Book Review - "The Invention of Wings"

Book Review - “The Invention of Wings” – by: Sue Monk Kidd - 373 pages – Viking - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

Before sitting down with this year’s equivalent of The Help, I did something I wish I’d done before reading that politically correct, if potty-mouthed, Kathryn Stockett phenomenon a few years back—I asked a dozen acquaintances (liberals, conservatives, men and women young and old) a question that I considered fairly straightforward: “Do you approve of slavery?”

It seemed unnecessary to sound out my Black associates on the issue.

I explained that I’d just read my fourth bestselling novel on the subject in as many years: The Invention of Wings, by the immensely talented Sue Monk Kidd, and was preparing a review.

“Approve of slavery? Of course not,” came the universal reply. “What kind of question is that?” And one associate added, “Why would you even suggest approving such a thing?”

The simple fact is, of course, that I had made no suggestion at all. I merely wanted to establish what seemed obvious to me—that an inordinate number of books are still being written as apologies for an intrinsically evil, mostly economically driven institution that no longer exists … and whose proponents would be roundly castigated if it did.

With all due respect, in Kidd’s sweeping narrative about a White girl and her Black slave counterpart, it seems the Georgia author considers it unworthy of inclusion in her 1800’s literary prognostication that general condemnation of slavery might actually come to pass. (Incidentally, the term ‘counterpart,’ suggesting a degree of equality, would have gotten both youngsters severely punished if uttered in ante-bellum South Carolina).

That said, one can nonetheless picture legions of fans succumbing huffily to Kidd’s overkill as they are psychologically forced to weep for ‘Handful’ the slave, while being inwardly corralled into berating her owner whenever possible. Oh, the opportunities to fashion the 11-year-old Mistress Sarah into a truly courageous champion are there, alright, but one gets the impression from the outset that such would amount to the stealing of ‘Handful’s’ thunder—a prospect anathema to Kidd, and not to be permitted in her overstuffed bag of tricks.

This literary lopsidedness is a device that Ms. Kidd stresses unrelentingly in The Invention of Wings. It begins with a slave-whipping that Sarah Grimke (a true-life historical figure, by the way) has witnessed as a child. To her credit, the author uses the traumatic incident as the cause of the incipient abolitionist’s stuttering, though Kidd fails to develop what could have been a much to be pitied, full-blown disorder. It was an opportunity sadly squandered, since speech pathologists assure us that the impact of stammering (a more apt term for Sarah’s problem) on one’s emotional state can be severe.

But when it comes to creating sympathetic characters, we know where Sue Monk Kidd’s inclinations are focused. Her crusade, like Sarah’s, is clearly defined, rigid, and it brooks no diminution. She flat-out refuses to budge from the mold of Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Henry David Thoreau … even in 21^st Century America.

This is all well and good, and to suggest that Kidd, Stockett, Northrup (12 Years a Slave) et al do otherwise would be not only politically incorrect, but artistically unfair. Thus, as writers and readers, we find ourselves in a quandary, where old wounds can hardly be expected to heal if well-intentioned authors—especially those whose book sales number in the millions of copies annually—insist on scraping the nation’s sores during a drumbeat cacophony that constantly rings loudest along the port side corridors of history.

___________________________________________________________________

Award-winning Smithtown writer Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eight novels, and his book and theater reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “Harvest” due in late summer, an American doctor is forced to perform illegal surgeries for a gang of vital organ traffickers in The Balkans.

History In The Making - Smithtown's Founding Father Richard Smythe Statue

Creating a statue of the bull rider, Richard Smythe…by Bradley Harris, Smithtown Historian

(click on photos to enlarge)

Group photo: Town Historian Bradley Harris, Debra Schwartz, Cris Damianos, Libby Smith, BJ Ervick, Jiwoong Cheh, Ivan Schwartz, Rich SmithLast Thursday, Cris Damianos invited me to join him on a trip into Brooklyn to visit the art studio where the statue of Richard Smythe is being created.  Richard Smith and his sister Libby joined us on the early morning trip to Studio EIS which took us deep into the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.  We parked along the bank of the East River within sight of the Statue of Liberty. We walked up 32^ndStreet through a canyon created by six story industrial buildings until we found an entrance door marked No.68.  We entered the building and rode the freight elevator up six floors and then walked into the studio where we were greeted by members of the Schwartz family – Ivan, his brother Elliot, and his sister Debra – the owners of Studio EIS.  Entering the studio, our attention was drawn to a large clay statue that stood at the far end of the loft.  As we approached, we became aware that we were looking at a statue of Richard Smythe.  (See the photograph accompanying this article.)

