May 4, 2012 · 9:12 am

The Biscuit City Exceptionally Immodest Poetry Series Presents a Poem by Dan Verner, Who Has No Shame

Along with several other Facebook friends, I wrote a poem a day to observe National Poetry Month in April. Some people actually have asked me to share these poems on Biscuit City, so here is the first one. If I run one a week, it will be about December by the time they’re all presented. Thanks to all who encouraged me in this, and to those who have not read them yet, enjoy!

                              Bus Stop

When I was teaching,
I read or a student read
A Poem of the Day
To start the class.
It was a tradition
And some students said
It was the best part
Of the class.
I’d agree, most days.

I chose the poem
Out of one of several collections,
Mostly edited by
Garrison Keillor,
Daughter Alyssa’s literary nemesis,
Although she objects to
His style rather than his content
Having experienced M. Keillor
As a high school student
With his “Writer’s Almanac” feature
On National…Public…Radio,
Inflicted by her English teacher,
A station on which, she says
The announcers speak slowly
And deliberately as if they
Knew somehow
They were addressing
Old people.

I know, youth is wasted
On the young and I exact
Some satisfaction
By reminding her that she
And her friends
Will pay my social security.

In any case, when I retired from teaching
Some nine years ago this July,
My department gave me a book of
Read-aloud poems
Edited by you-know-who
And Lisa Green, my department chair,
Allowed as how I would go out in my
Neighborhood every morning
And read to the kids
At the bus stop.

A school bus stops right outside my house
And each school morning
I hear the quiet sleepy talk
Of the students as they wait
For the roaring yellow machine
To take them away
To another seven hours
Of high school.

I want to take my book of poetry
And go out to them
And read them a
Poem of the Day
To fortify them against
All that day will bring
But that would be too weird
And so
I don’t

(But sometimes
When the house is quiet
And they are standing in silent clusters
at the bus stop
I go into the living room
And there
Read them
A Poem of the Day.)

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May 3, 2012 · 10:35 am

Nataly Dawn: How to Make a Living as an Artist

Nataly Dawn is a young singer/songwriter/”video song” producer from California. She is one half of Pomplamoose, an American indie music duo with Jack Conte. The band formed in the summer of 2008 and sold approximately 100,000 songs online in 2009.

Their videos mostly take the form of “VideoSongs”, a medium Jack Conte defines with two rules:

  1. What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice)
  2. If you hear it, at some point you see it. (No hidden sounds)
The name of the band derives from the French word pamplemousse, meaning grapefruit. Pomplamoose is an English-spelling approximation of the French pronunciation.

I first became aware of their videos on You Tube, and was struck by the layered sound they achieved with recordings done in an ordinary room in their house and also by Nataly’s pure voice. The group does mostly covers, with originals by Nataly such as “Always in the Season” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-OFaFzHQM).  Nataly recently earned a masters in French Literature and does some wonderful covers of Edith Piaf songs [and dare I say, she sounds better than the original on songs like “La Vie en Rose.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMIuuV05uc&feature=BFa&list=PLFB2A700B1A28B590) Please do not mail overripe Camembert to me for my opinion!]

The group achieved “commercial” success when their version of the Chordette’s “Mr. Sandman” ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMCNmUaGko&feature=related) was used as as the soundtrack for a Toyota commercial. This past year, they were featured in a Hyundai commercial with their version of “Jingle Bells” as the soundtrack.


Nataly recently shared some of what she has learned writing, recording and producing music. I think her observations pertain to any kind of creative endeavor. (Note: I have edited her comments for language since she unfortunately uses a vocabulary that would not be appreciated by most Biscuit City readers.)
Here are Nataly’s thoughts:

1. Don’t sign anything that has a 99% chance of not being to your advantage.

2. Don’t do things just because that’s how other musicians have done it in the past.
3. Don’t get excited about shortcuts: they don’t lead to anything worthwhile.
4. Work your head off. If you think that anyone is going to run the business for you, you’re wrong. Do as much as you can on your own, and when you can’t anymore, delegate the work to people you trust.
5. Have high expectations for yourself and for the people you work with.
6. In the words of my indispensable counterpart, Jack Conte, think like a start-up. If someone asks for 15% or 75% of your income, feel free to say, “ok, but if that’s what you want, what are you going to do for me?” And then get it in writing.
7. Hire people who you trust and who have a good work ethic, and do your best to keep them on board once you have them.
8. Don’t burn bridges. Even if you don’t end up working with someone, keep in mind that they have a voice and that the music industry is a small world.
9. Hire a good lawyer. They’re really the only thing between you and getting screwed most of the time.
10. Be careful with your time. You only have so long to achieve what you want out of life. So don’t let yourself get bogged down. Things will always fall through the cracks. Balls will get dropped. You can only do so much. So choose those activities wisely. And like I said before, if you really think that someone else will help you achieve your goals, hire them (but first refer to points 1, 6, 7 and 9).
11. Start with what you have. You won’t like what you’ve made ten years from now anyways, so don’t be precious about it. Put stuff out now. Use the mics you have, the computer you have, the instruments you have. More “stuff” won’t make you a better artist.
12. Be good to your fans. If you’re lucky, they’re in it for the long run. And they may be the only people out there who actually care whether or not you’re making music 30 years from now.

