Today Britney Spears filed for divorce. Who can blame her? Everyone but her already seemed to understand that K-Fed projects an aura of greaseball and clown. As Jihad, an ex-brother-in-law of mine (born in Syria and taught English in Detroit) once quipped: Love is blind. Marriage is a real eye-opener.
Oh, yeah: today it's also election day across the USA. A Democrat Man, I enjoyed voting today in the steady rain.
November 7 also happens to be the birthday of international multi-genre talents Albert Camus and Joni Mitchell. The allure of being a free man in Paris is something they both understood early.
Albert Camus (11/7/1913-1/4/1960) always seemed like a real Mister Cool to me. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in seminal year 1957 and died in a car accident at the age of 46. His short 1942 novel L'Étranger / The Stranger still carries a lot of weight, as does much of his other work.Alberta-born Joni Mitchell (Roberta Joan Anderson was the name she started with in 1943) married musician Chuck Mitchell in 1965 and together they moved to Detroit. She divorced him and left in 1967 for New York City.
I know a guy who bartended in Detroit near Wayne State in the mid-1960s who ran into her several times. He's about the same age as her and lived in the same apartment building, saw her play locally and genuinely liked her. Apparently a lot of travelling musicians stayed with her and Chuck when they played Detroit.
Down in North Carolina in the 70s, I followed my sisters in becoming an avid Joni Mitchell fan, starting with Court and Spark (1974) and then working backwards and forwards. She's definitely an artist who marches to her own beat. I can still remember the 8-track playing over and over and over until even if I never heard it again, the album would stay with me.
Today's Rune: Fertility.
Viva Albert Camus and Joni Mitchell!
6 comments:
I read The Stranger in college and very much enjoyed it. This novel is really not my style (I'm a Bronte girl) but I found myself suggesting it to others for summer reading.
You never know. Happy Election Day!
Sara
"The Plague" was not bad.
Joni Mitchell, 8 tracks, ah yes, I remember them well. Happy Election day everybody!!!
For such a short novel, "The Stranger" really does leave an impact. I read it in high school, and I think out of everything I've read in high school and college combined, "The Stranger" and "Hamlet" have been the most memorable (both a part of our existential unit).
Britney filed for divorce? What took her so long?
Congratulations on helping to remove the vermin!
Oh, and L'Etranger - pure classic full stop.
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