Lifestyle

Catch-12: Fargo

Shantella Sherman WI Special Editions Editor

At first glance, the AMC television series Fargo sets off few bells and whistles. The crime drama follows the denizens of some sleepy Midwest town through organized crime, murder, mayhem and good old-fashioned debauchery.

What makes the tales so engaging, has less to do with the crimes than the places they occur and the people who commit them. In the American imagination, remember, real crime only happens in urban spaces and among marginalized groups -- Black and immigrant (usually Italian, Mexican, Irish, or Jamaican). But reality bites and Fargo, now in its fourth season, sinks its teeth in by introducing whiteness into the frame as equally sinister, criminal and violent. Fargo episodes

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America has a particular fascination with the Midwest that it rarely acknowledges. Journalism students, for instance, must familiarize themselves with the enunciation patterns found in the Midwest as they represent the standard for news broadcasts. Yet, until Fargo, American Gothic found few representations in television and film. Instead, plac-

es like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and even the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., are fashioned in pop culture as characters, rather than places. They are larger than life and perfect vehicles for escapism, whodunit dramas and gritty romances. Think for instance of productions like Taxi Driver, Cotton Comes to Harlem, I Like It Like That, Trading Places, and the more recent television series Luke Cage. Consider the ways in which the subway system, brownstones, and bodegas bring the storylines to life.

Until only recently Hollywood breezed past storylines in places like Wisconsin, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota without much thought. But using the 1996 film Fargo as bracketing,

5 Cast members from Fargo. (Courtesy photo)

AMC quickly found a niche audience interested in seeing behind the shutters of “salt of the earth” households engaged in high-stakes crime. Having lived in Nebraska for several years and traveled the Midwest while there, many of the everyday depictions of life on the Plains in Fargo ring true. Few people set the alarms on their cars or homes, most people drove five miles under the speed

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Fargo follows the mechanics of pulp fiction with various interrelated storylines running simultaneously and seemingly independent of each other.

“It’s a big challenge, every one of these — to come up with both a crime to hang it on and a large cast of characters on a collision course — each has to be new and interesting and have a different point of view. But we are exploring certain archetypes that are inescapable on a moral spectrum,” Noah Hawley, Fargo executive director said in a New York Times interview. “There always has to be a Marge and a Jerry and a [Steve]

FARGO Page 34

LIFESTYLE

Smithsonian’s Community Anacostia Museum: What’s a Museum Without Visitors?

Andrea Jones Associate Director of Education Anacostia Community Museum

On Friday March 14th, the museum closed its doors to the public. Like the rest of the world, our staff was stunned by the sudden seriousness of COVID-19 and the paralysis that it caused. The education staff went into high gear -- immediately canceling school field trips and special events. “Everything out there stopped, but we never quit,” recounted Jenelle Cooper, Community Engagement Coordinator.

After the initial adjustment period and the realization that the pandemic was not going away, staff wondered how they were going to stay connected to their audiences.

WHAT IS A MUSEUM WITHOUT VISITORS?

Thousands of museums across the country were wondering the same thing. The pandemic caused a seismic shift in the core function of all public-facing arts organizations. It was essentially an identity crisis. As a museum consultant, I wrote about the need for museums to let go of old norms and begin to empathize with their audiences’ new pandemic needs in a blog post entitled “Empathetic Audience Engagement During the Apocalypse.

As a knee-jerk reaction to instability and financial survival, many organizations turned inward and adopted a “wait it out” approach. The Anacostia Community Museum has a long history of facing outward towards the needs of their communties, so education staff got to work brainstorming the kinds of programming that would be appropriate for the moment.

The museum’s first pandemic program was not a history panel or an exhibit lecture; it was virtual workshop called “Just Breathe.” Sensing that their audiences needed practical strategies to manage stress, educators invited a holistic healer to lead zoom audiences in a series of breathing exercises. This was an outside the box idea for a museum. But it worked. People responded with gratitude that the museum had provided this

5 A June episode of #TakeTimeThursday explored the Japanese art of shirin-yoku, or forest bathing, and filmed the show amongst the trees. It was because of this program that international audiences to start tuning in. (Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash)

little respite from the chaos. “After that first program, I think we all felt like we could breathe a bit easier. We had learned how to pivot in the new normal,” said Cooper. Since then, this virtual series of online programs, which became known as “#TakeTimeThursday” has featured everything from forest bathing to spoken word poetry. It’s really a fun and experimental way to just take a break from it all for a few moments. The wellness program now has an international audience and a corps of superfans that show up every week.

