Christmas 2013

We are all that we ever have loved.

Lily H.

"Don't Tell Mama" (Fred Ebb)

 Julie Harris in "I am a Camera" by John Von Druten based on "The Berlin Stories"

Isherwood

Jill Haworth as Sally  Bowles in the original Broadway production

Act I Scene [ ]  from the musical play "Cabaret"

[EMCEE]

And now, meine Damen und Herren... Mesdames et

Messieurs... Ladies and Gentlemen- The Kit Kat Klub

is proud to present a most talented young lady from

England. Yes- England! I give you- and don't forget

to give her back when you're finished with her- the

toast of Mayfair... Fraulein Sally Bowles!!

[SALLY]

Mama
Thinks I'm living in a convent,
A secluded little convent
In the southern part of France.

Mama

Doesn't even have an inkling

That I'm working in a Nightclub

In a pair of Lacy pants.

So please, sir.

If you run into my Mama,

Don't reveal my indiscretion,

Give a working girl a chance.

Hush up,

Don't tell Mama,

Shush up,

Don't tell Mama...

Don't tell Mama,

Whatever you do.

If you had a secret,

You bet I would keep it.

I would never tell on you.

I'm breaking every promise

That I gave her,

So won't you kindly do a girl

A great big favor?

And please, my sweet patater,

Keep this from the Mater,

Though my dance

Is not against the law.

You can tell my Papa, that's all right,

'Cause he comes in here every night,

But don't tell Mama what you saw!

[ALL]

Mama

Thinks I'm on a tour of Europe,

With a couple of my school chums

And a lady chaperone.

Mama

Doesn't even have an inkling

That I left them all in Antwerp

And I'm touring on my own.

So please, Sir

If you run into my Mama

Don't reveal my indiscretion.

[SALLY]

Just leave well enough alone.

Hush up,

[ALL]

Don't tell Mama.

[SALLY]

Shush up,

[ALL]

Don't tell Mama;

Don't tell Mama

Whatever you do.

[SALLY]

If you had a secret,

You bet I would keep it.

[ALL]

I would never tell on you.

You wouldn't want to get me

In a pickle,

[SALLY]

And have her go and cut me off

Without a nickle.

[ALL]

So let's trust one another,

Keep this from my mother,

Though I'm still as pure as mountain snow.

[SALLY]

You can tell my Uncle

Here and now

'Cause he's my agent anyhow,

[KIT KAT GIRLS]

But don't tell Mama what you know.

[SALLY]

You can tell my brother,

That ain't grim

'Cause if her squeals on me

I'll squeal on him,

[ALL]

But don't tell Mama, bitte

Don't tell Mama, please, Sir.

Don't tell Mama, what you know.

[GIRLS]

Sssh!

Sssh!

[SALLY]

If you see my, Mummy,

Mum's the word!

如出一辙

I learned today a common Chinese expression meaning "to be precisely the same, no different."   It was used in a  Taiwanese news broadcast to describe the President of Taiwan Ma Yingjiu's behavior after the death of his own father.  He confined his mourning to the private sphere.


Another example:

布什已在暗示杜卡基斯与蒙代尔如出一辙，也是一个民主党自由分子。此一指控实际上是站不住的 ... 。

[In the 1992 presidential primary] George W. Bush charged that Dukakis was no different from Walter Mondale.



辙
= [zhe, 2nd tone] rut, track

Sourire de complicite

Fernand Khnopff, "Le Sphinx" ou "L'art" (1896) Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles

LAROUSSE DICTIONNAIRE

Mots proches

• complication
• complice
• complice
• complicité
• complies
• compliment
• complimenter

complicité

nom féminin

• Définitions
• Synonymes

• Participation à la réalisation d'un crime ou d'un délit, antérieure ou concomitante à l'infraction (Le complice est puni comme s'il était l'auteur de l'infraction.) : Être condamné pour complicité.
• Participation à une action ; aide apportée à quelqu'un dans son action :Il a réussi avec la complicité de sa mère.
• Connivence, entente tacite : Sourire de complicité.

http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/complicit%C3%A9/17707

http://users.skynet.be/lotus/art/khnopff-fr.htmCompol

Cogito, ergo sum (Je pense, donc je suis) Rene Descartes

"Cogito, ergo sum"

tire du Discours de la méthode (1637) de Rene Descartes

Lily H. added,

I think, courage.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discours_de_la_m%C3%A9thode

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita... (Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia)

engraving, Gustave Dore

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,

ché la diritta via era smarrita.*

« Au milieu du chemin de notre vie

je me retrouvai dans une forêt obscure »

]

*

["Stopped mid-motion in the middle

Of what we call our life, I looked up and saw no sky—

Only a dense cage of leaf, tree, and twig. I was lost."]

