Ruminations, mostly editorial
On saying no to clientsstrictly editorial
February 25, 2004
I fail to understand why it is from time to time so very difficult to pronounce what is possibly the easiest single syllable in any language, and certainly the easiest word in English — no.
In this spirit of befuddlement I have agreed, for the month of March, to undertake the editing and indexing of a book on commercial diplomacy, the design of that book, the editing of a lengthy tome on tobacco cessation, the editing of a book on poverty, the editing of a lengthy journal on justice, the editing of entries for a regional encyclopedia, and the rewriting and editing of legal materials for some Staten Island boys in trouble. At the end of this stint I turn around to greet the IRS with year end and first quarter reports and payments.
There's a tale about too much of a good thing, but I don't recall the details. Unless I've just inadvertently recited them but gotten the ending wrong.
February 25, 2004 2:45 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Encyclopedia tangentialsstrictly editorial
Gray and rain and cold enough to remind me that it is the end of February rather than a pleasant October afternoon. So I stay inside at the keyboard, remembering with pleasure the vigorous walk of yesterday, over via Jones Bridge to Connecticut, and down to Chevy Chase Circle, and up Western Avenue through Rock Creek Park and home.
Too busy last week and this —frenetically perhaps hammering at the keyboard with New York encyclopedia entries and 1913 letters— to reflect and ruminate here. In the background I gather newspaper commentary for the library section, and think about this year's presidential run. Noted today that Teddy Roosevelt was hiking, as vice president, on Mount Marcy, New York state's highest peak at 5344 feet, when he heard the news that McKinley had been assassinated and died. Have I ever remarked, I wonder, that McKinley served hot coffee and donuts to the Union Army at Antietam? He did. But all this, and in particular Bush's announcement today that he would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, puts this year's immediate frenzy about the race into something of a perspective. As does listening to London radio and the unlicensed competitors to the black cabs as I type here in Washington about New York. Lots of to-do about the same old story. O yes, and Putin's sacked his government in order to better secure his election next month. He needn't have. He has it in the bag and Bush doesn't necessarily. Ah me. Such excitements.
February 25, 2004 1:37 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Brevity, always sacredstrictly editorial
February 15, 2004
Gilbert: But what about you? I mean, let me repeat the question. Do you have any degree of responsibility having voted to give him the authority to go to war?
Kerry: The president had the authority to do what he was going to do without the vote of the United States Congress. President Clinton went to Kosovo without the Congress. President Clinton went to Haiti without the Congress. That’s why we have a War Powers Act. What we did was vote with one voice of the United States Congress for a process. And remember, until the Congress asserted itself, this president wasn’t intending to go to the United Nations. In fact, it was Jim Baker and Brent Scowcroft and others and the Congress who got him to agree to a specific process. The process was to build a legitimate international coalition, go through the inspections process, and go to war as a last resort. He didn’t do it. My regret is not the vote. It was appropriate to stand up to Saddam Hussein. There was a right way to do it, a wrong way to do it. My regret is this president chose the wrong way, rushed to war, is now spending billions of American taxpayers’ dollars that we didn’t need to spend this way had he built a legitimate coalition, and has put our troops at greater risk.
Gilbert: You cast the same vote, Senator Edwards; is that the way you see it?
Edwards: That’s the longest answer I ever heard to a "yes" or "no" question. The answer to your question is of course. We all accept responsibility for what we did. I did what I believed was right. I took it very, very seriously.
February 15, 2004 1:14 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Letter writing, 1913tangential
February 14, 2004
A marvelous day in the manuscript reading room at the Library of Congress today with a brisk walk to and from the metro, one from Judiciary Square and another to Union Station. We have progressed from July 1913 to the end of August, left backslant page by left backslant page.
—Do you remember my Filipino boy? I had a postal from him today, "With best wishes for yourself and wife, your servent, Arenas." He has gone to Newport to work, so if you go there and some Filipino speaks to you, you will know who it is.
—The Chief Engineer and myself nearly had a knockdown and drag out fight at lunch, - in words only. He countermanded an order I had given as Mess Treasurer to one of the boys, and I called him down before the whole mess, telling him that so long as I was Treasurer I would run the mess, and if he wished to give any orders, I would have to be relieved first. He got pretty hot under the collar, and called me down for citicizing a superior, until finally the Commander told him to shut up, and in rather forcible language. I immediately wrote out a letter reporting him to the Captain, for I was entirely in the right and backed up by the Regulations. I was mad clear through. The Commander held up the letter, and the Chief came around and apologized, so I withdrew the letter, because there is no use starting bad blood aboard ship if there is any way to avoid it.
—Immediately after dinner, nearly all of the officers and one hundred of the crew, went over to the Michigan for an entertainment, from which I had just returned when I started this. They had three moving pictures, three illustrated songs gotten up by members of their crew which were very good, one wrestling match and then five boxing bouts in which we had five men matched with theirs. We won two out of the four bouts, the fifth being exhibition only with no decision, and everyone had a good time. If I could only have you with me tonight. The toast brought you so near me in my thoughts that all I could think of was you. I saw your face in every picture, your smile, and could almost hear you talk. I missed you so, Sweetheart, and wanted you, for I cannot help loving you more and better than everything on earth.
—That is one reason for my being peevish today, and the other is that there is a rumor in the air that the Nashville will not reach here in time to take the rest of the coal out of the Neptune, and that we may have to take it and all over my fresh paint.
—The worst has happened, for after working everyone to the limit today, to get the ship painted from top to bottom, I received orders tonight that we would take the rest of the coal out of the Neptune tomorrow, about three hundred tons. Naturally this means the ruination of all my paintwork and I am heartbroken, but am trying my best to make my sense of humor come to the front. It is simply one of those cases which often happen in the Service, to make everyone unhappy and grouchy. All hands have been working hard for two days running, and the men haven’t had a Saturday or Sunday holiday for six weeks. Now we will coal on Saturday and spend all day Sunday cleaning ship. If our Captain only had a spark of fight in him...
February 14, 2004 9:22 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
Cumberstone, fresh air
February 8, 2004
Yesterday's lunch far more pleasant than today's, perhaps happenstance, perhaps both daughters in the room at the same time being too much for Old Thunderface. Despite adding blueberries to the butter pecan ice-cream he lost his temper and I retreated to the kitchen.
Foul little place that it is. After he'd come round and then retreated himself to contemplate the ceiling, and Sal had gotten Mimi into the living room, we walked down Cumberstone in the blustery afternoon. A good walk, a vigorous one. During it she told me the fuller sad story of young Mac Ingles (aged 17) and the exploding generator that killed him the other week, of trying to get his sister Laura into St. Andrews this next fall, of the waste that such a tragedy can lay on a family. We proceded to briefly cover the demise of the Corys. Then back to Atholl for tea. Then back to town and Sunday evening.
February 8, 2004 6:52 PM | Add comment | Read comments (0)
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