Lineage

Lisa See knows about worshipping ancestors, a Chinese ritual that continues long after the death of a relative. Although just one-eighth Chinese, dating from a paternal great-grandfather, See has devoted a lifetime to writing of that lineage, in novels so intimate and heartbreaking you can wrench a lifetime of emotion out of yourself just by reading. Whereas her previous two novels, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, took place in 19th- and 17th-century China, her latest novel, Shanghai Girls, comes perilously close to the present, beginning in Shanghai in 1937 and ending in the Chinatown of Los Angeles in 1957.

As part of a nationwide tour, Penor Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, visited the Shambhala Center Tuesday and Wednesday to give lectures on meditation. The Nyingma lineage is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. A native of East Tibet, Rinpoche entered a monastery as a child. He fled Tibet for India in 1959 following an uprising against China.

Don't think for a minute the blue-blooded cashmere-and-pearls-ladies-who-lunch set isn't around anymore. But among chapters of Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, and other heritage societies, growing contingents are more blue collar than blue blood - retired factory workers, people who live in mobile homes, farmers' wives, those of every race and creed - being counted in the ranks. Experts say the Internet and a resurgence in patriotism after 9/11 have helped a spike in interest in the sort of historical organizations that limit membership to descendants of Mayflower Pilgrims, Revolutionary War participants, or Civil War soldiers.

Musical lineages are intriguing. Sometimes, by tracing a line from teacher to performer, you can detect the evolution of a musical style. Pianist Claudio Arrau used to point out that his teacher had studied with Johann Hummel, a student of Beethoven. The unspoken "ergo . . . " was always impressive. The Contemporary Players fashioned a lineage program Monday by focusing on Ralph Shapey, a 74-year-old composer who grew up and studied here. Shapey had studied with Stefan Wolpe at the Settlement School.

One is a teacher, another a school child. One runs a trucking company, another sings opera, a third works with health clubs. They speak in the mellifluous tones of the Deep South, the clipped twang of New England and the proper diction of London. What the hundreds of members of this diverse group share is heritage. They are descendants of the 39 signers of the Constitution, the closest thing to aristocrats in a country that professes to reject royalty. If this is a melting pot, they are chunks of the earliest ore. Many of them will descend on Philadelphia this week as part of the "We the People 200" celebration of the Constitution.

The closing mainstage attraction of Black Theater Festival '90, which premiered last night at Theater Center Philadelphia, is a winner in every respect. The direction is exceptional, the acting exemplary, the playscript by Marian Hammonds Warrington simply magnetic. "The Mayor's Wife" ranges widely over one young woman's peregrination from unwanted child to the attempted murderer of an unfaithful husband, from lost soul to an epiphany of her rightful place in a long and courageous female lineage, from a pawn of the will of others to a strong sense of self.

How does African dance look when standing on the shoulders of ancestors but moving into the 21st century? Kariamu & Company: Traditions, in performance Friday at Conwell Dance Theater at Temple University, presented an answer in works by Kariamu Welsh, Saleana Pettaway, and Ghanaian guests F. Nii Yartey and Joshua Ashai Trebi. Their contemporary dance rooted in tradition uses storytelling and dynamic play between movement and rhythmic music, while staying open to new cultural influences and movement languages.

Robbins Lee Mitchell 3d is in one of those ticklish situations. On the one hand, he was recently convicted of criminal trespass. On the other hand, there's the issue of sovereign immunity - which comes into play whenever a government attempts to prosecute the King of England. "We have styled ourselves Henry X," says Mitchell, who discovered his remarkable birthright a decade ago. "We are of the position that Her Majesty's ascent has been illegal since 1485. " Mitchell, 40, tall and lean with Prince Valiant bangs and a narrow, equine face, doesn't actually claim to be king - yet. He is "heir presumptive," owing to a family tree he has found to outmatch Prince Charles', limb for limb.

The old cliche is that men can't express their feelings. Don't believe it. The Inquirer placed blank notebooks in or near the birthing units at a few area hospitals, and asked men to record their thoughts as their children were being born. The responses - from the Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Salem, N.J., Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, and Doylestown Hospital - are eloquent and earnest. The men write what's in their hearts at the precise moment a father's twin companions - unconditional love and unending worry - introduce themselves, and settle in for the long haul.

CLEVELAND - Jay Wright used to brag about how his big-time program did not include big-time pressures. He could screw up a game on Sunday and not hear about it on Monday thanks to the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers. OK, so maybe not the Sixers. Anyway, those days are gone. These days, Wright's bragging, if you can call it that, is about his Villanova team holding it together amid the adversity and scrutiny produced by a five-game losing streak. He employs words like "psyche" and "perspective," and deftly digs at criticism by lauding how players, like embattled senior guard Corey Fisher, have handled it. Clearly, he is grasping.

