said, ‘Syd wants to read your book!’
Lucky is the story of the American Dream, an epic juxtaposition of glitter and tragedy: the tangled stories of two powerful women who are connected through the transcendental nature of time and space. In Lucky, the reader tumbles down the rabbit hole with America’s favorite pop-star, Rhea Harmonía as she dives deep on a journey through American history, Western thinking, modern philosophy, mythology, math, music, and time.
I dove into Taylor Swift’s lyrics to help me make sense of some of the tragedy I found myself surrounded by (as an essential healthcare worker during the pandemic).
Kristina Parro in an interview with Shannon Lane
In the first verse of the song, the last great American dynasty, Taylor introduces the main character with the lyrics: ‘Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny. Her salt box house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis. Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name and money. And the town said, “how did a middle class divorcé do it?”’
Throughout the song, we learn that Rebekah married Bill and they bought the largest, most spectacular house on the Eastern seaboard: Holiday House. Swift sings, ‘Their parties were tasteful if a little gauche,’ which was a little tongue-in-cheek. Everyone wanted an invite to Holiday House. Rebekah Harkness felt like she was the queen of the world.
Then, Bill died, and the tides turned. Rebekah quickly became the ‘maddest woman the town had ever seen.’ Swift sings that ‘she had a marvelous time ruining everything.’ Rebekah’s story ultimately ends in an epic tragedy.
By the end of the song, Swift reveals that after Rebekah died, she bought Holiday House. Almost immediately, Rebekah’s story began to manifest in Taylor’s life. I read more about Rebekah’s story and learned that there are many interesting parallels between the lives of Taylor Swift and Rebekah Harkness. Their stories are a perfect example of an adage echoed throughout Lucky, ‘stories repeat, almost cyclically, throughout history.’
I uncovered this magical story that helped me, as the author, navigate and cycle through a really dark time in my life and bring me to the other side.
Kristina Parro in an interview with Shannon Lane
Learn more about Lucky, my publishing process, the release of my book (including my release party!), the importance of writing, why I chose the name Lucky, and so much more in Shannon’s interview!
Let me know in the comments: did you learn anything new about me from Shannon’s interview?
P.S. I just wanted to take a moment to say, ‘thank you,’ to everyone— my family and friends of old and new— who has purchased my book, read it, provided me with cool opportunities, written reviews, and overall supported me in person or on social media during this process! It has been so much fun to take on this new life path, and I know it wouldn’t be possible without you. I appreciate you all more than you know.
The Fun Stuff!
Bonus content: photos from my release party! A HUGE ‘thank you’ to my parents (for having the party), my brother for coming out, my boyfriend Matt for everything, and everyone who came to the party! It was the best birthday ever!
I signed over 100 books this night!Check out my necklaces!! One says ‘Lucky;’ the other two relate to Lucky’s secret code!My mom had these cookies made! The teal cookie depicts my publishing company’s, Logos, logo!My mom also had suckers made with the picture from the front cover of my book! How cool are these?!?! They are edible!Me, the birthday girl, with a big stack of her own books. Who would have thought?! A truly surreal moment.The set up! I was signing books at this table. We sold out of hardcover books at the party! It was crazy! I feel so LUCKY 🥰Matt with a fat stack of Lucky books!I LOVE YOU GUYS!Thank you to everyone who brought these beautiful bouquets of flowers!!!!
Art by Kristina Parro; Dalí illustration by OM Nair; Background: Dalí’s Persistence of Memory
Many have heard his name. Most have seen his work: dreamscapes, melting clocks, eroticism, and otherwise shocking scenes. Maybe you’ve even seen a photograph of Salvador Dalí, most recognizable by his stiff, upwards-turned, handlebar mustache. But, how much do you really know about the man himself?’
Obtained from WikiArt
Salvador Dalí is one of the most celebrated artists of all time; an eccentric, artistic genius, and leader, specifically in the field of surrealism.
Surrealism
A refresher: surrealism is an art movement with undertones lying in geometry and modern physics that began in France in the 1920s. It is characterized by dreamscapes and images that make the viewer question reality by delving into the depths of the subconscious.
Sleep, Salvador Dalí (1937)
Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.
Salvador Dalí
Surrealism, and Dalí himself, were extensively studied by the renowned psychologist, Sigmund Freud. After meeting Dalí, Freud wrote, “For until now, I have been inclined to regard the surrealists, who apparently have adopted me as their patron saint, as complete fools. That young Spaniard, Dalí, with his candid fantastical eyes and undeniable technical mastery, has changed my estimate.”
More than Einstein or Watson and Crick, more than Hitler or Lenin, Roosevelt or Kennedy, more than Picasso Eliot or Stravinsky, more than the Beatles or Bob Dylan, Freud’s influence on modern culture has been profound and long-lasting.
psychologist and Freud critic, John Kihlstrom
MOMENT DE TRANSITION, Salvador Dal (1934)
Dalí’s Childhood
Dalí was born in the 1904, on the rocky Mediterranean coast, in Figueroa, Spain. His older brother, also named Salvador, died almost nine months to the day before Dalí was born. Early on, his parents had him convinced that he was the reincarnated version of his brother— who, according to legend, died, almost 9 months to the die before Dalí himself was born.
As a small boy, he fell in love with the ocean. Dalí was particularly fascinated by the rocks on the shore of his sacred childhood summertime haven, in the seaside village of Cadaques. The sun shone bright in the sky and casted shadows on them. Dalí noticed how life-like the rocks looked— almost like human faces. At just five or six-years old, Dalí sat on the beach for hours and sketched the faces on the rocks.
Faces on rocks was a theme seen later in Dalí’s work, as well. This piece is called “Three Faces of Dalí on the Rocks,” painted by Dalí.
As the shadows shifted with the passing of the sun, the faces on the rocks changed form. The tiny Dalí marveled at their metamorphosis. He recorded the changes he saw on his father’s sketch pad, in striking detail. That was Dalí’s first foray into art.
One of Dalí’s first known painted works is called Landscape, which he finished in 1914. In 1916, Dalí attended drawing school in his hometown and studied with Ramon Pichot, a local impressionist painter who later became Dalí’s mentor.
