6/24/23

 Saturday, June 24, 2023

In bed at 10:30, awake at 4:15 unable to fall back to sleep, up at 4:45, let Lilly out.  59℉, high 78℉, sunny, wind SW at 3 mph, 1 to 11 mph today, with gusts up to 17 mph, no rain but rain expected tomorrow.  Sunrise at 5:13, sunset at 8:35, 15+22.

LTMW at 6 a.m. at Sally P. watering her shrubs alongside their driveway, many chickadees visiting the niger tube and suet.  There is a high thin overcast (the term takes me back to my days as an air controller😊) which is about to burn off.

The Russian Revolution.  Not 1917, Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, White Army and Red Army, but 2023, Putin and Prigozhin, evil fascist vs. evil fascist, warmonger vs. warmonger, Red Army vs. Wagner Group, bad guys vs. bad guys - again.

There's nothing funny about the dangerous explosion going on in Russia now.  One wonders whether the internal Russian scene and the world situation can only get worse since there are no 'good guys' in this fight.  But I am reminded of 2 jokes.  First, Bob Friebert's shortie about a man looking out the window as his mother-in-law is attacked by a bear.  The man doesn't know who to root for.  "Go, bear... go, mother-in-law."  Second, the funeral service of a bad guy when the preacher asks for members of the congregation to say some kind words about the deceased.  No one responds until, after haranguing by the preacher, a man stands and says "His brother was worse."

I am hoping that this open warfare within Russia will be bad for Russia and good for Ukraine but wonder whether this threat to his dictatorial rule will push Putin to use his weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, nuclear) against Prigozhin's forces first and, having used them internally, to use them against the Ukrainians.  Would the West, i.e., the US, respond to a use of WMD by Russians against Russians?  Should the West respond?  How?

By mid-day here, Prigozhin announced that he has reversed his 'march on Moscow'?  What's next?

Thinking of the Russian war on the Ukrainian people and its effects on millions of youngsters.

Emily Dickenson, 141

Some, too fragile for winter winds
The thoughtful grave encloses
Tenderly tucking them in from frost
Before their feet are cold

Never the treasures in her nest
The cautious grave exposes
Building where schoolboy dare not look
And sportsman is not bold

This covert have all the children
Early aged, and often cold
Sparrow, unnoticed by the Father
Lambs for whom time had not a fold

I'm struck by the line "Sparrow, unnoticed by the Father" cf. His Eye is on the Sparrow  and  "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29–31).

The Bear, season 2.  More fine acting (especially Jeremy Allen White),  more fine character development, more fine portrayal of the lives of those who work in food service, especially in fine, always busy restaurants.  An extremely fine portrayal of life within a family with an emotionally disturbed single parent, in this case, Donna ('DeDe') Berzatto, the alcoholic mother of Mikey, Carmie, and Natalie.  I had expected a happy ending to the 10-part series and the ending was happy for Sydney, Marcus, Tina, sister Natalie 'Sugar' (kind of) and cousin Richie (kind of), but not for t protagonist Carmie or for his mother or for his girlfriend and lover, 'Claire Bear.''  As in the end of the family Christmas dinner in episode 6 where DeDe deteriorated as dinnertime drew near, so Carmie also "lost it" on the 'soft opening' of The Bear as the stresses of the kitchen built up.   Due to his own neglect in failing to get the door handle on the walk-in refrigerator replaced, he locked himself in the cooler and was unable to participate in the evening's work serving the invited 'friends and family.'  He was harsh with Sydney before locking himself up and even harsher with cousin Richie in a through-the-door exchange, and finally, not knowing Claire was outside listening to him rant, he blamed his troubles on having a loving relationship with Claire, leading her to say "I'm sorry you feel that way" and walking away without replying to his calling "Claire . . . Claire  . . .  Claire." 

Thoughts: (1) DeDe made me think of my father during his PTSD days.  (2)  The narrative also made me think of the harm emotionally (and/or mentally) sick parents visit on their children: Mikey a suicide and Carmie an emotional cripple.  (3) I also think of all the years my mother worked as a waitress at 'the Greeks' at 74th and Halsted, Kilty's, Louis George's, and the Barn. (4) I wondered how many people use work or social advancement as a place to hide from personal stresses, failings, or emptiness.  Tolstoy's The Death of Ivn Ilyich. (5) How emotional numbing or deadening is a primitive psychological defense mechanism.

My mother in her Italian peasant uniform at Louis George Restaurant

Happy Valley, season 3.  Same initial comments as above except substitute police work for restaurant work.  Sarah Lancashire's work is nothing short of masterful, on a par with and probably exceeding that of the 'grande dames' of British theater.  Just extraordinary.  Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Sarah Lancashire.