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SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

From dancers and authors to actors and musicians, members of San Diego’s creative community reflect on the importance of the arts

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Colorado camps mix adventure and luxury E9

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THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

Peter G. Kalivas, the founder and artistic director of the contemporary troupe The PGK Dance Project, is a vocal advocate of the arts in San Diego.

The power of art

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hy do the arts matter?

The arts provide three intrinsic purposes: to entertain, to reflect, to change.

Early on, man used the arts to both record and remind itself of its own actions through paintings and dramatic presentations. In one moment, audiences admire the controlled capacity of a dancer or a singer and next reflect on the story each tells.

Storytelling is in every culture, shaping and reshaping our way of life.

The arts save lives. It saved mine from succumbing to a traditional career. Instead I entered a vocation that — although often less profitable monetarily — makes me both happy and whole, performing for and inspiring others.

There are many countless examples where art has saved lives.

“Storytelling is in every culture, shaping and reshaping our way of life.”

Peter G. Kalivas

There’s Michaela DePrince, an orphaned girl adopted from war-ravaged Sierra Leone who is now a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet. “It’s not a fairy tale, you know. You have to work hard,” DePrince once said.

“There is a lot of loss, a lot of pain. But you know performing? I love it.”

There are kids at the local YMCA in a lowincome neighborhood who, through dance, found a calling — one that took them to professional careers in the arts.

It’s not the prestige of being a professional artist that makes these stories matter but the idea that the arts provide hope and opportunity.

The arts have always been a platform for change. Alvin Ailey, born in 1931, was one of the earliest social justice activists through dance in America. Although he is remembered mostly for carving a space for AfricanAmerican culture, at the heart of his mission was creating a position for all under-represented people in ways that didn’t put one above the other. He related that all people, regardless of their differences, experience joy, happiness and hate in the same ways.

The arts challenge our assumptions and expand our understanding of what’s possible. At 5-foot-4, I have often been considered short for a dancer for reasons that never made sense to me. Yet in the 1980s, during my early training, Mr. Ailey was the first person who accepted me because of what I could do, instead of criticizing me for my stature. It was a clear illustration that he was all about dismantling assumptions. He gave me a scholarship to his school, and now 30 years later — after touring the world several times performing, choreographing and teaching — I represent and protect opportunity for all through the arts.

The arts remind us of what we each have to offer, and it reminds us, too, of what we all have in common. Through the arts, we gain an understanding of our history and create our future in ways that both propel and bring us together.

That’s why the arts matter.

ONLINE

For more of what Peter G. Kalivas has to say about why the arts matter, go to sandiegouniontribune.com/kalivas

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How to reach us UNION-TRIBUNE ARTS + CULTURE PHONE: (619) 299-3131 FAX: (619) 260-5083 EMAIL: arts@sduniontribune.com ADDRESS: Arts, Union-Tribune, P.O.Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191

Michael Rocha, Arts & Entertainment editor EMAIL: michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com • (619) 293-1724

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Curtis Taylor Trumpeter Curtis Taylor, 32, teaches jazz history and jazz ensemble courses at Cal State San Marcos. His next album, “#hastagged,” is due for imminent release. He is featured on singer Gregory Porter’s “Liquid Spirit,” which in 2014 won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. paying it forward, how to usic is the soundcarry yourself, etc. I cringe track of life. I have to think of what my life yet to meet a perwould look like, or what son that doesn’t like some path I would have gone type of music. down, had I not had such Music is literally conmentorship at this crucial nected to every aspect of time in my development. my life. Music is my living, Even if one doesn’t plan my passion and my platto take my path and beform. It directly connects come a professional musime to the creative force in cian, there are so many the universe. benefits to studying music.

Music has taught me Studying music has been discipline and consistency. shown to improve critical It has given me access to thinking, memory, math things, places and people skills and problem-solving that I wouldn’t otherwise abilities, relieve stress, and have access to as an Afriso much more. can-American man from a Finally, I want to working-class, singleleave you with one word: parent household. exposure. Today I am an At the early age of 11, I award-wining recording lost my father. As one artist, educator and percould imagine, this was a former, and none of this tough time. Whether I was would be possible if I aware of it or not, music hadn’t been exposed to provided a much-needed music at a young age. outlet for me. Music also Exposure is literally everyprovided surrogate fathers thing. This is why music through lessons, workand the arts at large are so shops, and mentorship, vital to the community and because the instruction I need our continued supreceived was mostly from port. men.

What type of world I would not only learn would this be without music-related things from music? Let’s not find out. these male figures, but Support music and the also life lessons: having arts! good character, discipline, AS TOLD TO GEORGE VARGA

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Veronica May

Singer-songwriter Veronica May launched her music career in 2002, has been a music therapist since 2006, and was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder in 2008. She writes about her condition twice a month on her blog, veronicamay.com/bipolar-biweekly. Her next concert is at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Branch Library.

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usic matters. It isn’t just something to listen to, to dance to, and sing to. It is something that creates an emotion, sparks a memory, and causes a movement.

Music ignites our creative mind. It is a bold streak of red in the fog. For many, it can change a moment from being alive to feeling alive.

I have been a musician professionally for 15 years and

was a board-certified music therapist for 11 of those years.

Fun fact: Music is the only thing that activates the entire brain when it is being experienced. The combination of rhythm and melody is powerful. It’s the reason we can memorize lyrics to hundreds of songs but can’t remember the periodic table after we take the test in high school.

The power of music is clear to me. When John

Lennon wanted peace, he sang about it. Millions memorized what he said. And, after all these years, people are still memorizing what he — and many others — said through song. Word for word. We learn songs, and some of us take action because of songs.

When I step up to the microphone, it feels like I’m stepping up to a podium. I feel as a musician it is my right and honor to create content that matters. To

write about what it’s like living with mental illness, write about what it’s like to fall and get up, and to write about the fact that our country is at war with itself.

It is my job to light the world on fire, because the only way to really see change is to be change. And the only way I know how to make a change is by singing about it.

What if we all sang along?

Imagine the possibilities.

AS TOLD TO GEORGE VARGA

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Maria Araujo Maria Araujo has been vice president of education and community engagement with the San Diego Symphony since early October. Originally from Venezuela, Araujo most recently was a teacher at the Miami Music Project. Her responsibilities at the symphony include planning and implementation of educational programs as well as developing alliances between the symphony and community organizations.

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he arts matter because they provide gateways to the totality of the human experience. In their complexity and specificity, they are often disruptive and insightful; they shake us from the dull embrace of ordinary life, comfort and habit. They are metaphors that transcend limits and reveal glimpses of who and what we are. They connect us to aspects in and of ourselves, others and the world, often bringing us closer to our nature and ushering in the joy of revelation, shared meaning, individual perspectives or universal matters.

They support our abilities to perceive, resonate and understand. They assist us in becoming present to the magnificence of life, from which otherwise we may remain absent.

Arts are our birthright, as all humans are born with artistic qualities and potential.

Tragically, the arts remain peripheral, and even irrelevant, in many people’s lives.

Artmaking requires focused diligence and skills and the

coordinated functions of mind/ intellect, body/senses and emotional/heart centers. Yet, as a developmental endeavor, its significance is not fully understood by our systems of education where the arts ought to be central. Participating early in life in art creation allows the emergence of a full human being. Encounters with art expression may be inspiring, intriguing or dazzling; nurturing, delighting or confusing; yet, always transformative. They will rarely leave us unmoved or unchanged.

Neurologically, we are just beginning to understand some of the impact of the arts. In the case of music education, I have seen how the right programs — based on rigorous yet engaging and serious play — fuel revitalization and scholastic achievement in school districts, while developing brilliant leaders and conscientious citizens, ultimately transforming societies and impacting the world.

So, yes, definitely, yes! The arts matter!

AS TOLD TO BETH WOOD

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Ruben Valenzuela

GARY PAYNE

Bach Collegium San Diego’s music director, Ruben Valenzuela, is conductor, keyboardist and musicologist for the organization, which he founded in 2003. Dedicated to presenting Renaissance, Baroque and early classical music, the collegium is the ensemble-in-residence at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Point Loma and attracts accomplished performers from all over the globe as its guests.

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n today’s divisive climate, the arts are as important as ever for innumerable reasons. The arts have the potential to reach across barriers of language, class, culture, and act as a common denominator to bring communities together. The arts provide an arena for civil discourse where seemingly disparate ideologies can be brought together in collaboration. The arts spawn creativity and integrate diverse ways of problem-solving — important components of human endeavor. The arts provide us with a way to understand the world, and to viscerally interact with the complex-

ities of our own humanity.