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May 2, 2012 · 9:14 am

Interview with Sally Ramsey, Local Artist of the Week, an Extra Gravy Feature of Biscuit City

Introduction:
Good morning and welcome to Extra Gravy, a Harrison Bergeron Production coming to you from the glass-enclosed studios in Biscuit City, a wonderful magical land where all your dreams come true, everyone is intelligent and beautiful and has a ton of money! And it’s 72 degrees and sunny year ‘round. 
Our guest today is Sally Ramsey,  raconteur, retired nurse, musician and one of the funniest and most optimistic people I know.
Dan: Welcome, Sally, to Extra Gravy, probably the world’s only virtual radio show without an audio. It’s nice to be able to talk with you!
Sally: Hi, Dan.  I’m so happy to join you this morning.  What a view from the glass enclosed Biscuit City studio!
Dan: It is unimaginably magnificent, isn’t it? Let’s go back to when I first became aware of you:  you came to the 8:30 service and sat near the front and smiled when the choir sang as if we were the most wonderful group you had ever heard. (Believe me, that early in the morning we were struggling.) Since then I’ve gotten to know you as about the most optimistic and at the same time down-to-earth person I know. Have you always been like that?
Sally: What flattery!  You usually catch me on a “good” day, since I assure you I’m not always so optimistic, but I think life is much better if you approach things with a “glass half-full” attitude.
Dan: I know you’re from a little town in North Carolina that has several claims to fame. You’re a terrific story teller, so would tell us about your home town and the stories about the KKK and the CIA “extreme rendition” airfield there?
Sally: I’ve actually lived in several places in North Carolina, but I consider home to be Smithfield, North Carolina, which is about 25 miles east of Raleigh and familiar to many who travel the I-95 corridor.  It’s the town with the big outlet mall visible from the highway.   The outlets arrived long after I left.
When I moved there as a high school freshman I thought my father had certainly chosen the most backward, rural location he could find to relocate our family.  Greensboro, our former home, seemed quite worldly to me at that moment. 
This was the 60’s – the time of the Civil Rights movement, the assassination of Martin Luther King and all the unrest and social change of the time.  I was horrified to discover the KKK was not something I read about in the newspaper or images of hooded cowards on the evening news, but was actually active in this area of the rural South.  What an embarrassment to the citizens of this small community when an enormous red and white misspelled sign glorifying the Klan was erected just as you entered the town!  The property was owned by an avowed Klansman who felt compelled to advertise his ignorance and prejudice in such a public way.   Seeing Smithfield and that horrible sign featured on the evening news with Walter Cronkite one night was the height of embarrassment for a newcomer and an impressionable teen-ager!  
That sign eventually mysteriously came down one night by an act of teen-age vandalism.  Interestingly enough, most everyone knew the “culprits,” but, to my knowledge, the authorities claimed ignorance, and no one was ever punished.
In spite of the notoriety of the sign, Smithfield turned out to be a good place to grow up and call home.  We made wonderful friends and my mother continues to live there.  Smithfield was also the home of Ava Gardner, the movie star.  Many of her extended family still call Smithfield home.  She was a frequent visitor during her lifetime and was often seen at the little diner that her brother owned which was also the lone teen gathering place in town.  It was not unusual to see her sitting in a booth when we’d go in for a burger after the Friday night football games.  We teen-agers weren’t too impressed, but our parents found it pretty extraordinary.
Smithfield again made the news recently for being the home of the private air field used by CIA aircraft that secretly transport terrorist prisoners to foreign locations for interrogation and imprisonment.  Imagine my surprise to read the story in The Washington Post recently!  There have been lots of local protests, but I believe the tough economy caused many to overlook the situation since new jobs have been created to support the air field.  It’s still hard to wrap my head around the idea of the CIA in Smithfield!  What’s the world coming to?
Dan: These are such wonderful stories that I first heard before and after choir and rehearsals. How did you come to join the choir? You seem to enjoy it so much! What’s your musical background?
Sally: My musical background, such as it is, consists of seven years of piano lessons (I learned to read music, but I’m no piano player) and singing with the chorus all through school.  A friend encouraged me to sing with Voices United in 2006 and I ventured out of my comfort zone and gave it a try.  It was a wonderful experience and it made me remember how much I enjoyed singing with a group.  Becky invited me to sing with the choir whenever they performed a piece from that program.  Then, she asked me to help out the group for special holiday presentations.  Before I knew it, I was in!  I thoroughly enjoy being in the choir and being part of the worship experience.  I’ve made such wonderful friends and am privileged to be associated with so many talented, committed people.
Dan: Yes, Becky has a way of involving people in music all right! Tell me about coming to Manassas. I think you came about the same time I did.
Sally: I graduated from college, married and moved to Manassas in 1974.  My husband, Les, had found work here after his graduation the year before, so this became our home.   I soon found employment as the nurse in a private OB/Gyn office.  I had a long career working with many mothers and babies in Manassas.  I have wonderful memories and still see women in the community that remember that time.  I’ve been very fortunate to have had a career doing what I love and being able to watch so many of those babies grow up.  There are many young adults I see in our church that fall into that category.  Medicine and patient care has changed so much over the years.  I’m glad that I practiced when I did, but I’m glad to be officially retired – at least for now.   Nursing is something that never leaves you, though. 
Dan: That’s quite a legacy to have with you forever. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, though. I could tell that you write well from listening to your stories. How did you learn to write, and who encouraged you?
Sally:I’m really not a writer – at least not like so many of your other guests – so I’m honored that you consider me part of that good company even if just in the margin.  I had an English teacher in the seventh grade who opened the world of writing to me.  Her influence is with me every time I put pen to paper or, in today’s words, fingers to keyboard.   I learned the beginnings of how to communicate with the written word during that school year and her guidance has served me ever since.  Fortunately, I had other excellent English teachers that all took an interest in me and nurtured that solid beginning.  All teachers should take note since you never know how much you may impact some impressionable mind. 
Dan:You’re a storyteller as well. You told me a story about a relative who lived in Alexandria and was a railroad engineer. Tell us about that, please!
Sally: That story is about my great grandfather, Alfred T. “Bud” Rollins.  He lived in Alexandria and worked for the railroad as an engineer.   My father used to tell the story about how his grandfather had been involved in a serious train wreck.  Of course, I didn’t have many details from this long-told family story until recently when the accident was featured in the October, 2011, issue of Our State  magazine, a North Carolina publication.   The story goes that Bud Rollins was the engineer of one of two trains carrying the performers and animals for Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show that also featured Annie Oakley.  They were traveling in a convoy on a single track.  There was a miscommunication with a freight train going in the opposite direction.  The instruction was that the freight train engineer was to pull off on a side track and let the Wild West trains pass.  After the first train went by, the freight train engineer pulled back on the track, heading straight for the second train.  A head-on collision and derailment ensued with many animal casualties and injuries to people on the train.  Annie Oakley was seriously injured.  Fortunately, the train crews survived.  Good thing for me since I’m here to tell the story today! 
Dan:A writer friend of mine uses the pen name of “Molly Bolt” which I think is so funny because most pen names are pretentious and arty, but she uses a piece of hardware for a nom de plume. I think you of all people who know about this find it funniest. Why do you think it’s so funny? And please tell us the story about how you acquired your affinity for bits of hardware!
Sally: I love word play and I also have a peculiar sense of humor so to use a hollow wall anchor as a pen name makes me giggle.  As for hardware, much to my husband’s horror since he is a true handyman extraordinaire, I was the resident fix-it person at my former office.  I even had my own set of tools.  This fact still makes Les cringe! 
He continues to doubt the veracity of the story I tell from my senior year in high school.  The entire senior class was sent to the cafeteria one morning to participate in an Air Force Aptitude test.  It was pretty clear to me early on that I wasn’t Air Force material until we got to the automotive section of the test.   Now we were on to something!  In an effort to be a great girlfriend, I had spent hours listening to the current object of my affection wax poetically about automobile engines, carburetors and cam shafts.  You could hear the girls in the room groan as they came to the page with the parts of an engine all waiting to be identified.   Proctoring this test wasn’t happening so there were lots of whispered questions – like  “What’s a head gasket?” .  Usually the one least likely to disobey the no talking rule, I found myself whispering answers to my bewildered table mates.  Imagine my parents’ surprise to be advised of my exceptionally high test score!  It’s a wonder a military career was not in my future! 
Dan: You are a golfer and frequently play with your friend Molly Powell. How’d you get started golfing? Are there some stories connected with that? I just bet there are!
Sally: I’ve easily made the transition from the work force to the golf course!  My dad was an avid, low handicap golfer.  He was delighted when I took up the sport first in high school and then again some 20+ years ago.  I’m certainly not a low handicapper, but I play as often as I can and have many great friends because of the game.  I won’t bore you or your “listeners” with golf stories since you either love it or hate it.  Non-golfers usually make references to watching paint dry if I try to share my golf stories with them.
Dan: Do your relatives think you’re funny? Do they appreciate your stories and are they storytellers as well?
Sally: What an interesting question!  I doubt there’s one family member that thinks I’m funny.   I think my sister is the clever/comical one.  We are a close family though and get together as often as we can.  Stories and laughter invariably ensue when we’re together.
Dan: You speak about your mother quite often. She sounds like a character. Would you tell us about her, please?
Sally: I think my mother is pretty amazing.  There was a time she wouldn’t have dreamed of telling her age, but she’s proud of her 88 years now.  She is in remarkably good health, which is a blessing.  She is a voracious reader; she continues to live alone; she drives around Smithfield (it’s still a small town) and plays bridge a couple of times a week.  She has a large circle of friends and has an active social life – more active than mine!  I’ve learned a lot from her, especially about the importance of faith, friends and relationships.
Dan: Do you have any other stories you’d like to tell us?
Sally: I believe they say you should always leave your audience wanting more, so I’ll save other tales in case you’re at a loss for words one day and need to tap into my deep well of stories and anecdotes!  I always tell new golf friends that I cannot promise anything about the caliber of my game, but I’m sure to be comic relief during 18 holes together!
Dan: You seem to enjoy Biscuit City and the devotionals I read to the choir. Why do you think you enjoy them so much?
Sally: We both have that quirky sense of humor that amuses us!  We get it even if others don’t!  And I think stories such as we both tell help us to understand our world and our lives. It’s a blessing to be able to share them with other people.
Dan: I want to thank you for being with us on Extra Gravy from the Biscuit City studios today. You’re one of my favorite people and a kind and well-respected person. And the same lady cuts our hair. You’ve been a delightful guest.
We’d love to have you back sometime for some more stories and merriment.
Sally:  It has been my pleasure!  I’d be delighted to return to Biscuit City Land any time! 
  