A lot of people have had a hand in designing and creating this statue of the founder of Smithtown that will soon become a fixture in the center of town.  It hasn’t been easy to design when you consider the fact that we know very little about the man Richard Smythe. We have no paintings of him, no descriptions of him, and very few personal objects have survived.  I have always felt that he was a large man primarily because of his chair which is part of the Smithtown Historical Society’s collection.  The chair is actually the base of a tilt top table (that is missing its top) and has no back and a very wide seat.  Only a very large man would find it comfortable.  But the chair is rather flimsy evidence to support the view that Richard Smythe was a large man.  

A much better way of determining Richard Smythe’s size and build is to take a look at his descendants.  There are many Smiths living today who claim direct descent and many of them, that I have met, are large men, well over six feet tall, with stocky builds.  The Smith family historian, Ned Smith, has attempted to determine Richard Smythe’s physical characteristics from DNA, and has had geneticists tell him that his great, great grandfather had DNA most like that of the bull rider. He stood well over six feet tall, as did Ned’s own father and many of his uncles.  So it was decided early on that the statue would be of a man over six feet tall with a stocky build.

The creative crew: Jiwoong Cheh(Sculptor), BJ Ervick(Production manager), Debra Schwartz(Project manager), Ivan Schwartz(Director) There were many other questions that had to be answered before artists could begin to bring the statue to life.  What did Richard Smythe look like?  What were his facial features?  How did he wear his hair?  What kind of clothing would he wear?  How should he be pictured?  What would he be doing?  Fortunately, to answer these questions and many others, the Schwartz family, who own and operate Studio EIS in Brooklyn, are very experienced in creating historic statues.  Having created images of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin for national museums, they knew what questions needed to be answered and they knew how a life-size bronze statue would be created and cast.

Cris Damianos found Studio EIS when he began seriously considering the creation of a bronze sculpture of Richard Smythe.  Having grown up in Stony Brook, where he attended and graduated from the Stony Brook School, Cris was steeped in the legends and lore of the Smith family.  Even so, he never truly understood why Smithtown had a statue of a bull to commemorate its founding and not even a plaque to remember the man who actually made it happen.  He decided that one day he would erect a statue in Richard Smythe’s honor and place it in the middle of town where everyone could see it and be reminded of the remarkable man who founded Smithtown in 1665. The opportunity to do just that came with the 350^th anniversary of the founding of Smithtown.

After talking with his brothers about the idea of creating a statue of Richard Smythe and convincing them that an appropriate location for the statue would be in front of their building on the southeast corner of Route 111 and Main Street, the Damianos Realty Group agreed to fund the project.  Cris was delegated to find a company that could create and cast a bronze sculpture of Richard Smythe.  After meeting with several local historical experts, including Joshua Ruff and Neal Watson of the L.I. Museum, Kiernan Lannon from the Smithtown Historical Society, Richard Smith the Mayor of Nissequogue, and the Smithtown Historian, Cris decided that the project would be possible to achieve and he engaged Studio EIS to create the sculpture.  

The Schwartz family invited Cris and a bus load of guests to visit their studio to see where and how the statue would be made.  Then the Schwartzes came out to Smithtown to meet with Cris and interested parties to talk about Richard Smythe and his role in founding Smithtown.  Through these meetings and the in-put they received from historians, the Schwartzes were able to determine many things about the image to be portrayed.  Decisions were made about the size of the statue, about appropriate clothing, and how it should be posed.  It was decided that the artist would use historic photos of Smith family descendants and create a composite image that captured Richard Smythe as he might have looked in March of 1665, clutching his newly won patent for the Nesaquake lands, and proudly pointing out to all the lands he had acquired.  It was determined that he should be wearing a hat and cloak, and since this was a man who was banished from Southampton for refusing to doff his hat to the town magistrates, it was thought that his hat should be set securely on his head.  With these instructions, the Schwartzes returned to their studio in Brooklyn and their artists went to work.

Jiwoong Cheh, the resident sculptor of Studio EIS, began the work of creating a life-size clay model of Richard Smythe.  It was this clay model that we were invited to see last week.  As you can see from the accompanying photographs, the artists and sculptor have done an incredible job of rendering Richard Smythe in clay.  Only the hat and cloak have yet to be converted into clay.  Once the clay model is completed, it will be shipped out to the foundry in Arizona where the clay statue will be magically transformed into a bronze statue and returned to Brooklyn.  The Schwartzes will put the finishing touches on the statue, and by this time next year, September of 2015, the finished statue will be on its way to Smithtown just in time to be a part of the celebration of Smithtown’s 350 years of history.  

So if all goes according to plan, the statue will be in place on its pedestal, ready to be unveiled and dedicated at 10 a.m. on the morning of September 19, 2015, just in time for all those participating in the Sesquarcentennial parade to see it in the middle of town reminding everybody that it was Richard Smythe, and not the bull, who founded the Town of Smithtown.

Learn more about the Lost Wax Process used to create this statue by watching this video.

