November 13, 2017

E-mail from one of J & L’s friends at the play:

We spent an hour last night talking about Truman and the complex, terrible choices of that moment. It was disturbing in the best possible way. I thought the two young characters were a powerful dramatic choice to help us experience the consequences. It was so painful to move from Truman's compassion for the next generation of youth to be conscripted in an awful war and the young girl's yearning for her home that will be incinerated by the bomb. The arguments by the military were also complex. As the ending wove the various stories together and took our breath away with Truman's abrupt signature and all its consequences, I felt a profound grief. Thank you for this work at this time when we again face the possibility of nuclear weapons as a strategic choice. It was difficult to sleep last night with all those images running through our minds. 
Jack and Leland have always described you as a Renaissance man. 
Larry

Taught a few of The Cantos, the first time in my career when I have. It was joyful. At least some of the class sat there with grins on their faces.

Came home and planted what I believe and hope to be the last carton of bulbs and roots. Nine peonies, three allium. In digging I uncovered a beautiful brown snake who apparently crept under my topsoil for a winter sleep. I laid him carefully back, replaced his dirt, gave him an additional blanket of mulch. I don’t think he even woke up.