Author: Joe White

Subbed at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church this morning for Sampy Wall. They had seven infants baptized at the 11am service. When the Rev. Nutter asked if anyone else was interested in joining them, a girl of about 12 or so stepped forward and said she would like to be baptized. When he asked her why, she replied that she wanted God to be always with her.

It made me feel really good to see her get baptizied this morning. I believe God is with each and every one of us, whether we acknowledge Him or not, whether we realize it or not.

The Bach Choir performed a song two years ago by Michael Horvitz, Even When God is Silent, the text of which came from a poem written on a basement wall in Germany by someone hiding from the Gestapo:

I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
I believe in love, even when feeling it not.
I believe in God, even when God is silent.

(Our recording of it from the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in 2001)

I’ll be the first one to admit that I have been extremely blessed in my life. I have been given many talents, parents and a brother whom I couldn’t have chosen any better, friends who are kind, caring, and supportive, the list goes on and on. But even with all these advantages I still experience periods of questioning and doubt when things don’t go as I hope or I meet with obstacles or disappointment. But deep down I do know that He is there. Another one of my favorite quotes, from de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America:


I cannot believe that the Creator made man to leave him in an endless
struggle with the intellectual wretchedness that surrounds us.
[…]
I am ignorant of His designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them
because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather mistrust my own capacity
than His justice.

The installer scheduler, Terry, called me on Monday asking me to let him know when my package arrived, and we could then schedule the installation. Thebox from Direct Satellite arrived on time on Wednesday, so I called him up and he said he’d have a guy over in the morning, so I rearranged my clients so I could be there in the AM.
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Costanza and I stopped at Starbucks on the way to the funeral, since neither of us really knew what we were in for. The first part was held in a mosque in a converted church gym (or so it looked) in Patterson. There were seperate entrances for men and women, but both led to the same big room, with a divider down the middle. There was a tape of a muzzein playing, and men seated on floor all around the perimeter. I knew no one, since Eb and all his brothers were downstairs washing the body, and Costanza, his mother, his sister and sisters-in-law were all on the other side of the divider.
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Met M?ire O’Brien at the coffee shop across the street from the Met, visited for a bit, then went joined her husband Mark and their friend Alice to hear her friend Michael Forest sing Borsa in a dress rehearsal of Rigoletto. The sets were outstanding, the costumes sumptuous, the lighting a bit dark, but the staging was atrocious. The chorus anchored themselves to their respective spots a full minute before they started singing; half of them looked as they they had never been on a stage before in their life. In Act II when the guard are leading Monterone away, the sargeant yells “make way”…to no one, since Rigoletto and Gilda have hidden themselves, and no on else is in the room. But Juan Pons sounded fabulous, and I liked the guy who sang the Duke as well, although he sounded like he was tired or fighting a cold at times.

Mark took Alice to the airport after the first act, and Michael joined us in the audience for the third act. After the show he went back to get notes, and M?ire and I had a late lunch at a Chinese place north of Lincoln Center…of course, I *had* to order a dish with a name like Mysterious Chicken, I had no choice! We chatted for a long time, then we took the crosstown bus back to the east side; she continued on home, and I gathered up my stuff at Eb’s and got his mail and headed down to Jersey.

Eb picked me up at the Metro Park station, having just gotten his brothers Hossein and Ali at the airport. Everybody else was already at the house except for Kim, Ahmad’s wife, whose flight got in a bit later. We talked and commiserated a while, then Eb’s girlfriend Costanza came and got me and I crashed at her place (since the house was packed). She got her new car (Audi A4) just a few hours before Eb got his Acura, and her quick decisionmaking I think helped spur Eb to action, since he had been shopping for months.

Got up New Year’s Day and went to the Baglery at 30th and 3rd. The Times had had an article on Tuesday about best old-style bagels in town, and this was one of the three places mentioned. There was a long line, but most were doing take-out and I got a table inside. It was good, but really not all that much better than the fare at Einstein Brothers.

Wandered over to Lincoln Center to see if there were any return tickets for Henry IV. There were only about six other people in line at the time (1:45), so since I had my book, I decided to wait. I ended up getting a ticket in the balcony. While waiting for them to open the auditorium, I kept thinking the girl at the souvenir counter looked familiar. I went up to her and we played the ‘where do we know each other from’ game for about ten minutes, then figured out I met her, Abby Seible, when I was subbing at St. Martin’s this summer, right before she moved up to NYC.

The play itself was spectacular. All the performances were strong, but Kevin Kline as Falstaff especially stood out. The set had all these pieces that slid in and out and worked very well. At one point a bunch of hay was dropped from the ceiling before a scene in a stable, and the smell wafting through the theater really helped set it…just glad they didn’t go for more realism. 😉

After the show I had a voicemail from M?ire O’Brien, asking if I’d like to go see a dress rehearsal at the Met the next day. You can guess my answer. I talked with Eb, and he asked if I could stay for the funeral on Saturday, so I called Continental and got my flight changed from Friday evening to Sunday morning. I had dinner at Peter’s Diner on 3rd at 52nd, I think. Gyros platter was good, but just three strips of meat? I’ll stick to Bibas, thanks.