Landscape, Salvador Dalí (1910-1914)
Pablo Picasso
Another of Dalí’s mentors/ inspirations was Pablo Picasso, who he met in 1926. Their meeting was hugely influential to Dalí, as evidenced by themes in his work. Picasso gave Dalí “a model to emulate.” Their relationships evolved into a weird, one-sided, obsessive correspondence, with Dalí sending the artist hundred of letters and postcards.
Around this time Dalí enjoyed freedom of self-expression while experimenting with various avant-grade painting styles, including cubism, futurism, and purism. In 1926, following disciplinary actions at his art school, he was dismissed. By 1928, Dalí was notorious… and he began experiencing international acclaim.
Gala— Dalí’s muse
Dalí married Gala—his muse— in 1929. She often modeled for him, and her likeness is seen multiple times in his work.
The year he met Gala also marks Dalí’s artistic transition into surrealism. In the years that followed, Dalí explored a self-coined “paranoid-critical” method of painting, described by Dalí himself as “irrational knowledge” based on a “delirium of interpretation.”
I don’t do drugs. I am drugs.
Salvador Dalí
In 1931, Dalí painted one of his most well-known pieces— which currently resides in Museum of Modern Art in NYC— called The Persistence of Memory. The painting depicts an irrational, hyper-real dream world: melting clocks, swarming ants, entropy, death, decay, and maybe even Dalí himself.
The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dalí (1931)
During this time, a period marred by the Spanish Civil War, Dalí became more and more eccentric. He began to have strained relationships with other artists, including the leader of the Surrealist movement, Andre Breton.
Andre Breton became openly critical of Dalí’s growing celebrity. He coined Dalí’s anagrammatic nickname, Avida Dollars. By 1939, Dalí had broken from the Surrealists. When France fell to the Nazis in June of 1940, Dalí and Gala moved to America.
Dalí in America
In 1941, Dalí finished writing his autobiography: The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí. This book contained an inter tangled web of fact and fictionalized events from Dalí’s life. The next year, it was published. The bizzare book brought Dalí even more acclaim.
In America, he became associated with the greats: Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, Buckminster Fuller, and Standard Oil Heiress Rebekah Harkness, to name a few.
Dalí makes an appearance in my book, Lucky: A Novel (inspired by Taylor Swift’s folklore and the incredible true story of Standard Oil Heiress Rebekah Harkness) because of his friendship with Harkness.
During this time, he expanded his art practice to visual-performance art, jewelry, clothing, furniture, sets for plays and ballets, and even display windows for department stores.
Nuclear Mysticism
Nuclear Mysticism is an artistic style developed by Dalí later in his life after achieving a divine epiphany. He saw a connection between religious/spiritual mysticism and science (particularly physics). Dalí believed that science was proof of God’s existence and God’s existence was proof of the powers of science.
Dalí and the Golden Ratio
Salvador Dalí was taken by mathematics; how number seems to reveal a hidden order in the world.
The Golden Ratio is an irrational number that possesses a variety of interesting properties. It was studied by ancient mathematicians due to its frequent appearance in natural and man made phenomenon. The Golden Ratio has been suggested to reflect nature’s balance between symmetry and asymmetry (chaos and order). It is thought to be the most aesthetic number, or the proportion of perfect beauty.
Dalí talked about the Golden Ratio in the above interview with Dick Cavett. There are countless examples of Dalí using the Golden Ratio and concepts related to the Golden Ratio in his art and life.
Dalí’s paintings Surrealistic Flower Girl and Surrealistic King: both contain countless references to Golden Ratio themes/imagery
Dalí the Performance Artist
Dalí was a born performer; a man who needed (and thrived off) an audience. Dalí was captivating; just as talented at self-promotion and money-making as he was at painting. His southwest-European accent was thick, but he had a way with words that threw you off just from pure amazement of its exquisiteness. He spoke in a scrambled language, but it was the tongue of genius.
Dalí wore a diving suit to a lecture at London International Surrealist Exhibition and appeared in the same on the cover of Time Magazine. He walked his pet anteater on a leash down the streets of New York City. He brought a Rolls Royce overflowing with cauliflower to an interview and rambled on about spirals and the golden ratio.
Dalí’s Legacy
Salvador Dalí changed the way the art world worked, through paint, film, design, his intellect, and his public persona.
Each morning, I wake up experiencing an exquisite joy— the joy of being Salvador Dalí.
Salvador Dalí
What do you think Dalí’s legacy is? Let me know in the comments!
If you enjoy learning about Salvador Dalí, check out my conversation about him with Kyle Wood on the Who ARTed Podcast.
If you missed Part 1, where KP and I talk folklore/evermore, The Barbie Doll poem by Marge Piercy, art being a reflection of the society around us, and the idea of “perspective is reality.” Check it out here.
Kristina: I think our entire world needs transformation right now, and that may be why Taylor’s music is resonating with people so deeply.
KP: I have been trying to do a epiphany analysis for like four days in a row, but it’s difficult. The imagery and themes are just so relatable, especially now as the Delta variant of COVID is sweeping through the country. I have a young son, but I’m terrified of him getting sick. All of the war imagery, people dying on beaches, the connection between gloved hands… all of that imagery draws up so much emotion. I think that is why her music transforms us, because we get so emotional when we listen to it.
Kristina: I think when we become so emotional, it awakens some of our subconscious in a way that allows us to make a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. For me, much of Taylor’s music has a way about it that invokes that heavy emotion.
KP: It can be intense and heavy, but I think we do need a reminder sometimes. epiphany is such an important song. You worked in healthcare so you know, it is like a war zone out there.
Kristina: Agreed. I think epiphany will always be a hard song for me to listen to and talk about.
Changing gears, let’s talk about the idea of the “invisible string” we see throughout folklore and evermore. There are many references of an “invisible string” in literature, such as in Jane Eyre, with the idea of a “cord of communion” connecting hearts. There is also a Chinese parable about the Red Thread of Fate, a string that connects people and larger groups of people throughout time. It has spiraling branches… kind of like the willow tree.
KP: It’s interesting. I view the invisible string as something that’s just there. You didn’t make the choice to be connected with someone via an invisible string, you just are. It’s like fate or destiny. It’s like something is pulling you to something else. In willow, she follows the golden string out. But in contrast, Taylor loves to talk about choices. She often brings up the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. It’s funny that she talks so much about choices but also has the idea of an invisible string throughout the albums.
