The Pains of Parting and a Father Says Farewell

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Two quite different wartime farewells at Charing Cross Station: The first is from Vera Brittain on the eve of 1915: At Charing Cross, with half an hour to wait for the last train to Purley, we walked together up and down the platform. It was New Year’s Eve, a bright night with infinities of stars … Read more

Much Ado About Deception and Delusion: Kate Atkinson’s Transcription and London 1940

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The sandwich was no comfort, it was a pale limp thing a long way from the déjeuner sur l’herbe of her imagination. . . . Recently she had bought a new book, by Elizabeth David — A Book of Mediterranean Food. A hopeful purchase. The only olive oil she could find was sold in her local chemist in … Read more

Edward Bear and Stochastic Terrorism

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As America wakes up this Sunday morning it is confronted with the horror of two major acts of domestic terrorism. America is being dragged down – bump, bump, bump on the head – as the atrocities mount up. It is  thanks to a white nationalist race-baiter squatting in the White House. And a Republican Party … Read more

Dem Debates: And the winner is ….

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It’s hard to cut through the clutter and fog of an overcrowded political field. But Elizabeth Warren did it this week. The debates were not conducive to any kind of discussion of issues beyond sound bite point scoring. They were structured for personal zingers and not for any exploration of policy differences. All that time … Read more

Let Me Be Clear

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We are well into the election season although the actual vote is well over a year away. This time in 2020 we will know our Democratic presidential candidate. It’s a crowded field and candidates must find a way to distinguish themselves from the pack. Right now we have four clear leaders – Joe Biden, Kamala … Read more

Save Your Neighborhood

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Buy local. If you live in a city, town or village you probably appreciate the local amenities. These include the local shops. If you want to preserve your neighborhood then buy local. Small independent stores and businesses are under siege and we need to support them if we care about preserving our neighborhoods.  Let’s imagine … Read more

Stroll, Soodle or Stroam

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Soodle – it means means to walk in a slow or leisurely manner; to stroll, saunter. With so many alternatives to the word ‘walk’ it seems superfluous to promote more. But “soodle” just seems so right especially for this time of the year when it takes effort to move at all when the heat is … Read more

The Art of Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

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Two Sundays, two documentaries and two very satisfactory movie experiences. The first was Maiden at The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY. The second Toni Morrison: The Pieces I am at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck. And before say anything about either film I have to comment on the pleasure of film-going at Indy cinemas like these. Two … Read more

Night Fog

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Some left over words from another post and borrowed words not exactly put to music. Boundaries blur. The streetlamp a smudge. Steps behind you muffled. Stop. When you stop. The roots that clutch. Do they follow? Who is the figure in the window, watching? Nerves are bad tonight, yes bad. Just the street and the … Read more

New York City Through the Window: Poetry

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In 1975 the poet Allen Ginsberg was in hospital. At a later poetry reading he explained the causes in an introduction to a poem that he had written from his hospital bed.:  I got real angry and wound up sick in a hospital, for various karmic reasons, and woke up looking out the window, and … Read more

New York City Through the Window: Art

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And New York is the most beautiful city in the world? It is not far from it. No urban nights are like the night there. I have looked down across the city from high windows. It is then that the great buildings lose reality and take on their magical powers. They are immaterial; that is … Read more

The View from the Room

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It was pleasant to wake up in Florence, to open the eyes upon a bright bare room, with a floor of red tiles which look clean though they are not; with a painted ceiling whereon pink griffins and blue amorini sport in a forest of yellow violins and bassoons. It was pleasant, too, to fling … Read more

After great pain, a formal feeling comes

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It’s graduation season and across the land schools are saying goodbye to students and students are moving along and into the next phases of their lives. It’s all very heartwarming and etc. I usually couldn’t wait for them to be over.  All that dressing up and ceremony and sitting and waiting in uncomfortable chairs. At … Read more