Always On the Job - Smithtown Residents Recognized By County Legislators

Pictured at the Legislature are from left to right Marty Thompson, Colleen Thompson. Suffolk County Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta, Michael Sialiano and Suffolk County Legislator John Kennedy, Jr. St. James residents Marty Thompson, Colleen Thompson and Michael Sialiano of Smithtown were recognized by Legislators Robert Trotta and John Kennedy, Jr. recently for their heroic efforts in saving an injured man from his burning vehicle.

The Thompsons were returning from a family vacation when they noticed a car on fire off of Southern State Parkway and stopped to help. They were aided by Michael Sialiano in removing the injured man out of the burning vehicle.

“The driver was very lucky that the people who came to his assistance were experienced and highly trained emergency responders. Mr. Thompson, a retired lieutenant from the Suffolk County Police Department, is the Chief of Police for the Village of Head of the Harbor and a longtime member of the St. James Fire Department. His daughter, Colleen, is a Deputy Suffolk County Sheriff and a former member of the St. James Fire Department. Mr. Sialiano is a retired city firefighter,” said Legislator Trotta.

My Preschool Drop Out Heads to Grad School

My Preschool Drop Out Heads to Grad School

Maureen Rossi

My new knee replacement and I looked upon the three flights of stairs as if they were Mount Everest; the one-hundred year old building had twenty-two stairs per flight opposed to the standard twelve.   Ascending slowly, I was taking in the sounds and scents of the many inhabitants of the Washington Avenue Apartment building.   I was nauseated as floor two housed one very unhygienic cat owner.  

I was looking forward to the evening with my husband in Binghamton – a short stop on our sojourn to Buffalo for his 90 year old Aunt Gloria’s wake and funeral.    Arriving in our son’s vacant apartment, I was surprised that I did not need a mask or penicillin to enter the large studio.  I was pleasantly surprised to find he had cleaned and bleached the refrigerator and freezer before headed down to Long Island after graduation.  We kept his apartment all summer at a cost of $500 a month because our twenty-two year old would be headed back up for a one-year graduate program in September.  He is a Mechanical Engineer and attends the Thomas Watson School of Engineering at S.U.N.Y. Binghamton.

Bryan spent the summer working for the New York Power Authority where he was whisked to power plants all over the state and was wined and dined by men in the industry.   In between Sushi and fine Nappa reds, he lived with his girlfriend of four years in Brooklyn for half the summer and then my husband moved them to microscopic digs in Astoria.  

Like many young adult children from Long Island, he came home on weekends to drink our good beer, eat our food and utilize our pool and boat.  We loved every expensive second of it.   A comical witty young man, he doesn’t fit the standard stereotype of an Engineer.   Captain of the Water polo team up at school he is quite social and enjoys extreme sports – you know jumping from airplanes, scuba-diving, etc. 

In between cleaning his windows and floors and bleaching the kitchen, like clips of 8 mm film, images of Bryan’s childhood danced in my head.  He was a beautiful baby – platinum blond hair and fat little Irish face with skin as white as snow.  He was a happy little baby.  From the moment he came out of the womb, his sister, two years his senior, was his very best friend.  He wanted to do everything Anne Marie did so when he was three the extremely shy and sensitive boy announced he wanted to go to school.  

I heeded and found a preschool for Bryan; however, after just a day he was insisting he didn’t want to go back.  This went on for a few days – he began to fret and cry at night, he started to refuse food.  I literally watched the very happy little boy experience stress and sadness.  I was upset by this; I was in a quandary.  I had my pediatrician, a mother of six who was also my childhood pediatrician saying it was essential I keep him in the school.  My mother-law with a degree in education also insisted it would be in his best interest to stay in pre-school.    She felt it would help Bryan when he started kindergarten because has born at the very end of November and would be the youngest in his grade as it was.

I couldn’t do it, it defied my maternal instincts.  I listened to my twenty-nine year old mommy heart and I let Bryan drop out of preschool.   He and I spent the year visiting dozens of museums, going to children’s theater, zoos and aquariums.  We did arts and crafts, we baked and fished and hiked and watched many films together.  We ate dirty water dogs in Central Park and discussed the history of the great metropolis.    It was a very special year and when he marched off to kindergarten the following year at the tender age of four, he was fine.  Ok, maybe it took a few tears and weeks but he was fine.

As I dusted the pile of video games in my man-boy’s apartment I smiled.  Bryan and I had come along way on our education journey since then.   I found a water gun on the floor beneath his Brooklyn Brewery sign.  I found stacks of books and papers with the scribblings of a mad man, algorithms, formulas and evidence of his complex course load. I found a note from his sister from her travels to Ireland this year and the Irish whiskey candy she brought back for him.

