PERSONAL NEWS #88
After work on Friday, February 24th, I met up with my friend Linda [cinema on 42nd Street] to see the Oscar nominated film "Capote". The cinema was packed with folk seeing this film a week before the Oscar awards. The actor [ie: Phillip Seymour Hoffman] who played the role of Truman Capote was absolutely brilliant and very much deserved the Oscar for best actor. The film itself was very good and fascinating, though I have to say abit slow in sections. [Even though Capote continued to write short stories the rest of his life, he never wrote another novel after "In Cold Blood". He died in 1984.] After the film, I hung out with Linda for abit before heading home. We didn't want to stay out to late; as it was a cold, windy night.

On Saturday, February 25th, I invited Becca, Jackie and Becca's friend Jin to my place for dinner and watch "LOTRs - The Two Towers" [ie: theatrical version]. Back in December we had gotten together to view "Fellowship of the Ring". Jin wasn't familiar with the LOTRs trilogy in book or film form. The three of us explained things, periodically, throughout the film. We had a fun time, conversed on other topics and made several fun comments during the film. Jin brought lovely strawberries, which we had with the dessert, and Jackie brought some wine. Overall it was an enjoyable evening.
[Duchess & her friend Jackie at a recent "Tolkien Reading Event" at Frodo's Restaurant in Pleasantville, NY]

On Sunday, February 26th, I attended the monthly ferret meetup in Manhattan at a Starbucks in Astor Place. Had a sandwich with a hot caramel apple cider while waiting for others to show up. After 45 minutes, the only one to show up and join me was Sharon, whom I saw at a ferret meetup in December. [Her little pet ferrets name is Rocky.] We spent two hours discussing ferrets and political events. Afterwards we parted company and I strolled over to THE STRAND bookstore on Broadway. Wonderful place! While there I found and purchased "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, plus "Everything Happens for a Reason" by Mira Kirshenbaum.

Tuesday, February 28th, I attended with a few other NYC DoP folk [ie: Joe, Carol, Liz & Karen] an event at the Community Church in Manhattan [East 35th St]. Event was called "Politics & the People's Pursuit of Peace - Ethical Dilemmas for the UN & a US Dept of Peace". The Humanist Roundtable Discussion was hosted by Beth Lamont. The first part of the discussion was with Gillian Sorensen of the UN, plus a Q&A segment. During the intermission I helped out at our table to distribute DoP items and converse with those attending on the topic. After a brief intermission Joe, Carol and Liz ... along with Anne Creter from the NJ Chapter ... gave a presentation on DoP.

Some of Joe's comments during his presentation are as follows ... "Do we define patriotic by loyalty to a particular country at the expense of others? I offer the following quote from Gandhi, 'My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all embracing, and I should reject that patriotism which seeks to mount the distress or exploitation of other nationalities.' We must begin to plant the seeds of a world that works for everyone, or it will work for no one. I firmly believe the possibilities contained within the Dept of Peace, through its programs and initiatives, will make it instrumental in helping to create that world." Amen! [To learn more about the "American Humanist Association" go to ... http://www.AmericanHumanist.org OR http://www.corliss-lamont.org/hsmny/]

On Wednesday, March 1st, I had an appointment with my GYN regarding that darn Cyst et al. After a thorough checkup my doctor said all was okay. He'd know more after my sonogram appointment on March 15th. More later.........

Thursday evening, March 9th, was the monthly Tolkien/LOTRs meetup at Café la Fortuna. Sadly, I missed the January and February meetups due to illness. This time I was able to make it and was joined by Carole. [Hadn't seen her since December.] I had brought along two books on Tolkien to share with her and we engaged in lengthy discussion. [Throughout the two hours we noshed on goodies, plus talked about the upcoming Tolkien Reading Event.] The first book is "The Tolkien Readers" with assorted stories and poems by JRR Tolkien. The second is "Tolkien: A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings" by Lin Carter. Both of these are in paperback form and I found them YEARs ago at a flea market. I'll see Carole again on the 25th, when we head up to Pleasantville with Jackie for the Tolkien Reading Event. Overall we had an enjoyable evening and it was good to catch up on news.

On Saturday, March 11th, I had a 2pm workout session at Ballys with my Personal Trainer [Marie]. It felt good to work the muscles. Last time I had a session with Marie, I was the one who was still ill and this time she had a cold. Every time one of us coughed we said "furball". [smiling] Afterwards I headed up to the E&Y office to do some personal work on computer, plus kill time before heading to Linda's in Brooklyn. Arrived at her place, via subway, around 6pm for pizza and "movie night". Before her friend Phyllis joined us, we took Sweetie [Linda's dog] out for a walk, plus picked up the DVDs and pizza. [Sweetie is not the easiest doggie to take on a walk. Mon dieu!] The three of us wanted to watch "Walk the Line" and "Crash". I forgot how much I liked Johnny Cash's music from the 1950s and 1960s. We cracked up every time the three of us started singing along to a Cash tune. [A few days later I purchased a "greatest hits" CD on Cash tunes.] I highly recommend this film. It’s great! The two lead actors were fantastic. The second film was intense, startling, truthful and very well made. [Definitely deserved the Oscar for best picture.] Makes one realize that racism and prejudices are still very much part of American society. Whether it’s in a big city or a small town. It is there! Decades ago it was more in the open, nowadays its suppressed, but still there and as terrible as ever. This is another film that I highly recommend.

[Duchess Note - Due to several fascinating events I've attended over past month or so, I've collected and checked out many new URLs. A wealth of information may be obtained with a click of your mouse in the column on the left side of this blog. To phrase a commercial from years ago ... "a mind is a terrible thing to waste"]

NO ONE’S LAUGHING AT THIS DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN
Joan Chittister, OSB – National Catholic Reporter
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0325-22.htm

LIVE FROM NYC ITS LIBERAL NEWS

IMMIGRANTS' WALL OF DEATH
Roberto Lovato, The Nation
Latin American leaders say thousands of immigrants will die if the U.S. Congress passes the Sensenbrenner immigration bill.
http://www.alternet.org/story/33594/

THE SLOW DEATH OF NEWSPAPERS
Molly Ivins, AlterNet
For some reason, publishers assume people will want to buy more newspapers if they have less news in them and are less useful to people.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/33954/

A TIME FOR HERESY
Bill Moyers, AlterNet
Unless we choose to renew our commitment to America's deepest values, the day will come when we no longer recognize the country we love.
http://www.alternet.org/story/33958/