A thoroughly amusing collection that takes readers beyond the big top.
An episodic memoir from the founder of the Big Apple Circus, a New York City mainstay of family entertainment for almost 40 years.
Brooklyn-born Binder has lived a colorful and creative life, from stints working for Merv Griffin and Julia Child, to his time as a juggler traveling through Europe, to his life’s greatest work: founding the Big Apple Circus. The book jumps around to hit various key moments in his life, including the moment he first saw the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the beginning of his jaunt to England to form a juggling act with a friend, and meeting his wife, a beautiful Danish equestrienne and circus performer. The cast of characters includes world-renowned clowns, jugglers, acrobats and other international performers, as well as the technicians and trainers who put the nuts and bolts of such an epic show together. Binder has a knack for language, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering how many years he has spent as a ringmaster and entertainer, juggling words, as well as objects, for his audiences. Some of the insider tales and snippets are a little more mundane than magical; not everyone is going to find a random rainy day or an encounter with a waitress in a small Southern town as interesting and amusing as Binder clearly does. For every dud, however, there are twice as many gems, such as the exciting post–Tiananmen Square drama that led the circus’ Chinese acrobats, who were afraid of being forced to return to their troubled homeland, to run away, bringing the attentions of government agencies and embassies to the Big Apple Circus. With a loving foreword by Glenn Close and celebrity cameos from Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams, Paul Newman and many more, these stories make it easy to see why Binder is a beloved, respected figure in the world of the circus.
A thoroughly amusing collection that takes readers beyond the big top.Pub Date: April 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481731911
Page Count: 216
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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