Bryan Rossi and Jen WynkoopWith the sounds of revelers from Dillingers Irish pub making their way up to the third floor apartment, I thought to myself, this is the most expensive overnight stay of my life.   We paid $1,500 for one night and we had to clean the place and fill it with food.  My husband Jay and I laughed at the absurdity of the scenario.  Over shots of Patron and glasses of filtered water I thought about my son’s life, his amazing accomplishments and what the future holds for him.  His beautiful girl Jen is a successful producer at a major network at 30 Rock; however both she and Bryan have their eyes set on L.A. after he completes grad school.  I’m cool with it – it has always been my strongest belief that God just lends us our children for just a short while.  As the glow of the Patron settled over me and warmed my sentimental heart – I thought how lucky I am that God lent me this amazing human being to raise and guide an educate – that he lent me my preschool drop out. 

Labor Day Exit For Planning Dept. Director Frank DeRubeis

“Frank DeRubeis is an exceptional man with a wide breadth of knowledge in so many fields.  That knowledge, I believe, inspired so many of his planning initiatives. There was never any doubt about his commitment and dedication to the Town of Smithtown and it is for that reason that I relied and trusted his judgments and advice. So many of his planning initiatives are now part of the Smithtown landscape and have helped make Smithtown the great town it is. I shall sorely miss him.” Smithtown Supervisor Patrick R. Vecchio.

Frank DeRubeis in 1973 and 2014When Frank DeRubeis leaves his office on Friday, August 29th (retirement begins on September 1)  it will be for the last time as Director of Planning and Community Development for the Town of Smithtown. A position he has held since 1985. 

Frank began his career as a planner for the town in 1973 earning an annual salary of $8,500. Thirty-one years later he enjoys the status of being the highest paid employee in the town. The economics of retirement is what drove him to retire. DeRubeis is 68 and in good health, but he is realistic, retirement ensures that his wife will be provided for should something happen to him. He sees retirement as necessary rather than something he is doing willingly. “Everyone keeps telling me congratulations, but it doesn’t feel like congratulations. I don’t want to be rude to people, but it’s not something I feel like celebrating.” 

Sitting with Frank in early August he reflected on his thirty-one year career in Smithtown. Clearly he is proud of his staff and their professionalism. He ferverntly supports a resident’s right to access information and keeping public records open. Ask about his successes and he talks about the Galleria project on Terry Rd. in Smithtown. A once blighted site that housed a concrete operation, sand mine and construction equipment storage facility, it was transformed into a thriving development of homes, condominiums and apartments.  The residential area is surrounded by commercial development - a CVS, Maureen’s Kitchen, Tutor Time and more. He talks about the Charles P. Toner Park in Nesconset, the site of the former Amory.  But clearly he is most proud of the 9/11 Memorial Park on Main St. in Smithtown. The project, according to Frank, enjoyed the support of the public, many of whom made generous donations thus making it one of the few town projects where money was not an issue. The park is not only filled with memories it is functional and visited by residents and those visiting Smithtown. 

DeRubeis has a few regrets. The fact that he couldn’t convice the Town to take over the Kings Park Psychiatric Center still stings. “I felt from day one that we should have taken it all. The entity that cares most about the commity will be the Town, not Albany, you know, and I thought we should handle it just like Islip handled Central Islip. Yes it would have cost us a lot of effort, but I think in the long run if you have the chance to direct what’s in your town, you should handle it.”  Not completing the Master Plan is another regret, as is losing the battle over the Hess station on Harned and Jericho Tpke. in Commack. 

While Frank DeRubeis has many supporters, there are some who blame him for Smithtown’s stagnation and accuse him of being an obstructionist.  “Not true! Our records tell a different story.” DeRubeis explained that applicants often come in without complete or accurate applications making delays unavoidable.  “I oppose projects that I believe are harmful or injurious to the public.” Frank’s philosophy has remained the same since he started in 1973 ” I have to remind my planners, our job is finding out what the community wants and then to figure out how to get what they want in the best ways possible. It’s a means towards and end. You’re not implementing your ideas, you are getting the community what it wants. Those are the people who are hiring you. That’s important. A lot of times people and planners are coming up with stuff because they want to do all these crazy things, but the issue is you look at a community and you try to discern what their needs are and then define how they want to develop. If people in the Town of Smithtown want to change downtown Smithtown to have ten story buidings and parking garages, that’s their choice, it’s not up to me.”

What’s in DeRubeis’s future? “Well I have told the Supervisor I am not going into private consulting.” Retirement from Smithtown does not mean that Frank is leaving the Town completely. He would very much like to complete his work on the Master Plan and he is more than willing to donate his time if town board members agree. Photography is a hobby of his and he plans to take  photography classes at Stony Brook University.  Teaching at a college or planning in a different capacity are ideas he is considering. 

Frank DeRubeis will leave his office on August 29 and his life will change and so will Smithtown. All the best to you in the next chapter of your life Frank DeRubeis!