Final Stewart Letter #32

Letter #32***************************** FIFTEENTH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION 25 November 1946 (1)*************************************************** Dear Mother: My hopes of getting home for Christmas seem pretty dim, although I will probably be on the high seas by then. The 15th Engineer Battalion is to be inactivated on 30 Novem- ber, and we are in quite a turmoil, having to get everything ready to turn in. Most of the men are going to the 1st Engineers Bn in Regensburg, but I am going to a newly formed Labor Service Company here in Augsburg. There will be just 10 Enlisted men and one officer, the Company Commander. He will be one of our officers now here in Battalion Headquarters, and all the men are here in H/S Company. The July segment left the 14th, and on Saturday the 23rd Division Hq. called to get the no. of men we had who are eligible to go on the next shipment. That means that in approximately 10 days the date for our arrival in Bremerhaven will be set. However, unless the port is empty by then, we will not be likely to leave soon enough to get to the States before Christmas, because the trip from Bremerhaven takes a couple more days than from Le Havre, and it took me ten days to get to Le Havre from New York, although the normal time is 8 days. Then another 48 hours in a reception center at New York Port of Debarkation. However, if I don't make it, don't feel too bad about it, for there are lots of fellows, younger than myself, who will have. to spend more than just Christmas over here, although, of course, it was their own, and maybe their parents' decision too, to sign for three years. **************************26 November 1946 My roommate who works in the Division Engineer's office over at Division Headquarters talked to an officer in G-1 this morning, and he told him that there were about 30 Enlisted Men due to go on the next shipment, but that they might be held up because they are transferring to other units, so it turned out that Div. called up and said to transfer those men to the 9th Med. Bn, which is in the Special Troops Kaserne, and they are due to send their August men to Bremerhaven very soon. I will keep you informed of my progress, although, of course, not all my mail will get there before I do. Don't expect too much of the Army's transportation system, however.************************************************** Your loving son, Stewart (2) *********************************************************NOTES: (1) This is the last letter from Stewart during his time in the Army. So this letter will end this series which began back in March 15, 1944 (cf . my blog, June 13, 2019). The series actually began before he went into the service when he was writing dad his thoughts about what he would do after graduating from high school. (2) I have more information about this time in a folder that Becky salvaged from the house in Elgin. There are also Stewart's reminiscences about the trip home in the booklet I published, Remembering With My Brother Stewart (2009). I will add those to this letter. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ EXCERPT FROM STEWART'S REMINISCENCES: LARRY: So, you went to Bremerhaven.... STEWART: I remember at Bremerhaven there was the longest line I'd ever seen for a mess hall. It was two blocks long. I had all my stuff in my duffle bag so I dragged it, and it wore a slit in the bag. So we got a ship there... LARRY: Was that a bigger ship? STEWART: I don't think it was. I recall on the way home there was a piano that people had tried to take apart so they had put a guard on it to arrest anyone who touched it. So I went by it one day and I did touch it--there were some loose keys on the keyboard and I picked one of them up and ran it across the keys or maybe the strings inside, and so he arrested me and I was put in the brig, and I had just gotten off KP so I went to sleep, and in the morning an officer interviewed me and I guess they wanted to see if I had any weapons, so I had to show what was in my pockets, and I had this combination knife which dad had gotten in France and given to me, and I told him my father was a chaplain and had been in France and had given it to me, and that sort of impressed him, so anyway there was no further discipline, I hadn't really done anything wrong. I got seasick on that trip too but when I was on KP somehow I recovered from the seasickness and I was ok for the rest of the voyage; just doing something helped. When I got back to the U.S. I could not believe what had happened to prices. Inflation had started as soon as the war was over. LARRY: Where did you come in? STEWART: I don't remember. NJ, NY I don't remember. LARRY: This was 194? You went over... STEWART: It was December of 1946. LARRY: So you were in Germany for just one year.. STEWART: Eleven months. LARRY: So we were in Anamosa. We had moved to Anamosa the summer you were in Germany. STEWART: Sure...when I came back, I came to Chicago and then got something to Iowa, and I guess I knew the street and I was walking up the street and I went past the walk that went up to the parsonage because I didn't know exactly where it was, and mother saw me going by and became hysterical--she thought I was going to miss the house.

A photo I found online of the staging area and mess hall in Bremerhaven as it was in 1946. This may be the place Stewart refers to above.

A cozy day indeed!