Kristina: I think there are some deep philosophical themes encoded here. In our own lives, we have to somehow juxtapose the idea of free will with fate. It’s like the Butterfly Effect in the way that your choices do play a role in the outcome of your life. But, there is a bigger picture too and there are bigger forces that work on you that help lead you towards your truest path. I don’t know, it’s a hard thing to understand.
KP: It is, but it’s such a beautiful thing to think about. Sometimes it feels like we’re faced with impossible choices. What do I do? Do I choose this path, or this one? But, it’s sort of comforting to think that there’s a bigger picture that we can’t see at the moment. “Everything happens for a reason,” is a really comforting idea.
Kristina: It really is. Otherwise, things can really just seem like a tragedy. I think that’s another theme in folklore/evermore, but more specifically folklore. It’s funny, because folklore was written at the same time I was also feeling the tragedy of it all… it was the thick of the pandemic/lockdowns, so many of us probably were. It was a time where I looked at the world around me and felt hopeless. I felt like… if life is all just a tragedy, what’s the point? I see a similar kind of theme in folklore…
My book, Lucky, is the story of Rebekah Harkness. I learned through my research just how tragic Rebekah’s story is. Maybe that is why Taylor is so drawn to Rebekah’s story.
I think tragedy very often befalls the hero-type. It’s kind of like, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Taylor, being in her position in life… like, in The Lucky One, she talks about wanting to go to a garden far away from it all. But, during the pandemic, Taylor may have realized that isolation is not the answer, because we are all connected. The things happening in the world around us still have an impact on us wether we are apart of them or not. It’s especially interesting from her perspective, because she could have easily chosen to say “I’m done” with all of the tragedy/trauma she went through during her career.
KP: It’s so true. She could have so easily quit, and we wouldn’t have blamed her! “We understand girl, you do what’s best for you!” Going back to mirrorball, she talks about how her tragedy was put on display for everyone to see. It was almost for our entertainment. That had to have trauma. Then going to evermore, and long story short, were she talks about how traumatic the journey was… but then says, “long story short, I survived.”
Kristina: Yes! That’s so powerful. long story shortis one of the most iconic songs. It’s so fun but there are so many literary references and so much deep meaning. One of my favorite lines from that song is when she says “I always felt I must look better in the rear view.”
KP: That’s a powerful line. You feel for her! I always try to separate the art from the artist, but that was one of the songs where I couldn’t separate it at first. At the beginning of the song I was so sad for her, but by the end, I was so proud of her. I felt like I have been on a journey with her for 15 years, and she DID survive.
I think that’s why I think about the Barbie Doll poem. The narrator is subject to much ridicule and judgement just because she was a woman. We all know, Taylor Swift has been there and bought the t-shirt! One thing I love about folklore/evermore was that she threw out the need to have radio hits. Her word choice, diction, content… those songs won’t get played! She didn’t care, because she wanted to have an album about where she’s at right now.
Kristina: That reminds me of one of her bonus tracks on evermore, right where you left me. Let’s talk about the bonus tracks… I think how Taylor released the album and bonus tracks is significant.
First, she released folklore and the story began. Then, the lakes came out, delayed and added more to the story. Then evermore came out, and it added more. Finally, the bonus tracks came out and added even more to the story.
KP: You know, I had never really sat down and mapped it out like that. I haven’t thought about it, but I’m wondering if this is a new frontier in releasing music and how music will be released. I’ve never seen someone do something like that. You would know more about this from a story teller’s perspective, but it really does seem significant.
Kristina: I noticed it first with the lakes. So, folklore ends with hoax. With that song, she’s saying “I’m done.” I mean, she says, “stood on the cliff side screaming, give me a reason.” What is the reason behind all of this tragedy?! She seems done. Then the lakes came out, and it was sad but almost hopeful…
KP: Yeah, almost… that’s a really good point because you think that’s it. With hoax, it’s almost like you’re standing at the edge of a cliff, waiting to be pushed off, waiting to fall to your death, ready for this to be over. But, with the lakes, it’s different. It doesn’t need to be over. It’s like, “actually, let’s channel your inner Romantic poet instead.”
I need to look at the track list order, because I haven’t done that. With all of her other albums, I have the actual CD. With these though, because I was doing live reactions for YouTube, I can’t trust myself not to listen to the whole album if I had it.
Kristina: I cannot believe you have enough self control to wait to listen to the album in order to do those live reactions.
KP: It’s very difficult. I have to not think about it. With evermore, I really hadn’t thought too much about it because I was still so focused on folklore. I was listening to some songs on folklore over and over and over again. Once I started listening to evermore songs though, it became harder to hold back. I can’t wait to get the album and listen to it all the way through.
Kristina: For sure, you should! Going back to the bonus tracks, the bonus tracks on evermore were also a very interesting pick. right where you left me talks about someone being frozen in time; but then in it’s time to go, she is saying “let go of what isn’t right for you, take the risk.”
Sometimes it’s riskier to do nothing if you are in a bad situation, a situation that isn’t right for you.it’s time to go was one of my favorites on evermore, and very soon after hearing that song, I quit my job at the nursing home. It was really hard for me to quit. It felt like I was one of the only people that cared about my patients so I felt really emotionally attached. I almost needed someone to tell me it is okay to choose yourself sometimes, because you never know what is going to happen to you. You need to look out for you because everyone else is looking out for themselves.
KP: Exactly, doing the thing that is right for you can be difficult. I felt a similar way before leaving the classroom. I always say, “leaving the classroom wasn’t without tears.” It was very difficult. It just wasn’t working anymore with COVID and my son getting older. At some point, you realize you are sacrificing a part of your self, and then you think “at what cost?”
I think Taylor does a really good job with both album, what is the cost of your circumstance and choices? Are you willing to pay that cost? I guess we’ll have to answer those questions at some point.
Kristina: That makes me think about the idea of karma, too. I think that’s another theme we see throughout the two albums. You will pay for everything that happens in life in some form or another. Maybe that is why Taylor seems to be so enthralled with the idea of tragedy… because she is so great. The opposite side of the coin of epic greatness is often times epic tragedy! That’s a scary thing to think about, especially when you’re sitting in the position Taylor is sitting in.
