Author Archive: Bill Black
I'm a baby boomer, lefty Democrat, Boston Irish Catholic, born in 1953. I work as a public affairs consultant in Washington.
A Day in London
I travelled to Europe yesterday for a series of presentations on the presidential election. I’ll be keeping an online diary over the next week for my stops in London, Brussels and Amsterdam.
The Flight
The flight to London was unevental except for a major scare at the outset that had nothing to do with flying. My laptop, on which resides the final version of my presentation, crashed and began issuing me scrary messaages. The last time this happened, a week ago, it took me 2 days to get my data back. If I’ve lost the presentation, life is going to be very difficult when I land. So, I stashed the laptop away and prayed. Fortunately, the problem seemed to go away when I logged back in at my hotel. I immediately saved the presentation in a Lockbox folder. Whew.
The Hotel
I’m staying at the Radisson Blu in Covent Gardens. Each of the 3 or 4 times I’ve come to London, I’ve stayed in Covent Gardens. It is one of my favorite places in the world, waling distance to the West End for plays, Trafalgar Square for iconic London and St. Martin in the Fields, my single favorite stop in the city. I have not stayed in a Radisson in probably 15 years since a horrific night in Binghampton, NY, when the fire alarm went off 3 times over the course of the night. My son, Danny, who was 7 at the time, was traumatized. We vowed never to stay in a Radisson again.
Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Last night, I attended a Smithsonian event, a conversation with Kathleen Turner. It was associated with her current one woman show where she portrays Texas journalist, Molly Ivins. Turner was her usually gravely voiced, irreverent self. She was candid and occasionally profane. And she gave a taste from her show.
The questions, both from the interviewer and the audience were fairly predictable. Her favorite character was Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff. She talked about the fun she had doing Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito. Described a chance meeting, which turned into an afternoon of hilarity, with Ann Richards and Molly Ivins. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that session. It was a very entertaining evening.
The reason I went was to reconnect with Ms. Turner. In late 1999, I worked with her on a Middle East Peace project that was as ill-fated as all such projects are. But it involved multiple phone conversations with her every day for about three weeks, culminating in her calling my house and telling my wife “Your husband is driving my fucking crazy!” It’s a long story that I’ll post about some day.
I caught up with her briefly after the “show” to say hello. She remembered the project, which was nice.
FDR Shows the Way
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
There is an amazing video clip that I first saw on Chris Matthews show on MSNBC of Franklin Roosevelt talking about the Republicans’ approach to domestic policy. It is an exquisite clip. A perfect critique of Republican political deceit. I’m struck by it’s precise rhetorical construction and the dripping sarcasm he shows, but most of all, Roosevelt’s good humor in delivering it. He finishes up with that famous grin, so pleased with himself for delivering the shot so well. It is a classic.
For some reason, the clip can not be embedded, so click here to watch it.
Elizabeth Drew on the Debate
She gives it to Joe going away:
Determined to not let Ryan get away with anything—to dismiss many of his points—Biden, not a subtle man, did patronize him a bit and smiled often, to suggest that Ryan wasn’t to be taken seriously. Biden did overdo this somewhat, and the Republicans complained almost unanimously after the debate that their candidate was treated rudely—the tender-hearted conservative Republicans of course abhor rudeness. But their making a big thing about Biden’s frequent smiling, their criticisms even of the moderator (a familiar effort at misdirection), were clear signs of how they thought the event had gone.
Read the whole piece.
Andrew Sullivan Gets It Right
We have met the enemy and he is us.
But its candidate – who has ensured there is no daylight between him and the more rabid parts of his party – is neck and neck with a president still in the world of reality. The GOP’s degeneration is its own fault; but that such a degenerate, irresponsible, ideologically extreme party is now, I believe, the favorite to win this election is a reflection not on them, but on us.
The Kids
Here is our traditional picture of the kids who have been coming to the camp for 16 years. It includes our newest arrival, Anne, barely a year old. A new generation.
Creepy, Crawly Things
I was alone on the deck on this quiet afternoon. No sounds but the lapping of lake water against the dock, occasional bird calls and the mournful cry of the loon.
As I lay on the chaise lounge under a beach umbrella, I heard a scratching sound on the canvas of the umbrella. With my glasses off, I could only see a small black splotch moving across the underside of the umbrella. When I put my glasses back on, I realized it was a bat climbing out of the folds of the umbrella. I could see his pointy ears and the web of his wings as he made his way along the spine of the umbrella. I was both repelled and fascinated.
Check off another “close up and personal” encounter with nature.
Stargazing
Stargazing is always a potential high point of our stay in the Adirondacks. But it’s better when there’s no moon. Tuesday night was a moonless night with a spectacular display. And, for the first time in my life, I was able to actually identify individual stars and constellations other than the Big Dipper.
Which is not to diminish the Big Dipper. It is our official family constellation. Each year, it is positioned precisely over our porch/dock as though it was put there for our own edification. One of those consistencies that we rely upon for this vacation.
But thanks to the Ipad/Iphone app called StarWalk, we can hold the device up to the sky, where it replicates what we’re viewing at that moment in that place. Then, you only need to touch the star on the screen to learn everything there is to know about that particular star.
I was also able to identify the constellation Scorpio on the southern horizon.
A true breakthrough.
To Boston
The vacation had to be interrupted by a business trip to Boston to meet with the CEO of a client. Normally, I would have been able to take a pass, but the project involved an extraordinary program by this client help address the problem of hunger in America. It was the kind of project I have been seeking for years now and offered an opportunity to address a real social problem.
While getting to Boston would not be easy, as it turned out, getting back was an ordeal.
Long story short, I drove 2.5 hours to Rutland, Vermont and took a ten seater plane to Boston. As we boarded the plane, the gate agent said to the man in front of me, “you’re going to be the copilot today.” I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. That passenger sat in the copilot’s seat.
The flight was only moderately bumpy and we never flew above 7,000 feet. Coming into Logan on that kind of plane was actually kind of a kick. See the picture below, taken from my seat.
The meeting went reasonably well, but the trip back was a nightmare. All flights to Rutland were cancelled because the weather computer was down. Their plan was to transport us by “limo,” aka shuttle van, to Rutland. After waiting around for a while, they ended up flying us to Lebanon, New Hampshire, where we were shuttled by “Gramps” to Rutland. As it turned out, Gramps only took us halfway on the hour and fifteen minute trip. We (me and another guy who had started his day in Eugene, Oregon) were transferred to into another shuttle and arrived at Rutland airport at 11 pm, 4 hours later than expected. I then started by 2.5 hour drive back to camp.
Arriving at camp at 1:30 am, I took our rickety motor boat the mile across the lake where they had lit up the main dock for me to steer toward. As I drifted into the slip, there was a huge splash to my right as a snapping turtle dove off the dock where he was presumably sleeping. He about two feet in diameter and cruised into the slip behind me. I was extra careful getting out of the boat onto the dock.