Translation, Mary Jo Bang

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nel_mezzo_del_cammin_di_nostra_vita
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/oct/24/dante-most-vivid-version/

Ex praeterito...

Ex praeterito/ praesens prudenter agit/ ni futura actione deturpet.

[traduction:  informe du passe, le present agit avec prudence, de peur qu'il n'ait a rougir de l'action future]

 Titian.   Allegory of Prudence.  1506-7.   London, National Gallery.

http://www.rectoversion.com/notreserved/cercle/pages/panofsky_b02.html

There is much noise... ( Lily H.)

The world

There is much noise
where there should be communication.
There is much noise
where there would be meaning.
There is much noise
where there could be silence.

"11% of the black male of Wisconsin has been incarcerated in Wisconsin's prison system at least once" -NPR (National Public Radio)

Responsible citizenship requires that one speak out against prejudiced viewpoints and injustice, even at the cost of disagreeing with others or expressing a minority or unpopular view.

A friend wrote me this morning to express her indignation that ""I [she had] just heard on NPR that 11% of the black male of Wisconsin has been incarcerated in WI's prison system at least once.  This is double the rate of the next most "jail-happy" state with an egregious track record of incarcerating black people."

My question is:   Why do people assume that the state (Wisconsin in this case) is locking up innocent black men for no reason other than to be racist, brutal, unjust, and evil?

Or that these law-abiding men were sitting one night at home trying to help their kids with their algebra or social science when the police entered their domicile, interrogated and then put them in handcuffs, and finally dragged them off to prison. 

I wonder about the factors that cause black men to commit serious crimes:  a culture of macho, lack of male models, single-parent families.

I believe that their rate of incarceration is much much higher than Asian, Africa, or whites of similar economic income levels.

"Out of 787 federal judgeships, only 95 are held by blacks." (Congressional Black Caucus)

Racial disparity?

Or not.

Not.

Being only 12% of the U.S. population, blacks would be expected if there were ideal racial parity to have 94 judgeships, which is exactly how many they "have."

If there 190 black federal judges, one black person would then have twice the weight of a white person.

I have no idea how the figures would hold for other racial/ethnic/religious groups, as the Congressional Black Caucus did not give an accurate representation of how the number of judgeships actually correspond to population.

One man, one vote.  That is democracy.

"Deep love...well, eh...to two fair ladies." -Rex Harrison

I remember clearly watching the Academy Awards in 1965 and listening to Rex Harrison's acceptance speech when he won the Best Actor Oscar for "My Fair Lady."

To my mind, I don't think anyone has matched his eloquence, quiet dignity, and disarming simplicity in thanking both of his leading ladies, the one on Broadway (Julie Andrews), the other in Hollywood (Audrey Hepburn).

The great irony is that the one who lost the Hollywood role (Andrews) would win the Best Actress Oscar that same night, while the one who won the much sought after role in the film version of the longest running musical in Broadway history would lose the Academy Award to her erstwhile rival.

To add irony to irony, it was Audrey Hepburn, his Hollywood co-star in "My Fair Lady," who would actually present the Best Actor Oscar to Harrison.  Her touching graciousness, especially in light of the fact that she was not even nominated for Best Actress (although I think she certainly deserved one), was remarkable.  She gave no hint of disappointment but only of radiant joy that she was able to honor Harrison.

So Rex Harrison that night had the difficult task of thanking not just one fair lady but actually two, and he carried it off with both distinction and aplomb.

And this amidst the super-glitz and empty hoopla of Hollywood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aL5W0dxoQY


* * * * *

We all know Americans and Brits are "[the] two [great] countries separated by one common language" (attributed to Winston Churchill).

On that score, I can't help but be struck at how the British, though they have lost the colonies in North America" (though they kept Canada up until World War II), win on the playing field of our common language.

The latest example of the Hollywood vintage would be Ben Affleck's rushed, rambling, breathless, verbose, embarrassing acceptance speech ("a shout-out" to a long list of individuals and species) at the 2013 Oscars, where his film "Argo" was crowned Best Picture.

The irony--and suspense if you'll have i--was that Affleck had not been nominated for Best Director, even though everyone knew already that "Argo" would, ergo, receive a vote of sympathy.

(I am sure you can find it on Youtube.  I don't have a thick enough skin to view it again).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atfnRwY2OV4

Sometimes less is more.

