Save the Date at Colgate: November 13

Heather Elia, JASNA Syracuse member and coordinator of the Jane Austen Book Club at the Colgate Bookstore in Hamilton, writes:

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On 11/13 at 2pm, David Shapard (the editor of the Annotated Pride & Prejudice and the new/upcoming Annotated Persuasion) will come to talk about the process of annotating the beloved novels of our beloved author, to help lead a group discussion of Persuasion, and to sign copies of the books. (Although we would all rather have signed editions by Jane herself, we may content ourselves with signed editions by a contemporary editor/annotator.)

After the Bookstore part of the program, I thought it might be fun to assemble at the Colgate Inn for afternoon tea -- by which I mean a semi-traditional English-style "full tea" of hot soup, fresh salad, gourmet tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, a pastry assortment, and of course a cup (or a whole pot) of Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Lapsang Souchong, etc.

Since I could not convince the powers-that-be at the Bookstore to pick up the whole tab for this event, and I do not possess an independent fortune to treat everyone myself, there will be a charge, but I hope it is not prohibitive. (I do feel a bit like Lydia Bennet: "triumphantly display[ing] a table set out with such cold meat as an inn larder usually affords, exclaiming, 'Is not this nice? is not this an agreeable surprise.' And I mean to treat you all, but you must lend me the money, for I have just spent mine.)

Hope this program sounds like fun to all of you. If you know you will definitely be able to make it and want to register now you may do so at http://www.colgatebookstore.com/special/2010/08/austen.html but I don't need a definite head count until October 31st.

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This event does indeed "sound like fun" to your JASNA Regional Coordinators! If you agree, put the date into your calendars now.

Concert Review

The Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies presented its summer concert last Sunday, July 25, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Skaneateles. Despite competition from the Antique Boat Show on the waterfront and a rock concert just across U.S. 20 from the church, the Young Ladies of the summer session--the Misses Marietta Burt, Ellie Crough, Anna and Mary Ellen Ducayne, Caroline Edinger, Christina Marshall, Olivia Sheppard, and Maren Walsh--all performed excellently under the able direction of Miss Joanna Manring.

After the concert opened with an ensemble performance of H. Harrington's "How Sweet in the Woodlands" (which your Regional Coordinator believes she recalls from the 1980 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice), each musical number was preceded by appropriate readings from either JA's works or a secondary source on JA and her times. For example, "The Spinning Wheel" by Thomas Arne was prefaced by the passage from JA's letters about the family benefactress Mrs. Knight's offer to give JA her spinning wheel ("I cannot endure the idea of her giving away her own wheel, & have told her no more than the truth, in saying that I could never use it with comfort"); "The Soldier's Adieu" by Charles Dibdin was introduced with the passage from P&P about the arrival of the militia in Meryton ("I remember the time when I liked a red-coat myself very well"); and so on.

Very appropriately in view of the Young Ladies' ages (the two youngest, the Misses Ducayne, are aged only 10 and 11!), the final reading was a series of excerpts from the Juvenilia--the delightful comic sketches JA began composing at about age 12. And rousing renditions of William Shields's "From Night till Morn" and Robert Burns's "My Love, She's But a Lassie Yet" made a lively conclusion to the program.

As your Regional Coordinator noted in her introductory remarks, it's refreshing simply that some members of the next generation can tell Lady Catherine de Bourgh from Lady Gaga, but the Young Ladies went well beyond this minimum standard. We hope that Miss Manring and the School continue their fine work for many seasons to come.

And, by a happy coincidence, JA's Juvenilia will be the topic of JASNA Syracuse's first regional meeting of the 2010-11 season, on Saturday, September 25, at 2 pm, at Books and Memories (2600 James St., Syracuse, 13206). More details about this will be given in a future post.

Carriage Competition in Cazenovia

This weekend on July 17 & 18th in Cazenovia at the Lorenzo State Historic Site, the annual Lorenzo Driving Competition will take place. This is carriage driving not automobile driving!

Although the carriages and costumes are Victorian, the beautiful Lorenzo mansion was built in 1807.

JA Singing School for Young Ladies Summer Concert

This just in from Miss Joanna Manring, director of the Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies:

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Dear Friends~

Sunday, July 25th at 3 o' clock at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Skaneateles, the Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies will present our Summer Programme of readings and music sure to delight!

Our concert is free and open to the public. There will be a free-will donation to be used toward future projects, potentially A Jane Austen Christmas.

For more information, please go to Miss Manring's website.
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Your Regional Coordinator plans to be there! Hope you can make it too. (The church is at 37 W. Genesee St., Skaneateles.)

The "News" section of Miss Manring's website announces that the School has received a grant from the Skaneateles Area Arts Council, which has made scholarships for several pupils and thus the summer concert possible. Huzzah for the School and the Council!

Jane Austen Ball Photos

An elegant Tudor-style ballroom was the setting for the Jane Austen Ball held on May 2, 2010 in Rochester, NY. Click here for more photos.

Now's a Great Time to Join JASNA!

A happy Fourth of July to all!

Just a reminder that now is a great time to join JASNA at the national level. The JASNA membership year runs from September 1 to August 31--but if you join between July 1 and August 31, you'll receive an extra issue of JASNA News (the Society's thrice-annual newsletter) and otherwise be enrolled for the coming full membership year. To join, you can go to the JASNA national website (www.jasna.org) and click on the "Membership" link on the home page. Remember that joining JASNA at the national level automatically makes you a member of the JASNA Syracuse Region--this is our one and only regional membership requirement at present.

Our next two meetings will be Saturday, September 25, at Books & Memories, 2600 James St., Syracuse, and Saturday, November 6, at RiverRead Books, 5 Court St., Binghamton. (Note that we're trying to match our meeting dates to the "quarter days" and "cross-quarter days" of the Regency calendar; these will be our Michaelmas and All Hallows meetings, respectively!) Watch this site for further details about these and future meetings. And if you have ideas about topics you'd like to see featured at meetings, by all means add a comment to this post, or drop your Regional Coordinator or Co-Coordinator an e-mail (see "View My Complete Profile" for contact info).

Portland AGM Registration Is Open!

Important news for all JASNA national members in good standing (and even those who aren't can sign up for a 2-year membership on the registration form): The registration materials for the 2010 Annual General Meeting in Portland, Oregon, on October 28-31, are now available on the JASNA website (www.jasna.org) and will also have reached most members' snail mailboxes by today. If you have any serious intentions of attending the Portland AGM, fill out the form immediately and run, don't walk, to your nearest U.S. post office with it. (Registration still takes place via U.S. mail, in order to "level the playing field" for members who don't use computers.) In keeping with the Halloween weekend, the theme this year is "Jane Austen and the Abbey: Mystery, Mayhem, and Muslin in Portland." From the curtain-raiser to the Bal Masque, mysterious fun for all will be in store!