Dan: Do you have anything you’d like to add to this interview?
Sally: I think we’ve probably bored your listening audience enough for one day.  I’m just honored you find me and my story interesting and/or amusing enough to warrant an interview! 
Dan:…I have one final question. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? I would be a Brazilian rosewood tree because they are beautiful and their wood is used in high-end guitars.
Sally: I’ve been worried about this tree question, since I knew it would be coming.  With spring being upon us, I’ve been especially intrigued with the dogwood.  It’s actually on the small side for trees (don’t I wish!), graceful, often old and gnarled (I call this aging gracefully), and with lovely flowers in springtime that, as legend has it, reference the cross and everlasting life.  I must say that was pretty deep thinking for me!
Dan:We’ve been talking with Sally Ramsey, story teller, funny lady, musician, retired nurse and one of my favorite people in the world. This has been the Local Artist of the Week feature, brought to you on the Extra Gravy show on the Biscuit City Network. The Local Artist of the Week is a Harrison Bergeron Production from Molly Bolt Industries, producer of fine hardware, food products and an occasional book or two. This episode is sponsored by Biscuit City Stories and Tales, now available in some bookstores. We’re not going to tell you which ones to make it a kind of treasure hunt! So look and look and look for the big bound volume of Tales from Biscuit City. They’re not as good as Sally Ramsey’s stories, but, hey,  few things are! That’s Biscuit City Stories and Tales, available at a bookstore near you, maybe. Somewhere. Look for it!
This is Dan Verner, bidding you a fond adieu from the glass-enclosed brain center of the Biscuit City Network until next time when we’ll talk to another local artist.

