Recently, my sister and brother-in-law took me out to dinner at a restaurant adjacent to the venerable San Marcos resort in downtown Chandler. That resort has been around for a century, pretty much the whole time that Arizona has been a state. It boasts the state’s oldest golf course, and at night it reminds me of the kind of place Humphrey Bogart might turn up.
I love it.
It could be a great place to stay sometime because it would be a perfect place for me to write.
Writing as a profession (or a hobby) is a moveable feast, of course, in the sense you can more or less do it anywhere. But I suspect what Hemingway meant by naming his memoir “A Moveable Feast” was slightly different — that the memory of a certain place or time can travel with you throughout the rest of your life.
For him that key place initially was Paris in the 1920s when he was still a struggling writer. Other places — most memorably Africa, Cuba, the Keys — came later. for him
For most people, multiple spots will need to be good for writing, too, because we move around so much. Hopefully, your main spot is somewhere you can go most every day, because writing simply must be done every single day — no exceptions — if you want to be great.
Anyway, I’m no longer in Chandler but I *am* writing daily, so where I’m doing that is relevant. My airy, sky-blue room with its view of an old wooden fence, some vines and trees, the occasional hummingbird or squirrel, a swath of open sky and a few distant houses up the hill may not be as romantic as that old resort in Chandler, but it *is* home, for now.
And at least according to Dorothy, there’s no place like home.
Anyway, before getting distracted by Bogart and Hemingway, I was going to return to an insight I had with my sisters in Arizona during our reunion last week. And there will be a point to this rambling, I promise.
First off, my three sisters and I span 19 years in age; I’m the second-oldest and the only male. I’ve always been grateful that I didn’t have any brothers and I’ll tell you why.
Boys can be so mean! Girls can be mean too but in a different way — one I’m more comfortable with. Plus they usually don’t intimidate you physically.
Our family used to go to a certain aunt and uncle’s house for Thanksgiving at Oxbow Lake in Michigan. The lake was frozen at that time of year, as is my memory of that place and time.
I dreaded those large family gatherings for a simple reason — I had to spend time with an awful group of cousins, all boys, all brothers, mostly mean and cruel. They would gang up on one another in various vicious ways, which I hated to witness.
None of this was particularly personal, as they normally didn’t gang up on me. I suppose as a shy, skinny, cerebral kid with glasses, I was more or less irrelevant to their ongoing, self-destructive macho dramas. I was simply a bystander, a witness.
The uncle who hosted these frightful events, Uncle Jack, eventually got cancer and started to waste away right before my eyes. He just got smaller and smaller every time we visited.
Meanwhile my cousins only got bigger and fatter and meaner like a pack of hungry wolves. The youngest among them, a guy named Tommy, grew so tired of being bullied constantly by his brothers that one Thanksgiving he decided to pick on poor old Uncle Jack, who had shrunk to roughly his size.
My vivid memory is of Tommy pushing Jack in the chest, challenging him to a duel. The old man thrust his chin out in defiance, but fell back, holding his wasted body up against a work table until Tommy backed off.
Jack was dying and way too weak to take on Tommy, who was about ten but big for his age, so he retreated to the card table with the other men, smoking and drinking and telling the old stories that I just loved to listen in on.
Jack died not very long after that confrontation and our family stopped going there on Thanksgiving. Blessedly.
So maybe that’s one example of what Hemingway meant about his moveable feast. I’m still tasting the memory, including its bitter aftertaste, some sixty years later.
So I promised I had a point and here it is. I’ve never written about the Oxbow Lake incident involving Tommy and Jack before. It only came up when my sisters and I discussed our shared (yet different) memories of the time we spent out there.
That in turn birthed the idea that we all should maintain “joint custody” of certain events with the others who were there. We need to tell each other these stories — that’s my point.
And if you’re a journalist you might say I buried the lede.
