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| PINK HYDRANGEA IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
.....as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
Little insights and stories that have caught my attention over the past week. Sharing some of them with you during this Valentine's week of celebration.....with Love.
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| NELLE LEE HARPER: THEN AND NOW |
LITTLE NELLE
What an amazing name Harper is. I read once that her first name is Nelle. Nelle Harper Lee. Always wondered why she published under her middle name of Harper. Not really such a surprise given the fact that Nelle is such a feminine, nostalgic and 'girlie' name. I surmise that to sell this book back in 1960, a book filled with such poignant prejudice and striking inequities, Harper was dealing with some prejudices of her own.
A female and first time author, Nelle probably did pretty much what she had been told to do by her editor even if it included changing her main character, Scout, from a woman returning home after many years into a young girl coming-of-age in the South.
Nelle listened, but at what price? And, I'm not too sure, having read her biography and taken-in some of her references towards naïveté and being an outcast as a child due to an extremely 'Tomboyish' personality, that these factors didn't project her as a hardworking young female pushing the parameters of a 'Man's World.'
Did it break her? Had she had enough with the publication of her one book? No matter how many accolades they bestowed upon her, including a Pulitzer Prize and making her novel into a movie in 1962, soon to become a classic in its own right, did she say the sacrifice really wasn't worth it anymore and moved-on with her life?
I will be lining-up to buy and read her prequel, as I refer to it instead, Go Set a Watchman, because it had been written before her editor intervened! Of course, it will be expected and natural even to contrast and compare it with To Kill a Mockingbird. I hope Nelle is braced and ready for the bumpy ride!
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| EMBRACE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW OLD! |
OH, BETTE.....SAY IT AIN'T SO!
We all do it every single day. It's certainly a fact of life. And, even though each of us had no initial input in the matter, we merge into the fast lane of 'Life' the moment we are born! At this time, the precise second of birth.....we begin the aging process.
Katherine Hepburn once said, "If you survive long enough, you're revered.....rather like an old building."
And, the most honest quote I have ever heard about aging comes from Bette Davis when she would proclaim in many interviews, "Old age isn't for sissies!"
It's inevitable, people! But, what if we looked at aging in a positive light and stopped fearing it instead? Taking fear out of the equation allows us to free ourselves of uncontrollable burdens and encourages us to live in an enlightened present. Instead of dreading aging, this new mindset can help us embrace the opportunity to grow old.
During our first visit to Europe in 1990, I set my agenda for capturing certain subjects and ideas on film. They included lace-curtained windows from every country and town we visited. My lens recorded small children simply living another day with family or playing with friends. Most importantly was my desire to focus on the aging 'senior citizens' and define their emotions via each well-earned wrinkle, gray hair and stooped shoulder I could find.
What I realized I had done, while looking over my photos upon returning home, was capture my aging self in each one of them! Even though I had yet to reach the age of forty, I could imagine my subjects as my future self and applauded their resilience instead. I was now free to reimagine the elderly and identify them with long life rather than physical deterioration.
Each photo showed me people who remained engaged with life and encapsulated a spirit of enthusiasm rather than resignation. This process of life called aging is lifelong and as we plant the seeds of our existence early on, we must always be self-conscious of what we will have to harvest in the future.
Oh, the original stories I could have added to each photo would be absolutely priceless to me today! I wonder.....there's still time, isn't there?
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| IRONICALLY....ANNIE'S LATEST ALBUM |
OKAY...SO, LONG LIVE ANNIE LENNOX, MY FRIENDS!!!
I don't believe we actually used this terminology 'back in the day,' but I totally had a 'woman crush' on Annie Lennox when I first heard her perform as a member of the Eurythmics. I loved so many things about Annie then as I do to this very day including her hairstyle, her enthusiasm, the rhythm and depth of her vocal style and her exciting, raw talent. Talk about a Cheshire Cat smile......Wow!
Seeing Annie perform on the 2015 Grammy Awards this past Sunday alongside Hozier was the highlight of the evening for me!! When Take Me To Church segued into I Put a Spell On You, and Annie literally belted out the lyrics, I looked at the expression on the face of Hozier standing a few feet away and saw a combination of humility and adoration I hadn't seen on someone's face for a very long time!
