Re: The importance of being young at heart.

Phillip Allen White (pwhite who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu)
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 09:26:55 -0600 (MDT)

On Mon, 28 Jul 1997, Edouard Lagache wrote:
> P.S. Sorry if anyone took offense at my joke about 380mm. The reference
> is not hostile, instead it is expression of great pride in an innovative
> French ship design. Ships put on hold as a nation suffered under
> oppression, and a 15 year old boy pulled the dead and wounded from
> American and British bombs. A few years later, one of the 4 ships had a
> brief, if memorable twilight - dreams realized, if decades obsolete and
> essentially useless. Such are the memories of that 15 year old boy who
> grew up to serve briefly on a destroyer, and later passed on a little
> piece of home to an impressionable young son. Like my Dad, I am trapped
> in that time-capsule of French industry and culture. These are the Lego
> blocks for which I am most proud, worn and misbegotten, yet such a
> central part of me. So fear not when I offer these blocks - it is the
> ultimate expression of my trust and love.

Edouard, I've been reading your posts now for perhaps five years
now - I'm surprised it's been so long, now that I think of it. And of
course I've been building up bits and pieces of a picture of you from what
you write or even hear-say from friends who have attended AERA and met
you. (Positive reports there.) So your comment about the 380 mm provoked
a smile for me. ("What a fiesty man," I thought.) And so, when I read
your sentence, "So fear not when I offer these blocks - it is the ultimate
expression of my trust and love." I also hear the echo of parapraxis - and
enjoy the multiple meanings of 'blocks'. The physical contact, the
resistance, the building of, the building by, the kindergarten, the boys'
game - the list multiplies - and I think, "Yes, the mystery to me is
that email communication works as well as it does, disembodied as it is,
so that we can't catch the twinkle in your eye, the playful stance of your
body, your teasing glance, mischievious, affectionate, perhaps even hurt."
But see, I'm only spinning a virtual reality here ... something Eva has
noted so many times, with what I have always imagined to be a smile in her
eyes too.

So, I'm not chosen to be offended. I've chosen to be amused.

phillip

pwhite who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu

Cotton Creek Elementary
Westminster, CO