Oh, The Glamourous Life!

Dear Constant Reader,

I’m not even sure how to start this. Our beloved Albert A. Cat died a week ago after three grueling weeks of illness. We kept hoping he would recover and did everything we could. In the end, he was in his favorite place, on Scratch’s chest, as they lay on the daybed in his room. He went to sleep and never woke up.

For ten years he brought so much joy into our lives. His sweet nature and rakishly handsome looks made friends and fans all over the world. He was a very special cat and loved Scratch more than anyone in the universe. There’s a big Albert-shaped hole in my life and my heart.

I am so grateful to my friends for their support and sympathy during this very difficult time. And it’s been longer than I care to think. Please be gentle with me for a while.

So I hope you forgive me that burlesque, or really much of any of my usual interests, have not been on my mind much lately.

We are fortunate that we could give Albert the very best veterinary care. However, it was very expensive care. I do not begrudge a single penny, but The Manor’s coffers are depleted. I feel a bit vulgar bringing up finances, but if you wanted to buy a book or arrange for private lessons or join my Patreon or shop my closet or bookshelves, it would be appreciated. Scratch reminds me that the Go Fund Me he set up for Albert’s thyroid treatment (was that really less than a year ago?) is still open.

I miss our handsome boy so much.

Dear Constant Reader,

I’m sorry for the lack of missives, but my heart just hasn’t been in it. Our beloved Albert A. Cat is declining rapidly. We’re holding out hope for a recovery, but it’s emotionally and physically exhausting nursing him and worrying.

On top of that, both Scratch and I were sick, one right after the other. He had something minor that cleared up in a couple of days. I had Covid. Although it’s now been long enough that it’s safe for me to be around others, I’m still recovering and get tired very easily.

I’m not okay and probably won’t be for a while.

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s Friday again! Since I’m teaching a series of boa classes this month (Beautiful Boas, starts this Sunday!), I thought I’d give you a boa tip:

Want a big, fluffy boa without breaking the bank? Braid three thinner boas together.

Secure the ends with some hair elastics and you’re good to go! If the boa starts getting skimpy from feather loss (an inevitability), just thread another one through the existing braid.

Remember that the resulting boa is going to be shorter because of the braiding, so you might want to add some sort of extension on each end, like a big tassel made of coordinating marabou mini-boas.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 17 Patrons. Thank you so much! Welcome to my newest Patrons, Tammi and Althea! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

Or more simply, a traveling teacher. I love to travel, and love to travel to teach (and perform), so these past two years have been pretty awful. I even took down my travel map because it was depressing the hell out of me.

But, right now, by traveling teacher, I mean I don’t have a home base. At the end of last year, the building which housed our studio was sold. We waited and waited to hear from the new landlords and finally, they declined to renew anyone’s lease. Scratch has been hunting for a new studio space, but to no avail. It’s exceedingly hard to find reasonably-priced appropriate real estate in the Boston area right now, even for a non-profit.

So, B.A.B.E. has been moving around. In January I taught at the Tony Williams Dance Center, the studio where we’ve been holding rehearsals. February, because of the possibility of snowstorms, I taught remotely. It’s harder than teaching in person, but one of my students was in Texas and being able to reach people so distant is worth it.

I’ll be honest, teaching a series class like Introduction to Burlesque anywhere but my own studio is tough. I have to remember to pack everything I need to teach a particular class, as well as anything the students might need, like loaner gloves or pasties to buy, plus some merch, like B.A.B.E. t-shirts or copies of my book. And then I need to schlep it all. Sometimes there are mirrors, sometimes not.

This month I’m at Flying Embers. They hold yoga classes there, so why not burlesque. We had our first class this past Sunday and it was so much fun! It’s a big space, well-lit and airy, which makes it all rather cheerful. The students were enthusiastic and it was kind of exciting teaching in a bar (the bar itself was closed until class was over). Several students stayed for a drink. I had to head right home because the troupe was coming over. While I was teaching, everyone else was performing at a brunch show. We were all meeting back at the Manor to hang out and craft for the afternoon.

Tori, one of the fabulous bartenders, said she could give me a drink to go. I thought she was going to hand me one of the cans they keep in the fridge. Before I knew it, she had filled a 32-oz can with my favorite passionfruit-elderflower hard seltzer and fastened on a lid. It was really neat to watch the canning process. I was delighted to share it with the troupe that afternoon.

If you’d like to learn burlesque and then have a drink with me, class starts at 12:30 every Sunday in March. If you’d rather watch some burlesque, come to Burlesque with a Band on March 31 and we’ll have a little graduation ceremony for the students.

