Recaptured Memories

"It was marvelously quiet under a sky of burning blue. The air smelt of eucalyptus and tomatoes and heliotrope from the garden. I would get up early to work, and about noon walk out to a sand fringed cove named la Garoupe. There I would find the household sunbathing. Gerald would be sweeping the seaweed off the sand under his beach umbrellas. We would swim out through the calm crystal blue water, saltier than salt, to the mouth of the cove and back. Then Gerald would produce cold sherry and Sara would marshal recondite hors d'oevres for blotters. Saturated with salt and sun, some in cars and some walking, the company would troop back to the terrace, overlooking the flowers and vegetables back of the villa, for lunch.

     One of Sara's favorite dishes was poached eggs with Gold Bantam corn cut off the cob and sprinkled with paprika, homegrown tomatoes cooked in olive oil and garlic on the side. Sometimes to this day when I'm eating corn on the cob I recapture the flavor, and the blue flare of the Mediterranean noon, and the taste of vin de Cassis in the briny Mediterranean breeze."

If you are a regular reader of this humble blog then by now you know that John Dos Passos is one of my favorite writers. The above excerpt is from his book Best Times: An Informal Memoir. My soul is deeply touched by his description here, the heart of the man and his experiences laid across the years like masterstrokes of paint on a canvas, massaging my mind. I am moved. Moved.

"Sometimes to this day when I'm eating corn on the cob I recapture the flavor, and the blue flare of the Mediterranean noon, and the taste of vin de Cassis in the briny Mediterranean breeze." 

The blue flare of the Mediterranean noon. Poetry. Transportational poetry. 

I've been to the blue Mediterranean, splashed in her cool waters, bare feet supported by squishy tan sand. A dream come true that did not disappoint. I thought of Dos, and Sara, and Gerald and their friends Hemingway, Picasso, MacLeash, Fitzgerald, Porter, Cummings, the list goes on and on. Gertrude Stein called them the Lost Generation. For the ten years they played in Antibes they were really quite found. In addition to the sun, sand, and sea, they had each other and unconditional, deep, joyous friendship.

We've all had those corn-on-the-cob moments of vivid remembrance when an experience vibrantly. jumps to the forefront of our thoughts, our emotions riding them as if they were happening right then. Sometimes joy, sometimes sadness, sometimes melancholy, often longing. Longing to return to that hour, that day, not forever, just for a visit to say hello, to hug, to taste, feel, hear, see, smell the memory back to life.

Those longings can lead to new adventures. Often they lead to an ache, a deep tear-inducing ache which is the impetus to go again, to set your foot back on the path of the new and unknown, to catch-up with old friends and make some new ones, or to create something - anything - that will add to your collection of enriching memories tucked away and waiting. 

You never know when something will trigger a memory. But something will. And you'll recapture the sensations all over again, splendidly.

The Not So Lost Generation in Antibes, early 20th century

Here I am west of Antibes in the French Mediterranean. Bliss!

'Thinking Hurts' - John Dos Passos

From a 54 year old interview with a 73 year old thinker, an excerpt.

"Interviewer: Incidentally, what is your opinion of the students of the New Left? 

'Dos Passos: Many of them seem to be going through something rather like a tantrum. An odd paranoia sweeping the country, I don't know exactly why . . . a mass hysteria . . . a combination of the St. Vitus's dance of medieval times and the Children's Crusade . . ." "

~~ John Dos Passos, "The Art of Fiction",  The Paris Review, Issue 46, Spring 1969

'St. Vitus's dance of medieval times' is a reference to the saint who was known to have relieved people suffering from neurological disorders including loss of emotional stability and voluntary motor control. Outbreaks of dancing and mania and other delirious behavior struck Europe during the Middle Ages. The symptoms of those afflicted with such disorders during medieval times mimicked the movements of a bizarre dance, thus the linkage to Vitus and his dance.

The Children's Crusade consisted of sincere children taking vows with the intention of marching to Jerusalem during the summer of 1212 to convert the Muslims who held the city at that time. Their efforts failed, they never reached the Holy Land, many of them were sold as slaves, some returned home, some died along the way. Passionate and full of sincerity, they followed foolish leaders to a disastrous end. Bitter failure.

If you live long enough you learn that history does indeed repeat itself. There are human behaviors which are predictable in particular circumstances. Political forces incite gullible young people - and older people who should know better - into the mass hysteria and paranoia Dos Passos references. Irrationality takes hold because emotions rule the day rather than critical thinking. 

Dos Passos' observations could have been penned today. 

"Tantrum." 

"Odd paranoia sweeping the country." 

"Mass hysteria."

Ring a bell?

Read the news. The author's description fits a certain slice of American life today.

And we adults in the room, like Dos Passos 54 years ago, scratch our heads in bewilderment at the uncalled for hysteria and paranoia sweeping our country, the unrestrained emotionalism. "People must be prodded into thinking. They resist. Thinking hurts." (John Dos Passos)

We are witnessing a certain madness that our logical healthy minds cannot categorize because it is, well, madness. Attempting to rationalize what we witness against what we know to be true is futile. 

We must trust our senses here, our minds, knowledge, and lived experience.

Beyond this, what are we to do?

Observe. Educate ourselves. Fortify our families. Protect our children. Preserve and model our spiritual beliefs and standards. Communicate with each other. Vote for sanity.

Pray. First and last, pray.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." ~~ Ephesians 6:13