Recently I had the pleasure of watching Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in the movie theater. It was an absolute gift to visually stroll about upstairs and down along side those wonderful characters who have grown so dear to us the past 15 years. “Lest we worry about too many changes, Julian Fellowes’s script is stuffed with comforting constants: Lady Mary will be indiscreet, Carson the butler will be scandalized, Lord Grantham will find something to be huffy about and the family will face financial ruin” (New York Times). I can’t think of a better week than this one to escape from headlines and our diminishing democracy, even though I must admit more than an escape is needed. It isn’t even shocking to see such stalwart allegiance to the 2nd Amendment in contrast to the broad dismissal of the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution as we become a country that fears a jester’s words more than a lunatic’s firearm. There is no push by this administration to reduce gun violence, only the swift sword curtailing free speech. LBJ was a different guardian of the White House when he shared, “It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow too somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.” Our would-be-king-president reacts differently, by silencing all who don’t echo his mountain of lies. Perhaps, just for today, for your mental health or for a little chuckle, treat yourself to Downton Abbey’s “yummy photography, stunning set pieces and Lady Mary trying on as many fabulous frocks as possible“(New York Times). Of course I hope you read my decade old post first.
Tag Archives: theater
the witch hunt
@realDonaldTrump
“…..the call with the Ukrainian President was a totally appropriate one. As he said, “No Pressure.” This Impeachment nonsense is just a continuation of the Witch Hunt Hoax, which has been going on since before I even got elected. Rupublicans, go with Substance and close it out!” [spelling all his my friends]
Did he cry Witch Hunt? Again? A term he has tweeted close to 300 times like rapid fire at all of us? Of course he did, because if there is one thing this president knows about lies, is the power of repeating them. “Calling himself the victim of a witch hunt allows Trump to label charges against him as not just inaccurate but fundamentally impossible. Witch hunts, by definition, are illegitimate, their victims innocent, their judgments always wrong” (Markham- Cantor). Is there anyone who believes he is innocent? Not even Trump claims that verdict. He boasts his lies like a prankster proclaims laughs.
Having just finished Arthur Miller’s The Crucible with my Advanced Placement English Literature students, who, due to the large number of theater kiddos in the room, read with passion and gusto, it was as if John Proctor and Abigail Williams and the rest of those iconic characters peopled my class. When Abigail, in all her initial seductive coyness said, “A wild thing may say wild things” they predicted that Proctor’s sin of adultery would unravel around him, and that she had indeed “an endless capacity for dissembling”. In Act Three John lets loose his shame, “I have know her, sir. I have known her.” “You–you are a lecher?” The crux of the Salem Witch trials fought over land tracks and false blame and stifling fear all come to a “pointy reckoning” when the innocent hanged “high over the town.” My students were hooked on every word like greedy fair-goers, ready to watch as lies replaced fact and insanity trumped reason.
Nine Cent Girl 