July 21
There’s a bore in the next room.
1966 (Mexico)
Met my mysterious stranger today. I first saw him almost 3 weeks ago, the first time I went to the club. Every day, he was there. His name is Miguel Angel Tarragon Silva and he is studying veterinary medicine at the University. Very nice. Very short, too. Vamos a ver.
When I went to school that later, I crossed the street to mail letter. ON the way back, a black Volkswagen passed me, and it seemed that Juan #1 was inside. They all waved, but I just crossed the street. The one who looked like Juan got out and offered to take me across the street. I said no. He asked me where I was going. I said to school. He followed me across the street. He asked if he could take me home after school. I said no. He asked me when I went home. Stupid me, I said 8 or 9 o’clock. I forgot it until at 9, we started home, with a black Volkswagen following. They followed us all the way home, and then quit - I hope.
Susi came to visit today. I hope the Dorings don’t stay up too late talking so we can’t go to the club tomorrow. I want to see Miguel Angel again. Antonio is a baby.
Comment 2023
So naive and so boy crazy, all at once. The New Milford Jaycees were sending me to Mexico to broaden my horizons and improve my Spanish. If they only knew…
1976
I have a wonderful idea for my dissertation! I was reading “Tube of Plenty” - about TV and its effect on our culture.
“To many a hard-working suburban father who had followed the rules, the anarchy of sale seemed to threaten social foundations. But in truth, the youth uprising was also a return to an earlier America.” Then he quotes Whitman and Thoreau.
Comment 2023
This is fascinating. I am currently proposing a non-credit course for my retirement community entitled “Thoreau’s America”, about anti-consumption movements. Maybe I need to dig up that book.
1984 (Denmark)
Here’s a howdy-do. I swear it must be in the high 50s outside. It’s breezy, too, so it feels even colder. I am wearing my warmest clothes and I feel pinched. I keep passing Danes wearing shorts and windbreakers. It was a good excuse to go inside several museums. God, I am really not good at being alone. I wish I had another book to read. Incredible. She’s sitting in Copenhagen, has been here less than two days, and she wishes she had a book to read. Pathetic.
There’s a bore in the next room. It’s his nasal tone I dislike.
As I left, I stopped briefly to chat with the bore. In 2 minutes he had defined art twice.
-art is expression
-art is communication
So I thought about that afterwards. I think art is a carefully-crafted expression of an individual’s experience. It might communicate with others by accident or on purpose.
Tivoli - what a marvelous place, right in the middle of a city! Too bad it’s so cold. Finally, though, I am inside. After this concert I’ll head over to the RR station for dinner and then wait for my train to Oslo.
When I get to Norway, I’m buying a sweater!
Just after 11 pm-
A couchette is the most marvelous thing, especially when your feet are ready to fall off.
Good Night!
1997
The weather at Rehoboth Beach was mostly fine - it was deliciously cool the second night, after a humid, warm and eventually rainy day. I did the beach and water thing one day and that was enough. The shady porch with the rockers was just perfect. I found a great summer hat, the latest Anne Tyler, and a copy of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea.
It was so good to spend so much time with Kiddo 1 and watch her with her friends. The raw materials are there for a really cool adult: humor, intelligence, insight, curiosity, love of people, and genuine musical talent.
Comment 2023
And indeed she is a really cool adult.
1998
How quickly the summer goes! Why??? I am not having fun, and I do not feel at all leisurely. The next few weeks are full of Things to Do:
This week: Harpers Ferry 3 days
7/27: Richmond 2 days
8/2 UUMAC 7 days
8/10 WIT2 5 days
8/17 UMES 1-2 days (Maybe take Kiddo 2?)
8/24 Busch Gardens 3 days
8/31 School starts for kids; my first week “off”
9/7 Glasgow
So seven of the next eight weeks will involve some travel, six of them to conferences. The UU Mid-Atlantic Conference is more of a multigenerational camp, but it’s on a college campus and the morning theme speaker sure feels like a conference to me! Some restful summer!! And yet I am managing to get some things done (yay!)
Today I will write the exhibit review for the American studies Association newsletter. I am so afraid. I can not write in ASA jargon, and this makes me feel insecure. But here goes!
2003
In my next life I won’t be so damn cheap. I mean, here I am facing a night and most of a day in a crowded coach because I decided to save a couple hundred bucks and not a get a sleeper form Chicago to DC. If it were me and Kiddo 2 or me and Jim, I would have spent the $$$. But it’s “just me”.
2023
In addition to everything else, I am helping to organize the memorial service for my friend Sandy, who died last month. She was an artist and a shaman, a lover of jazz and old TV cowboy shows. She had the very best laugh. She made Beautiful Things. It’s a labor of love, but oooof.
Sandy’s art:
2024
Sandy’s laugh: