Plexiglas party for three

Although trivia means unimportant, trifling things or details, especially obscure and useless knowledge, it's origin has been a signpost in my life since my Greco-Roman class back at old East High. Trivia derives from Latin for the meeting of three roads, from tri- "three" + via "road." The idea is that things at the crossroads are insignificant, ordinary, and/or vulgar.

When three ideas or events converge, it often means inspiration is waiting for me to take notice:

• I picked up a large quantity of clear and light blue plastic boxes at the most recent W.A.S.T.E. recyclables giveaway for art teachers organized by Raytheon and Alcatel-Lucent. I need to use them for an art project pronto, as they are taking up a corner of my room.


• La Scala commissioned an opera based on Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", and the NPR reported, "the drama won't be over till the polar bear sings." Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli says, "It will be about the tragedy of our present situation ... It is a great challenge, of course, to write an opera on such an unusual subject. It is certainly not the story of Romeo and Juliet."


• Al Peppard wrote in a society piece for the Dallas Morning News about a party, " To complete the transparency theme, a Plexiglas bridge spanned the [Olympic size] pool where belly dancers ... performed for the crowd."

Pondering the set design possibilities for a global warming opera reminded me of the dreadful clear acrylic stairs used in the Dallas Opera's 2003 production of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades . Très Target!

So could the polar bears sing and swim in an Olympic size pool with Al Gore on the Plexiglas bridge? Has there ever been an opera production with synchronized swimming? Could my students build a bridge sculpture out of all the plastic boxes? Maybe we should stick with crystal palaces. And no, we won't be making clothespin belly dancers! I will be repeating some of the transparency drawing and painting project from 2006. We may have to read some of Daniel Pinkwater's books about Larry the polar bear who likes blueberry muffins. Think cool for summer school!

If you can't wait for the La Scala premiere, there's a fun parody of "An Inconvenient" opera at http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/06/07/video-preview-of-an-inconvenient-truth-the-opera/.

© 2008 Nancy L. Ruder