From the hidden passions of Ray Charles to a weakness revealed in Joan Armatrading, RR regular attwilightlarks uncovers strongly emotional list from last week’s topic
Secrets suggest complexity and tumult. James Joyce’s view of them was radical: “Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of ... our hearts ... tyrants willing to be dethroned.” Secrets compromise our humanity, and even sanity, and require early exorcism! But Sylvia Plath demurred: “And when at last you find someone to whom you feel you can pour out your soul, you stop in shock at the words ... so rusty, so ugly, so meaningless and feeble.” Disclosure can destroy the thing longed for, at birth. So we cleave uncertainly to secrets awash with emotions such as pride; fear; anger; and shame that prompt confusion and remorseless agonising.
*Jaco Pastorius* captures this tension and flux instrumentally as Nilpferd helps outline: “[I]s it ... some long-concealed emotional state ... which ... threatens to destabilise, before being revealed in ... glory?”. In You Don’t Know Me (*Ray Charles*) profound love goes undeclared, perhaps from an inability to visualise finding the right words, the right tone, for the desired outcome. *The Pierces* recognise the need for confession given the darkness of some secrets, but know disclosure cannot be confined: “Yes, two can keep a secret, If one of them is dead”. Black humour and playful (I hope) sisterly warning.
So what are our options, if we are damned if we keep them and damned if we don’t? *The* *Grass Roots* declaim their love but only to nocturnal shades. *The Civil Wars* choose ultra-cautious postponement, delay until all passion is spent and hope exhausted. *Alice Clark* leavens her sadness by imagining an alternative, triumphal, reality of revelation, reconciliation, and mutual redemption. *Fred Neil*’s secret is penury, fallout from a grand passion now exhausted. But he abjures complaint, wrapping himself in the certainty that he and the girl had managed to “shake”, a vivid memory sufficient to promote satisfaction and stoicism.
When we keep secrets it is often through concern for others. *McAlmont and Nyman* reveal a most tender attempt to provide psychological insulation as the harsh consequences of a failed criminal venture begin to be faced. Angrily, *Okkervil River *question secretiveness about the corruption of innocence: “I’d call, some black midnight, fuck up his new life where they don’t know what he did, tell his brand new wife and his second kid.” That is not, however, the path the abused has chosen. *Joan Armatrading* feeling the irresistible heaviness of desire loves two men but remains protective of the one she treasures least: “I have a lover who loves me – how could I break such a heart?”
And so to a tension residing in the secret place. For *Keane* this is an oasis of idyllic togetherness and fulfillment. For *James Carr* it’s a domain of furtiveness, anxiety, guilt and nemesis, suppressing joy if not love and desire.
Finally, *the Cure* opt for keeping, and failing to keep, secrets. A wistful and uncertain song containing a nice hedging of bets.
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Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.
WOMEN who use Dartmoor are being warned by police after an attempted abduction of teenage girl took place.On Saturday, a man tried to grab the lone teenager jogger and drag her into a car.This has been described as a "particularly nasty incident" by police detectives.The woman was out for a morning run near Cadover Bridge when the man drove by and stopped before carrying out the abduction attempt. The girl was left shaken but uninjured.Police describe the suspect as a white male in his mid-30's...
Reported by North Devon Journal 1 day ago.
Michael McQueenie, 28, from Blackburn, Lancashire, raped the girl, who has learning difficulties, after repeatedly trying and failing to arrange to have sex with women over the internet.
Reported by MailOnline 1 day ago.
A TEENAGER has told a jury how she felt sick and disgusted when a man indecently touched her on a bus. The 17-year-old told a court she felt "violated" when Aleksey Vladimirov touched her chest. But she later said she was not completely sure whether the contact was deliberate or an accident, Plymouth Crown Court heard. The girl said she was "petrified" when Vladimirov stood inches away from her on the bus, even though there were several empty seats. She then said Vladimirov brushed the back of...
Reported by Plymouth Herald 23 hours ago.
ROMANCE may be on the way for the Crystal Palace fan who took to Twitter to find a girl he "fell in love" with on the train.Angus Mainland, 19, tweeted rail company Cross Country Trains on Saturday asking for help to find a girl he had taken a selfie with, after he'd forgotten to get her name or number on the way to Palace's 3-2 win against Southampton. His message has attracted nearly 5,000 retweets and last night he revealed the girl had been found. Angus today told the Advertiser...
