4 August 2007 - Amherst, MA
It has finally cooled off. The dog-day heat and humidity that had followed us up from North Carolina gave up at last and went home, tail between it’s legs. My thanks to whomever arranged that.
We arose to cooler, dryer air and a pleasant breakfast on Jim and Torie’s deck, then drove into Amherst to pick up a rental car, as the train would not serve us well for the next stages of our journey. Back “home”, we talked and rested and caught up and got ready for the screening. We had a wonderful dinner of sweet corn and tomatoes and bread and cheese, then headed over to Hampshire College for the event.
An audience of about 35 watched What a Way to Go on a huge screen with a great sound system. It’s always a treat to see the doc in this way, and I’m happy with how it looks and sounds in such a venue. It really could play in theaters, if theaters were interested in screening a movie about the demise of the American lifestyle…
Eighteen of us stayed for the circle afterwards, and it was a sweet one. We sat in a loose oblong, half of us in the theater seats, half in folding chairs, and spoke of our grief, our fear, our sadness, and our joy. We spoke of keeping the question open, of staying with the mystery, of living in the moment, and of life in the face of the fatal diagnosis. We spoke of circle work, of the necessity for it, and the hunger, and many in the room put their names on a list, so that further circles could be organized. The circle closed around 10:30, a few folks stayed on a while longer for some nice bits of conversation and connection, then we piled back into Jim’s car and returned to his home, for a midnight snack of ice cream and homemade blueberry sauce.
Tomorrow we head north to Vermont. More later, from Rutland…
Tim