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May 1, 2012 · 10:36 am

In the Courtyard of the Castle: A Facebook Thread on Yesterday’s Post: A Split Biscuit with Ham Feature on the Biscuit City Network

Yesterday’s post considered a blogger who wrote about “Nine Things that Will Disappear in Our Lifetime.” (For easy reference, they are the post office, the check, the (paper) newspaper, the (physical) book, the landline telephone, recorded music, network television, “things” you own and privacy. today, Biscuit City is pleased to present a lightly edited thread that resulted from yesterday’s post. The participants in the thread (in order of appearance) are my FB (and real world) friends Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, writer, teacher and activist who lives in Manassas; Mary Kay Montgomery, with whom I worked at Robinson High School in Fairfax, and presently living in Bluffton, SC. MK, as I refer to her on FB, is a gardener, a reader, a director (she does not claim that title), and a retired bookstore manager and librarian; and Mary McElveen, also my colleague at JWR, now living in Alexandria, VA. Mary Mac is a writer, poet, reader, grandma, community activist and retired chemistry teacher. Me, I’m an innocent bystander, although I did start this fish fry. Enjoy!

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt: Awesome post, Dan, and one I would like to respond to in a full blog post of my own. However, this will take time, and I don’t have enough of that this morning.

I agree with some of the predictions, but there may be more I disagree with, especially the notion of “our lifetime.” Who is this “us”? People under the age of 40? 30? 20? I think the writer is disregarding baby boomers and many others. As someone who is increasingly “growing up,” I am offended at this generalization which dismisses an entire population. We count, dammit! : )

Dan Verner:  You make a good point about the age of the writer, Katherine, and one I hadn’t thought about. Judging from his picture (http://digitaljournal.com/blog/12633), he is a boomer although the site doesn’t give his age. So, supposing that at least some of us live to be 100, that would be about 40 years from now. I think almost everything on the list will be gone in 20 years with the exception of “stuff.” I think people will always be attached to sentimental objects and those will persist. But maybe they’ll reside in the Cloud.
MaryKay Montgomery: This so sad. It makes me feel old, obsolete, and on the way out. I am NOT sad for the young’uns, though. I feel positive that every generation feels the same way about the changes that leave the oldsters behind. So – what else is new.
About your keeping vinyl records in case turntables come back –  we still have some pf them as well.
Dan:  MK, Thoughtful comments, as always. Technology changes (duh) and while it’s hard to adjust to, usually I find I’m glad when I do. We had a digital camera for a year that the kids gave us before we took a single picture. Can you even buy film any more? I love the convenience of digital and the ability to send pictures over the ‘net. But there are some losses. I know I will hold onto my “stuff” because it has sentimental value. And there is an app for the i-Pad that allows you to play it like a guitar. I’ll stick with my D-18!
Mary Kay:  Me, too. On all of the above comments – including the vast improvement of digital cameras over film. And how could I LIVE without my computer? But I have resisted Kindles so far – and I’m the only one in my book club who hasn’t “sold-out”. I still cling to my many books. I have noticed, however, that when I need to know something I usually check the ‘net instead of one of the lovely reference books in my collection.
Dan: I have a Nook but still read paper books. I think we’re a transition generation. My daughters have gone all digital and find my habits amusing and quaint. But I have more insurance, to quote a line from “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Towanda!
Mary Kay: I will give up my land-line when cell phone conversations can happen without interuption and poor reception 100% of the time. Also – how about phone books? If everyone uses cell phones there will be no need for the old books.
But my idea is that most generations become transition generations in the long run, don’t you think?
Dan:  Good points! We have really good cell service around here. I understand the phone companies are stopping issuing phone books since most people use 411 or internet lookups. And indeed every generation becomes a transition generation. My father doesn’t use computers, cell phones or DVD players at all. He’s of the mechanical generation–can fix anything mechanical. But electronics baffle him. And he’s not alone in that in his generation.
Mary McElveen:  I think Dan’s right (in yesterday’s post); there will always be aficionados of books. There’s no real substitute for the look, smell, feel of an old book. And there are kids who are discovering the appeal of vinyl in recordings…maybe the same thing we feel about antique furniture and other items that represent our past. Not that we’d live in museums, but…there’s comfort in our past and that of our ancestors. Don’t get me started on antiques..
And while we’re talking about old stuff….
Antique

What makes one house sing
when others barely hum?
What electricity calls our names
in resonance with walls and spaces, fabric and wood?
What arcane language summons each to each,
defying ordinary words?

Treasured somethings made by hand
reflect the love within,
and draw more to themselves. Why else
choose the old and battered over pristine new,
but for the love, banked and drawing interest,
that lives within?

Love defies logic,
transcending space and time.
Who can deny that connection,
ethereal though it may be?
Who can touch those long-ago hearts
and not be touched in return?

Dan: Mary Mac, wow! What an appropriate poem! And you use abstractions, which are hard to make work in poetry. Cool!
Katherine: Mary, that is lovely! ” What electricity calls our names…” Indeed.

Mary: Thank you. I’m really big on old, and/or handcrafted things: wooden bowls, silver, furniture..they have an indefinable something and that’s what I was trying to express…
Dan:  I’m the same way with vintage guitars. Take pre-World War II Martin D-28’s, which have incredible tones and are made from Brazilian rosewood, which is impossible to find now (legally, that is). They have increased in value by 10000% (not a mistyping) but their real value lies not in their monetary worth but in the fact that they are works of art a guitarist can play. At the same time, iPads can be “app-ed” to play like a guitar. Are the two equivalent? I don’t think so.
MaryKay Montgomery(to Mary Mac): WOW! I’m crazy about your poem “What makes one house sing….” I will print and save it – somewhere in all this stuff so that I can see it often! I hope it isn’t copyrighted? If not, I have a couple of people I’d like to send it to.
Mary:  Sigh. Like everything I write, the only place it’s published is in my own self-published books. Send it at will; just give me credit…:) Thank you…Oddly enough it is in the my last book–Close to Home. Send me your address and I will mail it out. I published it on blurb.com and you can get it there, but the shipping cost is ridiculous. I’ll send you my email in a separate message.
MaryKay: I enjoy these long, continuing conversations. After many hours away from the computer I come back to more threads and ideas. Fun.
Mary:  So is the title going to be Split Biscuit? With or without ham?
Dan:  Split Biscuit with Ham it is. Thank you for the idea. I want readers of Biscuit City to experience one of these threads and to be insanely jealous if they don’t have FB friends  who can comment like this…

