Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
1968 Arrival in Washington DC
IS IT TIME TO LOOK BACK? I guess so. Less years ahead now. Lot of years,things,people. experiences. adventures and misadventures all jumbled together in the past.
I arrived to work on the Wolf Trap project with Mrs. Jouett Shouse,daughter of the Filenes of Boston. I reached my new home in Washington DC on the Monday after Martin Luther King had been assassinated. I seemed unaffected by the murder and neither was Mrs. Shouse or her lady companion, Princess Kotchoubey. WSe thought it terrible there had been looting. I saw it myself. I was told Abby the maid reported "Oh madam, you should have seen the new outfits in church on Sunday". I passed a house displaying a window notice: SOL BROTHERS HERE.
I, a guest at the now defunct Roger Smith Hotel,two blocks from the White House, was under curfew after 6pm for three days. We ran out of food. It was rather fun. My Canadian friends thought me mad moving to DC, aflame on TV. I saw houses smoking two blocks from the White House, black & white armed soldiers on every corner & armored vehicles on Pennsylvania Avenue. For several weeks I passed Resurrection City, plywood dwellings on the mall between the Capitol & the Lincoln Memorial. After several weeks of rain (& especial worry about the mules-not the people), the city was rased to the ground. It happened overnight. In the evening coming home from Haines Point it was there, and the next morning gone, everything green again.
It hit me. This is a powerful, rich country; it behooved me to play my cards close to the chest. I am adept at keeping up appearances, like Mrs. Bucket. My acquaintances continued to go to the opera(such as it was in those days in DC), the ballet (the same) and the symphony where one emerged always stiffnecked as the boxes were at right angles to the finally into a more positive country. n some ways anyway. This country was so young in 1968, not even 200 years old.I came from ancient established traditions. It was amusing to tilt the conversation my way by just saying: Well, in the Middle Ages....But that was being smart, and anyway had I not emigrated to find freshness, hot water, money, phones which worked?
And now I'm still here, certainly more aware and more sceptical. But I am very pleased by becoming an American.
I arrived to work on the Wolf Trap project with Mrs. Jouett Shouse,daughter of the Filenes of Boston. I reached my new home in Washington DC on the Monday after Martin Luther King had been assassinated. I seemed unaffected by the murder and neither was Mrs. Shouse or her lady companion, Princess Kotchoubey. WSe thought it terrible there had been looting. I saw it myself. I was told Abby the maid reported "Oh madam, you should have seen the new outfits in church on Sunday". I passed a house displaying a window notice: SOL BROTHERS HERE.
I, a guest at the now defunct Roger Smith Hotel,two blocks from the White House, was under curfew after 6pm for three days. We ran out of food. It was rather fun. My Canadian friends thought me mad moving to DC, aflame on TV. I saw houses smoking two blocks from the White House, black & white armed soldiers on every corner & armored vehicles on Pennsylvania Avenue. For several weeks I passed Resurrection City, plywood dwellings on the mall between the Capitol & the Lincoln Memorial. After several weeks of rain (& especial worry about the mules-not the people), the city was rased to the ground. It happened overnight. In the evening coming home from Haines Point it was there, and the next morning gone, everything green again.
It hit me. This is a powerful, rich country; it behooved me to play my cards close to the chest. I am adept at keeping up appearances, like Mrs. Bucket. My acquaintances continued to go to the opera(such as it was in those days in DC), the ballet (the same) and the symphony where one emerged always stiffnecked as the boxes were at right angles to the finally into a more positive country. n some ways anyway. This country was so young in 1968, not even 200 years old.I came from ancient established traditions. It was amusing to tilt the conversation my way by just saying: Well, in the Middle Ages....But that was being smart, and anyway had I not emigrated to find freshness, hot water, money, phones which worked?
And now I'm still here, certainly more aware and more sceptical. But I am very pleased by becoming an American.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Vanessa: lucky Vanessa.
A dress rehearsal of Vanessa. As usual I was more interested in the story & characters than the music which seemed typically late C20, easily parodied. Opera does not seem to work in English, especially as this one seemed to take place in some Northern country, seemingly very un American, although of course Samuel Barber the composer was American
Vanessa living with her niece and mother awaits her lover Anatol of many years ago. A stranger comes to the house who says he loves her but when she looks at him, declares him an impostor to be removed immediately. However he appeals to the niece whom he beds on that first night and then stays to become Vanessa's lover and eventually her husband. Erika has a miscarriage, stays in the house while Vanessa marries Anatol and moves to Paris with young Anatol.
So even though it is a marriage based on deception they both play the game and it seems to work. Perhaps Princess Diana should have seen this movie.Poor high minded Erika who wanted to be wanted only for love loses out.
The furs were great. The opera features a moment about the furs.
A woman in my building wears a fur sign with a cross over it. Against fur. Pity really as it does look wonderful.
Ah well.
A good afternoon at the City Opera.
Vanessa living with her niece and mother awaits her lover Anatol of many years ago. A stranger comes to the house who says he loves her but when she looks at him, declares him an impostor to be removed immediately. However he appeals to the niece whom he beds on that first night and then stays to become Vanessa's lover and eventually her husband. Erika has a miscarriage, stays in the house while Vanessa marries Anatol and moves to Paris with young Anatol.
So even though it is a marriage based on deception they both play the game and it seems to work. Perhaps Princess Diana should have seen this movie.Poor high minded Erika who wanted to be wanted only for love loses out.
The furs were great. The opera features a moment about the furs.
A woman in my building wears a fur sign with a cross over it. Against fur. Pity really as it does look wonderful.
Ah well.
A good afternoon at the City Opera.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)