The ubiquitous My Life social media web service notified me yesterday that:
"
A 111 year old femalenow living in New York, NY"
is looking for me.
I do not believe this.
This can only be good news (?).
ReplyDeleteIt is my fervent hope that out of all the confusion I've been feeling lately some clarity emerges. The latest quasi-example of clarity occurred last night when I attended an event high up in one of Philadelphia's new-ish crop of skyscrapers, the Comcast building. (This was a Swarthmore College alumni reception.) Our perch atop this building gave us a really good view of the tops of two other skyscrapers. All three buildings are, unfortunately, pretty hideous, but now I have a better understanding why that is. For what it's worth, the interior spaces of each of these aeries are pretty nice, which is some compensation, I suppose. Philadelphia seems to be the place architects peddle "major" designs that have been rejected (for good reason) by other cities. It used to be such a beautiful place and it still is on street level in many places. Oh well, it's immaterial. I'm less of a city person than I ever was. Curtis
ReplyDeleteCurtis,
ReplyDeleteCan there be any connection between your newfound clarity and the attempted entry into your personal sphere of that 111 year old woman?
I don't mean to pry, and enquire only because I am forever on the outlook for signs of good things arising out of Great Age. (This perhaps a product of the Great Burden of Age which I've been feeling/imagining since hitting the horrible 70.)
By the way, back in the epoch of mobility, I remember Philadelphia as the most lovely of American cities (this perhaps due to doing a few readings at the very lovely colleges there), just as, sometime earlier, I had decided Seville was the loveliest of cities in Spain, Milan in Italy and so on.
The 111-year old woman is still looking for me, which means that I should take a trip to NY soon, but I only travel there for business lately and most business, such as it is these days, can be done via computer. I'd like to wish you a belated happy birthday. I knew 70 was approaching for you, but I'd forgotten the exact date. I hope you had a good day. My own birthday (58) was last Sunday and my family made it as pleasant as possible. Jane, in fact, began my day by creating a very clever "pseudo-cover" of Hello!, the UK fame magazine, featuring my photo (she kindly chose one that wasn't too horrible) and some genuinely clever/gently mocking headlines and sub-heads. Having just submitted some designs to the La Brea Tar Pits Museum so that they can create some decent sabre-tooth tiger-themed merchandise for their gift shop, I think my 13-year old is on a roll. I would like very badly to visit Seville (it's one of several Spanish cities I've missed and would like to visit) and definitely Milan, which exerts a strong tug. Friends of mine used to visit Milan every year to attend the MIFED film market and they joined in with the cliche crowd by saying that Milan wasn't so great, but I've always suspected they were mistaken. Philly is still very strong in our affections, but the city has been destroyed, in part, by the corruption and mediocrity of one-party political rule over a very long period. The Philadelphia Inquirer, once a very fine newspaper, is now a ghost sheet, the symphony orchestra is literally bankrupt, and even the soft pretzels have lost their savor. The Philadelphia Museum, however, is doing exceptionally well and has had continued good leadership (under several directors) for a long time. Essentially, if you move 1 inch out of the city, your tax bill becomes a fraction of what it would be in town, so the city's effectively been abandoned by even the moderately well-to-do because it's unlikely that their jobs are actually situated in the city. Curtis
ReplyDelete