(And if anyone has a line on some light industrial space in the Boston area that would make a nice dance studio, let me know.)

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 14 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s my birthday! I have a little gift for you…

Over at 365 Kitchen Cabinet, I’ve been cooking and filming recipes from 1914. This month I did a bonus video to celebrate my birthday. You can check it out on today’s post.

If you wanted to give me a present, you could donate to one of the fine organizations below:

Or you could become one of my Patrons or buy a book.

Or, for absolutely no cost and little effort, follow me on Instagram (@miss_mina_murray). I’m getting close to a round number and it would be fun to hit that today!
Or subscribe to my little YouTube channel. Once I hit 100 subscribers, I can make a custom URL!

I hope you all have a wonderful day — I’m going to!

Dear Constant Reader,

Happy Friday! Holiday season is fast approaching and you don’t need me to remind you to buy from local businesses and independent artists. However, here’s your tip:

Shop early this year.

Whether you are buying gifts for others or treats for yourself, plan ahead and start early. The post office and other delivery services are going to be very busy this year. Let’s not stress ourselves, the shops, or our gift recipients with trying to get things shipped at the last minute.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

I have a biography of Lili St. Cyr in my to-be-reviewed pile, but I realized I had never reviewed this earlier look at the legendary stripteause.

Gilded Lili: Lili St. Cyr and the Striptease Mystique by Kelly DiNardo, 2007.

Lili St. Cyr was known for her elegant, elaborate stage shows and her cool, remote beauty, as well as her lavish lifestyle and many affairs, but she remains something of an enigma. Ms. DiNardo wants to reveal the genuine Lili St. Cyr. Besides utilizing numerous print resources, she conducted interviews with some people who still remembered the dazzling dancer. 

We look at the life of Lili St. Cyr, from her early family life and her escape though a teenaged marriage, through arc of her career and fame, to her death in self-imposed exile. Her story is interwoven with a look at the prevailing culture throughout her life. Sometimes she rebelled against the culture norms; sometimes they shaped her. We are shown the people and circumstances that influenced her, like Greta Garbo and travel by ocean liner. Also, those she influenced — there’s a section about Marilyn Monroe using Lili as a role model for her bombshell persona, which devolves into how one of Lili’s husbands tried to capitalize on his relationship with both women with some tawdry (and mostly likely utterly fictitious) revelations.  

Occasionally the book feels padded, such as a mention that the teenaged Marie van Schaak (Lili’s birth name) liked to read Vogue digresses into a paragraph about the fashion magazine, or stretched, like when the author interviewed an ex-husband’s landlord for details on his life long post-Lili.

Despite all the detail and facts, I didn’t feel like I really got to know who Lili St. Cyr was. She is the center of the book and yet I felt like we were only able to stand on the fringes of her life, at a safe distance. Many of the people Ms. DiNardo interviewed knew Lili at a remove, like the children of club owners. One of her husbands was probably the closest person to her that spoke with the author, but even he doesn’t seem to have known Lili’s inner life very well. Despite baring her body night after night onstage, she kept her soul very well concealed.

These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 12 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.

Dear Constant Reader,

I have  a complicated relationship with writing. It’s my main form of communication, but I don’t think I’m a good writer. Writing is a slow and painstaking process for me and I’m never confident in the result. It can take me weeks to write one book review here. I agonize over word choice and sentence structure. And I’m always a little embarrassed to hit “Publish”.

So it surprises the hell out of me when people praise my writing. I received a number of compliments on my most recent post, specifically on the beautiful writing. I’m not used to that.

I think my adversarial relationship with writing began in 6th grade at an awful school with a terrible English teacher. I decided I hated writing and my skills deteriorated. Oh the irony — I was in a gifted program and remedial writing classes. I was so miserable there that my parents decided to send me to private school, which made a lot of things better, but writing was still a struggle

Through college and grad school and a certificate program, I brute forced my way though essays and papers and theses. Over the years I’ve been told my writing was stilted, too formal, awkward, not natural.

Through out the years, however, I’ve kept a paper journal and an electronic one (remember LiveJournal?) and a pen-and-paper correspondence with a dear friend (I probably owe you a letter!) and of course, this blog, which is over ten years old! (How did I miss that anniversary…?). I’ve found a sort of pleasure in writing, but it still doesn’t come easily. I still can’t believe I put out two books.

So, I’m not used to getting compliments on my writing. But I appreciate it so much. Thank you for your kind words.

P.S. Just for the record, it took me three days to put together this little missive.