I’ve just completed my first month as the new Associate Director of Education and I can’t be more excited to build on what the museum has started. The ways that we can get creative during a pandemic are going to go even further. Here are a few plans I’d like to share: • We are reimagining a Smithsonian exhibit called “Men of Change” by taking it outside the walls of the museum into landscape of the community. This inspiring show features 27 African American men who have made positive change in the world. Right now is the perfect time for images of bold, beautiful, and powerful Black men to be displayed loud and proud. (Details coming soon. Tentative opening Feb. 1, 2021) • #TakeTimeThursdays will continue to uplift online audiences every Thursday from now until summer 2021. • Starting after the new year, a digital projector system will project larger-than-life images onto the museum’s exterior brick walls, providing a stunning new way to enjoy the art of social justice.

For now, we won’t see you at the museum, but we invite you to visit us at anacostia.si.edu and to check out the events tab. We’ll see you on the screen or in the streets – but we will never quit being there for you. CATCH-12 from Page 32 Buscemi and a Peter Stormare, those kinds of pure good and pure evil and moral challenges in the middle. At a certain point, you don’t want to repeat yourself, so the question becomes: ‘What’s left to say? What’s interesting to say?’”

SEASON 4:

The current season of Fargo takes on a 1950s tale of two rivaling crime syndicates in Kansas City. As a source of protection and to ensure peace an African American and Italian American crime family agree to exchange their youngest sons. Comedian Chris Rock (Loy Cannon) heads the Black family, while Jason Schwartzman (Josto Fadda) leads the Italians. Not sold on Rock as a crime boss and would have pitched James Vincent Meredith (Opal Rackley) who portrays Cannon’s bodyguard, the ball to lead this cast. In addition to the crime tale, the scripting does a delightful job of framing Black life in 1950s Missouri with characters like Ethelrida Pearl Smutny (played by E'myri Crutchfield) the mixed-race daughter of the local mortician and the bank-robbing lesbian couple, Zelmare Roulette (Karen Aldridge) and Swanee Capp (Kelsey Asbille). Glynn Turman as Doctor Senator, Cannon’s adviser and Jessie Buckley as Oraetta Mayflower, the serial killer nurse, give riveting performances. These episodes can be viewed each Sunday on AMC.

SEASON 3:

Set primarily between 2010 and 2011, in three Minnesota towns: St. Cloud, Eden Valley, and Eden Prairie, couple, Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor) and Nikki Swango (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), are the focus. After unsuccessfully trying to rob Ray's brother Emmit, the duo become involved in a double murder case. Available for streaming on Hulu.

SEASON 2:

Set in 1979 between Sioux Falls, S.D. and Luverne, Minn., this season is perhaps the best of the show’s offerings. The Gerhardt crime family, a major mob syndicate, and a small-town beautician, Peggy Blumquist (Kirsten Dunst), collide when the youngest son of the Gerhardt family goes missing. The standouts in this season are easily actors Bokeem Woodbine and twin brothers Brad and Todd Mann (who portray Mike Milligan, and Gale and Cole Kitchen). They are syndicate muscle from Kansas City and add an intriguing layer to the tale (no spoilers). An intense performance also comes from Zahn McClarnon, as Native American henchman Hanzee Dent who works for the Gerhardt clan. Available for streaming on Hulu.

SEASON 1:

Based on a 2006 case, Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) drives down a Minnesota road, hits a deer and crashes. Upon impact the trunk latch pops open freeing a man dressed only in his underwear. The man runs across a snowbank and hides, then freezes to death. The investigation into the frozen man’s death puts well-meaning law enforcement one step behind Malvo who incites or facilitates the murders of several local residents while hiding out. Thornton is perfectly menacing and the cast brilliant – including an appearance by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as FBI agents. Available for streaming on Hulu. WI

"At a certain point, you don’t want to repeat yourself, so the question becomes: ‘What’s left to say? What’s interesting to say?’”

– NOAH HAWLEY

wi book review

horoscopes

NOV 12 - 18, 2020

"Black Women, Black Love: America's War on African American Marriage" By Dianne M. Stewart c.2020, Seal Press $30 336 pages

By Terri Schlichenmeyer WI Contributing Writer

You can't stand to watch another happily-ever-after movie again.

You're done with all those romance-y novels, tender songs of love, and dreams of flowers every Valentine's Day. Statistically speaking — and being realistic — that stuff isn't in the cards for you, and in "Black Women, Black Love" by Dianne M. Stewart, you'll see how this might have happened.

About a decade ago, the Census Bureau released a sobering fact: nearly three out of four Black women in America were not married. More than half of those women had never even been to the altar and, says Stewart, it wasn't really their fault. "The trouble is not with Black women failing to value marriage," she says, "it is the shrinking demographic of those whom Black women want to marry."

The issue, she says, goes back to the time of slavery.

By the very act of being brought to America on slave ships, African women were separated from husbands, families, and cultures and, once here, were shuffled from place to place. For young enslaved women, then, finding a new partner often meant looking elsewhere, "on different estates," leading to more separation. Sometimes, slave women had no choice in partners, period: they were told who they were going to marry and procreate with.

Post-war, it was discovered that some of the unions created or forced during slavery weren't always recorded, leaving former slaves with multiple spouses, scattered families, invalidated marriages, and war widows who couldn't prove their status.

