September 9th, 2015 → 5:12 am
I’ll be leading an online discussion of Julius Caesar in about a week – feel free to join the conversation if you can: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/303-shakespeare-fans. In the meantime, a favorite quote from the play:
“Et tu, Brute?” – Julius Caesar
This quote runs through my mind rather more often than it probably should, as I am, and always have been, innately distrustful of people.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
September 4th, 2015 → 6:08 am
“The indifferent children of the earth.” – Hamlet
Who are the “indifferent” children in this quote, the migrants seeking refuge on Europe’s shores? Or the Europeans that are hesitant to take them in? Maybe it is both – as we are all children of the earth.
August 31st, 2015 → 5:24 am
“Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” – Julius Caesar
I’m not really a fan of teen romance movies, but I am a fan of Shakespeare references wherever they appear! And I just realized, after seeing a production of Julius Caesar the other day, that the title of the above referenced movie is based on the dialogue between Cassius and Brutus where Cassius speaks like a conservative Republican running for president and says – our fates are up to us, man! Take some responsibility! The truth, of course, is that sometimes our fates are not under our control as in, for example, if you get cancer or not.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
August 28th, 2015 → 5:35 am
“A cutpurse of the empire and the rule,
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole
And put it in his pocket!” – Hamlet
Cutpurse is an archaic word for pickpocket or thief. I love old words. Why do they have to disappear?
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
August 23rd, 2015 → 6:13 am
“Courage mounteth with occasion.” – King John
Three Americans (Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler) on a train to France up and took down a terrorist attacker, before he had a chance to do too much harm. How totally awesome. You just want to hug these guys.
August 18th, 2015 → 5:57 am
“That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood.” – Richard III
I read an article recently about anxiety in the 21st century and, astoundingly, it said that Shakespeare only used the word “worry” once in his entire collection of works (see quote above, and he used it to mean “choke,” not be stressful). Through my own research I discovered that Shakespeare actually uses worry twice, if you allow both “worry” and “worrying,” but still, that isn’t much use of the word, and not even in the way we use it today. The article suggested that people simply didn’t worry back in the 16th century; that doing so is a modern malady, invented really in the 20th century when we finally had the time to navel-gaze and let anxiety about things grow. Personally, I can not imagine my life without worrying. What would I do for 75% of every day? How many novel mathematical theorems would I be able to come up with if 98% of my brain weren’t allocated to worrying? What kind of conversations would I have with my son if half of them weren’t motivated by worry of him harming himself? Would I enjoy eating more if I didn’t always worry about becoming fat? I…can’t…imagine…
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
August 14th, 2015 → 8:56 am
“A hit, a very palpable hit.” – Hamlet
I took my son to his first baseball game last night. And every time the St. Louis Cardinals had a hit I wanted to yell, “A hit, a very palpable hit!” Am I the only Shakespeare fan whose gone to a baseball game and wanted to do this??
(Note: My husband’s answer is – yes.)
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life
July 19th, 2015 → 6:10 am
“Honour, riches, marriage-blessing,
Long continuance, and increasing,
Hourly joys be still upon you!” – Tempest
We’re off to the West Coast for a family wedding. Newlyweds…they’re always so cute, and so naive…
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
July 16th, 2015 → 5:59 am
“What trust is in these times?” – Henry IV, Part II
Trust – it’s the missing ingredient in the eurozone negotiations with Greece. It never made much of an appearance in the nuclear negotiations with Iran. I’ve read that the majority of spouses don’t trust their partners. Whaa?? Has there always been this little trust in the world, and how did I miss it before now?
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians
July 8th, 2015 → 5:42 am
“Unarm, Eros. The long day’s task is done
And we must sleep.” – Antony and Cleopatra
So we moved to a new house this week. And it has been exhausting. I’ve come to liken the process of moving to the process of childbirth. You forget how bad it is until you’re actually in the middle of it, and then you think, why did I do this?? Both were for, in the end, my son. The things we do for our kids, right?
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life