And let us not forget music’s historic role in human understanding. In medieval times, Western civilization viewed music as the science of sound, and taught it along with geometry, arithmetic and astronomy! Today, we live in a climate where too often the arts are relegated to an “extra” endeavor, only studied if there is sufficient time left after the “important” subjects have been addressed. Or, the arts are reserved only for those with resources.

Last, and certainly not least, the arts provide us with beauty. We all need beauty for our own existence, whether

we admit it or not. The beauty we experience through the arts asks vital questions of ourselves, and elicits powerful emotions that soothe us, enrage us, make us laugh, make us cry, and can even cause a revolution. Art, at its best, demonstrates our incredible potential and capability.

I personally need only look to the artistic contribution that is Bach’s B minor Mass for balance, proportion, symmetry and musical rhetoric, to name but a few key attributes.

Yes, the arts matter!

AS TOLD TO BETH WOOD

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Ethan van Thillo

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Ethan van Thillo is the executive director and founder of Media Arts Center San Diego, the San Diego Latino Film Festival and Digital Gym Cinema.

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Maria Mingalone A

Maria Mingalone has been executive director of the Oceanside Museum of Art since August 2016, and since then she’s been working to make sure the museum makes an impact on San Diego County’s cultural landscape.

rt matters because it allows us to experience what it is like to be someone else, to be transported to other places, real or imagined. Art offers new ways of understanding and challenges us with varied perspectives. Art can make us feel joy, passion, lust, disgust or pain. Art often confronts. It can poke, provoke and illuminate social issues. It makes us think. What was that artist saying, and what does it mean to

me? What do I like, and why?

Art is lasting. It can be around for a long time, and as a result we can imagine what human experience was hundreds, even thousands of years ago. We can experience a landscape from another century on another continent made by someone from a culture very different from our own. Art matters because we learn more about who we are and we imagine what it might be like to look at life through another’s eyes.

Art builds empathy and awareness.

Art connects. It brings us into contact with one another, connecting us across cultures, across time, and across distance. We can gaze into the eyes of a woman whose portrait was painted hundreds of years ago and feel her serenity, or see a photograph of someone whose life we may never have connected with save for that image, which transports us across continents to gaze into the eyes

of another holding their child in a war-torn landscape and feel their pain.

Art unlocks creativity. Art invites us to take risks, or try something new or unknown. Art fosters innovation. Art inspires.

Art brings beauty and thoughtfulness to our lives.

Art invokes wonder. Wonder compels us to explore, create, experiment, and imagine “what if.”

AS TOLD TO MICHAEL JAMES ROCHA

o the arts matter? It’s a simple question with a complex answer.

Living in a fast-paced visual world, it’s essential to understand and analyze the mass media constantly impacting our lives. Making art is a creative response to express the world around us and to actively participate in democracy by telling stories that can create positive social change.

Art is in everything we do, and as art mediums transform, lives, too, can be transformed. Youth become empowered when they’re provided with tools to tell their stories in visual form. They gain positive self and community images when they see themselves on the big screen.

Through their chosen medium, youth may communicate in their own language for the first time, or talk publicly about issues important to them. One of our teen producers, Oscar, recently shared: “Kids and teens have great experiences making movies. They’re not out on the street doing anything bad, or just sitting watching TV. They’re getting something out of it, with real-life skills.”

Likewise, community members of all ages may creatively express themselves with tools and opportunities to experience art firsthand. Without art-house venues like our Digital Gym Cinema, diverse voices and stories from around the globe would be lost, and only mainstream Hollywood would show its version of the world.

Our 25th anniversary San Diego Latino Film Festival also embodies what the arts give a community — a space for emerging and established filmmakers to gather and showcase cinema representing who they are, the stories important to them, and their unique voices.

In all this, though, passive art observers aren’t enough. We need active participants, and Media Arts Center San Diego’s community-based media work — like Speak City Heights and Digital Story Stations in public spaces — provide people the time, tools and training to express themselves and reflect upon their world.

Do the arts matter?

It may be a simple answer after all: Yes. AS TOLD TO MICHAEL JAMES ROCHA

T H E A T E R

Sarah Alida LeClair Sam Woodhouse

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Sarah Alida LeClair is a San Diego actor-musician and performing-arts educator who teaches at Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley. Her recent stage credits include “The Last Five Years” at Ion Theatre and “A Piece of My Heart” at OnStage Playhouse. In January, she’ll take on the role of Morticia Addams in Coronado Playhouse’s “The Addams Family.”

Sam Woodhouse is the artistic director of San Diego Repertory Theatre, which he co-founded in 1976 and helped turn into one of the leading regional theaters in the nation. He has worked on hundreds of productions as director, producer and actor. In 2006, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle honored Woodhouse and fellow Rep founder D.W. Jacobs with a Craig Noel Award for artistic dedication to downtown and diversity.

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fter the performance of a political comedy about San Diego and Tijuana at San Diego Rep, while hosting a conversation with the audience about the play they had just experienced, I heard a woman crying in the back row of the theater.

I asked her why she was crying. She sobbed, “I never knew the place I lived was so interesting!”

Many people, often unconsciously, find solace in art that reconfirms preconceptions. I treasure art that challenges conventional wisdom and preconceptions and leads me to discover “the other.”

Like the woman in the back row, I love to be startled, perplexed and turned upside down by the discovery of a point of view, a personality, a custom, a faith, a song that is different from my own.

Potent art matters because it can open windows to other worlds, give us a taste of what we have not tasted, or take us to places we know little about.

Provocative art encourages us to be curious, to wonder about and grapple with ideas and stories that are not our story.

Exotic art —Why do they do that? Who dreamed that up? What is she up to? — expands our understanding of our complex world and makes us hungry to discover more.

Brave art can provoke us, ignite us, scare us, melt us and astonish us. The intimacy of a profound artistic encounter can lead us to secrets inside us.

Great art opens our eyes, hearts and minds to the “new.” And the new is what feeds and nurtures our curious soul.

Twyla Tharp said: “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” I second the emotion.

AS TOLD TO JAMES HEBERT

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ow to make teenagers look up from their screens?

Class? Sadly, no.

High school teachers will tell you the dopamine rush of “likes” has such an addictive pull that teenagers Snapchat right from their desks. Yes, we see you. No one makes a duck face at their copy of “The Outsiders.” A fight gets their attention, but they’ll still have phone in hand to video for Instagram, watching real life through a camera lens and a

puppy nose filter.

But music? When those same teenagers bring in music from their video games for me to play on piano, phones are gone. One by one, they gather and surround me as I play.

They lean in, listening, watch my fingers on the keys, the hammers on the strings, the vibrations in their sneakers.

They are flowers bending to the light, hungry for music no MP3 can deliver — physical and emotional connection between one moment in the

composer’s heart to mine to theirs.

Why do the arts matter? As social media fills us with shallow, life-“like” interactions and friends whose laughter we never hear, hugs we never feel and tears we never dry, we hunger for connection. We long to be heard, to feel less alone.

When those same kids, dealing with the pain of abuse, of being unloved, of uncertainty in their own identity, tell their stories through music, they share their pain without

revealing its details. Working through that pain, channeling it into our music, it becomes therapy; breaking down the internal walls that we use to insulate ourselves from our personal truths, from our hard questions.

That music becomes a portrait for others who share the same pain to see their own stories being told, to feel heard, to feel — if only for that moment — understood. We connect.

AS TOLD TO JAMES HEBERT

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TELEVISION season that sees her struggling with life on the road, a tenuous new romance, her health and conflict with Todd over his handling of Big Girl Dance Class. Meanwhile, Buddy’s been keeping a secret, and the shocking reveal impacts his friendships and his relationship with Heather.

And painful feelings about her chance at motherhood emerge for Whitney as she helps Ashley prepare for childbirth.

BEST B E TS Sunday “The Twilight Zone” New Year’s Marathon: Syfy, 4 a.m.

Starting today and running through New Year’s Day, the latest installment of Syfy’s annual favorite programming event features 48 hours of classic and fan-favorite episodes from Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.”

“The Three Stooges” Marathon: IFC, 6 a.m. Moe, Larry and Curly help you say goodbye to 2017 with this 14-hour marathon of their slapstick shenanigans.

“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest”: ABC, 8 p.m. Ryan Seacrest and Jenny McCarthy return to Times Square to host ABC’s New Year’s extravaganza, while multiplatinum-selling superstar Ciara rings in the New Year from Los Angeles, featuring musical performances by Kelly Clarkson, Fitz and the Tantrums, Khalid, Charlie Puth and more.

