1. At 10:00, Diane, Bill, Colette, Val, and I vaulted into ZOOMworld and for just over two hours talked about Shakespeare's Richard II and that discussion seemed to open the way to swim together in a tributary of the Shakespeare River as talk turned to writing itself, the challenges of writing, and how songs, poems, plays, stories are often understood in ways entirely different from anything the writer had in mind.
This discussion came about, in part, because we had talked some about what a reader or viewer of Richard II is supposed to experience when reading or seeing the play. It's a good question -- and very legitimate analyses of the plays done within the framework of rhetoric or genre explain how the plays create emotional expectations and our responses to the action can be seen in terms of how those expectations are met or frustrated.
But, in our ZOOM discussion, one thing we talked about was how those who produced The Hollow Crown decided to enact the ending. I won't give it away, but I will say that this question came up: "Was I supposed to see Richard as a Christ figure as he was being killed?" My answer went something like this: if you did see it that way -- and the action gave us good reason to see it as similar to Christ's martyrdom -- then it works. I don't think any of us can be sure what the creators of this ending were intending, but we should trust our responses -- especially when they are visceral -- and then raise this question: if Richard's death connects with the crucifixion, why? What in the play is illuminated by his death being portrayed this way?
We also discussed the Richard's spiritual awakening, but agreed that it wasn't inevitable. We could cite any number of leaders who, having lost everything, were not refined by their suffering but were hardened by it, some even plunging deeper into denial, delusion, and feeling victimized, eschewing rather than embracing suffering as a means to self-examination, a reckoning with oneself, and as a possible path to insight and wisdom.
Today I felt especially gratified that our study group had spent so much time earlier in the year discussing the genre of comedy. When I was a young person first teaching Shakespeare, I mistakenly thought that suffering was the key to self-reckoning, to the gaining of wisdom. I still think suffering can be a source of awakening, but I no longer inflate its importance as I once did and have come to see how love, reconciliation, forgiveness, mirth, laughter, jolliness, being bonded with others in relationships and in community, and the other foundational experiences of comedy also are significant sources of wisdom and insight.
2. Back in May, I made a batch of homemade baked beans for our picnic style family dinner with Cathy, Dave, and April Vergobbi and Dave's wife and daughter and April's husband.
I had a quart left over and froze them and while I was at the Wildhorse Casino, Debbie thawed them out and today I warmed up a bowl of them. They are really delicious. It was fun to eat them and have that family dinner at Carol and Paul's return so vividly in my memory.
3. I don't know how many times tonight I thought the Braves were surely going to lose Game 2 of the NLCS to the Dodgers. But both times the Braves fell behind, they clawed back to tie. It was especially thrilling when they came back from a 4-2 deficit on the strength of daring and aggressive base running by Eddie Rosario and Ozzie Albies and a huge clutch laser to the center field wall by Austin Riley. In the bottom of ninth, Eddie Rosario matched his stunning base running exploits with a smashed line drive that ate up Corey Seager and drove in Dansby Swanson, giving Atlanta a 5-4 win, making it two straight nights that the Braves beat the Dodgers on walk-off knocks.
The series resumes on Tuesday in Dodger Stadium. Can the ageless Charlie Morton craft another superb outing for Atlanta? How deep into the game can Walker Buehler chuck for the Dodgers -- deep enough to give the Dodgers' relief pitchers some rest? We'll see, but one thing is for certain: it's nearly mandatory that the Dodgers win Game 3, or their chances of winning this series will have nearly vanished.
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