4746 – April 28, 2024
In so many ways, the above title elements do not go together. Then again, they do.
The last part of the title is one that has been on my mind for days. It is a piece of extremely pleasant catharsis that, I am sure, is unknown by so many. There are times when you want to erase things in your life and well, this is a cathartic element I recently used. In Google Photos now, and in other apps, mostly purchased, you have “Magic Eraser” which allows you to erase things from a photo. Without getting into any detail, you can remove unpleasant things in your life that happen to be visible in photos. Try it, you will continue to use it, the feeling is so, so pleasant!
Frank Bruni is a columnist for the New York Times and sends out a weekly e-mail to which MK and I subscribe (https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/frank-bruni?campaign_id=93&emc=edit_fb_20240425&instance_id=121519&nl=frank-bruni®i_id=61526980&segment_id=164783&te=1&user_id=862f5ce8e34e5cac4b8db31f4c9faf53). Frank is well known at the Times. He is currently a Contributing Opinion writer, he deals with articles about politics, popular culture, food and gay rights. He is also currently a full time college professor and owns a Border collie mix. We love his philosophy and his liberal and sensible thoughts. We are so happy to have met him at the book signing following his appearance.
Not so long ago, we read or listened to (and listening to his voice is a pleasure) his book, The Beauty of Dusk. Having a favorite family member fall victim to a genetic eye disorder, we found his book uplifting. Frank Bruni, before writing the book had to deal with a personal situation in which he woke up one day with very imperfect vision in one eye. The book is a good read for so many reasons as it reminds all of us to hold back on our judgments of everyone. He talks of perhaps each of us walking around with sandwich board signs with issues that we don’t necessarily comment about. When we meet someone, we don’t know all the particulars of distress and have no way of knowing them. How can we judge someone if we do not walk in their shoes? We cannot and maybe we ought to try and refrain.
Anyway, Frank is a favorite and the Chicago Humanities Festival featured him in the city at the Chicago Historical Museum so we went, purchased his new book, The Art of Grievance, and got it signed after he was interviewed by Eboo Patel, another learned and fascinating man from the Chicago area. He is the founder of Interfaith America and works to promote cooperation between religious groups. It was wonderful. The only rub of the day was the confusion we had in our pre-purchased parking in which we were not really sure if we were in the right place (we were) and ended up in a private parking lot maze, seemingly at the time without exit, that had the same entry. It was yet another lesson in personal humility.
Following the interview in a sold-out auditorium of the Historical Museum, we walked to a restaurant where we met dear Chicago friends for an early meal. They now live in the city and this was the perfect opportunity to get together. The weather was really warm and a surprise of sorts since it had been down to freezing several days ago.
It was a great day…Frank and Eboo discussed the negativity of the current partisanship in our country but really left us with hope that this too shall pass!
Thoughts of a pretired French Teacher 