A childhood year living in a medieval Italian city has haunted – in a friendly way – all of the other places I've ever lived. Part 2 of II. (4 minute read)
Every thing you write has a new flavor, a new nuance, a new Adam. Who could have anticipated this quiet, reflective, dream-like you in The 4th Pip, or with Tippi? OK maybe in the Camino episodes, but this has an entirely different flavor. Well done, so many really lovely images and moments.
Thank you for paying attention. 🙏 I wrote it over fifteen years ago, and I thought, you know what, I can write-write. But only about three people ever read it. It's been a lonely voyage, but a productive one. I have a backlog, but I don't want to scare everyone away either. 🤣
Love following you through this beautiful 2nd part, and all along the way seeing, feeling, wondering---and at last, the certain knowing.
Everything you chose to reveal took me into a kind of quick awareness, back and forth, of my own loved ones & quick glimpses of moments with my own chance strangers.
Toni, thank you so much. That's exactly what I want someone to feel. (It's what I felt writing it, and you don't want to be alone with that feeling. The irony of that observation and the material itself, is not lost on me.)
I've been waiting to immerse myself in this second act because my mind was too busy and my hands were too busy, and I didn't want that to rob even a breath of its telling or meaning. Finally, tonight there was room within the encroaching quiet to listen and hear. What you somehow know how to do with words is simply wonderful. A gift. I thank you.
I was telling my wife and daughter about your film this morning and they said that’s like one of your posts. (It is.) It’s too long to drag you through the whole thing, but if you read after the first asterisk you’ll see why. Selecting what save from one’s life has been a lifelong topic for me. If you’re so inclined….
If you know Hudson there is a huge chance you’ve navigated that very stairwell. Restaurant whose name I can’t remember right on the “high street.” (My wife is English. 😝 I know all the secret lingo that’s she been willing to reveal to me. Her parents are in Devon. She grew up in the Midlands.)
But I met her in 1991 when I was her waiter at a Beverly Hills restaurant called Maple Drive. Perhaps you remember it. I spent 1989-1992 in LA and after grad school back in NYC we returned to Santa Monica from 1994-1999. We lived in the Santa Monica gang war zone of 18th St. Right next to the college. I had a small company at MGM Plaza across from the Water Garden. We spent far too much time on the Promenade.
We love Cobble Hill. The city proper is just too intense now, but Brooklyn just by the city is about right. Longer term trajectory is probably UK.
This is turning into quite the travelogue. So, I’ll wrap with the fact that we’re with friends in Woodstock this AM. I’ve never been. Had the PERFECT welcome here by an old, toothless, scraggly headed homeless ex-hippie who …. …. Knew my name. Yeah. “Adam! Adam!” I was like wtf! How does this guy know my name. Is he talking to someone else? Nope. He was talking to me. It was a magic trick.
As I approached him, I heard my friends calling out Adam from behind him and he was just having laugh imitating them. Welcome to Woodstock.
I’m guessing you’ve been here, too. 😂
Radiohead is pantheon for me. I would want to be an honorary one minute membership in the band the way some people want to step on Mars.
Separately, I've written about why being seven years old was so critical to me. Not surprisingly, it's one of the most personally important things I've ever written. Possibly that year is critical to all of us as self-awareness starts to really bloom. "Show me the seven-year-old, and I'll show you the man" is the quote (not from me). Yes, you're exactly right.
I will see that film, because it's right up my alley. Thank you for the recommendation.
Every thing you write has a new flavor, a new nuance, a new Adam. Who could have anticipated this quiet, reflective, dream-like you in The 4th Pip, or with Tippi? OK maybe in the Camino episodes, but this has an entirely different flavor. Well done, so many really lovely images and moments.
Thank you for paying attention. 🙏 I wrote it over fifteen years ago, and I thought, you know what, I can write-write. But only about three people ever read it. It's been a lonely voyage, but a productive one. I have a backlog, but I don't want to scare everyone away either. 🤣
Looking forward to it - I'm easily startled, but not easily scared. 👻
👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Love following you through this beautiful 2nd part, and all along the way seeing, feeling, wondering---and at last, the certain knowing.
Everything you chose to reveal took me into a kind of quick awareness, back and forth, of my own loved ones & quick glimpses of moments with my own chance strangers.
Sensitive and kinda magnificent...thank you.
Toni, thank you so much. That's exactly what I want someone to feel. (It's what I felt writing it, and you don't want to be alone with that feeling. The irony of that observation and the material itself, is not lost on me.)
Beautiful part 11 on time passing and the heart remembers ...
🙏
I've been waiting to immerse myself in this second act because my mind was too busy and my hands were too busy, and I didn't want that to rob even a breath of its telling or meaning. Finally, tonight there was room within the encroaching quiet to listen and hear. What you somehow know how to do with words is simply wonderful. A gift. I thank you.
Thank you, David. Your words are a significant support for me. 🙏
This is just unfathomably beautiful
🙏
Stunned, again. I found a word to share this time: Transcendent.
I was telling my wife and daughter about your film this morning and they said that’s like one of your posts. (It is.) It’s too long to drag you through the whole thing, but if you read after the first asterisk you’ll see why. Selecting what save from one’s life has been a lifelong topic for me. If you’re so inclined….
https://www.adamnathan.com/p/requiem-for-the-pandemic-stella-blue
So much to unpack here and I’m trying to get my Pips in formation at the moment so I’m coming back to this later. 😂
If you know Hudson there is a huge chance you’ve navigated that very stairwell. Restaurant whose name I can’t remember right on the “high street.” (My wife is English. 😝 I know all the secret lingo that’s she been willing to reveal to me. Her parents are in Devon. She grew up in the Midlands.)
But I met her in 1991 when I was her waiter at a Beverly Hills restaurant called Maple Drive. Perhaps you remember it. I spent 1989-1992 in LA and after grad school back in NYC we returned to Santa Monica from 1994-1999. We lived in the Santa Monica gang war zone of 18th St. Right next to the college. I had a small company at MGM Plaza across from the Water Garden. We spent far too much time on the Promenade.
We love Cobble Hill. The city proper is just too intense now, but Brooklyn just by the city is about right. Longer term trajectory is probably UK.
This is turning into quite the travelogue. So, I’ll wrap with the fact that we’re with friends in Woodstock this AM. I’ve never been. Had the PERFECT welcome here by an old, toothless, scraggly headed homeless ex-hippie who …. …. Knew my name. Yeah. “Adam! Adam!” I was like wtf! How does this guy know my name. Is he talking to someone else? Nope. He was talking to me. It was a magic trick.
As I approached him, I heard my friends calling out Adam from behind him and he was just having laugh imitating them. Welcome to Woodstock.
I’m guessing you’ve been here, too. 😂
Radiohead is pantheon for me. I would want to be an honorary one minute membership in the band the way some people want to step on Mars.
It was my year. You're exactly right.
Separately, I've written about why being seven years old was so critical to me. Not surprisingly, it's one of the most personally important things I've ever written. Possibly that year is critical to all of us as self-awareness starts to really bloom. "Show me the seven-year-old, and I'll show you the man" is the quote (not from me). Yes, you're exactly right.
I will see that film, because it's right up my alley. Thank you for the recommendation.