Wear Sunscreen

Don’t worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubble gum
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. On some idle Tuesday

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

This Monday is going to mark a big day here in Italy. Lockdown restrictions are going to be eased and millions (yes millions) of people will go back to work.

Lucky them you could say… I’m not really sure. I think I’ll stay under the sun in my balcony for a while and see what happens. It seems that all of the countries of Europe (with no exception) are relying on the concept of herd immunity to solve this emergency but somehow I don’t find the idea of being a sheep very attractive.

After all, I’m  a contrarian by nature.

Like Jessica Rabbit I was drawn this way… no fault of my own.

One thing I decided, though, is to stop worrying about the future. Those dark, horrible, sinister images that clog your brain as you go along with your daily life. What’s the purpose in doing that?

With freedom, flowers, books, and the moon, who could not be perfectly happy? It’s not a passage from Gandhi but from Oscar Wilde’s De Prufundis. He wrote it when he was pennyless, homeless  and in jail. If you’ve never read it I suggest you do. I’m sure you would appreciate it in this period, especially if you are an artist and more so if you work in theatre.

Every time I go to Paris (should I say used to go? will we ever travel as before?) I pay a visit to his tomb at the Père Lachaise cemetery. If you’ve never been there I suggest you go. It’s the happiest tomb I’ve seen in my life.. for it is full of life.

It is riddled with lipstick marks. Legend is that almost all Parisian transvestites go there to kiss its sexless sphyinx sculpture in a sort of initiation rite.

DEATH AND SEX

Society’s two biggest taboos and the driving force of great artwork.  

Yesterday is gone. Things will not go back to normal, they will be different.

It’s useless to fight it. Summer is coming. Wear sunscreen.

Stay safe.