Strolling down First Street hasn’t been a thing for a couple of weeks due to some minor surgery on one of the legs which does the strolling. A big shout out to the Carquinez Village for providing me with the quintessential volunteer driver, a former police lieutenant who got me to Vacaville in short order and five hours later took me back home!! My surgeon sang along to the Temptations Channel while he operated — a rock star in Mohs procedures and not bad on the entertainment side.
As I result of the down time, have taken advantage of all kinds of media. I never tire of Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. Listening to her podcasts on a laptop is done over lunch with compelling interviews that keep me sitting there long after I’ve cleaned my plate. Recent riveting listens include: “Is Ginny Thomas a Threat to SCOTUS?” and “The Science of Heartbreak.” npr.org and KQED radio
The Moth Radio Hour is a fairly recent discovery although it’s been going for 25 years. These are unrehearsed stories told in front of a live audience. Would recommend the funny and uplifting stories in the program entitled “Pleasantly Surprised” — particularly the story about Marlon Brando being driven to a civil rights rally in the deep south during the 1960s and needing to find a pit stop. I laughed out loud. themoth.org
According to news reports, Marta C. Gonzalez was either one of the world’s best ballerinas or an unknown dancer. There have been reports claiming both. Nevertheless, just before her death and living with advanced Alzheimers, Marta was given headphones to listen to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, which she had performed in 1967 in the lead role of Odette. Upon hearing the music she transforms herself into the swan princess, gracefully performing the choreography with her arms and facial expressions while seated in her wheelchair. It’s beautiful and hopeful and shows the healing possibilities of music. You Tube
While checking out vintage jackets on-line, I found a link to fashion maven Carla Rockmore. A fifty something Manhattanite with a closet as big as my living room, her mantra is “Elle est bien assise dans sa peau.” Translated, it means “She sits well in her skin.” “My mission is to teach women to sit well in theirs through clothing, self adornment, and self expression,” she says. Carla is a real character with-over-the top enthusiasm, humor, and a certain je ne sais quoi. She pulls designer and cutting edge items from her closet and shows you how to style them with shoes, bags, jewelry, and hats. “No, no, no, no,” she sputters when something doesn’t work. She’ll drop phrases like “the fabulosity of opaque tights” into a sentence. Donning a little black dress paired with chunky platform sneakers, she’ll whisper, “Let’s commit to the austerity and the severlessness of going without jewelry.” You Tube and TikTok
Another mainstay is Amanpour and Company which replaced Charlie Rose on PBS in 2018. Christianne, the tough award-winning journalist, doesn’t suffer prime ministers or anyone else gladly. In a recent show she interviewed Art Spiegelman, author of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust – Maus – which has recently been banned from some Tennessee schools. In a-no-holds barred interview he argues that the state of Tennessee is looking for “a kinder, gentler holocaust. Another must see is “The Emotional Reunion of an Afghan Interpreter and an American Vet.” pbs.org or KQED.
Want a new book that you just heard about on Morning Edition? Stop by Bookstore Benicia or the library and they will order it for you. Recent worthwhile reads: “The Empathy Diaries,” a memoir by Sherry Turkle; “Better to Have Gone: Love, Death and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville,”a true story about building an intentional community in India; “Motherhood,” NYT columnist Sheila Heti’s change of heart about having children.
Triple lutz, twizzle, quadruple axle, and a triple sow cow. Love the terminology when watching the Olympic figure skaters, although a ‘lutz’ sounds more like a clumsy person and the “sow cow” a barnyard animal. Watching the Olympics elicits wonder and awe, groans and curses, and euphoria. The brand new sport —the “mono bob”— sounds like a Dorothy Hamill haircut and the sleds are gorgeous. In the “luge” and the “skeleton” you can break every bone in your body going 90 mph either face up or face down. ”Catching air” in the super halfpipe, “air flipping,” and the “ally oop” are just plain crazy. A San Francisco snowboarder (freeborder) and Stanford student is representing China and trying to walk the Middle Way. Russian athletes with their “win at any cost” values have jeopardized medals ceremonies for those who play by the rules. The Beijing Olympics has something for everybody. NBC and Peacock
Sarah Beserra is an artist, collector, Dharma practitioner, and retired lobbyist
Letters From Benicia 