One day around the middle of last century I was nominated to run for class captain of 6B in my final year of primary school. I campaigned on a platform of NO HOMEWORK – EVER! but, in the end, was outflanked by Elizabeth Robinson, who’s proposal to replace the government sponsored supply of daily lukewarm milk with vanilla paddle-pops (FREE ICECREAM!!) was perceived by the electorate to be more fiscally responsible. I was nominated by my little football pals and I think, as a result, missed out on a large proportion of the all-important female vote.
Can it be more than a coincidence that my second nomination, which arrived only a few days ago, comes from the Bag Lady, who also goes under the name of Rugby843?
The requirements of the challenge are fairly self-explanatory. I must thank whoever nominated me (thank you My Dear, ) provide three separate quotations over the space of three days and nominate three new people to participate each day.
I have decided, on this occasion, to skip the last requirement, in memory of my first nomination way back in Miss Cleary’s class at Balgowlah Heights Primary. There will be no homework. You can read on without fear of obligation. But, by all means, feel free to join in with any quotation that may have meaning for you. I nominate no-one but I also nominate everyone.
I choose, on day one, a quotation from Henry Miller. Anyone who knows me well is aware that Mr Miller has been a strong influence in my life. He was introduced to me by my mother, but, if I must be honest, I was initially attracted to him in adolescence by his reputation for explicit sexual content. The truth is that there is more explicit sexual content in your average shampoo commercial these days but what I discovered in the likes of ‘The Tropic of Cancer’, ‘The Tropic of Capricorn’ and ‘The Rosy Crucifixion’ trilogy would alter my thinking for ever.
So here (after a little too much fanfare, perhaps) it is. Make of it what you will.
No one asks you to throw Mozart out of the window. Keep Mozart. Cherish him. Keep Moses too, and Buddha and Lao Tse and Christ. Keep them in your heart. But make room for the others, the coming ones, the ones who are already scratching on the window-panes.
HENRY MILLER, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945
