She’s become addicted to the luxury/intensity of having the history of art to herself. She stays for an hour and a half or so, until other people dare to show up and share the goods.
I swear there’s almost no one there at ten AM on a cold weekday, so you just sashay about with an idiotic smile on your face as one unbelievable gallery after another beckons you. You hum Bach’s Cello #1 and the paintings hum back. Their lifeblood is bright red. They are right at you.
![](https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-content/uploads/20240207_104221-scaled-e1707332191873-835x1024.jpg)
Even deathly pale their lifeblood is bright.
![](https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-content/uploads/20240207_101727-scaled-e1707332370603-865x1024.jpg)
It’s you, the copyist, and the echoing halls.
![](https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-content/uploads/20240207_110029-scaled-e1707332551923-1024x718.jpg)
Outside, UD takes heart from the writing on the side of the Archives.
![](https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-content/uploads/20240207_111852-scaled-e1707332754795.jpg)
Permanency. YES!
Although just in case I’m keeping a few of these pennies in my pocket.
February 8th, 2024 at 9:49PM
How permanent are your institutions? Do you think they will survive the present election cycle?
February 8th, 2024 at 10:11PM
I do. Several of my friends – some of them political scientists – are not at all sure. But yes – things are dire, but I think Biden will win, half the country will NOT riot in the streets, and something like normalcy will reign.