Jims of Wyzdom for July 13, 2018

By now, I’ll guess that some of my devoted followers are sick of hearing about Chautauqua, so we won’t go there…at least until August 5 when Bon and I will go up for our second week of chaplain duty.

Opera Encores: I haven’t been paying too much attention to these encores this summer because we’ve been to all of them at least once. But one of my favorites is coming up on July 18…that would be Puccini’s Turandot that will play at the Regal Hollywood at 7 PM. It runs about 2-1/2 hours. One reason I love it is the outstanding production directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli back in the 70s. Along with his La Boheme, they are two of the longest running productions in Met history, partly because the public loves them and partly because this is what “grand opera” looks like. Enjoy!

Among other things, I have been reading one of Edmund White’s books about his life in Paris. Then, in last Sunday’s Times, there was a brief review of another book that reveals White’s reading tastes. The reviewer said that what makes this book interesting and valuable is the list of books that White found essential. At the top of his list was Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s masterpiece that came after War and Peace. The review says that White specified the newest translation by the Peavers. In thinking about this, I had to go back and try to review the differences between two great masterpieces. War and Peace is a great epic covering wars and quite a cast of characters that live or die through these conflicts. Anna, on the other hand, follows the love affair of a highly placed woman who leaves her husband and son to follow the young Count. It reveals the often unintended consequences of one’s actions. But there is another major part to the novel, the story of Kitty and Levin, that beautifully counterpoints the love affair tragedy. Tolstoy digs really deep in examining the motives of the major characters and by the end the reader feels such overwhelming catharsis for watching a great tragedy unfold, but also seeing why another couple succeeds in establishing their life together. I still think War and Peace is the greatest of all novels, but I am willing to place Anna Karenina next to it as a co-equal partner.  Now, I HAVE to offer a class where we’ll all read Anna’s story!

Another book I just started is Madeline Albright’s new book, Fascism. She speaks from a lifetime of service to our country and a survivor of the Holocaust, though at the time, she didn’t know she was a survivor, by virtue of her parent’s escape from Czechoslovakia, just as the war was getting under way. She did not know her relatives were Jews until relatively recently. This book seeks to explain what Fascism is and how to recognize it. Enough said…

On a happier note, OLLI’s summer term is under way with classes and events to please every palette. Today our board will elect its new Executive Committee and get the new fiscal year off to a start. Be sure to know who the board members are—this is your congress of representatives, so feel free to approach board members with questions or suggestions that the board should discuss. Unlike the real congress, we have no political parties dictating how we must vote or who to support! Our board’s mission is simple: to support and nurture OLLI at WVU and insure that classes and teachers are available to make our lives much more interesting.

The Girls: Our new pair of cats…and we need help. They are just wonderful and have taken over our house. The bad thing is that we don’t want to de-claw them but they are doing quite a number on my fairly new recliner chair. I know there’s something to spray on these spots, but do we have any expert upholstery folks out there? Bon said maybe we should just sew on patches like they do with jackets. Give us a call (304-296-7337) or shoot me an email (Jim.Held@mail.wvu.edu) with your solutions.

Keep Kool and we’ll talk again in two weeks…

Jim Held