monkey

Today is our day to say "thank you," so here are a couple of appreciations — the first for things that don't change, the second for things that do. There are no people in the first scene, two people in the second. One of them, I should warn you, is a sneaker-wearing swan.

I'm giving thanks in two ways today, first for things that have lasted, persisted (and here's hoping they keep on going), and second — for change; for our ability to create beauty in new ways. So I'm saying thank you for what's old and what's new.

Thanksgiving, I think, can go both ways.

To celebrate the old, here's a video by James Griffiths — the narration comes from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness — that will take you to a place that feels untouched; the Earth as it might have looked a million years ago. There are still, here and there, these eternal places.

As for the new? Well, this is a small moment; it happened more than a year ago. Someone in California was having a benefit to raise money for I'm not sure what, and Yo-Yo Ma was invited, and he arrived with a young guy originally from Tennessee, a dancer/choreographer, Charles "Lil Buck" Riley.

The two of them reset an old chamber piece, "The Swan" (Le cygne) by Camille Saint-Saens. The music is more than 100 years old. But the dance — Ma's cello beats passing through Lil Buck's body, arms, back, torso, like ripples in a stream — feels, at least to me, crazily new.

Spike Jonze, the filmmaker, happened to be watching, and using his phone camera, he shot the scene. So the video here is raw, not at all polished. Still, I loved it, especially the end, when the swan tucks itself in — and goes (I think) to sleep.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and thanks for visiting this blog, where we say quiet thank-yous to animals, vegetables, minerals and minds all year long.

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