O.K., Americans don't know hope to make acceptance speeches:  at the Oscars, there doesn't seem to be much difference between them and what one would expect of someone who just won the Jackpot:   a lot of screaming--for joy, albeit--but without usually much of a hint of respect for either the metier or for the art.  It's just fun, after all--which is what America does best to celebrate, anyway.*

(Even President Obama gives cerebral speeches which give new meaning to the word "speechifying" and "stultifying."  If he has a heart--and I'm sure it's probably there buried deep inside his brain--, it must have a stake through it).  

But does this linguistic divide explain the admiration, sometimes verging on adulation* or fixation, on a British accent (Received Pronunciation), at least in some circles, if not mainstream America, which is fixed on other things (as in 3D car crashes, shout-outs, and shoot-outs)?

Of course, I'm sure the generation raised on I-pads, play stations, and sarcasm could care less.

Who is Rex Harrison?  Wasn't he one of the Beatles?   What is "My Fair Lady"?    Where is Moliere?   Is Debussy a kind of chocolate or something?  Related to Jennifer Aston?  Or wasn't he in a high-speed chase, 10-car pile-up recently in Los Angeles?   

Tennessee Williams?    A kind of tequila, right?   The Vietnam War?  I heard it was after the American Revolution.  Dude, what difference does it make, anyway?**

Hepburn and Harrison, 1965, in Los Angeles at the Academy Awards.

This year in Hollywood:
(above) Ben Affleck brandishing his Oscar.  
(below) The kookie--meaning "loveable"--Hollywood starlet takes the cake.  At least she initially tried on a tad of humility for size.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atfnRwY2OV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDU7zLAd2-U

A comparison might also be made with Tom Hooper's acceptance speech (for directing "The King's Speech") the previous year, one in which composure, grace, understatement, conciseness, and emotion are genuine but at the same a little easier on the ears (and eyes).    (Warning:   fellow Americans, you will be bored because  he will not be clapping his hands, screaming, shouting, rolling his eyes, repeatedly, upwards to the heavens, dancing a little jig across the stage, and proclaiming that it is the greatest day of his life.  And then thank everyone from his grade school teacher to the assistant sound editing director and his entire extended family).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz2r2Py9hLo

An example of an early "shout out" but one done with such courage and  heart-felt eloquence--though somewhat rambling--that it's not surprising it was another Brit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAcOsK9gRLk

(Despite her repeated references in this speech to the heroism and struggle of the Jewish people, she has since this speech been branded as anti-Semite, her career suffering as a result.)


One common language I'm afraid we'll never get, oh, why can't Americans, oh, why can't Americans learn to speak?
with gratitude to Alan Jay Lerner

* Friends in Los Angeles tell me that those with RP accents get the best seats in restaurants and almost fawning treatment.

She was interested in making a statement, too.  Here it is.

** I am reminded of what I saw via Swiss television hours after the announcement of the killing of Osama ben Laden by American forces.  The news coverage just outside the White House showed throngs--probably thousands of young Americans celebrating the news.  They were brandishing signs that read "American #1, WE WON!!!  WE GOT HIM, YOU BET!"   It was exactly the same atmosphere as after the NFL Championships.   The uncomprehending Swiss  news anchors were flabbergasted at the rock-concert, video-game exuberance of the revelers.

Ce qui donne un sens à la vie donne un sens à la mort. -Saint Exupery

Ce qui donne un sens à la vie donne un sens à la mort. 

extrait du chapitre VIII, "Les hommes" de Terre des Hommes.

A voir
http://fr.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terre_des_hommes

Seul l’Esprit, s’il souffle sur la glaise, peut créer l’Homme. -Saint-Exupery

Le désert de Libye où eut lieu l'accident des deux aviateurs raconte dans le livre.

Ce qui me tourmente, ce ne sont ni ces creux, ni ces bosses, ni cette laideur. C’est un peu, dans chacun de ces hommes, Mozart assassiné.

Seul l’Esprit, s’il souffle sur la glaise, peut créer l’Homme.

[FIN de Terre des Hommes (Gallimard, 1939].

"Someone out to tell them [Americans] how to behave in a museum." (Charles Dantzig)

"Someone out to tell them [Americans] how to behave in a museum.  They talk as if they were at home..."

Charles Dantzig quoted in "Objectif Lune," in Harper's magazine, May 2009.
from Encyclopédie capricieuse du tout et du rien.

