Okay, so I'm way behind on posting. I have faithfully kept up with the April 1st Project in my journal, but I've been deficient here. So let's leap through the months of April until this point in August. What follows is a listing of the most interesting things I discovered and wrote down. Let me know what you think.
Paris' new bistros:
On the Left Bank -- Afaria, L'Aagussin, L'Epigramme, Itineraires, Jadis, Le 21
On the other side of the Seine -- Bigarrade, Le Chateaubriand, La Gazzeta, Le Hide-Koba's Bistro, Le Bistrot Paul Bert, and Spring
Time to head to the Gallic capital.
In April, discovered that the US is retaliating against Italy's ban on American hormone-fed beef and was putting a tariff on Italian mineral water. My question is why then is Pelegrino on all of the restaurant menus? It's hard to find a spot that serves Perrier.
Some notable Greek Painters:
Sp. Papaloucas
Yannis Tsarouchis
N. Chatjikyriakos Ghikas
Yannis Moralis
Gerasimos Steris
Alekos Fasianos
Constantinos Maleas
Constantinos Parthenis
Nicolaos Lytras
Giorgos Bouzianis
Kostas Tsoklis
I'd have to add Yannis Mavides, our friend in Thessaloniki.
Interesting web sites discovered on June 1:
Seems I was musing on June 13 and wrote: catching up, making commitment, moving forward, spending time - not my typical entry. Also on that day, I decided to capture the headlines at one moment off of the Wall Streeet Journal. They read:
Ahmadinejad Win Sparks Clashes
North Korea Says It Will Weaponize Plutonium
Britain Warned of New Wave of Islamic Terrorism
Johnny Depp Stars as John Dillinger
Chief: BofA Coerced into Merrill Deal
China Refuses to Reduce Its Carbon Emissions
A quote from June 18th: "Art is the only legacy that lasts." - Octavio Paz.
I have read him, but not widely enough. He could distill life and the world to create authentic sentences about what it all means.
I discovered the web site for Canongate Books. I have begun to work my way through the myth series. I read Margaret Atwood's telling of Penelope. Quite funny.
I found Thomas Merton's description of the individual. I'm certain it came out of the New Yorker. It goes: "I have what you have not. I am what you are not. I have taken what you have failed to take and I have seized what you could never get. Therefore you suffer and I am happy, you are despised and I am praised, you die and I live; you are nothing and I am something, and I am all the more something because you are nothing. And thus I spend my life admiring the distance between you and me." If you know me, then it makes sense that this was a two-by-four to the head. It infused me, and I've been bobbing along on the strength of these words.
On July 8, a quote from Franco Zeffirelli: "I have always believed that opera is a planet where the muses work together, join hands and celebrate all of the arts." He's so right.
And on July 15th, Pablo Neruda whispered in my ear -- "Two things make a story. The net and the air that falls through the net."
On July 17th, the headlines screamed that Iran faced more protests, more tear gas, and more discord. The protesters are brave. How many of us would risk our lives like that?
Fun sites that I chanced upon:
More words of wisdom from the sage Martin Buber: "When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them."
I reread Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides. I'm working on a play, and so I've been reading and rereading favorites. In this play, the chorus speaks the most beautiful lines about the most horrible of acts - war.
CHORUS:
...The Achaean army will close in a circle of blood;
There will be heads forced back, throats cut;
Streets stripped, every building gutted and crashed;
Screams and sobs from young women;
And from Priam's wife;
And Helen daughter of Zeus
Shall learn what it is to leave a husband.
God grant that neither I nor my children's children
Ever face such a prospect.
As Lydian and Phrygian wives will see awaiting them
When they sit, glittering in gold, before their looms
And ask each other; who will be the man
Who twists his hard hand in my silken hair
And like a plucked flower drags me away
While my tears flow hot and my home burns?
Wow! That's powerful.
I recorded the death of Corazon Aquino on August 1st, and I noted a song titled "Look at Me" by the Mirrors.
With all the Julia Child craze - and I'm really guilty here - I sought out some of her thoughts. She was really a funny lady.
"I just hate health food."
"In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport."
"Life itself is the proper binge."
On August 2, I watched
Isabella Allende speak at Ted. It was on You Tube - a must see. Her subject: Truer than Truth. She, too, has powerful words.
Disgusted by what is wrongly termed a 'debate' about healthcare, I cut out an article that came from the Los Angeles Times titled "Congress' own health benefits: Membership has its privileges." Look it up. You'll see why it's easy for them - both sides - to make decisions about healthcare in America.
Les Paul died on August 12. And on the 14th, I read
Oprah's book club and found a list of books that had meaning to Ben Affleck. What an interesting guy. I had no idea that he majored in Middle Eastern studies. He understands the uprising in Iran in a way that the average person can't without having had those discussions. He recommended "Shah of Shahs" by Ryszard Kapuscinski and also "All the Shah's Men." His entire book list was fascinating and now on my long list of 'to read.'
August 16 was a busy day in history.
In 1896, god was discovered in Yukon
In 1969, Woodstock ended
In 1991, there was a coup against Gorbachev
In 1959, hawaii became the 50th state
I'll post photos of my journal tomorrow to highlight the images that I cut out and glue into it.
Meanwhile, let me know what you think of the April 1st Project and any of the links, lists, quotes, or thoughts.
