Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed by the news. In my
earlier life, I lacked either intense interest or adequate time to watch or
read a great deal. But now that I have more time I seem to have developed more
interest. Since reading remains something of a struggle, television is a major
source of information for me. But I am learning that there is a distinct
downside to this obsession with current events, one that perhaps on some level
I knew all along: much of the news is focused on human misery. And because
things can only happen so quickly, much of the news is repetitive, which only
serves to make things seem more miserable than they already are. Having said
that, between the things we do to each other and the things that just happen to
us by virtue of being human and living on this planet, there is no lack of sad
news even without repetition.
At the end of the day, we humans cannot entirely escape
sadness. We awoke yesterday to the news of the death of Gregg Allman on
Saturday at the age of 69. I last wrote about The Allman Brothers Band in March
of 2014, when we saw one of their final spring shows at The Beacon Theater in
New York (they later performed their last Beacon gig in October of that year). The
cause of Gregg’s death was liver cancer. After years of hard living, he had
undergone a liver transplant in 2010, and from some of what I have been able to
read this morning it seems that liver cancer is not uncommon in transplant
recipients. Far be it from me to blame the victim: I am just sad that this
talented performer is no longer.
Jon Pareles of the New York Times provided his top ten list
of Gregg Allman songs:
Meanwhile, a much less upsetting loss was the 5-0 game that the Boston Red Sox lost to the Seattle Mariners. We were there at Fenway Park, where we remained until the very last pitch with the hope that somehow, miracle against miracle, the Red Sox would score. What is really amazing to me is that it does not seem to matter that Fenway Park is over 100 years old and that the Red Sox are not doing all that well: the fans flock to see them! It is quite a different experience from CitiField. The access, parking, and facilities are woefully inadequate by today’s standards; I was able to make use of a restroom near our seats for people with disabilities and mothers with babies, but the boys had to walk up two flights of stairs just to relieve themselves. It was far from a beautiful day, rather gray and chilly, but every seat was taken. I guess the Red Sox has a very loyal fan base.
Be well, all.
Love,
Rebecca
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