Ladies Writing

Moti Sandak, of the website www.jewish-theatre.com, has posted two Gordin-related items on the site: under "First Curtain," news of my talk in New York, and under "Research," an entire chapter of the book itself.  So readers can catch up with my current news and also get a thorough sense of the book, thanks to Mr. Sandak and the invaluable website. 

I just had lunch with three new friends, Ellen Cassedy, Jim Feldman and Natalie Wexler.  Ellen, herself a writer and playwright, contacted me last year after reading the book; she became a whirlwind of support, sending me information and ideas.  Jim and Natalie, who is also a writer and writing teacher, are involved in various projects in the Jewish community of Washington, and are interested in some kind of future project to do with the book.  I love events like our lunch, in which people who minutes ago were complete strangers sit around having an intimate discussion about the lives of fascinating people, family members and others, who have been dead for decades.  The power of story, once again.

This is my last day in Washington, where it looks like spring but feels, unfortunately, like the end of winter.  Yesterday we went to see the glorious Cherry Blossom Festival, hundreds of beautiful trees dipping their pink branches towards the tidal basin in the centre of the city.  But it was so cold I was wearing seven layers of clothing.  

Afterwards we went to the National Gallery, to see, among other great artists, the exquisite Vermeers.  I fell in love with his "Lady Writing", in which an odd, thoughtful young woman looks enigmatically at us as she writes with a quill pen at a desk.  "Another conflicted writer," I thought.  But at least she cannot complain about the light.