New Year's...Ideas (with pictures!)
Plus, event next Tuesday, 1/16, at City of Asylum--virtual and in-person, 7pm
Our trip to Spain in the middle of December gave me some ideas that I hope to incorporate into how I live my life now that I’m back stateside and I decided to share them in this first newsletter of 2024. These aren’t so much New Year’s Resolutions as inspirations for living a more deliberate and joyful life. It’s easy to get down about the state of the world, but me being sad about Ukraine, or the Middle East, or hyper partisanship here in the U.S. does not do any good. I’m going to try and find joy where I can, while doing my best to make the world a better place.
Idea #1: Walk more
The street life in Madrid is legendary, even to Spaniards. Every time Arthur and I went out, groups of people were also out and about and the city was beautifully decorated for Christmas. I took the picture above on our first night in Madrid while walking down an ordinary street to a nearby restaurant. Walking was fun because it felt communal and there were always interesting things to see, whether restaurants, cafés, outdoor sculptures, Christmas Markets, or cool architecture lit up for the holiday. The crowds were friendly and I felt the joy of belonging despite being a tourist.
Here in Pittsburgh right now it’s rainy and cold, which makes it hard for me to commit to walking, and Pittsburgh doesn’t have Madrid’s fabulous Metro, so I’m dependent on the car. But I am trying! Taking the dog out every night counts, and I hope to make the idea of getting to nearby places on foot the default, rather than automatically assuming I will drive.
Idea #2: Take evenings off
Dinner in Madrid begins anywhere from 8-10pm, which sounds late, but we learned from Madrileños that the idea is to really enjoy the evening. No one eats quickly in order to get back to work as soon as possible after dinner. Also, going out for dinner includes drinking wine, talking, walking around a bit with friends. After my breast cancer treatment when I was on the drug Tamoxifen I couldn’t work at night because at that point in the day my brain felt like mush. I’ve tried to keep that habit, which seemed especially important during the pandemic, and seeing the people of Madrid thoroughly enjoy their evenings out—as Arthur and I do here with seafood paella—was lovely and felt important.
Health care is a 24/7 job that steeped me in the idea that every time is the right time for working. And we all have to work late sometimes. However, during Covid I really learned the value of relaxation and that there are also good times for not working. Pittsburgh does not have Madrid’s night life, but I can still take my evenings off.
Idea #3: Eat well (when possible)
In the old—Medieval—town of Toledo I had one of the best desserts I’ve ever had in my life: marzipan soufflé served with butterscotch ice-cream. This was the topper to a delicious dinner of wild boar(!) and perfectly cooked asparagus arranged in a lattice pattern on my plate. Now, I can’t afford to eat like that every day or even every week (though our meal wasn’t that expensive), and eating in a remodeled 16th century building with foot thick stone walls is probably impossible in the U.S., but eating well is still an important corollary to taking evenings off.
We had so many wonderful, creative meals in Madrid (along with seeing more ways to eat ham than I knew were possible). It was a reminder to me that food is so much more than fuel—it can also be a source of joy, not just on special occasions, but all the time. It wasn’t just the quality of the food, either, but how it was served. If I got a cappuccino in a café it came in a real cup, sometimes accompanied by a small cookie. We were never expected to eat with plastic silverware and the presentation of the food felt personal without being ostentatious. The people serving the food seemed to respect it and the idea of meals, and wanted Arthur and me to enjoy ourselves. Imagine that: En-joy—the joy is built in to the word.
Idea #4: Make art personal
This is a very famous painting by Velázquez. Arthur and I saw the original in the Prado Museum in Madrid and I can happily report that it’s fabulous. Around Madrid, 33 highly individual reproductions of “Las Meninas”—the ladies-in-waiting in the painting—have been set up to delight visitors and locals alike. It’s the 6th year in a row of the Las Meninas art project and I loved the many different sculptures we saw around the city. I’ve put in a pic of my favorite below. You can read more about the project here.
The idea is to give opportunities to up-and-coming artists and also to have fun with art in public spaces in Madrid. The statues are all the height of a more or less average adult and as such feel intimate while also clearly being works of art. I found the images inspiring and every time I found a new one I would feel a surge of happiness and cry out, “Las Meninas,” which made Arthur smile. There was also a giant-size “Las Meninas” in a walking park near the Prado. You can see me posed similarly in front of it in daylight. At night it was lit up beautifully.
Idea #5: Ponder the gray
In our polarized times, I try to be open to the gray as much as possible, and seeing Picasso’s painting Guernica in Madrid made me think hard about how challenging it can be to hold onto a sense of justice, and open mindedness, at the same time. I have always loved Picasso’s art, but in my twenties read Arianna Huffington’s book about him called Picasso: Creator and Destroyer that described how terribly he treated the women in his life. It turned me against him, especially because some of his paintings reflect those women’s emotional suffering and his need to have dominance over them. Huffington’s book came out in 1988, and this article in Commentary by Fernanda Eberstadt offers an interesting review of the book and a provocative discussion of Picasso’s life, if you’re interested.
