Anatomy of a Discussion

I 've just hurried home to write after a dinner/discussion group at a friend's home.  I've had several topics in mind today, but dinner changed that.  Do you ever have the chance to hear how much nine educated, well-informed women can cover in three hours' time?  Here's how it went, to the best of my recollection:

New York.  The extensive Picasso exhibit there at the MOMA in 1980.  A Matisse exhibit a couple of years later.  How wonderful it would be to live in NYC for about six months after I retire, renting a crummy studio apartment, working a little job in the evenings so I could spend the days seeing the museums, sights, every cool cranny of the city.  The feeling of safety most of us felt there, contrary to everything one hears.  A witnessed confrontation on a train.  Bernhard Goetz.  Son of Sam, when Robin lived there.  A reasonably priced European-style temporary residence for my next trip to the Big Apple.

Tomatoes and cheeses.  Homegrown tomato varieties, Big Boy and Mountain something---the Mountain variety much preferred by Brenda.  Wal-Mart vs. Sooners in Sulphur. 

A torn meniscus and a torn kneecap.  Recovery.  Limping and not limping.  Reminiscing about the group's trip to Roman Nose State Park two years ago, where one of the patients first got hurt, despite the general acknowledgement that it was a wonderful trip.  The whole rooming-house hotel we rented then, the lake, the horseback riding, the kayaking.  The wine---much wine---on the balcony of that hotel on a side street in Watonga.  General hilarity.

Dinner.  Tomato bisque soup, pork tenderloin, roasted chicken, crab casserole, quinoa salad, zucchini fritters, potato salad, Dakota bread.  Raspberry cobbler.  Mary Beth's attempt to remove the bread crumbs she mixed in with the crab that were supposed to top it off. 

Dogs.  The mental acuity of one dog who was "very cerebral."  That said dog could understand if you said, "52 minutes," and would come back in 52 minutes to remind you.  Dogs who knew when it was time to eat, and how they told you.  Cats.  My sister's cats who have had it in for me. 

Mikey Weinstein and his fight to keep church and state separate in the military.  Hate mail sent to the Tulsa Interfaith Alliance for hosting him here at our church, All Souls Unitarian.  The number of family members of the group that worked in the military.  Experiments the military performed on soldiers before the Helsinki Accord:  the same as Nazi experiments on Jewish victims, or not?  How to fight the encroaching pressure on society from a few who can't seem to understand how many ways a merger of church and state would go horribly wrong.  The fact that my students see it immediately when we study The Crucible.  Tony Kushner speaking at TU in November.

Education and poverty.  School uniforms and how well they work.  School administrators (none of mine) who were the wackiest.  Which state decided that free lunches for the whole school are cheaper than processing all the applications.  How that might work with other government programs.  Movies used in the classroom.  Condoms as a student research topic.  Lipstick parties.  Why boys want their underwear to show. 

Tea Partiers.  Government shutdown.  Furloughs and park closings.  Veterans.  Lies and disinformation spread through "sophistry of the highest order," a statement for which I wanted to hug Charlene, pat her on the back, and quote her on the world's biggest billboard.  A vote on the debt ceiling and the end of our economy.  No one had to ask who to blame. 

Many thanks, a little play time with the host's granddaughter, hugs all around.  A good and enlightened evening. 

You give nine women---teachers, business owners, artists, nurses, public servants, technology experts---three hours, and we can solve most of the problems of the world....or at least find a way to laugh them off.