New Year's Day Labyrinth

Every year on New Year's Day, and one week later on my birthday, I walk a labyrinth. I do this for two reasons: to consciously set aside habits and emotions that I'd like to leave behind, and to set intentions for the new year. Today, Debbie & I walked the labyrinth at Milner Plaza next to the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe.

Labyrinths have a long history, going back to ancient Greece and around the world. Formal walking meditation in a labyrinth harks back to medieval Europe. It was used as a symbolic pilgrimage. Today the labyrinth has become a metaphor of personal growth and change. People often use them at inflection points in their lives, to seek guidance and mark change. This is facilitated by the structure of the labyrinth, which is a wonderful symbol for life. First of all, there are no wrong turns. Once you take a step on this path, you will reach the center, if you keep going. However, at times, it seems that you are not making progress... At first you might be moving forward and then you will be going the opposite direction. Next, you will be walking close to the center and then find yourself back at the outer rim. We go forward and backwards, left and right, but no step is wasted, and each step is necessary to reach the goal. How like the path we all have tread in life. You can use the labyrinth to seek guidance, to do a walking meditation or to just enjoy the day.

Claire Huangci Rocks Prok 3

My favorite work for piano and orchestra is Prokofiev's Concerto #3. Sergei was, of course, a monster pianist, and this piece is lively, clever, fiendishly difficult, and often just plain fun. If you are looking for Russian angst, it is thankfully absent! The Santa Fe Concert Association Orchestra performed this on New Year's Eve and 21 year old pianist Claire Huangci absolutely nailed it. She displayed extraordinary facility & technique, combined with mature artistry. She flew gracefully through lightning fast passages, and powered out in the big ones. She made my fave come alive. Happy New Year, Claire, we will keep an eye and ear out for you!

Bookends now a Triangle

Reading novels is a passion of mine. I read 43 novels in 2011. Rarely have I encountered a sequence of readings that quite accidentally link neatly together, like has just happened. The bookends I talked about in the previous posting is now a triangle. The bookends were Luminous Airplanes, a coming of age story, and I Married You for Happiness, a reflection on years of marriage. I just finished the Man Booker winner, A Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, which created the triangle. The first half of this book looks back on a young man's years in college & a close circle of friends. In the second half of the book, a diary left in a will triggers an interaction between the protagonist and a college girlfriend, from a vantage point 45 years later. In addition to a very good story, it explores how unreliable memory can be. The book has delightful characters & wonderful writing. In Barnes' novel we have another coming of age story, this time in arrears, and another reflection on a life, this time with an examination of memory in life. The triangle is complete.