We went to John and Cynthia's for a second Thanksgiving Day yesterday and we had a very cozy time sitting by their fire and talking. It was very restful after our somewhat chaotic day yesterday. Ellen waa busy in the morning preparing walnut/cheese balls, stuffing, apple crisp and pumpkin pie, while I fixed a late breakfast, made some calls, did some work on the computer, etc. We met Katie and Savannna briefly at the glassblower place on the Putney Craft Tour - they came up for that - but we didn't stay long, and then had to go back to the house because we had forgotten to bring the cranberry sauce - couldn't do without that! But we were at J&C's by 2:15p.m. or so, and immediately settled into their living room and admired their woodstove once again - a soapstone stove, which throws out a lovely, steady heat.

The soapstone stove. This photo was taken two years ago when it was initially installed. I forgot to take a picture of it when we were there yesterday. ******************************************* We ate cheese and crackers with hard cider and talked ... and talked! John asked am interesting question- This is the twentith anniversary of the emergence of Rev. Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping - which has been a very active anti-consumerism, pro-Earth movement, and John felt that it had evolved onto something more spiritual over time, and wondered, "What would it take to start an "Earth Church" locally? We talked about that a long time: what an "Earth Church" would be, how one would attract people to it, what kind of life and activity would it be involved in. He found something online coming out of Milwaukee, WI, the Wisconsin Earth Church, which seemed to be along those lines, and he read a long statement written a few years ago by a member of that group; a very thoughtful statement which was packed with issues worthy of extended discussion! So there was plenty to talk about. Then as the afternoo moved along, it was time for final preparations for our meal, and we sat down to that meal a bit after 6p.m. It was quite a feast - even fuller than Thursday. In addition to what we brought, John and Cynthia had made a burrito casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted butternut squash and roasted brussel sprouts. It made for a full plate! At the table, J&C talked quite a bit about how their neighborhood is changing - essentially, young people are moving in. They have become the "elders"! After dinner we watched the latest "Clover" video in which Clover goes to sea and takes on foul weather and pirates! Cynthia caught us up a bit on news of her family, we talked about our stove problems, etc. Nine o' clock rolled around pretty fast! It was a very nice day.

A plate full of yummy food!

The table awaits us!

Cynthia and John

Cynthia's shot of the rest of us.

Reflections in the window

Thanksgiving Day and after

Wow! What a couple of days! Yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, was a lovely day. We went to Katie & Savannah's, and were joined there by Tye, and then later, Karen and Brian, friends of K&S (and us too), who came just for dessert. We had the traditional meal: crudites, turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potato, squash, cranberry sauce, and Ellen brought three pies: pumpkin, apple and pecan. It was a feast. We wished we could rent an extra stomach just for the day. I tried not to overeat, and I think I did it just right. Earlier in the day I made some calls to people to send greetings, and I got a text from Rob and Katie. We sang some thanksgiving hymns. We heard from Karen and Brian about the wedding of their daughter in August, which took place in Italy, and saw an album of photos from the event, including many beautiful pictures of Rome and Florence. We got home pretty late but it was a good day. I wasn't too busy with the camera, but here are some shots:

Turkey out of the oven. Katie does the turkey up just like her mother did, including the strips of old bedsheet.

Platter of crudites - quite a work of art!

Ellen making gravy - boy, was it good!

Waiting for guests!