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April 30, 2012 · 9:51 am

In My Castle on a Cloud


I came across an interesting list the other day, called “Nine Things That Will Disappear in Our Lifetime” written by a fellow from Florida named Plinio Granado which appeared on digitaljournal.com. I thought, someone sounds awfully sure of himself, but when I read the list, I agreed. I’ll put it at the end of this post so I won’t interfere with the “narrative flow” of the piece. (Right.)
Basically, Mr. Granado says the post office, the “cheque” (check to you and me on this side of the pond), the (paper) newspaper, the (physical) book, the land line telephone, recorded music, network television, “things” you own, and  privacy are toast. He discusses each one in the article and includes his rationale for thinking each will disappear in 30 or 40 years or even sooner. Some I just have to say, “Yep,” good as gone. Those would be the post office, the check (I used to write 50 a month. Now I do one or two), network television, and privacy. For the others, I have some comments.
Starting with the paper newspaper and physical books, I think we are at a watershed. By and large, the younger generation has embraced the epaper and the ebook. In the area I live in there are a number of good hyperlocal electronic papers. Some of my friends write for these papers, and they are darned good writers. At the same time, I think people my age have one foot planted in each world. I have a Nook and read the local paper online but I still like the feel of a book in my hand (and its battery never runs out) and being able to fold the Post so I can work on the crossword. Paper newspapers and books might go the way of the buggy whip, though, although I think there will always be devotees of each, just as some people still ride horses for recreation. They might still be used on some ranches in the West, but my understanding is that on the big cattle ranches the cowboys ride ATV’s. 
A writer friend of mine believes that physical books will survive in used book stores as the castoffs of those who still use books, and will be a place where writers and aficionados of the books will gather to write, contemplate and discuss. There’s a phenomenon that has sprung up with the advent of so much personal technology called “high tech, low touch,” meaning that the same people who embrace all the technological devices will also engage in traditional activities such as weaving, knitting, painting or playing instruments (just to name a few activities) as a counter to all the technology. Some readers of electronic books will go to have an “old school” experience at used book stores. Make sense to me.
A number of young people, including our daughters have only cell phones now. We still have a land line and I wonder why. The rationale used to be that the landlines worked during a power failure and of course cell phone batteries would run down if they couldn’t be recharged at a wall socket. Well, Amy’s college roommate Kyle was without power in New England this past winter for ten days and charged her cell phone from her car. I think land line phones will become as dead as phones with dials. Remember those? I do, dimly.

Recorded music has changed drastically in the cyber age, with bands and singers being able to bypass music companies and establish a following directly through the internet. So, I’m conceding that one. At the same time, the high tech/low touch principle means more people are making their own music. The popularity of local choruses is at an all-time high. 
When composer Joseph Martin was here for our Voices United 2012 workshop and concert, he talked at lunch about the disappearance of objects from our lives. An example is the CD collection, which has been replaced by MP3 files on a player. As a result, said Martin, it’s no longer possible to walk into someone’s house and know something about their taste in music. It’s not visible: it’s a digital file on a computer, or increasingly, on the Cloud. It is possible even now to keep pictures, sound files, movies, artwork and even holograms of objects completely hidden away from view and call them up on demand.
I remember watching the original Star Trek series and thinking, man, they don’t have much stuff. Spock’s cabin had a few weird looking objects sitting around and that was it. Undoubtedly that was a cost-saving measure for the production since the set dressers didn’t have to do much. But I wonder if Gene Roddenberry was on to something about how we will live in the future. As for now, I’m resisting this. I want to put my CD tracks on the computer but that takes time and the mp3 files don’t have the sound quality of disks. Still, mp3’s are easier to carry and more convenient so I’m sure I will make the switch. As for the rest, I have too many objects that mean something to me sitting around. Yep, it’s a bear to dust and makes for a cluttered look, but it represents who I am…for now. But hang on. I have a feeling we’re all going to live in a castle on a Cloud. And I hate that song…
Here’s the list of
Nine Things That Will Disappear in Our Lifetime
Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part, on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.
1. The Post Office
Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Cheque 
Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheques by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.
3. The Newspaper 
The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet Devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.
4. The Book 
You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn
the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.
5. The Land Line Telephone 
Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’ve always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes
6. Music
This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalogue items,” meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, “Appetite for Self-Destruction” by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, “Before the Music Dies.”
7. Television 
Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It’s time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through
Netflix.
8. The “Things” That You Own 
Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.”
That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.
In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That’s the good news. But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big “Poof?” Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.
9. Privacy 
If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That’s gone! There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built
into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, “They” know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change
to reflect those habits.
“They” will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again …

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April 27, 2012 · 10:28 am

Poems of the Week: Chicken Poetry Fest 2012

Some poems based on the question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” written by some of my talented and humor-enhanced FB friends.

But first, a cartoon:


Some Poems in Answer to the Question, “Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road” (and Variants on that Question)
Looking back across
the black expanse,
I clucked to myself,
wondering.

Beak canted,
beady eyes narrowed,
I knew the answer.
Once.

Maybe, I left it there,
On the other side.

Ernest Lilley

Brunswick Stew

A chicken and a squirrel walk into a bar;
leisurely strutting about, and feeling peckish,
the chicken attacks the popcorn bowl,
and the squirrel, the peanuts.
A few drinks later, the chicken emerges
and meanders, clucking and clueless,
across the avenue,
the squirrel scampering close behind.
Now, squirrels are faster, and have more options
than a flightless, brainless bird.
And yet…
the chicken survives the transit, unscathed;
the squirrel is (as ever) roadkill.

