How Mykonians Survive a Tourist Summer

Happy Birthday, AZI!!.

Jeff—Saturday 

 

Nah, only joshing about the belly-dancing to get your attention, though the young lady is a friend of mine. 

 

I was intending to rerun a piece on the celebration of Easter tomorrow in Greece—one of my favorite times to be home on Mykonos. But with all the troubles confronting the world today, I thought I’d revisit another topic.  One that might provide a bit of guidance on coping with the many trials we all face at this moment, e.g., Covid, war in Europe, a burgeoning worldwide refugee crisis, climate Armageddon, suicidal politics, inflation, and [add your choices here].

 

So, I’m focusing instead on how Mykonian locals manage to survive their biggest test of all: tourist season. It’s not even May and roads are packed with seasonal homeowners and workers…while Mykonians look on and brace for the onslaught yet to come.  

 

The answer is simple…straight faces. 

Now, I’m not talking about the kind put on by TV talking heads pontificating on subjects of which they know little and care about even less, or politicians whenever their lips are moving, I mean the faces of everyday common folk doing what they must to make their living off of tourism. 

Ken Richards, Artist and Musician

Imagine the stress of dealing face-to-face, 24/7, six months a year, with the many ilk, shapes, and demands of international tourism when virtually 100% of your income is dependent on making people happy.  Add to that mix the occasional thorny visitors who act as if they walked on water to get to the island and insist on being venerated as such even when their fly (or gender equivalent) is down.  Make that especially so on such occasions.  It is enough to drive one mad.  

 

As proof I submit the following two photographs, one of a Mykonian at the beginning of the season, another at the end. 

 

I rest my case.  Sort of, for I have more exhibits to present.  I want to show you the variety of expressions relied upon by Mykonians to make it through nearly twenty-hour days, seven times each week.  

 

Some are pretty good at hiding their thoughts.

 

Others are not.

 

Some see life through rosé-colored glasses.

 

Others chose to view it from another planet. 

 

Some grin at it all.

 

Others do just the opposite.

 

There are those who tune out and those who tune in, both to the same end.

 

There are the sophisticated who seem to remain above it all.  And those who lose it to laughter.

 

There are some who can legitimately claim not to understand.

 

And others in blinders making them oblivious to what’s going on about them.

 

But of all the faces, the ones I enjoy the most are found on those who cope the best and remain above it all. 

 

Yes, the young children of the island, for in their innocence they have no need for guile.  Or work.   

 

Ahhhhhh, to memories of days long gone.  

 

—Jeff

 

Saturday, May 14, 11:00 a.m. ET

Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books

Duolingo

5900 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA

In person event, register here

 

The Other Highland Fling

Here are a couple of videos of the Highland Fling. I think all these people have issues with  some chemical interventions - Why would you do this?

The Wiggles Nursery Rhymes - The Highland Fling - YouTube

The Highland Fling Scottish traditional dance performed at Kenmore Highland Games July 2019 - Bing video

The Highland Fling is easy to learn and very difficult to do properly, especially the bit where the two hands go over the head.

All Highland Dancers have  leg muscles like tree trunks and suffer from achilles tendon issures for the rest of their lives.

I think the dance has origins in the mating rituals of the Red Deer,

The mind boggles.

Anyway, here's a different type of Highland Fling.

I've stolen the best bits from the Race Book. I did not make any of this up apart from the bits I admit to.

Highland Fling Ultramarathon

Saturday 23rd April 2022

Start time: 06:00am

Evidence of a negative test will be needed.

Saturday The bus leaves the Green welly at 3.45 am ( CR; Whit?)

Do what the marshals tell you.  Always. No arguing!

Race numbers must be worn on your front, and must be visible to marshals at all times. ( CR; please remove the blood and cow pooh!)

Fitted wrist bands must not be removed until after the race ( CR or accidently hand them to a better runner for a better time on the chip)

All runners must carry a foil blanket,waterproof jacket/smock, charged/switched on mobile phone ( CR please collapse in an area of mobile reception. Which could be only 3 miles of the 56 mile race. Yes 56 miles, Mostly uphill.)

