What I knew about James Barrie before seeing the movie, Finding Neverland: 1) he was Scottish and 2) he wrote Peter Pan.
What I know about James Barrie after seeing Finding Neverland: 1) he was Scottish, 2) he wrote Peter Pan, and 3) he had a lousy marriage.
Yes, I understand why there's Oscar buzz, but it just wasn't my sort of movie. I have to admit that part of my problem is that I hate the entire Peter Pan concept. Perhaps boys did grow up too quickly in those days when parents expired prettily of tuberculosis, but refusal to accept reality seems more pernicious to me.
The other event of the week was meeting a friend from M.I.T. after work on Wednesday. He had a meeting in town on Thursday. We arranged to meet at the cab stand at Union Station, which turns out to be a place that is particularly heavily populated with people conversing with either Neverland or thin air, depending on how polite you're being. The weather was nice for a stroll up the mall, followed by coffee at the cafe next to the Sculpture Garden. The skating rink is open there and I noted that the only particularly skilled skater on the ice was one wearing a jacket that read "rink guard." Our conversation covered a number of subjects - digital photography, Jewish genealogy, Gilbert and Sullivan, and the difficulties of dating. I'm never quite sure whether men complaining to me about women (or the lack thereof in their lives) want sympathy or advice, so I offered words intended to be somewhere in between.
Other than that, the week was routine - work, board games, catching up on household stuff. I wasn't ambitious enough to grate onions, so settled for frozen potato latkes for Chanukah. Speaking of which, have a happy one. (Or, as we used to say in my family, Chappy Chanukah.)
Copyright 2004 Miriam H. Nadel