Arts and Entertainment

In May 1814, about 700 British troops came ashore in Oswego and ended up destroying Fort Ontario. It is hard to imagine the terror the residents felt. I love the book “The Great Rope” written by Rosemary Nesbitt. It is just one story about how local residents rose to the occasion and took part in the defense of their country during the War of 1812.

A few years ago, John and I were in St. Charles, Louisiana, where we visited the Imperial Calcasieu Museum. While browsing the displays I overheard someone say, “Claire Chennault! He is known by every school child in China.” It caught my attention. Claire Chennault, the commander of the Flying Tigers, a group of volunteer military men who trained in Burma, now called Myanmar, lived in St. Charles. The Flying Tigers helped defend the Chinese against the Japanese before the U.S. entered the war.

Author Pearl Buck called the Yangtze “The wildest, wickedest river on earth.” All that changed when the river was tamed upon the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in 2012. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the dam’s construction as I am sure there must have been similar concerns when the Hoover Dam was built. Thousands of people were displaced but the new towns created along the river looked very nice and there is no longer the danger of yearly flooding plus China needed the power to continue its rapid industrialization.

Harry Houdini, the world famous magician, claimed Appleton, Wisconsin as his home even though he was born in Budapest. So it is only right that Appleton’s Museum at the Castle, has a major Houdini exhibit. When the museum opened its current Houdini gallery it caused a flurry among magicians when it was revealed that the exhibit would show how Houdini performed his famous metamorphosis illusion.