Limited earphone use allowed: please see explanation of earphone rules on  lower page. (CR ; the wearing of earphones means you might not be able to hear the fact that you have ceased to breathe at all) 

The casual race-day use of ibuprofen etc is forbidden, you need a prescription. (CR What about a fine malt or some Irn Bru?)

Covid rates in Scotland remain high, with hospital numbers recently reaching a new peak. Neg lat flow needed at registration.

Masks must be worn  ( CR 56 miles uphill at  before 7 AM and they want you to wear a mask!!!) when at checkpoints, and while standing or moving around inside any of the  finishline marquees. ( CR mobile Hospital areas)

3:45am: Coach leaves from the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum. ( CR This is the coach heading south to the start in north Glasgow. I presume they leave cars in Tyndrum,  go south, run the race and end up back in Tyndrum. The Tyndrum Inn is staying open until 1:00am. Good lads that they are!)

Packup kerfuffle. ( CR This occurs at some point. I have no idea what it is but feel compelled to get involved)           

Use your common sense. ( CR It's a 56 mile race - What common sense?)

It’s Scotland, and it’s April. 

Bad or changeable weather,we  would strongly recommend you carry full waterproofs and extra   clothing.

              However, in the event of a life-threatening emergency out on the trail please call police then mountain rescue and race control.

                     The race will take 13-14 hours. (CR it would take me a fortnight)

The Earphone Rules- Earphones may be used, but MUST be taken out of ears completely at certain points along the race route:

- when you’re approaching a road crossing         

- when you’re approaching a checkpoint

- if you see a marshal in hi-viz anywhere along the race route      

- on any section of trail narrow enough that you’re running single file        

Marshals DO NOT have  the power to stop traffic and you are at all times responsible for  your own           safety. 

Runners must not accept any external assistance during the event, i.e. your friends/family are not   

allowed to feed and water you or give you fresh clothing/shoes at any point in the event.  ( CR I'm not sure people in this race will have any friends....)

Apart from the medal, race t-shirt  and goody bag,the following treats are available  all runners:

Homemade soup and rolls- courtesy of The Real Food Café (there will be vegan/gluten free           options). ( CR the readers of this blog are well aquainted with the cakes from the Real Food Cafe!)

Ice cream- courtesy of Mackies  and The Real Food Café

Unlimited tea and freshly brewed coffee for all runners. There might even be beer too!

Post-race massage – please showerfirst!

Heated marquees to relax in

(CR Another marquee for the DeFib)

              Tea and coffee will be  served  until about 9:30pm, and the marquee will remain

open until about 11pm.

This Highland Fling started, almost accidentally in 2006 when original organiser Murdo McDonald put on a low key training run for local runner Ellen McVey’s West Highland Way race.

              That first year fewer than 20 runners took part.Now 1000 is the norm.             

              Beware of Cow Poo Alley, where runners could sink kneedeep at any time.Please  note  that the alley now been upgraded, and is clean andtidy and boring. With No cows.

On your marks.....

CR- Here's a bit of their scenery as they suffer...

There's a Highland Pony in this picture. It's an expert. It's outstanding in its own field.

The finish line!

Caro Ramsay 

April

 Sunday 24th - Loch Leven Community Library

                         Writing Workshop

                          From Blank Page to Publisher

 

Wednesday 27th - The Tartan Book Club

 May

 Early May - Interview for Aye Write with Alan Parks and Liam McIlvanney

 Saturday 14th - Crimefest Bristol

                         10:10 -  LAW AND DISORDER: CROSSING LINES

 Sunday 15th - Crimefest Bristol

                        09:30 - LONG-TIME FRIENDS: WRITING A LONG-STANDING SERIES

 Sunday 22nd - Aye Write Glasgow

                         Caroline Shrager and SJ Bennet

 

September 

Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th

Bouchercon Festival - Minneapolis

 

Awe and befuddlement

 Stanley - Thursday

Twice in the last couple of weeks, I've had experiences that have left me in awe and befuddlement. Let me tell you about them. I wonder if you'll feel the same.

The first case:

I was at a small dinner party a while back, chatting to a man I didn't know. The conversation meandered over several topics, as is usually the case. At one point, he mentioned that his son had his own retail business. Interesting, I thought. It's a business that I wouldn't choose because I would definitely lose money.

