I’ll be seeing Fences sooner or later (TBR=to be reviewed), and my justification for a movie break was my mission to read as much of Stalin’s Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan and then attend a talk about the book at Selby Library by a very well spoken Dr. Kushner. A quote he articulated sums up not only the book, but also ties in perfectly to the primary theme of August Wilson’s play “Fences”: “Perhaps there is no sadder curse than the gift of a titanic father”.
This father curse of course can be a blessing depending on the resilience and tenacity of the child, a thought which connects with Bruce Springsteen’s new memoir Born to Run. Listening to Bruce on Marc Maron’s podcast Episode 773, I was heartened to hear Maron’s opening monologue about the difference between beating one’s self up vs. self-determination to keep improving one’s self. Maron claimed that Springsteen seems to have mastered the latter. This was a great reinforcement for my New Year’s Resolution that faithful readers will remember was to be kinder to myself, and to award myself for attempts at evolution. After a week of ‘family pleasing’ activities I’m going to add another; that it’s ok for me to occasionally isolate and simply focus on my own goals.
A co-worker mentioned being disappointed by Tama Janowitz’s Scream which was billed as a ‘how I endured caring for my mother with dementia’, but didn’t deliver (according to my co-worker, a solid second-hand source). I think any type of writing these days is difficult without isolation. In re-working a play of mine which was slayed by a writers’ council, there isn’t a morning that goes by that a variety of interruptions creep in destroying any conversations my characters, aka my mind, is trying to manipulate. Hence, if Tama’s memoir sounds disjointed, who can blame her? Well, I guess her editor’s might, unless of course, it sells well anyway. If my last few year’s of teaching are any indication, when I noticed a certain twitchiness that had crept into many of my 7th graders, which I attribute to our constant switching from lap top to cell phone to tv to tablet….leads me to believe that disjointed writing might be ok (which also would affirm this non-movie review blog installment:).
Which leads me back to movies and Bruce Springsteen and one of his biggest fans, my son, Liam Enright, who’s visiting me this Saturday. He’s living in Brooklyn right now, trying his best to find a way into the music industry. This serpentine blog is a long way of saying that I’ll be seeing a movie of his choice on Saturday night. His first choice is Elle, but due to distribution problems, Burns Court was unable to procure the film. Hence we’ll be seeing Lion, Manchester (sure, it’d be my second time (his first), but it’s movie magic) or the aforementioned Fences.
Until then, let’s focus and breathe……….
