My friend A told me that she views washing dishes as a meditation. I have always disliked washing dishes (I don't mind doing laundry), but I'm working at meditating now when I wash the dishes.
Steve, Zoe and I just came back from seeing Woody Allen's wonderful new film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and the dishes had to be washed, so I meditated and washed and thought about the film and previous Woody Allen films, and then Sarah Palin came into my mind and I got really annoyed, so I went back to meditating.
We all really enjoyed the film and I have to admit that it was only the first few minutes that I remembered Javiar Bardem as one of the worst villains I've seen in years in "No Country for Old Men." The rest of the time I was quite turned on by him (sorry Zoe, I may be old, but I'm not dead.) It was all so sensual, the city, the beautiful women (Scarlett, Rebecca and the stunningly gorgeous Penelope Cruz), Javiar, the countryside, the music, the homes, the clothing. I loved Patricia Clarkson's character, the long marriage, the quiet desperation, but the love that still exists. Woody Allen was probably the biggest influence on me as a writer. I always adored his writing although I used to see his films the first day they opened and for the past ten years or so, I've missed several of them. But "Annie Hall" is without a doubt my favorite comedy and I could probably perform every scene. I related so much to that character and fell in love with both Woody and Diane Keaton. I know that to admire someone as an artist is not the same as wanting to know them personally. I remember years ago running into an actor on the street who I had dated briefly, and he was working on a Woody Allen film at the time. He said to me (about Woody Allen): "He's horrible, really really hard to work for. There's no fun, he doesn't talk. Ever."
And I won't even get into the whole Mia/Soon Yi/Woody mess. He's been with Soon Yi for ten years. I saw the documentary about Ingmar Bergman a few years ago and I wasn't too impressed with him as a father.
Anyway, tonight I was happy to see a Woody Allen film that I found intriguing and unpredictable and very well written and directed.
And as for Sarah Palin, what can we say? That I can easily see her negotiating peace in the Middle East when McCain (happy birthday Mr. 72 year old) dies of skin cancer? That I will sleep well at night knowing she might be appointing three Supreme Court justices? That she will work well with both houses of Congress and world leaders, given all her experience as a Governor? All 20 months she's been in office? In Alaska? Population 400,000 or so. That McCain's strategy of choosing a woman was clever, but he couldn't come up with a single woman in this entire country who isn't more qualified? COME ON. I mean, it's so infuriating that I want desperately to wake up tomorrow morning and read in the NY Times that McCain says, "Opps, I made a really big mistake. Never mind."
What kind of an ending would Woody write? I saw this morning in the Times that McCain and Palin are planning to go to New Orleans today before Gustuv arrives. With any luck they'll get caught in the storm and washed out to sea.
One more thing - there was an hysterically funny article in the NY Times last weekend that I missed, but I just read it. It's Woody Allen's "diary" about the filming of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. If you get a chance to read it, it will definitely make you laugh out loud. (And how often does that happen?)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
I Had The Strangest Dream
In this dream John McCain (who was running for President) nominated a governor named Sarah Palin, an extreme conservative who's anti-choice and a COMPLETE enemy to the environment, to be his Vice Presidential running mate.
I think she was a mom, fine, great, then a mayor of a small town, nice, then a governor of a state with very few people, okay... and then she would be Vice President of the United States, one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
NO WAY?? What an insult to every single woman in this country. To every politician. To every citizen. I want to wake up from this insanity.
I think she was a mom, fine, great, then a mayor of a small town, nice, then a governor of a state with very few people, okay... and then she would be Vice President of the United States, one heartbeat away from the Presidency.
NO WAY?? What an insult to every single woman in this country. To every politician. To every citizen. I want to wake up from this insanity.
Random Thoughts about Positive Stuff
I was telling this story to a friend last weekend. I'd almost forgotten about it.
When I was around 12 or 13 my parents took me and my best friend, Rhonda, to Washington D.C. for a week of sightseeing. We stayed in a fancy hotel right in the heart of the city, I can't remember which one, but it was very elegant. Right after we checked in and my parents were unpacking, Rhonda and I asked if it would be okay if we went out and just wandered around a little bit, and they said, just go around the block and come back in half an hour.
We left the hotel and started walking and after a few minutes we saw that there was a small crowd of people waiting outside a church. Before we knew it, we realized that there were secret service people there and that President Johnson and Lady Bird were leaving the church. We got up front because we were smaller than almost everyone else and put out our hands. President Johnson shook my hand (his hand was enormous) and when I tried to shake Lady Bird's hand, Johnson grabbed my hand and shook it again. Rhonda and I were so thrilled we raced back to the hotel, to tell my parents this exciting news.
"Mom! Dad! Guess what? We saw President Johnson and Lady Bird coming out of a church! And we shook his hand! Twice!"