Click here to read Part 3, where KP and I talk season imagery, poetry, Blue Blood/Rebekah Harkness references in the album, and legacy!
Rebekah Harkness was one of the world’s richest women, the Standard Oil heiress, and founding patron of the Harkness Ballet. But beneath the elegant surface lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons. This biography tells the story of how one of the richest families descended into a world of drugs, madness, suicide, and violence.
Mario Livio gives an accessible and objective history of the occurrences and uses of the Golden Ratio. He makes a strong argument for Phi as “the world’s most astonishing number” while at the same time mitigating some of the more radical claims about the number and its influence through history.
Aristotle conceives of ethical theory as a field distinct from the theoretical sciences. Its methodology must match its subject matter—good action—and must respect the fact that in this field many generalizations hold only for the most part. We study ethics in order to improve our lives, and therefore its principle concern is the nature of human well-being. Aristotle follows Socrates and Plato in taking the virtues to be central to a well-lived life. Like Plato, he regards the ethical virtues (justice, courage, temperance and so on) as complex rational, emotional and social skills. But he rejects Plato’s idea that to be completely virtuous one must acquire, through training in the sciences, mathematics, and philosophy, an understanding of what goodness is. What we need, in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in which such goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honor, and wealth fit together as a whole. In order to apply that general understanding to particular cases, we must acquire, through proper upbringing and habits, the ability to see, on each occasion, which course of action is best supported by reasons. Therefore practical wisdom, as he conceives it, cannot be acquired solely by learning general rules. We must also acquire, through practice, those deliberative, emotional, and social skills that enable us to put our general understanding of well-being into practice in ways that are suitable to each occasion.
This article argues that Garrett Hardin’s primary object of critique in his influential “The Tragedy of the Commons” is not the commons or shared property at all—as is almost universally assumed by Hardin’s critics—but is rather Adam Smith’s theory of markets and its viability for protecting scarce resources. On the basis of this revised understanding, this article then offers a different interpretation of Hardin’s thesis by assigning hermeneutic priority to the concept of “tragedy” (Aristotle, Nietzsche) rather than the concept of the “commons.” Read through the concept of tragedy, it argues that Hardin’s thesis effectively asserts a rigid incompatibility between market economics and environmental protection, and to this extent “The Tragedy of the Commons” is more aptly read as a political critique that questions the viability of unlimited growth as the axiomatic premise of planetary economics.
John Robinson III’s contribution to the “Race & Capitalism” series provides a historical perspective on what he calls American capitalism’s “selective democratization,” especially with regards to race. The myth of a self-regulating market, argues Robinson, obscures the political underpinnings of economic inclusion, which has consistently favored the “self-reliance” of white workers while excluding blacks. He draws on W. E. B. Du Bois’s analysis of the post–Civil War Freedmen’s Bureau and attempts to democratize housing assets in the 1970s through the Community Reinvestment Act as examples of policy efforts to increase inclusion that have been thwarted by racial politics.
In this dynamic and utterly novel presentation, David Loy explores the fascinating proposition that the stories we tell–about what is and is not possible, about ourselves, about right and wrong, life and death, about the world and everything in it–become the very building blocks of our experience and of reality itself. Loy uses an intriguing mixture of quotations from familiar and less-familiar sources and brief stand-alone micro-essays, engaging the reader in challenging and illuminating dialogue. As we come to see that the world is made–in a word–of stories, we come to a richer understanding of that most elusive of Buddhist ideas: shunyata, the “generative emptiness” that is the all-pervading quality inherent to all mental and physical forms in our ever-changing world. Reminiscent of Zen koans and works of sophisticated poetry, this book will reward both a casual read and deep reflection. A shorter, free version of this can be found here.
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women’s issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics. The novel’s blend of realistic narrative, incisive social commentary, and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernist literature; it prefigures the works of American novelists such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and echoes the works of contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James. It can also be considered among the first Southern works in a tradition that would culminate with the modern works of Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter, and Tennessee Williams.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature for its illustration of the attitudes towards mental and physical health of women in the 19th century.
I spoke with artist Mary LaGarde yesterday on Instagram Live about her painting A Marvelous Time, inspired by Taylor Swift’s song, The Last Great American Dynasty. My book, Lucky, is inspired by the same. I knew we’d have lots to chat about!
Kristina: The Last Great American Dynasty is such a fabulous song— so vivid and inspirational. Why don’t we start by you telling us a little more about your painting!
Mary: It all started in February of this year— on Valentine’s Day. My husband is a leukemia survivor and has a compromised immune system, so we were unable to go out for the holiday due to the pandemic. Instead, I decided we would have cocktails in the Tiki Hut in the backyard! I concocted a drink called “Cupid’s Arrow” and brought my little boom box out with us to the back. We put on a playlist— Hipster Radio, to be specific; it’s cool, smooth, and on Pandora— when all of a sudden Taylor’s song came on, “The Last Great American Dynasty.”
Now, I hadn’t heard of this song. I didn’t know Taylor Swift wrote this song, or anything about it. All I thought was, “Oh my gosh! The lyrics of this song are incredible. I wonder if Taylor Swift wrote this song. It kind of sounds like her!”
Sure enough, I went onto Pandora and found that she did write it. We listened to the song again and I became so excited. “I have got to paint this story,” I thought. There is so much to it, and Taylor has painted such a beautiful picture with her song. I started to get excited about dovetailing off this whole world— the light and the dark of Rebekah’s life— and wanted to showcase the characters of her epic story.
I think Taylor has really outdone herself with folklore and evermore. She seems to be really coming into herself with both of these albums. I will forever be a Swiftie now!
Kristina: Me too! I agree, I think that folklore and evermore have taken Taylor Swift to an entire new level with the deep themes and story telling (and not just stories of herself, anymore). The story of Rebekah Harkness was a great one for her to start with, in my opinion, because of all of the crazy parallels between the life of Taylor Swift and Rebekah Harkness. Also, Rebekah Harkness is an endlessly fascinating person, as you have also found out!
