• Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • Explore Chicago
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

The Local Tourist

Experience the fascination of a tourist; Feel the comfort of the local

  • Travel the U.S.A.
    • The Midwest
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • The South
      • Arkansas
      • Mississippi
      • North Carolina
      • Oklahoma
      • Texas
    • The West
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Mexico
      • Utah
      • Wyoming
  • Travel Tips
    • Travel Now
  • Road Trips
    • Two Lane Gems
  • Cultural Travel
    • Arts and Culture
    • Attractions
    • Food and Drink
    • History
    • People
    • Roadside Attractions
  • Great Outdoors
    • Camping
    • Hiking and Active Travel
    • U.S. National Parks
  • Shop TLT
    • Travel Two Lane Gems
  • Travel the U.S.A.
    • The Midwest
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Missouri
      • Nebraska
      • South Dakota
      • Wisconsin
    • The South
      • Arkansas
      • Mississippi
      • North Carolina
      • Oklahoma
      • Texas
    • The West
      • Arizona
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Mexico
      • Utah
      • Wyoming
  • Travel Tips
    • Travel Now
  • Road Trips
    • Two Lane Gems
  • Cultural Travel
    • Arts and Culture
    • Attractions
    • Food and Drink
    • History
    • People
    • Roadside Attractions
  • Great Outdoors
    • Camping
    • Hiking and Active Travel
    • U.S. National Parks
  • Shop TLT
    • Travel Two Lane Gems
  • Contact
  • Work with TLT
  • Travel Writing

Sparkling Isolation – Day 35

April 21, 2020 //  by Tommy Hensel//  Leave a Comment

21shares

Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.

I wonder if I can paint that over the doorway to my apartment? Right now, you don’t want to be around me. Take my word for it.

I’ll leave it to those who are not of a literary turn of mind to look that quote up on their own. What I will say, is that Dante would have had a field day writing about the world of today.

For me, this has always been a perfect quote to describe those moments when I feel both hopeless and powerless, yet compelled to keep on moving forward. That’s precisely how I feel today. I have been getting strong signals – magnified by a strong intuition – that I may soon add the words “furlough” and “unemployment” to my regular vocabulary. Nothing specific, just the result of aggregating the conversations I have had in the past few days.

WARNING – I am going to use curse words (tastefully edited) from this point on, so if you are not a fan of profanity or if there are younger eyes/ears following along, you might want to stop now. And for the record, it is rare for me to publicly curse like this but these are strange times.

Despite my feelings of impending doom and a strong dose if “I don’t give a flying f**k,” I still have a job to do and I’m getting paid for it, so I keep soldiering on and biting my tongue.

As I think about it, cursing has become frequent in my conversations today which may offend some people. Of course, if you are offended by cursing then it’s a good bet you won’t last more than ten minutes as my friend, because I could win an award for “creative cursing” in multiple languages. Spanish is nice for cursing, but English is easier for me, although German is my favorite because it sounds like cursing anyway most of the time. When I am particularly frustrated, I might lapse into French and Italian for a few key curse words – but sometimes, the only word that suffices to express how I feel is my favorite guttural Anglo-Saxon “F-word.”

F**k, f**k, f**k, f**k, f**k!!!!!

I feel better now.

Clearly, this had not been one of my better days and I am not doing well at this moment. In fact, I am in a sucktastickly crappy mood. I think I may have just made up a new word. That at least made me smile momentarily.

The combination of feeling helpless, hopeless, and powerless at the same time is a nasty recipe for a poisonous cocktail. Instead, I think I am going to go find the ingredients for something more pleasant – maybe my favorite boozy cocktail, the Vesper. Unlike 007, however, I believe it’s better to stir – not shake.

For the moment, my apartment is still a place of doom and gloom – so take warning from the quote I put at the top of this post. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

To quote an Italian proverb, “Finché c’è vita c’è speranza.”

Time for a cocktail – or three.

It’s only Quarantine if it comes from the Quarante province of France. Otherwise, it’s just Sparkling Isolation.

21shares

Category: ThoughtsTag: Sparkling Isolation

About Tommy Hensel

Tommy Hensel is the Director of the Fine and Performing Arts Center at Moraine Valley Community College (www.morainevalley.edu/fpac), a position he has held since January 2008. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, he has worked for more than 35 years as a professional actor, singer, stage manager, director, and arts presenter. He holds a B.A. in music and a B.A. in communication from Florida State University and an M.A. in theater from the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as Chair of the Illinois Presenters Network and is a board member of NAPAMA. He served as co-chair of the 2018 Arts Midwest Conference and currently sits on the professional development committees of both NAPAMA and Arts Midwest.

Prior to his move to Chicago, Tommy was an 11-year resident of the Seacoast region of New Hampshire where he served as Executive Director of the Rochester Opera House and sat on several non-profit arts boards. He has served on grant review panels for the New England Foundation for the Arts, New Hampshire Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council, and Illinois Arts Council. During his years as an arts presenter, he has also served on the juried showcase panels for the Arts Midwest Conference and Performing Arts Exchange.

Among his many theater credits, Hensel was the founding artistic director of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival (now part of the Gamut Theatre Group in PA). He has over 50 professional directing credits to his name and an extensive resumé as a theatrical performer and cabaret singer. In Chicago, he has a side "gig" as a restaurant reviewer for The Local Tourist website (http://chicago.thelocaltourist.com) and blogs about travel and food at https://www.tableforoneplease.com.

Related Stories

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 248

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 151 through 247

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 144 through 150

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Days 136 through 143

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 135

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 134

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 133

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 132

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 131

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 130

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 129

Tommy Hensel

Sparkling Isolation – Day 128

Previous Post: « Two Lane Gems, Vol. 1: Chapter 38 – From Silent Sands to Dusty Grasslands
Next Post: Two Lane Gems, Vol 1: Chapter 39 – Getting Bent »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Your Cart

  • Contact
  • Work with TLT
  • Travel Writing

Site Footer

Disclosure

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Privacy Policy

© 2021 · The Local Tourist · Experience the fascination of a tourist; feel the comfort of the local