she could have danced all night ... with librarians?

Mrs. Brooke Astor, great patron of the New York Public Library and other ventures, died last week. In the "Sunday styles" section of Sunday's New York Times, Bill Cunningham has a nice tribute entitled "She could have danced all night." When Mrs. Astor was asked whom she wanted as guests for her 100th-birthday luncheon, "she replied without hesitation: 'One hundred librarians'." And the potpourri of pictures was a collection of Mrs. Astor photos.

I finished Michael Tolliver lives, the latest novel by Armistead Maupin, on Sunday morning. It was good to be back in the company of Mouse, Anna Madrigal, and the crew from Tales of the city. It was especially poignant for me as it deals with death of parents (blood and "logical"), aging (I love Tolliver/Maupin's comment about the pursuit of boyfriends getting so "old" and undesirable though if one falls in your lap, no problem), memory, growing apart and coming together.

Mac and I went to "Los Jornaleros" at Cinemarosa yesterday. It's about Mexican day laborers in southern California. The characterizations are pretty stereotypical and the three "brothers" (actually cousins) end up fine. One moves in with a gallery owner, gets his green card, and accepts (more or less) his homosexuality. The other two get a truck and do some sort of work that involves them helping new day laborers. "Welcome to America." Despite the fairy tale ending, the overall impression is positive. If you google "jornaleros," the Amazon entry (a few hits down the first Google page) has a decent overview of the film.