“Fox’s New Year’s Eve With Steve Harvey: Live From Times Square”: Fox, 8 p.m.

Live. Ring in the new year with Steve Harvey as he broadcasts live from the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Steve will be joined by surprise celebrity guests and musical artists as he wraps up 2017 and kicks off 2018.

“Live From Lincoln Center: NY Philharmonic New Year’s Eve: Bernstein on Broadway”: PBS, 9 p.m. Live. Ring in 2018 with a celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s best-loved works for Broadway, including “West Side Story,” featuring the New York Philharmonic and special guests.

Monday “Countdown to the 129th Rose Parade”: Hallmark Channel, 10 a.m. Live. This one-hour special captures the excitement of last-minute activity from the parade site in Pasadena, where more than

“The X-Files” FOX, 8 p.m. Wednesday Season premiere. Fox’s supernatural series returns with 10 new episodes as FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) try to find answers for unexplainable phenomena. Series creator Chris Carter shares two of this season’s guest stars. “Barbara Hershey is involved in the mythology [storyline], and Haley Joel Osment came in for a stand-alone episode.” Carter had just screened Osment’s episode and reveals, “It’s a terrific performance. He’s an excellent actor who is smart and completely committed.”

900 volunteers will have labored for a combined 80,000 hours to bring the amazing, gorgeous New Year’s Day spectacle to life.

“The 129th Annual Rose Parade”: ABC, Hallmark Channel, NBC, 11 a.m. Live.

On New Year’s Day, millions of spectators from around the world will celebrate the new year with the 129th Tournament of Roses Parade.

“The Bachelor”: ABC, 8 p.m.

Season premiere. What better way to ring in the new year than another season of backbiting, dream dates and rose ceremonies that culminate in one more likely short-lived but oh-so-romantic engagement.

This time around, it’s “Bachelorette” Season 8 returnee Arie Luyendyk Jr. who is trying to make a reality TV love connection that stands the test of time.

“The Wall”: NBC, 8 p.m.

Midseason premiere. The Chris Hardwick-hosted game show returns after its winter hiatus.

“60 Days In”: A&E, 9 p.m.

Season premiere. The hit series returns to one of the most dangerous facilities in the country — Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail — with a two-hour premiere. Nine participants go undercover for a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system and to help impact change within the facility. This season, one of the participants goes full inmate, blowing their cover, turning the entire program on its head.

Tuesday “The Middle”: “ABC, 8 p.m.

As New Year’s Eve approaches, Sue (Eden Sher) admits to Frankie (Patricia Heaton) that she likes Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick) and that she kissed him at the Christmas party.

But she’s still trying to figure out if her kiss with Sean was a fluke or if it actually meant that he likes her. Meanwhile, Mike (Neil Flynn) forces Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) to take a drive with him and Mike’s dad, Big Mike (John Cullum), and

the boys are shocked to discover what awaits when they reach their final destination.

“NCIS”: CBS, 8 p.m. In the new episode “High Tide,” Torres (Wilmer Valderrama) and Bishop (Emily Wickersham) help an NCIS sting operation by going undercover as a criminal couple available for hire.

“Ellen’s Game of Games”: NBC, 8 p.m. New series. Ellen DeGeneres hosts this hourlong game show, which includes supersized versions of the most popular and actionpacked games from her daytime talk show. Contestants, who are pulled right from the audience, have to maneuver massive obstacles, answer questions under crushing time pressure and face gigantic plunges into the unknown, all in a quest to win a big cash prize.

“My Big Fat Fabulous Life”: TLC, 8 p.m. Season premiere.

The TLC reality hit starring plus-sized dancer Whitney Thore returns in a new time slot for an emotional fourth

“Fresh Off the Boat”: ABC, 8:30 p.m. Honey (Chelsey Crisp) is excited to attend a parenting class that encourages moms to listen to their babies, taught by self-proclaimed child sage Wilhelmina Page (guest star Niecy Nash).

But when her mother, Anne (guest star Cheryl Hines), ridicules the idea, it exposes communication issues of their own. And when Honey turns to Jessica (Constance Wu) for support, she is disappointed to find that even her best friend doesn’t have her back.

Meanwhile, Louis (Randall Park) and Marvin (Ray Wise) are thrilled when they get to go on the free cruise their wives won on “Wheel of Fortune,” but their boys’ trip quickly turns into a gambling getaway gone haywire. Back in Orlando, Eddie’s (Hudson Yang) friends are wary of his new crush at school. “black-ish” ABC, 9:30 p.m.

Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) has trouble adjusting when she returns to work after maternity leave. Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) gives the twins a “workaround” plan to get out of doing homework.

Wednesday “The Amazing Race”: CBS, 8 p.m. Season premiere. Season 30 of the globe-trotting reality competition series premieres tonight as teams begin their quest to cross the finish line first. Phil Keoghan returns as host. “grown-ish: Freeform”: 8 p.m.

New series. This “black-ish” spinoff premieres with backto-back episodes and follows the Johnsons’ eldest daughter Zoey (Yara Shahidi) as she heads off to her freshman year of college and faces the realities of life. Trevor Jackson, Jordan Buhat, Emily Arlook and Francia Raisa star as Zoey’s friends with Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey and Luka Sabbat recurring. SNL alum Chris Parnell and “black-ish’s” Deon Cole appear as Dean Parker and Charlie Telphy, respectively.

“SEAL Team”: CBS, 9 p.m.

The new episode “Pattern of Life” features a story told in real time, as Jason (David Boreanaz) and the SEAL Team enter a Yemeni house to locate a cellphone linked to a terrorist network and interrogate the family while their daughter lies in critical condition after being accidentally shot.

“9-1-1”: Fox, 9 p.m. New series. Angela Bassett, Connie Britton, Peter Krause and Aisha Hinds play first responders with equally challenging personal lives in this fastpaced dramedy from “American Crime Story’s” Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. “What you never think about is that they go right on to the next emergency,” says Bassett, who co-executive produces, of the show’s intriguing premise.

“They don’t know ‘What happened to that baby, that woman, that man — did they make it, did they not?’ What’s interesting about our show is that we see that there are real and perceived emergencies in their lives — not just the hero and the person in distress.”

“Match Game”: ABC, 10 p.m.

Season premiere. Emmynominated host Alec Baldwin returns for a new season of the beloved game show’s modern reboot.

Thursday “The Big Bang Theory”: CBS, 8 p.m. To discover who would be most qualified to be best man and maid of honor at their wedding, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) subject their friends to a series of secret experiments in the new episode “The Matrimonial Metric.”

“The Four: Battle for Stardom”: Fox, 8 p.m. New series.

Each week in Fox’s new reality singing competition, four top singers must defend their coveted position as one of “The Four” against newcomers

who want the seat for their own. Sean “Diddy” Combs, D.J. Khaled, Meghan Trainor and record label executive Charlie Walk will serve as the competition’s judges and will help guide the winner’s career to make him or her a breakout star. Pop singer Fergie hosts the competition.

“Young Sheldon”: CBS, 8:30 p.m. In the new episode “An Eagle Feather, a String Bean, and an Eskimo,” Sheldon (Iain Armitage) moves to Dallas to attend a school for gifted children, and the family struggles to cope with his absence.

“Mom”: CBS, 9 p.m. In the new episode “Teenage Vampires and a White Russian,” Bonnie (Allison Janney) is upset when her brother (recurring guest star Leonard Roberts) is arrested and calls Adam (William Fichtner) instead of her to bail him out, and Christy (Anna Faris) gets fired from her job at the restaurant.

“Nashville”: CMT, 9 p.m.

Season premiere. Tonight begins the sixth and final season of the musical drama about the lives of country music superstars as well as the up-and-coming performers and songwriters trying to get ahead in Nashville’s music business. The series stars Hayden Panettiere, Clare Bowen, Chris Carmack, Charles Esten, Kaitlin Doubleday, Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio, Maisy Stella and Lennon Stella. In addition, Season 6 features Rhiannon Giddens and Cameron Scoggins in recurring roles.

Friday “Child Support”: ABC, 8 p.m.

New series. From the mouths of babes. “The Office’s” Ricky Gervais executive produces this new game show that features host Fred Savage asking adult contestants to answer 10 questions correctly.

If they do, they win a prize. If they don’t, their fates are in the hands of five kids who have answered the same questions for Gervais.

