26 décembre 2007
Christmas on our way to Brasserie 81/2
Every year we have family dinner with Manuel's uncle Robert and his partner Harvey and Alice and various folks - this year Michael Mirlas joined in and made my evening - Alithea was and is so cute as she flutters about charming all she lets in her space of charm - she finally grew into the dress we got her last year - I like this restaurant the food was good and the entrance with it's huge sweeping staircase is so like whatever film comes to mind - I star in my own film often
it's cold out
We noticed that there were few pictures with me and Alithea - so that is changing - the mother daughter relationship is under represented as is - hahahahah
15 décembre 2007
An Honor
after letting his hair grow for years "Is it long enough for cornrolls" "Can you braid it yet" not even in high school yet - 8th grade I think - the time had come for a shift - to change a familar - to be more of self - and I got to cut it off - he made a noise as the process of cutting began - "it's never to late to get out of the chair" this too is an experience - sitting there an honoring your first knowing - love you Sasha
Alithea was witness to the event - it was special and so cool of Sasha to share it with me - to assume it
Alithea was witness to the event - it was special and so cool of Sasha to share it with me - to assume it
03 décembre 2007
and now we clean the collards
Nothing Is All It Takes
In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.” William Burroughs
The Adulterous Woman by Albert Camus is a story told from a third person perspective or from a seeing eye; this third eye where we can look into the intimate and locate ourselves or ready ourselves for a revolt of a different kind. There is a force working on many levels, on the surface it is a story of a couple alienated from each other and themselves, it is also the story of a French couple in Algeria, a country fighting for independence from the French, the French who were just defeated four years earlier in Dien Bien Phu what was known as Indochina. The story is a constant merge of micro and macro world views and the power of creation held by both. “A housefly had been circling for the last few minutes in the bus, though the windows were closed. An odd sight here, it had been silently flying back and forth on tired wings.”(3). There is something absurd going on that tells of what is to come, there has been a break in the routine and opportunity for change is present. “An odd sight here…” Janine will be that odd sight running in the cold, later in the story and she will be noticed and seen and embraced(ritual). ”Garlands of stars hung down from the black sky over palm trees and houses.”(31). Camus uses beautiful, delicate and at times cliché words (like when the couple stop at a hotel) to paint images of revolt against the order of things on a personal and national level, the words he chooses allow for access to both sides. For example, we find the words struggle and invaded used to discuss the elements and the sun on page 31 but this creates also (another layer) an opening for change (one can trace the events of what seems magical because everything is always communicating, it must be seen), “At the top of the avenue, however, lights appeared, then descended toward her zigzagging.”(31).Then we have “…extended its straight lines all the way to reddish horizons. But the wind had risen and gradually swallowed up the vast expanse.”(5). The use of nature as a force and as something constantly speaking and seeing is beautifully done in the story, Janine becomes a second bride as she goes out into the night and breathes (inspire) this cold that burns like an initiation from her former self to the transformed (surrender). The power here that she encounters dwarfs the power of her husband Marcel and of the French occupiers, allowing her access to that quiet (solitude) confidence of “the Arabs”. “They encountered Arabs who stepped out of their way without seeming to see them.”(16). The act of seeing is important in the story, Camus uses words like mantra almost to lift a veil of perception and allow the reader to shift as well, just as the wind is symbolic of change but not only symbolic, as the deity Oya is change itself. Oya is not in the story proper but Camus gives the elements this kind of respect and power as seen in the end with Janine’s relationship with the cold wind (entering the body – ritual).
