Finally got the top of the study closet cleared. I threw away--reluctantly--a lot of saved correspondence from 1.) members of my postcard club; 2.) my cousin, Judy, who died about 10 years ago; 3.) others. I got bogged down, of course, in re-reading a lot of it and reliving those days. I don't know whey I ever kept this stuff. I have "memorabilia" coming out of my ears, including a ton of pictures I need to go through and sort. As it is, I have twelve photo albums--from the days there were photo albums--of various trips and events ("Our Trip to Florida, 1989," "Joel's 5th Birthday") and they're fun to look through, but only every decade or so. Did I throw them out? Don't be funny: I transferred them to the top shelf in the guest room.
Rehearsal last night. It's really coming together--without my active participation at this point--but I'm going to hang in there and hope for some kind of change. Ellen asked me to come over to read her lines with her--she plays "Ouiser"--and I accepted with pleasure. I'll enjoy it and maybe can also pick up a southern accent, the only prospect that concerns me about the "Clairee" role that I'm hoping against hope I can step into.
(And the old English major rears up: "No! It should be '...into which I'm hoping to step,' nincompoop!")
Wider: So quickly, one after th eother, we've lost Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger. As a blog commenter sadly wrote: "Zinn and Salinger: My political soul and my poetic one." Zinn was indeed a resident of the "political soul." Here is one of his essays from Common Dreams. It was written nine years ago, but is relevant today:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7