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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (con’d)

I recall once hearing the theme from ‘Exodus’ in a dream from which I awoke in sobs. The version I had heard could have been either of the two that were popular in 1961. Most stirring was the instrumental–– with the dual pianos of Ferrante &Teicher. It was stunning in stereo. The other was a…
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Q. Notes on Exodus and Exile (intro.)
Introduction: In April 2022, on the final day of a guided tour of Jordan, my wife and I looked down over the Jordan Valley from Mount Nebo. In the bible, the area was referred to as the land of Moab. The 800-metre hill, just a few kilometers east of the present Israeli border, was believed…
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X. A Few Tributes (con’d)

In subsequent letters, I tried not to be judgmental about the misadventures Satsuki reported. I offered sympathy and advice without specific promises of help. Usually, I wrote her on the same nights I penned a batch of other letters to friends and acquaintances. On some of those nights, I was admittedly maudlin from a few…
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X. A Few Tributes (intro.)
Introduction: It would be a better world in which final farewells could be bitter-sweetly ceremonial as in the Scots-Irish ballad, ‘The Parting Glass’: But since it fell into my lotThat I should rise and you should notI’ll gently rise and softly callGood night and joy be to you all But they very seldom are. As one…
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U. A Few Close Calls (con’d)

She introduced herself as Betty, a nurse, back on vacation from Hamburg where she lived with her German boyfriend. From the barstool beside over the following hour, Betty spoke of growing up in the tightknit ‘coloured’ neighbourhood of Arcadia, in then Salisbury, Rhodesia. She said she had hardly recognized her home in returning for her…
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U. A Few Close Calls (intro.)
Introduction: No one makes it to old age without having close-calls. In the scale of night-terrors, mine do not match those of some of my old friends. I have not passed out drunk at the wheel nor have I woken up startled after months in a coma… As with most males, many of my most-hair-raising…