letter march 04 2012

Dear Everyone,

I’m starting this letter a bit before I have to go to O’Hare to pick up Cindy and Lucas. They spent a couple of days visiting Union College and Syracuse University. Cindy, you may know, is an alumna of the former. Perhaps Steve and Lucy can reminisce with Lucas about Syracuse from thirty years ago (Reagan was president then!). After this visit Lucas will have seen several schools of varying size and local. We hope this will help him figure out what school “personality” suits him best. Then he can create a list of schools with a personality that meets his academic talents. Before this trip he had already decided that he didn’t want to visit Colgate because it was too rural a location.

I would like to catch up with some of the books I have read lately. I finished a five part novel series (I would really call these big novellas) by Edward St. Aubyn. This has justifiably gotten a lot of press recently. These books are a 21st century mix of Proust, Evelyn Waugh, and Huxley. The protagonist, Patrick Melrose, shares a lot of autobiographical characteristics with St. Aubyn, among them abuse at the hands of his sadistic father, drug addiction, and being the scion of the decadent British upper classes. This may not sound very appealing, but the writing is very biting, witty, and precise. Other than the morally repugnant behavior of most of the characters, it is a very good read.

I also just finished a truly fantastic book of 100 (or so) essays by Wislawa Szymborska, called “Nonrequired Reading”. Although this Polish writer won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1996, I am very sorry to have not heard of her until the announcement of her death this February. These essays are all short (500 words) book reviews that must have been published as a newspaper column. I only wish I could read them in the original Polish! I really should write ‘book review’ in quotes, because often these essays have only the most fleeting reference to the book under discussion. She has a wonderful sense of humor, irony, and humanism. Almost all of these essays have some unique thought about the world that make the reader step back and wonder why they had never thought about the world that way before. I really recommend this book - - the essays are short, so you can really read one (or more) at any convenient time, and I think the author would appreciate a casual read as much as a focused one.

I am a bit grumpy today since I was called at 3 AM this morning about doing a frozen that took place about 10 AM. Of course, it was the organ donation people. I have already mentioned this to Cindy, but she might not be available when it comes time for this decision to be made - - I am an organ donor, but I refuse to let them pull the plug on me in the middle of the night so they have to wake the poor pathologist for a reading! Whoever has to make this decision - - the transplant team can harvest anything they want to, but they have to do it during working hours! If that is too inconvenient for them, then they can’t have my stuff.

Since Cindy was away, Jasper and I have been fending for ourselves. We had Popeye’s Chicken on Friday, and then yesterday I made a homemade pizza. Jasper had cheese on his side, while I had black olives, red bell pepper, and turkey pepperoni. I have made a dozen or so pizzas now (since getting a Kitchenaid mixer for my 50th birthday - - thanks again), but I can’t seem to make a dough that is as good as a pizza place. Mine always seems a little thick (acceptable since I’m not flinging the dough in the air), but it also bready. I have made the pizzas on the grill, and the increased heat and open flame help a bit, but I am still disappointed. Anyone have suggestions?

Last weekend Jasper participated in the regional meet. The highlight was his 1000 meter swim, where he made 3rd place. He dropped time in his other events also. I don’t think Danny Thomson (One of the best high school swimmers in the country, here at Hinsdale Central) needs to be worried about his records getting broken any time soon, though. His 500 is about more than 1 minute faster than Jaz’s!

Love, H.