Nothing is a word that approaches the end of the story, it is found numerous times and functions as a thread through a map, “Nothing about him seemed active…”(4).”Twenty-five years were nothing”(6). “No, nothing had happened as she had expected.”(7). It goes on like this and remains in the context connected to what is to come. Marcel’s first words are “What a country!”(4). Janine had contempt for Marcel and he has contempt for Algeria, he is mute almost only speaking to Janine about what relates to him, she is exiled in his kingdom. It is the space and alienation that allows for her to cultivate over time an eye to see herself, she thinks of her body and she ponders her name and how it doesn’t suit her, she remembers the power she once had as a gymnast, this is how time is utilized best in the story, as a tool for change, and how memory as well serves as a possible creator of choice. Time is not however honored in the western tradition and falls away into the void in Algeria where such rules that are followed blindly become absurd. There is a language spoken and a language to be learned here, it isn’t so much Arabic but the ability to see what creates our world and ourselves, to know the forces at work in life. In the end Janine honored what she discovered with silence, she too now speaks the language
Fork
In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.” William Burroughs
The Adulterous Woman by Albert Camus is a story told from a third person perspective or from a seeing eye; this third eye where we can look into the intimate and locate ourselves or ready ourselves for a revolt of a different kind. There is a force working on many levels, on the surface it is a story of a couple alienated from each other and themselves, it is also the story of a French couple in Algeria, a country fighting for independence from the French, the French who were just defeated four years earlier in Dien Bien Phu what was known as Indochina. The story is a constant merge of micro and macro world views and the power of creation held by both. “A housefly had been circling for the last few minutes in the bus, though the windows were closed. An odd sight here, it had been silently flying back and forth on tired wings.”(3). There is something absurd going on that tells of what is to come, there has been a break in the routine and opportunity for change is present. “An odd sight here…” Janine will be that odd sight running in the cold, later in the story and she will be noticed and seen and embraced(ritual). ”Garlands of stars hung down from the black sky over palm trees and houses.”(31). Camus uses beautiful, delicate and at times cliché words (like when the couple stop at a hotel) to paint images of revolt against the order of things on a personal and national level, the words he chooses allow for access to both sides. For example, we find the words struggle and invaded used to discuss the elements and the sun on page 31 but this creates also (another layer) an opening for change (one can trace the events of what seems magical because everything is always communicating, it must be seen), “At the top of the avenue, however, lights appeared, then descended toward her zigzagging.”(31).Then we have “…extended its straight lines all the way to reddish horizons. But the wind had risen and gradually swallowed up the vast expanse.”(5). The use of nature as a force and as something constantly speaking and seeing is beautifully done in the story, Janine becomes a second bride as she goes out into the night and breathes (inspire) this cold that burns like an initiation from her former self to the transformed (surrender). The power here that she encounters dwarfs the power of her husband Marcel and of the French occupiers, allowing her access to that quiet (solitude) confidence of “the Arabs”. “They encountered Arabs who stepped out of their way without seeming to see them.”(16). The act of seeing is important in the story, Camus uses words like mantra almost to lift a veil of perception and allow the reader to shift as well, just as the wind is symbolic of change but not only symbolic, as the deity Oya is change itself. Oya is not in the story proper but Camus gives the elements this kind of respect and power as seen in the end with Janine’s relationship with the cold wind (entering the body – ritual).
Nothing is a word that approaches the end of the story, it is found numerous times and functions as a thread through a map, “Nothing about him seemed active…”(4).”Twenty-five years were nothing”(6). “No, nothing had happened as she had expected.”(7). It goes on like this and remains in the context connected to what is to come. Marcel’s first words are “What a country!”(4). Janine had contempt for Marcel and he has contempt for Algeria, he is mute almost only speaking to Janine about what relates to him, she is exiled in his kingdom. It is the space and alienation that allows for her to cultivate over time an eye to see herself, she thinks of her body and she ponders her name and how it doesn’t suit her, she remembers the power she once had as a gymnast, this is how time is utilized best in the story, as a tool for change, and how memory as well serves as a possible creator of choice. Time is not however honored in the western tradition and falls away into the void in Algeria where such rules that are followed blindly become absurd. There is a language spoken and a language to be learned here, it isn’t so much Arabic but the ability to see what creates our world and ourselves, to know the forces at work in life. In the end Janine honored what she discovered with silence, she too now speaks the language
Fork
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