President Macron

Written and read for you by Muriel Murch with WSM by my side

“The next time you do this lady, you’re going downtown.” He was big, beefy and, even from behind his counter desk, threatening, as he leaned forward into my space. Was it my space? The flight back to San Francisco had been full and fraught. Wearing my very nice Irish tweed suit (How I wish I could fit into it now) and my pearls, was usually enough to let me sail through customs and immigration when returning to the United States. Since 2000, I had been commuting back and forth to England taking care of my mother as best I could as Congestive Heart Failure quietly worked its way, taking its toll, through her body. She never complained about the distresses and frustrations and even fear it caused her through the three plus years of her illness. But this was 2003, two years after 9/11 and the ante had been upped. I was shaken as he slapped my green card and English passport down on the counter and passed them back to me. I hurried away from this glowering man in his booth before he had beckoned the next person standing in line forward for his scrutiny.

Soon after, I was safely back on the farm a close neighbor stopped by. I was still so shaken I told him, I was telling everyone, what had happened. And he replied,

“Bill’s sister works in Washington. Would you like me to ask him to ask her what is going on?”

“Yes please,” I replied. He left shortly and it was only two hours later that he phoned me back. The advice from Washington was:

“Have her do her paperwork now. It is only going to get worse”. I heeded her advice reluctantly and over the next two years finished the required paperwork and took my tests, before finally stepping into the Hall of Justice in San Fransisco to stand and swear. It was a sobering moment, not only for me and hundreds of others, but watching those young people in military uniforms finally reaping the rewards of their service.

NAS SIGONELLA (July 20, 2010) – Candidates for American citizenship representing eight countries, raise their right hand and recite the Oath of Allegiance during a citizenship ceremony held here July 20. Eleven candidates participated in the ceremony to become U.S. Citizens. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Erica R. Gardner/RELEASED).

Our daughter Beatrice took her work break to meet me and, over a sort of celebratory lunch, helped me fill in my voter registration papers. Now I could vote, and, as importantly, protest the death penalty outside of prisons without fear of deportation. I can count myself among the lucky ones, and privileged to be so. 22 years later ‘it’ has indeed proved to be so much worse than we could ever have imagined and those not so lucky, not so privileged, are living in fear while some are paying a terrible price with the regime in power as they make their bids for a better life and freedom for their families.

We have to dig deep into the news to follow the paths of the American government’s lawlessness, and when we do it is sickening beyond belief. We don’t really know where to turn. The world is boiling over with the gastric disturbances of climate change amid the constant eruptions of war and destruction.

A not so small incident happened this week as Ursula Von der Leyen’s plane to Bulgaria was left circling for an hour while the satellite navigation system system was jammed. “Nothing to do with us,’ said the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, “Your information is incorrect.” While Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, said they are working night and day to make sure this does’t happen again, I’m not putting money on their being successful.

And so the wars’ effects spread, across continents, each one oozing out to the other, Europe, The Middle East, and beyond. When the American President isn’t pouting that he has not been invited to China, he is busy plotting what he is going to do with Gaza when it finally becomes available. But what is it? Gaza, The West Bank, Palestine? Well that rather depends who you are talking with. President Macron calls it all Palestine, other European leaders are set to agree while BiBi Netanyahu calls it Gaza and The West Bank trying to keep Palestine even more separate.The American President calls it Beach Site property.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza, targeting hospitals and journalists.

The Committee to protect journalists says that to date at least 189 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza in the most deadly conflict for journalists ever recorded. As we watch the nightly news, the lead anchor for that evening repeats, “Israel does not allow foreign media to film in Gaza and so this footage comes from, dot, dot, dot. “ Whoever can record it” Bolex cameras have given way to smart phones and the footage is shared across the world aired by which ever country chooses to show it.

