The Unbearable Lightness of the B List – With apologies to Milan Kundera. (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, English translation first published in 1984 by Harper’s & Row, Publishers, Inc.)
…the round of 16 at Paris… — The French Open, one of the four grand slam events in tennis. In the past, American men have not fared well here.
The B List – Part 2 – “No prince charming is her beau ideal…” — Quoted from James Joyce, Ulysses, The Corrected Text. Hans Walter Gabler (ed.) with Wolfhard Steppe and Claus Melchior, New York: Vintage Books. A Division of Random House, 1986.
The B List – Part 3 – …Izzie was a Birman, a Sacred Cat of Burma… — Thanks to various Birman breed publications relating the legend, and the Encyclopedia of American Cat Breeds, by Meredith Wilson, TFH Publications, 1978.
The B List – Part 4 — . . . the sanctuary of shades — A play on the old tennis saying,
“the blessed sanctuary of deuce.”
Let Down, Hanging Around — From the Radiohead song, “Let Down,” OK Computer, 1997 .
Let Down, Hanging Around – Part 3 — Other people waiting for the flight pretended not to, but stared at me… — “…You get to the point where you feel it’s always happening, somebody’s always intruding or watching or whispering, even when nobody is…” John McEnroe quoted in “John McEnroe: Where Does He Go From Here?” by Peter Bodo, Tennis, July 1984, p. 38.
He dropped the ball and hit it on the rebound as hard as he could… — According to tennis journalists, players at the U.S. Open have been known to fire up balls at offending aircraft coming out of La Guardia.
Without You I’m Nothing . . . — … ever since Mom read One Morning in Maine to me as a child … — One Morning in Maine, by Robert McCloskey. First published by The Viking Press, 1952.
… it was not wise to start with a whole male … — A cat that has not been neutered, a cat used for stud. At 10 weeks of age or later is when kittens should be separated from their mothers and littermates, and “many breeders do not sell kittens until they are 14 to 16 weeks old, when the immune system is fully developed,” and their potential as either a breeder or show cat is more firmly established. From The Cat Fanciers Web Site, (www.fanciers.com)
Without You I’m Nothing . . . Part 2 — … the dreaded diagnosis of FIP … — Feline infectious peritonitis. A progressive, deadly disease caused by a coronavirus. There is no generally accepted test or vaccine for FIP. It is contagious among felines and there is no cure.
Without You I’m Nothing . . . Part 3 — … Music was flooding the room—Brahms I guessed … — Brahms, “Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major for Piano and Orchestra,” third movement.
The Night Watch (Well Beyond Tears) — Because these wings are no longer wings to fly … — From T.S. Eliot’s “Ash-Wednesday,” 1930, Lines 9-10; 35-40:
Because I do not hope to know again
The infirm glory of the positive hour …
Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.
In The Waste Land and Other Poems, by T.S. Eliot. (Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books).
Starter House — This is a starter house. — Declaration of J. Wells, former fellow occupant.
…the Winn Foundation for FIP research . . . — The Winn Feline Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1968 by The Cat Fanciers’ Association to fund health-related studies benefiting cats. (www.winnfelinehealth.org)
Beautiful but Unlikely — “Your fantasies are unlikely. But beautiful.” — From the questionnaire included in the EP, Airbag/How Am I Driving? by Radiohead, Capitol Records, Inc., 1998.
There can be no justice… — “Guatemala: State of Impunity,” Amnesty International Report, April 1997.
My life was so changed that stormy afternoon… — “…I was so absorbed in him [John Brown] as to be surprised whenever I detected the routine of the natural world surviving still, or met persons going about their affairs indifferent.” “The Last Days of John Brown,” by Henry Thoreau, 1860. In The Portable Thoreau. Revised Edition. Carl Bode (ed.), New York: Penguin Books, 1984.
Beautiful but Unlikely – Part 2 — “…handing me a golden pelydryn.” A magical golden orb that emits light. From Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five children’s novels drawing upon Welsh mythology.