My mother and father laughed. "Oh, that's so cute. Very funny, Robin."
It took us quite awhile to convince them that we had indeed seen the President of the United States and his wife and that we'd both had a chance to shake his hand. And then later in the week, we also met Hubert Humphrey when we went to the Capital. Years later, I was at a small rally somewhere on Long Island where Robert Kennedy spoke when he was running for the presidency. And I was at the Democratic Convention when Bill Clinton made his acceptance speech. And about two months after Gore lost the election, I met him on a street corner in SoHo and we had a long talk. He was really handsome, with the bluest eyes. We were standing in front of the Mercer Hotel and if we weren't both married, I would have suggested we get a room. I encouraged him to speak out because we were all having a collective nervous breakdown about the election and he said that he was about to give a speech at a Move On event and he hasn't shut up since. (Thank God.)
This week's Democratic convention exceeded all of my expectations. After the convention, on Charley Rose, two former classmates of Obama's from Harvard Law spoke about what he was like when they were all in law school. They said there was no doubt that he was brilliant, thoughtful and clearly destined for greatness. It took me a little while to come to this realization, but I am firmly there now. HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH WAS PHENOMENAL. I just pray that he will be safe and that the Democrats can play hardball with the Republicans.
I was thinking about Johnson because of the Civil Rights bill and because of an excellent article about him in the NY Times (it's the number one most emailed article. I would post it here, but I'm not sure how to do that, so if you can, take a look on the Times website.)
And regarding meditation, a good friend of mine was telling me about a book he read recently "Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body" by Reginald A. Ray, who is a Buddhist writer. The book's thesis is that "all the wisdom we could ever want is held by the body. By learning to release and let go of the places where we are physically holding on (evidenced as physical discomfort, emotion, etc.) we can let the wisdom of our bodies guide us towards our true self and purpose. We don't have to 'think' anything, just let it unfold from within."
I liked that idea. Yoga, I imagine, is one way of physically letting go. I guess whatever works for you...stretching, dancing, standing on your head to view the world with a different perspective.
Anyway, I guess I'm just going to keep walking around the block to see what I can discover.
When I was around 12 or 13 my parents took me and my best friend, Rhonda, to Washington D.C. for a week of sightseeing. We stayed in a fancy hotel right in the heart of the city, I can't remember which one, but it was very elegant. Right after we checked in and my parents were unpacking, Rhonda and I asked if it would be okay if we went out and just wandered around a little bit, and they said, just go around the block and come back in half an hour.
We left the hotel and started walking and after a few minutes we saw that there was a small crowd of people waiting outside a church. Before we knew it, we realized that there were secret service people there and that President Johnson and Lady Bird were leaving the church. We got up front because we were smaller than almost everyone else and put out our hands. President Johnson shook my hand (his hand was enormous) and when I tried to shake Lady Bird's hand, Johnson grabbed my hand and shook it again. Rhonda and I were so thrilled we raced back to the hotel, to tell my parents this exciting news.
"Mom! Dad! Guess what? We saw President Johnson and Lady Bird coming out of a church! And we shook his hand! Twice!"
My mother and father laughed. "Oh, that's so cute. Very funny, Robin."
It took us quite awhile to convince them that we had indeed seen the President of the United States and his wife and that we'd both had a chance to shake his hand. And then later in the week, we also met Hubert Humphrey when we went to the Capital. Years later, I was at a small rally somewhere on Long Island where Robert Kennedy spoke when he was running for the presidency. And I was at the Democratic Convention when Bill Clinton made his acceptance speech. And about two months after Gore lost the election, I met him on a street corner in SoHo and we had a long talk. He was really handsome, with the bluest eyes. We were standing in front of the Mercer Hotel and if we weren't both married, I would have suggested we get a room. I encouraged him to speak out because we were all having a collective nervous breakdown about the election and he said that he was about to give a speech at a Move On event and he hasn't shut up since. (Thank God.)
This week's Democratic convention exceeded all of my expectations. After the convention, on Charley Rose, two former classmates of Obama's from Harvard Law spoke about what he was like when they were all in law school. They said there was no doubt that he was brilliant, thoughtful and clearly destined for greatness. It took me a little while to come to this realization, but I am firmly there now. HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH WAS PHENOMENAL. I just pray that he will be safe and that the Democrats can play hardball with the Republicans.
I was thinking about Johnson because of the Civil Rights bill and because of an excellent article about him in the NY Times (it's the number one most emailed article. I would post it here, but I'm not sure how to do that, so if you can, take a look on the Times website.)
