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Showing posts with label Betty MacDonald's great work and unique personality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betty MacDonald's great work and unique personality. Show all posts
Betty
MacDonald fan Club honor member, artist and writer Letizia Mancino
shares her delightful story THE SECOND PARADISE.
Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Mary Holmes did such a great job in translating THE SECOND PARADISE.
Thanks a million dearest Mary.
We are really very grateful. I'm one of Letizia
Maninco's many devoted fans.
Letizia Mancino sent this connecting piece to " The Second Paradise".
Yours,
Anita & Eartha Kitt II
DEFIANT AS A COCK
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino translated by Mary Holmes All rights reserved
That
was how my friend Hilde Domin was, dear Betty! You would have liked her
so much. She had also been in America. At that time you were a famous
author but she was still unknown.
-Did she love cats like you do?
-Yes Betty, she sure did!! Otherwise how do you think she could have been a friend of mine?
-Oh Letizia, don’t boast! Hilde was famous!
-It’s all the same to me, Betty, whether a person is famous or not but that person must love animals
-Why was she as defiant as a cock?
-Well Betty, she was simply so!
-Like a pregnant woman in my “Egg and I”?
-No not so! Betty, Hilde was a whole farm!
- A farm, how was that?
- No Betty, Hilde was more! Almost a zoo! Even more. She was all the animals in the world!
-You loved her very much.
-As I love all animals. You Betty, if I had known you, I would have loved you exactly so because you loved animals.
-But as defiant as a cock from my Bob-farm!
-Yes
and no! (Hilde really loved this double form of answer). Listen Betty ,
I’ll tell you a story about how Hilde was. You would certainly have
loved her. I’ll call my story “The Second Paradise”.
THE SECOND PARADISE
Copyright 2011/2016 by Letizia Mancino translated by Mary Holmes
All rights reserved
The Lord God, one day, met Adam in Paradise and saw him lying under a palm.
And God spoke to him: Adam, my son, are you happy, are you content with Paradise ?
Adam answered: Oh Lord, it is wonderful!
And God said: But I will create a second Paradise and give you a wife.
Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful!
And God said: I will create the wife according to your wishes.
And Adam stood under the palm and thought hard.
And God said: Adam, are you ready?
Adam
answered: My wife should be as lively as a bird but she should not fly.
She should swim like a goldfish but not be a fish….. She should be as
playful as a cat but not catch mice….. She should be as busy as an ant
but not so small.
And God said: So shall she be: Like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant…
Adam answered: Oh Lord, that is wonderful, but she should be as faithful as a dog.
And God asked: Adam, have you finished?
Oh Lord, cried Adam. She should also be as delightful and gentle as a lamb and as defiant as a cock!
….She should be as curious as a monkey and as pampered as a lapdog.
And God said: So shall she be.
And Adam said: My wife should be as courageous as a lion and as headstrong as a goat…
And
God said: So, like a bird, a goldfish, a cat, an ant, a dog, a lamb, a
cock, a monkey, a lapdog, a lion, a goat… and slowly and surely he
wished to begin creating…
But Adam stretched himself under the palm and called:
Lord, Lord, she should be as adaptable as a chameleon but not creep on four feet.
She should have sparkling eyes like, like… real diamonds. She should be as fiery as a volcano
But … she should have crystal-clear thoughts like a mountain spring.
God, the Almighty, was speechless…
And Adam spoke: Also she should be as quick as lightening…
And God said: Man, have you finished????
No, said Adam! She should be as strong as a horse, as long living as an elephant but as light as a butterfly!
God
found Adam’s thoughts were good and said: So, bird, goldfish, cat, ant,
dog, lamb, cock, monkey, lapdog, lion, goat, chameleon, genuine
diamonds, volcano, mountain spring, lightening, horse, elephant….
butterfly…
God wished at last to begin creating her…
Lord, called Adam… she should be as stable as steel, but as sweet as three graceful women in one…
And God asked: Should she also be a poet?
Yes, called Adam from under the palm…
And God said: Adam have you finished?
Lord, I wish that, in the second Paradise I shall be one and doubled:
So God according to Adams last words created:
HILDE PALM DOMIN
Very best wishes
Letizia Mancino
Donald Trump Courts Wary Jewish Voters
Donald J. Trump at a primary
night event in Manchester, N.H., last month with his family, including
his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, third from right.