“…and like a child entering a fairyland, stepped inside of Cutler’s. The late, great record store located on the Yale campus next to the Co-op. Sadly closed its doors in 2012 after 64 years in business. cutlers.com
Beautiful but Unlikely – Part 3 — And yet others argue… — “At one high school assembly, an exceedingly bright and articulate student stood up and delivered a short speech in favor of capital punishment. Then he asked: ‘Doesn’t a person forfeit his right to life when he murders someone?’ And Healey replied: ‘No.’ Then he let the silence sink in.” Former executive director of Amnesty International USA, Jack Healey, quoted in “Keeper of the Flame,” by Renee Loth. The Boston Globe Magazine, March 13, 1988.
Taking the Punch — ‘Your mind took the punch without feeling the blow land.’ — Quote read a long time ago in the Sunday papers.
Taking the Punch – Part 2 — You shall go to the ball . . . ! — Per Mr. Humphries of the British TV show, Are You Being Served?
Taking the Punch – Part 3 —
. . .the power of an individual decision. — The power of an individual decision is a theme occurring throughout Amnesty International literature. The speech also draws directly on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a12).
Well, being a Red Sox fan, maybe I am . . . — Ross Fowler is giving this talk in 1987, well before the Red Sox won their three World Series titles (2004, 2007, 2013).
To paraphrase Thoreau, don’t wait for others to right the wrong so you need no longer regret it. — “They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret.” “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry Thoreau, 1849. In The Portable Thoreau. Revised Edition. Carl Bode (ed.), New York: Penguin Books, 1984.
. . .above ideologies, above cultures. — “. . .the idea was to have a tour above ideologies, above cultures, which would really put the message across to the whole world about the dignity of the human being.” Franca Sciuto, chairperson at that time of Amnesty International. HBO broadcast of the Human Right Now! Tour, December 1988.
What if you were thrown into prison tonight for attending this lecture … — “He [Jack Healey, former executive director, Amnesty International USA] tells them to imagine they are sitting in some lousy stinking jail, listening to the footsteps of a torturer approaching, just for going to a rock concert. Or carrying a Bible. Or wearing a jacket with an emblem the government doesn’t like.” “Keeper of the Flame,” by Renee Loth. The Boston Globe Magazine, March 13, 1988.
The Start of Hope — “Don’t you believe that we are all responsible for the absence of values . . . if we publicly say that . . . moral values exist, and henceforth we shall do what we must to establish and illustrate them, don’t you think that would be the start of hope?” Albert Camus quote taken from Bryan Appleyard, “The Lone Voice of Sanity,” Sunday London Times, October 12, 1997.
Yet I was amazed . . . — With a nod of gratitude to R. Sacher.
I had found my tribe. — “You’re building your tribe. It’s like your tribe . . . .” Ed O’Brien of Radiohead on the relationship between fans and bands. MIDEM 2010 exclusive video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uD3aw50LNY)
Why don’t you just pin hundred dollar bills to your lapel? — Thanks to B. Laymon for this succinct piece of wisdom.
The Start of Hope – Part 2 — Just as libraries are a haven for the homeless and a magnet for the strange . . . — The guy who day in and day out sat in the Library of Congress Reading Room with a paper bag over his head being perhaps the most famous example.
The Start of Hope Part 4 — . . . He’s on sabbatical at INSEAD . . . — INSEAD, The European Institute of Business Administration located in Fontainebleau, France.
It has a great view of the Sound . . . — Long Island Sound
. . . I recognized him from my future . . . — Director Joe Wright talking about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr.Darcy’s relationship in his commentary on the DVD of the 2005 film, Pride and Prejudice : “They recognized each other from their future . . .”
The Start of Hope Part 5 — . . . As members of the National Detention Project . . . — Description taken from Amnesty Action, a publication of Amnesty International USA, Spring 1999.
. . . they were not forgotten here. — “Though you may disappear, you’re not forgotten here …” from the song, “Wallflower,” by Peter Gabriel. Peter Gabriel IV, Geffen, 1982.