Dusk on the street – Auntie (The BBC) is tucked safely behind the church

On Tuesday we found ourselves at the entrance to the BBC headquarters in London. It has been twenty years since I first popped in to watch an interview. Yellow-jacketed security personnell man the paths winding between the barriers which go up and down and are moved around as rumours cross the courtyards to other waiting press and protesters who are always present. We have an appointment and are let in, then directed to more security. It’s a tight ship or a giant warhorse depending on your focus for the day. Eventually wearing our guest passes – clearly visible please – we pass through more guarded glass doors and look down on the huge buzzing news room below. Though brightly lit, it is somewhat spooky, the below aspect of it, as if a design relic of old wartime bunkers. Now instead of long tables with maps there are rows of computer hubs catching news from around the world, some of it coming from those phones that are held up in Gaza, in Kiev, in Afghanistan, but rarely the Sudan or even Haiti. No photographs are allowed here either and the security remains visible as we make our way through the warren of lifts and corridors and messy drink alcoves that look like they belong on a train until we reach a recording suite. There is enough gear to make a community-radio head swoon except that I understand that though they have the equipment, the personnel and money, community radio has a greater freedom.

Two guests, one host, one producer, one engeneer. Be still my lustful heart.

It’s a straight forward forty-five minutes of book talk for Walter, another guest and the host before heading to the bar for drinks. Fully back from the Covid year, the space is loud, raucous and liquid and the cider is not bad. The men and women crews gathered here are grateful to do the good work that they can.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stand together

I watch the evening news with a slightly different take, looking for what is chosen and what is not. Russia keeps on bombing Ukraine. There are no talks of peace in any of these war zones. A new world order gathers for a military parade in Beijing as Xi Jinping hosts China’s largest-ever military parade, with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, standing and almost smiling in a show of defiance to the West. The American President and other Western and European leaders were not in attendance.

Though notably absent from our newscasts for the last few days, the American president immediately posted a petulant response, an embarrassment to even some of his supporters. As speculation abounds a diagnosis of Chronic Venous Insufficiency has been given. Similar in presentation and outcome as varicose veins, he may find them as useful today as a little bone spur was 60 years ago.

This has been A. Letter From A. Broad. written and read for you by Muriel Murch.

As always supported by https://www.murchstudio.com

It’s all Theater,

Written and recorded by Muriel Murch with WSM by my side.

As we left London a vote of no confidence had dissolved the French parliament and Prime Minister Barnier resigned. President Macron vows to stay on and form a new parliament before this week. This will be France’s fourth Prime Minister in a year. A shooter took aim at the Health Insurance business and took out Brian Thomson, the CEO of United Healthcare, as he went to work in Manhattan. Fighters have captured Damascus and the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad has fled. Another coup has happened. Hafez al- Assad took power, with a coup of his own in 1971 and his son became president in 2000. Bashar Al Assad is believed to be receiving room-service with his family in Moscow.

As the plane descends to Washington we look down on the winter trees that stand close in a comfortable looking forrest, circling the small towns and villages that have been carved out of them. Arriving in DC, in America, at dusk is sobering and the temperature freezing. While our driver is prompt, efficient and friendly there is nothing else welcoming about the drive into the city as darkness falls. The huge streets coming off the freeway seem lost, reaching for the stone buildings, holding like prisons, places of power. I remember the Avenida 9 de Julio, roaring off the freeway ready to enter the chaos and confusion that is the living city of Buenos Aires.

I wanted to write about the beautiful things. The reopening of Notre Dame cathedral but then – there is the President-Elect of the United States – front and center at the cathedral’s opening ceremony. He sat smugly between President and Brigette Macron, while the current First Lady, Jill Biden, was tucked on the other side of Madame Macron. Over fifty world leaders representing as many countries fell in behind them. Ukrainian President Zelensky is tucked somewhere in there too. The shuffling on this world stage is being played out in the giant nave of this cathedral as politics come before God. Luckily the cathedral was to be reconsecrated and blessed the following day. There was time to brush the detritus of politics back into the river.