“MacGyver”: CBS, 8 p.m. Mac (Lucas Till) and Jack (George Eads) are stuck in a trap in the new episode “Mac + Jack,” and the story of how they met is told through flashbacks.

“Hawaii Five-0”: CBS, 9 p.m.

When an FBI agent who was cracking down on organized crime is killed, McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) rounds up every gang-related criminal on the island to find the culprit in the new episode “Ka hopu nui ‘ana (The Round Up).”

“Blue Bloods”: CBS, 10 p.m.

In the new episode “Second Chances,” Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) search for a journalist who disappears while digging into a 15-year-old murder case.

Saturday “A Tale of Two Coreys”: Lifetime, 8 p.m. Original film.

Executive produced by Corey Feldman, this film documents the rise and fall of Feldman and his friend and fellow actor Corey Haim, collectively known in the ’80s as “The Two Coreys.” Having appeared together in the 1987 blockbuster hit “The Lost Boys,” Feldman (Elijah Marcano and Scott Bosely) and Haim (Justin Ellings and Casey Leach) quickly became teen heartthrobs, enjoying the raucous perks of stardom at a much-too-young age. But as their stars rose, the Coreys’ lives began to spin out of control, thanks to hard partying, drug addiction and rumored sexual abuse by industry insiders. With their careers dried up, a sober and stable Feldman tried to help his friend find similar peace — until Haim’s mysterious death kiboshed hope for a Hollywood ending.

“Love on the Slopes”: Hallmark Channel, 9 p.m. Original film. NYC-based copy editor Alex (Katrina Bowden) is sent to Ridgeline Resort, an extreme sports outpost, to write a story for a travel-writing competition. At first, she fails at everything, much to the chagrin of Cole (Thomas Beaudoin), an extreme sports enthusiast who thinks this city girl should head back to New York. But when Alex offers to assist Cole with his local arts festival, he reluctantly agrees to be her guide as she faces her fears.

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SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

M A T T E R

B O O K S

Susan Meissner Poway resident Susan Meissner is the author of more than a dozen novels, many of them works of historical fiction.

Her new book, “As Bright as Heaven,” explores the impact of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which infected one-third of the world’s population, on one family living in Philadelphia. Publication is scheduled for February.

T

he arts have always revealed, even from the very beginning of time, what we love, fear, value and honor. Artistic expression makes immortal all that we treasure and don’t want to risk forgetting.

For me, books are more than just paper and ink, just as a painting is more than canvas and oils, and a dance is more than music and movement. Books are the timeless echoes of who we are, who we’ve been, and who we are becoming. Not only that, they let us imagine for a moment who we could be instead of who we are.

Think about it. The stories we love best are nearly always about ordinary people just like us, who, despite fierce opposition, chase after something that truly matters, and who don’t give up even when it looks like all hope is lost.

Books give us the passport and permission to step into the shoes of the hero, to feel her fear, but also her strength, and be changed by it.

I love this quote by George R.R. Martin: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. …

The man who never reads lives only one.” Life is indeed a journey made meaningful by what we bring along to entertain, inform and influence us as we make our way.

And while the arts are ours to enjoy on the ride, they are also ours to pass on to the next generation. Every time we encourage and mentor a child in the arts, we keep the flame of our humanity burning. And what a glorious light it can be.

HOWARD LIPIN U-T

AS TOLD TO JOHN WILKENS

Seth Marko

Seth Marko recently opened The Book Catapult bookstore in South Park with Jen Powell, his wife. He has also worked at Warwick’s in La Jolla and the UC San Diego bookstore.

A

s a purveyor of books, naturally I think that as an art form they matter a great deal to the good of society as a whole.

But why?

Books are humanity’s physical form of communicating stories, opinions, ideas, histories, mythologies and folklore. They transfer knowledge, information and life stories from one generation to the next, keeping our culture alive.

The sharing of these stories and histories informs that culture and binds humanity together — without them, there is no knowledge of our collective past.

If the book as an art form didn’t matter and a thirst for knowledge of that past didn’t exist, would a new translation of a 3,000year-old epic poem from

CAKEWATCH Today: Actor Anthony Hopkins is 80.

Actress Sarah Miles is 76. Guitarist Andy Summers of The Police is 75.

Actor Ben Kingsley is 74. Actor Tim Matheson is 70. Singer Burton Cummings of The Guess Who is 70. Bassist Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith is 66. Actor James Remar (“Dexter”) is 64. Actress Bebe Neuwirth is 59. Singer Paul Westerberg is 58. Actor Val Kilmer is 58. Guitarist Ric Ivanisevich of Oleander is 55. Guitarist Scott Ian of Anthrax is 54. Actor Lance Reddick (“Fringe,” “The Wire”) is 48. Singer-actor Joe McIntyre of New Kids on the Block is 45. Cellist Mikko Siren of Apocalyptica is 42. Drummer Bob Bryar (My Chemical Romance) is 38. Actor Erich Bergen (“Madam Secretary,” “Jersey Boys”) is 32. Musician Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers is 28.

Monday: Actor Frank Langella is 80.

Singer-guitarist Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish is 76.

Comedian Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) is 75. Actor Rick Hurst (“The Dukes of Hazzard”) is 72. Country singer Steve Ripley of The Tractors is 68. Rapper Grandmaster Flash is 60.

Actress Renn Woods is 60. Actor Morris Chestnut (“The Brothers,” “The Best Man”) is 49. Bassist Noah Sierota of Echosmith is 22.

Tuesday: TV host Jack Hanna is 71.

Actress Wendy Phillips is 66. Actress Gabrielle Carteris (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) is 57. Actress Tia Carrere is 51.

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is 50. Model Christy Turlington is 49. Actor Taye Diggs is 47. Singer Doug Robb of Hoobastank is 43. Actor Dax Shepard (“Parenthood”) is 43. Sax player-

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Greece be a best-seller in 2017? (Homer’s “The Odyssey,” newly translated

by Emily Wilson.)

It’s easy for us in this digital information age to become distracted by our excessive connectivity and access to Wikipedia, but to slow down and read a novel or a short story in book form forces a reset, even for just a few minutes. Books lure us

guitarist Jerry DePizzo Jr. of O.A.R. is 39. Singer Kelton Kessee of Immature and of IMX is 37. Musician Ryan Merchant of Capital Cities is 37.

Actress Kate Bosworth is 35. Singer Bryson Tiller is 25.

in with their lush cover art, sway us with the feel of their pages across our fingertips, and get us to fall in love with the stories they contain.

What is that if not art?

And how can that not matter?

Books are that rare art where participation is just as important to the strength of the form as the creation itself. Every reader brings their own history, knowledge and opinions to each book, whether a novel or a collection of short stories or the history of the American Revolution.

To me, that’s the beauty of story — everyone brings a little bit of themselves to every book they read. Without a reader, what is a book? I might ask, without books, are we human?

AS TOLD TO JOHN WILKENS

Wednesday: Actor Dabney Coleman is 86. Singer Stephen Stills is 73. Bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is 72.

Actress Victoria Principal is 68. Actor Mel Gibson is 62. Jazz saxophonist James Carter is 49. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 46. Musician Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk is 43. Actor Jason Marsden (“Ally McBeal”) is 43. Actress Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”) is 43. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (“The O.C.”) is 42.

Singer and former “American Idol” contestant Kimberley Locke is 40.

Drummer Mark Pontius of Foster The People is 33. R&B singer Lloyd is 32.

Guitarist Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae is 32.

Former talk-show host Charlie Rose is 76. Actress Diane Keaton is 72. Actor Ted Lange (“The Love Boat”) is 70.

Drummer George “Funky” Brown of Kool and the Gang is 69. Guitarist Chris Stein of Blondie is 68. Actress Pamela Sue Martin (“The Poseidon Adventure,” “Dynasty”) is 65. Actor Clancy Brown (“Highlander,” “SpongeBob SquarePants”) is 59. Actress Suzy Amis (“Titanic”) is 56. Actor Vinnie Jones (“X-Men: The Last Stand”) is 53.

Drummer Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 52. Actor Joe Flanigan (“Stargate Atlantis,” “Sisters”) is 51.

Dancer and judge Carrie Ann Inaba (“Dancing with the Stars”) is 50. Singer Marilyn Manson is 49. Actor Derek Cecil (“House of Cards,” “Treme”) is 45. Actor Bradley Cooper is 43. Actress January Jones (“Mad Men”) is 40.

Actress Brooklyn Sudano (“My Wife and Kids”) is 37. Actor Franz Drameh (“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) is 25.

Thursday: Actress Barbara Rush (“Peyton Place”) is 91. Actress Dyan Cannon is 79. Country singer Kathy Forester of the Forester Sisters is 63.

Guitarist Bernard Sumner of New Order (and Joy Division) is 62. Actress Ann Magnuson (“Anything But Love”) is 62. Country singer Patty Loveless is 61.

Actor Julian Sands (”24”) is 60. Singer Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is 58. Actor Dave Foley (“NewsRadio,” “Kids in the Hall”) is 55. Actress Dot Jones (“Glee”) is 54. Actress Julia Ormond is 53.

Country singer Deana Carter is 52.

Harmonica player Benjamin Darvill of Crash Test Dummies is 51. Actor Jeremy Licht (“Valerie”) is 47. Actor Damon Gupton (“Empire”) is 45. Singer Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath is 35.

Friday: Actor Robert Duvall is 87.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saturday: Accordionist Joey, the CowPolka King, of Riders in the Sky is 69. Singer Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds is 67. Country singer Jett Williams is 65. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”) is 63. Singer Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge is 59.

Chef Nigella Lawson is 58. Singer Eric Williams of BLACKstreet is 58. Director John Singleton is 50. Actor Aron Eisenberg (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) is 49. Actor Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead”) is 49. “The Talk” co-host Julie Chen is 48. Actor Danny Pintauro (“Who’s The Boss”) is 42.

Actor Eddie Redmayne (“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them,” “The Theory of Everything”) is 36. Comedian Kate McKinnon is 34. Singer Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys is 32.

THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

BOOKS

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SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

New in stores “Bobby Flay Fit: 200 Recipes for a Healthy Lifestyle” by Bobby

“The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir” by Maude Julien (Little,

Flay (Clarkson Potter). The Food Network star shares fitness tips and a look into his daily routines for those who want to eat right without overhauling their pantries or sacrificing taste.

Brown and Co.). One woman’s testament to the power of the human spirit to overcome harrowing obstacles endured during childhood, and proof that love can conquer all.

New York Times best-sellers BOOK REVIEW

Fiction 1. “The Rooster Bar” by John Grisham (Doubleday)

2. “Origin” by Dan Brown (Doubleday)

3. “The People vs. Alex Cross” by James Patterson (Little, Brown)

4. “The Midnight Line” by Lee Child (Delacorte)

5. “Artemis” by Andy Weir (Crown)

6. “Year One” by Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s)

7. “End Game” by David Baldacci (Grand Central)

8. “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)

9. “Tom Clancy Power and Empire” by Marc Cameron (Putnam)

10. “Sleeping Beauties” by Stephen King and Owen King (Scribner)

11. “Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks (Knopf)

12. “Hardcore Twenty-Four” by Janet Evanovich (Putnam)

13. “Two Kinds of Truth” by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

14. “A Column of Fire” by Ken Follett (Viking)

15. “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles (Viking) Nonfiction 1. “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster)

2. “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” by Pete Souza (Little, Brown)

3. “Grant” by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)

4. “Promise Me, Dad” by Joe Biden (Flatiron Books)

5. “Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger (Sentinel)

6. “Bobby Kennedy” by Chris Matthews (Simon & Schuster)

7. “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Norton)

8. “Let Trump Be Trump” by Corey R. Lewandowski and David N. Bossie (Center Street)

9. “Killing England” by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (Holt)

10. “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann (Doubleday)

11. “What Happened” by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster)

12. “Sisters First” by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush (Grand Central)

13. “Endurance” by Scott Kelly (Knopf)

14. “The Last Black Unicorn” by Tiffany Haddish (Gallery)

15. “Hamilton: The Revolution” by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter (Grand Central/Melcher Media) Warwick’s top sellers 1. “Leonardo da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson

2. “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann

3. “The Rooster Bar” by John Grisham

4. “Pachinko” by Min Jin Lee

5. “Origin” by Dan Brown

6. “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles

7. “The Choice” by Edith Eger

8. “Lincoln in the Bardo” by George Saunders

9. “In the Midst of Winter” by Isabel Allende

10. “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles

Calendar Bay Books, in cooperation with Coronado Public Library Winn Room, 640 Orange Ave., Coronado; (619) 435-0070 Robert Kittle, “Franciscan Frontiersmen: How Three Adventures Charted the West,” 1 p.m. Saturday.

Mysterious Galaxy 5943 Balboa Ave., San Diego; (858) 268-4747 Matthew J. Pallamary, “The Center of the Universe Is Right Between Your Eyes, But Home Is Where the Heart Is,” 2 p.m. Saturday.

Warwick’s 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla; (858) 454-0347 Robert Crais, “The Wanted,” 7:30 p.m. Friday.

LITTLE FICTION ON THE PRAIRIE

“Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder”

by Caroline Fraser; Metropolitan Books; 640 pages

Biography takes a close look at the facts behind Wilder’s beloved books

BY MOIRA MACDONALD I grew up in the city, but I dreamed of covered wagons.

Like countless kids, I read and reread the “Little House” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder while growing up, savoring the details of homemade candy (made on snow!), hand-hewn furniture, floral-print dresses, cozy Christmases and the plaintive music of a fiddle, echoing over the emptiness of a vast prairie.

Born in 1867 Wisconsin to a father struck with wanderlust and a mother content to follow him, Wilder lived a pioneer childhood, moving from place to place with her growing family (she was the second of four sisters) across the American Midwest. The first book, “Little House on the Big Woods,” begins when she is 4 years old; the last in the series, “These Happy Golden Years,” ends with her marriage, at 18, to the young farmer Almanzo Wilder. (“The First Four Years,” documenting the early years of their marriage, was published posthumously.)

Throughout the books, there’s a palpable sense that home — be it a dirt-floor dugout, a snug log cabin or a threadbare claim shanty — is made not by doors and windows and possessions, but the secure presence of those you love.

Wilder, who lived to see her 90th birthday and remarkable changes in the world, began writing the books in her 60s, urged by her daughter, Rose. (Initially, Wilder wrote a memoir intended for adults, called “Pioneer Girl,” but she and Rose had better luck marketing a young reader’s version. An annotated version of the original manuscript was published in 2014.) They read like fiction — Wilder’s narrative voice is steady and almost childlike, but often beautifully artful — but they depict a real life; at least, a writer’s version of one. I didn’t think, when reading them as a child, of how Wilder might have sculpted the facts of her life, or of what it might mean to depict your beloved parents in anything but a softly shining light.

A fascinating new biography of Wilder, Caroline Fraser’s “Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder” (Metropolitan Books, $35), takes a close look at the author’s life — where it does, and doesn’t, match the legend she created. Though we tend to read the “Little House” books as autobiography, they are “heavily fictionalized in many ways,” said Fraser, in a telephone interview.

“When it came to the ‘Little House’ books, she burnished her parents’ reputation by leaving out a lot of what happened,” Fraser elaborated. In “Pioneer Girl,” she notes, Wilder wrote of the family “experiencing periods of homelessness and aimlessness, her father Charles not being

COURTESY PHOTO

Caroline Fraser, author of the Laura Ingalls Wilder biography “Prairie Fires.” able to pull it together financially. You see his failures as a farmer. This was not due to laziness on his part — he was coming up against what every small-scale farmer in that region was facing, especially in the Dakotas, because that area was just too arid for dry-land farming. Virtually all the farmers were more or less facing ruin before they even started, because they were undercapitalized. None of this really makes it into the ‘Little House’ books.”

Fraser, whose own ancestors were also Midwestern farmers, grew up reading the books but became fascinated by Wilder’s own story about 20 years ago, when a biography of Rose Wilder Lane was published.

“It essentially claimed that Rose had ghostwritten all the ‘Little House’ books,” she said. Intrigued, Fraser launched her own investigation into the manuscripts, resulting in a long piece in the New York Review of Books.

“It’s certainly true that Rose contributed greatly to the production and creation of the books, that she edited and helped review them and certainly was responsible for getting them published,” Fraser said. “But I believed then and believe now that Wilder was the author of the books published under her name.”

More recently, Fraser edited the Library of America editions of the “Little House” books and realized that there was much rich history behind Wilder’s story, particularly what

Wilder called the Minnesota Massacre. “It’s more properly referred to as the U.S.Dakota War of 1862,” Fraser said, calling that bloody event “quite central to her experience in Kansas.

Knowing what that was and what happened, even though it happened before Laura was born, is, I think, incredibly revealing of her experience and the experience of other white settlers and their attitudes toward Native Americans.”