Frequent Flyers — . . . she gets dressed up in her best power suit—the whole bit . . . — A yarn spun by one of the original housemates, a Miss A. Hume. This story of waiting at the gates might actually have been true, might have been lifted from someone else, or perhaps was just circulating in the public domain at the time.
In the Thick of Things (I Know How to Sail . . .) — . . . Someday we’ll go to Fenway . . . — Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.
In the Thick of Things (What Makes Sense) — The stories of human rights abuses told in this chapter were drawn from Amnesty International reports published during the late 1980’s. While most of the material is paraphrased or altered somewhat, some is taken verbatim, some expanded on, some strictly the author’s own invention. www.amnesty.org.
In the Thick of Things (What Makes Sense) – Part 2 — . . . I am writing to appeal. . . A letter written by the author to the President of Cameroon during the summer of 1987. The prisoner’s surname has been changed.
Silent Son . . . one rigged up as Napoleon with the hat . . . — With fond memories of EP3.
Silent Son – Part 2 . . . One of the GAM people down there . . . — Grupo de Apoyo por el Aparecimiento con Vida de Nuestros Familiares (GAM), a mutual support group of relatives of the “disappeared” (Mutual Support Group for the Appearance of our Family Members Alive).
… joking with me about “el jefe”… — “the boss”
Silent Son – Part 3 — The content of the press release was taken from Amnesty International public reports published in the late 1980’s. The names and dates have been changed.
Good Night, Mr. Knightley — … sex with a human face — A turn on the phrase, “Socialism with a human face,” from the Prague Spring of 1968. Popularized by the leader of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Alexander Dubcek, who loosened the screws of authoritarian rule and started the thaw in state repression known then as the Prague Spring, and who himself became the abiding symbol of those extraordinary times. The reforms instituted by the Czech government touched off an explosion of open public discourse and individual artistic expression, rousing people from years of isolated stupor. The streets became alive with political debate and the fever spread to other East European countries. “All of Poland is waiting for its own Dubcek,” was a well-known invocation scrawled on the walls of Warsaw.
Mr. Knightley, you really are the real thing . . . — from the novel, Emma by Jane Austen. Emma’s father found some of her beaus ‘not quite the thing,’ but Ronald Blythe in his introduction to Emma (1979 Penguin edition) declares that Mr. Knightley “is the thing … the real thing.”
Police Your Own Area, Protect Your Own Turf – Part 2 — . . . with his makeshift madrina . . . — madrina: godmother
Police Your Own Area, Protect Your Own Turf – Part 3 — . . . Gray and silent, my boat, detached from its mooring, drifted empty . . . — “Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats,” Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Atlantic Records, 1974.
Ilana Dent’s Medicine Box – Part 3 — . . . its molecules drawn into the lungs and exhaled so many times… — “It’s not real air, you know; it’s moisture broken up. In first-class you’re fine because the air hasn’t been through other people’s bodies yet, but by the time you get to the back of the plane, it’s been through everyone’s lungs and it’s disgusting.” Thom Yorke of Radiohead on one of the many indignities of flying. From “Death Is All Around,” Q Magazine, October 1997.
Supper’s Ready/Chapter 19 —
“Supper’s Ready,” Genesis, Foxtrot, 1972.
In His Own Right (The Boston Interview) — . . .That and the HRIA bill . . . — “The proposed law—S. 1220, H.R. 2635—orders the release of classified U.S. intelligence data on past human rights abuses in Guatemala and Honduras.” Amnesty Action, a publication of Amnesty International USA, Summer 1998, p. 9. Referred to the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, it did not come up for floor action in either house of the 105th Congress. It was reintroduced in 1999 as H.R. 1625 and its language broadened to provide for expedited declassification of documents relating to human rights abuses in any nation. This bill was never passed.
What an interesting blog! I love the chapter titles all by themselves. Talk about anticipation . . . .
Thanks so much. They were fun to do. Come back and visit often–I post every Friday. My best wishes for all you’re dealing with right now.