Chapter 3
Trans-Atlantica is my drug of choice. The Beatles required LSD to write inspired music and I need Trans-Atlantica. If I am sitting safely in Washington, I haven’t the slightest urge to put pen to paper or sing a note. But ship me to London and all of that suddenly changes. Instantly I find myself in a word and music-hungry culture as guided by the great nanny of the BBC in the guises of Radios 2-4.
My role model publishes women’s books in Bloomsbury, and a few hours in her company reminds me of why I have always read and written literature about women. Singing in my London church choir with singers who have been on the stage at Covent Garden the previous evening is enough to inspire any soprano.
I produced a concert in London comprised mostly of students from the Royal Academy of Music. Why was I so passionate about producing a show in London? For one thing, it was effortless to rent a magnificent Eighteenth-Century church in a secluded, quaint square near the heart of London.
Secondly, there is so much excellent musical talent in London yearning for an appreciative audience, that I felt that God would indeed smile upon this venture. The audience certainly did.
And why am I in Oxford today? At this moment? In very fact it is a result of obtaining $20,000 more credit on my home’s equity than I had expected. With such a windfall as this, I felt God must be leading me. My normal reaction to any windfall is to race to Oxford, plant myself in a cozy hotel for two months, and write a book. God does work through ambitious loan officers to His ends.
For the person who is not an artist, the Trans-Atlantic life offers a way to get perpetually fresh perspectives on one’s life. The American life is seen differently from the British side of the Atlantic. And one’s role in that life can be more readily analyzed.
If life seems foggy in my brain on one side of the Atlantic, I have only to fly to the other side to obtain more clarity about any situation. All travel inevitably contains elements of education and shock therapy. The result can be a sense of perpetual exhaustion.
That is why ambitious itineraries should be shunned in foreign countries. Expect everything to cost twice as much on an emotional and physical level. Cut your itinerary in half with the sure knowledge that even so, you will have gained value for money.