FOOD FOR THE BRAIN
This week we attended in person the first program in the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning (SILL) 2023 Global Issues series. It was the first time we’d been back live since Covid. Attendance was sparse compared to earlier years, but the speaker was excellent.
Former Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the inaugural vice-provost for global affairs at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. During her 30 years with the foreign service, she served as ambassador to Panama, deputy ambassador in London, and as president of the American Foreign Services Association among other assignments.
Her talk on the special challenges the U.S. faces in dealing with superpowers China and Russia was informative, well-illustrated, and well delivered. It was a great beginning for the series. She exemplified the kind of speaker who merits a return invitation.
RECENT READING
Spare by Prince Harry
I pre-ordered Prince Harry’s memoir before we watched his Netflix series. With all the leaks about the book’s content and the somewhat negative, or at least, mixed reviews, I half wondered if it would be worth reading. For me, it was.
While most of us know Harry was traumatized after his mother’s death and have read and heard a lot about his and Meghan’s departure from the U.K., there is much about his military service and his family life between age 12 and meeting Meghan, that was new.
After Princess Diana’s death, Harry did not receive the necessary help nor figure out himself how to move forward in a balanced way. The Windsor royals eschew showing emotion publicly and even privately are reported as not a demonstrative family. Harry’s memoir is all about feelings and emotions and yes, he overshares.
Reading it, I felt empathy for the troubled teen and young man he was and admired his efforts to want to do some good in the world. Notable examples are his work in several African countries (where he felt free) and his establishment of the Invictus Games for wounded service members and veterans.
As expected, he puts a lot of blame for some of his anxiety and issues on the British press and on a few individuals in the palace’s communications office. While being in the public eye and putting up with press attention are expected of the royal family, the hurtful and false media articles and constant surveillance, especially targeting Meghan, come across as beyond the usual and unwarranted. With their escape to California, perhaps Harry and Meghan and their children will be able to enjoy more peaceful settled lives.
A word about the writing in the book. It is compelling and even elegant at points. Thanks to the laudable work of collaborator J. R. Moehringer, Harry’s memoir has an arc and a shape that make it very readable. For one of the better reviews, I recommend Rebecca Mead’s piece in the January 23rd issue of The New Yorker, The Haunting of Prince Harry. (~JWFarrington)
FOOTNOTE ON VIEWING
I finished watching all sixteen episodes of Season 1 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Netflix and still highly recommend it. It’s engaging, the legal cases are intriguing, there’s underhanded politics, and occasionally, it’s even funny. Over the course of the series, Attorney Woo astounds, annoys, and sometimes badgers her colleagues. She is uneasy and often blunt in social situations causing embarrassment, yet she has a phenomenal memory for case law. Part of her coming into her own is learning how to accept affection. Her fragile romance with colleague Joon-ho is beautifully played out and even sweet.
Note: Header photo of Meghan and Harry is from Global News.