And regarding meditation, a good friend of mine was telling me about a book he read recently "Touching Enlightenment: Finding Realization in the Body" by Reginald A. Ray, who is a Buddhist writer. The book's thesis is that "all the wisdom we could ever want is held by the body. By learning to release and let go of the places where we are physically holding on (evidenced as physical discomfort, emotion, etc.) we can let the wisdom of our bodies guide us towards our true self and purpose. We don't have to 'think' anything, just let it unfold from within."
I liked that idea. Yoga, I imagine, is one way of physically letting go. I guess whatever works for you...stretching, dancing, standing on your head to view the world with a different perspective.
Anyway, I guess I'm just going to keep walking around the block to see what I can discover.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Lighten Up
Heaviosity: taking life way too seriously and feeling like you are carrying a two hundred pound weight on your back and generally feeling shitty (despite the gorgeous weather) because you've also cut way back on caffeine. (White tea just doesn't cut it.)
I woke up this morning from another night of rather vivid dreams (I'll spare you the details.) And I was feeling quite depressed after glancing at a text message from a friend who says she is seriously considering voting for McCain because she can't move on from Hillary. And that made me so furious, which then led me to depression, which led to thinking about everything else in my life that I feel frustrated about (a daughter who unlike everyone else's kid is not going back to college this September, a mother who keeps asking me, "When are you coming to visit?" And four more years of Republicans? I would jump out the window if I didn't live on the second floor.)
And then I just happened to pick up my dear Pema Chodron's "When Things Fall Apart" to see where I left off before I cheated on her with Jon Kabat-Zinn (and now Ekhardt Tolle's "A New Earth") and sure enough Pema, as always, came to my rescue.
I swear to God, I opened the book to see where I left off and this is the paragraph I read: "Finally, couldn't we just relax and lighten up? When we wake up in the morning, we can dedicate our day to learning how to do this. We can cultivate a sense of humor and practice giving ourselves a break. Every time we sit down to meditate, we can think of it as training to lighten up, to have a sense of humor, to relax. As one student said, "Lower your standards and relax as it is."
So that is my practice for today. And I might even treat myself to an espresso.
And I am very excited about Obama's speech tonight. I know he will "rock the stadium" and I hope that people in Ohio, Pennsylvania and the entire south will be moved enough to vote for him in November.
I woke up this morning from another night of rather vivid dreams (I'll spare you the details.) And I was feeling quite depressed after glancing at a text message from a friend who says she is seriously considering voting for McCain because she can't move on from Hillary. And that made me so furious, which then led me to depression, which led to thinking about everything else in my life that I feel frustrated about (a daughter who unlike everyone else's kid is not going back to college this September, a mother who keeps asking me, "When are you coming to visit?" And four more years of Republicans? I would jump out the window if I didn't live on the second floor.)
And then I just happened to pick up my dear Pema Chodron's "When Things Fall Apart" to see where I left off before I cheated on her with Jon Kabat-Zinn (and now Ekhardt Tolle's "A New Earth") and sure enough Pema, as always, came to my rescue.
I swear to God, I opened the book to see where I left off and this is the paragraph I read: "Finally, couldn't we just relax and lighten up? When we wake up in the morning, we can dedicate our day to learning how to do this. We can cultivate a sense of humor and practice giving ourselves a break. Every time we sit down to meditate, we can think of it as training to lighten up, to have a sense of humor, to relax. As one student said, "Lower your standards and relax as it is."
So that is my practice for today. And I might even treat myself to an espresso.
And I am very excited about Obama's speech tonight. I know he will "rock the stadium" and I hope that people in Ohio, Pennsylvania and the entire south will be moved enough to vote for him in November.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
whooooooohooooo!!
Wow, Hillary's speech was a home run! It was thrilling. She was amazing.
I just hope that Obama wins and he has a really important job for her in the cabinet. She deserves it. I wish she could have been the VP nominee. She made us all proud tonight.
Brava!
I just hope that Obama wins and he has a really important job for her in the cabinet. She deserves it. I wish she could have been the VP nominee. She made us all proud tonight.
Brava!
A Little too Little
I don't know about the first night of the Democratic convention. This is the image I got: there's a duel...or a boxing match. Obama's on one side, he's all dressed up and smiles at the crowd and everyone loves him and cheers for him and he's such a good guy. His wife is there, happy, talking about what a wonderful guy he is and how hard he's worked all his life and at the other side of the ring are the Republicans with knives and machine guns and giant planes and they are ready to do battle. I didn't hear a word about the war, the recession, the giant mess this country is in.
And then there's the whole women issue, see Susan Faludi's article in the NY Times today. Worth reading.
I hope tonight is a bit more on topic.
And then there's the whole women issue, see Susan Faludi's article in the NY Times today. Worth reading.
I hope tonight is a bit more on topic.
