A Fearsome Beauty: February 2014

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967-2014

One of the greatest actors the American stage and screen has ever seen, never to be replaced, irreplaceable. Sorrow and loss. I record his passing here for all the revelatory moments of his career that so deeply impacted me, influenced me, informed me, kept me waiting always, impatiently, for the next. I will never, ever forget the feeling of the hair on the back of my neck standing up when I saw him on Broadway, starring in Eugene O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey Into Night. How fortunate I was.

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About This Journal

I began this journal to think through my experience with a mare I bought in 2004, after years away from riding, and then my start-over with a gelding I acquired in 2009. The one horse shook my confidence as a rider; I hoped to rebuild it with the other. I eventually gave back the horse I thought could help me overcome my anxiety and there before me stood again the horse with whom I choked in the first place.

It sounds like I traveled in a circle, yet not only did I change, but in 2010 I bought another horse, a kind, affectionate Appendix mare who seemed to fall from the sky. "Third time's a charm," they say. It was true for me in love, now let it be true in horses.

I strive to write truthfully about fear, doubt and tension, among other things, difficult subjects to talk about without being self-serving or cheaty. But I tend to dig deep (though it may be little more than scab picking). If you can relate to what I'm talking about, you're welcome to read along and comment whenever you like. Thanks for visiting.