Normal Is Nice

Little Miss at the Guthrie

Toward the end of the last school year, Little Miss did a project on how the events of 9/11 have impacted our daily lives. To practice her presentation, she did it for me and I was impressed with the depth and organization of her work. This is pretty much typical her. At the end of her talk, I reminded Little Miss that 9/11 isn't abstract for our family. Two of my cousins died in the North Tower, Arthur and Kenny...father and son. I had a friend on AA 11 that crashed into that same North Tower. That the Cantor of Cantor Fitzgerald was my dad's first cousin, Bernie, and she is named for his mother, our very beloved great-aunt. Thank G-d they did not live to see this. And we talked about my working for the corporate travel division of Carlson Wagonlit Travel and how we had to handle the closed air space and stranded travelers. 

A few days after the conversation, I saw that the Guthrie was doing COME FROM AWAY...the musical about the passengers stranded in Gander. I asked if she wanted to go and Little Miss jumped at the chance. So I set the wheels in motion and found excellent seats at a Sunday matinee right after she got home from camp.

I was determined to make her first visit to the Guthrie a memorable.  I even booked us a table for brunch at Indigena by Owamni which is attached to the theater. This gave us a chance to catch up on many things, and to experience Native American cuisine. Let me just say we ordered a bunch of small plates so we could taste lots of very different things. I saw crickets were on the menu...but alas, crickets are not a kosher insect. If we had to pick our favorite, it would be the Marichou....a corn salad that was outrageously wonderful...and Tepary Bean and Smoked Whitefish. I will admit, she picked all the plates and she was the one who did the ordering. I just sat there and grinned. The conversation never lagged, and got a great dose of her thought process. She is a delightful brunch companion. 

Once we headed up that very long, steep escalator to the theaters (there are actually 2 up there, a proscenium and a thrust) we took a walk out onto the endless bridge and she talked about how Minneapolis was a "flour town" highlighted by the huge GOLD MEDAL FLOUR sign on the west bank of the Mississippi and the PILLSBURY'S BEST FLOUR sign east bank. She was happy to fill me in on the history of the city since, as she mimicked, I live in Saint Pawl. She also teases me about how I say cawfee. She is merciless and I love it.

Shortly after we dissected the differences between a/ proscenium and a thrust stage, we went into the proscenium theater to take our seats. I had told her about working on a show at the old Guthrie and how Di and Jann had been stage managers there. We discussed the merits of the program and what a director actually does...and they wear so many hats that you need a whole staff to get a show up and running. 

COME FROM AWAY

Then the questions about Gander started. I could talk about Gander and what happened in the hours after the planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As someone who worked with business travelers, we were suddenly dealing with stranded clients all over the globe, made even more terrifying because I had family and very close friends who worked in and around the twin towers. I tried to give her some context for the world as it was the morning of 9/11 and how it collapsed with the crashes. I hadn't anticipated the depth of her questions, but thrilled she was asking them. 

Once the play began, we were both entranced and enthralled. It is a wonderful show. There were moments I got a bit teary-eyed and I got a sympathetic pat each time I sniveled. At the end, we cheered! We clapped and stomped with the band! In short we loved it. While this was not the first play we attended together, I think it will be the most memorable; I wasn't with a kid at a play...I was with a poised, lovely young lady...who just happens to be my granddaughter.

And in case your wondering why I'm giving you a detailed evaluation of my time with Little Miss...it's because I needed to write about something normal,  something not filled with hate or loathing. Something to remind me that there is space for humanity in our world. COME FROM AWAY reminds us that kindness can exist in the face of crisis, and not everything requires vitriol and hate. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

I just have a question I keep turning over and over: how crazy/deranged/unstable does a president have to be before some part of the government attempts to pull the plug...figuratively or literally?  

Some tidbits from today: 

But I do want to give them every last chance before decapitation. Very tough to do what we have planned, still planned. We'll see what happens. I'm very proud of the fact that I'll give people a chance. This is a big move to do an attack that big on a country. Hopefully they'll come to their senses...So they called me, and they said, 'Please don't attack. We'll make a deal.' That's the real truth. And everyone knows it. 

Except, perhaps, Iran. They insist there are no new negotiations with the US and they are in conversations about Hormuz with Oman. 

Then, of course, there's the Truth Social version:

Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous! They ask for a meeting, some would say 'beg,' talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they're not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about, and they're only dealing with 'Oman.'

Nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished. Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades. It is very simple, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!"

Since the Iranian thing has started, President Felon has insisted over 40 time he has won this war. What part of delusional isn't this country getting? 

I really have my doubts about the midterms. Will they happen at all? Will areas that poll away from the Maga-machine have their ballot boxes taken away from "examination?" The bottom line is that I have no confidence that the elections, even if they happen, will be untampered.

And apparently, I'm not alone. Overheard in the fruit section (next to the Italian plums... huzzah) at Cub in West Saint Pawl, two ladies appearing to be significantly older than me:

Lady #1: You know that tangerine is gonna try to rig the vote, right? 

Lady #2: Screw that. I’m worried he’s gonna force a 3^rd term and declare himself dictator.

Lady #1: Like he already hasn’t?

I felt, for a moment, infinitely less crazy.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Whenever possible, discreetly listen to little old ladies 

talking politics at the grocery store.

They are the most reliable source for what your district is really thinking.