Forget the question of chickens and roads–
Why do squirrels even try?

Mary McElveen
Cock-a-doodle-doo on Broadway
(With a nod to Walt Whitman, And the Bee Gees. And the Beatles.)
Staring down the broad boulevards, sauntering past the cross streets
I strut, my feathers ruffled, looking for other chickens
I see them, those proud preening fellows so colorful clucking to attraction
I am the cock of the walk. I am larger than life, larger than death,
Larger than all of Manhattan!
Make way, make way for my cock-of-the-walk walk!
You can tell by the way I walk I’m a dancin’ cock!
There is no meat as sweet as that on these bones: the fat drips from mine
And so, however I shall end up, I will be toasted and I will be enjoyed and
I am me and I am he and
I am you and you are he and we are all together…
I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
No, wait:
I am the walrus
 
Goo goo g’ job
Dan Verner
Chaucer’s Pertelote to Miss Emily D.:

I most certainly am not merely “a Thing with Feathers”;
When I perch, I am making something far better than Hope–
Perfection in an Egg.

Nancy West

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April 26, 2012 · 1:39 pm

An Omission and Some Advice for Writers

I apologize to my FB friend and former FCPS teacher Nancy West for overlooking her detailed and heartfelt account of seeing the shuttle last Tuesday. Here it is, followed by the usual Thursday feature of Advice for Writers:
My husband John and I didn’t realize we should have left the house by 6 AM last Tuesday if we were to have had any hope of getting into the prime viewing site by the museum at Dulles, so we luxuriated way too long over our morning coffee and crossword puzzle before heading out the door at 9:20. By the time we merged onto Route 50 off of the Fairfax County Parkway, traffic was already bumper to bumper going west toward Route 28. To pass the time, I continued working the crossword puzzle, occasionally firing a clue over to my chauffeuring husband–never thinking that Discovery and her carrier might appear at any time for its initial “flyover,” and that was our first sighting. I looked up , and there it was, flying low across Route 50, heading toward Dulles and D.C. Folks were stationed in median strips and sidewalks giddy with excitement….
Initially we assumed that brief glimpse was “it” but remembering that the landing was scheduled for 10:40 AM, we continued to inch our way closer to Route 28 which we soon realized was shut down. Feeling “dauntless and sagacious” we pressed on up 50, finally detouring into a Baptist church parking lot not far from the Route 28 exit. Like excited four year olds at an amusement park, we tumbled out of the car, cameras in tow, and made our way to the best viewing spot along with several other dozen gawkers. One fellow had his car radio’s volume up to the mega decibels so that we could all keep track of Discovery’s whereabouts. There were young families, office workers sporting ID badges, really old folks in wheel chairs and walkers, and us–true children of the Space Age eager to witness history once again.
Our seemingly endless wait was soon rewarded with not one but two spectacular flyovers. I was so excited during the first one that I couldn’t hold the camera still and opted just to gape stupidly saying “So awesome” over and over like a pre-teen. During the second flyover as Discovery was clearly going to land, I got some shots, then put the camera down, raised my arms high, and shouted “Welcome home”! My eyes had teared up and so had my husband’s. Neither of us expected to be as emotional as we were…We were remembering so many other incredible space journeys–some great successes, others disasters. T’was for sure a life highlight! 
Advice for Writers
 From the Guardian newspaper:
We asked some of the most esteemed contemporary authors for any golden rules they bring to their writing practice. Here are Roddy Doyle’s:
1. Do not place a photograph of your ­favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.
2. Do be kind to yourself. Fill pages as quickly as possible; double space, or write on every second line. Regard every new page as a small triumph ­–
3. Until you get to Page 50. Then calm down, and start worrying about the quality. Do feel anxiety – it’s the job.
4. Do give the work a name as quickly as possible. Own it, and see it. Dickens knew Bleak House was going to be called Bleak House before he started writing it. The rest must have been easy.
5. Do restrict your browsing to a few websites a day. Don’t go near the online bookies – unless it’s research.
6. Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort. Chances are the words that come into your head will do fine, eg “horse”, “ran”, “said”.
7. Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It’s research.
8. Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones. I was working on a novel about a band called the Partitions. Then I decided to call them the Commitments.
9. Do not search amazon.co.uk for the book you haven’t written yet.
10. Do spend a few minutes a day working on the cover biog – “He divides his time between Kabul and Tierra del Fuego.” But then get back to work.

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April 25, 2012 · 10:11 am

Biscuit City Local Artist of the Week: Gracie and Her First Book

 My little friend Gracie Hodgson, a five-year-old kindergartener, heard her parents Sean and Diana and her brother Garrett and sister Kaya talking with me about books and writing at a weekly church dinner recently. She decided she wanted to write  abook and this is the result. Biscuit City is pleased to present The Mini Plane by Gracie Hodgson with illustrations by the author and subtitles by her mom. 

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April 24, 2012 · 10:39 am

A Most Memorable Day: Some First-Hand Accounts of Sightings of the Shuttle Discovery and Its Carrier Aircraft during the Area Fly-By, April 17, 2012

