I too have a lovely wife and have had her for 57 years. Can you imagine the poor woman having to endure me for more than half a century?
But I can still appreciate a beauty like Halle Berry - I'm happy to say. Yet, a woman doesn't have to be a beauty. As you well know, she just has to be a woman.
Unfortunately my wife has emphysema and must be connected to oxygen all the time by a 50 ft tube, which allows her to move round a little.
Last week we had some visitors from Seattle. Friday night, 2 of our 3 daughters, along with their husbands, our two sons, two grandsons and a guest - a long haul truck driver, who also happens to be a gourmet chef, sat down with us to an exceptional Mexican meal.
The trucker/chef was a little too late to help with the basic cooking, so he spent some time adding seasonings and spices to various dishes. The artist is always needed.
I must say I feel a little sad that people are retreating even from the nuclear family of two children, to one child, or none. I have a feeling that marriage is a contract to take care of the children you intend to have. If a couple doesn't intend to have children, perhaps marriage is an empty form.
Ray, I'm sure you have noticed how much women have affected you all your life.
Harry
______________________________________________
Ray wrote:
No Harry. The word isn't education but advertisement. And its not the kids. They have changed. It is the parents and the older folks as well as the ill-educated new rich who are still bug idles (Beatles) now approaching sixty. There is a great hope but when all you get is commercial advertising for garbage then what you have is a garbage mind. As for the dirty old man. Yes I have a lovely wife who is a wonderful writer, composer and teacher.
Ray
----- Original Message -----
From: Harry Pollard
To: Ray Evans Harrell ; Michael Gurstein ; Futurework@Scribe. Uwaterloo. Ca
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 6:49 PM
Subject: Re: Even nationalised circuses! (Re: Loss of the middle class)
Ray,
You are a dirty old man!
Of course, I'm a lot older and dirtier than you are.
But to males of any age there is nothing better than seeing a beautiful women - unless it's conversing with an intelligent one.
The only way to save the arts is by increasing the number of people who appreciate them. But, that seems unlikely at the moment (note Arthur's Immigration post). When a general appreciation is lacking, the Arts turn to the rich and powerful. Then perhaps to equally rich and powerful governments who throw a pittance or two toward the starving artists.
But the only way for the arts to flourish in a free society is by attracting a large following. And the only way for that following to materialize is by education. Initially in the schools, later by peer group and knowledgeable adults.
As it is, the kids are trapped into a mindless addiction by rhythmic noise and "presentation". There is more communication in the scat singing of Ella and Sarah than in the tuneless noise that serves as music for the deprived generation.
Harry
_______________________________________________-
Ray wrote:
Hi Mike,
I would never cross a Canadian on this. I was told at the audition that
the two people who started the troupe were Russian. Is that incorrect?
There also were a lot of Russian and Ukranian performers auditioning at the
time. And a very large percentage of the Big Apple Circus performers came
from the old Soviet System as well. Although there was goodly number
from Mexico, and the contortionists are trained in the State System in
China. It seemed indicative of what China is doing to exist in this
world. If I see one more goose stepping military tape from China and
North Korea again I will vomit. It reminds me of the fat Russian women
propaganda tape they used to show before the Soviet System changed. Now I
go to parties with the most beautiful women you could imagine with some
wearing costumes that show that they were not raised with the kind of guilt
that we in the West are accustomed to.
All that aside, Montreal and Canada deserves credit for supporting and
nurturing such a wonderful world class troupe. We let Martha Graham's
company die here when she was trying to get some kind of national
designation for this major American contribution to world dance. It has
been heartbreaking to see Graham's body of work as well as the educational
system slowly disappear. Well some Capitalist had a bargain on the school
and built a new building on the site. The Muse Tree in the garden was cut
down. In the end the world will forget him and remember that we didn't
care. The Canadians are way ahead of us on so much of this. Only in
NYCity is America represented well with Lincoln Center and the cultural
jewels. NY has so many museums that a mayor not long ago, let two major
ones leave the city. Of course one was the Heye Foundation Museum of the
American Indian. It went to Washington and became the National Museum of
the American Indian at the Smithsonian.
Oh yes, the middle class. Well, that article is old news for all but the
politicians. It was beginning to change in the decade of the 1990s but it
never quite got there. The middle class is docile and frightened. It
will take a lot more before they become radicalized enough to do anything
about it. But when they do, remember the anger at 9/11. There is a
latent streak of violence in America that I don't believe most people
understand. It is not smart to poke a sleaping Jaguar.
Ray