Getting started****************************************************** What I haven't mentioned is that before we went to K&S's, the wood stove was really acting up - it has been acting up for some time, actually. Every time you would open the door to put wood in, smoke would pour out into the room, setting off the smoke alarm. We had made a date for the chimney to be cleaned, but it wasn't until Dec. 13th. It seemed particularly bad and when we got home, I had to build up the fire, and it was again, particularly bad. When I went to bed, the air quality seemed very poor, and I finally got up and opened the back door to get fresh air. I slept poorly, and while I was awake I decided I was going to have to shut down the wood stove. It just seemed dangerous. I was afraid the flue was obstructed to the extent that gases were coming into the house. So this morning, Friday, I did not rekindle the fire. This is hard because we are also without the use of our propane fireplace insert. The burner needs to be replaced (accordig to our propane supplier, Cota & Cota) and we have been waiting for weeks for parts to arrive. So we are down to our electric baseboard heat. Which is ok, and we are fortunate to have it, but it is very expensive and not cozy like the wood stove or the propane stove. I called the Chimney Doctor, Ian Conway, and told him the situation and said that if he could come earlier than the 13th to clean the flue, that would be very much appreciated. Today, I was scheduled to get my COVID booster shot at 1:30 at the hospital. I was concerned I might not feel too well afterward and maybe shouldn't go alone, so Ellen agreed to come with me, and drive. So I got my shot, and all went well. But when I came out to come home, Ellen went to start the car- dead battery. She realized to her chagrin she had been sitting in the parking lot for 10-15 minutes with the headlights on and the key in the ignition. The battery was weak already - we've been saying for weeks, "we need a new battery" - but never had gotten around to doing anything about it. So there we were; dead in the water, so to speak. We decided to call Peter Amidon, who lives near the hospital, and he came right over to give us a jump start. But when he hooked everything up and Ellen tried the starter - nothing. Just clicks. We waited, tried again, no luck. After several tries, we gave up, and Peter went home. So we called AAA. They said they would be there in an hour. OK - longer than usual, but we had no choice. But an hour went by, no AAA. So I called back - and now things got frustrating. Our cell phone coverage was so poor, the connection kept breaking. When I finally got through, they said the "technician" hadn't left yet. They didn't know when they could get there. It got to be two hours - we were getting chilled. I went inside the hospital but the phone didn't work inside at all. So I had to stay outside, standing in light rain. You get the picture. Finally, a woman asked me what the trouble was. I told her and she asked if I needed a jump start. I thought - "Why not," and said, "Yes!!" She hooked up her cables and "Bingo!" the car started. Then, wouldn't you know - a minute later we got a text saying the guy from AAA was on the way! So I called and cancelled that. But somewhere along the way, I forget just when, we got a message from the Chimney Doctor saying he was on his way to our house! I had not expected THAT! So here we were stuck at the hospital and not able to get home to clear everyting out of the way so he could do his job. But we got back to him and he said it was ok - he was used to moving stuff. So after were able to drive the car, we said, "Let's get a new battery right now." So we did. Advanced Auto Parts put one in for us. And when we got home, the flue was all cleaned out, everything was back in place, and a note with an invoice was on the stove. The problem - creosote had obstructed the lid on the flue, and when he cleaned it, he found the creosote had corroded the connections to the extent that the lid just came off. So I guess we'll have to replace that. But the stove is working great again. Then we realized we had a date with the Ragle's to see a movie at their place tonight. We had postponed once already, so we decided to go; Ellen whipped up a bite to eat from yesterday's leftovers and off we went with a new, dependable battery! We ended up watching a very intense film - three consecutive episodes of Masterpiece actually, titled The Miniaturist. It was set in 17th century Amsterdam. A very dark film, but a fascinating one. So that's our story. What a time! Fortunately, I'm doing ok so far with my booster shot. We're going to have a meal tomorrow with John & Cynthia. Hope I'll feel ok for that! May it be a quiet, peaceful day! We're getting too old for all this!

Grandkids!

Ellen and I are in Northhampton visiting the Feinlands. For a short time, Ben, Max and Tamar were all in the livingroom with us at the same time. But Ben wasn't feeling well; he got a Phizer booster shot yesterday and he feels sort of fluey. Then Max and Tamar went out with us to get ice cream, and now we are back and Tamar is getting ready to go somewhere and Max and Ellen are taking Theodore for a walk. We have learned from the conversation that Max has a "boyfriend" - Maison. We actually said "Hi" to Maison on the phone. And later, Max showed us a picture. He's pretty cute! His father is white and his mother is African-American/Native-American. That genetic diversity has really worked for him. Ben is exploring being a substitute teacher - he has sent in applications and paperwork but hasn't gotten any jobs yet. Tamar had a half-day of school today. I think Julie is upstairs, napping, at this point. I haven't taken any photos of the kids, but here is a nice one of where I am right now - the Feinland living-room.

The Feinland living room in Northhampton at 4:08p.m.***************************** On our way out of Brattleboro earlier, we stopped at Brown Computer and picked up this laptop. It has a new, 500MG hard drive, which is like a flash drive. It has a name but I forget what it is. I think it may be a BCS drive. No - BCS is the brand. It's an SSD - solid state drive. Here's the old one in a little plastic envelope. I assume the new one is very similar. Just 4x more storage.

An SSD***************************************************** It has been an absolutely beautiful day today in Northhampton. Cloudless sky and in the high 40's. But the sun is down now, almost. It's getting dusky. Oh, the other thing happening is that my left foot appears to be infected. I first noticed it last Saturday - my foot was red. I thought at first it was a rash. I wear heavy woolen socks at night (cold feet!)and thought they might be the problem. But after a couple of days that seemed unlikely. It looked more like an infection. So I went to Hearthstone yesterday - Jesper Brickley was out but his colleague, Dr. Alexandra van Dyke saw me. She thought it looked like a bite that got infected. So I am taking doxycycline. Too early to say whether it's helping.