Annie has always declared to be a feminist...."A man-loving feminist," she proclaims load and clear. When asked by Rolling Stone what being a feminist means to her, Annie states that after traveling the globe and having visited developing countries, "I see women that don't even have the absolute basic rights........fundamental human rights that we have taken for granted. In the Western world, women have the vote. We have the possibility to be lawyers and doctors and to have careers that we never would have dreamed of years ago. Women before us sacrificed so much to help the future generations of women... What's happened is the word 'feminism' got trashed and completely devalued. Now the time has come to reconfigure it and take feminism to places where women have no sexual, reproductive, health or educational rights. It's not about whether you shave your legs or wear high heels. That's irrelevant."
Annie Lennox the philanthropist has indeed traveled the world and helped raise awareness and funds for the education and health care for those affected by HIV and AIDS. She has conversed with the influential world leaders, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, in order to help manifest her humanitarian work in Africa and South Africa. In 2013 she received the Music Industry Trusts Award for her career achievements in music and her charity commitments.
In this same interview with Rolling Stone, Annie explains that after dropping out of the Academy of Music in London because she felt out of place there, she had become exposed to the genius of Joni Mitchell. "We heard this extraordinary poetry, this extraordinary voice, this extraordinary and beautiful woman, so articulate, just beyond, playing these amazing instruments. And she was just flawless. She still is flawless for me. I don't think there's ever been anybody to match Joni Mitchell." And, I agree completely.
Moderately successful in the late 1970's in the new wave band The Tourist, this Scottish born "White Soul Singer" and her fellow musician, Dave Stewart, went on to achieve major international success in the 1980's as the Eurythmics. Annie has compiled a long list of individual hit records and albums that have withstood the test of time and musical diversity and continue to resonate with fans both young and old.
Born Andrew Hozier-Byrne on St. Patrick's Day twenty-three years ago in Ireland, Hozier already has good reason to feel pride in sharing the stage with Annie Lennox. Take Me To Church is a critique of oppressive institutions and directly addresses gay discrimination in Russia. To this I say....AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!
Working side-by-side, these two anomalies (as in abnormally talented individuals), Annie Lennox and Hozier have succeeded in Putting A Spell on the Grammys as well as every one of us fortunate enough to have witnessed their epic performance.
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| GRAMMY AWARD |
IMPORTANT AWARDS
If I were to give out Grammy awards for the most important performance of the evening, non-music related, one would go to President Obama for his critical pre-filmed message when he urged all of us to join the campaign against domestic violence. The second award would be handed to Brooke Axtell, a survivor of domestic violence, who brilliantly related her personal journey of abuse by the man she loved and married. It chilled me to the bone.....and, I honor her for helping to open-up our eyes to this horrific charade into a dark world of pain and deceit.
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| 'THE KISS' BY AUGUSTE RODIN |
THE KISS
"I love this room! It is so amazing!"
"It's really nice. I'm going to check-out the bathroom. Oh, a bit small, but it's neat and clean."
"Oh, look, look, look..... I have to wedge myself up next to the bed, but, there. Now I can swing open the window. Funny, it's a step-up onto the window ledge. I can do this."
"Be careful. Is there room for two out there?"
"Barely! You can try it, but it's kind of tight. Listen to that. I am so happy to have gotten a room on the street-side rather than the inside courtyard. Aren't you? Even if the balcony is tiny."
"Made it. Wow! Look at that wrought iron grill! It is nice out here."
"I know. We can hear the traffic of Paris and listen to the people passing by down below. The hustle and bustle of life."
"Can't quite see the Eiffel Tower though."
"They said that the École Militaire would just block our view."
"Say, I have an idea. How tired are you right now? I know it's late, but we could find a café and grab a bite to eat and then walk by la Tour Eiffel, cross over the Seine and be at l'Arc de Triomphe in about a thirty minute stroll."
"It's already eleven o'clock at night, Paris time...."
"Well, it was only a th......"
"I didn't say no. Just analyzing the situation. I think it sounds perfect! Should we unpack first or just go?"
"We'll have plenty of time to unpack later.....even in the morning before breakfast. Personally, I am starving!"
"Me, too. That was quite the long cab ride from the Charles de Gaulle!"
"The cabby was fun though. He told some great stories, didn't he?"
"Hope I can remember some of them to jot down tomorrow."
"We have a date with Auguste Rodin bright and early in the morning remember? The Thinker up close and personal....amazing!"
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| PARIS SUNRISE |
"And, The Kiss and his studio..... Let me shut the window. Oh, it's so beautiful out there! I want to get up early enough in the morning to stand out on the balcony and take some photos....maybe as the sun is rising. If I time it just right, it might be shining through that beautiful iron grill."
"Come here first. There's something I've wanted to do since we got back to Paris. Rodin had the right idea about that kiss....."
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!Copyright © 2015 By Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved
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