Jackie and Marie

Various errands completed. Finished my applications for the three different city commissions and dropped them off at city hall. The library's only a few blocks away and I went there next. Got Jackie Kennedy's extensive interviews with Arthur Schlesinger, which are enthralling. They're on CDs and I've listened to them before. When I see Doris today, I want to--gently, gently--mention that to her, as she was sure I'd be anxious to see Jackie, the movie. Why, no, I wasn't and I'm not.
Such truly living history is readily available on both disks and in print, along with innumerable books, videos, and so on, so why anybody would want to see some actress mouthing the words and ideas of a script writer and director is beyond me. These interviews were conducted in 1964, only a year after the assassination and are rightly called "oral history." What fascinates me are not only what she says--and some of it, especially JFK's attitude toward contemporary politicians, is startling--but the immediacy of it. The interviews were conducted in her home and you can hear her light a cigarette, then take a first deep drag (you can't mistake that sound if you were ever a smoker). You get the rattle of a tea cup, a child's voice, and traffic in the background. Once in a while, you hear birds sing, so maybe they were outside or near an open window during sometimes of the sessions.
Compare that to what is called "docudrama," a bastard word and a bastard idea. I love documentaries and I love drama, but smushed together? They stink. What's frightening is that so many take what they see and hear as gospel.
Okay, tirade over. Suzanne is back from Arizona; she went to a Sisters of Mercy planning meeting and also visited her brother and his family there. It was a long trip and she was going to take a nap, but first came over to see my coffee table. I'm so pleased to have her for a next-door neighbor.
I decided to post a notice about my small wooden table in the laundry room, which has bulletin boards. I had it for sale for $10 on Craigslist and Nextdoor Regatta, but no takers, so I advertised it as free.W
Walked over to Vons and got a cantaloupe. Went to dinner with the widder group at 6:00 and had just a glass of wine and some tangerines I had taken. I enjoyed chatting with my friends and was pleased I hadn't succumbed to ordering Marie Callender's food--mediocre, but tempting.