By the early 1900s, Black women began losing their husbands — and their own lives — to attacks and lynching. In the 1930s, Aid to Dependent Children (later, AFDC) was created; by the 1960s, such programs "punished Black love" through programs that essentially sent Black men away from their families. And in this century, the astronomical rates of incarceration of Black men of marriageable age mean fewer Black men on the "marriage market."

So "will Black women ever have it all?"

It'll take some adjustment, as author Dianne M. Stewart indicates, and the solution may be controversial and absolutely will require change in government, in our collective attitudes, and within an individual woman's mindset.

To be clear, this isn't a how-to guide. It's not even a relationship book, really. Instead, "Black Women, Black Love" lays out an eye-opening, painful, provocative history lesson that points solidly back to, and underscores, Stewart's point: that Black Americans — men and women — have been manipulated for centuries toward a dearth of romantic options, through no fault of their own.

And yet, before offering a number of ideas for change within the Black community, Stewart reserves some blame for Black Americans themselves. She points, for instance, at perceived "value" that allows unmarried Black men to "develop simultaneous relationships" and delay settling down, and she examines Black attitudes toward dark and light skin and perceptions of marriageability.

This leaves readers with thought-provokers, things to reflect upon, and reasons to roll up their sleeves. There's work to do, and "Black Women, Black Love" could finally get you that happily-ever-after, after all.

WI ARIES Use caution when dealing with credit or banking issues, as you can be overly optimistic and exceed your balance. Additionally, avoid signing important documents today, as it's quite easy to miss a crucial point or even a full addendum. Lucky Numbers: 6, 26, 44

TAURUS Today, you have energy, but perhaps too much, as you find trouble focusing on the things you should be doing. It may be hard to sit still even on tasks that interest you. Some vigorous exercise in the morning can help or play happy music and dance around the kitchen as you do the breakfast dishes. As the day goes on, remind yourself of the work you want to get done. And if you really don't, then honor that, too. Lucky Numbers: 8, 13, 27

GEMINI Despite the tradition of an unlucky Friday the 13th now, a romantic connection can happen. Consider dating someone who's not necessarily your "type." Allow a friend to fix you up with someone new. Today, the universe brings opportunities related to your goal but may not be what you expect. Lucky Numbers: 14, 17, 45

CANCER Romance energy beckons, as someone may ask you out on a date. Your sweetheart lures you to the bedroom. This is a good day to watch romantic movies or to reach out to your honey with some sexy, steamy texts. Fertility energy is also high right now if you want to take some steps to add to the family. Lucky Numbers: 37, 45, 51

LEO Today is a good day to take all of your frustrations about your job and put that energy toward solutions. This may mean redoing systems by stripping away what's not working, so you are down to the essence and expanding from there. This can also mean it's time to update your resume and post it so a new opportunity can find you. Lucky Numbers: 2, 10, 21

VIRGO Today, there can be some serious miscommunications. You may marvel at how your partner interpreted something you said. Unfortunately, today it will be difficult to clarify things. Skip deep, heavy conversations today and focus on topics such as art, design, spirituality, and dreams. Save serious talks for another day. Lucky Numbers: 2, 33, 35

LIBRA There will be negotiations needed today to get what you want from someone important in your life. Fortunately, this is one of your particular skills. Be diplomatic and be willing to compromise to get to a win-win solution. Lucky Numbers: 3, 31, 48

SCORPIO Today, trust yourself. If you need more sleep, turn off the alarm. If you feel like skipping the gym in order to make some important phone calls, then do so. Please note: Your intuition will not tell you to eat a dozen donuts, but it might tell you to work on your screenplay rather than clean the bathroom. Lucky Numbers: 3, 4, 21

SAGITTARIUS For those Sagittarius natives already in a love relationship, this is a great time to really pamper your sweetheart. Block out some quality time today or bring a little gift home with you. If you are looking for love, reach out to someone who's caught your eye on a social media or a dating website. Lucky Numbers: 3, 5, 16

CAPRICORN You may get a work-at-home notification, or you may get the opportunity to go back into the office. There can be compromises, and a win-win situation can occur through some negotiation. What's important today is to know what you want and to be clear when you are asked. Lucky Numbers: 3, 13, 19

AQUARIUS You may be starting a new position, or if you're in an established job, there may be a new supervisor or new duties for yourself. The best use of this energy is to consider whether you want to stay in your current position. Now you have the opportunity to be seen by those who do the hiring. Lucky Numbers: 14, 16, 21

PISCES Go beyond the superficial busywork and focus on your goal. This aspect can give you a tremendous drive for success. Pisces native, your sign can transcend boundaries and overcome limitations that block other signs. Couple that with this powerhouse pair, and you can reach more people than you ever thought possible. This is a good day to post your thoughts and your insights in a public way. Lucky Numbers: 2, 23, 29