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Dinner last night was at a large round table which was one of Ms. Oka Doner’s sculpted pieces along with a concentrically round bench for us to sit on. Conversation during the three courses took place mainy between partners on one’s left and right. During dessert Fred Doner suggested we engage our guest author, Ms. Thurman, with some questions about herself.
She was first asked how she became a writer. Her mother, she told us, was an English instructor and had also once worked as a receptionist at The New Yorker, a magazine which she held in high esteem. Mother Thurman always encouraged daughter to write, even telling her that she would be a writer. She also served as an editor, teacher and taskmaster for the child developing as a writer. The mother’s awe and respect for writers and love for her child produced a dream come true. It also produced a skilled and prolific writer who, besides her books, has produced many articles, a famous screenplay, and pieces for The New Yorker.
Ms. Thurman also told us that she was fortunate to work for The New Yorker because of the magazine’s excellent fact-checking and editing staff. Asked if she felt that the rigorous editing hurt her style or her prose, she replied that it only helped make it more effective.
After discussing one of Ms. Thurman’s more memorable portraits -- on Teresa Heinz Kerry -- which she wrote for the magazine during the 2004 Presidential campaign, conversation at the dinner table moved into the realm of the current Presidential campaign, and more specifically another woman who was once wife of a candidate (and then a President) and is now running for the office herself.
Conversations about Senator Hillary Clinton, if they don’t dissolve into rancorous diatribes or exclamations of personal “hatred”, are never wholly admiring or even, for that matter, not always respectful (although last night’s table conversation was that). Last night’s talk about Hillary ran both pro and con but any loathing or rancor, if it even existed among the guests, went unexpressed.
During the conversation about the history of Ms. Thurman’s professional life as a writer, obviously one marked by notable success, she admitted that no matter how much she has written, she often had doubts about her own abilities as a writer.
It was one of those evenings which is rare for most of us where the conversation was serious, thought-provoking and enlightening. The Oka Doners’ living space was a perfect complement for Judith Thurman’s presence and sharing, and all of us left the evening with a sense of gravity and even a small dose of well-being (and renewed appreciation of loving mothers who encourage their children to read and write).
Last night in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra hosted a musical tribute to Leonard Bernstein. From the early years of the Palestine Orchestra, through the orchestra's remarkable development, the composer/maestro (always referred to as Lenny by his many friends) played an important role as conductor, promoter, and advocate for the musicians of the IPO. Last night they celebrated the beginning of Lenny's 90th birthday by playing some of his music (and learning more about Lenny from his daughter, Jamie Bernstein) from Candide, Wonderful Town, On The Town, West Side Story, and ending with a special tribute from Tony Bennett. |
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