This is just a quick post to say, I’m not gone for good. I’ve spent so much time lately getting projects done and continuing work on my novel. When I sit still for a moment, I am reading voraciously. So, not a lot of time for posting, or even for composing the thoughts to be said.
I feel a sense of loss lately. Especially so with the passing of my grandmother yesterday. We weren’t close but it is a loss, nonetheless. The lost feeling is bigger than that. It is a loss of time, a loss of space, a loss of peace. Time is a matter of continuing to avoid unnecessary exposure to people to protect my health. Staying within my home instead of roaming the streets I love so much, pressed against the people of this glorious city. Seasons have come and gone and I’m still waiting for safety.
Space and peace… are more intricate than simply the passage of time. New Orleans is besieged by ruffians who are commuting violent carjackings and random shootings. Even children are involved in the commission of these crimes. There should be additional punishments for adults who force children to crime- not a slap on the wrist but fierce retribution for fouling the newest generation.
I’ve been spending time with the Bard of late, watching each of Shakespeare’s plays. Dame Helen Mirren as Prospero(a) was wonderful but Fiona Shaw as Richard II is glorious. David Tenant’s Hamlet was sublime. I’m onto my favorite of the Bard’s stories, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While I’m in the midst of a production from Julie Taymor, I don’t find it my favorite interpretation of this tale. Othello and Macbeth were well produced but goodness, they were hard to get through for the violence and misogyny! I had to take a break halfway through Othello, with Lawrence Fishbourne in the titular role, for the pain I knew poor Desdemona would inevitably face. Apparently not much has changed in treatment of women from the late 16th/ very early 17th century to now.
So that’s where I’ve been. As Carnival ramps up, I’ll be further busied with parades and balls. I made it a full 5 weeks from the start of the year to February without a single drop of alcohol- my first truly successful Dry January plus some. I’ve become a truly cheap drunk because I’m tanked before even finishing a second drink. Thankfully I’ve found a sublime bourbon to sip upon when I choose to imbibe. I’m afraid to even place its name here for fear of it becoming as elusive as Blanton’s has become.
With that, I am off to more projects, more chores, and of course, my noble mission by which I make my living.