Thursday, November 23, 2006

beethoven quote

He would say to the face of a prince and benefactor,
"What you are, is by accident of birth;
What I am, I created myself.
There are, and have been, thousands, of princes;
There is only one Beethoven."

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Next Week

I fly to Israel on a press trip on Monday--to write an article about touring Israel--I don't know Israel well, even though I've been there twice on other press trips--I don't know the language or the currency or the geography--fortunately, I'll be with a group--

But I'll write a good story--not a PR story--though I doubt anything so exciting will happen as when I fell into the Jordan River on a previous trip=-

I'm so compulsive that I wrote columns for the week I'm away--for Tuesday, Friday, Sunday, and the next Tuesday--I return that Tuesday, but Wednesday I'm on a grand jury--I'll have to write my Friday and Sunday columns on Thursday and Friday--I hope I have ideas!...

...

At the Hobbyists meeting, I told a joke --as usual-- but it was an anti-Democratic, anti-journalist joke. Ir was funny, and much funnier than if it had been turned around--and been anti-Republican, anti-Fox News. I wonder why. The audience, Ridgewood Republicans, lapped it up--

...

Friday, November 03, 2006

Styron

I believe that I have a letter from Styron, complaining that he didn't receive a booklet he was supposed to get for subscribing to Fact magazine. The booklet was about circumcision. I have letters from Stravinsky, complaining about the inaccuracy of Time magazine; T.S. Eliot, regretting that some of his poetry seems antisemitic....

Going to Israel on a press trip on Monday, for 8 days. With several journalists from Jewish publications. I'm a little intimidated. They know Hebrew, they know Israel. Unlike me. They are probably religious; I'm secular. But by this time, I have probably learned how to write....

I should write about the time I left the Bergen Record. "Now it can be told."...

This weekend I have three articles to write! When I write hastily, alas, I make mistakes... One Friday, one Saturday, one Sunday...and pack for my trip next week!...

God, I hope the Republicans get smashed. They deserve it. I'm proud of myself for having mailed in an absentee ballot.... How depressing, two more years of Bush, in any case. Is he the worst US president in history?...

Some of my friends are retired, living by the ocean. But that's not for me. Getting up in the morning, not knowing what I will be doing that day. As I say, I need three compliments before lunch every day. And I'm not going to get them lolling on the beach....