The Great Brain

I think I saw a positive review by someone about a 1967 book called The Great Brain so I picked up the audio version to listen to while driving. I almost gave up on it because it is the story of a Utah family in 1896 and seemed geared to young readers. But I kept listening and became hooked.

 The Great Brain was written by John Dennis Fitzgerald (1906-1988) and is set in the small town of Adenville, Utah, between 1896 and 1898. The narrator is the youngest of 3 boys in a Catholic family in a predominantly Mormon area of Utah. John Dennis Fitzgerald, also called JD, tells the story of his oldest brother Sven and parents but the main focus is the middle brother Tom who has the "Great Brain."

I haven't seen it but The Great Brain was made into a movie in 1978, with the main character played by Jimmy Osmond.

The book gives a look at life in a much simpler time and place along with all that goes with it. Kids play "Kick the Can" and similar games, have lots of chores, share a single school room and teacher among grades and so on.

Tom, The Great Brain, is always scheming to make money. For example, he charges kids a penny each to watch the first indoor toilet installed in the town in their house.

The Great Brain figures out schemes to enrich himself but also manages to greatly help others and the community. He saves some kids trapped in a cave, helps a Jewish travelling salesman and prevents a kid who lost his leg to gangrene from committing suicide.

It's an entertaining book to listen to while driving and I'm sure reading it would be just as fun. Nothing heavy, but interesting. I am looking forward to the 1969 sequel called More Adventures of the Great Brain.

Judy's Hand sculpture by Tony Tasset

Judy’s Hand Sculpture by Tony Tasset is part of Cleveland’s inaugural FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art in the summer of 2018.

This is a 7-ton, 21-foot-high sculpture of a hand on the plaza just the east of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA.)



Chicago artist Tony Tasset created the sculpture from a cast of his wife’s hand for the 2018 FRONT International Cleveland Triennial art exhibition. The piece was co-commissioned by Case Western Reserve and will be a permanent installation.




Take a quick video tour around Judy’s Hand sculpture by clicking on the white arrow.

See more about the Judy's Hand Sculpture in Cleveland

Dirty Old Town from Tallymoore

The Irish band Tallymoore from Milwaukee performed at the 36th annual Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival. This was Dirty Old Town.  #cleirish

More from the Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival

Irish Rebel Song

One Shot Paddy, led by Garry Gormley (formerly of the Dicey Rileys), sang this rebel song about the Decommission at the 36th annual Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival

See more photos and videos from the 36th annual Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival 

175 years of the Cleveland St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Clevelanders have been gathering to celebrate St. Patrick's Day since 1842! The history of Cleveland's beloved St. Patrick's Day Parade is also the story of the Irish in Cleveland. Extensively researched, lavishly illustrated in full color, this handsome 200-page hard cover book pays tribute to one of the city's oldest and most vibrant public celebrations.

Hear about it from Irish American Archives Society (IAAS) Director Margaret Lynch

Uilleann pipes (national bagpipe of Ireland) explained and played

Michael Vignoles both makes and plays the Uilleann pipes, the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. He explained the pipes at the 36th annual Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival and then played a song. #cleirish

  See more photos and videos of the Uilleann Pipes

Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Workshop

A Chinese painting and calligraphy event was held at the Confucius Institute at Cleveland State University on June 2, 2018. Three artists made presentations on different Chinese art forms to a group of college students and staff from Marietta College, Ohio.

See more of the Chinese painting and calligraphy event at the Confucius Institute 

Putting the head on a 200 foot dragon

How do you put the head on a 200' dragon?

Very Carefully.


A highlight of the Asian Lantern Festival at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will be the nearly 200-foot-long and 20-foot-tall Chinese Dragon that sprawls across Waterfowl Lake. #asianlantern

Click on the white arrow in the image below to watch a video of the head being put on the huge dragon.

See more photos of the dragon getting its head at the Asian Lantern exhibit

Asian Lantern Festival preview - Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is transforming into an all-new summer experience beginning Thursday, July 19th during the first-of-its-kind Asian Lantern Festival, presented by Cleveland Clinic Children's. Each Thursday through Sunday for five weeks, hundreds of large-scale, colorful lanterns will illuminate the Zoo and offer an amazing and unique look in an exclusive, after-hours setting.

When you enter the Zoo you will see this beautiful Asian entrance and just inside is a 100-foot-long entrance pathway in the Welcome Plaza.

