Fray Luis de León, the great humanist scholar of the Spanish Golden Age, one of the sages of Salamanca University, was condemned by the Inquisition for translating the Song of Solomon and spent four years in prison before being allowed to return to his lectern, where he began his first lecture with the phrase, "Decíamos ayer": "As we were saying yesterday..."
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Quote for the day
I do many things on returning home from travels abroad, but smelling the air is always one of the first orders of business. I exit the plane. I make my way up the ramp. I collect baggage at the carousel. And then I head for the sliding glass doors, knowing exactly what's in store. I'm about to whisk free of airport and plane smells and emerge into -- deep breath now, draw it in, hold it, exhale -- Vancouver. Saline back scents, evergreen, pulp and fuel. Vancouver is many things when I leave. But when I return, it's always a port city hemmed in by a coastal Douglas fir rainforest. And it announces itself by scent.