Cicely Tyson

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the second verse of “L'âme slave” (Slavic Soul) by Boris Vian. 

            I finished memorizing “Je suis capable de n’importe quoi” (I’m Capable of Anything) by Serge Gainsbourg. I looked for the chords and all I found was an AI response naming what it thinks are the main chords and a paid site that gave an example with the first page of the sheet music. The only chord I agree with from both is E minor. I worked them out for part of the intro. 

            I played my Epi acoustic guitar during song practice for the second of four sessions and it stayed in tune a lot more than usual. 

            I weighed 86.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I’ve been in the morning since May 31. 

            Around midday I sanded the lower part of the northern wall of my bathroom to the left of the shelves. Maybe on Sunday I’ll take the mirror down from the east wall and sand the area to the right of the shelves. 

            I weighed 87.2 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of raspberry iced tea. 

            I took a bike ride downtown and on the way back decided to stop at Type Books at 883 Queen Street West to see if they’d made any progress towards ordering my book of poems Paranoiac Utopia. I was very pleasantly surprised to see a stack of my books that just arrived today. I asked Kyle if I could take pictures of it on the shelf. He hadn’t stacked them yet but did so right then. I was to the left of Karl Marx and above Margaret Atwood. 

             My Surly was making a ticking and squeaking noise and so I popped into Metro Cycle. Gordon adjusted the brakes without having to put it on a stand. I told him about my book and he asked if he could buy it. I had a copy and signed it “To Gordon, my favourite bike mechanic and New Brunswicker”. 

            I weighed 86.4 kilos at 17:55. The last time I was that light in the evening was on my birthday on May 26. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:39. 

            I continued to search for classic cartoons in which the characters are singing. I found a montage of musical Tom and Jerry cartoons in which one of the segments has Tom serenading a feline while singing “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” by Louis Jordan. That might work. I seem to find better results when I search specifically for classic cartoons with jazz songs. 

            I made pizza on naan with marinara sauce, pesto sauce. a chopped up New Zealand grass fed beef burger, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 1, episode 22 of The Bill Cosby Show. 

            Chet’s sister-in-law Verna convinces Chet to go on a blind date with one of her old friends who is in LA for a week on business. He is reluctant because in his experience blind dates tend to not be attractive. She argues that he should be thinking about marriage at 32 but he says he likes his single life. He initially refuses but Verna gets him to agree after she says she’ll call Mildred and tell her Chet is not as nice a guy as she’d told her he was. Before the date Chet’s girlfriend Gloria calls to ask him over but he lies and says he’s got to mark papers (What papers would a gym teacher have to mark?). Chet goes to meet Mildred and it turns out that she is not only attractive but flamboyant and charming as well. They enjoy four lovely days together but there is one weird situation that one wouldn’t see today. They go to a children’s zoo where the sign says that adults must be accompanied by a child. So they go to a playground and lure a little girl with a lollipop and a balloon to be their date for a zoo visit. On his last date with Mildred before she has to go back to Detroit he proposes to her but she responds just like he responded to Verna’s urges for him to marry. Ironically he begins giving Mildred the same argument that Verna gave him. After Mildred leaves and he talks with Verna about her, Chet hides his broken heart by repeating that he’s just not ready to settle down. 

            Mildred was played by Cicely Tyson, whose parents came from the island of Nevis to Harlem. She started as a model for Ebony and rose to becoming a top model. Her acting debut was in the 1956 film Carib Gold. Her stage debut was in Dark of the Moon in 1958. Her TV debut was in Frontiers of Faith in 1961. In 1962 she became the first woman to wear an afro on television. She co-starred in the TV series East Side-West Side. In 1972 she starred in Sounder, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She starred in A Woman Called Moses, A Hero Ain’t Nothin But a Sandwich, and A Fall From Grace. She was the first black actress to win an Emmy for her performance in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. She starred in the series Sweet Justice. She co-starred in the mini-series King. She co-starred in the films The River Niger, Because of Winn Dixie, The Help, The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Why Did I Get Married Too, and Bustin Loose. She was the Thursday night host for the radio series Sears Mystery Theatre and Mutual Radio Theatre. In 1979 she became the first black woman to host Saturday Night Live. She was a cousin of Louis Farrakhan. She was married to Miles Davis from 1981 to 1988. They were married in Bill Cosby’s home with Cosby both playing the role of Best Man and giving away the bride. In 2013 she became the oldest person to win a Tony Award for A Trip to Bountiful. She refused to play weak women in the parts she chose. She co-founded the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was the first black woman to be awarded an Honorary Oscar. She was pictured on a Nevis postage stamp in 2014. Her memoir Just as I Am was published two days before she died in 2021.