I met actors Elise and Lola Fyke about four years ago when they spent a few months in Los Angeles with Elise’s husband’s sister, Marcie, who is my bff since junior high. I loved having some homegirls here in LA with me, so when Elise texted that she and her daughter Lola were planning to spend a few more months here from their hometown of Oxford, Mississippi (aka the “Velvet Ditch”, aka the hometown of William Faulkner, aka Ole Miss), I was looking forward to their arrival. I was also thrilled when, in less than two weeks, they managed to drive here, find a short term place here in the ‘hood, and get Lola registered at The Critter’s school.
Shortly after they arrived, my beloved father in law had a very serious heart attack and My Perfect Husband had to travel to Washington to be with his family and help manage things (he is recovering nicely, thank goodness), so with the hubby gone so much, The Critter and I have had a lot of time to play with the Fyke girls. Elise has become my running buddy – down for trips to Downtown LA and all these odd but cool events that I can never quite explain in words, Easter holidays and school events. Lola and The Critter have also become really sweet pals, so we are going to miss them terribly when they return to Oxford.
One of the fruits of their efforts is that Lola will make her television debut in the remake of ROOTS. At age ten (eleven tomorrow, her birthday!), she will act in a drama recreating the iconic series that first aired when I was exactly her age. I remember how sickened and saddened by the gripping brutality and the pain portrayed in the show. The younger generation really doesn’t have too many references like this program, and I imagine that the revival of it will stir much emotion. Mario van Peebles describes to The Hollywood Reporter the scenes that he directed with Lola as Abigail and the child who plays young Kizzy:
“How weird is it to be directing three beautiful little girls together and go, ‘OK, now this is where you call her a n—er lover?’ ” says Van Peebles. “So I would tell her, ‘OK, now remember your lines, and now absolutely forget all your lines and never say them again!’ They were like 8, 9. In between takes, they’d go play together and laugh and giggle. There were times when I had to just be the filmmaker in order to function on it. And there were times when I could just sit back and be ashamed and affected and moved and inspired as a human being.”
How does one explain this to a child? Turns out Lola didn’t know the word! Elise and her husband Harry went millennial and actually googled that “n” word for Lola to explain the context of the use of that word and why it was important to expose how people talked back then. She didn’t want to do it at first, but her agent told her “You’re an actor, just ACT”. That was all he had to say – the job has been done, and now the world will see it. We are hunkering down with tissues and rapt attention to see it at 9:00 pm Pacific.
I find I’m writing more blog posts here than usual, because I tend to want to write when I feel grateful. Words cannot express how much our family appreciates that Noah Margo listened to the plight of displaced families like ours, got together with Laura Chism, Dr. Michael Bregy and the entire Board of Directors made it a priority to help us continue our children’s learning path in this unprecented time. I understand that the Board voted unanimously to allow our boy to take his 100% online ILC from our home in the Bay – an enormous relief! My son is sitting at his desk as I write this, as today is the first day of school!
That’s the news and here’s the backstory:
Practicing ballet on the Bayou Bernard
The week before Katrina hit, I had the thought that I’d like to spend more time on the Coast. I’d been in Beverly Hills since 1999, fully immersed in the single girl in the city lifestyle with nonstop work on my career, so it was a mere flash. Growing up on the Bayou Bernard in Gulfport, Mississippi was a really sweet childhood of summer sailing, Marine Life, snoballs, sweet tea, shrimp boils, fish frys, shopping at Godchaux
on day trips to New Orleans and buying Sunday school shoes at Pappagallo.
Four years ago, we made that momentary flash a reality and began to spend summers in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, where we had lots of dear old friends, one hour from the New Orleans International, and an easy drive for my mom. Last year I found the place we would ultimately buy and then set about driving everyone I knew crazy because I could not talk about anything else. I was driven to get the house ready in a way that I’ve only ever experienced when I was pregnant and preparing the nest for my son. I remember saying to my friends and family (my mother confirms this) at the time that I had a feeling something might happen.
With mission accomplished, I planned a fabulous Christmas at our nest in the Bay, and was SO happy to be able to enjoy our holiday. Of course, as things happened, my entire family became really ill with a something like a flu that did not test as flu and stayed sick, essentially until Valentine’s Day. I can’t ever remember being that ill. We managed to get back to Beverly Hills for school, and plodded along until we began to feel better.
I was so excited when we left Beverly Hills on March 11th for Spring Break! After spending the first few days of their spring break with us in Beverly Hills Elise and Lola travelled with us to the bay to spend the remainder. We had big plans for doing nothing in the balmy weather and I brought some leaf ephemera I had been working on to use in some artwork.
