Did you cut your bangs again, Suejeanne?

Perhaps it is that middle child thing, quietly going about one’s business and trying to get something accomplished unobtrusively but, occasionally, not quite pulling it off and becoming an object of speculation, anathema to a shy person . . .
 

thus, life lessons are learned early, such as never cut your own bangs . . .

and so most shy people make this mistake just once, when they are about five years old (or even as young as two years old, if they ask for an older sibling’s help so as not to bother Mom).

I thought I had already been down that road, long ago . . . but a week ago, after I had my new haircut, it seemed my bangs were still too long; finally, a few days later, I decided to just go ahead and take a little bit off; mm – maybe a little more.

My mother (who is still quite a scrutinizer) did not seem to notice at first but she was doing her crossword puzzle; finally, she looked up and gasped.

The odd thing is this – that was on Monday – now they seem to be shrinking on their own.

Mother asked me if I cut them some more last night – perhaps I got up in the middle of the night and do not recall. I looked around the bathroom sink for clues but found none. 

I will see how they are tomorrow morning. I am up right now, writing this and so hope to impress the seriousness of this on my mind before I go to sleep, in case I actually have anything to do with this.

September 14, 2001

I am here with my 98 year-old Grandmother in her little place, way far away from where everything happened on September 11, 2001. Peaceful when you look outside, the sky bright blue and balmy desert breezes, a roadrunner and a cat named Leo who likes to sleep on the ledge are the only things moving out there.

Inside, Grandmother's apartment is filled with decades of love tokens from loved ones. And little children all around, her children and grandchildren in picture frames. And little chubby Hummel children: book readers, cake bakers, flower givers, umbrella toters, musicians. And Toby jugs in the hutch, looking down benevolently . . . all those kindly, cheerful, whimsical faces of Dickens characters, Bacchus, and Pearly King, among others.

Grandmother wants me to play some music for her; so, I get the old Orgasonic revved up and play "Edelweiss", "Irish Eyes" and that part of "Clair De Lune" that I know.

"Honey, when are you going to learn the rest of that?"

I tell her that I finally bought the sheet music and I am going to work on it.

I think of all this peace and coziness here, and how much my Grandmother and I have . . . then I wonder, to myself, how much would any of this be objectionable to those terrorists who might have done even more to our country if their other efforts had not been thwarted.

I turned off the news a while the other day and listened to Maria Callas in "Tosca". The terrorists would not have liked that. No opera. No Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley, either. No "Clair de Lune".

I think what we ought to do, in defiance of those who would destroy all that we consider precious and civilized, in addition to flying our flag, and singing "God Bless America" and shouting "USA! USA! USA!" . . . we ought to fill our homes with all the music each of us loves and give the gift of music to the children in our lives; give them music lessons: piano, violin, guitar, flute, clarinet, cello . . . whatever it is that suits them, and give it to them NOW, for it is needed now, more than ever.

I think of the Ray Bradbury novel, "Fahrenheit 451" where there were hidden groups of people who memorized the great works of literature and passed them on, because the books that had contained them were no longer allowed. If these same people who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had their way, the great literature and music and art that we cherish would be destroyed . . . and so would all the little knick-knacks be that lit up a dear old face.

Let us have a lot of music, and every song is an anthem of defiance against those who would destroy who and what we love.

Susan Jacob

Published in "The Desert Sun" (Palm Springs, California) on November 9, 2001 as a "Valley Voice" article; they edited it and titled it "Let's Blast Away the Darkness of Terror with Music" 

"The Crushing of Light"

The crushing of light
is really an impossible thing
Light travels too quickly for lies to catch it
It emerges in places unexpected
It fills hearts without notice
It sets free the minds of captors and captives

- Susan Jacob
(written in 1999, thinking of tenth anniversary of Tiannenman Square)

Elizabeth Taylor and the filming of "The Blue Bird" in Russia

I recall reading a magazine article in the late 1970's, I believe, about Elizabeth Taylor - it mentioned the filming of "The Blue Bird" in Russia (a joint American-Russian project, directed by George Cukor).

It was a cold and miserable experience, with nothing good to eat. Miss Taylor had buckets of Chasen's chili flown in for her (I believe she loved Chasen's chili so much for quite a while already, having had it also shipped to her when she was filming "Cleopatra" in Italy).

The "Blue Bird" was made in 1976, well before our wonderful President Reagan said "tear down this wall" . . . but I remember thinking at the time, to be a fly on the wall at that hotel, with all the Russians working there hearing about her Chasen's chili and she probably shared it - perhaps that was the real beginning of glasnost.

03/24/11

Palming off

Palm trees are lovely, especially after a rain has washed them and then the sun comes out - the leaves shine as they flutter about in the breeze. You can step outside to pick up your morning newspaper and look about at the palm trees and say, "oh, isn't it marvelous to be here in the desert when other people are shoveling snow right now" . . but palm trees are really great when they are in other people's yards - the beautifully maintained palms enhance your view but if they are a mess, no one in the neighborhood glares at YOU for your drooping fronds.

04/09/11

Step Lively

Dad between us, my Mom warns us both as we are walking in front of a store, "Watch your step, Honeys" - on the sidewalk are all these chewing gum spots, leading off into the horizon . . . what, Hansel and Gretel didn't have any bread crumbs?

Somewhat shocked we were - and even though I am not in CSI, I was able to quickly identify the spots as Strawberry Shortcake, Key Lime Pie and Mint Chocolate Chip, all new flavors of Extra sugarless gum (because I recently discovered them myself).

Maybe more people are chewing gum again -

Perhaps the chewing gum companies could come out with a reverse-action Pez-type dispenser for used chewing gum -

04/06/11

Shopping cart behavior

I haven't traveled much in recent years - maybe in other parts of the country or world, things are different - but I have wondered if shopping cart behavior could be an indication of a decline in civilization - seeing shopping carts all over parking lots, willy nilly, not in the areas provided or even parked on planters, but just left right in the middle of a parking lot, to potentially roll into innocent cars.

Lots and lots of shopping carts, too - going back into the store finally once or twice a day - maybe it is too hot to go out there and get them - it gets worse as the weather gets hotter -
there could be a movie in this -

you say, "she must have a lot of time on her hands, to worry about shopping carts" - well, not really but it is just one of those things I wonder about sometimes as I dodge one of those guys, as if it is gliding across the stage toward me in "Swan Lake".

04-04-11