Fraser’s book begins with that history, and then traces the ancestry of Wilder’s parents, Charles Ingalls and Caroline Quiner Ingalls, taking us to that little house where their second daughter was born.

A map shows us the family’s wanderings; a few photographs let us gaze at ghosts from the past. One photo, of a preteen Laura posing with sisters Mary and Carrie, is startling: Eyes warily looking away from the camera and jaw set, young Laura is already showing the determination of a pioneer woman, resolved to survive and prosper on an inhospitable land.

And its later pages tell the story of a remarkable mother/daughter relationship. Rose, Wilder’s only child, was a former yellow journalist, war correspondent and fledgling Libertarian; her high-pitched life seems right out of a movie.

“She is an incredible voice and presence,” said Fraser, who spent countless hours deciphering Rose’s voluminous letters to her mother, now housed in the Herbert

Hoover Presidential Library. (Lane, at one point, wrote a biography of Hoover.) “She was, in some ways, quite a tortured person . always fairly melodramatic in her self-presentation.”

Rose, said Fraser, had a “pretty tumultuous” relationship with her mother.

“The story of their relationship is kind of at the heart of the book, because it’s at the heart of the creation of the ‘Little House’ books.”

After reading Fraser’s book, I picked up a copy of “Little House on the Prairie” — a book I haven’t read since probably my teens.

And while its attitudes toward Native Americans feel cringe-worthy today, much of the writing remains haunting. Laura, falling asleep, “began to drift over endless waves of prairie grasses”; Pa’s voice, singing, “was like a part of the night and the moonlight and the stillness of the prairie.”

Before quite realizing it, I had reread the entire book.

Fraser hopes that grown-up “Little House” fans will find “a richer experience of the books if you know more about where they came from.” She still finds herself often “totally absorbed” by the world Wilder created in her novels.

“They still affect me quite strongly; they’re so moving.

And that is the real mark of a classic, something that you can go back and read again and again, and you’re still finding new things in it.”

Macdonald writes for The Seattle Times.

R ECO M M E N D E D R E A DS Welcome to our literary circle, in which San Diegans pass the (printed) word on books they recommend:

Laura Mendez Job: Youth services librarian, Lemon Grove Branch Library, San Diego County Library She recommends: “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas (New York: Balzer + Bray, 2017; 444 pages) Why? Great fiction holds a mirror up to society and provides readers with new insights into current and cultural events.

Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” does precisely this and more, weaving a captivating tale that reflects current events while engaging the reader’s emotions and sparking a call for change. In this young-adult novel, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, we meet Starr Carter, a 16-year-old girl attempting to navigate the two different worlds she occupies: the impoverished neighborhood where she lives, and the elite prep school she attends. Starr’s life is changed when she becomes the sole witness to a police shooting — of her unarmed childhood friend Kahlil. The reader follows Starr’s personal journey after the shooting and how she finds her voice. Parents, I recommend reading this book along with your teen or tween, as it can spur a lot of important questions about race and society.

The Lemon Grove Library at 3001 School Lane, Lemon Grove, will hold a DIY Zine Workshop for teens and tweens at 4 p.m. Jan. 23.

Mimi Hannan Job: Bookseller, La Playa Books She recommends: “The Woman in the Window” by A.J. Finn (William Morrow & Co., 2018; 448 pages) Why? Fans of the film “Rear Window” will love this noir psychological thriller about a shut-in who sees a horrific act transpire in the brownstone across the street. Or does she? Pill-popping, wine-chugging Anna Fox makes for an unreliable narrator, but she is certain that what she saw was real. The policeman who investigates Anna’s report is sympathetic and wants to believe her, but his partner is skeptical. The neighbor’s husband seems to be hiding something, but perhaps he is defensive because Anna has been spying on him.

Anna’s tenant is also mysterious, bordering on suspicious. Well plotted and well written, this is sure to be one of the year’s first hits and everyone will be talking about it.

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THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

W H Y

T H E

A R T S

SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

M A T T E R

D A N C E

Brittany Taylor Brittany Taylor, a certified Pilates Master Teacher, choreographer and dancer, has performed with Malashock Dance, San Diego Dance Theater, Blythe Barton Dance and Michael Mizerany’s Compulsion Dance & Theatre.

D

ance makes us complete. For me, dance speaks to the bond that we crave between our bodies, minds and hearts.

The physicality of dance makes it unique among art forms. How special it is to feel your body in movement — to feel your breath, the sweat on your body, the push and pull of your muscles. Moving our bodies with purpose can give us a deep appreciation for the human form and what is really possible for our creative minds and physical bodies. Nothing else can give you that feeling like movement can.

It is the perfect combination of effort and pure joy.

The movement of the body and the expression that comes from that is so special.

Dance challenges our memory and problem-solving skills. Building upon history, technique and repetition, we can find an ease of movement from the tough mental and physical practice of dance techniques.

As audience members, we take in movement and piece together qualities, themes and movement patterns.

It also allows us to cultivate relationships within our community. We have an incredible partnership with other dancers. We have to trust each other. We have to make the story that we are telling believable.

All of those things require us to become friends. Fast.

And maybe our most important relationship is to our audience. The audience needs to feel our intention and see all the gifts that dance has to offer. Without the audience, we would not exist. The experience that you take away from seeing dance and being an integral part of it is what keeps it alive.

Dance is about taking care of ourselves as a whole.

Whether you are a dancer, spectator or movement practitioner of any kind, you feel it. You know why dance matters.

HOWARD LIPIN U-T

AS TOLD TO MARCIA MANNA

Jennifer Oliver

Jennifer Oliver is the artistic director for the Escondido-based A Step Beyond, an organization that provides underserved youth with opportunities through dance education, academic support and family services. A nationally known dancer, educator and choreographer, Oliver was the San Diego representative for the statewide Teaching Artist Support Collaborative initiative and served on the National Arts Education Council for Americans for the Arts.

M

ANGELA PIERCE

y students look up at me — longing to play, be included, be seen, feel valued. They don’t know that the challenges they experience living under the poverty line are challenges that many children will never know. Research shows that those challenges will make them less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to continue living in poverty. What my students do know is that for this next hour after school, we will dance.

By dancing, we will come together as a community, we will build strength and flexibility, and we will face challenges and overcome them.

Even more importantly, we will take up space unapologetically, feel pow-

erful in our bodies, and celebrate our diverse, creative choices.

Dance matters because it heals, it educates, and it helps to build community.

I have taught dance for the past 17 years, and I have watched it transcend conversation and provide a tangible, physical expression of our personal and shared life experiences.

When we dance, we embrace the present moment and find beauty in self-expression and in relationship. In these moments, we meet our differences — whether those differences are because of culture, gender or race — and we learn to navigate through them. After dancing and creating together, our knowledge of each other

is enhanced and renewed. We are closer and more connected.

At A Step Beyond, a creative youth development nonprofit serving North County families, we believe dance is the answer to helping end the cycle of poverty. Combined with academic tutoring and family services support, our small but mighty team helps children realize their potential and fulfill their dreams. Students begin our program in third grade and continue until high school graduation and beyond. As students master the art of dance, they build the habits of mind and body that will lead them to find success at school and in life.

AS TOLD TO MARCIA MANNA

E9

SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

Adventure lands Three Colorado camps provide the perfect antidote for a midlife crisis

BY MARLISE KAST-MYERS

I

t’s true what they say. You hit 40 and everything changes. Waking up is literally painful. Your knees pop. Your shoulders ache. Hair appointments are frequent. You forgo nightclubs for game nights. And then it dawns on you ... you’re no longer invincible. You can’t pull an all-nighter with zero recovery time. You can’t run a marathon without training. Heck, you can’t even read without your glasses.

This is exactly where my husband, Benjamin, and I were at when we contemplated two options: We accept the fact we’re getting old(er), or we defy the inevitable by embracing a midlife crisis.

And so, we invested in dirt bikes, surfboards, travel and, frankly, us. With the winter upon us, and a longing to feel forever young, we did what any reckless 40-something couple would do — we searched for exclusive adventure camps for discerning travelers.

The goal was to locate one destination that offered nature, exercise, community, pampering and a smack of danger.

Enter Colorado. Benjamin and I signed up for The Broadmoor’s Wilderness Experience at Cloud Camp — one of three all-inclusive luxury camps operated by The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

Situated at 9,000 feet, Cloud Camp dates back to 1926 when founder Spencer Penrose built Cheyenne Mountain Lodge — now Cloud Camp — as his private watering hole. The 7-mile road to the summit still remains an engineering masterpiece with 16 switchbacks overlooking Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods. Only guests of Cloud Camp may enter the gates, and for good reason.

