The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I am currently reading Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog (translated from the French by Alison Anderson). This evening, I was struck by this passage:

Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty. When you speak, or read, or write, you can tell if you've said or read or written a fine sentence. You can recognize a well-turned phrase or an elegant style. But when you are applying the rules of grammar skillfully, you ascend to another level of the beauty of language. When you use grammar you peel back the layers, to see how it is all put together, see it quite naked, in a way. And that's where it becomes wonderful, because you say to yourself, "Look how well-made this is, how well-constructed it is! How solid and ingenious, rich and subtle!" I get completely carried away just knowing there are words of all different natures, and that you have to know them in order to be able to infer their potential usage and compatibility. I find there is nothing more beautiful, for example, than the very basic components of language, nouns and verbs. When you've grasped this, you've grasped the core of any statement. It's magnificent, don't you think? Nouns, verbs . . . (p. 158)

 Barbery's novel is a stunning example of the well-turned phrase. I am not quite halfway through, and I am torn between wanting to devour it all at once and longing to linger over every word. My current method falls somewhere in between, dashing through and then returning to pages and paragraphs to savor the language. Ah, lovely!

Happiness Is . . .

. . . my loving family:

Labishak Family Portrait. August 2010.

. . . a thank you note:

Original artwork by Grace Thompson, age 7.

. . . making new friends:

Kelsey Benson, Shanan Stout, & Micah Labishak
We won't win the prince's heart, but we're all smiles anyway.

. . . my silly dog:

Barney

. . . a freshly painted room:

En route to covering the vicious red: primer in love

. . . laughing with friends:

Posing at PittStop Lindy Hop 2011 with my sister Julia.

Being downright fabulous at DCLX X (2011).

. . . celebrating my birthday with (almost) all of my favorite people ever! Thank you to everyone for the hugs and love always. Can't wait to spend the next four days dancing, eating, and laughing with you.

A Nice Girl

Ran across this article today. It speaks to some of my own struggles and triumphs in being "too nice." (Borrowed the image above from the article. It's cute, yes?)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/29/kindness-couns_n_1310620.html

Here's to being nice, in all the best ways!

El Sistema & Dudamania

Yesterday, my roommate and I celebrated our birthdays by going to the Cinemark movie theater at Settler's Ridge in Pennsylvania to see Gustavo Dudamel conduct Mahler: Symphony No. 8 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, eight vocalists, and a choir of more than 1100 voices live from Caracas, Venezuela.

Here's a shot of Maestro Dudamel conducting.

Prior to the performance, theater audiences were treated to behind-the-scenes footage from the LA Phil's Mahler Project, a partnership with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra to present all of Mahler's symphonies in three weeks, culminating in last night's historic concert in Caracas. Particularly featured were clips of students in Venezuela's music education program known as El Sistema. This program brings the joy of making music to children, regardless of socioeconomic situation, physical disabilities or other challenges. Maestro Dudamel himself is a student of El Sistema and has been instrumental in bringing the philosophy behind that program to Los Angeles.

It was a marvelous way to celebrate and an inspirational program all-around.

For more on the LA Phil's broadcast concerts, including the Gershwin concert with Herbie Hancock on March 18, visit http://www.laphil.com/laphillive/.

Having a Ball!

The first Saturday in February, the Viennese Winter Ball Committee of the Wheeling Symphony Auxiliary hosts the Viennese Winter Ball at the beautiful Glessner Auditorium at Oglebay Resort & Conference Center. At the ball, ten young men and ten young women - the Winter Ball Cotillion - are presented and perform a lovely Viennese Waltz choreographed by Cheryl Pompeo. There is dinner and dancing and a dessert room.

This year, for the first time, I attended the ball. My cousin Melanie did my hair - teased it and sprayed it within an inch of its life. I added more hairspray after she left, too. (To her credit, my 'do lasted all night and looked fabulous, if I do say so myself. She's quite a talented gal.) Gram and Ava came over to see me in all my finery - a gown made to fit by the spectacularly talented Annie Shepard of Stages and inspired by this classic gown designed by Cecil Beaton and worn by Leslie Caron at the end of Gigi, one of my very favorite films.

My mother, disappointed that she would not be able to see me off (despite my protests that it wasn't prom), enlisted a friend of hers to text her a photo of my date (Justin) and me. So here we are, just arrived at the cocktail hour:

Justin had to play violin for the cocktail hour and parts of the ball so I mingled with the other attendees, many of whom I know from working in the symphony office. The gown was quite a hit. Peter J. told me I looked like something out of Hollywood. The aforementioned Cheryl forbid me to wear the gown again for five years because everyone will remember it. Christina T. wanted the birds.

Dinner was an adventure in things I'll probably never eat again (and didn't each much of that night). The mango-coconut sorbet was delicious.

Of course, my favorite part of the evening was the dancing. While we didn't dance every song, we did enjoy a fair few, and fellow swing dancer Hugo stole me away for a tune. During one number, as Justin and I were dancing, a lady leaned over from her escort's arm and asked if I had played "Drusilla." I laughed and said indeed I had. (She was my viciously flirtatious character in my most recent stage adventure.) She recognized me from both Towngate's and the Strand's productions of Cinderella - a lovely, diverting moment.

All in all, it was a lovely night, and I look forward to many future Viennese Winter Balls, though I don't know if I can outdo this gown . . .

Hoot Sweet!

Back in December, in this post, I wrote about this thing that I found online. I thought my dear friend Julia would very much like it, but if she'd ever found out that I'd paid that much for it . . . well, I'd have been thoroughly scolded. Especially since, as it turns out, I am perfectly capable of making it all on my own:

Happy New Year!

Another year gone and a new one dawning bright and clear. Perhaps most exciting for me this year is the 15 Years of Dreams project, a blog celebrating the 15th anniversary of Second Wind Dreams, an organization that honors elders and works to decrease depression among residents of eldercare communities by making their dreams come true. As I may have mentioned before, I'll be sharing a dream a day for the year of 2012. Six days a week, these will be dreams that have come true over the 15-year history of the organization. Fridays will be devoted to dreams that have not yet been fulfilled.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch the video below for a taste of what Second Wind Dreams does and then visit the blog for a fun look at a 2004 dream from Joliet, IL, with a dreamer fondly known as the "Camel Lady."



Much love and best wishes for a happy and blessed new year!