The There There Letter: Urge, Ubiquity, and Utopia

"Cycling Home," by Simon Palmer
It is through art, and through art only, that we can realise our perfection. (Oscar Wilde)
DAH is me, David Anthony Hance.
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First up this week: Urge …
Often, urges feel urgent. There's a surge of need that mayn't abate until the object of need is purged. Words containing "urge" often relate to the pursuit of something with efficiency and speed. But not always. So, slow down and relish your burger. Entering this new year I feel a reduction in my urges. This is not a good thing, in my opinion. Urges, unless they are pointless, can be an essential element of purposefulness. And I do want to feel a sense of purpose. There are enough things I feel interested in, but they don't currently feel very urgent. I expect mental health authorities prescribe calm, and, thus, a minimization or urges. Such dictates inpire insurgency in me. I prefer a life made lively with urges.
Second up this week, Ubiquity …
Everywhere and all at once. Something about the notion appeals to me. Although I don't think I'd actually enjoy the distraction and immediacy. Certainly not all the time. It wouldn't be very relaxing. So, what is it about this notion of universality that appeals? I suppose that there's a kind of relief in knowing that something is omnipresent. Or maybe believing in ubiquity is some sort of fatalism. Either "Oh, how wonderful!" or "Nothing I can do anyway." Ubiquitous optimism and kindness sound pretty swell. DAH's pollyannaism again … yes, I can hear you thinking. Not all the time, don't worry. Your thoughts aren't ubiquitously on my mind. I do endeavor to always think happy things, though.
Third up this week, Utopia …
There was a time, perhaps only a few moments, when I thought we all might be on a road to some sort of utopia. For an occasional few moments when I was young, hopeful, and naive. A utopia with kindness ascendent and cruelty banished. Poor, deluded DAH. I don't mean to be negative, but I'm no longer comfortable with most notions of progress. Certainly, I'm uncomfortable with my personal hopes about utopia. It's clear that others … probably most others … have other ideas about utopia. Nowadays I just wish for more kindness and less cruelty, without imagining that we're on a direct path progressing towards those objectives. Don't be a downer, DAH. It's the beginning of a new calendar year, after all. My resolution: To promote kindness and protest cruelty.
A book about a movie, sort of ...

I did enjoy this book quite a lot. I like the movie, too … "Moon River" and George Peppard's performance, in particular … and trying to ignore the dreadful, offensive turn by Mickey Rooney as Holly Golightly's Japanese neighbor. Those three things are all about the movie, not the Truman Capote book, of course.
"Both Holly and the story's male lead were, at best, cockeyed romantics; both were being paid for their services and neither was a babe in the woods. So this story would be over in a single scene if its plot hinged only on seduction. It had to be about two people who yearned for a new kind of fulfillment, and that made "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" a new kind of romantic comedy, Mr. Wasson says: “Not one about 1950s people who shrink from sex before marriage, but one about modern people who embrace it." (Janet Maslin, New York Times)
And a bit more …
"Hot And Cold" by Roald Dahl
A woman who my mother knows
Came in and took off all her clothes.
Said I, not being very old,
"By golly gosh, you must be cold!"
"No, no!" she cried. "Indeed I'm not!
I'm feeling devilishly hot!"
And that's all for this week.
From Mary Oliver's "Sometimes"
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
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