Friday, Jan 29th:
Newsroompanama.com
YOU ARE HERE: YOUR MAN IN PANAMA COFFEE
AND MORE WITH 14 WOMEN AND NO CULTURE
HUNTING VULTURES
Coffee and more with 14 women and no
culture hunting vultures
Friday, 29 January 2010 13:54
By David Young
One man and fourteen women. A teenage
dream, Arabian nights or a mid-life
challenge?
Laraine Chaplin
None of those alternatives were on my
mind when I made my way to Exedra Books
on Wednesday (Jan 27) to visit a group
hosted by founder and moderator Laraine
Chaplin. But I was apprehensive to the
point of wondering how quickly I could
excuse myself if I found a gaggle of
what Dylan Thomas once called “culture
hunting vultures”, nattering inanities
about the New York Times best sellers
that they found “oh so boring.”
I arrived with Panamanian timing, 20
minutes after the official start time,
and found that the meeting was in full
swing … swing being the operative word,
fast moving, lively and entertaining.
In fact I had already missed three
presentations and it was my loss. Far
from inane chatter I was provided with
an hour of intellectual stimulation as
each participant took the floor to
enunciate “Four authors and what they
mean to me.”
Each presentation reflected a personal
passion and hours of research to provide
substance to the soliloquies.
One
speaker chose four writers whose works
had been banned, another concentrated on
those who had bonded with local
communities, another with those whose
imagination had circled the world.
Women’s issues, women writers, poets,
politicians, historians, philosophers
all got their additional minutes of fame
and tribute.
Plato was the earliest writer to be
included, Salman Rushdie and Gabriel
Marcia Marquez perhaps the most recent.
Others whose works were submitted
included, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George
Bernard Shaw, Boris Pasternak,
Gorbachev, Darwin, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, Winston Churchill, John
Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Victor
Hugo, Homer, Robert Frost and Jostein
Gaarder.
Sadly I had to leave before the end, but
not before the coffee break when I had
the chance to chat with British born
Laraine, who created the Arts and Books
Circle now in its fourth year.
In a country where, for many reasons,
reading is not a high priority, she
awoke one morning with the idea of
forming a book discussion group, but
with a different flavor from those where
everyone reads the same book and arrives
to discuss its pros and cons.
She
had a broader vision, reflected in the
meeting I attended. From an initial
group of six, the circle has grown to
its present size, with room for more who
want to get involved, share their views
without pretensions and enjoy occasional
guest presentations.
For me it was a pleasant and rewarding
step back into the days of group
tutorials, persuading the professor that
you really knew what you were talking
about, and arguing late into the night
with your fellow students …. “I wept as
I remembered how often you and I, had
tired the sun with talking, and sent him
down the sky.” Happy days indeed, but it
was never 14 to one.
The experience is repeated at Exedra on
the last Wednesday of each month at 9.45
a.m. It’s worth attending, but don’t
imitate me. Arrive on time, and don’t
miss the early offerings.
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Books and art with flaire and music
for all seasons
Monday, 07 June 2010 10:32
The Cultural Scene
“If you could study art with one great
painter, past or present, who would it
be and why? “ Now there’s a research
project to stimulate your cultural
genes.
And when you’ve worked that out: “bring
an illustration of their work.”
This is part of the monthly “homework”
for members of the Books and Art Circle,
one of the most stimulating cultural
groups in Panama, chaired by Laraine
Chaplin. The projects are generally
focused on books when each member of the
circle makes her presentation on a
personally selected piece of reading
centering around a subject chosen by the
coordinator. So instead of a dozen views
on the same book, minds are opened to
the possibilities of other approaches to
the same theme.
A welcome change from the usual reading
circle format.
Meetings of the group take place at that
cultural and community nook, Exedra
Books on Via Espana 9:45 a.m. start.
Until now the meetings have been held on
the last Wednesday of each month, and
the art presentation will be on
Wednesday June 30. But starting July 29,
meetings will be held on the last
Thursday of the month.
For further information on how to join
the group contact Larraine at
larainechaplin@hotmail.com . Sorry
guys, ladies only, so you won’t get to
show off that original Monet.
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