Christinglish

"Fiddle-dee-dee!" cried .... Pansy?!

What if?! Can you imagine if Margaret Mitchell had stuck with her original plan and named her headstrong heroine "Pansy"??! A Gone With The Wind devotee since girlhood (I read the 1,036 page library book in four days when I was in third or fourth grade, then turned around and read it in three days to match my best friend/competitive nemesis Lisa Susanka's reading time: also an avid reader, Lisa TORE through the book after I'd given it such good press: she might've read it faster, but I read it FIRST!), I was delighted to discover on today's edition of Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" that, on this day in 1936--when my mother, who introduced me to GWTW, was a few weeks shy of her first birthday--Gone With the Wind was first published. My mom's other early book/movie legacies included Dr. Zhivago (ah, Yuri), Wuthering Heights (sigh, Heathcliff), and Giant (mmm, Bic and oh you, Jett!). And of course, her girlhood copies (circa 1930s) of the Nancy Drew and Pollyanna serials. Thanks, Mom!

Mitchell's sloppily presented GWTW draft also had a different title: Tomorrow is Another Day (for obvious reasons, if you know Scarlett and her train of thinking). Read about it yourself, here (and while you're visiting, I suggest you also read lovely poem/prayer that kicks off Garrison's monologue; and if you've never LISTENED to his learned musings, I urge you to do yourself a favor and check out the podcast version: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2008/06/30). As Garrison intones: Be well; stay safe; and be in touch. And as Wills would say, I must away. But wanted first to note this very special day in the life of literature and cinema--two of the things that most inflame me!

P.S. Daughter Veronica, who is Scarlett's 21st century incarnation (though I had to work on her for YEARS before she'd read and then watch GWTW, stubbornly resisting because "I don't like war stories": she finally capitulated last year and caught GWTW fever, BIG time), helped me find some GWTW book/movie quotes this eve, in honor of this very momentous occasion in publishing: www.imdb.com/quotes. I especially like Rhett's line to Scarlett that she needs to be kissed often, and by someone who knows how (photos, here: http://us.imdb.com/media/rm3864041728/ch0006054). Mmm, Rhett, is it just me or is it hot in here? I don't just love you cuz you're a dashing blockade runner with a rakish air and a tender heart. But we won't think about that now: We'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day....

Limaids

Limaids
Originally uploaded by Christinglish

OK, here's the start of the photo deluge I promised back in Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis. Only it's more of a trickle. But remember: I'm still learnin', here. While I love to write and am eager to share and wish I coud rocket into the blogosphere at warp speed, my techno/geek skills could use an energy drink. An Eddie Izzard comedy gig springs to mind: This is me, to a T. (Seriously, WATCH it: You. Will. Roll.)

Back to posted pic (click to enlarge): Front and center, that's my little grad--and I do mean "little," measuring in at a diminutive five feet. But don't let size fool you, this wee lassie is a dynamo. Little but learned, is my Lipchick...! (Remember, Li, you have the opportunity to rebut: Comment, away.)

More pix from the big day to follow. (Sorry you didn't make the first cut, Collin, but I'm still learning how to manage photos in online photosharing program Flikr; you and other Lisi Legionnaires and Portillo Posses will be featured here just as soon as I learn how to deal with photos en masse.).

"It's May, it's May! The lusty month of May..."

Thanks for commenting on my recent post, Collin, and welcome to my little slice of the blogosphere: you have joined a small but elite force of Christinglers! The UT seal document you point to is interesting and informative (and I always LOVE to read about style guidelines, having been a style guide writer in a former incarnation), but it seems to be borderline "classified": something one might exchange in an unmarked envelope whilst huddled on a remote park bench, wrapped in an anonymous trench coat and peering out from beneath a wide-brimmed fedora (now writing in my Carmen San Diego/Nancy Drew/"I'll be the girl behind the potted palm" incarnations).

All this talk of former/multiple incarnations reminds me of two movies that captivated me in my youth: the frothy "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," starring a fresh young Babs Streisand in a flattering asymetrical bob and a smashing '70s wardrobe, and a trim, hirsute Jack Nicholson; and the darker "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud," starring the lovely Jennifer O'Neill and Margot Kidder alongside Kevin McHale-lookalike Michael Sarrazin. Had a deep crush on Michael Sarrazin and the deep crease between his eyes for a time, there.

Interesting: A second intense schoolgirl crush was on James Drury, another darkhaired brooder with telltale eyebrows and etched forehead wrinkles who starred on TV as The Virginian and had a bit part as pretty-but-secondary character Nancy's love interest in another girlhood fave, "Pollyanna," starring the inimitable Hayley Mills (in a single role, this time: other fave movie starring HM was what else but the original "The Parent Trap": remember her granny panties in the party frock cut-out scene?). I've always said if I were able to live in another time--there's that reincarnation thing, again!--it would be 1913. I think it was the beautiful, unrushed simplicity of that time as depicted in Pollyanna (remember the fishing booth and Polly falling out of the tree, anyone? careful: you're showing your age!) that captivates me. Or maybe it was James Drury and those dreamy brows.

As we close (and we must, having broken the blogger's rule of K.I.S.S. ("Keep it short, Simpleton!"), I must 'splain the title of this post: song lyrics from ANOTHER fave movie of my childhood, "Camelot," the soundtrack of which my mother Catherine would blare summers as we kids slammed in and out of the front porch door of the house on Lee Street, Portland Oregon, in the halcyon days of my youth. Besides, there's only one more day this month I could've used that post title. And nice that I also was able to throw in "the halcyon days of my youth": I have ALWAYS wanted to say that. Come to think of it, perhaps I have....

Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis

While I can't offer a direct translation of this Latin phrase without delving into an online translation service (though I'm guessing discipline, civic-mindedness, and mutual support may figure), I can report with boundless maternal pride that eldest daughter Elyse Nicole Portillo graduated with "high honors" beneath an emblem bearing that motto at the University of Texas, Saturday last. Still beaming with pride, I can attest that Elyse truly embraced and embodied that motto and enjoyed a richly engaging experience as Longhorn, Phi Lamb, Spirit, volunteer, nanny, teacher, honors student, and Austinite. What a great town, that!

Anon, news of Elyse's 11th-hour decision to attend Baylor College of Medicine in Houston over Pritzker College of Medicine at the University of Chicago (regrettably depriving me of the op to repeatedly ask the rhetorical question, "Who put the 'chic' in Chicago?" Why, Elyse, of course!). But first, let me leave you with a few pix of Elyse's day in the sun--ha, assuming I can figure out how to do that! And once I learn how to use the online photosharing service flikr, I'll be able to share beaucoups pix: Be prepared. Be very prepared.

[...much later that same spring...]

So we (that's "the imperial we") didn't exactly get off to a warp speed start. This is my maiden blog, and there was much to learn--most of it, at the knee of my chivalrous, generous, and above all patientous blog mentor, Javier Avellan. Just as soon as I figure out how, I'm going to give Javier a proper shout out (ouch, do they still say that?). Meanwhile, if you wander over to Raindrops on Roses (where I'll be sharing a few of my favorite things), you'll find Javier's blog. And speaking of Roses, "I must away" as Wills might say: Raoul and I are headed up to Austin momentarily to collect the lovely Veronica Rose, fresh off her freshman year at UT. More on Veronica (who christened "christinglish"!) and Elyse (who along with friends Joanna Q and Krista D were its earliest and most enthusiastic proponents: remember "I'll put in on my blog!" ladies?!) and other christingles, mas tardes. For now: Ciao!

And then there's that...

"That."

And with that, a blog is born.