Asian Lantern Festival #AsianLantern will feature more than 40 displays and hundreds of lanterns across several destinations of the Zoo.

More details and photos and videos of the Asian Lanterns at the Zoo

Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art has done it again. Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors is an amazing world-class exhibit that is nothing like you have ever seen, or experienced, before.

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors celebrates the legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s 65-year career. The exhibition spans the range of Kusama’s work, from her groundbreaking paintings and performances of the 1960s, when she staged polka-dot “Happenings” in the streets of New York, to her widely admired immersive installations and the U.S. debut of her recent series of paintings, My Eternal Soul.
#infinitekusama

Visitors have the unprecedented opportunity to experience seven of Kusama’s captivating Infinity Mirror Rooms, including Where the Lights in My Heart Go (2016), exclusive to Cleveland. Additionally, a stunning array of large and vibrant paintings, sculptures, installations, works on paper and rare archival materials can also be seen.

Yo really need to experience it yourself if you are local but if not, check out photos and videos from my visit to Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors

Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field

The Infinity Mirror Rooms in the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art are amazing. You, and maybe 1 to 3 other people, enter a small room and stand in a small area in the center of the room. Mirrors and lights and sculptures and effects take place as you gaze at infinite copies. It's like a fun house mirror room on steroids. In 20 or 30 seconds the door will open and the next group will be invited in.


One of my favorites was the Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field. In 1965, Kusama integrated mirrors into her art for the first time, using the reflective material to line the interior of Infinity Mirrored Room-Phalli's Field. Through the kaleidoscopic relationship between the mirrors and the materials inside the chamber, complex patterns emerged, appearing to extend infinitely in all directions.  #infinitekusama


Photos and videos of the Phalli's Field Infinity Room 

The Obliteration Room by Yayoi Kusama at Cleveland Museum of Art

One  of my favorites at the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art was was The Obliteration Room.


It's a large room, all in white, with white furniture, toys, appliances and so on. Visitors are given some colorful round stickers and are encouraged to place them on anything in the room. So the pure white room will be "obliterated" with the colorful stickers that visitors place.

As an early visitor, there was still, plenty of white space. As the days and weeks progress, the room will be more and more covered in colorful stickers.

See photos and videos from the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit.

#infinitekusama

AIPNO Medical Yatra 2018

Association of Indian Physicians of Northern Ohio (AIPNO) was founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization of physicians of Indian origin in Northern Ohio. With a membership of over 300 physicians who meet regularly for educational, charitable and social events, the organization provides an opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the local community and to make friendships that last.

AIPNO also provides service and aid to underserved areas and disaster affected sites.

A 'Yatra' is a holy pilgrimage. For years, Dr Jaya Shah and Ramesh Shah have led an AIPNO Medical Yatra to tend to the needs of the poorest in different areas of India. Many of the people that the team of doctors see and treat have never had any contact with a medical professional.

See more facts and photos from the 2018 Medical Yatra.

Two years ago Sandhya lost her leg. Today she took her first steps with her new prosthetic leg, Jaipur foot; “I am happy, I can walk, I can go to work, my family is very happy.” 

Diplomacy Begins Here: Women Who Rock the World Summit

Global Ties U.S. and its members, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, are hosting a series of Diplomacy Begins Here Summits across the United States to bring together local, national, and international leaders from the business, government, and nonprofit world.

The Cleveland Council on World Affairs (CCWA) celebrated women in leadership in Northeast Ohio through the Diplomacy Begins Here: Women Who Rock the World Summit on Thursday, June 28, at the Drury Plaza Downtown. In partnership with Global Ties U.S. and the U.S. Department of State, CCWA welcomed local leaders in civil society, government, and business, along with leaders in international exchange programming throughout the country, to highlight our region's public diplomacy initiatives and specifically how women have played a key role as Citizen Diplomats.

The morning keynote was given by Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Deputy Director of NASA John H. Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Marla Perez-Davis

She highlighted some of NASA's work and discussed women in STEM and presented some interesting statistics.

Next, Dr. Evalyn Gates, former CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, moderated a panel title Women in STEM.  The panelists were Feowyn MacKinnon, Head of School of MC (squared) STEM High School and Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Deputy Director, NASA Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Feowyn MacKinnon and Dr. Evalyn Gates 

See video and photos of the Women in STEM panel