The Cortlandt Boys by Laura Vanderkam
Author:Laura Vanderkam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00
Chapter 18
Traffic had always been curiously problematic on the main road through Cortlandt. Trucks took it as a short cut between two highways. They lumbered in low gear down the steep grade and slowed everything behind them. The road was too narrow, but it wound between the river and the rails and an expansion was unlikely. A traffic light in the middle complicated the situation. So did constant left turns, and inadequate parking for any big event. Janie watched from a window in the American Folk Arts Museum as a minivan, no doubt there for the annual Labor Day festival Leroy had instituted in one of his first acts as Cortlandtâs new mayor, the first African-American mayor in Cortlandtâs history, took 20 minutes to travel the length of a block.
Raina headlined one of the festivalâs big events. One hundred fifty lucky Scrappers readers packed into AFAMâs exhibition hall and fanned themselves in the heat. It was a hot ticket. All 150 seats would be filled. That was the number allowed by the fire code, a code that the new owners of the old Curtis Inn had become quite fundamentalist about. The museum director emerged to quiet the rows. Janie made sure Rainaâs notes were in order. She adjusted the laptop by the projector so that the eventâs hashtag, #PrisonScrap, appeared more crisp. âWelcome,â the museum director said. The inevitable microphone screech set everyone cringing. The director made his usual joke about technology making everyoneâs lives easier. Then, âWe have a real treat today. Raina Krol is here to speak to us about her first scrapbook, now called Ida Rose 2004. That this was her first scrapbook is surprising given how famous it has become, but it perhaps had to be a first scrapbook that changed the genre so much. If she had been part of this world, knowing all the conventions, she might never have thought that prison was something you would create a scrapbook about. By thinking beyond the usual weddings and birthday parties, she changed the way we think about this folk art, and raised the question of whether folk art can become broadly recognized art.â
After a few more high-minded pleasantries, Raina stepped to the podium. The applause reached up to the quilts decking the walls. Then, into the ensuing hush: âIn 2004, I served 84 days in the Ida Rose Womenâs Correctional Facility for manslaughter.â She tucked one blond curl behind her ear and let that thought settle into this room of people who likely didnât know anyone else whoâd done time behind bars. âI didnât have my own camera there, but there was a photography club, so they let me keep a few shots I took. And later, after I was out, I took pictures of the outside. I found mug shots of my fellow inmates online.â She moved forward to the slide of the first page. âBut scrapbooks arenât only about photos, of course. I made drawings. And while I was there, Iâd notice little things that could become patterns or that I could abstract.
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