Monday, August 25, 2008
"HAIR" today
I'm talking about the musical "HAIR" and actually it was last night - and man, was it fun!
We arrived home late Saturday night after a really fantastic week in northern California. Berkeley was great, our five days at the land were excellent, and then we spent a night at the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco (a real splurge) and together with L&L and old friends from LA, H&A, we walked all around the city (as my friend Mia says, San Francisco is better than a thighmaster and she isn't kidding.) We had dinner at a fantastic restaurant in the Mission district - Range - and then the next day we flew home. I assumed, as often happens to me, I would get home and be happy to see Zoe, and the dogs and then would get mildly depressed about my real life, which is well...real.
But then yesterday was a gorgeous day and I was walking through Central Park when I noticed that the line was moving for the Delacorte theater (the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park venue- which is now playing "Hair"). Usually you see people sitting on the ground from 6 o'clock in the morning, with beach chairs and blankets in a line that often snakes for a quarter of a mile. (Or something like that. Long enough to discourage lazy people like me from joining them.) But the line was moving, fast, so I walked up and asked the woman in front of me, "Is this the line for HAIR? Are they actually giving out tickets?"
And she said, "I think so! I think maybe we might get some!" And then a young woman who works for the Public said, "Even if you don't get tickets, you may get vouchers. And then your chances are really good that you will get it."
I read the review in the Times a few weeks back while I was in LA and I thought, "Damn, I want to see that show, but it will close before we get back." It turns out that it has been so popular that it was extended to September 14th and I did get a voucher. I tried to reach Zoe, who was home sleeping, and I couldn't reach her. So I thought of one of my friends in the woman's group - Annette - and I actually ran into her later in the afternoon and invited her. She was thrilled, we arrived at the theater at 6:30 pm with sandwiches and waited for our number (#33) to be called and then we got (I'm embarrassed to admit) really good seats (I think they were corporate) and the show was so much fun and brought back so many memories. We knew every song and it couldn't have been more pertinent to the times today. They are bringing it to Broadway and I would like to be one of the backers. Annette and I got on stage at the end and danced and jumped around like we were 18 and I can't wait to see it again. We hugged the lead actor and one young man said to him, "Man, thank you! You changed my life!"
The entire theater emptied out and headed in different directions, singing and humming and talking about the 60's and what that time meant to this country and to the world.
New York, I love you. And thanks Oskar Eustis, the new director of the Public. Great show!
We arrived home late Saturday night after a really fantastic week in northern California. Berkeley was great, our five days at the land were excellent, and then we spent a night at the Mark Hopkins in San Francisco (a real splurge) and together with L&L and old friends from LA, H&A, we walked all around the city (as my friend Mia says, San Francisco is better than a thighmaster and she isn't kidding.) We had dinner at a fantastic restaurant in the Mission district - Range - and then the next day we flew home. I assumed, as often happens to me, I would get home and be happy to see Zoe, and the dogs and then would get mildly depressed about my real life, which is well...real.
But then yesterday was a gorgeous day and I was walking through Central Park when I noticed that the line was moving for the Delacorte theater (the Public Theater's free Shakespeare in the Park venue- which is now playing "Hair"). Usually you see people sitting on the ground from 6 o'clock in the morning, with beach chairs and blankets in a line that often snakes for a quarter of a mile. (Or something like that. Long enough to discourage lazy people like me from joining them.) But the line was moving, fast, so I walked up and asked the woman in front of me, "Is this the line for HAIR? Are they actually giving out tickets?"
And she said, "I think so! I think maybe we might get some!" And then a young woman who works for the Public said, "Even if you don't get tickets, you may get vouchers. And then your chances are really good that you will get it."
I read the review in the Times a few weeks back while I was in LA and I thought, "Damn, I want to see that show, but it will close before we get back." It turns out that it has been so popular that it was extended to September 14th and I did get a voucher. I tried to reach Zoe, who was home sleeping, and I couldn't reach her. So I thought of one of my friends in the woman's group - Annette - and I actually ran into her later in the afternoon and invited her. She was thrilled, we arrived at the theater at 6:30 pm with sandwiches and waited for our number (#33) to be called and then we got (I'm embarrassed to admit) really good seats (I think they were corporate) and the show was so much fun and brought back so many memories. We knew every song and it couldn't have been more pertinent to the times today. They are bringing it to Broadway and I would like to be one of the backers. Annette and I got on stage at the end and danced and jumped around like we were 18 and I can't wait to see it again. We hugged the lead actor and one young man said to him, "Man, thank you! You changed my life!"
The entire theater emptied out and headed in different directions, singing and humming and talking about the 60's and what that time meant to this country and to the world.
New York, I love you. And thanks Oskar Eustis, the new director of the Public. Great show!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)