Thankful for wonderful family, good friends, that I am able to do many things I like and want to – that I was just able to see the clips from ‘Ragtime’ that started off the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and that I’m not cooking the turkey. Happy Thanksgiving to All and may you all have many things to be thankful for in your lives.
Of course I turned on the Macy’s Parade, and was so glad to have done it now, since they began the broadcast with a performance from ‘Ragtime’, done at Battery Park with the harbor and Statue of Liberty in the background (kudos to the camera crew, btw, for that great show of the statue between Sarah and Coalhouse, wonderful placement). What a great ‘on location’, because one plot line of the show is the immigrant’s story. No surprise that show music often has special meaning for me, even before I worked at a musical theatre I had that feeling for some songs. ‘Ragtime’ has glorious music and the lyrics are especially touching and meaningful. Anyone who’s ever loved a child or been proud to be American can relate to ‘Wheels of a Dream’ (lyrics below), where Coalhouse tells Sarah how they will travel as a family in his car: ‘We’ll go down South to see your people, They’ll take to him like cats to cream’ – can’t you see the aunties fussing over that baby boy. And when he sings about living in a country that lets ‘a man like me – own a car, raise a child, build a life with you’, it is so much of the dream that so many came here or grew up here with. Sadly, in the show, Sarah and Coalhouse do not realize the dream; however their son does. The story is a powerful and touching commentary of those times. It makes me snuffle.
Of course seeing the shots from Battery Park remind me of standing there and looking at the same view when I was in New York with the rescue squad after 9/11; of the guard pointing out the Coast Guard ship and saying ‘they’ve got our backs’, of looking at the Statue of Liberty and thinking she could still stand proud for how Americans were coping with this.
Hm – now they have the cast of ‘West Side Story’, another show about immigrants – wonder if they planned it for that? It does tell another story of people who came here to make another life for themselves. Well, let’s face it, we’re all connected with people like that, unless we’re Native American descendants, and we can be thankful that our ancestors did come here and build a life for us. And that they started this tradition – although, quite frankly, I’m having trouble seeing them sitting outside eating a huge dinner in what the weather likely was in late November on Cape Cod at that time, but maybe it was Indian Summer, who knows? We could get in to a big discussion here about how that gesture of friendship went down the tubes, and a lot of other such discussions, but I’m not going to. There have been good moments throughout all of that.
I have to go make my salad for dinner at my sister’s later. There will be liberal amounts of laughter, food and wine and I’ll be thankful once again for my family and being able to enjoy them and my life as it is.
Blessings to you all, enjoy the day. May you have the hope in your hearts that Coalhouse and Sarah do here:
“On the Wheels Of A Dream”
[COALHOUSE]: I see his face.
I hear his heartbeat.
I look in those eyes.
How wise they seem.
Well, when he is old enough
I will show him America
And he will ride
on the wheels of a dream.
(COALHOUSE): We'll go down South
[SARAH]: Go down South,
[COALHOUSE]: And see your people
[SARAH]: See my folks.
[COALHOUSE]: Won't they take to him
[SARAH]: They'll take to him
[COALHOUSE]: Like cats to cream!
[SARAH]: Mmm...
[COALHOUSE]: Then we'll travel on from there.
[SARAH]: California or who knows where!
[BOTH]: And we will ride
On the wheels of a dream.
[COALHOUSE]: Yes, the wheels are turning for us, girl.
And the times are starting to roll.
Any man can get where he wants to
If he's got some fire in his soul.
We'll see justice, Sarah,
And plenty of men
Who will stand up
And give us our due.
Oh, Sarah, it's more that promises.
Sarah, it must be true.
A country that let's a man like me
Own a car, raise a child, build a life with you...
[COALHOUSE]: With you...
[SARAH]: With you...
[BOTH]: Beyond that road,
Beyond this lifetime
That care full of hope
Will always gleam!
With the promise of happiness
And the freedom he'll live to know.
He'll travel with head held high,
Just as far as his heart can go
And he will ride-
Our son will ride-
On the wheels of a dream.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
About Freecycling and Dumps
Freecycling, to my mind, is one of the great inventions of the internet world. Want something, but don’t have money for it? Put a notice on Freecycle. If somebody else in the group has it, they’ll let you know and you can come pick it up. Have something you don’t use any more, but it’s too good to throw away? Put a notice on Freecycle. Somebody will say they need it and come pick it up. Couldn’t be simpler. Just recently I got the file cabinets I’ve been wanting – lowest price I could find them for was over $100. Found a cart the coffee house people can use to roll their treats out into the lobby at intermission to show off and get customers-it’s a microwave cart but they don’t care, one wheel sticks but our handy guys can fix that - probably would have been around $50. And I just found a home for a nice hanging wine glass rack, the kind you put stem ware in over the bar. The former son-in-law got that, I have no idea why because we never had a bar or that much stemware, but it hung above the microwave for a long time, I took it down and stuck it in the closet and just found it when I moved things in that a couple of weeks ago, and thought someone might want it and I was right. She’s happy, I’m happy and one more thing is recycled.