'What sort of business is it?' I asked.

'Sneakers,' was the reply.

My immediate reaction was that must be a difficult business to be in because of established competition. In South Africa, we call sneakers takkies if English-speaking, and tekkies if Afrikaans-speaking. There is a a very successful chain of shops in South Africa called Tekkie Town, as well as other established footwear establishments. 

I asked how his son was doing. 'Very well' came the reply.

To cut a long dinner short, it turned out that his son, Michael, was in the retail sneaker business, but not traditionally. He dealt with collectible sneakers.

'Collectible sneakers?????' 

Yes, collectible sneakers.

Apparently, there is a thriving market out there. There are people, usually young people, who want to own specific, iconic, limited edition sneakers. Not the Kanye West-worn (at the Grammy's) Nike Air Yeezy Grammy Prototype sneakers that auctioned for $1.8 million, but rather lower-end ones that catch the popular eye.

Nike Air Yeezy Grammy Prototype sneakers

And Michael Jordan's Nike Air Ships sold for $1.47 million. I love the touch of handling them with gloves!

Michael Jordan sneakers

I had to know more, so I set out to interview Michael and bumped into him at his dad's coffee shop in downtown Cape Town. If I had not been prepared, I would probably fallen over in shock. When Michael's dad was originally telling me about the sneaker business, I had in my mind's eye an image of a twenty something man. In reality, Michael is fifteen. And he started his business when he was twelve.

Sneaker entrepreneur Michael Miccoli

How did you get into selling sneakers?' I asked.

What happened when he was twelve was that he noticed that an established shoe shop had an offer on some sneakers that were in high demand among sneakerheads. The offer that caught his attention wasn't the price but rather that they could be returned within 30 days. He bought a pair and put them on consignment with someone who was already in the sneaker business. On day twenty nine, someone bought them, giving Michael a tidy profit having risked nothing.

Michael's sneakers du jour!

From my discussion with him, it seems that sneaker companies constrain established retailers from hiking prices on sneakers in demand. Instead, retailers often let it be known to sneaker aficionados that they have a certain number of pairs of a particular sought-after sneaker, which they will make available at a certain time and place. Often a hundred or more people will show up for the chance of getting a pair. Each person gets a number, and the numbers are drawn at the appointed time. Many of those who are lucky, immediately try to resell them at prices more in line with the demand. Those that aren't, look for the next chance to acquire a pair.

If you're not sure what to start collecting, here's a website that will help you decide.

From that exciting start, Michael now has his own company, LocalKickz, whose main business is sneakers and branded clothing.

LocalKickz-branded hoodie

But he has also now branched out into ------- wait for it ------- ice cream. 

'Ice cream?' I asked incredulously. 

He acknowledged that he was a little concerned that he was getting a little scattered and may have to focus more.

You can check out his website here.

This whole experience got me to thinking about business and collectibles. I think the internet has opened up a whole new set of opportunities for young entrepreneurs like Michael that I didn't have when I was twelve. I love it that kids are taking advantage of it. And I'm in awe of them. 

As for collectibles, even though I am puzzled why people want to collect sneakers, I realise that to the kids of today, collecting bits of paper that were stuck on envelopes a hundred years ago is equally befuddling.

So I take my hat off to Michael for his enterprise and success. He has my greatest admiration.

Case 2:

I am the proud 'Gramps' to my nephews' four kids. One of them, ten-year-old Maya, is very artistic. Very creative. And very curious about the world. Like Michael, she's also enterprising and recently made a tidy profit selling cookies she had made at a market where her father had a stall - no doubt working the crowd adroitly.

Maya

However, what had me in awe were two things she has done recently. A week or so ago, her mother WhatsApped me a video Maya had made, not of her toys or of one of her paintings . No, it was an animated movie which she had written and illustrated herself and made in Stop Motion Studio.

If that wasn't enough, Maya now makes cooking videos in which she teaches her little friends how to make various cakes and cookies. When I suggested that she should put them up on Youtube, she said she wasn't quite ready for that. But maybe in the near future....

