Monday, November 21, 2005

My favorite pilgrims

Something for everyone here, I hope - even the non-Thanksgiving celebrating folks (and you know who you are). Ahem, my favorite pilgrims (in no particular order, except that #1 is #1):

1. The Wife of Bath, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Now here's someone you want to go on a pilgrimage with! She'd've cracked ol' Plymouth Rock wide open. Dear Alison (yes, she lets me call her by her first name) kicked ass and took names - way ahead of her time.
2. Eric Clapton's "Pilgrim" (1998). It ain't "Layla" but it is Clapton. Strictly for the Wife of Bath types.
3. The Donner Party. Your typical pioneer-pilgrim story and a feast, to boot! What's not to (cringingly) love about this doom-fated story?
4. James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). You're scratching your head on this one - I can see you from here! This was the first film in which John Wayne called someone "Pilgrim." He calls the Jimmy Stewart character "Pilgrim" 4 or 5 times during the movie. (Wayne uses "Pilgrim" in several other films, but I don't like those pilgrims as much as I do Stewart.)
5. Priscilla Mullens, Myles Standish, and John Alden. Our favorite American love triangle (outside of the Eddie Fisher-Debbie Reynolds-Elizabeth Taylor one). "Speak for yourself, John Alden."
6. "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land." Because I like it, that's why. Sing it loud, loud, loud. And a tip o' the hat to the Welsh.
7. Any kid under the age of 10 in a Thanksgiving play. C'mon - you gotta love those funny hats and black clothes. Too cute.
8. The Pilgrim Brewery (UK) - motto: "Your thirst fought everyday" William Bradford would be so proud. Or not.
9. "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. "The name of the Slough was despond." (Part I, Chapter II) Obviously a famous allegory about Slough, one of England's most glamorous metropoli, and presaging the town's notoriety thanks to Ricky Gervais's "The Office." Next time you're in the UK, take a pilgrimage to lovely Slough.
10. "The Passionate Pilgrim" by William Shakespeare. Seems pilgrims are lustier than we give them credit for (Wife of Bath, Mullins-Standish-Alden trio, et. al.). Bill's all about jealousy, youth vs. age, infidelity, and beauty in this one. Can't imagine any of 'em in pilgrim hats, can you?

Who/what can you add to this?

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