1) I will not deny that the last two days haven’t been the easiest. Yesterday a colleague very kindly expressed the wish that I had time right now for a long vacation to sort things out for myself. “I wish I had time for that, too,” I replied, “but it simply isn’t there with Reunions less then two months away.”
2) Scrolling through ye Fycebykke tonight, how very depressing to see how much an angry, vindictive celebration of stupidity and ignorance has taken hold of America. I can’t even fathom it.
3) Going back to the very beginning of my life, there was Sheherezade. Mother remembered that as a toddler I would stop whatever I was doing to listen to the violin solos (which represent Sheherezade telling her tales of the 1,001 nights to Shahriar). Since then, like most other people, I am most enamored of the first movement, “The Sea,” and its majestic, undulating rhythms.
3a) And I don’t suppose it’s a coincidence that I got so interested in the Ballets Russes back in college, because the hit sensation of their first season in Paris was Sheherezade starring Nijinsky and Karsavina, choreographed by Fokine and with sets and costumes by the revolutionary Bakst.