Retired ballerinas on winter afternoonswalking their dogsin Central Park West(or their cats on leashes—the cats themselves old highwire artists)”
Retired Ballerinas by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in These Are My Rivers
The Lost Generation by Blackbird
“I thought of Miss Stein and Sherwood Anderson and egotism and mental laziness versus discipline and I thought who is calling who a lost generation?” A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.” A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
Martha Gellhorn: War Correspondent, Fiction Writer, and Ernest Hemingway’s third wife.
I’m in the middle of reading Martha Gellhorn’s The Weather In Africa and Caroline Moorehead’s Martha Gellhorn: A Life. I do that a lot: read a writer’s work and a biography (if available) on her at the same time. I find it both gratifying and enlightening to immerse myself in the times, places, mind, and opus all at once. I’ve done it since junior high school days when, especially during the the summer, I’d read one writer exclusively and did not allow myself to start on another until I was done with the first. So I had my Steinbeck summer, my Betty Smith summer, my Pearl Buck summer and so on.
Gellhorn, Hemingway’s third wife and married to him from 1940 -1945, was an intrepid war correspondent and a fiction writer. Her work as a correspondent makes her far more than a footnote in Hemingway’s life. As a fiction writer, she was inspired by Hemingway and, at the same time, had to separate herself from him. Some say her fiction is best forgotten, but I find myself engaged.I will take the time to read more; and, at this point, feel safe to recommend The Weather in Africa. The Moorehead biography of Gellhorn is enjoyable. I have some reservations though. Moorehead knew Gellhorn personally and her biases are evident.
I’m up to the part of the bio where Gellhorn becomes involved with Hemingway, which makes me long for Hemingway’s Paris and “the lost generation:” Hence I did a little video search – just love that YouTube – the result of which I share with you above. Perhaps when I’m done with Gellhorn, I’ll start over again with Hemingway.
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It occurs to me that my next cataract surgery is Tuesday, March 3. If the second surgery is anything like the first I could probably take a page out of the lost generation cookbook and have an Alice B. Toklas Brownie (wheat-and-gluten free, of course) or one of Harry’s Bellini cocktails, made famous by Hemingway.
The Bellini was created by Giuseppe Cipriani.It’s an official cocktail of the International Bartenders’ Association. So, hey, turn the news off, toss out the paper, and take a little vacation from world weary woes. Pick up a copy of A Moveable Feast or The Weather in Africa, make yourself a Bellini, put your feet up and relax.
Bellini Cocktail
2 parts Prosseco (sparkling wine)
1 part white-peach puree
Pour the puree into a chilled champagne flute. Add the Prosseco. Gently stir.
February 5, 2009: Thanks to Edward Snyder for passing along the link to the Arthur Moss website, which includes a Gallery of Lost Generation pictures presented by Mr. Snyder.
Mr. Snyder’s Lost Generation Gallery Video
Public Domain Photograph from PD Photo.org
Without passing judgment, and in a spirit of love and hospitality, Loaves & Fishes feeds the hungry and shelters the homeless. We provide an oasis of welcome, safety, and cleanliness for homeless men, women and children seeking survival services. Loaves and Fishes, Sacramento, CA
Watch the Oprah Show at 4 PM this Wednesday, February 25! It’s about the recession and homelessness and was filmed at Loaves & Fishes, Sacramento homeless shelters and Sacramento’s Tent City. They also filmed in other cities to show this is a national problem.
The Oprah Winfrey Show asked Loaves & Fishes if they could interview one of the homeless mothers at Maryhouse. Favor Whitesides, a very devoted mother of three bright and beautiful children, agreed to share her story. Oprah Correspondent, Lisa Ling, and two of the sisters also visited the large tent city in Sacramento, where there are over 100 tents spread across several acres and as far as the eye can see. More than 200 people live in Sacramento’s tent city, presenting a scene that appears straight out of the Great Depression. When the film crew was asked if they had seen anything like it anywhere else, the sound man replied, “Only in a war zone.”
Clearly the problems that face folks in Sacramento are not much different from those faced in other cities around the country. Please watch the Oprah show, do what you can to help locally . . . and donate.
Thanks to Marion Hakata and Steven C. for the heads-up on this TV special.