Dumps – what brought that to mind was when the person came to pick up the rack I went out and said ‘Hi’, noticed a branch hanging in one of the trees and went to pull it down, picked up a few others on the way to the edge of the woods where I throw such things, and while I was tossing them onto the pile, I noticed – again – the several old things that are tossed over into the trees there. Toys, a tire, I forget what-all else. Made me think about dumps. When I was a kid there was one way at the far end of the old orchard, near a little marshy area that sometimes had a tiny pond in it, if there had been an overabundance of rain. Why the people put it there, well, I guess it was far enough from the house to keep critters away. I remember rummaging through it looking for treasures but I don’t remember if I ever found any. My mother dug through it after she started her antique shop and found some old bottles and other odds and ends, but usually in the days when the dump was in use if something went to it, it was past any use. Except for the bottles, some of those were interesting. And you could speculate on the broken things, what they were for and what happened to them.
I wonder what people in the future will think when they see our little pile? An old plastic push toy, I think a shopping cart, of Stephen’s, some beer bottles, couple of kitty litter pails that I don’t want to know what might be in them. And yes, I presume that somebody will go through it, probably the kids in the trailer park already have, because something about other people’s trash invites you to see if there’s any treasure in it.
Now the word dump means a huge garbage complex, plastic bags full of icky stuff, bulldozers smushing it down and spreading it out, but in years past they were a commentary on the lives of those who were there before. Mini archeological digs, as it were. That’s how we are learning about past civilizations. In the future, they will determine that ours is plastic. Hmm-not so far off, that.
Dumps – what brought that to mind was when the person came to pick up the rack I went out and said ‘Hi’, noticed a branch hanging in one of the trees and went to pull it down, picked up a few others on the way to the edge of the woods where I throw such things, and while I was tossing them onto the pile, I noticed – again – the several old things that are tossed over into the trees there. Toys, a tire, I forget what-all else. Made me think about dumps. When I was a kid there was one way at the far end of the old orchard, near a little marshy area that sometimes had a tiny pond in it, if there had been an overabundance of rain. Why the people put it there, well, I guess it was far enough from the house to keep critters away. I remember rummaging through it looking for treasures but I don’t remember if I ever found any. My mother dug through it after she started her antique shop and found some old bottles and other odds and ends, but usually in the days when the dump was in use if something went to it, it was past any use. Except for the bottles, some of those were interesting. And you could speculate on the broken things, what they were for and what happened to them.
I wonder what people in the future will think when they see our little pile? An old plastic push toy, I think a shopping cart, of Stephen’s, some beer bottles, couple of kitty litter pails that I don’t want to know what might be in them. And yes, I presume that somebody will go through it, probably the kids in the trailer park already have, because something about other people’s trash invites you to see if there’s any treasure in it.
Now the word dump means a huge garbage complex, plastic bags full of icky stuff, bulldozers smushing it down and spreading it out, but in years past they were a commentary on the lives of those who were there before. Mini archeological digs, as it were. That’s how we are learning about past civilizations. In the future, they will determine that ours is plastic. Hmm-not so far off, that.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sad . . . .
Saw in the paper (on-line) this morning that a local man injured in an accident last month has died. He had been in Pittsfield, visiting someone in the hospital, was coming home, and a kid ran a red light at an intersection that has seen more than it’s share of bad accidents, t-boned his pickup. The man was thrown out, the car went on to hit several other cars in the parking lot of a garage on the corner, and passengers in the car were also injured, at least one seriously.
The man had severe head injuries, and there was nothing to be done. He had been in hospice at St. Peter’s Hospital, where my sister had her knee operation, and when I was going to visit her last week, his son’s girlfriend got on the same elevator, with I’ll guess one of his grandsons, who was holding a dog. They let pets come in to the hospice, so you can see your good friends one last time. Even if the patients are not in condition to know it, that’s a nice thing.
A sad thing. The kid driving the car was being checked for alcohol or drug use, with or without, he ruined many lives by his actions. He robbed this man of more years with his family and friends, of doing what he enjoyed, of growing old with his wife. He robbed his children and grandchildren. He gave horrible injuries and memories to the people in his car. And, he gave himself the life-long knowledge that he took another life. That’s sad, all the way around.
Let’s all hope that he, and hopefully others learned something, and will think about putting themselves in the situation to have it happen again.
A prayer for all involved.
The man had severe head injuries, and there was nothing to be done. He had been in hospice at St. Peter’s Hospital, where my sister had her knee operation, and when I was going to visit her last week, his son’s girlfriend got on the same elevator, with I’ll guess one of his grandsons, who was holding a dog. They let pets come in to the hospice, so you can see your good friends one last time. Even if the patients are not in condition to know it, that’s a nice thing.
A sad thing. The kid driving the car was being checked for alcohol or drug use, with or without, he ruined many lives by his actions. He robbed this man of more years with his family and friends, of doing what he enjoyed, of growing old with his wife. He robbed his children and grandchildren. He gave horrible injuries and memories to the people in his car. And, he gave himself the life-long knowledge that he took another life. That’s sad, all the way around.
Let’s all hope that he, and hopefully others learned something, and will think about putting themselves in the situation to have it happen again.
A prayer for all involved.
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