Benedict Cumberbatch

May 26th, 2018 → 5:15 am

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

Benedict Cumberbatch is my new hero, for saying he will boycott any project that does not pay female co-stars the same as their male co-stars.  He is urging other actors to do the same.  And if that isn’t enough, apparently he is a “fervent feminist.”  I don’t think I’ve had this big a crush on an actor since Michael J. Fox and Back to the Future!

Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art

The Royal Wedding

May 20th, 2018 → 5:45 am

“Eternity was in [their] lips and eyes,
Bliss in [their] brows’ bent; none [their] parts so poor
But was a race of heaven.”  – Antony and Cleopatra

Yes, I watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yesterday.  As it happens, my son woke up early too and we watched it together – that was fun!  God bless the new couple, and may they enjoy years of happiness together.

Filed under: Blog & Other

Friends

May 18th, 2018 → 5:45 am

“Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.”  – Hamlet

I made a new friend yesterday afternoon, and then met up with an old friend after work for coffee.  A medium friend (what do you call someone who isn’t a new friend or an old friend, but a recent friend of 2-3 years??) I found out is leaving the United States at the end of summer and moving to the Netherlands; I don’t know when I’ll see her again.  Friends come and friends go, they give pleasure and sadness, and if I could grasp some of them with hoops of steel, believe me, I would.

Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life

The Seasons Change

May 7th, 2018 → 5:54 am

“The seasons alter…
the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries.”  – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The semester is ending, the weather is turning, neighbors are moving, colleagues are retiring, change is afoot.  I feel the need to grasp onto something steady, heavy, and strong.  As the rivulets of life rush past, cool, wet, and murky, I look into the waters and consider.  And sigh.  And then, as a yellow butterfly winks past, I slip off my shoes and step into the stream and enjoy.

Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life

“Into Eternity, Vilma”

May 1st, 2018 → 6:20 am

“Beauty, truth and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed, in cinders lie.”  – Phoenix and Turtle

It broke my heart to read about the letter a woman wrote to her husband, just before she was put on the trains to Auschwitz.  It is amazing the letter survived the Holocaust at all; it is even more astonishing how love, it seems, can shine through anything.

Filed under: Blog & Other