Mary: Not too long ago, I got to go up to Holiday House in Watch Hill. I sat there and tried to get the feel of the area— where the wind was blowing, where the sea was crashing in, the shoreline and the rocks, the view. I played her song while sitting there watching the waves. It was magical. I feel so lucky I was able to do that. I wanted to make sure I carried across that feeling, the energy in Holiday House.
Side note, just so everyone knows how we know so much about Rebekah… Rebekah Harkness (aka Betty West) was notorious when she was alive and was frequently splashed upon the front page of the newspaper. After she passed away, Craig Unger wrote a biography about Rebekah entitled “Blue Blood.” It is the chronicle of Rebekah’s entire life, as well as the West family and the Harkness family. It’s jam-packed with tons of juicy information. But, there was only one edition ever published of “Blue Blood.” Now, it’s a rare book. It is almost impossible to find. Mary was trying to find a copy and wasn’t able to…
Mary: No, I wasn’t, but your book is a great substitute! Your book, Lucky, is awesome.
Kristina: Thank you so much! I got access to Blue Blood at a circulation-only library downtown Chicago, and I was reading it and reading different articles about Rebekah… I was like, I have access to information that not everyone is able to access. So, that was part of what drew me originally to this story and what inspired me to want to memorialize Rebekah’s story through Lucky, because it is a powerful story. It is a story that many people are interested in because there are a lot of fans of Taylor Swift and many people intrigued by the story of Rebekah Harkness.
Kristina: I would love to talk about all of the different people in your painting. You have immortalized some of the fascinating characters that have shown up throughout Rebekah’s life.
Mary: First up, is Robert Joffrey. Joffrey, of course, is world-famous for his ballet company. Rebekah actually sponsored Joffrey’s original ballet, and the dancers had a “summer camp” at Holiday House. Eventually, Rebekah decided that she wanted to have the Joffrey Ballet renamed as the Harkness Ballet, which he refused, so she retaliated by stealing all of his dancers!
Kristina: It caused a lot of drama in the dance world too. Before connecting with Joffrey, Rebekah was planning on making dance her legacy. She wanted to be known as the premier patroness of the ballet and may have let her own ego get in the way here a bit. Had she worked with Joffrey and continued to support him, her story may have had a different ending.
Mary: She ended up taking all of his dancers and traveling with the ballet all over the world, actually. She put them up in the finest hotels, gave them caviar and champagne… she offered these ballerinas the dream, everything they ever wanted. You probably know more from the Unger book which countries they went to.
Kristina: They went to quite a few different countries, but the one I talk about in Lucky is Egypt— and Rebekah took the dancers on a trip to see all of the sights, like the pyramids. I think the most interesting takeaway from the international touring, however, is that Rebekah didn’t necessarily have the the talent or leadership skills necessary to lead the ballet… she just poured money into the sets, costumes. The performances were extravagant, but fell sort-of flat. The press and reviewers didn’t have the nicest things to say about the tour. Rebekah got a lot of flack for it.
Mary: Right, she fancied herself a ballerina herself. She was quite an amazing dancer. Do you see Jose Greco in the painting? He was a famous flaminco dancer, and she hired him to train her to dance.
It does kind of sound mean what she did, but still, this was a male-dominated time. Women were not in charge of ballets, or anything. I think Rebekah took that on as a challenge. She was the one who got decide what she wanted to do with her money, and she chose to put her money into the arts. I think that’s a plus, a great takeaway. Not all of it has to be bad, right?
Kristina: Definitely not! Another thing I want to say, in regards to that, just because the press (or an author) says something about someone doesn’t make it unequivocally true. I think that is a lesson Taylor Swift has learned throughout the years… the stories written about her are not always the best reflection of who she is as a person. All we have left of Rebekah now are the newspaper articles, raunchy books, and scandalous tales… but, I think she did what she thought she was supposed to do. The most heartbreaking thing about her story, because it ends in such an epic tragedy, is that she was doing what felt right to her.
Mary: This is true. One thing I really appreciated about her, in regards to the dancers for example, she didn’t care about their race, size, hair color, age, or anything. She just cared to support the arts. If you could play the part, she was game to bring you on. I love that about her.
You know, she liked yoga… so, she brought in a world-class yoga instructor, B. K. S. Iyengar. I had to put him in the painting because I think he was a spiritual voice for her. He likely mellowed her. He probably cultured her, brought more color into her life, and helped create a more dynamic and centered nature to her personality.
Just because you have money, doesn’t mean that people will be falling over themselves to do stuff for you… in fact, sometimes it’s the opposite. You have to be quite focused when you have money to make sure you hire the best people to help you live your dream. Her dream was not attainable by not of people because
Kristina: I agree, but I also think that something that caused Rebekah’s downfall was always putting her trust and faith in other people, rather than trying to find answers within herself. She always listening to the sycophants, always around, telling her what she wanted to hear and manipulating her. So, I think that when someone has money, those type of people start coming out of the woodwork.
Mary: It’s just like winning the lottery! You hear all of these crazy stories— like when someone wins the lottery and then their long-lost cousin shows up with a dire illness… and then after you give them money, they turn out not to be your cousin! There are always people who will try to play on your sympathy, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. Rebekah was definitely a victim to that.
Kristina: For sure. I am glad, however, that you included B.K.S. Iyengar. I know the impact yoga has had on my life…
Mary: Me too!
Kristina: I can only imagine what impact learning yoga from one of the greatest yogis of all time had on Rebekah.
Mary: Agreed, it most have been pretty intense. We also have Jerome Robbins hiding behind B.K.S. Jerome did West Side Story, and he was a friend of hers and helped her a lot. We also have the famous Andy Warhol, whom Rebekah hired to do set designs. He enjoyed partying and was her party buddy as well. He probably isn’t quite as well known as, my favorite, Salvador Dali.
Kristina: and the cat!
Mary: The cat is actually a Ocelot named Babou. A Colombian dignitary or ambassador gave it to Dali as a gift, maybe in exchange for his work, I’m not sure exactly.
Dali was the type of person who always wanted to be on display. He felt that every breath he took was art, an expression of life itself. He was an artist from childhood. He wasn’t formally trained until later in life. If you ever get down to St. Petersburg, Florida, you need to check out the Salvador Dali museum! He has done remarkable work with surrealism. Warping time is one of his most famous things— with the clocks that drip and the Persistence of Memory.
