To thine own self be true

(One past place of inner renewal for me: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona)

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“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.”

people wherever you go, wherever you are.

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”
–Ram Dass

The two-note song of the Black-capped Chickadee greeting me this chilly morning as I put out the garbage.

(a highly recommended Miramax video)

There are CVAs and then there are other strokes. There are the ‘lucky’ kind that 100-year-old-and-still-goin’-strong Kirk Douglas had. There are those that kill. And then there are the rare ones called Locked-In Syndrome which tragically struck down Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby in his 40s.

This is one of those movies that puts the viewer in the place of the protagonist and director Julian Schnabel rarely strays from the point of view of Bauby whose only moving part was his left eyelid which he used to communicate (one blink=yes, two blinks= no) and an unusual alphabet menu he blinked at to pick out letters and spell words. The latter was how Bauby ‘wrote’ his famous book with the same title as the movie; a book only published ten days before he died.

Schnabel makes deft use of point of view in his camera work that helps the viewer to identify with the main character, his feelings, and frustrations. The viewer feels what it’s like not to heard through voiceovers that represent Bauby’s thoughts and responses to others.

There are many memorable scenes and episodes such as Bauby waking after his stroke, having his right eye sewn shut, visiting with his wife and kids on Father’s Day, listening to his mistress’s phone call with his wife translating in the same room, and reliving the actual stroke while out driving with his son.

Mathieu Amalric is outstanding and powerful portraying Bauby before and after the stroke; he nicely brings out the great contrasts between the latter’s dynamic life and his later utter helplessness and despair. His scenes with the father, played sensitively and sadly by Max von Sydow, is particularly touching.

The three main actresses, Emmanuel Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, and Anne Consigny, all give wonderful, heartfelt performances as Bauby’s patient wife, his hopeful speech therapist, and his religious nurse..

The film is stunning, beautiful, and inspiring, giving insights into an extremely limiting handicap and the sorts of things healthy people take for granted when they are free and healthy themselves. I believe this bona-fide well-made classic would give anyone 15 or older a greater appreciation of good health, luck, and perspective on tragic misfortune. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly speaks volumes about mind over matter, the power of the imagination to create despite many limitations, and the ability of some individuals to transcend tragedy while remaining human.

Note: pictures from this point on are safe to click on. Once any one picture is clicked, all pictures below come up after refreshing the site.

(my rare signed Trio book which sold widely on newsstands in 1960 (Random House); “Tom Dooley” was the first folk hit on top 40 radio; the trio inspired me and a lot of older college types to try their hand at playing folk clubs and cafes; only Bob Shane–left, is still alive from the original trio)

(Nobody had ever heard anything like it before–the album based on the tv show of the same name which made Henry Mancini world-famous; this remains the wildest, coolest jazz song ever played on pop radio; this highly recommended LP is available on Buddha label)

-“John and Martha”, Stan Freberg, 1951. My parents had the 78 rpm and I used to play it from age 2 on. A 428 Victor Street, Winnipeg memory–the first house we lived in. the voices were memorably haunting, ghost-like with eerie organ background.

-“Secret Love”, Doris Day, 1954, from the movie Calamity Jane. My mother took me to the movie and I can still see Doris Day passionately singing this one. Who has not had a secret love at some time in their lives?

-“Mr. Sandman”, The Chordettes, 1954. “Bum-bum-bum-bum….” A dreamy-like song which I first heard on another 78 of my folks. First girl group I was exposed to.

-“Sincerely”, The McGuire Sisters, 1955. I still remember hearing this one on a cafe or restaurant jukebox playing in a corner replete with juke lights. So powerful Robert Altman used it in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean for a similar romantic affect.

-Elvis Presley’s early hits, as performed on Ed Sullivan Show, Sept. 1957. As powerful as seeing The Beatles several years later on the same show. Cool Elvis ‘blew rock open’ swivelling his hips singing “Don’t Be Cruel” and others. There was no doubt he was The King from that moment on.

-“Little Darlin'”, The Diamonds, 1957. My first Canadian group. Loved the high and low voices. This one was a mock love song. My young teenage aunt who lived with us for a while had this one on a 78. She was nice enough to let me play her records which included the 4-song extended play 45s.

-“Wake Up Little Susie”, The Everly Brothers, 1957. I was rockin’ and boppin’ to their early hits through the ’50s. They were the first unique brothers act in rock and roll.

-“Tom Dooley”, The Kingston Trio, 1958. The first hit of the Hootenany/Folk Music Era. Heard on my Dad’s friend’s stereo phonograph in 1959. First time I heard the Trio and stereo. the friend played this one and the next song on the list loud. It seemed like the group was right there in the living room with us.

-“Peter Gunn”, Henry Mancini, the LP cut, 1959. Wow! My first exposure to spirited jazz. Again, this one was from an LP my Dad’s friend had through a record club subscription. It was wild and strange and blew apart the quiet of a Sunday afternoon visit. Because we were poor, it took until 1965 to buy a stereo cabinet player. From early on, I appreciated the aesthetics of separate channels, woofers, and tweeters, and the different sounds coming from each side of the stereo.

-“The Battle of New Orleans”, Johnny Horton, summer 1959, Ed Sullivan Show. “And they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles”. A pretty wild country song which was a monster hit across North America. Country music was so popular it was played on weekends on the top radio station in town CKY. I would hear it on Saturday mornings on a pocket transistor radio delivering The Winnipeg Tribune.

*I’ve always enjoyed story songs: “El Paso”, “The Gambler”, “American Pie” and half of the above list are stories.

“There is enchantment right in front of you, waiting for you to notice.”
–Janet Luhrs

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“Life remains a blessing although you cannot bless.”–W.H. Auden (Failing that, maybe reconnect with your Inner Child.)

There are millions of people married to their phones. (‘Forget your phone on Family Day’ hasn’t a prayer of working widely. Phone marriages are hard-wired.)

(a recommended book by his artist-wife about one of the most interesting writers and thinkers who ever lived)

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like many great artists, liked to know things and correlate them into patterns. He loved to explore and sought positive ideal forms (such as Mahayana Buddhism) that would have practical application on life in the West. What particularly interested him about the latter were the possibilities of the absolute within the relative, nirvana within the world of illusion, and eternity within the temporal world. What I like, especially, about Huxley was that he believed in a non-specialized, more general training in the art of living, the possibilities of perception, imagination, and consciousness. That is what most of my life, this blog, and my poetry are pretty much above. He has been an inspiration and model for what I try to do through my aesthetic expressions and communications with others.

He keeps things simmering and uses nationalism to express vanity and hatred. He has delusions of greatness and takes a pleasure in nastiness as opposed to kindness, respect, and benevolence. He loathes foreigners and foments jingoistic patriotism. He uses propaganda to create exclusion. He is a man with acute neuroses; ignorant, not fully aware or fully conscious of the consequences of his misbehaviors or actions. He teaches vanity and hatred to others and generally makes mischief and creates havoc everywhere in an effort to express his large self-ego and will.