The Eternal Optimist Pianist & Holocaust Survivor of 107 Years

by Pier Marton | Oct 30, 2010 | Antisemitism, Care, Dance, Death, Doc, Film, Health, History, Humor, Jewish, Music, Shoah, Women

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw

A BBC interview, a while ago.

Haaretz had mentioned her as the last person to have known Kafka.
“The reason I am still alive: I think about the good. That takes a lot of practice…
I look at the good. When you are relaxed, your body is always relaxed. When you are pessimistic, your body behaves in an unnatural way…
A sense of humor is what makes me particularly Jewish…
I am Jewish without religion. The past – Einstein, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Spinoza – is what defines us as Jews…
Music is my world. I am wealthier than everyone, thanks to music…”

News & Olds

BREAK THE SURFACE
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To ride the unbalance* between:
1. excellence and a kind, singular and porous identity that contains some of the scruples, humor, humility, musicality & the beauty of a harsh and confusing, yet benign and rich reality – away from distractions.
2. the stupidity and blindness of complacency, violence, injustice, pretense, egos, short-term… wishful… and group “thinking,” and empty talk – in all of their surprising embodiments. And the false sense of fullness all of this provides.
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An appeal for a world NOT so caught up in anthropo/ego/euro/ethno/oculo/esthetico -CENTRISM.
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1. Beware of those who claim to be strong – they are often dangerous.
2. Unmask the hoax of “centrality” – ask an “EX-centric” for assistance?
3. Perceive the arrogance of normalcy: everybody, in one way or another, is handicapped… which brings us back to 1.
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*Not unrelated to “There is beauty and there are the humiliated. Whatever difficulties the enterprise may present, I should like never to be unfaithful either to the second or the first.” — Albert Camus