Name that image

Other than my last quick “do not fear, I have not fallen off the planet” posting, it has been about a week, and a varied and busy one, since I last wrote.

We managed to squeeze in two movies last week. The first was “Dallas Buyers Club,” about the early days of the AIDS epidemic when, anxious to do anything and everything to extend their lives, patients mobilized and tried to take things into their own hands to obtain drugs that had not been approved for sale in the United States. I was interested in this film because when we moved to New York in 1991, my first job was at Lederle Laboratories where I was assigned to work on a new antiretroviral that was in the first stages of development. There was enormous excitement about this project, that this drug would be both more effective and less toxic than the only approved drug at that time, AZT. We got the trials up and running quickly. I had the opportunity to work with a terrific team and to attend fascinating meetings, many of which were attended by vocal AIDS activists. But about 8 months in, there were three deaths among patients in the trial. The patients were all late-stage AIDS patients, but there was concern that the drug was not working as had been hoped, was more toxic than had been anticipated, or perhaps both. While the jury remained forever out on precisely what caused these deaths, there was a decision to discontinue the development of the compound. It was just around that time that, by coincidence, I heard from someone at Pfizer, and the rest, as they say, is history. Still, it was a wonderful introduction to an exciting area of drug research. Some years later, a number of former Lederle colleagues ended up at Pfizer following a merger and reorganization.

A small afterthought to this story I have just told. You may be amazed, as I am, that someone who can barely remember what day of the week it is remembers this trial from over 20 years ago in such excruciating detail. This will remain forever the biggest mystery of this whole experience.

But back to the present…the movie was excellent, although intense and somewhat painful to watch. The acting was superb. There may well be some Academy Award nominations from this one.

The second movie we saw was “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the newest feature from the incredibly prolific Coen Brothers. This movie is supposed to be somewhat loosely based on folk singer/songwriter Dave Von Ronck, but can likely be viewed as a composite of many such artists who lived from hand to mouth trying to make music in the early 1960s. The movie told the story of a reasonably talented musician who could not quite get his act together sufficiently to be successful, and was ultimately so self-destructive that he even passed up an opportunity to join a group that clearly was intended to represent Peter, Paul, and Mary. The music was fantastic, and the audience were given free CDs of the soundtrack when we purchased our tickets. Growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis through the 1960s, this world is rather foreign to me. But Barry went to Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan in the 1960s, so the gritty streets of the Village are very real to him. I don’t know if there will be any recognition from the Motion Picture Academy, but Oscar Isaac, who plays Mr. Davis, was quite good. John Goodman, F. Murray Abraham, and Justin Timberlake are also in the film.

We had a quiet Friday evening and had Sabbath lunch at the home of friends who had also invited some other friends from our Riverdale circle. As so often happens on the short Sabbath afternoons of winter, we ended up talking and talking until Sabbath was over. The food was yummy, the company enjoyable, and the time just flew past.

Saturday night we finished packing and tried to get to sleep early because we had an early flight on Sunday. We flew down to Florida to visit my mother and sister who live there. My mother is no longer able to travel, and we had not been down to visit since the family Disney World trip in June of 2011, having been a bit preoccupied through much of 2012. It was good to have the chance to visit.

We were scheduled to fly back to New York late Monday morning. We started hearing about the terrible weather that has been moving up the East Coast for the past few days. But fortunately, our plane took off, albeit about an hour and a half later than scheduled, and the flight was less turbulent than we expected. As we started our descent, it was clear that there was a thick cloud cover over the City, but suddenly I saw something sticking out from under that blanket of white puffy cotton. Barry managed to snap a photograph with his iPhone. You can click on the image to make it larger and more clear. Can you see what it is? How cool is that? It was a delightful ending to a hectic few days.

It is snowing as I write this. Stay warm and dry!

Love,

Rebecca