ANOTHER CREATIVE INTERLUDE: ADELE'S "HELLO" IN IRISH (LANGUAGE OF MY ANCESTORS)

PS

Saturday evening's reading at Studio 26 Gallery in NYC was a fulfilling event. Rachel E. Diken gave a stunning debut reading of her poetry that had an obvious impact on the standing-room-only crowd, and I received a warm reception as well for poetry and prose I'd published over the past half century about my Civil Rights and racial justice activism since the 1950s, and anti-war, feminist, and gay rights activism since the 1960s, hopefully reminding people that the struggle for justice-for-all has been ongoing and peaks and wanes but has never been fully stopped or disappeared...

You may have noticed that I've been focusing on the various arts that sustain me and my spirit more in my posts since the inauguration of "the predator-in-chief" (as he has become known to many), because in order to maintain my strength—intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally—so I can take part in what we used to call "The Movement" in the 1960s and '70s and now is called "The Resistance" I need constant creative arts breaks, which is why on my car radio I'm listening to either my public jazz station or classical music station rather than NPR and other news stations constantly, to give my brain and heart a chance to re-energize....I recommend it...

SILENCE

Martin Scorsese's SILENCE is not for everyone. The friend I saw it with felt it could have been a lot shorter. I thought it was pretty much miscast—Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson as Portuguese?! (Jesuit missionaries in 1600s Japan as the Japanese were closing down their efforts and demanding they give up their faith). And Garfield seemed in over his head or level of talent, at first, but eventually impressed me as did Scorsese's usual mastery (lacking only when someone else has the upper hand, i.e. Jack Nicholson in THE DEPARTED), making it a worthwhile trip to the theater for me.

If you found Scorsese's version of Edith Wharton's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE slow and too nuanced, then SILENCE isn't for you. But if you like spending time staring at paintings in museums, uncovering depths maybe even the artist didn't intend but that bring a kind of creative fulfillment to you (I'm guilty), then I think you will be able to surrender to the pace and the ignore the miscasting to ultimately experience a worthy work of art, despite its few limitations, or maybe a better word is challenges.

JOHN HURT R.I.P.

I never worked with him, nor met him (as far as I can remember), but I would love to have done both. He was one of the greatest actors to ever work in film, period. To get an idea of the range and depth of his creative gifts, I recommend watching these three films: THE NAKED CIVIL SERVANT from 1975 where he portrayed the gay pioneer Quentin Crisp and captured him perfectly, THE ELEPHANT MAN, 1980, where he played John Merrick in one of the most moving performances ever filmed, and 1990's THE FIELD where he played Bird O'Donnell, Richard Harris's lead character's flunky. Three characters so different you can't find the same man in them anywhere. And the latter, "Bird," is an Irishman, so if I commend an Englishman playing one of "my people" (when I often rant against English actors being cast for "Americans" and "Irish" etc.) you know he nails it. Condolences to all his family and friends, and to his fans, of which I consider myself one of the most ardent.

ANOTHER FAVORITE OLD QUOTE

"Following straight lines shortens distances, and also life." —Antonio Porchia (from Voices, translated by W. S. Merwin)

IN THE RECENT FUTURE

[this was taken on January 2nd, while Obama was still in The White House for a few more days, from left to right my friend the poet Rachel Diken, me, my oldest son Miles and behind him in the hat my youngest son Flynn, in my apartment kitchen and living room in New Jersey]
[PS: the title of this post is from a poem of mine from the mid 1970s]

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Open letter to Sen. Ben Cardin, alleged Democrat

“...We would like to see the Trump administration succeed, and we're going to do everything we can to make him a successful president.”
—Sen. Ben Cardin, Democratic senator from Maryland, on NPR, Jan. 19th, 2017

20 January 2017

Sen. Ben Cardin:

This is a sad day for many Americans. To see a man like Trump become leader of this country is a depressing sight. He ran a racist, white-supremist, sexist campaign, one filled with un-Constitutional proposals such as torturing captives and blocking people from coming here on the basis of religion. He mocked the handicapped. He bragged about committing sexual assault.

But then I hear you on NPR yesterday saying how much you want Trump’s presidency to be a successful one. Excuse me? Did I just hear my Democratic senator from a Democratic state wishing success to Donald Trump? What sort of success would you like Trump to enjoy? Do you want him to be successful in enacting the aforementioned agenda? 

You epitomize everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party. You are weak, always ready to surrender to right-wingers. Never resisting, never fighting, never standing up against the forces of darkness we are now faced with. There is a reason why Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are so popular with actual Democrats---it is because they are not owned by corporate sponsors and various lobbies. They are willing to take on the extreme right (which is now the entire republican party) while you & your ilk are wishing Trump success. It’s unimaginable that any republican out there would be such a docile enabler of his or her opponents.

What you should have said is that you would do everything possible to block Trump’s agenda at every turn. You should have echoed McConnell’s famous line about making Obama a one-term president. One thing you should not be doing is wishing success to Trump.

I very sincerely hope that you retire after your current term is up. If you don’t, I hope a true progressive will emerge to challenge you in a primary. Maryland Democrats deserve better than you.

yours,

Terence Winch
Silver Spring, Maryland