Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, September 1, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, September 1, 2018 


WALKING SIERRA MADRE... The Social Side By Deanne Davis


KATIE Tse..........This and That

BETA: THE EPIC SAGA OF THE 
DOMESTICATION OF CATS

I just watched “Alpha” with my 
husband last weekend! I’m no movie 
critic, but I thought it was pretty 
good. If you haven’t seen it, this film is about how man’s 
relationship with dogs began millennia ago, or at least 
how Hollywood envisions that it might have began. If 
you plan to see the film and you don’t 
want the ending spoiled, come back to 
this article after you’ve seen it, because 
I’ll probably spill some details. Here’s a 
spoiler alert --the dog doesn’t die and 
it’s a happy ending.

 The setting is Europe 20,000 years 
ago. The main character is the young 
son of a chief who, on his first buffalo 
hunt with his father and the other tribal 
warriors, becomes separated from the 
group and they leave him for dead. 
What follows is his arduous journey 
home with the unlikely companionship 
of an injured wolf who he nurses back 
to health. 

 Not only am I not a film critic, but 
I’m no world history buff either. So, 
as I was watching this movie I found 
myself wondering if there were really 
buffalo, rhinos, hyenas, and large cats 
roaming Europe 20,000 years ago. I 
always think of Plains Indians when 
I think of buffalo, but I guess there 
are those ancient cave paintings in 
France depicting them. Intrigued by 
the question of which animals were in 
Europe at that time, I started looking 
up cave paintings. Some of them are truly beautiful, and 
I was reminded of an Art History class I took at PCC 
as a freshman my first year out of high school 18 years 
ago. (Oh my gosh I’m so old! I belong in a cave painting 
myself!

 My random internet wanderings led me to an 
interesting article about how ancient man must have been 
dealing with some serious inner demons, based upon cave 
paintings discovered in Spain. One of the paintings shows 
a downcast figure with slumped shoulders and another 
who appears to be beating both the floor and his own 
head simultaneously. I can relate to that one. He probably 
had insomnia. 

 The article went on to describe a sequence of cave 
paintings depicting a portly prehistoric man gorging 
himself on bison to the degree that he can no longer fit 
into his buck skin trousers. At the end 
of the series he decides to stay in his cave 
to avoid further humiliation. It was at 
this point that I suspected the whole 
article might have been in jest. That, 
and the fact that this scholarly piece was 
published on a site called “The Onion.”

 But, what really got me thinking, as I 
reflected upon “Alpha,” was the history 
of man’s relationship with cats. Clearly 
that is a story worth telling. What 
would that movie be like? Certainly 
there could be no epic fight scenes 
with Fluffy baring her teeth and 
swatting at a rhino or pack of hyenas 
that threatened her master. Nor can 
I envision a cat trekking through the 
snow for days without food just for 
the sake of faithfully sticking with her 
human. On the contrary, most of the 
cats I know seem like they’d be giving 
me a rude finger gesture half the time 
if they had opposable digits.

 But this doesn’t stop the 
entertainment industry from trying 
to come up with rugged, “taming 
of the cat” tales. I recall an amusing 
commercial about cat herding. We saw 
it at work during a professional development event. I don’t 
recall what product was being promoted, but I remember 
the point was that, in education, we often feel like we’re 
tasked with the impossible, like herding wild cats across 
the open prairie. 

 So I don’t think a film about ancient man’s domestication 
of cats is that far fetched. Sure, the human cast may 
get bloodied by their feline costars as if they become 
displeased, but it’s all for art, right? Just remember, you 
read it here first.


“Life is a song...love is the lyrics.”

