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Weekend Butler: Why are new issues of “The New Yorker” delivered every three days???? Movie: The Sicilian “Gone with the Wind.” SCOTUS Christmas party: pay up! A comforting song. Recipe: The best gazpacho.
By
Published: Jul 13, 2023
Category:
Weekend
WHY DOES “THE NEW YORKER” SHOW UP IN MY MAILBOX EVERY THREE DAYS?
I’ve taken a poll. One friend says he too is receiving new issues of “The New Yorker” every three days. One is sure it arrives every other day. Why are we feeling inundated by this magazine? Because New York is the media capital, and we get too much of it every day. In a word, our perception of time has changed — and not for the better. We are overwhelmed with deadlines, with more work waiting for us when we meet those. We’re on a hamster wheel that’s turning faster and faster. Time is accelerating.
Elsewhere, time stands still. From the Times:
“About 73 million people — 22 percent of the population of the United States — live in or near 79 major cities expected to have dangerous levels of heat on one or more days in the next week.” Look at the map in the image: that’s a giant heat dome, going nowhere, just sitting. Life moves in slow-mo for those 73 million people.
And in Vermont? A two-day storm dumped more than 8″ of rain — two months of rain — on much of the state. Boots wading through muck — you’ll see no one running.
We used to say that “biology is destiny.” Now it’s geography, and how close you you live to a disaster zone. And the thing is… there is no distance.
LAO TZU: SOFT IS STRONGER THAN HARD
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
MILAN KUNDERA (1923 – 2023): “THE STRUGGLE OF MAN AGAINST POWER IS THE STRUGGLE OF MEMORY AGAINST FORGETTING.”
Kundera was major for me. Don’t know him? Read the Butler review of “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” to start. Then read an excerpt from “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.” And the Times obituary.
AN ELIZABETH GILBERT STORY: “DROP YOUR TROUBLES INTO THE PALM OF MY HAND”
Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated with one another, with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.
But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you have had a rough day and you are frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here is what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight, just leave them with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I will open the window and throw your troubles in the water.”
It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who had been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?
Oh, he was serious. At the next stop, just as promised, the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.
We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it is extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.
But what if you are the light? What if you are the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?. That’s what this bus driver taught me, that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy influencer. He was a bus driver, one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.
ZELDA FITZGERALD WRITES TO SCOTT
“Are you sort of feeling aimless, surprised, and looking rather reproachful that no melodrama comes to pass when your work is over— as if you rode very hard with a message to save your army and found the enemy had decided not to attack — the way you sometimes feel — or are you just a darling little boy with a holiday on his hands in the middle of the week — the way you sometimes are — or are you organizing and dynamic and mending things — the way you always are.”
WEEKEND MUSIC
How comforting is this? James Taylor: “Shower the people you love.”
WEEKEND MOVIE (AND BOOK)
“The Leopard” is the best-selling novel in Italian history — the Sicilian “Gone With the Wind.” The Observer called it one of “the 10 best historical novels. ” Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film adaptation would win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Fun fact: Visconti filled the drawers in the bedroom set with bespoke silk shirts tailored specifically for Burt Lancaster. Incredulous, Burt pointed out no one would see them. Visconti: “But you will see them. You are portraying a prince and you must feel like a prince.” For the Butler review and book and streaming links, click here.
WACKO STORY OF THE WEEK
Eleven days after SCOTUS granted business-owners a First Amendment right to discriminate against LGBTQ people, a hair salon owner in Traverse City, Michigan says she will not provide service to “anyone who specifies their pronouns.”
BECAUSE OF COURSE LAWYERS PAY TO GO TO A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE’S CHRISTMAS PARTY.
And how do they pony up? Venmo For the unreal story, click.
YOUR WEEKLY TONI MORRISON
“Sometimes you don’t survive whole. You just survive in part. But the grandeur of life is that attempt.”
THE BEST GAZPACHO
from the Times: Gazpacho is perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and lunch all at the same time. This version has no bread and is a creamy orange-pink rather than a lipstick red. That is because a large quantity of olive oil is required for making delicious gazpacho, rather than take-it-or-leave it gazpacho. The emulsion of red tomato juice, palest green cucumber juice and golden olive oil produces the right color and a smooth, almost fluffy texture.
8 to 12 servings, about 1 quart
About 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes, cored and roughly cut into chunks
1 Italian frying (cubanelle) pepper or another long, light green pepper, such as Anaheim, cored, seeded and roughly cut into chunks
1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and roughly cut into chunks
1 small mild onion (white or red), peeled and roughly cut into chunks
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, more to taste
Salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling
PREPARATION
Combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender or, if using a hand blender, in a deep bowl. (If necessary, work in batches.) Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
With the motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The mixture will turn bright orange or dark pink and become smooth and emulsified, like a salad dressing. If it still seems watery, drizzle in more olive oil until texture is creamy.
Strain the mixture through a strainer or a food mill, pushing all the liquid through with a spatula or the back of a ladle. Discard the solids. Transfer to a large pitcher (preferably glass) and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.
Before serving, adjust the seasonings with salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons ice water. Serve in glasses, over ice if desired, or in a bowl. A few drops of olive oil on top are a nice touch.
WEEKEND POEM
“The Red Poppy,” by Louise Glück
The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.