Reported by Croydon Advertiser 21 hours ago.
Michael McQueenie, 28, from Blackburn, Lancashire, raped the girl, who has learning difficulties, after repeatedly trying and failing to arrange to have sex with women over the internet.
Reported by MailOnline 23 hours ago.
MIKE DICKSON: Dom Inglot went out of the Australian Open doubles quarter final, but there was an impressive upset registered in the girl’s singles by Britain’s Katie Swan.
Reported by MailOnline 9 hours ago.
SOCIAL workers in Carmarthenshire have been criticised for an "abject failure" to check the welfare of a four-year-old girl amid fears of drug-taking and domestic violence, a damning report claims.Public services Ombudsman Nick Bennett stated the county council did not spot signs that the girl was at risk with possible drug abuse, domestic violence and mental health issues in her home life.Despite a referral from another children's services department from a local authority in...
Reported by Llanelli Star 5 hours ago.
Debbie Evans, 55, who taught at South Wilts Grammar School in Salisbury for 23 years, struck up a sexual relationship with the girl in 2011, after the teenager fell ill in class.
Reported by MailOnline 5 hours ago.
A FORMER soldier from Newquay raped a teenager when she was too drunk to consent before being caught by his wife, a court has heard. Brian Kingsford-Smith, who used to be a member of the army in the Royal Highland Regiment First Battalion Black Watch, aged 44, of Meadow Close, went on trial at Truro Crown Court on Monday accused raping the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after a night out in the town in late 2012. Kingsford-Smith, who accepts that he had sex with the girl but said...
Reported by Cornish Guardian 1 hour ago.
Brave teenager Amy Uprichard has received the all-clear in her battle with myeloid leukaemia.
Reported by Belfast Telegraph 4 hours ago.
A HORLEY man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl has been found not guilty.John Harber, of Court Lodge Road, was alleged to have raped the girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – on a sofa while holding a pillow over her face after a party they both attended in August 2012. The 33-year-old was found not guilty by a jury at Guildford Crown Court on Monday.Last week, the court heard the teenager did not formally report the alleged assault until May 2013.At the start of the...
Reported by Surrey Mirror 39 minutes ago.
A MAN has been found not guilty of raping a 12-year old girl. John Harber, of Court Lodge Road, Horley, was alleged to have raped the girl on a sofa while holding a pillow over her face after a party they both attended in August 2012. The 33-year-old was found not guilty by a jury at Guildford Crown Court on Monday. The girl cannot be named for legal reasons. Last week, the court heard the teenager did not formally report the alleged assault until May 2013. At the start of the trial last...
Reported by East Grinstead Courier Observer 6 hours ago.
A MAN has been cleared of raping a 12-year old girl, after a week-long trial. John Harber, from Court Lodge Road, Horley, was alleged to have raped the girl on a sofa while holding a pillow over her face after a party they both attended in August 2012. The 33-year-old was found not guilty by a jury at Guildford Crown Court on Monday. The girl cannot be named for legal reasons. Last week, the court heard the teenager did not formally report the alleged rape until May 2013. At the start of...
Reported by Crawley News 4 hours ago.
The girl, whose relatives say she had mental health problems, was killed at a police station in a confrontation with officers.
Reported by Sky News 5 hours ago.
A female police officer has denied putting her private life before her duty after she found out that her fiance had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. Pc Sarah Cohen says she was emotionally and physically drained when she visited the girl's parents but her intention was to offer them support rather than ask them to hush up the offence. Cohen told a jury at Exeter Crown Court she had not slept for two nights and had spent much of the evening in tears after learning about the allegations...
Reported by Exeter Express and Echo 2 hours ago.
A POLICEWOMAN has denied putting her private life before her duty after she found out that her fiance had sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl.Pc Sarah Cohen says she was emotionally and physically drained when she visited the girl's parents but her intention was to offer them support rather than ask them to hush up the offence.Cohen told a jury at Exeter Crown Court she had not slept for two nights and had spent much of the evening in tears after learning about the allegations against her...
Reported by North Devon Journal 2 hours ago.