Stacy Horn

My oldest and dearest friend has suffered the worst loss anyone can. I don’t want to go into detail because I’m not sure how much she would want me to say. I looked around for a poem and considered a few and the first one I thought of seemed best. It’s the only one that truly states just how bad loss can be.

Stop all the clocks

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden

And this chorus is for both Chris and Tim. It is the In Paradisum section of the Faure Requiem. It is my prayer for Tim’s safe passage. The words translate to:

May Angels lead you into paradise;
may the Martyrs receive you at your coming
and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.
May a choir of Angels receive you,
and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.

But first something to make your day. It’s snippets of people caught on those cars cams that everyone has in Russia. God, I wish we had those here. I’d love what gets caught on them. In this case people are caught doing something good.

As a future little old lady I need to know what is up with old ladies and crossing streets? Why do they need help? Is it a sight issue? Either vision loss or depth of field? A dementia issue, perhaps? Why do they need help?? They look perfectly mobile. I don’t understand.

Now to my Alice in Wonderland quests. For my entire life I’ve been singing a few lines from a song I heard once when I was a child. Once! It was from a movie version of Alice in Wonderland, and singing the only two lines I remember and humming the rest has always made me happy. Finding this movie one of the first things I thought of when the internet finally started to catch on, and when IMDB was founded. I had faith that someday it would show up, or information about it, and I would finally be able to hear the song again, and also learn the rest of the words. I searched for it every few years or so. Last night, I found it.

But I need your help. I can’t understand some of the words. My problems start the second time she sings “I’m upside down, I’m downside up.” Then, “At last I’m having my way, the rules for what I ought and [ought to] are unimportant today. Life was slow when low was low and high was always high. Till I found the roof on the ground, a [something] in the sky. I’m upside down, I’m downside up, as far as I can foresee, this most incredible, [un-incredible] wonderland will be, upside down like you and me.”

I’m not sure about the words in the square brackets, and in one case I have no guesses at all. Please listen and see if you can discern them better than I! Also, thank you Sol Kaplan and Edward Eliscu. They wrote the music and lyrics. I wish I had found this song sooner. Sol and Edward died in 1990 and 1998. I could have sent them fan letters. Oh, I see someone named Henry Myers is credited as well. He was a writer so he must have contributed to the lyrics. Thank you Henry Myers.

The second half of my quest involves another Alice in Wonderland movie version. This one is going to be harder because I only remember a few seconds, but it was a few seconds that so captivated me I’ve been wanting to see them again ever since. For those who have actually read the books, there’s one where Alice follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole and one where she goes through a looking-glass. This movie version was made from the looking-glass story. Alice is playing with a small white kitten when a playing card come to life on a table. They talk a little, and then Alice goes through the looking-glass (aka mirror). I saw it around 1963, so it had to have been made before then.

How do you address it? I’m taking a mental health day. I’m going to practice for our concert next week (singing is always mood-improving) and then I’m going out to buy myself flowers and see Iron Man 3. So there, sad mood. Take that.

A very tiny car. I don’t think you can really tell just how tiny from this picture. Me and the cop were both like, “Holy shit, that’s a tiny car.” Then, “How can I get one??”

While I was swimming, One World Trade Center became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. I just took a picture and compared it to the one I took yesterday. Yes, one piece of spire has been added to what was there yesterday.

American Idol: I’ve been fast forwarding through Mariah Carey for weeks now. I’m sure she’s a perfectly nice person, but JFC she goes on and on and on and on without saying a meaningful thing. Make Harry Connick, Jr a judge (“She’s mean she’s a thief.” God, I love him.)

Bones: I don’t watch tv to feel unhappy. I know you want to explore story lines with depth and emotion, but frankly, I can’t take it. I accept that this is my problem though. What isn’t my problem is my rejection of the character Pelant. I’ve said this so many times, but evil genius murderers are so rare as to be borderline non-existent. I accept that some people think they make great tv, but Pelant is beyond the pale. You’ve given him super powers to the point of utter ridiculousness, AND you’re repeating yourselves: Gormogon and the Gravedigger (I found those two less egregious however, and the Gormogon thread was mostly fun until it cost us Zack). I still love Bones. Must be said. And more realistic murderers would not fit this show, they’d be actually even more depressing in their way. I wonder if you’d be willing to address domestic terrorism perhaps? Criminal enterprise murders (but not mob murders, enough already there), family and mental illness, serial killers who join the military?

Project Runaway: Can’t wait for the fireworks tonight! I hope those teasers weren’t fake-outs.

Apparently I never tire of taking pictures of shoes.