Thursday, September 15, 2011Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008 in Mattie's hospital room. Mattie had a special visitor that day, his head of the lower school, Bob Weiman (aka The Magic Man). Bob visited Mattie quite often during his battle and worked closely on teaching Mattie several wonderful magic tricks. Bob learned the art of magic from his father and is a skilled magician in addition to being an educator. In 2008, Bob gave Mattie his own special magic trick bag with his name on it (a bag we still have). With each visit, Mattie's bag grew in size because of the number of tricks Bob added to it. Mattie loved learning magic, and he enjoyed his time with Bob. As Mattie became ill from his treatments, Mattie would retreat and many times wanted to see or hear from no one. In those moments, we very often pulled out his magic bag and this inspired him to perform a trick which would get all sorts of attention from his nurses and therapists. Positive feedback is very much needed for any child battling cancer. Magic made Mattie forget about his pains and problems temporarily and it gave him a certain level of self confidence and pride. In this picture Mattie was learning a complex trick from Bob. This trick involved the appearance of a fake engagement ring. Though I do not remember the exact nature of the trick, I assure you the trick was impossible to perform and required a certain level of manual dexterity! What I do remember was Mattie understood the trick as soon as it was taught to him and was able to perform it with ease. Bob was impressed with Mattie that day, and even last week when I saw Bob, we chatted about this very day in 2008 when Mattie performed the amazing engagement ring trick.
Childhood Cancer Fact of the Day: Childhood cancers are more aggressive and behave differently than cancers in adults (Cancer.Net; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital).
I began my day trying to get a hold of my doctor. Being three hours behind her was a challenge, but I was motivated. When she called me on Tuesday, she wanted to prescribe me antibiotics. I said no at the time, but today, I knew she was right and followed up with getting a prescription. Thankfully we live in the world of cell phones and the Internet, in which the transfer of prescriptions is super easy no matter where in the US you are.
I went out to lunch with my parents and during lunch, my dad began talking about his years of work experience, some of the challenges he was faced with at work, and how he handled them over the years. For the most part, as a child and young adult I wasn't tuned in at all with his work demands. I knew what he did and had a feeling for the big picture but not the day to day pressures and the complexities of the people he worked with. I found his stories today just fascinating and also enjoyed hearing the creative ways he worked through many of the issues that arose in his company. We can learn a lot about those we love through the stories they tell. The stories can tell us about their personalities, insights, priorities, and really the code of ethics that regulate one's life. I enjoyed hearing about my dad's personal recollection of his time working and admire his generosity with his skills now to help non-profits grow and be viable.
Sometimes when you look at children, you can see immediately that they remind you of the child's parents or parent. In my case, I am a blend of both of my parents, not unlike Mattie. Though Mattie looked and acted like me, under the surface he was like Peter. As an adult, with all the insights I have from surviving Mattie battle and death, I view the world and those in it with a different lens. I am happy to have this time with my parents and connect with them without being distracted.
We went this afternoon to the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum. I recall taking Mattie to this museum in the summer of 2007, when he saw their amazing Noah's Arc exhibit. I saw very eager children today heading to that exhibit and also playing near the misting fountain outside. Mattie loved that fountain and it is hard to believe all these things still exist and yet Mattie is not with us.
It seems rather coincidental that I would post a picture of Mattie performing magic on the blog (mind you I created the framework for each blog during the two weeks I am in LA while I was home in DC) and at the same time see an exhibit today entitled, Masters of Illusion. The exhibit spotlighted innovators during magic's "Golden Age" (1875–1948) whose stories have largely been forgotten. Masters of Illusion: Jewish Magicians of the Golden Age is the first museum exhibition to investigate the significant contributions of Jewish magicians to entertainment history and to American and European culture at large.
Through more than 150 treasured artifacts, the exhibition highlights the accomplishments as Alexander Herrmann (1844–1896), Harry Houdini (1874–1926), Albert "The Great Rameses" Marchinski (1876–1930), The Great Leon (1876–1951), Carl Ballantine (1917–2009), and many more leading Jewish magicians of the day.
On view are stunning lithographs, playbills, costumes, stage props, automata, and film and radio clips, many of them from the stunning collections of renowned magicians, magic historians, and descendants of magicians featured in the exhibition. Visitors are invited to marvel at David "Papa" Bamberg's eerie Mephistopheles automaton, a 1901 will signed by Harry Houdini (1874–1926), a billboard-sized Horace Goldin "Tiger God" poster, Alexander Herrmann's own magic wand, and much more.
The museum did not allow me to take photographs of what I was seeing, but I found the exhibit just fascinating. I learned that in the 1500's magic was considered evil and punishable by law, and how magic evolved over time to be a form of entertainment and skill. The way magic shows were advertised on stunning lithographs also captured my attention, and I can only imagine how they were received generations ago. I particularly loved one of the quotes in today's exhibit which read.... The more you watch the less you see. The more you see the less you watch! In a nutshell, the three core skills of any good magician are manual dexterity, audience manipulation, and misdirection. The exhibit was worth seeing and if you want more information about it, visit:
http://www.skirball.org/component/option,com_pressroom/id,277/scope,archive/task,detail/
After the exhibit was over, my mom took a photo of my dad and I in the gardens of the museum. A garden which was inhabited by butterflies!
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