Blow Ye Mighty Wind

We are having some kind of freak wind-storm here in the New York/New Jersey area. It is out of control. I saw a teeny little woman literally clinging to a lamppost on 42nd Street so she wouldn’t be blown away. I myself was chased down the street on my way to the bus by a renegade trash can. I was RUNNING, trying to get away from it. Trees bent to the side. I woke up to the sound of howling against my window. The wind was not whistling, it was howling.

It’s exhilarating. I love it.

The wind blew the clouds away from yesterday.

Well, mostly. I was flipping through my new Vanity Fair during my commute – and there’s a long piece on Bloomberg – and one of the quotes they pulled out into large type was this: “Think about all of the press attention to 9/11. That number of people die every year in the city from secondhand smoke.”

I had heard that monstrous quote before.

But suddenly I felt like standing up and throwing the magazine out the window. I wanted to scream or cry or something.

I closed the magazine, and began to viciously compose a letter to Bloomberg in my head, telling him exactly what I thought of him, how much I hated him, how much I think he is a bloodless cadaver during his press conferences, how much he hectors New Yorkers like we are spoiled children …

Blah blah blah. I didn’t vote for the guy cause I live in New Jersey, but you know what? I would have voted for him. Because Guiliani endorsed him, and after September 11, I would have voted for Donald Freakin’ Trump if Guiliani said so. A sad statement perhaps, but a true one.

Then, letter fully composed in my mind, I got out of the bus on 42nd Street and was immediately hit in the face by this huge wind – I mean, it felt like … Wizard of Oz or something … women’s skirts blew up over their faces … the air was filled with swirling cyclones of leaves and paper bags … random strangers met eyes as they struggled down the sidewalk, and laughed … there was a sense of solidarity in the street.

I love wind.

Last night I walked home from the grocery store – The night was still. No hint of the Maniac-Wind barreling down upon us. But the mist … it felt like I was back in Rhode Island, on a misty day, where you can’t see 50 feet ahead of you. You drive down the country roads in Rhode Island, through a pea-soup mist, headlights on … and you see … dimly … as if in slow-motion … other headlights approaching you through the thick grey. It’s a sea mist, an ocean fog.

And here it was, covering New Jersey. The lampposts along the main drag were haloed in a thick nimbus. You could not see beyond four blocks ahead of you.

I love mist, too.

So mist last night, wind today. I feel a bit better, and more like myself.

Also, I went home last night, cooked some dinner, and proceeded to watch “Bend it Like Beckham” (Emily!! David Beckham!) – which I had never seen before – and which is, literally, a joy from start to finish. Like my friend Mitchell says, on occasion, “Sheer liquid joy.” I laughed, I cried. Great film.

Loved the actor who played the Sikh father. He was wonderful. Just wonderful.

I think my favorite line in the film was Juliet Stevenson’s (a great actress – see “Truly Madly Deeply” if you haven’t already!) – She plays the obnoxious mother of one of the girl soccer-players, who is horrified at her tomboyish daughter, obsessed with the fear that her daughter is a lesbian, etc. She is a ridiculous character. Her daughter is out in the back yard, kicking a soccer ball around, and Juliet Stevenson comes out to hector her daughter – “Why can’t you be a normal girl? Why can’t you grow your hair?” Etc.

The daughter wins the argument but this is Stevenson’s parting shot as she goes into the house.

She says to her daughter, in a tone of grim importance, “Just remember, dear. It is no mistake that Sporty Spice is the only one without a man.”

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2 Responses to Blow Ye Mighty Wind

  1. Jackie says:

    Sheila-

    I loved the Sporty Spice line too! What a feel good film –

    Sporty J

  2. Bill McCabe says:

    I saw it too, a very enjoyable film.

    I liked the wind storm too, except when it tried to pusy my car into the other lane. The wind rattled the bay doors and opened then slammed shut the ceiling vents all day. The warehouse seemed haunted.

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