SEE CAMPS • E10

Rock climbing outside Crested Butte, one of dozens of activities included at Scarp Ridge Lodge.

THE BROADMOOR

THE BROADMOOR

ELEVEN EXPERIENCE

Kayaking the rapids of Gunnison River.

The Broadmoor’s Soaring Adventures course has 10 zip lines, two bridges and a rappel into Seven Falls.

ARCHITECT WRIGHT’S WINTER HOME DRAWS FANS TO ARIZONA Taliesin West school serves grads, leads visitors on tours

BY ANITA SNOW SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

Each year when the sizzling temperatures finally dipped in the southern Arizona desert, architect Frank Lloyd Wright and a small band of young apprentices would start the annual cross-country migration from Spring Green, Wis., just in time to escape the Midwestern snow.

Twenty-six miles northeast of Phoenix, Wright’s students built the desert shelters they slept in during the winter term at his School of Architecture, where bobcats, coyotes and piglike mammals called javelinas wandered outside after sundown. Lacking electricity, running water, doors or windows, the buildings were wide

JASON WISE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and studio, Taliesin West, blends into the desert environment outside Scottsdale, Ariz. Some 125,000 visited the late architect’s 600-acre compound last year. open to nature. Meals were shared as a group.

From 1937 until Wright’s death in 1959 at age 91, the desert site known as Taliesin West was the winter home and laboratory of

America’s premier architect. The original Taliesin, Wright’s primary home in southwestern Wisconsin, was named after a sixth-century Welsh bard whose name means “shining brow.”

Built on the Arizona desert’s hard floor, Wright constructed Taliesin West’s structures with redwood beams and large rocks embedded in concrete. The buildings initially were covered with

translucent canvas to let light in but were later replaced with more durable plastic because of the sun’s brutal rays. Windows were large openings without glass.

Today, the 491-acre site in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains remains the winter home of the graduate school, which offers an accredited Master of Architecture (M. Arch) degree. It’s also yearround headquarters of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which oversees the architect’s works.

The Scottsdale property is also a magnet for fans of the man who designed some of the most innovative buildings in America, attracting more than 100,000 visitors each year to this National Historic Landmark.

Although final numbers for 2017 aren’t in, Wright Foundation officials say visits appear to be up significantly as the architect’s admirers mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, June 8, 1867.

The site was “nothing but one, SEE TALIESIN • E10

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BAJA CALENDAR Tijuana: New Year’s Eve Party: Tonight.

This year, the New Year’s Eve party at Grand Hotel Tijuana features three ballrooms with three musical groups, a four-course dinner and open bar. $109 adults; $79 ages 4-12 (childcare is available). A special room rate is available for attendees. Information: From the U.S., call: (664) 681 7000, ext. 4260, or visit grandhoteltj.com Rosarito: New Year’s Eve Gala: Tonight.

This annual party at Rosarito Beach Hotel & Resort features live music, dancing and a gala buffet dinner. $89 for adults, $49 for children; call for information about New Year’s Eve package with overnight lodging and two adult tickets to the gala.

Information: From the U.S., call: (866) 767-2748 or visit rosaritobeachhotel.com Mexicali: ArtesaNORTE: Jan. 6. In addition to music and performances, this community bazaar features local produce, jewelry, home goods, textiles, handcrafted toys, paintings and more. Admission is free. Plaza Centenario del Bosque, Mexicali. More information: facebook.com Tijuana: Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods: 5 p.m. Jan. 21. This free concert features the performance of late composer Charles Mingus’ historic album “Tijuana Moods.” Free. CECUT, Tijuana.

Ensenada: Carnaval de Ensenada 2018: Feb. 8-13. The Ensenada Carnival is a centuries-old tradition featuring six days of parades and nights of endless partying.

Each of the six days of Carnival has a special meaning with different themes and varying activities. More information: ensenada.net Tijuana: Café Tacvba: 8 p.m. Feb. 17.

Rubén Albarrán and his eclectic alt rock band, touring in support of its latest studio album, “Jei Beibi,” will perform at Tijuana’s Il Foro. Tickets range from about $20 to $77. More information: servieventos.com.mx Mexicali: Ricardo Montaner: 8 p.m. Feb. 17. Latin pop artist Ricardo Montaner will perform in concert at Mexicali’s Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART). Tickets range from about $51 to $149. More information and registration: boletos.taquillaexpress.com/eventos Tijuana: Jorge Drexler: 8 p.m. Feb. 18.

Singer-songwriter (and TED2017 presenter) Jorge Drexler will perform a concert at the Teatro Zaragoza in Tijuana, as part of his “Poetry, Music and Identity” tour. Tickets range from about $35 to $80.

More information: boletos.taquillaexpress.com/eventos Rosarito Art Fest: May 26, 27. This annual family-friendly festival features a mixture of fine artists and craft artisans, live music and food vendors at Rosarito’s CEART (Centro Estatal de las Artes Rosarito); admission is free. rosaritoartfest.com Todos Santos: Annual Open Studios Tour: Feb. 10, 11. Artists of every discipline — painters, sculptors, photographers, muralists, jewelers, printmakers, collage artists, potters, wood turners and more — participate in the Open Studios Tour. All proceeds benefit the children’s art programs at the Palapa Society of Todos Santos, A.C. artistsoftodossantos.com

Events are subject to change or cancellation. Please confirm information with event organizer before booking your trip. To submit Baja California events information, email at least two weeks in advance to cynthia.zanone@sduniontribune.com

THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

SUNDAY • DECEMBER 31, 2017

CAMPS

FROM E9 This is where paradise lives, at the summit with unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Plains. Void of TVs and traffic, the place is everything you’d want in a weekend escape. The air smells of pine and rain with a freshness that makes you inhale deeper with every breath. It was as if our bodies needed to be there, where stars serve as streetlamps and birds as alarm clocks.

Despite the freedom, there’s still a daily schedule for campers. Ours included yoga, archery, crafts, hikes, mule rides and cooking class.

During downtime, we played lawn games and soaked in hot tubs fashioned from whiskey barrels.

Dotted throughout the grounds are 11 log cabins with private terraces where hummingbirds dart between rocking chairs and porch swings. Honeymooners can opt for the glass Fire Tower Suite. From there, you can look down on clouds, helicopters, hot air balloons and rainbows — experiencing a quicksilver moment of God’seye-view.

In the center of it all is Cloud Camp’s main lodge, where guests gather for four-course dinners at the ringing of a bell. The lodge also houses seven guestrooms, boasting heated floors and the largest Western art collection in the world.

The lodge is beyond impressive with deer mounts, hand-hewn beams, stone fireplaces and timber decks with brass telescopes pointing toward Pikes Peak. Every evening at 6:20, “America the Beautiful” is piped through the property in honor of poet Katharine Lee Bates, who summited the 14,000-foot mountain in 1893. At completion of the flag ceremony, dinner is served.

Don’t expect typical camp food. Haute cuisine is presented around a 32-seat table with dishes reflecting the Golden Age of the 1920s.

Lobster bisque, beef bourguignon, roasted duck, trout meunière — these secret recipes are shared during Cooking Club with Broadmoor chefs.

Despite the Frenchforward cuisine, there’s a Rocky Mountain informality about the place. Jeans, boots and fleeces are the norm regardless of who you are, where you’re from and how

If you go STAY Cloud Camp: www.broadmoor.com/cloud-camp The Broadmoor: www.broadmoor.com Scarp Ridge Lodge: elevenexperience.com/experiences/hideouts/scarpridge-lodge/step-inside/ COURTESY OF ELEVEN EXPERIENCE

The trout pond at Taylor River Lodge. much you earn.

Lawyers, professors and doctors alike rolled up their sleeves to chow down on platters of tea-brined fried chicken. Wine flowed at the swift pace of conversations, with less talk about the past and more focus on the present. We gathered around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and recounting tales under the starry sky. Within two days, this family of strangers connected like — well, fellow campers. Spencer Penrose would have been proud.

I told Benjamin I didn’t want to leave. Cloud Camp stirred the sediment in my soul with simple pleasures like board games over Moscow mules. While he crafted leather bracelets, I hiked Pike National Forest, passing boulder fields and prospect pits abandoned by hopeful miners.

Some guests extended their stay by hiking 6.5 miles to neighboring Emerald Valley Ranch. Benjamin and I chose to zip-line our way out, an act very much aligned with our midlife crisis. Cloud Camp guests can return to Broadmoor base by shuttle, mule, foot — or in a roundabout way — by zip line.

