August 2

"Those are the big things. I will also do some little things." LOL

1966 (Mexico)

Went to Club. Saw MA the DVM. Also met 2 wise guys who wouldn’t leave me alone. Kept calling me Esther Williams. Took a test in Spanish, got a 70 and an 80. Yech. Must be in love.

1986

Today we leave for a week-long vacation in Connecticut and New York. We stayed up late last night watching a movie, which is stupid. The movie was fun: 007 in “Never Say Never Again”. But being up at nearly midnight the night before a long trip was stupid. Ah, well.

The chapter for the Smithsonian project went very well, despite waiting until THE LAST MINUTE to do this month’s section. I have now completed about 35 out of 45 estimated pages. It seems to be fairly easy to write, at least. The worst part is that it leaves so little time for any other project…and I have plenty of them! Still, this chapter is a major contribution, and worth doing.

Time to take a shower and get going.

Comment 2023

"The Children's Department," in Claudia Brush Kidwell and Valerie Steele, ed., Men and Women:  Dressing the Part, (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989).  (primary author, with Carol Kregloh)

This book chapter opened so many doors for me; definitely worth doing. And the companion exhibition kicked ass.

1997

“The name that can be named is not the eternal name” - Tao Te Ching

And that is my problem with “god”. I have no problem with the mystery, the sense that there is some spiritual force in life. But so many people say “god” and mean a father-like being, which limits the spirit and exalts humans, especially men. Likewise, I have a problem with “goddess”, which is also ultimately limiting. Perhaps the old goddess religions died, not from some malevolence towards women, but because their followers became strict fundamentalists who used language to restrict spirituality to the feminine. Perhaps monotheism was a kind of liberation movement, but got lost in the binary.

2016

Old friends. “How terribly strange to be 70.” How did Paul Simon know? How did Leonard Cohen know? How do some younger people know so deeply what aging is like before they experience it? They must have learned it by observation. That would require unusual empathy.

So Jim is at work. I am at work (at home) and trying to get back in the groove. I am experimenting with new routines. 

I got a message from a former student (very conservative) that kind of asks for an answer. But not yet. This political stuff is making me too anxious and distracted.

I am very behind in my SRK rewatch. I am sure I said that yesterday, but it is still true. So today I am going to plan, read, blog, and then watch Chennai Express. Those are the big things. I will also do some little things. Errands? A shower? Maybe clear out the basement storage? Maybe play the piano, maybe sort my pop-up supplies. Maybe draw. Probably nap. Finish Zamaana Deewana. What a terrible movie! It certainly shows how far SRK has come as an actor. He is less frantic now, less puppyish. All for the good. If I had seen DDLJ first, I am not sure I would have been as smitten as I was by K3G. Oh look at me! I am so Bollywood filmified. And a year ago, I had no clue this world was waiting for me. It has been a wonderful journey. A distraction, yes, but also a kind of awakening. Who knows where this will end?

Comment 2023

So far, it hasn’t. So many friends have predicted that I would eventually write an article or even a book about Indian film, but that will never happen. Some things need to be just for me, just for the pure enjoyment.

Also, my dear, that’s a rather large stack of “little things”, and “clear out the basement storage” does not sound “little” at all.