Mostly, I have tried to lead a good life. I took an eight-week course on Mindfulness Meditation and I meditate regularly, if not constantly. I did Yoga for years, until I fell and broke the talus in my left foot and the doctor said I couldn’t do weight-bearing exercises any longer—foreshadowing perhaps? But I kept […]
From a Drop to a Deluge
I am sure you have read about the deadly flash floods that have devastated the Eastern side of the Iberian Peninsula during the last few weeks. The city of Valencia, where I was born, was spared, but the province was plummeted with a year’s worth of rain in a few hours. At least 220 people […]
Lingua Franca
I look forward to the Philadelphia Film Festival every year. I choose the foreign language films carefully, particularly the ones in Spanish, because I can be two hours in Madrid, Mexico or Latin America somewhere, listening to my own language. I can get lost in new colloquial expressions or admire new actors and directors I […]
Aidanamar: Fountain of Tears
One of the upcoming operas at the Met in New York City this season is Aidanamar by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. If you are an opera lover like me, you had a chance to see it in Philadelphia not once, but twice. The Curtis Institute performed it in 2008, directed by Corrado Rovaris, Opera […]
A Gentle Giant
Philadelphia can be such a small town. One can meet people from work, old friends and foes everywhere. I met Paul through a Spanish colleague who was his neighbor in the high rise next to mine. Paul taught at UCLA for thirty-six years after receiving his doctorate at UC Berkeley in 1964, and had retired […]
Notes on a Concert
Ever since my husband, Peter, died, almost twenty years ago, I have attended fewer and fewer concerts. We used to have season tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Guitar Society–of course–and some smaller organizations such as Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra and Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. I donated some […]