(I don’t have credits for these incredible pictures. They were shared around on Facebook and I copied them to my desktop without noting where they came from. I should have been more careful with the provenance of  the images. If you took any or all of these pix, please comment and let me know and I will be glad to credit your work!)
Norm Modlin (Norm is an Air Force meteorologist and one of my go-to guys for all matters aerospatial.)
(Norm’s FB posts)
 Shuttle spotting with Lilah Gaulden Modlin at Target parking lot, Lee Road/Hwy 50, Chantilly. Checked spaceflightnow.com and they said there’s no real time flight tracking today.
Initial flyby just went over ~5 minutes ago. Must be headed for DC now. I hope these winds don’t cause a change in flight plans.
Second flyby…circling again…I think they’re lining up for runway 30.
WOO HOO!!! Flaps & gear down this time….nice approach….mad flying skills in what has to be a significant crosswind. Kudos to the crew of NAS
Terri Wiseman, retired educator and Manassas Chorale member from Manassas:
I was at the Manassas Battlefield picnic area with six other educators waiting for our students to arrive for the Watershed activities. It was awesome to witness! We were just sorry we didn’t have busloads of kids with us.
Lisa Hope Lucia Vierra-Moore, teacher and one of my best students ever:
 I was in my classroom. At first it was no bigger than a fleck, then all a sudden it was, well, bigger. Nearly the size of a wadded piece of paper. I was stunned, amazed by how quickly it soared past me just glancing off my brow. Nearly weightless in its flight. Oh, perhaps it was just a wad of paper after all.
Amy Verner, fourth grade teacher, Manassas Chorale member, and esteemed elder daughter:
It came right over school. The kids literally ran outside and then were waving and cheering and pointing.
Gretchen Day, columnist for the News and Messenger: (I also talked to Gretchen about the event when we met up with her at a restaurant late last week.  This is an excerpt from her column this week.)
Discovery Makes Trip over County
I hope many of you got to view the space shuttle Discovery on Tuesday as it made its trip through Prince William County on the way to its new home near Dulles Airport. I was driving down Wellington Road, on my way to the Senior Center, when I looked up and saw it soaring right over my head. Several cars (mine among them) pulled over to watch as it circled and made a second pass.

I have to admit it brought tears to my eyes as I watched it flying low enough that I could clearly read the writing on the side. The wonderful sight definitely “made my day!”

It got me thinking of all the things that our manned space program is respon­sible for— first among them being the microwave oven. I can’t imagine not having that in the place of honor in my kitchen! AND, what would children do without the hook and loop closings on their shoes, jackets and sweaters? Just think of all the ways we use them, and the many other products that are results of this space program.

At a meeting I attended Tuesday evening, the first thing we did was go around the circle and each one shared their stories of where they were and what they were doing when they saw Discovery on its final journey. One participant sadly said, “I didn’t think to look to see if I could see it outside, I just watched it on TV.”

Sherri Craun Katoen, former student (also one of the best) and Manassas Chorale member:
I was inside my jury deliberation room getting ready to go into the courtroom for the jury I’m on. A few of us were looking out the window and noticed people in the apartments on their balconies. Someone saw it first and then we all saw it. It was amazing…and gave me goosebumps to see it. Court began at 10 and we were happy the shuttle was early so we could see it. The funny thing is the judge mentioned that while he was in his car he saw it. We were all thinking, you were in your car at 9:50 and court begins at 10??? Ha ha!
Win Lightner, Manassas resident and Manassas Chorale member:
We live within the flight pattern of planes heading into Dulles. I was watching it on the news and heard a plane going overhead and ran outside to see the shuttle flying overhead…way cool. Just bummed that I didn’t think fast enough to have my camera ready!!! It will be an image I won’t soon forget!!
Leigh Giza, Gainesville resident, librarian and poet:
Most exciting event I’ve experienced in a long time — seeing the Space Shuttle Discovery flying overhead, tethered to a jet, as I drove east on Route 66 this morning. Amazing! Whoever said the suburbs were boring was wrong — well, at least for today. 🙂 
And my immediate reactions, as posted to Facebook, as I had given up trying to see it and was parked at Walgreens and about to go inside:
WOW Shuttle just went over me about 1000 feet up Amazing!

More detail on the shuttle sighting. I had been trying various places in town to try to see it. The radio reported its whereabouts and I was looking at a news feed parked in the Bloom lot on Route 28 which runs north to the airport. Aircraft normally let down into Dulles along this road about 3000-5000 feet up. From what I saw on the NASA television feed it looked like the assemblage was coming from the north rather than from the south where I was. I went over to the Walgreens parking lot and was facing Route 28 and about to give up and go into the store. I looked up and there it was, right through my windshield, about 1000 feet up. So amazing! I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the car to take a picture and my camera batteries failed at that moment. Argh. But the whole 747/shuttle combo slid by so quietly and smoothly. It was a beautiful sight. People in cars along 28 were paying no attention to what was going by over their heads. Further up 28, I would bet people were running into each other and off the road when they saw it!

Cindy Brookshire, Manassas resident, writer and force majure behind the Write by the Rails Writers’ Group:
I was working in my windowless office, when Curtis called and said, “Go outside now, the Shuttle’s flying over!”  I ran out just in time to see it circle, perched on the back of a 747.  It was thrilling; yet sad.  My first husband, Martin, if he was still alive, would have camped out at Dulles with kids, camera and binoculars to catch sight of it.  After all, his father Willis had photographed the original Mercury astronauts when he worked at NASA Langley in the 1960s.  Martin grew up with an eye to the heavens.  I stood alone by the crepe myrtles, losing sight of an era, the hum of distant engines fading away.
And some who missed it…
Patty Reed, hardware lady par excellence at J.E. Rice’s Hardware and inveterate reader:
 
I drove to work unaware of the news. I did receive a picture text message of the shuttle and had no idea what it was. I found out on TV 30 minutes later. D’oh!
Jennifer Blanchard, mom and Chorale member:
I missed seeing the shuttle – I was watching my daughter’s first dance recital instead.  A different kind of once-in-a-lifetime event!
Kathy Smaltz, Manassas resident and high school teacher: Sadly, I missed it. It flew right over our high school (and I was off for lunch) but I didn’t realize it until after!  My husband and oldest son got to see it though!
Bottom of Form
 

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April 23, 2012 · 9:28 am

My Baby Takes the Morning Train

Well, I did take the morning train last Monday, but I don’t think anyone was singing that for me unless it was Becky and I don’t think she knows it and if she did she probably wouldn’t want to sing it. I kinda like the song and I was singing it (to myself) as the VRE pulled out of the Manassas Station at 7:56 AM last Monday, to be precise.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I was on the train because I had a brief appointment in upper Northwest Washington, D. C. in the 4900 block of Massachusetts Avenue near Westmoreland Circle at 11:00 AM. (Got all that? There will be a quiz later!) I had never ridden the VRE into Union Station. I didn’t want to drive to my destination because of traffic and because I was told there was little parking in the area. So the train it was.