To say that the following days felt like the apocalypse is an understatement. I have vague recollections of watching Tiger King, shaking my head, listening to Elise tell me all the news, because my nesting instinct came full circle. If we wanted to avoid illness, we had to isolate in Mississippi. No amount of figuring could make our place back in the ‘hood seem like a safer option, particularly since my husband and I can work remotely. At the end of the break BHUSD announced distance learning, and our new normal really began. It was a bumpy start, but my kid can teach himself how to do anything using Youtube (actually we all can and do), and learning online seemed like a no brainer. Our boy turned thirteen, Memorial Day happened, and then our regularly scheduled summer commenced, which would have brought us back to the bay anyway. Instead of the summer I imagined with shrimp boils on the patio, lots of California friends visiting and sleeping all over the house, seven hour lunches at Galatoires, and fantastic fireworks on July Fourth (Coastal residents are patriotic as all get out), we worried about Covid-19. I watched the numbers rise and the deaths being described as drowning. I bought numerous styles of hats and masks, and ordered everything I possibly could from Amazon and Walmart.
In the time between spring break and the announcement of the ILC, we had a really great groove going. I finished an entire collection of art, set up offices for hub and the boy, and a studio for me in the garage. I’ve never been so happy in a plywood room in my life! Online learning for school really is the new normal and a natural for us. Band practice, Taekwando lessons and Boy Scouts are meeting online too!
People ask us when we are returning to Beverly Hills, and we really can’t say. At the beginning of the ILC applications, we committed to an entire semester of the program, and are just forecasting to be here through Christmas. Maybe there will be a Christmas miracle that a regular household tonic can cure Covid-19. Until then, we are hiding out in the Bay and very grateful to do so. Thank you again BHUSD and Brandy McGill of WLOX TV for inspiring me to spark up the blog to tell what’s happening.
BeverlyHillsMom has a new site – Visit Alexandra90210.com for the latest work by Alexandra Anderson Bower
We are already in school for a month, Labor Day has come and gone, but the fun memories linger on from what felt like a super lazy summer. I didn’t make The Critter do summer camp, but secretly made a pact with myself that we would do some fun, stealthily educational and creative things to keep us sharp while we lolled in the pool or the freezing air conditioning that I love when it’s scorching heat. He told me that he had a GREAT summer, which comes to light in these photos taken from the last month(ish) of our break.
The entire month of June until June 26th, we were dealing with the loss of my wonderful father in law Harry, and tried to keep busy. He was truly one of the best people I have ever had the privilege to know.
It was quite fortunate that there was plenty of busy work getting ready for Woofstock 90210, which we worked on steadily until the event finally happened after its reschedule from the usual springtime date. It was SUCH a fun community event – we met hundreds of new dog lovers, and they all loved on the Lou. Since then, I have been minding the little store, and planning the next two Louis XIV of Beverly Hills books. The Critter learned a bit about having a paying job – he bought a ton of new Skyanders for his XBox360 with the money he makes helping me get prints mailed out and stuffing greeting cards into cellophane. We had a great Mommy and Critter lunch with my BFF Debra, where we learned to truly appreciate craft cocktails with video games for the kid and UBER. The journey to find the perfect publisher and agent continues – it’s learning a whole new set of rules and creating an entirely new network. Part of this learning was that I took a great webinar from literary agent Maria Vicente, and I feel like with each bit of information I glean, I am closer. I will probably write about this process more in the future, because it has truly blown my mind.
On two of the hottest days of the year, we trekked down to The Broad. The first trip was The Critter and me, because we did not have the impossible to get reservations and I knew that the no reservation line wait could be uncomfortably lengthy. This would be recon to assess what the absolute easiest way to handle wrangling kids, which involves eating, peeing, taking shelter from the heat, and doing a quick visit to Pershing Square to see Shard, the kinetic sculpture on display with an impending ending limited engagement. Post recon strategy worked really well! Elise and Lola joined in this time (yay they’re back for a while!), too. We valet parked ($15) at the Broad, then walked down to Pershing Square, which was really great; a flea market and live jazz, but we were completely scorched from the heat. We took a short respite at The Biltmore to cool down and rest stop, then lunch, then the Broad. My advice to non reservation line peeps: buy a ticket to Cindy Sherman (or whatever the featured exhibit is) and your two hour line wait becomes fifteen minutes. If you have the time to wait, it’s free. Check out MOCA across the street and Disney Music Hall while you’re at it. Kids love downtown – Lola and the Critter took on a whole different “city” vibe.
