Blond girl if she could play the piano? You must have had an inkling. I would like to know about her and about the "anguished old man pacing in the grass".

Wonderful piece, GK. Vividly poetic. You have become a conundrum to me with your posts over the last couple of months.

Thanks for reminding us so frequently of the unfathomable gift that life is. We have done nothing to deserve it, nothing to bring it about, and really in the end can add nothing to it but dignity and caring.

And yet we have it for a while. Stunning.

I like it. The best part is always the moment between the gift given, and when the applause breaks out.

That must have been an amazing performance. Wish I could have heard it.

attempted to view the world and their place in it with the hopeful tolerant eyes and minds of youth free of the fear and cynicism that seeps into our souls with age, we'd be less inclined to send our children thousands of miles around the globe to exact some measure of "revenge" on innocents for the criminal acts of the few.

But that just wouldn't be American would it? So antithetical to our culture of an eye for an eye (or in our case a factor of 10 eyes), what's yours is ours, we know what's best for you and yours because we're so gosh darn "superior and exceptional" even though we're only a hundred years removed from institutionalized slavery ourselves. And don't mind if we just torture a few of yours so we can "feel safe" at night and then go on our merry way, hands raised, looking forward rather than back with zero accountability other than the hell of the talk show circuit on Fox, book deals, Circuit Court appointments, brush clearing, tenured professorships at public universities . . . .

But you're right a good piano performance is "transformational" in a one sense--it isn't really a good party without live music. Wish I had your job dispensing pearls of wisdom derived from bar-b-ques in the heartland. Must be nice.

Only people with talent play it, and they charge a fortune for you to hear it.

There are lots of pianos around - I'm looking right now at an electronic keyboard that I don't have time to learn how to play. Things like trying to find a job to replace the one that was ripped away from me a few weeks ago, and keeping that job once I get it, prevents people from doing things like learning how not to hit wrong notes.

Only young people like your blonde girl, someone who through the dint of her looks and possible family wealth has lots of time on her hands, can possibly learn piano and play the instrument like it sounds like something. At her age, I was worried about the next jock to catch me alone in a school corridor to beat the crap out of me or slam me against the wall and rub his butt against my crotch. I wasn't a pretty blonde girl, so I didn't get an automatic pass on the realities of life.

I guess I should be happy you have this Prozac life, Mr. Keillor, but it's impossible for the vast majority of us. And the whiff of delight wafted from your spot on Cloud Nine, down to us in the pit, just makes us even more bitter and angry.

I go to films and notice the actresses my age, such as Emma Thompson and Kristin Scott Thomas, are now playing the mother-in-law roles, having graduated from the heart-breaker. But I still enjoy their movies and find a certain contentment in life settling into a predictable routine. Youth can be tiring with all its possibilities.

Beats the alternative.

The small moments strike the willing heart, especially with so much bad news hovering. Transformation is not hard -- it's all about prioritizing. The old man on the lawn must have drawn curiousity, but the girl playing Chopin in a minor key took priority. I would have been right there with you GK, but you couldn't fit three people on a piano seat.

Thanks for writing, thanks for observing. If you're ever in Colorado please look me up. I'll buy you a cup of coffee and, if you're game, I'll treat you to one of those backyard BBQs with trees, kids, guitars and dogs.

"Must be nice" and "my bad" are officially banned from the premises, which makes it just that much more pleasant.

Perhaps it is no accident ,the Classics(not the Blonde Girl) bringing on feelings thought long lost.From a past life perhaps? Of course the Cynic would react in a negative way to such a proposition being put forward ! For He or She are busy crying--complaining--moaning--groaning--and generally being Psychic Vampires trying to suck the rest of us dry ! But hey--Stiff Upper Lip--right Mate. Tommie27.

Depending on what decade or century you're talking about, the same could apply to the Germans, the French, the British, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Persians and the Romans. Not to mention the Aztecs, the Zulus and the Mohicans.

While it's true that the Canadians have never invaded anyone, except as part of the British Army, there's still time.

Just thanks.

To tomreedtoon, I'm sorry for your job loss. I hope you find some peace because it seems like there isn't much for you right now. Blessings to you.

Keillor (I won't address him directly, since I doubt he ever sees the comments section) has written since before he got the gig. re: St. Paul, summer of '74. At least it's not particularly controversial, I'll give him that.

I'm crushed. Guess that means I'm not getting an invitation to your little "transformational" bar-b-que with special guests like Mr. Garrison "No Accountability for Torturers" Keillor.

No worries. I was just waxing eloquent about some brown folks you don't know anyway locked in steel cages indefinitely without being charged or afforded any legal process getting the shit kicked out of them or committing suicide out of a profound sense of hopelessness.

Wouldn't want that to worry your beautiful mind or disrupt planning for your perfect little bucolic backyard soiree with distatesful discussions regarding life or death policies/laws executed in our collective names that purportedly "keep our lives safe for backyard bar-b-queing and spontaneous Chopin recitals".

Sorry for having offended you. Guess I expect a little more from guys who have big platforms and draw big paychecks to have an "opinion" on "important" matters. You're right though it's quite "unreasonable" of me to expect someone like Mr. Keillor to use his position and gifts to create something truly "transformational" rather than pen pointless musings on parties.

And maybe I'm a little reading challenged but a 60 something year old man writing, "A beautiful coltish 16-year-old girl leaning around in a black strapless evening gown, trying out different personas (Dorothy Parker, Nancy Drew, Ava Gardner), who struck me as a reincarnation of Anne Frank . . . " is a little creepy.

I've read Nabakov and Mr. Keillor is no Nabakov. Maybe a submission to Penthouse Forum might have been a better venue for his old man/young girl voyeuristic "musings".

Blech.