Ulmus vitifera
Who knew? Elms really do support vines; indeed, it is an ancient metaphor for the union between husband (elm) and wife (vine). I'm going to pay better attention to the literal sense of what John is saying from now on.
The Witches of Salemville
One day, back in the Dark Ages – I think it was around 1975 – we kids were shown a movie in Social Studies about the witch trials of colonial New England. There was a scene in which the girls making the accusations against their neighbors started acting as if they were choking. As if on cue, sitting in a darkened room of 200 fourth graders, I threw up.
I saw the movie in full some years later, although I am still not sure what it was. It may have been a production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953), perhaps one of the ones made for television, but I have an inkling that it was something different. It doesn’t really matter. What stuck with me was the feeling that I had watching all those young women – they were actresses, after all – pretending to be attacked by some invisible enemy. And having everyone in the room – both on- and off-screen – believe them.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017. You all know what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12. A motley group inclu…
I saw the movie in full some years later, although I am still not sure what it was. It may have been a production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953), perhaps one of the ones made for television, but I have an inkling that it was something different. It doesn’t really matter. What stuck with me was the feeling that I had watching all those young women – they were actresses, after all – pretending to be attacked by some invisible enemy. And having everyone in the room – both on- and off-screen – believe them.
Fast forward to the summer of 2017. You all know what happened in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12. A motley group inclu…
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F.B.