Damn

Coretta Scott King and Wendy Wasserstein both died yesterday.

When I was fourteen years old and a freshman in a high school that was as alien to me as the surface of Mars, Dr. King was shot. None of the kids at my school (where there were maybe six black kids, total) was particularly upset by this; I was, but I'd been raised in Greenwich Village at a school where he was one of the saints of modern life. At home we watched the news footage, and Dr. KIng's sanctity seemed to flow outward to include his wife and his family. Now, I think of what it would be like to be the widow of such a figure, expected to grieve with dignity and still carry the torch, all the while raising four kids. I think she was expected to step into King's shoes, and to some extent she did. It must have been a hard thing, and hard to face those expectations.

I saw The Heidi Chronicles with the impecably gorgeous Christine Lahti on Broadway, and The Sisters Rosenzweig a few years later. Wendy Wasserstein had an amazing ear for the words and feelings and experience of women of my age (and for the poor, baffled men around them who thought that the world was going to go on the way it always had). She was also acutely, astutely funny. And she wrote a lovely children's book, Pamela's First Musical which was in constant rotation among my theatre-mad babies. She was young--55--and had a seven year old daughter, Lucy Jane. It must have been interesting and fun to have a mother like Wendy Wasserstein.

Just: damn.

Another Dastardly Meme

That dastardly, yet cosmopolitan, expatriate danjite has tagged me for a meme: name eight CDs, plus one book, plus one inanimate "luxury item" with no practical use. That last one is annoying because most of the things I would consider as "luxury items" have a practical use--my Kitchen Aid mixer, for example. I could live my life without it, but I love having it; it makes my life easier, and I consider that a luxury. And then a meme like this raises more questions: I'm on a deserted island, but there's electricity to run my CD player? Or an unlimited supply of batteries? I suppose including a cell phone as my "luxury item" doesn't work, because it is useful--I could phone for pizza.

I also get overinvolved, worrying about how fast I'd get sick of my favorites if they were the only things I'd get to listen to or read. I don't want to get sick of the things I love. I tend to be a little protective of the things I love. Ah, well. I'm a good sport. I'll play.

1. the soundtrack to Henry V. Lovely, rousing, heroic. When I have to write battle scenes, this is what I listen to.
2. Sweeney Todd. Unless I could have an entire Sondheim compendium. Including Assassins and The Frogs. That's be nice.
3. Richard Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
4. Richard Thompson: Old Kit Bag--Unless I could have a box set of the complete Thompson. That'd be swell. And it'd free up another space. In which case I'd like to add the Tom Rush double album with "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," which has yet to be released on CD.
5. Low Millions: Ex-Girlfriends
6. Steeleye Span: Storm Force Ten
7. Joni Mitchell: Blue--Unless I could have a box set of Joni Mitchell's albums from Song to a Seagull through Dog Eat Dog
8. kt tunstall: Eye to the Telescope.

I know. There's, like, no classic rock on the list. There are a lot of things that aren't on the list. That's why I hate lists like this. I need a secondary list. Ah, as I said, well.

Book: I suppose, the collected Jane Austen would be nice. But maybe it should be Red Sky at Morning, which is one of my ur texts. Hate these limits. Hate 'em.

Luxuury Item: assuming there's power or batteries, I suppose a DVD player and a subscription to Netflix would be nice. If that doesn't work within the parameters of the game, well...maybe a good bottle of single malt scotch.

Well, that was fun. I suppose I should tag people now. How about pnh, jonquil, maureenmcq, al_zorra, and nineweaving because I think their answers would be fascinating. Unless, of course, they'd rather not.