CLEVELAND - Jay Wright used to brag about how his big-time program did not include big-time pressures. He could screw up a game on Sunday and not hear about it on Monday thanks to the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers. OK, so maybe not the Sixers. Anyway, those days are gone. These days, Wright's bragging, if you can call it that, is about his Villanova team holding it together amid the adversity and scrutiny produced by a five-game losing streak. He employs words like "psyche" and "perspective," and deftly digs at criticism by lauding how players, like embattled senior guard Corey Fisher, have handled it. Clearly, he is grasping.

Even after 25 indictments in the legislature, the folks in Harrisburg still don't get it. There is no revolt yet by fed-up legislators. No unified denunciation of corruption, no concerted push for reforms. For more than a decade, Bill DeWeese, John M. Perzel, and former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo were among the most powerful state legislators. At their height, Democrat DeWeese and Republican Perzel were speakers of the House. Democrat Fumo controlled the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as the kingdom of Philadelphia.

Lisa See knows about worshipping ancestors, a Chinese ritual that continues long after the death of a relative. Although just one-eighth Chinese, dating from a paternal great-grandfather, See has devoted a lifetime to writing of that lineage, in novels so intimate and heartbreaking you can wrench a lifetime of emotion out of yourself just by reading. Whereas her previous two novels, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, took place in 19th- and 17th-century China, her latest novel, Shanghai Girls, comes perilously close to the present, beginning in Shanghai in 1937 and ending in the Chinatown of Los Angeles in 1957.

Soldiers of the Army's 10th Mountain Division take to heart their military creed - "No soldier left behind" - even when it puts their own lives in jeopardy. The division, which traces its lineage to the Army's specially trained "ski troops" of World War II, has faced some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq. After four of its soldiers were killed and three were seized by insurgents in an ambush south of Baghdad on May 12, division units joined thousands of American and Iraqi troops in a massive search of the area known as the "triangle of death.

Don't think for a minute the blue-blooded cashmere-and-pearls-ladies-who-lunch set isn't around anymore. But among chapters of Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, and other heritage societies, growing contingents are more blue collar than blue blood - retired factory workers, people who live in mobile homes, farmers' wives, those of every race and creed - being counted in the ranks. Experts say the Internet and a resurgence in patriotism after 9/11 have helped a spike in interest in the sort of historical organizations that limit membership to descendants of Mayflower Pilgrims, Revolutionary War participants, or Civil War soldiers.

The Williams family lives in a modest rowhouse in Society Hill, close enough to the Friends Select School that Andrew and his sister Eliza can sometimes bicycle the 1.7 miles to school. On spring afternoons, they row on the Schuylkill. And tomorrow and Saturday, they will compete in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, considered by organizers to be the largest and oldest high school regatta in the United States. The Stotesbury Cup is named after Edward Townsend Stotesbury, who donated the cup that bears his name and lived like a king on a magnificent estate in Wyndmoor.

How does African dance look when standing on the shoulders of ancestors but moving into the 21st century? Kariamu & Company: Traditions, in performance Friday at Conwell Dance Theater at Temple University, presented an answer in works by Kariamu Welsh, Saleana Pettaway, and Ghanaian guests F. Nii Yartey and Joshua Ashai Trebi. Their contemporary dance rooted in tradition uses storytelling and dynamic play between movement and rhythmic music, while staying open to new cultural influences and movement languages.

There was a time when buying an American car was a simple matter. All you had to do was stick to vehicles made by Detroit's Big Three: General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler Corp. Those days are long gone. That flashy new Pontiac GTO? Made in Australia. The Chevrolet Aveo you can snap up for less than $10,000? Korean. Last year's best-selling car in the United States, the Toyota Camry, with its Japanese nameplate? Assembled in Kentucky. " 'Domestic' and 'foreign' are becoming pretty meaningless terms," said Christopher Benko, director of PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P.

The 28th Infantry Division (Mechanized) Pennsylvania Army National Guard is the oldest division in the U.S. Army ground forces, according to Army and National Guard historians. Its lineage dates to the 18th century, but it also saw heavy action in World War I, when it got its nickname "The Iron Division," and in World War II, when it was involved in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. The 28th was formed in 1879, when a number of Pennsylvania Guard divisions were merged into one - the Pennsylvania Division.

Hard to believe, but true: Ravi Coltrane, son of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane and his organist wife, Alice (and namesake of Indian musician Ravi Shankar), didn't really get into jazz or even pick up a saxophone until he was in his late teens. "I never seriously sat down with a sax until I was 21," he said. "Before that, I was not really thinking about music at all. It took a long time for me. " Part of that was the wish of his mother, who encouraged Coltrane to play, but only for fun. It was as if the young boy, one of Trane's three sons, was doing music casually, as he might play basketball or go to a movie.