Theater. I start with this because the month started with it — and ended with it.
On October 1, I went to the Huntington Theatre [
sic] production of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." My brother joined me because I made the mistake of mentioning that I wanted to go, and he invited himself to come along. I don't know if he thinks every time I say I'm planning to buy a ticket it's an invitation to him, or if he's just pushy. Oh well, it didn't ruin the evening for me.
The lead actor was Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theo on "The Cosby Show." It was nicely performed; and since I never saw the movie, it also gave some questions to ponder. Do we rationalize our prejudices? Do we cooperate in, or at least accept as inevitable, out oppression. How easy is it for us to misjudge the motives of others? How far have we moved beyond the racism of 50 years ago?
October 17 saw me attending Arts Emerson's presentation of a performance of Shakespeare's "King Lear" by a touring cast from Shakespeare's Globe in London (England). The accents sometimes got in the way of catching every word, especially when they shouted (but it was fun to notice that Gloucester used a different accent from the others). Since most of the actors played several roles, it was sometimes difficult to tell who was which character. But the general action was clear enough. I was surprised to realize that the wickedness of Regan and Goneril seems unmotivated, but on further thought, I guess Shakespeare didn't share the Enlightenment notion that people are naturally good, and so need a motive to do evil.
A week later, it was back to Arts Emerson for a South African take on Mozart's "The Magic Flute," with the orchestra replaced by marimbas. The Tamino was good-looking, the Queen of the Night dispatched the "Revenge" aria with ease (maybe transposed down a notch or two), and a good time was had by all, myself included; but it wasn't as good as a normal performance in an opera house.
On Hallowe'en I escaped trick-or-treaters and bookended the month with another Huntington Theatre [
sic] show, "Ether Dome," about the discovery of general anæsthesia. It was a fascinating story of how a Hartford dentist realized that nitrous oxide (laughing gas blocked pain during surgery), but his demonstration at Mass General Hospital failed. Then his former assistant learned that sulphuric ether also worked and gave a successful demonstration. Reviewers suggested that the play was too complex to follow, but I didn't find it so. It was a fine introduction to some history about which all I had known was that the first demonstration of ether as a general anæsthetic had occurred at MGH in the mid 19th Century.
Symphony. I attended four Boston Symphony concerts — on the 2nd, 21st, 23rd, and 30th of the month. You can read about them on
my music blog. I was originally scheduled for the 16th, but exchanged for the 21st (same program) so I could join a dinner group at the yacht club. As for the music, I'll add to what's on the music blog that I found "The Miraculous Mandarin" on the 2nd an appropriately moody piece — one I wasn't very familiar with — the "German Requiem" on the 23rd very stirring, and the Schubert symphony on the 30th very satisfactorily performedÚ it's a piece I like but quite long, but it never got boring in this performance.
Etc. At
church we had a seminary professor deliver a series of four talks about St. Paul, his life, work, and letters. They took place on the Wednesday evenings from the 8th through the 29th. This professor has given series on other biblical topics twice a year for several years. He knows his material very well and can express it clearly and answer questions completely, so the talks are always worthwhile.
The pastor of my parish has a number of people who bring Holy Communion on a regular basis to homebound members of the parish (as well as doing a lot himself). He asked me to take over for him with one man who lives near me. The man and his wife are originally from Ontario, but they've lived here for maybe 30 years. He's Catholic and she isn't. This is the first time he's asked me to do this, so I'm pleased to be included in that aspect of ministry. OTOH, I'm not very good at small talk, but I want to make the visits more than just walking in, giving Communion, and walking back out. Hopefully I'll get more comfortable with them as I get to know them better.
I attended a "Convocation" on social justice on Saturday the 25th. The keynote speaker gave a good talk about the place of teachings about social justice within the life of the Church. That was followed by a couple of panel discussions, also good. A highlight was when someone commented from the floor that some of her son's friends were kicked out of their homes when their parents learned that they were involved with a gang. his woman took them in and gave them guidance, and all but one or two managed to avoid trouble with the law and become law-abiding adults.
On Sunday the 12th my brother and I went to the opening concert of the
Handel and Haydn Society's 150th season. They called it "Baroque Fireworks," and, as the title suggests, it was all pretty lively — nothing very serious, but it was all fun listening. Here's another example of my brother inviting himself. I had been going to H&H concerts for a couple of years and at some point (maybe in one of the weekly calls from our kid brother in Tokyo) I mentioned that I was attending them. He said he'd like to join me, and I didn't have the heartlessness to tell him I'd rather go by myself. Again, as with the play, it's not awful having him join me, but I do like being free: either going by myself or choosing my companion. No doubt I'd feel differently if we were better friends. When I was a pre-teen I was always happy to be with him.
It was my team's turn to
cook for the soup kitchen on the 27th. Each member prepares three three-pound meatloaves, bakes eighteen potatoes, and supplies three bags of frozen corn. We drop them off at the home of the woman who coordinates our team, and she brings them to the soup kitchen. We do this on the fourth Monday of the even-numbered months.
My
table reading* since the end of August was
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, by Eric Metaxas. I finished it on October 30 (or more likely in the early hours of the 31st). It's a well written and quite complete account of the life of the pastor who wrote
The Cost of Discipleship, coined or popularized the term "cheap grace," opposed Nazism, was peripherally involved in the plot(s) to kill Hitler, and was executed a few weeks before the defeat of Germany in WWII. It seems I'm doing a trilogy on the Nazi era. My next book was
The Shadow of His Wings, by Gereon Goldmann, and now I've begun Jan Karski's
Story of a Secret State. I'll have something to say about those two books when I report on November.
The depressed guy I mentioned in the post about September didn't choose to join me at any of the theatrical or symphony events. But on Nov. 11, he called because I had added another event happening this Friday. We talked for a while, and there are some groups he's involved in, so it seems he's managing to keep active despite the depression. He did say that he'd continue to consider the events I mentioned to him.
I guess that about covers the stuff that's worth mentioning. There were a few days when it was warm and humid enough to go naked for extended periods. As the drier air of winter comes along, it becomes less comfortable to be clothes-free, and I'm generally clothed from the time I get dressed to go to Mass until I got to bed.
* "Table reading" is reading a book when I am having dinner alone at home. The books for table reading are generally a bit more serious than my restaurant books. In the restaurant, you read before the first item arrives at your table and between courses, so you have to be able to break off whenever the waiter delivers something. At home, there is no time between courses: you take some food, read for a while, repeat. So you can keep going as long as you want in order to let the author make a point.
