Saturday, December 10, 2011

A City of Coffee Mug to another northern place




No doubt, the text of this tribute
would sooner leap from one's hands
than linger in their provenance,
and in deference to the crockery,
I shall be brief. 

The City of Coffee Mug has been
awarded once before, as a mutation
of a blogging prize dispensed here
some time ago. Poetically, the
Canadian of our first recognition
is no longer publishing; but he cer-
tainly must again, and for all we
know, could well be.



This vessel means to encourage
that blogger who is generously
creative and unarbitrary, aware 
of an artistic exertion in self-
presentation, and of humane intent. 
These risks bear a price, and are 
fundamental to the city of coffee.




These few characteristics but 
superficially describe the blog
we know as Linnea. I'll not im-
pose a quiz because all readers 
are aware that this is a project 
of a med student musician from 
a cold climate, famous for
posting spontaneous "graffiti"
from her home city, which turn
out to be elegant aperçus of
more than its surfaces; notes
on human health which go to
the bottom line of the human
condition; reminiscences and
reports from a romantic rela-
tionship of already transpar-
ent trust; reflections on music
of enormously sociable enthus-
iasm; to say nothing of tender
whenever she feels like it,
which uncannily have to do

She is exempt from snobbery's
intimidations and immune to its
seductions; she is capable of
and disarmingly charitable in
remarking on her preferences.
She has never cited privilege 
as a feature of taste, dropt
a name, or exhibited glamour -
all infallible ways of drawing
our attention, just not hers.
She's what a doctor or recital-
ist has to be: she's fearless







All very good, you may be
thinking; but with these
omissions, how can one be-
lieve there is any there,
there?


Because she knows a good
story will depict desire
without the anticlimax of
possession; but that its
narrator will experience
credibly, and conjure the
defeat of, the cruelest bar 
to pleasure.

There's a little Sidney Carton
in every such acknowledgment.
Maybe there needs to be - the
rule, praising the exception. 
have no illusion of escap-
ing that rule; I am grateful 
that she lightens it. 

A City of Coffee Mug to Linnea, 
of warmth.




























Photographs©  Linnea






6 comments:

  1. Thank you, Laurent, I am deeply touched.

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  2. You do this better, yourself, of course ~ :)

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  3. I enjoyed going to the links you cite and seeing what you see. The only disappointment here is that we do not travel to bestow the coveted mug to Linnea personally. If you were unable to do so due to prior commitments I would certainly serve as your City of Coffee Barista Ambassador. PGT

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  4. If travel were in the Mug Endowment (ME), this thing would have been halved or quartered in true Mad Hatter fashion to exploit Norway as often as .. she shows one should! But for you the trip would not be such a stretch, having brought us together in your sidebar. :)

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  5. This is a beautiful tribute to one of the most captivating blogs I've seen. I don't want to say too much because I'm afraid of it coming off trite. There is boldness in being sincere, tender, delicate and it spreads love. Did I say too much?

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  6. Not for me, you didn't. There is such hopefulness in your words that I am not sorry to greet yours as the other shoe I could not drop in this appreciation. Thank you for coming to rmbl.

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