(no subject)
Well, we are still sick. I took yesterday off and though I'm probably feeling well enough to go back today, John is still barely able to get out of bed, and gets winded walking to the kitchen. I'm not feeling particularly inspired, so I'll stick this here. I'm only a midwesterner by marriage, but I am a shy person, which Mr. Kiellor also professes to be. So I relate to this. Click the link at the bottom to read the whole article, it's really very sweet.
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THE ART OF THE EMBRACE
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By Garrison Keillor
I saw the famous Eisenstadt picture of the V-J Day kiss in Life when I was a boy and thought it was sweet: the girl in the white dress standing, bent back in the arms of the sailor who is planting a hard kiss on her lips, with Times Square and grinning onlookers in the background. And now, in another era, one can look at it and imagine an act of harassment. It is only an embrace, but the woman's body looks stiff, as if this kiss is not her idea and she can't muster up enthusiasm for it; she isn't clinging to the sailor, she's just hoping he doesn't drop her on the pavement.
The picture illustrates the great danger and achievement of an embrace --- to be any good, an embrace must be mutual, and there may be a chasm of uncertainty between the impulse and the deed, even when you hug your wife. Maybe she is still mad from when you came home an hour late ten minutes ago. You hug her and she says, "What's that supposed to mean?" All an embrace means is that you expect to find the one you reach for reaching for you.
My mother told me that, on V-J Day, when news came that the war was over, people were so overjoyed they dashed into the streets and hugged complete strangers, even in Minneapolis where we lived. The thought of that surprised me then and still does. People in the Midwest don't hug that much unless they're Italian. Even in a euphoric moment, swamped by emotion, a true midwesterner would be careful who he threw his arms around. To us, an embrace is too intimate to be conferred on mere acquaintances; it would feel insincere.
In the show business, which I hang out on the periphery of, there are people who embrace anybody they've ever been introduced to. This seems almost as unnatural to me as eating off the floor. I have met people who, after we've talked about this and that, say, "I'd like to give you a hug if that's all right," which strikes me as too weird for words. A hug that has to be announced? But of course the huggee has no choice, though afterward, I'd like to hand them a card that says, "Thank you for hugging me."
From "The Art of the Embrace"
For full article, see:
http://www.prairiehome.org/content/9502_life.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE ART OF THE EMBRACE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Garrison Keillor
I saw the famous Eisenstadt picture of the V-J Day kiss in Life when I was a boy and thought it was sweet: the girl in the white dress standing, bent back in the arms of the sailor who is planting a hard kiss on her lips, with Times Square and grinning onlookers in the background. And now, in another era, one can look at it and imagine an act of harassment. It is only an embrace, but the woman's body looks stiff, as if this kiss is not her idea and she can't muster up enthusiasm for it; she isn't clinging to the sailor, she's just hoping he doesn't drop her on the pavement.
The picture illustrates the great danger and achievement of an embrace --- to be any good, an embrace must be mutual, and there may be a chasm of uncertainty between the impulse and the deed, even when you hug your wife. Maybe she is still mad from when you came home an hour late ten minutes ago. You hug her and she says, "What's that supposed to mean?" All an embrace means is that you expect to find the one you reach for reaching for you.
My mother told me that, on V-J Day, when news came that the war was over, people were so overjoyed they dashed into the streets and hugged complete strangers, even in Minneapolis where we lived. The thought of that surprised me then and still does. People in the Midwest don't hug that much unless they're Italian. Even in a euphoric moment, swamped by emotion, a true midwesterner would be careful who he threw his arms around. To us, an embrace is too intimate to be conferred on mere acquaintances; it would feel insincere.
In the show business, which I hang out on the periphery of, there are people who embrace anybody they've ever been introduced to. This seems almost as unnatural to me as eating off the floor. I have met people who, after we've talked about this and that, say, "I'd like to give you a hug if that's all right," which strikes me as too weird for words. A hug that has to be announced? But of course the huggee has no choice, though afterward, I'd like to hand them a card that says, "Thank you for hugging me."
From "The Art of the Embrace"
For full article, see:
http://www.prairiehome.org/content/9502_life.shtml