* * * * *

I am almost always disarmed by the near whisper--or so it appears to American ears--and discretion of  the French when they visit a museum in our country, as much as I am by the "openness" and lack of artifice of so many Americans wherever they be.

* * * * *

Sometimes either (1) when one stops yammering to one's fellow museum-goer about what one bought at Macy's the other day, or (2) stops for a few moments clicking on one's cell-phone, one might actually see something (as in "looking without seeing").

There's always, too, a time and place to rock to the beat of Lady Gaga or Prince.

Sometimes a little intellectual effort--and tuning down the noise inside (and outside) our minds--yields surprising results.  Which might be a tall order for most Americans (and increasingly so for Europeans).

Michaelangelo Merisi in a Vermeer-esque mood.

"You're either for us, or against us" -George W. Bush. The Stranger rechannels...

This infamous phrase was pronounced, as most Americans recall, by George W. Bush not long after he launched his "War Against Terrorism."

Through time, I believe that this phrase has been adopted, in spirit, by my hometown's alternative weekly The Stranger.

"You're either for us, or against us."

Either you are a blue-state or a red-state.  A liberal or a fascist.

Doesn't leave much choice if you ARE a liberal but disagree fundamentally with the tenor and positions of The Stranger--and its brethren--on certain hot-button issues.

You have become, by their subtle logic, the enemy.  A crazy, a liar, idiot, Republican, racist, etc.

To call someone a racist today is not so different from what would have been calling someone a commie in the '50's, a kick in the groin, so to speak.

* * * * *

I only gradually became aware, over the years, of the simple-mindedness and bullying tactics employed by The Stranger.

For the staff of The Stranger, the musical "Hairspray" is the photo-perfect picture of the civil rights era of the '60's.  No deviation possible.

For Jen Graves, Charles Mudede, Eli Saunders:  James Paroline, Dinh Huynh, Kris Kime, Melwani Malesh, the four Lakewood cops, and the others never existed. Nor did the color of the skin of their murderers.

None of the above dead defended themselves before they were killed.  George Zimmerman did and he is alive today.

* * * * *

And if certain people of color become second-class citizens for The Stranger,  big deal. Throw them on the side a racist taunt/slur if they protest.

No favoritism, even if they have their favorites.

One has to scratch one's head and turn over and over in one's mind the logic or meaning of The Stranger having African-Americans grace one-third or more of their front covers.

Only after considerable mind-blowing mental gyrations does one realize that it is genius at work.

Monet, "La femme au parasol," 1886, Musee d'Orsay.

A "quotation," in the art-historical sense of the portrait paintings of Gainsborough, Romney, or Joshua Reynolds?

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/m/monet/07/1vario03.html

Ragdoll: "lorsqu'on le porte, il devient aussi mou qu'une poupée de chiffon" (Wikipedia)

Ragdoll

Race d'animaux

Le ragdoll est une race de chats originaire des États-Unis. Le nom de ce chat de grande taille provient d'une particularité étonnante : lorsqu'on le porte, il devient aussi mou qu'une poupée de chiffon, « ragdoll » en anglais. Wikipédia

Origine  : États-Unis

Classification  : Chat

J'estime donc que mon chat est "ragdoll."

Elle etait tres mignonne comme bebe, elle l'est toujours.

Pas il y a longtemps.

"What my cats do seems infinitely more interesting and meaningful..." -Lillian H.

What my cats do in their daily lives seems, to me at least, infinitely more interesting and meaningful--from minutely observing the street from the window of my apartment to licking their paws with exquisite grace or to sniffing my bowl of oatmeal--than the activities of my fellow human beings.

They live in the present moment.

If only homo sapiens, my fellow human beings, were a quarter as attractive as felis domesticus.

As it is, we have a world of 7 billion homo sapiens, not a few of whom are coarse, stupid, prejudiced, overweight, loud, materialistic, cruel, bored and boring.

"People are forgetting: George Zimmerman is not a white man (no more than Barack Obama is)." -Lily H.

George Zimmerman

You have the word of a Latino against that of the parents of a young black man who was slain.   Who do you choose to believe?

And on what basis:  skin color?  sympathy?  historical injustice?  cultural affinity (sports/music/movies)?

Which man is more "entitled" to being believed?

The Latino man (Zimmerman) states that he was being pinned on the ground and being pummeled by a tall black teen-ager and that he feared for his very life.  The parents say their child (Martin) was unarmed, not dangerous, and had simply gone out to buy a snack.*

* while, on his way home, crossing through a gated community

See also

http://lilliansblog-d.blogspot.com/

George Zimmerman after his encounter with Travyon Martin.