Today’s News (60):
Russia claims it will curb attacks around Kyiv; Ukraine calls for security guarantee in latest talks (CNBC)
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Turkey for the first face-to-face talks in nearly three weeks, with Ukraine seeking a ceasefire without compromising on territory or sovereignty as its forces have pushed Russians back from Kyiv. (Reuters)
Ukraine Proposes Neutral Status, Security Ties at Talks (WSJ)
Russian negotiator: De-escalation around Kyiv and Chernihiv "is not a ceasefire" (CNN)
How Ukraine’s Internet is still working despite Russian bombs and cyberattacks (WP)
Russia says it has 'drastically' reduced military activity near Kyiv; face-to-face talks begin in Turkey (USA Today)
Kyiv, Moscow meet for peace talks but have different goals (WP)
Nearly 5,000 people, including about 210 children, have been killed in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupolsince Russian forces laid siege to it, a spokesperson for the mayor said. (Reuters)
US intel assess ‘major’ strategy shift by Russia as it moves some forces away from Kyiv (CNN)
Ukraine claws back territory in country’s north ahead of talks in Istanbul (WP)
Ukraine Claims Some Battle Successes as Russia Focuses on Another Front (NYT)
Russia’s been hit by a financial Cold War (WP)
Unprotected Russian soldiers disturbed radioactive dust in Chernobyl's 'Red Forest', workers say (Reuters)
After Russian forces pull back, a shattered town breathes (AP)
Germany, urged to ‘stop Putin’s war machine,’ resists Russian energy embargo (WP)
Europeans expel dozens of Russian envoys to combat espionage (AP)
A retro computer museum in Mariupol beloved by children was attacked by Russia (NPR)
‘I Make No Apologies’: Biden Says His Putin Comments Were an Expression of Moral Outrage (NYT)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson offered a warning on Monday about the repercussions of removing Russian President Vladimir Putin from power, and suggested that Islamic extremists would somehow get hold of the country’s nuclear weapons and use them on Americans. (HuffPost)
As Trade With Russia Halts, Countries Turn to Canada — Canada produces many of the same commodities as Russia, such as oil, nickel, wheat and potash, and countries are lining up to broker deals. (WSJ)
A video shows Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine being beaten and shot in their legs. (NYT)
Kyiv will investigate video that appears to show Ukrainian forces shooting Russian prisoners of war (WP)
What I Heard From Passengers on the Last Train Out of Russia (Politico)
UK: Private Russian military company deployed to eastern Ukraine (NHK)
U.S. sanctions against Russia should hasten a move by some countries to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar, which could also soften demand for Treasuries just as the Federal Reserve, the largest holder of U.S. debt, looks to cut its bond holdings. (Reuters)
Taiwan Looks to Ukraine War for Ideas to Defend Against China (WSJ)
The Taliban have issued a flurry of repressive edicts over the past days that hark to their harsh rule in Afghanistan from the late 1990s. The latest assault on women’s rights came earlier this month, when the all-male and religiously driven Taliban government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after the sixth grade. [AP]
Thousands of Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. Will America let them stay? (WP)
China to host conference on Afghanistan, with Russia's Lavrov slated to attend (NHK)
Afghans Get Help Resettling in U.S. From an Earlier Generation of Refugees (WSJ)
Trump Phone Logs From Jan. 6 Have a Mysterious Seven-Hour Gap, Says Report (Daily Beast)
What Trump Is Hiding — Seven hours and 37 minutes of missing phone records on January 6 suggest consciousness of guilt. (Atlantic)
Trump calls on Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden (Politico)
Ocasio-Cortez to Clarence Thomas: Resign or face impeachment (The Hill)
Impeach Thomas? House Dems can go there, but most won’t. (Politico)
Biden’s $5.8 Trillion Budget Pivots Toward Economic and Security Concerns (NYT)
VIDEO: Israel Hosts Historic Summit with the U.S. and Four Arab Nations (AP)
A sub-variant of the highly transmissible Omicron version of coronavirus known as BA.2 is now dominant worldwide, prompting surges in many countries in Europe and Asia and raising concern over the potential for a new wave in the United States. Here's what we know about BA.2. (Reuters)
BA.2: What to know about world’s dominant Omicron sub-variant (Al Jazeera)
FDA authorizes a 2nd Covid booster shot for people 50 and older (NBC)
How many COVID booster shots will finally be enough? (American Thinker)
BA.2 now dominant variant in the United States as funding fight continues (Politico)
Free COVID tests and treatments no longer free for uninsured, as funding runs out (NPR)
Clinics, hospitals brace for end of cushion for uninsured covid care (WP)
Two weeks after California lifted its school masking mandate, COVID case counts have stayed low across Bay Area school districts. (SFC)
China’s zero-Covid goal is no longer sustainable (Financial Times)
Matching drugs to DNA is 'new era of medicine' (BBC)
VIDEO: Canadian Indigenous Groups Seeking Apology Meet With Pope (Reuters, AP)
An alleged member of a group of Islamic State militants that beheaded American hostages in Iraq and Syria, nicknamed 'The Beatles' for their British accents, faces a U.S. criminal trial beginning today. (Reuters)
Actor Will Smith apologized to Chris Rock and everyone who witnessed his assault of the comedian at the Oscars. “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive," Smith wrote in an Instagram statement. Rock declined to press charges, but the academy said it has launched a formal review. [HuffPost]
Astronomers may be on the verge of the biggest discovery in decades — a giant, ninth planet may be roaming around the far reaches of the Solar System, and they’re trying to find it. (Inverse)
Pluto’s peaks are ice volcanoes, scientists conclude (Guardian)
Mysterious Death of Carbon-Rich Star Plays Out Like Six-Ring Circus (SciTechDaily)
A Recipe for Climate Disaster — Extreme rain, rising sea levels, and more frequent wildfires are all making landslides more likely. (Atlantic)
A Texas woman says she’s moving her family to California to protect her transgender daughter. (CNN)
Medical historian Ira Rutkow points to physical evidence that suggests Stone Age people conducted — and survived — brain surgery. His new book is Empire of the Scalpel. (NPR)
Resilience of spirit, more than intellect, is the key to life (Madeleine K. Albright/WP)
Man Exiting Store While Alarm Sounds Makes Big Show Of Looking Surprised To Appear Innocent (The Onion)
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