Citizen Kane, Emmy Lou Harris, and Marie Elise

2010-08-11T04:01:57Z

There is a great speech in the movie "Citizen Kane" that speaks eloquently about the mysteries of unrequited love. It's pretty much a universal experience which why it makes this scene so compelling. A long time ago I was driving along a Highway 29 leaving Charlottesville and I noticed a young woman hitchhiking in the rain. She was alone and it was very late a night. I picked her up, mostly to get her out of harms way. She was friendly and we began chatting. She was a year older than me and completely alone in the world. When I picked her up she was trying to get to her home after doing a stint as a waitress at a small Chinese restaurant. Her home was small cottage on the outskirts of Charlottesville. The place was primitive with no central heat, and just a wood stove to get her through the cold winter months. She came from a dysfunctional family in New York City, had been cut off of funds, and was struggling to figure out what to do with her life after flunking out of one of a small liberal arts college about seventy miles away. In one of her rebellious moments she got arrested late at night for bathing nude in one of the reflecting pools abutting Mr. Jefferson's rotunda at UVa. Over the year she and I became close friends while she fretted and pined over a broken relationship with someone who was clearly abusive and narcissistic. She was beautiful, emotionally fragile, and a talented artist. Despite my attempts to win her affection, she always kept me at arms length, and after a long period of not staying in touch, I discovered that she had left Charlottesville alone. Like Mr. Bernstein I often think of her and hope she found some anchor in her life and some semblance of emotional security, although I suspect life's challenges would prove very difficult for her to navigate. It was during this time in Virginia that discovered Emmy Lou Harris. I frequently listened to this song. Her name was Marie Elise.

E.J. Dionne Gets Taken to the Woodshed By Virtually Everyone

2010-07-16T02:17:57Z

Real Clear Politics is a balanced news portal which features opinion pieces all over the political spectrum. So when someone on the left or the right opines, you get a wide range of comments reflecting the diversity of the readership. Not so for E.J. Dionne's predictable piece about racists and the Tea Party. It's not his column that is noteworthy, it is the quality and universality of critical reader's comments.

Fapo

Citizen Kane, Emmy Lou Harris, and Marie Elise

E.J. Dionne Gets Taken to the Woodshed By Virtually Everyone