Ivanka converted to Judaism after meeting her husband.Credit
Damon Winter/The New York Times
On paper, Donald J. Trump is the last candidate one would expect to raise eyebrows within the Jewish community.
He
is from the city with the country’s largest Jewish population, and he
made his fortune working among the Jewish machers in New York’s real
estate industry. His Palm Beach club, Mar-a-Lago, was effectively
marketed as a Jewish alternative to the town’s private clubs that had
historically excluded Jews. His daughter Ivanka married an Orthodox Jew
and converted. He endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister of
Israel. (“Terrific guy, terrific leader.”)
And yet when he takes the stage on Monday at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the influential lobbying group known as Aipac, he will be facing a wary crowd.
Mr.
Trump’s ostentatious disregard for the sensitivities of various
religious and ethnic groups has hit a nerve among Jewish organizations,
inspiring a barrage of denunciations from across the ideological
spectrum. They cringed at his trafficking in Jewish stereotypes and
recoiled when he hesitated before denouncing David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan figure.
Many
Jews have said Mr. Trump’s comments about Muslims reminded them of when
they had been singled out, and a group of rabbis said last week that it
would walk out
of his Aipac speech in protest. “What we’ve learned from our history is
that we can’t stand idly by when a leader says those things,” said
Rabbi Jesse M. Olitzky of South Orange, N.J., one of those who plan to
eject themselves.
Mr.
Trump also stumbled when he waded into one of America’s most charged
foreign policy issues, promising to remain a “neutral” broker between
Israelis and Palestinians.
For the many Jews who side with Israel in its dealings with Palestinians
— a number of whom are Aipac members — “that was like fingernails
across the chalkboard,” said Ari Fleischer, the former spokesman for
President George W. Bush. Mr. Trump later modified his position to be
more pro-Israel, but his wavering left many unconvinced.
So
while Mr. Trump has proved to be a master salesman at rallies and
debates, the crowd he is addressing on Monday, a leery group looking for
meaningful specifics, may be his toughest sell yet.
Mr. Trump’s Palm Beach club,
Mar-a-Lago, was marketed as a Jewish alternative to the town’s private
clubs that had historically excluded Jews.Credit
Eric Thayer for The New York Times
“He’s
said a variety of things over the years, much of it favorable to
Israel, much of it ambiguous more recently,” said Josh Block, a former
Aipac spokesman who now runs a pro-Israel nonprofit in Washington. “The
speech is an important opportunity for this audience to hear what he
really thinks on these issues that matter a great deal.”
As
has often been the case with Mr. Trump’s campaign, it is unclear how
much the revulsion over his comments and behavior matters in the voting
booth. Little data exist on Jewish attitudes toward Mr. Trump, and
because most American Jews are Democrats, they will not have a chance to
weigh in on him unless he becomes the Republican nominee.
Bruce
Balsam, 59, who was walking into Sabbath services on Friday at Temple
Emanu-El, the stately synagogue a few blocks north of Trump Tower on
Fifth Avenue, said Mr. Trump’s shifting position on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict “really disturbs me.” But, he added, “I’d
want to hear more about that.”
He
said he considered Mr. Trump’s take on national security and Muslim
immigration to be more “anti-Islamic” than “presidential,” but agreed
that caution needed to be taken. “People who are coming from certain
parts of the world, where anti-American sentiments are high, we should
be highly cautious of,” Mr. Balsam said.
Mr.
Balsam pointed to Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest Jewish
institutions in the world, as an example. “You have armed guards
outside,” he said, gesturing toward the New York Police Department’s
counterterrorism officers, who are frequently stationed at the
synagogue. “You have armed guards inside.”
Hope
Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said Mr. Trump “looks
forward to speaking to a group whom he has tremendous respect for.”
“Mr.
Trump has said, as president, there will be no one stronger on
Israeli-American relations than him, and his consistent support and
advocacy for Israel over many years is proof of this,” she said.
“Additionally, Mr. Trump is the only candidate to speak with clarity
about the deadly threat of radical Islam. ISIS and other Islamic terror
groups cannot be defeated if we are politically correct.”
