Did Alice Toklas undergo conversion, or seeking Absolution?

[Guest]

Did Alice Toklas undergo a conversion moment, or was she seeking absolution?

For a life of sin, living with her lesbian lover and co-hort Gertrude Stein?

She and Gertrude were soul mates, who shared their lives up until Gertrude's death in 1946. Years later, Alice would check herself into a convent where she remained until her death in 1967 at the age of 89.

Both she and Gertrude were born and raised Jewish. In their day and age being a lesbian couple was not as accepted as it would be in today's era. Was it from guilt seeking absolution for her life of living in sin with Stein that led Alice to move to a convent in her final years? Or might she have had a conversion moment where she found Christ, the Catholic way?

A third and perhaps more realistic conjecture was it was based on purely financial motive. Since Gertrude's and Alice's relationship was not legal, Gertrude's family took possession of the valuable art collection Gertrude had amassed during her lifetime, leaving Alice worse off than Gertrude willed by leaving her estate to her. Stein's family literally removed them from Alice's home and spirited them to a bank vault while she was away on vacation.

Alice's later years were meager ones, compared to the days she and Gertrude had spent in their Paris salon hobnobbing with Picasso, Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, and others of the literary and art world.

She became a Roman Catholic in her old age. And died in poverty, living among nuns (who take a vow of poverty to become nuns.) She's buried next to Stein nonetheless, with her name engraved on the backside of Gertrude's tombstone.

Thoughts?

[_Maksutov]

She made great brownies. Anybody who could live with Gertrude Stein would have to be a saint.

I think it's spelled Toklas. Arlo Guthrie immortalized her.

[_AmyJo]

She made great brownies. Anybody who could live with Gertrude Stein would have to be a saint.

I think it's spelled Toklas. Arlo Guthrie immortalized her.

They named each of their three pure white poodles in succession: Basket I; Basket 2; then Basket 3.

Were they all basket cases?

Thanks for the spell check!

[_AmyJo]

She made great brownies. Anybody who could live with Gertrude Stein would have to be a saint.

I think it's spelled Toklas. Arlo Guthrie immortalized her.

The original Alice's Restaurant was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It became a franchise chain of restaurants.

I used to visit the Alice's Restaurant in La Honda, CA where Neil Young and others hung out. Met him on New Year's Eve, 1978 there. Good old days those were.

They were still leftover Woodstock era. I wasn't a hippy, just got to experience some of it up close back then living in Silicon Valley for a couple of years while finishing high school.

[_Dr. Shades]

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that this has nothing to do with Mormonism, so it belongs in the Spirit Paradise forum, not the Terrestrial Forum.

[_AmyJo]

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that this has nothing to do with Mormonism, so it belongs in the Spirit Paradise forum, not the Terrestrial Forum.

Oh, when I read that the forum consists of "The catch-all forum for general topics and debates," I thought it did not preclude other religious topics.

There's atheist discussions in Terrestrial not related to Mormonism.

Whatever.

Carl Sagan threads, "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist," etc. Are still there. Not related to Mormonism.

[_moksha]

I used to visit the Alice's Restaurant in La Honda, CA where Neil Young and others hung out. Met him on New Year's Eve, 1978 there. Good old days those were.

A Heart of Gold to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8kTRv4l3o

[_AmyJo]

Stein also immortalized "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."

Her poetry was very whimsical at best. Enough to make her considered avante garde among the Parisian art society ... and the salon she and Alice were famed for hosting.

[_AmyJo]

I used to visit the Alice's Restaurant in La Honda, CA where Neil Young and others hung out. Met him on New Year's Eve, 1978 there. Good old days those were.

A Heart of Gold to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8kTRv4l3o

His music is as classic like the Beatles.