Jews and Muslims

February 22nd, 2017 → 5:45 am

“We came into the world like brother and brother,
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.”  – Comedy of Errors

A Jewish cemetery that I drive by nearly every day was vandalized this week.  In response a Muslim American group started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to repair the damage.  They reached their goal in three hours.  Now that is what makes America great.

Filed under: Blog & Other

Love’s Crutch

February 18th, 2017 → 5:06 am

“Hope is a lover’s staff.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

What a striking sentiment.  True.  Deep.  Concise.  Clear.  When you are young and in love, you hope the other will return your affection.  When you are later a newlywed, you hope your future will be bright and full.  Once you are a long time married, you hope the relationship stays the course, that your lover will not lose faith or lust.  After you are widowed/divorced, you hope you’ll find love yet again.  Hope really is the crutch all love leans upon.

Filed under: Blog & Other

Showing Love

February 14th, 2017 → 6:42 am

“They do not love that do not show their love.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

In reading The Two Gentlemen of Verona, I came across this line in Act I.  Do you think it’s true?  That if someone doesn’t demonstrably show you their love, they must not love you?  So if my husband doesn’t make a big display on Valentine’s Day, he no longer loves me?  What if he only makes a small display, is his love then small?  I guess I’ll have to wait and see what he does, then I’ll decide.  😉

Filed under: Blog & Other

Minions

February 10th, 2017 → 5:50 am

“You, minion, are too saucy.” – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

I love minions!  Hilariously, here Shakespeare is using “minion” as “hussy”.  I knew minions were servants, sycophants, vassals, and stooges, but hussies?  Love it!

Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art

Love and Madness II

February 6th, 2017 → 5:29 am

“…thou has metamorphized me,
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at naught;
Made wit with musing weak, heart sick with
thought.”  – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

At the same time as we are discussing the sonnets, this week the Shakespeare discussion group I participate in also began reading The Two Gentlemen of Verona.  The above lines are in the very first act. They are about love, but again, I can easily see them as describing madness; this time the madness that Donald Trump inflicts on others.  Love and madness really are too, too similar.

Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People

Love and Madness

February 2nd, 2017 → 9:41 am

“My reason…Hath left me,
Past cure I am, now reason is past care,
And frantic-mad with evermore unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as madmen’s are,
At random from the truth vainly express’d.”  – Sonnet 147

The Shakespeare discussion group I participate in recently decided to begin discussing the sonnets.  And at random started with Sonnet #147.  It is about someone who is heartsick in love, but these lines made me think of the madness of Donald Trump.  Love and madness can sound frighteningly similar.

Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians & Stupid/Evil People