Renaissance Folks
Headline from nypost.com: “LA considers cutting power to three notorious pandemic party houses.” Guess officials can’t count on the rolling blackouts to do it.
I like sci-fi movies but not novels. I tried reading Douglas Adams’ iconic The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but didn’t connect with the nonsense and abandoned it after 40 pages. That led me back to the Writing New York literary antho, where I sampled another author I’d never read, Zora Neale Hurston. Less than a thousand words, Story in Harlem Slang is a take down of its male characters, two no-accounts who prey on women for meals, board and sex, dubbed “pimps” back in the day. I’m not sure what year it takes place. My guess is during the 1930’s. Born in a small town in Florida, Hurston also wrote poetry, plays, essays and novels such as Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her autobio is titled Dust on the Tracks. To my great surprise, she was a Republican who “argued that New Deal economic support had created a harmful dependency by African Americans on the government and that this dependency ceded too much power to politicians.” Wow — the more things change, the more they stay the same. She also was against communism, and was a fan of Booker T. Washington’s self-help politics. Given this, it seems a miracle — at least to me — her work was pulled from the obscurity into which it had fallen. Even PBS has recognized her in at least two productions. Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005) was adapted by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks, starring Halle Berry. She passed away at 69 in 1960. (Facts from Wiki)
RIP Dale Hawerchuck, 57, who succumbed to cancer. He was the NHL’s number one pick in 1981, selected by Winnipeg. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 1982. In 16 seasons, 1188 games, he scored 518 goals, which ranks 38th all-time, and had 891 assists, 21st all-time. He played nine season with the Jets, five with Buffalo, less than a year with St. Louis, the rest of his career with Philadelphia. A five-time all-star, he reached the Stanley Cup finals only once, with the Flyers in 1997, losing to Detroit. He was inducted into the hockey hall of fame in 2001. He coached minor league hockey ten years, his team finishing first four times. Gone way too soon. Well done, sir.
RIP actor Ben Cross, 72. Born in London, he left home and school at 15, worked various jobs and was eventually accepted into the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. He began his career on the stage before moving into films and TV, his breakout coming in Chariots of Fire (1981). There are 104 titles under his name at IMDb. He played characters as diverse as the Emperor Tiberius, Nazi Rudolf Hess, Cardinal Richelieu, King Solomon, and Sarek, Spock’s dad. He spoke German, Italian and Spanish. Awesome, sir.
The floating book shop was a frustrating affair today, as light rain had me covering the wares a couple of times. My thanks to the Frenchman, who bought two more works of non-fiction by Primo Levi.
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