Persistence of Memory— Salvador Dalí
He is the type of artist who also has different skills and backgrounds: like jewelry creation. Rebekah is wearing a brooch in my painting, I think it is called the Starfish of the Sea.
Also, all the black and white in my picture symbolizes something of yesteryear… of people who are no longer with us, but left their legacy with us. I have lots of little symbols throughout my painting.
Kristina: Yes, I read about some of them in your blog! It is so fascinating!
Mary: Do you see this dancer back here? That is Patrick Swayze. If you’ve never seen the movie Ghost with Demi Moore, you should check it out. Patrick Swayze is a famous actor from Texas. He grew up just a normal, All-American guy. He played football, but ultimately hurt himself and was unable to continue playing. Patrick’s mom was a ballerina, and she influenced him for rehab purposes. Patrick Swayze actually got a scholarship that Rebekah financed, for him to go the Harkness Ballet and dance for her.
Kristina: I did not know that!
Mary: It’s such a small, unusual world! Next to Rebekah, we have Scevers.
Kristina: Bobby!!!
Mary: Yes, Bobby. Her lover for about 25 years. He was a homosexual and stayed with her for quite a long period of time. He, apparently, really loved her. I know there were plenty of controversies regarding that, which your book goes more into!
Kristina: Yeah. You know, with Rebekah’s relationships… I could have an entire book about those in and of themselves, but I decided to try to more skim the surface of them. I wanted to respect Rebekah and her past lovers, and I realize that none of the information about her love life from her biography used her as a direct source.
So, the stories that are told about you are not always the truth… but I think that Bobby is special because he was one of few people who was with her on her death bed. He may have been the very last person Rebekah saw before she passed away. He clearly had a big impact on Rebekah’s life because she kept coming back to him. You know, she tended to marry doctors, but she kept coming back to the homosexual Bobby Scevers. It really is interesting. I know Rebekah’s children appreciated Bobby being there when she passed.
Mary: It’s rumored that Bobby became depressed when she passed away because he missed her friendship and their love. Aww, such a sweet story. It’s so funny how you see someone like Rebekah being such a harsh, aggressive, man-type of power house… she’s a masculine-female in a male’s world. But she also has a sweet, compassionate side of her too.
I wanted to showcase all of Rebekah’s influences: spiritual, artistic, dance, philosophical, and love.
I also find it fascinating that she did wonderful for so many different dancers of color, like Alvin Aley, who was an incredible dancer. Back in this time, black dancers didn’t have a big shot at getting to the main stage. Rebekah gave them that the leg up… Alvin is one of the most famous black dancers she brought up. He helped her choreograph some of her dances, he traveled with her.
Rebekah also wrote music. She was involved in every facet of art. She donated a lot of money to medicine, to help people with disabilities.
It is so funny that she had such a wild side to her— in fact, she once got kicked off of a cruise ship! She got caught skinny-dipping, she stripped down to nothing!
Kristina: She threw a plate at the conductor of the Philippines welcome band… so much scandal!
Mary: It’s all so scandalous! Of course, that brings me to the key lime dog! Which, I read was a cat… not a dog, at all. Tell me, what have you learned about that from Craig Unger’s book?!
Kristina: Yes! So it was not a dog, it was a cat. It also was not her neighbor’s, but a house guest’s! Rebekah was always playing pranks on people, that was something she was known for, but in this particular instance, the house guest did something that Rebekah didn’t like… then Rebekah dyed the cat green as revenge!
Mary: No way!! How funny! Here’s another part of the painting I wanted to talk about, the Chalice of Life.
“That’s odd,” you may think, “what is that for?” Rebekah actually had this chalice created for her by Salvador Dalí, and I actually really like how you explained the chalice in your book.
Kristina: Thank you! My book is historical fiction, so I obviously took some creative liberties as I am not totally sure what happened. I believe that Dalí was encouraging Rebekah to think about her immortality, and I think they may have had some conversations about the circular nature of life and reincarnation. Here is the excerpt from Lucky:
Much of the time Dalí spent in Watch Hill was under the guise of work. That summer, he began construction of a special, custom piece of art for Rebekah. The Chalice of Life: and 18-karat yellow gold urn, adorned with twisting tree roots, diamond branches, and sapphire butterflies. The urn twirled mechanically, like a tiny dancer in a music box. One day, the urn would hold Rebekah’s ashes.
“Dalí’s Chalice of Life is Mae West’s (Rebekah’s) Holy Grail: it’s how you live in beauty forever!”
Dalí had a strong belief in reincarnation: the transmigration of the soul after death. When we was young, his parents taught him that he was the incarnation of his older brother— a boy also named Salvador, who died nine months to the day before Dalí was born.
After Dalí told Rebekah the story of his family, he easily convinced her that she had been an Egyptian princess in her past life. “Cleopatra!” Dalí proclaimed. “In the Chalice of Life, Mae West will be a princess in her next life, too.”
Lucky, Kristina Parro
Mary: I enjoyed learning that her daughter— whom with she had a tumultuous relationship— found she couldn’t fit in the urn. The chalice was too small! Her ashes were disposed of in a different manner, I guess, and the chalice went to Japan.
Kristina: Yes! It was sold off, as part of her estate. I think that is part of the true tragedy of Rebekah’s story. She pictured herself having a dignified end; she imagining her essence twirling around in the gilded chalice for eternity. The reality of her situation, however, was much different than she had pictured. Her remains were taken home in a plastic grocery store bag, as she didn’t fit into the urn. Then, with all the controversy surrounding her will and estate, I think the chalice was sold a few weeks after her death. It’s so interesting to think about. She spent so much money, thought and time on the Chalice. It was part of her legacy, and it didn’t play out like she expected it to.
Mary: One thing I liked about your book was that you talked about mathematics and the Golden Ratio. I don’t know what is truth or fiction with that, but I did use the Golden Ratio, actually, in this painting. I often do that with my works. So, to me, it is really full circle. Your book beautifully describes the Golden Ratio, and it is something we use so much in classical art. It works sort of like a conch shell— how things keep going inwards and inwards and inwards, or outwards and outwards and outwards into infinity.
