the earth is hard, the heavens far

English Teacher, Performing Monkey, Ger-Dweller Extraordinaire

Peace Corps Mongolia (M20) !


Thoughts/opinions/etc. are mah own and do not reflect those of the U.S government, you dig?

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So, I am on the last legs of Allegra Kent’s autobiography, Once a Dancer, and I have to say home girl was/is nuts. Her writing reveals a mind once tortured and far-away, possessed by her body but constrained by the wishes and wiles of the poisonous people around her. Her Mama Rose-esque mother nearly destroyed her with Christian Science and her first husband has to be one of the most exasperating and unbelievably hurtful people ever described. I recently listened to an interview with her on NPR and her voice sounds as thin as her wrists, fragile and bird-like, like one on the constant verge of collapse. I have had the above photo as a poster for the New York City Ballet hanging in every bedroom and dorm room I have had for the past seven years. Just goes to show, from stage fright, illness, and a haphazard upbringing, there can come strength, beauty, and incredibly limber art. Or maybe I am just a sucker for beautiful girls with low self-esteem.

So, I am on the last legs of Allegra Kent’s autobiography, Once a Dancer, and I have to say home girl was/is nuts. Her writing reveals a mind once tortured and far-away, possessed by her body but constrained by the wishes and wiles of the poisonous people around her. Her Mama Rose-esque mother nearly destroyed her with Christian Science and her first husband has to be one of the most exasperating and unbelievably hurtful people ever described. I recently listened to an interview with her on NPR and her voice sounds as thin as her wrists, fragile and bird-like, like one on the constant verge of collapse.

I have had the above photo as a poster for the New York City Ballet hanging in every bedroom and dorm room I have had for the past seven years. Just goes to show, from stage fright, illness, and a haphazard upbringing, there can come strength, beauty, and incredibly limber art.

Or maybe I am just a sucker for beautiful girls with low self-esteem.

Notes