Who is the most famous Nicaraguan in the world? If it’s not Daniel Ortega, the dictator, it’s probably Bianca Jagger — who has been a celebrity since the 1970s, when she was married to Mick. She was long associated with the Sandinista revolution. Recent years have been different, however. She has spoken out against repression by the Ortega dictatorship. And just now, she has filmed an appeal in behalf of Rolando Álvarez Lagos, an imprisoned, persecuted bishop.
I lead my column today, my Impromptus, with this subject. I go on to Mexico, the Republican Party, a pro golfer, and myriad other subjects.
Let’s have some reader mail. I began a column on Tuesday with Traute Lafrenz, who was the last surviving member of the White Rose (that band of Germans, incredibly brave, who opposed the Nazis). She has died at 103. Leaders of the White Rose were beheaded, guillotined.
I have heard from William Meyer, who shared with me a piece he published in 2012. Let me quote from the opening paragraph:
Mindla Diament was a beautiful woman. We know that from the portrait her older sister Julia Pirotte took of her in Marseille in 1942. . . . The two women, born in the first decade of the 20th century in a small town in Poland, had both served prison sentences in their homeland for their communist activities, and had washed up in Paris at the start of WWII. They fled southward to escape the Nazis, and both became active members of the French Resistance. In 1944, Mindla was captured by the Gestapo with documents sewn into the lining of her coat. As she and her friend Marie Dirivaux were being led to the guillotine they called to the prisoners in the death cells, “Courage! Courage!”
(I can’t help thinking — because I have seen it and written about it so many times — of Dialogues des Carmélites, the Poulenc opera.)
In that same column on Thursday, I had a couple of memories of Pat Schroeder, the late congresswoman from Colorado. A reader from Israel writes,
Hi, Jay,
I heard the late Pat Schroeder speak at a rally in Washington in the spring of 1978, shortly before my high-school graduation. The rally was for Soviet Jewry — specifically, their freedom to emigrate. Also speaking was Paul Sarbanes, the Maryland senator, of whom I had known. But I had never heard of Pat Schroeder until that day. . . .
May her memory be a blessing.
One of my memories of Schroeder was of seeing her at Hains Point, in Washington, at the golf range. A reader writes,
It’s a nice day here for a bike ride, so, after reading this morning’s Impromptus, I decided to include a loop around Hains Point and snap a few pictures for you. I also saw some cherry blossoms near the Jefferson Memorial, so I threw those in as well.
Oh, bless you. And all other readers.