Kristina: The Golden Ratio is such a beautiful thing to think about. I originally started learning more about the Golden Ratio when I was analyzing folklore’s lyrics, while I was probing into the pieces, myths, and stories. Somehow, I came across this book about the Golden Ratio by Mario Livio. It is just fascinating to me how, in folklore and Blue Blood, there are so many parallels and references to things related to the Golden Ratio. Then, too, Salvador Dalí— something that is interesting about him, is that there is quite a bit of footage available of him on YouTube— and towards the end of his life, he became obsessed with the Golden Ratio. He thought it held the key to understanding the secret of life. There were just so many weird and serendipitous connections throughout the whole web I had uncovered, that I can’t help but really feel I stumbled upon something profound.
Mary: There is, in fact, in the museum in St. Petersburg a lot of talk about Dalí’s interest in the Golden Ratio. He is most famous for surrealism, but later in his career, he really went back to the classics. He became more religious, spiritual. That’s when he started painting huge canvases. They are beautiful. It is worth taking the time to see some of those of those works.
One last thing! I want to talk about the cards. Rebekah folded her hand, she had bad cards. You can see the little “hmph” in her face. She isn’t happy with the hand she was dealt— symbolically and literally in the painting— and Dalí’s face/expression is like “ha! I won!” Dalí has a flush for his hand of cards, but Taylor Swift, she has a full house. It means she has a full house in Holiday House; she has a full house of memories with everyone visiting and all of their stories; and that Taylor has many more stories to tell. She’s letting us see that, she’s letting us see that part of her world. She’s expanding to new horizons— philosophical, artistic. I just am so happy for her! It’s so remarkable. She is an inspiration to artists, authors, philosophers, visual artists, and everything in between. I was really happy to join in. This painting was truly a work of love.
Kristina: I can tell. The detail and deep meaning is so precise and evident. You have truly done a tremendous job capturing this story. I am quite honestly obsessed with your painting. Is this your personal painting? Is it for sale? What is the situation?
Mary: I have had people interested in purchasing it, but I’m holding onto it at the moment. I eventually would like this to go to Watch Hill. I think this piece belongs in Holiday House. So, Taylor Swift, if you’re out there and reading this, CALL ME!
Kristina: Yes! Do not miss Mary’s giveaway contest of this painting on Instagram! It is going on for the next few weeks. Make sure you follow Mary’s instagram page!
Mary: Yes! And I actually have a blog, too. It is MaryLaGarde.com! I have a blog about this painting that explains each character in more detail.
Kristina: I loved reading that blog. I also think it is so cool that you went to Watch Hill and experienced the energy of Holiday House. I think that place is fascinating— it is so powerful, in terms of universal energy exchange— that that particular place has lured so many of time’s most high-energy people over the last 150+ years. It makes me think about the time-space boundary… and I think that this story brings up philosophical thoughts in that nature. So, I am just happy we connected today and can’t wait to possibly chat more in the future.
Mary: Me too. I also hope everyone out there stays safe. We need to fight through this together. I know that you have experienced the trauma working in healthcare, and many people out there are experiencing trauma. We just need to stick together, now more than ever. Do what you can, do your part, and we will move forward.
Kristina: What a beautiful message. With that, we will let you go, but don’t forget to check out Mary’s blog for even more info about her painting ‘A Marvelous Time.’ By the way, I noticed your blog post was posted on June 10, which happens to be the same date that my book, Lucky, came out! I found that to be so funny!
Mary: Really? Wow, that is ironic.
Mary and Kristina (literally at the same time): Serendipitous!
Topics covered in Part 1: perspective is reality, art is a reflection of the society around it, why Taylor Swift is our generation’s Shakespeare, and the Hero’s Journey.
Topics covered: epiphany, invisible string, the juxtaposition of free will and fate, bonus tracks, karma, and more!
English Teacher KP: What were your thoughts about Taylor Swift’s use of season imagery throughout folklore/evermore— references to winter, summer, specific months? I loved it because, obviously we talk about the hero’s journey and everything being cyclical. What is more cyclical than the seasons? Winter will come, but spring will follow.
Kristina: I have been doing a lot of deep diving into ancient history, philosophy, mythology, the foundations of Western thinking, and even the beginning of language during this past year. I think that the change of seasons is something that is echoed in the greatest art and literature because it’s a universal constant. It’s something like fate or karma, it’s part of our circle of life. I think there is also the idea here of the hero’s journey and death/rebirth. What are your thoughts?
KP: I completely agree. I love, like in august, she doesn’t want the summer to end. That’s such a universal feeling, not wanting summer to end, not wanting to go back to school or leave vacation. Summer is exciting, but then fall comes and things get more drab. Things start to die. Then in winter, everything is dead. It’s interesting that some of the more sad songs happen during winter and have Christmas references and reference the gray of it all. But then, there is also rebirth… in Spring, everything starts to come alive again. It’s just another layer. I think she also uses summer sometimes to represent nostalgia. Sometimes, when we look back on something, it isn’t exactly what we think it is.
Kristina: Our memory is just our perception! That whole idea of perception is reality comes into play here. Does that mean reality is different for different people? There’s just so many questions that go along with that. I think that may be the direction Taylor’s music may be going… I hope she continues to explore some of those deep philosophical questions about what it means to be human. What does it mean to be alive? I think that modern day pop-stars— I see it with Taylor, Billie Eillish/Finneas, and others who write their own music— are philosophers in their own way. I think that the history books will also say a similar thing.
KP: It goes back to everything being a direct reflection of society. Artists are able to capture what we’re feeling as a society, the issues we’re facing as a society, what we believe, and what’s controversial. People who write their own music are so in tune. It’s what I love about poetry. I always say I wish I were a poet.
One of my favorite poetry quotes is, “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.” If a writer is living in the moment and in tune with what is happening with society, they become in tune with those feelings. Poetry starts flowing out. I think Taylor writes music because she has to, her feelings are something she cant even contain.
Kristina: That’s how I felt when writing my book, Lucky! I had never considered myself much of a writer, but I started writing this book in September— September 18th, actually, was the day I first got access to a copy of Blue Blood by Craig Unger— and by April I had finished writing a 380-page book.
KP: That’s crazy, oh my gosh.