KUBO and the Two Strings was not a film that was on my radar this summer, but now it’s one of my all time favorites! A huge thanks to Focus Features and Laika for the invitation to screen the movie, tour the Magic of Laika exhibit at The Globe Theater and attend the premiere afterparty. I have to say that each of these invitations could have stood alone as a creative’s feast, so we were in heaven, experiencing the stop motion animated film and the exhibit of the making of KUBO, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Coraline. Beautiful Japanese folklore and the art of Origami were themes throughout, and we were able to talk to the filmmakers, including Travis Knight, the Oscar nominated CEO of Laika and director of the film. The party was a fabulous fete complete with cool activities and gifts like origami and lollipops that look like blown glass. The best part of this entire scene was the ease the filmmakers had with the open sharing of the creative process and being able to look at how digital printing and technology open new worlds for this art form. Laika is clearly at the top of the game in stop motion in the way that The Jim Henson Company paved the way for puppetry. They all are highly talented artists who love sharing their craft. As you’ll see from the photos, I could have written a book about all I learned that day, and The Critter may have discovered his future livelihood. If you haven’t seen KUBO, do it immediately. It’s that good!
Bringing up the Henson Company, I am VERY excited about the newest PBS Kids program for the little bitties, called Splash and Bubbles, which will air on PBS Kids November 23rd. Headlining the talented cast and crew are Sesame Street alums John Tartaglia and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph. The show incorporates not only the unparalleled voice and puppetry talent of the duo who performed as Oscar the Grouch and Abby Cadaby, but the puppetry has been taken to an entirely new level, using a tech board that incorporates puppetry with digital technology, creating a beautiful, hilarious animated program with STEM lessons in oceanography. Splash and Bubbles are modeled after actual fish, the series is based in real marine biology, and there are plans to work with local aquariums to create more ways to learn. I visited with Leslie and Lisa Henson about the wonderful ways that the technology gives new methods to practice the craft of puppetry. You may recall when I was first introduced to the digital artistry coming out of Henson for Sid the Science Kid by Lisa’s brother Brian – even more techniques have been created, and the result is sure to entrance your preschooler and cause them to say things like “Look! There’s a mandarin dragonette!”
When school commenced, I decided to join my creative bff’s Jeannine and Shannon at The Entrepreneur Edge Live (#TEELALive), as Jeannine would speak on one of the panel that would address branding. The event was organized by Joanna A. Turner, a globally known Advanced EFT & Master NLP Practitioner, Motivational speaker, and author, and promised to be “An EXCLUSIVE fun, TRANSFORMATIONAL and inspiring event for Female entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, healers and thought-leaders who are on a mission to change the world!” As someone who is open to trying new things on the front of self motivation but a good fifteen to twenty years older than the average age of the 150 attendees, I can honestly say that I walked away from the event HIGHLY motivated and secure in my process and progress. The other really big message I took away from the three days of meeting relatable, intelligent, empathetic, strong, and successful women is how wonderful it is that now young women who are ready to face up to their life goals, challenges, obstacles, failures, and successes have events and a group like TEELALive to turn to for connecting and support. In my late twenties, a group like these women would have given me SOOOOOOO much courage that mere group therapy could never provide. I thought Joanna and her team did a great job of bringing out the best of a new whole new breed of entrepreneur willing to break it down and work it out to get the quality life they envision. I’ve made new connections with women I like for all different reasons who bring fresh perspective to my life and I’m so happy to have this infusion of energy. When your life’s work is all about creating things out of nothing, that energy is precious.
The Critter has also kicked off fourth grade with his Cub Scout Troop as a Webelo 1. My Perfect Husband and I have the agreement that I do the gathering of stuff for the meetings and activities, and he’s the one to take the boy to said events. So far we’ve served homemade desserts to the second shift of the Beverly Hills Police Department, rocked the annual Water Splat, and gone on a geocaching expedition. My two men spent Labor Day weekend at Mammoth, while I celebrated Elise’s birthday with Jamie and Danny at PUMP, the recovery from which took the entire weekend…er week. This gave me the perfect excuse to finish binge watching the entire Gilmore Girls seven season series on Netflix. I SO love that show, and I actually miss the characters and wonder what they’ve been doing. I cant wait to see the new season – Hooray for the revival!
Coming soon – fun photos from two awesome events for Nintendo and YoKaiWatch, and more of my new affair with old school publishing.
