Shoga Speaks -- First Person

Cousin Marion, Part Two


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Part Two continues the story of Marion's unbroken involvement with the Philipson family, maintained over the next four decades in spite of the distance that separated Paris from Pasadena. Dr. Philipson, whose development through French culture and language was the deepest and most sustained, reunited with Marion at age 27 and formed a relationship that lasted the rest of her life, one the witnessed the traumatic scene of his coming out, the heartbroken condolence note he wrote upon the occasion of his mother's early death, the sad and joyful bonds of family, and the French side of his personality that luxuriated in the food, bonhomie and intellectual stimulation that Marion's city never failed to provide. 

"I had always looked upon Marion with the eyes of a child, even after I had supposedly become a man.  She had no age, no sex life, no inner turmoil that I was privy to.  She was my mother's cousin, my surrogate parent, my French family when I was in Paris, an essential fixture in my life but with no affective existence outside my needs and perceptions.  I was forty, and Marion was my only Adult left." 

This was to change by the end of the story.

Music

"An American in Paris (2017 Remastered Version)" - Leonard Bernstein

"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" - Patty Loveless

"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye (Instrumental Version)" - Hit Co. Masters

"Kaokokokorobo" - Papa Wemba

"A Theme From 'A Summer Place'" - Percy Faith & His Orchestra

Website: www.shogafilms.com;
Instagram: shogafilms;
Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms;
Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms

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Shoga Speaks -- First PersonBy Robert Philipson