That
Mr. Trump has found himself in the position of having to defend his
pro-Israel credentials is something of a surprise, given his history. He
has been honored by a variety of Jewish groups over the years, and, as
he likes to point out, once served as grand marshal of the Salute to
Israel Parade in Manhattan. He has also flirted with licensing a Trump
Tower in Israel.
Mr. Trump speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington in December.Credit
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Mr.
Trump has joked in the past that people assume he is Jewish because he
owns so many buildings in New York. He has even claimed to be the victim
of anti-Semitism.
In
the 1990s, he accused the Palm Beach, Fla., government of blocking his
efforts to open Mar-a-Lago because the club was going to be open to
Jews. He went so far as to send the Town Council copies of the 1947 film
“Gentleman’s Agreement,” about a journalist who poses as a Jew in order to expose anti-Semitism.
When
the Anti-Defamation League objected to Mr. Trump’s characterization of
his treatment, he summoned its national director, Abraham Foxman, to
breakfast at the Plaza Hotel to complain. Mr. Trump did not apologize,
though he did agree to stop claiming anti-Semitism and instead use the
more general term of discrimination, Mr. Foxman recalled.
“I’m a negotiator, like you folks,” he told the crowd. He then criticized President Obama’s nuclear deal
with Iran, a deal opposed by many American Jews and Mr. Netanyahu. “Is
there anybody that doesn’t renegotiate deals in this room?” Mr. Trump
asked. “Perhaps more than any other room I’ve ever spoken in.”
Mr.
Trump was widely criticized for the remark, but inside the room he was
met mostly with laughs. “I thought it was kind of lightly phrased,” said
Kenneth Bialkin, who was in the audience. “He knew he was in a Jewish
environment.”
The
jeers came from the group when Mr. Trump declined to commit to
Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. That, coupled with
comments he has made about remaining neutral, worried some pro-Israel
Jews, who were not necessarily mollified by Mr. Trump’s subsequent
claims that he is “Israel’s biggest friend.”
“Israel
benefits from a strong, consistent, reliable America,” said William
Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, who has been one of Mr.
Trump’s most vocal conservative critics. “I don’t think that would be
Trump’s America.”
Virtually
no one thinks Mr. Trump is anti-Semitic, and the invitation from Aipac
is a sign that the group is open to hearing what he has to say. Three of
the other four major presidential candidates are also addressing the
conference, being held in Washington; only Senator Bernie Sanders
declined to attend, saying he was going to spend the day campaigning in
the West.
Notably,
Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and a major donor to Republican and
Israeli causes, said recently that he would back Mr. Trump if he were
the nominee, and a newspaper that he owns, Israel Hayom, has written favorably about Mr. Trump.
But
there is still concern about Mr. Trump’s behavior, which if not
anti-Semitic is at least seen by many Jews as overly accommodating of
bigotry. “The way he dillydallied with David Duke basically sent a
message that was perceived by many in the Jewish community as he’s
looking for any votes he can get from the hard right,” said Alan M. Dershowitz, the defense lawyer.
To
Mr. Dershowitz, the problem is not simply Mr. Trump; it is the white
supremacists who have rallied around his candidacy. “It’s quite
frightening to see who supports him,” he said.
Ms.
Hicks, the campaign spokeswoman, said Mr. Trump had “disavowed David
Duke and continues to strongly condemn any groups that share those
hateful views.”
And
for all of his critics in the Jewish world, Mr. Trump also has his
supporters, including Sid Dinerstein, the former chairman of the Palm
Beach County Republican Party in Florida.
“Donald Trump’s
relationship with Israel and the Jews is beyond fabulous,” Mr.
Dinerstein said, noting that his wife displayed a Trump bumper sticker
on the dashboard of her Mercedes-Benz.
Mr.
Dinerstein said he trusted Mr. Trump to negotiate good deals for Israel
— “he only negotiates from strength, he doesn’t know anything else” —
and to make sure that America “doesn’t get pushed around.”
He
and his wife are hardly the lone Trump supporters in their
predominantly Jewish community, he said, though not everyone is
outspoken about it.
“Sometimes
people come over to me and quietly say, ‘Sid, I never thought I would
say this, but I’m voting for Trump,’” Mr. Dinerstein said. “And I say,
‘Everybody says that.’ ”
Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.
