[Oe List ...] Fw: [earthrise] Re-discovering the Fat Lady

[W. J.]

 Thank you for this, Jim.I'm so appreciative of your grasp of JWM's 'presencing' as the one who calls us to authentic presence in the world and authentic 'all-in' expenditure.Not only did JWM rock my boat (and my life). So did the elusive Mr. Salinger. So much so that I wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on his fiction.You might also want to read Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour: an Introduction for more on Seymour.Yesterday I passed through unbelievably intense security with a specially selected group of guests and entered the unbelievably remote and elegantly finished Beaux-Arts world of the headquarters of the Ninth Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco for the rare opportunity of a VIP tour guided by the in-house authority on the building and the court. Utter WOW!And, as I exited this 'other world' of Federal Justice (protected by a photograph of a smiling 'you-know-who' in the WH) into the reality of Mission Street two hours later, there she was, waiting for us all: the heaviest, blackest, oldest, ugliest Fat Lady you can imagine, just sitting there on the raised concrete edge of the 'moat' (I mean this literally) that will protect the building from the rest of the world during the next earthquake. And struggling to breathe.Not only will the Fat Lady never get past Security to go inside to take a free piss in one of the world's most elegant Beaux-Arts Ladies' Rooms. Or, more significantly, be allowed to take her seat with the very few members of the public who attend the arguments of the Court in one of the world's most elegant courtrooms. Because that's who Security intends to screen out! More importantly for all of us, it is doubtful whether there will ever be Justice for the Fat Lady--the one who first sat in the front of the bus and who struggled to walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.As I write this, I'm thinking of the Fat Lady in Oombulgurri and the Fat Lady in Fifth City who never got to see the land we promised them, but who did get to participate in the movement of the Arc of history toward a Justice that is beyond our lifetimes and beyond our imaginations.Grace and Peace,Marshall JonesBTW, the latest courtroom added to the building was finished in 1935 and has swastikas carved into the ceiling! Big clue about some hidden values ...


   ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Sharon Texley texley at sbcglobal.net [earthrise] <earthrise-noreply at yahoogroups.com>To: Jim Troxel <jtroxel49 at gmail.com>Cc: "earthrise at yahoogroups.com" <earthrise at yahoogroups.com>Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2019, 6:48:00 AM PSTSubject: Re: [earthrise] Re-discovering the Fat Lady
     
Thanks for that, Jim. It brought back all those experiences. 

Sharon

Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 7, 2019, at 6:47 AM, Jim Troxel jtroxel49 at gmail.com [earthrise] <earthrise-noreply at yahoogroups.com> wrote:


    


Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger, 1961.

 

I met this book in 1967 in Chicago between my junior and senior yearsin college. To be more precise, I met a small excerpt, five paragraphs, whichexcept for 3 others, were the last in the book. You might recallthese paragraphs because Salinger introduces us to the infamous “Last FatLady.” One character was reminding another character how a mutual friend hadtold them both, on separate occasions, to “shine their shoes for the fat lady,”as preparation for their performances which was odd to both of them becausetheir performances were on the radio and clearly the “fat lady” would never seetheir shined shoes, so why do it? Furthermore, this fat lady sat in an oldwicker chair all day, swatting flies with her big veiny legs. What an insult tobe shining your shoes for someone who seemed to care so little.

 

Yet the one character who seems to be “preaching” (admonishing) to theother drops two pennies. The first penny is that everyone has a “fat lady” - a person,usually, who calls forth the best in all of us, even though it may not make anyrational sense. And the second penny is that the Fat Lady is Christ Himself..

 

I encountered the Fat Lady in 1967 at a summer program of the ICA (neeEI). I was selected by Doris Hahn, one of our pedagogues in the six-weekstudent program, to read the passage while the participants, a group of 50 orso college students, were eating their breakfast together. (Part of the programincluded hearing various readings over meal times). I was forewarned by Dorisso I practiced and I’d have to say in all humility I gave those six paragraphsmy theatrical best. Even I was moved.

 

Over the next few years these same words would reappear in our workthough over time they dissipated in frequency and potency. I guess they becamesort of “politically incorrect.” But, I remember along the way I promisedmyself that one day I’d read the whole book and find out the context for thepassage.

That day finally arrived. Recently I was putting some books from ourfamily library as part of our downsizing into our neighborhood Little Librarykiosk and as I was doing so, looking back at me was a copy of Franny and Zooey. I picked it uppromising to read it during our annual Mexico Playa Litibu winter sojourn.

 

In doing so I discovered a lot more about Franny, an insecure senior incollege, uncertain of her future calling and the target of our famed sermonizingpassage, and Zooey, her older brother by seven years and a “sought after” actorwho delivered the pointed message. I met their siblings and their mother,Franny’s boyfriend and one of her professors, Tupper by name, who appears inour passage. Another sibling, Seymour, the oldest who had committed suicide,appears in the passage. The profound passage, so long ago, to me and myerstwhile college students, uncertain of our own futures, now fell intocontext. And its power found a home.

 

 I met another character as I wasreading the book – Joe Mathews. He came in and out of the character of Zooey. Zooeywas a thespian who had not reached his potential. A cigar-smoking pontificatoron all subjects and judged by his mother and siblings a sort of lovable smart-aleck.And the power of Zooey’s two pennies, for me, were rekindled by remembrances ofJoe, especially in his talks in Room A and the Great Hall in the late ‘60’s andearly ‘70s till his last talk in the summer of 1977. I think of Joe as, morethan anything else, a thespian at heart, a profession he sought before beingcalled elsewhere.

 

His every talk was an “event.” He was pure theater. This fact wasbrought home to me when I had the chance to read the book of his talks. None ofthem were comprehensible in a rational sense. You had to have been there toexperience them. They were happenings, not intellectual dissertations. Theywere being delivered by someone who was in a way fulfilling his calling to bean actor for the purposes of his audience to discover their own Fat Lady. Joe,I think, knew this, too. Sometimes, as he gave one of his talks, I think heeven knew he didn’t know exactly what he was talking about, but he delivered itwith such sincere passion that you couldn’t help yourself not believe him.You’ll recall, on occasion, Joe referred to himself as an old Fat Man, anillusion, I contend, back to our passage. This was the role of Zooey,delivering the Word that would set you free even if it didn’t make rationalsense.

 

I found another character in the book that I recognized.I was Franny. On the last stage of my college career wondering what in the hellI was supposed to do with my life, and was told to “shine my shoes for the Fatlady.” And, suddenly, it all made sense. I had my calling and direction.

 

I confess there are days (weeks, months, years) when Iforget to shine my shoes, and in fact there are days when on purpose I don’tshine my shoes. But mostly, I try to figure out who in my life is giving me theopportunity for me to be my best?  Who orwhat is calling forth my greatness?

 

And, you? Who is that person who you might imaginesitting in that awful wicker chair with thick, veiny legs and listening to talkradio or TV all-day long, filled with cancer that is giving you the chance tobe your best?

 

Jim Troxel

-- 
Jim Troxeljtroxel49 at gmail.comHome: 773-506-2551Cell: 312-404-9920

  
  __._,_.___     Posted by: Sharon Texley <texley at sbcglobal.net>     
|  Reply via web post  | • |   Reply to sender   | • |   Reply to group   | • |  Start a New Topic  | • |  Messages in this topic (2)  |

        Have you tried the highest rated email app? With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.       For additional information, including guidelines and schedule, go to:

http://www..geocities.com/earthrisegroup/webpage.html   Visit Your Group    
    • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use 
     SPONSORED LINKS              .  
 __,_._,___  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20190308/9e5867f1/attachment.html>