Kristina: I felt like I was using my book to process all of these complex feelings the pandemic was bringing up within me. Writing was all I wanted to do. I felt like it was hard to relate to people, it was more difficult to talk to other people. Everything just flowed out of me through the book. Now, I see so much more how using writing in my life helps me process complex emotions. I would recommend writing to everybody.
KP: I go back to Shakespeare. My students say, “How could he write 154 sonnets?! That’s crazy!” Well, what else was he supposed to do?! He was out of work. There was plague killing everyone. He was having problems with his family. He lost his son. He felt compelled to write through that. He was probably bursting! He had to write about it!
Kristina: It’s amazing because, still to this day, we’re studying him. We relate to him. What a legacy! Which brings up another theme of folklore/evermore… the idea of legacy. I see a realization in these albums. Taylor realizes that her story, her legacy, will not be just defined by what we’re talking about today. Her story— if you’re looking at her life statistically— her graph is so much bigger than she realized. Her legacy may be infinite. And wooh, what a realization!
KP: I think she also realized she could immortalize other people. Like in seven, with her friend, even though she can’t remember every detail she remembers how special that person was. Now, we will always be talking about how special that person is. It’s just like Sonnet 18, when Shakespeare says “I love you, bro. You’re amazing. Yeah, I know you’ll die but you’re actually going to live forever because people will read about you forever.” It’s kind of cocky, but true! It’s a similar thing with seven. Taylor remembers her childhood best friend and immortalizes her forever! She realized her power!
Kristina: I totally agree, but I have to say, seven has so many references to Rebekah Harkness, Blue Blood the biography, word-for-word references.
KP: Man! I need to read it!
Kristina: Yes!! But it’s really hard to find. There was only one edition ever published. You can buy it right now on Amazon for I think $900 and there are only three copies. It’s virtually impossible to find. If any of the people watching are in Chicago, you can find it at the Newberry Library, which is a circulation-only library downtown. But, you can only read it when you’re there!
KP: Wow, fascinating! I need to read that. I’ve heard other people say similar things, but I’m not familiar enough with Rebekah’s story…
Kristina: Let’s see if I can come up with some connections on the spot. In my opinion, seven has to do with Rebekah’s daughter, Edith. Edith was troubled. When she was 9, she first tried to commit suicide. At age 12, of the nannies told her to jump out of a window, and she did it. She does ultimately commit suicide, a few weeks after Rebekah died, with pills stolen from her mother’s death bed-side. Edith was beautiful; peculiar, but interesting. She was obsessed with Peter Pan… and we, of course, see a Peter Pan theme throughout folklore.
“I think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad and that must be why,” is an allusion to Rebekah Harkness (well actually Betty West, Rebekah’s childhood name). In Blue Blood, Craig Unger talks about how there was a rumor going around Betty’s school: her house was haunted. Her father, a business tycoon in St. Louis at the brink of the industrial revolution, was known for his temper. Betty’s friends from school wouldn’t come over to play at Betty’s house, because they were scared of her father.
There are quite a few references throughout folklore, especially, to Blue Blood and the story of Rebekah Harkness. I think Taylor spent a lot of time with that story as she was writing folklore in particular. I encoded a lot of this into my book. Now, trying to come up with exact examples on the spot, I can’t! Maybe sometime I can come on your YouTube channel and we can talk about the symbolism/ parallels between Blue Blood, folklore, and even my book Lucky!
KP: Yeah! I have alot of reading to do! I haven’t read much of Lucky yet, but just reading the prolouge…. You are a fantastic writer! I love reading literature but am not a very good writer, but I think you are very talented. I can’t wait to get the chance to read your book… it’s hard when you have a 5-year-old running around!
Kristina: I’ve tried to encode a lot of symbolism within my book, too. I think you’ll find it interesting. I went deep into mythology, philosophy, story-telling, the foundations of Western thinking. My journey started with my analysis of folklore and reading books Taylor mentioned.
Then, I uncovered a story that gave me so much hope… at a time when I felt so hopeless. Just the fact that an album can do that, and that one artist can have that type of influence on you is a really an amazingly powerful thing. I think that is a beautiful representation of Butterfly Effect/ The Chaos Theory. One small change within you can spark great change in the world around you. I think Taylor may have taken a journey into a more enlightened state over the years, and I think by listening to her music, a similar change can be sparked within you.
KP: What a testament to Taylor and her writing! She’s able to start the Butterfly Effect, or the domino effect… it’s amazing she can do that through her art.
Kristina: I think that’s the power of art, literature, and poetry. That’s why I am so excited that you’re on YouTube and spreading the knowledge! I think some of the answers to our problems can be found encoded in art, literature and music.
KP: And sometimes, the answers aren’t there! Some of my students have asked me, “How do you read the same book over and over and over again every single semester, every class, every day. How do you not get tired of it?!” And I would say, “every time I revisit it I think, what would I have done differently?” You’re forced to take on the perspective of someone else, it forces you to confront your own world-view and to think outside of your own bubble. I think that is so important. Taylor does that in a way that is literature. She forces people to think outside of the perspective where they normally sit. To me, that’s why I wanted to start my YouTube channel. I miss talking about literature. I miss analyzing things, having discussions. I got to ask my students “What would YOU do if you were in that situation.” I get to do that with songs/pop-culture. It really is the same thing as literature!
Kristina: Yes! I was talking about this with another author last week. We were talking about really good stories, but the same thing could be said about poems or song lyrics. The best stories change alongside each new person who experiences them. That includes you, as you read them over and over, you are a different person each time you listen to a song or read a story. I think that specifically songs, like poetry, is amazing because they are made up of small bits. Songs and poetry allows your mind to fill in the rest of your story for yourself.
folklore/evermore came out at a time that the world really needed them… when I really needed them. Thanks to Taylor Swift for creating magic in the chaos. Thank you to English Teacher KP for joining me on Instagram LIVE for this analysis/interview.
Lucky is the story of the American Dream: an epic juxtaposition of glitter and tragedy. Two women- one pop-star, one heiress- are connected through the transcendental nature of time and space. Join America’s favorite pop-star, Rhea Harmonia, as she tumbles down an existential rabbit hole… through American history, Western thinking, math, music, philosophy, and time. Is the American Dream anything but a nightmare?
Follow us on Instagram: @kristinaparrowrites and @englishteacherKP