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, where Guernica hangs in Madrid, has created a new exhibit around the painting called “Rethinking Guernica.” The exhibit depicts Franco’s rise to power in Spain and his installation of a fascist government. Picasso painted Guernica in response to Franco allowing the German and Italian air forces to bomb the Spanish town of Guernica in April 1937. The bombing destroyed the town, which was considered the seat of anti-Franco forces, and at that time was primarily populated by women and children. It’s hard to believe, but is nonetheless true that the embattled leader of Spain let two other countries, which also had fascist governments, deliver a devastating bombardment within Spain against a civilian population to meet his own political aims during the Spanish Civil War.
The exhibit explains how much Picasso hated Franco’s fascist regime, that he left Spain for France because he couldn’t stand living under Franco, and that he never returned to Spain because of Franco. Further, at Picasso’s insistence, Guernica was deliberately kept out of Spain until Franco was no longer in power and a democratic government had been installed. Guernica remains a strong statement against war and for years was considered a powerful protest against the the unjustness of Franco’s regime.
Picasso, then, was an acknowledged artistic genius, a patriot, a committed liberal at least as far as his own life and artwork were concerned, and a misogynist. The color all these things create together is gray. Guernica itself is black and white, reflecting the moral clarity that the bombing of Guernica elicits. But Picasso himself . . . despite being a great artist, he was a uniquely bad person, as the Commentary article I referenced earlier reports: “Picasso’s schemes to drive his dependents crazy met with signal success: both Dora Maar, once a proud and talented painter and photographer, and his first wife, the Russian ballerina Olga Kokhlova, went mad, as did Marie-Thérèse Walter whom he had scooped up at the age of seventeen and kept on a lifelong string. . . . [Picasso’s] grandson swallowed a pint of chlorine bleach; his son Paolo soon followed with cirrhosis of the liver; Marie-Thérèse Walter hanged herself; and his second wife Jacqueline blew her brains out.”
In response to this confusing combination of artistic talent, liberal political principles and personal cruelty, I could say we need to separate the artist from the art. I could say that artistic talent and personal morality make no claim on each other. I could on the other hand say that Picasso’s torturous treatment of his loved ones is unforgivable and compromises his entire oeuvre. I could on the other hand again say, “Art speaks for itself.” Instead, I’m pondering. And all my thinking has shown me that being open to the gray can be liberating and also like stepping into quicksand. As a result, I’m more aware of the importance of stepping thoughtfully and with care moving forward, especially as we head into what looks to be another crazy election year.
Final thoughts
They say travel broadens the mind, and in my case it was certainly true with this trip. My ideas could be summarized as: Move more, work less, eat better, look with joy, and think harder. Not bad exhortations to be musing on as a new year begins.
Have a thought on all this, or an idea of your own? Please share in the comments.
FREE City of Asylum event with Muhammad Zaman: In-Person and Virtual
I’m moderating another author event in Pittsburgh at City of Asylum on Tuesday, January 16 from 7-8:30pm. City of Asylum is on Pittsburgh’s Northside (where I live) and the address is: 40 W. North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
“Around the world, millions are forcibly displaced by conflict, climate change, and persecution. In a continuation of our Healthcare and Humanity Reading Series, City of Asylum welcomes author Muhammad Zaman to share his recently released work We Wait for a Miracle: Health Care and the Forcibly Displaced. In We Wait for a Miracle, Muhammad shares poignant stories across continents to highlight the health care experiences of refugees and forced migrants.”
The topic might seem like a downer, but the book is full of compassion and I found it eye-opening in the best way possible. Please join me next Tuesday for what is sure to be an enlightening discussion on health care, justice, and what it means to be a refugee!
Happy New Year!!!!
And of course, hugs,
Theresa
Theresa, this column was very different from your others, and it was delightful; it reminded me that you had an academic literary career prior to your pivot to Nursing, and it was a treat having you deconstruct Guernica and Picasso as you did. Your observation about the grayness of the artist in a global assessment is reminiscent of so much that we do in our personal and professional lives, as in the phrase “Hate the sin, love the sinner”. As a primary care doctor, that was my everyday mantra with many of the patients struggling with substance abuse, arrest and imprisonment issues, and other social determinants of health. After a while, you learn to be as judgement-free as humanely possible so you could do your job well.
Great column today, with much food for thought (no pun intended)...
Thank you ! I think earning a whole new field is what might keep us going . I also interviewed for an ICU position …. Was offered it after the fact … so might revisit that when I return .
It will be hard to leave the hubby and dogs :(