From left to right, Congo’s President Denis Sassou Nguesso and his wife Antoinette Sassou Nguesso, Ashley Biden, First Lady of the US Jill Biden, Brigitte Macron, US President-elect Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron [Ludovic Marin/Pool via AFP]

We came to Washington for The Kennedy Center Honors weekend. Walter to introduce his old friend Francis Ford Coppola at the state department dinner. Singer and activist Bonnie Raitt, Cuban Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, The Apollo Theatre, and the Grateful Dead are all to be honored this weekend.

Honorees for the Kennedy Center 2024. The Apollo Theater, The Grateful Dead, Arturo Sandoval, Frances Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt.

We arrive safely at the Salamander Hotel, rated at 4.6. out of 5 and it does very nicely thank you. Malvik wheels our luggage and shows us how our room works. He looks to have been here a long time, his thinning, oily, too long hair barely held back, is somehow comforting, leading me to believe that this hotel may care who it hires and holds onto. The staff, as with any big hotel, is heavily African-American and Latina but there are also Africans from Ethiopia carrying the strength of their own cultures and beliefs. One senses that working inside the hotel is a safe place.

On Saturday night, as supporting cast, we are guided onto the bus taking us to the State Department for dinner with The Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkin. The driver whips this bus along the avenues as if it is a chariot around the Roman colosseum before coming to a screeching halt on the street. Standing on the bus step he exclaimed loudly, ‘we must walk from here’ and – because it is not raining – we all laugh – understanding as we do that the whole evening is theater. Ball-gowned singers and actresses, black-tied, over-coated actors and musicians along with a few low-life politicians carefully climb down off the bus and we walk the last half block to the entrance for the first of the weekend’s security checks. A line here for photos, a line there for hand shaking with a little glimpse into a politician’s life and the world of Politics. Power, beauty, talent and money are all standing in line, (with our name cards to hand over for announcing) as we move though the rooms that are pretending to be older than their 70 years. It is hard to explain – it is as if the building itself is also aware that this is all theater. Hands are shaken and smiles are exchanged by which time I need to find the ladies lounge before sitting down for dinner. I try to sort out who here is carrying what gift. Mostly it is power: a retired Senator, an agricultural Lobbyist, a Board Chair and a bit of art. We look for our friends but we are all separated. This is a working weekend and we each have our parts to play. The schedule tries to be tight but 9.12 p.m. has come and gone before Bonnie Raitt, the first up, is given her honours. She is followed by Francis Coppola, Arturo Sandoval, The Apollo Theater and finally the Grateful Dead. Each artist is given their ribbon and chain and says thank you, speaking of how honored they are to be here. The surprise comes at the last when the Grateful Dead come to receive their colours. How could they get old? Us yes, but them? No way. It seems truly unfair.

Night One is over and we can relax. For tomorrow is show time. Sunday brunch gives us the time to catch up with friends. But like the Oscars in Hollywood one is dressed in a new ball gown – early. This bus driver is a lot more steady for as we approach the Kennedy Center the streets are lit up with rows of police cars flashing their blue and yellow lights as they shepherd the politicians of this fading administration, along with D.C.’s finest and the rest of us, to the Kennedy Center. As we filed through another security check and into the vastness of that building I wondered how the political factors and teams played out in this arena of theater. Are they brought together through music, cinema and opera? Can the arts help break through the animosity of power? The politicians we had sat with the night before were moving on to the deal opportunities that this evening could bring. We sit down early watching the theater fill up until someone tries to get everyone to their seats as ‘the show is about to start’ but it is tricky when the past Speaker of the House is now busy speaking in the isles. As the President arrives with the honorees behind him and the red uniformed marching band enters to the stage, we settle. The National anthem is played. Queen Latifah comes on stage to start the show, Bobby De Niro plays a bar of two on the grand piano, and the show begins – and then – four hours later – it ends. We look up and acknowledge the fading power of President Joe Biden, the lost dreams of Kamala Harris, and the enormous richness of art that the world provides.

This has been A. Letter From A. Broad written and read for you by Muriel Murch

Supported by murchstudio.com

Muriel Murch

It’s Only Going to Get Worse

It’s All Theater