 | At the press conference about the passing of Francoise Gilot’s third husband Jonas Salk, there was this exchange between a young reporter and Ms. Gilot (first husband Pablo Picasso): The young woman reporter asked her to explain how it was she had been the great love of such powerful men. Ms. Gilot fixed her with an icy stare and answered, “Lions mate with lions. They do not mate with mice.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ University educated; retired, formally with senior career. Divorced. Pro: common sense, education, good health, environmentalism and volunteerism. Anti: willful ignorance, conspiracy theories, firearms and addictions. Proudly reality, science and fact-based. PEERS are welcome for non-committal chat.  Paloma NYC: "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20 "A man is known by the company he keeps." Aesop, The Ass and His Purchaser Paloma NYC: “PITY THE NATION” Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 2007 (After Khalil Gibran 1933) Pity the nation whose people are sheep And whose shepherds mislead them Pity the nation whose leaders are liars Whose sages are silenced And whose bigots haunt the airwaves Pity the nation that raises not its voice Except to praise conquerors And acclaim the bully as hero And aims to rule the world By force and by torture Pity the nation that knows No other language but its own And no other culture but its own Pity the nation whose breath is money And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed Pity the nation oh pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away My country, tears of thee Sweet land of liberty! copyright Lawrence Ferlinghetti Paloma NYC: Finally! SPORTS LEAGUES PARTNER WITH WHITE HOUSE ON HEALTH INITIATIVE "... many Americans are also suffering from diet-related diseases, including heart disease, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes, which are some of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States." https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2024/02/08/white-house-sports-health-initiative https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/02/08/white-house-partnership-major-sports-leagues-physical-health/6331707398780/ Paloma NYC: The Peace of Wild Things By Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. Paloma NYC: Antidotes to Fear of Death is undated, and may have been written before the astronomer and poet was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. ANTIDOTES TO FEAR OF DEATH by Rebecca Elson (January 2, 1960–May 19, 1999) Sometimes as an antidote To fear of death, I eat the stars. Those nights, lying on my back, I suck them from the quenching dark Til they are all, all inside me, Pepper hot and sharp. Sometimes, instead, I stir myself Into a universe still young, Still warm as blood: No outer space, just space, The light of all the not yet stars Drifting like a bright mist, And all of us, and everything Already there But unconstrained by form. And sometime it’s enough To lie down here on earth Beside our long ancestral bones: To walk across the cobble fields Of our discarded skulls, Each like a treasure, like a chrysalis, Thinking: whatever left these husks Flew off on bright wings. (Post deleted by Paloma NYC ) Paloma NYC: NYT Lifelong Exercise Adds Up "Those men and women who reported exercising moderately throughout their adult lives, walking or otherwise being in motion for a few hours most weeks, saved an average of $1,350 annually — or about 16 percent — on health care expenses after reaching age 65 compared to sedentary people." https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/well/move/exercise-health-care-cost-savings.html Paloma NYC: Arranged for lute by Thomas Dunford Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude   Paloma NYC: You may find this as lovely as I do. Kalimankou Denkou (The Evening Gathering) Bulgarian State Television Female Choir  View all 5 posts  Paloma NYC in reply to Paloma NYC: Look! Look! Did you see this? Endeavour Returns for Season 8 April 22, 2021: Filming has begun on Season 8 of the critically-acclaimed detective drama, Endeavour, with lead actor Shaun Evans directing the first of the three new episodes. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/endeavour-endeavour-returns-for-season-8/?fbclid=IwAR0IOx7kVJTwUFtjbaCLkZiHw7ql1JxTj5-YkZx2ILNO6NzVuvAfKB7GgkY Paloma NYC: The beauty that is England. NYT A Cyclist on the English Landscape https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/travel/sussex-bicycle-portraits.html Paloma NYC: The Louvre collections are now online! https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/louvre-puts-entire-collection-online-redoubles-efforts-track-looted-art-180977367/ https://collections.louvre.fr/ Paloma NYC: For Valentine's Day Love Frank O’Hara A whispering far away heard by the poet in a bower of flesh his limbs stir is it sadness or the perfection of eyes that clutches him? And a parade of lamenting draws near a wave of angels he is drowning in the word https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry/7121/love-frank-ohara (Post deleted by Paloma NYC ) |
Metropolitan Diary
Homeric
Dear Diary:
I got on the last car of an uptown No. 1 train at Columbus Circle on a midweek evening. Squeezing into a seat next to a tall man, I opened the book app on my tablet and began reading where I had left off earlier.
“Are you reading ‘The Iliad’ on the subway?” the tall man asked in a tone of slight disbelief.
I said yes and explained that it was the Emily Wilson translation of Homer’s epic, which had recently been released to great acclaim.
“But how did you know what I was reading?” I asked.
“I saw a few of the names,” he said. “It couldn’t be anything else.”
“I’m a hopeless monoglot,” I told him. “Do you know it in the original?”
He nodded. “I had three years of Homer in graduate school.”
“Really? Do you have any left now?”
He cocked his head and quoted the opening lines, the ancient tongue sounding as smooth as flowing water.
I laughed out loud at the beauty of it, and at the unlikelihood of hearing ancient Greek spoken on the subway.
We exchanged a few other comments, and then I settled back in to read.
The man rose to leave at 110th Street.
“Thanks for reaffirming my love of Homer,” he said.
I couldn’t get my response out until he was halfway out of the car.
“Thanks for reaffirming my love for New York City,” I said.
— Gil Reavill