The latter involves a 5.4-mile downhill hike to Soaring Adventures. Operated by The Broadmoor, the course consists of 10 zip lines, two bridges and a rappel into Seven Falls. While Benjamin dangled his feet over the 500-foot-high suspension bridge, I might have cried a little — tears of fear, joy or simply watering from 50 mph speed.

The final rappel landed us at Restaurant 1858, named for Colorado’s Gold Rush era.

After bison burgers and buttermilk cake, we hiked to the top of Seven Falls and then to The Broadmoor.

Opened in 1918, the fivediamond resort is celebrating its centennial in January with monthly events, includ-

ing an uncorking of Penrose’s prohibition stash.

Making up the 5,000 acres are golf courses, tennis courts, manmade lakes, 784 rooms and 10 restaurants —including the romantic Ristorante del Lago. In the early 1900s, The Broadmoor was the spot to “take in air” and be cured from tuberculosis. Clearly, the grand hotel is still curing something, with guests like Prince Harry, Barak Obama and Tim Tebow calling it their own private base camp.

From Colorado Springs to Crested Butte, I entered Part 2 of my adult camping experience. Unfortunately, I traveled solo since Benjamin was competing in BMW’s motorbike GS Trophy Qualifier. He bravely fought for a spot on the U.S. team months after undergoing knee surgery.

While the fearless child inside him battled the wounded warrior, I hit the next spot on my camp list — Scarp Ridge Lodge in Crested Butte, one of seven properties in the Eleven Experiences. Considered the last great mountain town, Crested Butte is a laidback community with 1,000 fulltime residents for whom the outdoors has become their religion.

Lining main street’s Elk Avenue are wooden storefronts, miner’s cabins, Victorian homes and tin-roofed taverns named after historic “ladies of the night.” At the end of it all sits the 13,500square-foot Scarp Ridge Lodge, a former Croatian dance hall where miners gathered for cocktails in the 1880s. Today, it still delivers a mean martini with serious swagger.

Light-years away from traditional all-inclusives, it’s like crashing the home of your richest friend, who left you the keys and full range of his gear, toys and staff.

There’s a great deal of whiteand-earthy mountainous wealth to the place with

Taylor River Lodge: elevenexperience.com/experiences/hideouts/taylorriver-lodge/step-inside/ DINE Restaurant 1858: www.broadmoor.com/ broadmoor-adventures/ seven-falls/restaurant-1858/ Ristorante Del Lago: www.broadmoor.com/ dining/ristorante-del-lago/ VISIT Soaring Adventures: www.broadmoor.com/ broadmoor-adventures/ soaring-adventures Seven Falls: www.broadmoor.com/broadmooradventures/seven-falls/ leather, stone, iron and wood that appeals to the manly man who digs the antlers and cowhide, and the woman who loves the spa, organic minibar and nanny’s quarters connected to the kids’ room.

The woodwork alone will take your breath away, with floors and beams reclaimed from Kentucky barns. Guests can tap into the saltwater pool, rooftop Jacuzzi, game room, cinema, library and gym. Prying yourself out of bed is challenging, especially with the in-room oxygen system. Set the alarm. It’s worth it.

Served in an open kitchen, breakfast is prepared by chefs who whip up duck-egg omelets, homemade granola, pastries and everything in between. Alfresco lunch is served picnicstyle somewhere beside a stream or on a mountaintop during activities. And by “activities” they mean one of the best days of your life.

I uttered those words after hiking among golden Aspens and kayaking the rapids of Gunnison River.

Included in the rate are a bevy of activities, including fly-fishing, mountain biking, paddleboarding and whitewater rafting. Certified

guides and a professional photographer are in tow.

In winter, you can take it up a notch with cat skiing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding and ice climbing.

As if it couldn’t get any better, then came along Taylor River Lodge in neighboring Almont. On the banks of Taylor River, the all-inclusive camp boasts log cabins with pitched roofs, wooden furnishings, homespun fabrics and wrought-iron ladders climbing to A-frame lofts.

As a novice angler, I had my first fly-fishing lesson at the stocked casting pond fronting the lodge. Within 20 minutes, I hooked three big ones, the last being the plump granddaddy of the waters.

With just two days at Taylor River Lodge, my itinerary laid out a plan for rock climbing. Facing my fear of heights, I scaled 70-foot rock faces with knuckle scars to prove it. I also had options for rafting or staying inhouse with foosball, darts, billiards, archery and ax throwing. The bathhouse and game room are the ultimate hang spaces, with hunting trophies rooting you on during that eight-ball corner pocket.

Each evening, campers reconvened at the lodge to savor seasonal dishes like corn bisque, stuffed trout and cast-iron peach clafoutis.

On that final morning, I awoke anticipating a mountain bike excursion. Instead, I encountered the town’s first snowfall of the year. Seasons had clashed overnight, as tawny and amber foliage clung to autumn while the chill of winter overshadowed its day in the spotlight. So I hiked deep into Gunnison Forest, trailing the tracks of rabbit and deer while leaving my own imprints in the wake.

Awaiting my flight back to San Diego, I thought about the enchantment of Colorado’s camps and the freedom that comes with letting go, no matter what your stage in life. For a brief moment, I wanted to keep going and tell my husband to meet me in Neverland.

Just then there was an announcement regarding my flight, asking for volunteers willing to postpone their departure for a flight voucher. So now, only one question remains ... where to next?

Kast-Myers is travel writer based in Vista. Her website is www.marlisekast.com.

ANITA SNOW AP

The drafting room at Taliesin West, where many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous buildings were designed.

TALIESIN FROM E9 big open question” back in 1937, when Wright bought it from a state land officer looking to unload it on a fool, onetime Wright apprentice Vernon D. Swaback halfjokingly told a group gathered at Taliesin West in October. Wright had already brought his students to the Arizona desert for four winters and wanted to build a more permanent camp.

“With total volunteer labor, he takes sand out of the wash, and takes stone from the base of the mountains and proceeds to build a national landmark,” said Swaback, a 78-year-old architect who was just starting out when he met his teacher.

Today, the only way to get a close look at Wright’s organic architecture uniting art and nature in Arizona’s Sonoran desert is through one of several guided tours.

Priced at $36 for walk-up ticket ($34 in advance), the 11⁄2-hour “Insights Tour” takes visitors throughout a complex of buildings connected by walkways and terraces with dramatic desert vistas in the background.

One stop takes visitors by the drafting room where many of Wright’s famous buildings were designed, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Here, Wright’s students began

mapping out their own creations on the sloping desks that look out at the desert through broad windows.

At another stop, Wright fans sit in a long, rectangular living area called the “garden room,” where the architect and his third wife, Olgivanna, entertained friends. At one end is one of the fireplaces that Wright typically used to anchor his structures.

Visitors see a half-sunken theater, known as the cabaret, with a stage and small dining tables. They also stop by a multipurpose hall known as the music pavilion and see Wright’s office and private quarters.

More elaborate tours are available, including a twohour, $40 “Night Lights” tour on Friday evenings during some parts of the year, and a three-hour $75 “Behind the Scenes” tour for super enthusiasts that features midmorning tea and snacks in the dining room and a more extensive viewing of the desert grounds. On Saturdays from mid-November through April, the students lead two-hour $45 tours of the desert shelters that are still used for their housing today.

Taliesin West is considered among Wright’s masterpieces. He lived to see more than 500 of his designs realized, including homes, offices and schools. In addition to the Guggenheim, among the best known is Fallingwater, a modernist house built in stacks over a Pennsylvania

If you go Taliesin West: 12621 N. Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. (for GPS, 12345 N. Taliesin Drive), Scottsdale, Ariz.; franklloydwright.org/ taliesin-west or (480)8602700. Open daily September-May except Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. In June, July and August, closed Tuesday-Wednesday.

Insights tour offered throughout the day beginning at 9 a.m., $36. Website lists various other tours, schedules and prices. Tours sell out, so book ahead. waterfall. Other notable projects were the 19-story Price Tower in Bartlesville, Okla.; Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla.; and the Ennis House, a Los Angeles dwelling with a Mayan temple design.

But here, visitors can gaze out at the Arizona desert landscape that Wright and his students saw from the drafting room. Hills covered with scrub brush loom in the distance, and quails and roadrunners skitter amid the green-trunked palo verde trees and columnar saguaros, a view Wright once described as “a look over the rim of the world.”

Snow writes for The Associated Press.