Jims of Wyzdom

September 7, 2018

Movies: Two movies are in town that I did not expect to play here. Both are excellent and playing at the AMC Cinema at Morgantown Mall. “BlacKKKlansman,” Spike Lee’s new film that NY Times suggests may be his best film ever, and “Operation Finale,” about the search and capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann, a main architect of the Nazi’s final solution in WWII. AMC is now charging $4.99 at all times, so it’s a bargain. Both are true stories.

Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self. [Politician Millicent Fenwick]

My thought to ponder for the week…are you ready? The other week I was thinking that next month I will turn 73, so I will be almost OLD…I refuse to actually BE old until I am 75. But, so many of you have seen me in my signature shorts with T-shirt and Berkenstocks…so when am I supposed to start dressing like an old person? You know, sensible shoes, polyester shirts, Haband slacks, etc? This is by way of keeping my mind off of politics…

One must wager on the future. To save the life of a single child, no effort Is superfluous. To make a tired old man smile is to perform an essential task. To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope. [Writer Elie Wiesel]

Books: A worthwhile book to read right now would be Jon Meacham’s The Soul of America: the Battle for Our Better Angels. This excellent presidential scholar takes u through our history to find out when things were politically this bad or worse, and to reassure us that the republic WILL survive. For fun, I am taken up with Meg Wolitzer, a fine writer we heard speak a few years ago at Chautauqua. Surrender Dorothy is a story wherein the heroine is killed off by the end of the first chapter, but then we find out how that death has affected her mother and her friends. The Wife is a surprising story about a distinguished writer as he is about to receive a Nobel-like prize…and his wife that has been his constant helpmate through the years. It has a surprising but satisfying twist in its conclusion…and has been made into a film with Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce.

[H.L. Mencken] told me once that he answered all his mail, pleasant and unpleasant, with just one line: “You may be right.” That’s the way I feel now. It is in the realm of possibility, just barely, that I could be the one who’s wrong. [Writer Clare Booth Luce]

Stay cool…autumn is approaching…

Just Jim