“Cogito ergo sum.”

René Descartes. Born March 31, 1596, La Haye. Died February 11, 1650, Stockholm.

Revelation of the day: Descartes was a lawyer (Poitiers, Class of 1616).

“Now that I have once, in some measure, made proof of the opinions of men regarding my work, I again undertake to treat of God and the human soul, and at the same time to discuss the principles of the entire First Philosophy, without, however, expecting any commendation from the crowd of my endeavors, or a wide circle of readers.”

Scratchpost (an occasional diary): Operatic Millinery

Weekend Update: Got tickets to Das Rheingold at the Met.
Delighted to make NYC visit to see the first portion of The Ring.

Highlight of the performance (offstage): Several very senior ladies in the audience, who arrived at the opera house a la Brunnhilde. Sporting golden helmets with great big horns on each side.

What a hoot!
Love the ladies who take their Wagner with such whimsy.

"If any of you are secret poets, the best way to break into print is to run for the presidency"

COURAGE AFTER SIXTY
by Eugene McCarthy, born March 29, 1916 Watkins, Minnesota. Died December10, 2005, Washington D.C.

Now it is certain.
There is no magic stone.
No secret to be found.
One must go
With the mind's winnowed learning.
No more than the child's handhold
On the willows bending over the lake,
On the sumac roots at the cliff edge.
Ignorance is checked,
Betrayals scratched.
The coat has been hung on the peg,
The cigar laid on the table edge,
The cue chosen and chalked,
The balls set for the final break.
All cards drawn,
All bets called.
The dice, warm as blood in the hand,
Shaken for the last cast.
The glove has been thrown to the ground,
The last choice of weapons made.

“I had a job with a pompous-sounding title . . ."

“I had a job with a pompous-sounding title, a modest salary, duties as a plagiarist, and flexible working hours. …. My editorial staff was limited to Pascual, a youngster who slicked down his hair with quantities of brilliantine and loved catastrophes.”

from Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa, born March 28, 1936

"I will build a cloud-castle. It shall shine all over the North. "

"I will build a cloud-castle.
It shall shine all over the North.
It shall have two wings: one little and one great.
The great wing shall shelter a deathless poet;
the little wing shall serve as a young girl's bower."

from “Building Plans” –a poem by Henrik Ibsen (published in 1858, about 35 years before he created The Master Builder)

Henrik Ibsen, March 27, 1828 – May 23, 1906

"I know myself, but that is all"

. . . from This Side of Paradise, by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, published March 26, 1920 Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York




"... Well this side of Paradise!...
There's little comfort in the wise."
--Rupert Brooke

"The sun was a huge red ball like an elevated Host"

“The sun was a huge red ball like an elevated Host drenched in blood and when it sank out of sight, it left a line in the sky like a red clay road hanging over the trees.”
from “A Temple of the Holy Ghost” by Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25 1925 – August 3 1964