Exploring Salem: Day One

[Ever been to Salem, MA? Me neither. Fortunately, Jessica Tennant of My Path to Mommyhood took a road trip there this summer from her home in upstate New York and is telling us all about it! –S]

My husband Bryce and I go to Maine every summer. There is nothing quite so beautiful as coastal Maine, and we get to see many different parts of the state because my in-laws live in the capital area, which is central to just about everything.

It just takes a REALLY long time to get there, so we’ve started stopping partway on the way there and the way back, which gives us the added benefit of exploring New England.

Weekend in Salem

This year, we decided on a romantic weekend in Salem, Massachusetts to break up the trip to Maine.

I had actually never been to Salem before, which is a shame. Salem is a tremendously kooky town, full of serious and tragic history (ahem, witch trials) as well as an affinity for ghosties, ghoulies, and all things Halloween, and a literary history involving Nathaniel Hawthorne and H.P. Lovecraft. It has cobblestone streets, tremendously old houses, and a red line painted throughout town called the Heritage Trail – following it sends you past many interesting historical attractions.

Bed and Breakfast

We stayed in The Coach House Inn, a bed and breakfast on Lafayette Street. It was built as a Victorian ship captain’s house in 1879. The inn was great, the innkeeper was very helpful and hospitable, and the breakfasts were continental and came in a Red-Riding-Hood style basket to your door at 8:30 in the morning, like magic.

One thing about the Coach House that wasn’t so great was the location. It was right on the street that leads you straight into historic Salem, but, to get there, you had to walk through a fairly sketchy (and, as we heard from locals, heroin-plagued) section of town. We walked once and used Uber to go home and then took advantage of street parking after that…so if you don’t mind driving instead of walking, it’s perfectly lovely.

Geek Pizza

Our favorite place to eat was Flying Saucer Pizza Company, which sounds like a strange choice for me as a person with Celiac disease, but it had delicious and safe gluten-free options. AND, it was decked out in art and action figures and all kinds of paraphernalia from Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, the Avengers, Ghostbusters…it was a terrifically geeky place! All the pizzas were named after various things from sci-fi, and they have a Space Pug, Charlie, who is their mascot.

I had The Vision pizza, TWICE (for dinner the first night and lunch the next day, because it was THAT GOOD), which had walnut pesto, cheese blend, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic fig. Does that not sound amazing? The regular pizza was excellent too, with Bryce mumbling “This is THE BEST pizza I have EVER HAD” to the server with his mouth full of a Hawaiian-style pizza with jalapeño peppers.

Ghost Tour

It was an appropriately thunderstormy night for a ghost tour with Black Cat Tours. Our guide was dressed in old-timey clothing and delivered a great mix of historical and paranormal tales. He brought us through the burying ground, past an original house that was restored and, apparently, has a very Ring-like ghost of a girl who was quarantined in the attic for having scarlet fever and peeks out the windows.

Giles Corey

There was a section of the burying ground that had stone benches jutting from a stone wall, with each bench etched with one of the names of the witch trial victims and the date of their death.

All were hanged except one – Giles Corey, who was accused of witchcraft in his 80s (but, lest you think he’s a good guy, he also accused his wife), and knew that if he was convicted or confessed he would lose his property to pay for his time in jail (yup, they had to pay for their meals and everything they got in the deplorable jail conditions themselves). He refused to confess or consent to be tried. He was tortured to death through “pressing” – they lay a board on him laden with more and more stone weights every time he refused to consent.

Although he died, he saved his property from confiscation this way, and now you know what it really means to be pressed for an answer (!)

Supposedly, he haunted the head of law enforcement who had him arrested, hanging out at the end of his bed and causing chest pains.

Favorite Haunts

We also learned of an angry divorcee ghost who haunts the space where they have weddings and dances and other events, tries to push people down the stairs, and wreaks havoc on art displays, stomping around the top floor and going down invisible stairs that don’t exist anymore to frighten people on the first floor.

We didn’t personally see any of the ghosts, but thought the tour was fabulously spooky and informative. (Who knew the inspiration for The Tell-Tale Heart was a real-life murder of a stingy old captain by his caretaker right there in Salem?) I am a sucker for a good ghost tour, and this one was atmospheric and not corny at all.

So much to do and see in the first day, how could our second day in Salem compare?

[Part 2 is coming up on Monday!]

Photos –
1, 2, 6: Jessica Tennant.
5: Doug Kerr on Flickr, color corrected. CCL.
3, 4, 7: Robert Linsdell on Flickr, color corrected. CCL.

October 24, 2016October 24, 2016

September Photo: Coffee

After BlogHer in L.A. but before driving back to Phoenix, I fueled up with brunch at Trois Familia in Silver Lake. I loved how the purple Le Creuset coffee mug they brought me looked against the coral wall I was sitting across from.

I wonder if they chose the colors for their brightly painted walls based on what would make good backgrounds for food photos. What do you think?

October 20, 2016

Gilligan’s Post-Apocalyptic Island

You may think the 1960s television show Gilligan’s Island is simply the tale of a 3-hour tour gone terribly awry, indefinitely stranding its passengers on a deserted island where hijinks, visits from goofy guest stars, and thwarted rescue attempts ensue. But it may have actually been a metaphor for restarting after the annihilation of civilization.

I know. Mind. Blown.