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the 
mind, flight to the imagination

 and life to everything.” Plato

“Where words fail, music speaks.” Hans Christian 
Anderson

Having been to Donna Sutcliffe’s wonderful 
memorial service a couple of weeks ago, followed 
by a delightful family event celebrating the return 
of our grandson, David, to California from his 
home in Germany, bringing along his fiancée, 
Katje, son, Jamison, who is 17 months old, and 
daughter, Erin, who is 10, I needed just one more 
thing to round out the day... after a nap, of course. 
Rich Johnson, Tuesday Trivia Master at Corfu and 
the J of JJ Jukebox, invited me to come along to 
Corfu to hear Jane Fuller sing. Jane is one of the 
Tuesday Trivia participants but I had no idea she 
was a terrific singer-songwriter/guitar player/
successful CD recorder/movie scorer and great 
entertainer. She was accompanied by another really 
nifty guitarist, Mike Gallegos, also a member of 
the aforementioned JJ Jukebox and Tuesday Trivia 
player. 

 Jane sang all my favorite stuff, including Jimmy 
Buffett’s “Margaritaville” and we got to sing along. 
“For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield; “I 
Can See For Miles,” by The Who; “Undun,” By 
The Guess Who; “You’re the One”.... these are all 
such great songs and the nicest thing about all of 
them was that you could actually understand the 
words! I know, I know, I’m showing my age and a 
certain wistfulness for the music of my youth and 
my mother’s era...

Remember: “I’d love to get you on a slow boat 
to China, all to myself alone.” Or: “Gonna take a 
sentimental journey, gonna set my heart at ease. 
Gonna make a sentimental journey, to renew old 
memories.” OK, enough nostalgia.

 Jane and Mike also did a terrific job on some 
instrumentals, including “Apache,” by the British 
surfband, The Shadows, “Pipeline,” by the Chantals, 
which was a hit later for The Ventures. Add in some 
perfectly grilled salmon, a nice glass of Chardonnay 
and a good time was had by all.

 Jane also held a couple of drawings for her CD’s 
and I’m still mad because I didn’t get one. Amazon 
has three of hers, including a really nice Christmas 
CD, “The Spirit of Giving.” Check it out!

 Between sets, I met Mike Gallagher who asked 
if I’d been up to the WTF corner yet. “Huh?” I 
wittily replied. “Ya gotta get up there,” he said, “up 
where Lima meets Bailey Canyon.” WTF, of course, 
means What The Figurines....exactly what you 
were thinking, right? So, Sunday morning before 
church, I took myself up there and, once again, 
was enchanted by the humor of Sierra Madre 
residents and their willingness to go along with a 
fun thing. If you haven’t been up there yet, ya gotta 
go! Visualize pelican statues with entourages of 
stone ducks with baby ducklings, bunnies, frogs, 
squirrels, garden trolls and even a stuffed skunk. 
They are surrounding St. Francis of Assisi, who 
has a deer snuggled up against him and, in short, 
if you’re feeling down, this is the place to go. Of 
course, it all started with one pelican and, as weeks 
went by, one little guy after another was added into 
the mix. We are a creative bunch of people, aren’t 
we. Think of what we do with Halloween! 

 Something new is coming to where Petunias 
used to be on No. Baldwin, which makes us all 
happy as we want to see all our storefronts rented 
with exciting shops. If you haven’t tried Corfu, you 
need to. Their grilled salmon is really perfect and 
the chicken kabobs with rice, a little humus and 
tabbouleh is Middle East magnificent. Trivia with 
Rich Johnson is every other Tuesday and that’s a 
lot of fun, too. You really never need to leave town, 
friends and neighbors!

 My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

Kindle books of all sorts and hardcover “Tablespoon 
of Love” are on there,

 as is “Star of Wonder.”

Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! Take 
a look!

 Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 

 Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd


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Our school opens its doors to welcome students of all grade levels in our integral education system. 
Pre-K, Kindergarten, Elementary, Jr. High and High School 
The classes are taught in Spanish 
The academic year is from September - June 
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822 Bradbourne Ave., Duarte, CA 91010 
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Email: laescuelaargentina@gmail.com 
. Registration forms are available for printing on our website at: www.leala.org. 
For more information call: 
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