Every Christmas my aunt, Claire would read The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
She and her husband Stanley were a lovely couple and when she died I felt both grief and relief because she was very lonely without him. We became close after his death and she spent time here in my apartment with me.
She is the only family member that ever has. And I suddenly remembered her with deep fondness. So shortly I’ll read this aloud in a space. I don’t think I’m up for talking about it. But…this is one ritual/tradition/fond memory I can do. Aunt Claire…always the librarian.
Welcome. Great and noble Covidians. Its reminded that our faith must not be tempted by the sullying threat of mockery or by the scourge that is humor, blasphemy or questioning of The Doctrine. A’rona!
(A’rona with you)
Believers. We do not gather today to renew our commitment and allegiance as Covidians.
Ya think painters with a grudge are bad? Now imagine someone like him with a talent for language instead of landscapes.
“COMBAT LIBERALISM
September 7, 1937 - MAO
We stand for active ideological struggle because it is the weapon for ensuring unity within the Party and the revolutionary organizations in the interest of our fight. Every Communist and revolutionary should take up this weapon.
“These words are so poignant because they aim right at the pathetic platitudes our culture has come to embody on a increasingly hopeless level. Losing a child cannot be fixed. Being diagnosed with a debilitating illness cannot be fixed. Facing the betrayal of your closest
confidante cannot be fixed.
They can only be carried.
I hate to break it to you, but although devastation can lead to growth, it often doesn’t. The reality is that it often destroys lives. And the real calamity is that this happens precisely because
we’ve replaced grieving with advice. With platitudes. With our absence.”
Tom Stoppard…he better not leave anytime soon. I can’t imagine this world being mended without him.
My first apartment was once Leonard Bernstein’s. In that video early on he plays his Candide. I use to say that I could look out my window in that place and see and feel that music. It was amazing.
Now my doorman from then called me to tell me the mandate means he has to leave.
Imagine. At least 25 years there. On the street that once inspired NYers that touched the world…he has to leave, or….
Maybe where my aunt first heard it. She was a librarian.
In the original story Gallico wrote Frith and Rhyander has made a life together. But readers didn’t take to it; not because it was uncouth but because he had a hunch back. Gallico said this would