The Gilligan Manifesto, a documentary debuting at LA Femme International Film Festival this weekend, takes a fresh look at the slapsticky sitcom that went into production the year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was able to preview the film, which places Gilligan’s Island in its Cold War context and aims to reveal the critiques of democracy and capitalism behind its farcical facade.

Originally confined to text in an article in Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, writer and director Cevin Soling translated his ideas to film, taking advantage of the audio-visual medium with groovy novelty songs, original animation, quick cuts of Cold War era footage, and scenes from the show itself. By the time the opening titles appear, you’ve already seen a depressing number of mushroom clouds and atomic infernos exploding in sync with disturbingly upbeat tunes like “Love That Bomb.”

There are also interviews with creator Sherwood Schwartz, cast members Dawn Wells (“Mary Ann”) and Russell Johnson (“The Professor”), and (actual) Harvard professors of history and literature.

After an animation introduces the characters and illustrates the parallel between the island castaways and survivors emerging from a fallout shelter, the film examines the society they create, positing that it more closely resembles a “true” (non-dictatorial) communist system than a democratic/capitalist one.

While a few points are belabored and others left hanging, the film does raise some interesting questions.

Do societal structures, such as class divides, persist when society itself is gone? What about titles such as “professor,” “millionaire,” or “movie star”? Can a person lead without being corrupted by power? What’s the best way to distribute resources? Is Gilligan the ultimate proletariat-hero? Do the castaways even want to be rescued?

The Gilligan Manifesto gave me a lot to mull over. And it’s definitely changed the way I look at the show and its character archetypes.

– Film Info –

The Gilligan Manifesto is a feature documentary by Spectacle Films, Inc.

Debut: LA Femme International Film Festival

October 22, 6pm at Laemmle Theater (Music Hall) in Beverly Hills.
Festival tickets available online or on-site.
Discount for Single Film Screening Ticket with password “special.”

Information on additional screenings/viewing options was not available.

Photos via The Gilligan Manifesto.

October 17, 2016October 17, 2016

Playing Card Mini Journal (WIP) and Las Vegas Trip

A photo posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Jul 10, 2015 at 11:11pm PDT

Vegas has never seemed like my scene, but Phillip and I are planning to be there in a couple weeks. His longtime friend Michael, who now calls the area home, is getting married, so we’re taking a road trip! It’ll be my first time in Las Vegas (outside of a brief layover en route from Indiana, which doesn’t really count). So I’ve been researching things we might want to see – both on The Strip and beyond it.

A video posted by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Jul 11, 2015 at 9:55am PDT

I also started making a mini scrapbook with playing card pages.

Even if the glitz and excess I associate with Vegas isn’t so appealing to me, there’s more to every place than meets the eye. I’m looking forward to searching out spots that tell different stories.

PS In case you can’t see them, the Instagram shots are a photo of Mr. Cheeseface on a slot machine and a video of take-off over the lights of The Vegas Strip.

October 13, 2016October 11, 2016

The Next Phoenix Fan Fest

Whether it’s your favorite lunch spot or a local festival, when something you enjoy goes from niche to well-known, you may feel you miss the “good old days” before the crowds. Of course, those crowds help keep corner cafes in business and sustain community events.

It’s true of Phoenix Comicon. I’ve heard plenty of long-time attendees wax nostalgic about the earlier events with their shorter lines and sense of community, while, of course, enjoying the bigger name guests and programming made possible by the larger numbers.

Enter Phoenix Fan Fest.

Why Fan Fest?

Meant to evoke the feel of the early days of Phoenix Comicon, Fan Fest is a smaller, more intimate show by design. There are fewer tracks with the focus on artists/comics, costumes, and kid-friendly events.

It’s also more interactive. As one organizer put it, think of Fan Fest as “come and do things” instead of just “come and see things.” You can learn to play Quidditch (adapted for muggles, of course), compete in MS Paint Pictionary, make something with Lego, and even compete in a build-off!

At the first Fan Fest, artists, attendees, and the community collaborated to create a crowdsourced comic character, Blaze. Last year, they invented a nemesis for Blaze. This year, you can be a part of brainstorming action sequences for the two, while artists sketch and bring crowdsourced ideas to life!

New Time and Place

While the first two Fan Fests were held in Glendale in December, this year Fan Fest is happening earlier (October 23 and 24) and moving to the Phoenix Convention Center.

According to organizers, the time change is due, in part, to feedback from attendees that it’s difficult to get time off to go to an event in the middle of the holidays. People may also be tight on cash that time of year.

Attendees had complained about the University of Phoenix Stadium’s location in the West Valley. The Phoenix Convention Center is much more centrally located.

The Convention Center is also built to allow for bigger guest panels, more programming content, and more variety. The stadium only had three rooms for panels (and they were down this weird, dark hallway).

One downside is that there won’t be any more free parking. However, there are more transit options, including light rail stops right at the Covention Center, so you won’t necessarily have to drive.

Organizers said exhibitors were fans of the changes, and they’re hoping you will be too!

– Fan Fest info –

October 23-24, 2016
Phoenix Convention Center
Passes (aka “Memberships”) for sale online. Adults: $25-40, Kids: $10.
Guaranteed seating (new!): Pre-purchase reserved seating for featured guest panels. Limited number for sale until Oct 20 via “Events and Parties” tab on Buy/Memberships page. $15/each.

We’ve received media passes to past events from Phoenix Comicon.