She also hosts an online weekend art group, teaching her friends how to do various artistic things. Having it online is a necessity because she lives out in the gamadoelas far from her friends.

In retrospect, when the family was visiting last weekend, I should have asked Maya to help me with Pinterest, which I am struggling with at the moment. I'm sure she would have learnt how it worked and then taught me to use it properly, probably in a few minutes or less.

So, I am totally in awe of the teenagers and pre-teenagers who are harnessing the world of the internet to be enormously creative. I love it.

And I'm befuddled how easily they absorb what often seem to me to be impenetrable software packages. I can't wait to see what they do with and to the digital world. I love them for their ability to jump into new ventures with enthusiasm and a total lack of fear.

But deep down, there is a gnawing realisation that I'm being left behind, that I don't understand what's going on now or where'll end up in the future. I guess I'll just have to trust the kids of today to hold my hand when I get confused.

___________________________________

Upcoming events:

Crimefest in Bristol:

THURSDAY, 12 MAY, 15.50 – 16.40
A CHANGE IS AS GOOD AS A REST: WRITING MORE THAN ONE SERIES
* M.J. Lee
* Douglas Lindsay
* Michael Stanley
* T E Kinsey 
Participating Moderator: Michael Ridpath

 

FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 12:30 - 13:20
DIVIDED SOCIETY: HATE CRIMES AND SOCIAL FACTORS
* Kia Abdullah
* Antony Dunford
* Sarah Sultoon
* Holly Watt

Participating Moderator: Michael Stanley

FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 16:00 – 16:50
ITW: THRILLING FOR A LIVING
* Alison Bruce 
* Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
* Alex Shaw
* Michael Stanley

Participating Moderator: Zoë Sharp (authorzoesharp@gmail.com) 

The Book Challengers

Sujata Massey

I was messing with my books today and turned them so that the spines were hidden. No titles, no idea of content. They seem like a visual representation of how powerless books are if we don't see what they're about. 

 

Blank books remind me of silenced voices. The volumes make me think of the growing movement inside the United States to ban books from schools and public libraries. In 2021, almost 2000 titles were challenged by citizens, according to this recent New York Times article. Much of the banning action is in states like Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. 

 

The book challenges bring back memories of my own relationship with libraries. Back in my 1970s and ‘80s childhood, we were regulars at the public library. My mother usually drove me and my two sisters to the Ramsey County public library once a week, sometimes twice during summer vacation. I walked to the beautiful little Carnegie Library in neighboring St. Anthony Park myself, and of course, I always got books from the school library when my class had visiting time. My father always gave us books specially chosen for our particular interests at Christmas and birthdays. He still does; and I do the same for him.

 

I recall vanishing into the faraway, much more charming worlds of these library books. I adored a series about a Jewish family in turn-of-the century Brooklyn (All of a Kind Family). I marveled at the hardships of pioneer children in the Midwest (the Little House books), and the fantasy landscapes in The Dark is Rising Sequence. My sisters and I also read close to one hundred Amar Chitra Katha children’s comic books that my father got for us in India. This Indian publishing house, founded in 1967, specialized in the pictorial depiction of religious stories, epics, folktales and South Asian history. The comics felt special because they told me something about the country of my heritage, when the libraries had no books about it except for those by British Colonials. As my sisters and I matured, we were attracted to reading darker themes, especially books set during World War II that detailed the Holocaust. With the other half of my personal identity rooted in Germany, I felt a dissonance between my own experiences in the country and the history emerging for me in literature. 

 

I recall a handful of children’s books with Black characters. However, when I recently researched the books’ authors, I discovered they were all White. In my late teens, the first African-American author I read was Maya Angelou, followed by Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. As a teenager, I finally got a peek behind the curtain shielding the mysterious and alluring world of sex. My favorites were Rosemary Rodgers' Sweet Savage Love, and an erotic essay collection by Nancy Friday, and the ultimate mind-blower, Rita Mae Brown’s tour-de-force novel about lesbianism, Rubyfruit Jungle. Not that these particular titles were carried in any of my libraries: I remember buying My Secret Garden using my weekly allowance, and getting a battered second-hand copy of Rubyfruit Jungle handed to me by one of my sisters. 