I don’t live far from the station, so I showed up about a half an hour early and worked the crossword with a few other commuters waiting around. About five minutes before train time, people seemed to come out of nowhere and lined up to board the train which pulled slowly into the station, right on time. The doors opened and I joined the silent crush of people boarding. They were clearly experienced at this routine commute: it was, of course, new to me. I wrote a poem about the journey in that morning and posted it on Facebook as part of my attempt to write a poem every day during the month of April, National Poetry Month. Here’s my entry for Tuesday, April 17, the day after my trip:

                               On the Morning Train

This is my first time riding the train into the city
I am all eyes.
(No ears necessary this morning–
I am sitting in the quiet car
Shhhh.)

The regular commuters do not speak
And keep their heads down
Exhibiting elevator behavior
Not making eye contact
To maintain anonymity.
No one says “Bless you”
When someone sneezes.
For them, this is routine.

But I am, as I said, all eyes
Peering out the window
At lush sunstreaked woodlands
The backsides of restaurants
Isolated elegant houses
Cars backed up behind crossing guard arms
Their red warning lights bright in the sunshine
Impossibly green highs school football fields
The back side of strip shopping centers

And I am singing (to myself) all the train songs I know:

“The City of New Orleans”
“Morning Train”
” If I Got my Ticket, Can I Ride?”
“Chattanooga Choo-Choo”
“The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe”
“Freight Train”
“This Train” and
“My Baby Takes the Morning Train.”

We slide out of the suburbs
Across the sparkling Potomac
The Jefferson Memorial white in the near distance
Washington Monument in the far
Monuments and colossal buildings
But also at the back of a row house
A lady hanging out laundry.

So into a tunnel and to the platforms of
Union Station

“Good morning, America, how are you?
Don’t you know me? I’m your native son!”
 
But I ain’t no train
 
I am a wide-eyed
 
First time rider
 
On the VRE.

So I got to Union Station about 9 and then hoofed it over to the Metro, which was a pretty good hoof as it turned out since I got onto the platform about 9:15. I caught a northbound in just a couple of minutes headed toward my destination, Tenleytown, up near AU where I went to college, graduating in 1970 (no adjustment to your blog is necessary. The date is correct–it is 1-9-7-0). The Metro train got into the station about 9:30, which left me plenty of time to make the ten-minute walk promised by Google maps to my destination. Or so I thought.


For one thing, it took ten minutes of riding upward escalators to reach street level. I had forgotten how deep some of the Red Line Stations are and man, are they deep. I wouldn’t have wanted to have walked up to the surface. So, by the time I reached the street and looked around to figure out where I was supposed to go next, it was about 9:45. I had a GPS with me but it wasn’t showing which way I should go so I relied on my sun sense of direction and started south toward Massachusetts Avenue and then hooked a right onto van Ness Street toward my destination. Unfortunately I was going the wrong way for about ten minutes before I figured out that the little dot on the GPS was headed east. I wanted to go west.


I reversed course about 10 AM, figuring I would be early. The Google Map directions showed it to be about a mile away or ten minutes. I didn’t notice that I had it set on “automobile” so the ten minutes was by car. Walking would take 25 minutes. Still it was downhill, it was a nice day and the neighborhood was filled with nice (and expensive) houses. While I didn’t recognize anything in the neighborhood from my time at AU, I expected some changes in 42 years. Everything looked different. The Tenleytown Metro was not opened until early 1978.


I got to my appointment by 10:30, half an hour early and was done by 11:00. I had plenty of time to walk back to the Metro, have some lunch and catch the VRE at 1:15 for the hour ride back to Manassas. I walked back up Alton Street which was uphill (duh). It was also unseasonably hot (about 80 degrees) which warmed me up on my trek, but the scenery was nice and I was in no hurry. I wrote another poem about seeing a milk box at a nice house on the street. Here it is:


            Deja Vu

On Alton Street
In Spring Valley
Upper Northwest,
Washington D.C.
I saw an old-style
Dairy delivery box,
Outside one of the houses,
The same kind of milk box we had
When we lived in Maryland
In 1950.

The house on Alton Street
Was beautifully maintained
With a well-tended plot
Of pansies, alstroemeria, aranthera and jonquils,
Between house and sidewalk.

I bet a house like that would go for
A million dollars
Easy.

Our little government surplus temporary house
In Maryland
Had porous walls that
I could stick thumbtacks in
and put up pictures of my heroes
Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy
And hard-packed dirt between
House and street
(no sidewalk).

The little house in College Park
Might have cost $2000
And was torn down shortly after
We moved out in 1953.

But

Both houses had
The same kind of
Milk box.

I had a nice lunch at a Panera in Tenleytown using a gift card I had, caught the Metro back to Union Station, poked around the shops at Union Station for while, including the Barnes and Noble to see if they carried a book a friend had written. They didn’t and I told them they should. One clerk said she would have to read it based on my recommendation and enthusiasm about the book. I had some coffee and a croissant as a kind of dessert and made my way to the gate about 12:45 to wait to board the train at 1:15.


It came up right on time and I got on board, took a nap in the nearly empty car and was back in town by 2:20. It had taken me over six hours to go to and come back from a 20 minute appointment, but I enjoyed every minute of it (well, maybe not getting turned around for a few minutes). I have not traveled by myself since I went to visit my brother in Atlanta for a few days in November. Before that I would have been in college eons ago when I made a solitary trip. With a wife and then a family, most journeys are group ventures, which is as it should be. But traveling solo is fine, for a change. I probably won’t do it again soon, but if the opportunity comes up, I’m ready. I also want to use the train to go with Becky to the new museums on the Mall we haven’t seen and to make a test run with my dad down to Union Station and back as a precursor to our planned trip across the U.S. by train this summer. Now that’s going to be one train ride!

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