February 7, 2015 – Writergurlny

New York Transit Museum

One of New York City’s greatest cultural assets is our museums. The sheer number of them is incredible.

Today I had the opportunity to visit the New York Transit Museum. Located in a defunct train station in Brooklyn Heights, the transit museum is not the traditional museum. Perfect for kids and families, it is the history of the New York City transit system that is told in a fun and accessible way.

My favorite part of the visit was going through the various incarnations of the subway cars. Each train car is as it was during it’s own time. I half expected to see actors dressed in period costume to come through the doors and interact with each other. The advertisements in the train cars, told the story of the era that the car was used in, if one used those as the only reference of that specific era.

Compared to other museums, the price to get in extremely reasonable. Non senior citizen adult admission is $7.00, admission for children ages 2-17 is $5.00, senior citizen admission is $5.00 (it’s also free for people over 62 if they visit on Wednesday), and member admission costs nothing.

I highly recommend this museum, especially for kids. They will have a blast.

The Tutor Book Review

With any legend, especially one like William Shakespeare, there is often more myth and fiction than historical documented fact. With that myth and fiction, modern writers can delve into the what ifs of that person’s life and add new experiences that may or may not have happened.

Andrea Chapin’s new book, The Tutor, introduces the reader to Katharine de L’Isle, a woman who would briefly occupy a place in Master Shakespeare’s heart. Orphaned as a young girl by a fire that killed her parents and siblings, Katharine was raised in the household of her uncle, Sir Edward. At the age of 18, she married her much older husband whose own children were older than she. Two years into the marriage, Katharine was widowed and returned to her uncle’s house. Presently at the age of 31, she has turned down several marriage proposals and is content to be a second mother to her young cousins.

But there is danger afoot. Katharine and her family are Catholic. In Elizabethan England, being Catholic was dangerous. To save his life, Sir Edward leaves England for the continent after the murder of the family priest. Then William Shakespeare enters Katharine’s life. Master Shakespeare has entered the household as the tutor of Katharine’s young cousins. Flirty, intelligent and with a quick tongue, Katharine initially wants nothing to do with the new tutor. But hate soon turns to something else, as soon as she begins to read his stories and his poetry.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book. Unlike many women of her era, Katharine is educated, intelligent and not shy about sharing her opinions. A student of Shakespeare might be able to read into this character (if she were real and not fiction), that she might have been the inspiration for Katherina (Taming Of The Shrew), Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) or another of the feisty, intelligent women that dominate Shakespeare’s plays. The middle of the book lagged on for me a little too much, but by the end, I was a satisfied reader.

I recommend this book.