Prior to 1999, most books removed from school libraries were done so due to profanity and sexual or political content. Think George Orwell’s 1984 and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

The next area where books were attacked was in a perceived threat against Christianity. I remember back in the early 2000s, some conservative parents had success banning J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books using the argument it encouraged witchcraft. 

 

One of the strangest recent bans is against mathematics textbooks in Florida. Its Governor, Ron DeSantis, has not named the titles of the books involved, nor the instances, but the state dept of education has rejected 70 percent of math materials for K-5 students, 20 percent of math material for Grade 6-8, and 35 percent of the math materials for grades 9-12. With the hiding of book titles and any excerpts deemed offensive, it seems absolutely crazy that this recall could succeed. He's also requiring all schools to provide a searchable list of all books in their libraries for parents, and to continue updating parents with details of every book that the school acquires.

 

After looking at the lists of the most banned books in the United States, I’ve come away with the impression that the challenged books are mostly be by LGBTQ authors and writers of color. 

 

Here is a tiny sampling of some of the most often-contested books that some people are trying to keep out of libraries.

 

Nonfiction

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The End of Policing by Alex Vitale

 

Fiction 

The Autobiography of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

.

Are you wondering exactly who the people are who are fearful of books about social issues?

 

Often, they’re parents who complain to a teacher or principal. Or library volunteers quietly snapping pictures of books that they are shelving. They could be church or political party members taking their issue with a book to a lawmaker who wants their support.

In Virginia, just south of my home state of Maryland, Glenn Youngkin ran for governor promising to prohibit teaching of course material that addresses the history of racism (in his words, critical race theory). He won the election.

 

Texas State Representative Matt Krause is running for re-election in a tightly contested primary. He created a list of 850 children’s and young adult titles he believes could make youth feel uneasy or uncomfortable or guilty. He sent it to the state’s school boards and asked them to let him know whether they had any of these books in the school libraries.

 

Censorship activism has been nicknamed by some as the Ed Scare as a reference to the 1950’s “Red Scare.” Seventy years ago, people were so afraid of losing their jobs that they signed oaths professing no connection to the Communist Party. Today, librarians might keep a book behind a counter, or teachers would think carefully about what they can share during read-aloud time. Some of the proposed bills could criminalize the teaching of a book that someone judges to be obscene.

 

Last week, I received an email from one of my past publishers. Jonathan Karp, the CEO of Simon and Schuster, wrote to its authors about the publisher’s intention to stand firm and keep publishing books without fear of censorship. It also included resources for readers and writers to fight book challenges.  

 

The New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library are allowing people across the country who aren’t NYPL cardholders to borrow banned books as digital downloads. It’s a generous move made to support access, but it also reveals the tragedy of how different library culture is from state-to-state. After all, the people in Texas and Florida pay taxes to support these libraries, so they can have access to what they want to read. 

 

A Flower is a Lovesome Thing

 Annamaria  on Monday

My title today comes from a song by the incomparable Billy Strayhorn.

I am writing on a beautiful Easter Sunday morning, and despite the news reports, I cannot bring myself – with sunlight streaming into the room - to think about, much less write about dark things.  There will be time for that another day.  This lovely day is for beautiful thoughts.

I love the springtime and flowers especially - joys not even allergy attacks can dispel.  Time was that I had an outdoor garden that I loved. I delighted in Saturdays dressed in rags, getting all dirty, digging, planting, and weeding.  The result looked like this:

The time for such delights passed, and for ten years now, I have been only an indoor gardener.  It's rewards also come in the springtime:

The beautiful city that surrounds me also bursts back to life with the spring:

This year, though, my favorite magnolias (also called tulip trees) budded in a March warm spell.  When the temperatures then sank into the low twenties (minus 5C), the promised pink blossoms died:

I feared we would never again see the glories of how they used to look in full bloom:

Mother Nature has, in the past week, now bestowed hope.  Lovely green leaves have emerged from the wreckage wrought by climate change:

And hope springs that next year we will have our beauteous sights again.

Listen to Billy Strayhorn's haunting pean to Nature's wondrous gifts.  And hope along with me.