Drs. Brickley and van Dyke LATER********************** People are back and Max moved into the kitchen.

Max making an apple pie

Doing better

Well, here it is Monday evening, and I am feeling better. My temperature has been normal since Friday evening and I do not feel so ach y. I am tryingto build up some stamina, because I feel sort of weak and out-of-shape, so I walked 500 paces r.t. yesterday and 600 today. I will gradually build up to 2000 paces r.t and I plan to go back to the pool next Mondsay and get bck into exercise there on a regular basis. I will get my booster shot next Friday. We'll have Thanksgiving with Katie and Savanna and another Thanksgiving Saturday with John and Cynthia. I will gradually get back into the swim of things. I don't think I had COVID. Being home for the past four days, I've had lots of time for reading, so I knocked off Jonathan Franzen's Crossroads. It is over 600 pages. but I read fast. I found it interesting - it is right up my alley because it's about a minister and his family in a mid-western church in the same tradition as the UCC (Reformed CHurch), and a lot of things in it certainly resonated with my experience. But I realized as I put it down at the end that I had not really developed an affection for any of the characters in it. I don't know if Franzen intentionally created sort of unattractive characters, of if that is just my take on it. It is supposdly the first in a trilogy, so the question will be, do we care anough about these people to follow them through two more big volumes? I'm not sure, but I would say probably "yes."

Crossroads

Jonathan Franzen

Change in plans

This morning I woke up feeling more achy than usual, so I thought I should take my temperature. It turned out I had a fever - 101.3. I immediately realized that I would not be able to get my Covid booster shot today. Plus, I was due to participate in a Hallowell sing at Bradley House nursing home. I also had at least a tentative date to see Jerome today. So I got on the phone and pulled out of everything. We had a self-test kit for COVID - an antigen test - so I gave myself a test. Negative. You're supposed to do a second one within 24-36 hours, so I'll do that tomorrow. Subsequent temperature checks were 99.5 and 97.8. So that's going the right way. I called Dr. Brickley and when asked, he said that Ellen should stay home too. So we both did. I slept a lot today. Drank water. Took echinacea. Hoping this will be short and minor. We"ll see!

Self-test kit. *****************************************

Last night was a lunar eclipse. i got up around 3am and took a picture with my phone. Pretty blurry. I found a "professional" one which is nice. Unfortunately, mine turned out to be a short video, and I can't upload videos to the blog.

Pro shot

Remembering Adrienne Asch

Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the death of Adrenne Asch. Ellen was a friend going back to Adrienne's Swarthmore years in the late 1960's, and after I met Ellen we visited Adrienne both at Wellesley and in NYC on several occasions, and we were at her bedside both in the hospital in her final days and in her home in her final hours. She was an amazing, witty, brilliant, principled person with great curiosity and insight. She was also a great lover of Bach. She and Ellen came together to one of Blanche's last performances that she conducted - the Christmas Oratorio in 2003 - just after Ellen and I met. I miss talking with her about important issues. She was a bio-ethicist and I had served for several years on the Brattleboro Hospital Ethics Committee, so we could connect on a lot of things. I'll reproduce the Wikopedia article about her - thank you Wikipedia! I'll contribute the next time I use you. Adrienne Asch (September 17, 1946 – November 19, 2013) was a bioethics scholar and the founding director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University in New York City. She was also the Edward and Robin Milstein Professor of Bioethics at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which are both graduate professional schools at Yeshiva University. She also held professorships in epidemiology and population health and in family and social medicine at Yeshiva's Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Asch was born prematurely in New York City, and became blind at a few weeks old from retinopathy of prematurity, as a result of too much oxygen in her incubator. Asch grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey, where she attended school in the Ramsey Public School District. She received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Swarthmore College in 1969 and a master's degree in social work from Columbia University in 1973. She opened her own private practice in 1979. Before studying for her Ph.D. in social psychology in Columbia University, which she received in 1992, she worked in the New York State Division of Human Rights as an investigator of employment discrimination cases.[1] Asch also trained as a family therapist, and earned a certificate from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in 1981. Before becoming the Director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University, Asch was professor of women's studies and the Henry R. Luce Professor in biology, ethics and the politics of human reproduction at the Boston University School of Social Work and Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Although she supported a woman's right to choose abortion, Asch took a disability justice approach in her opposition to prenatal testing and abortion that would stop pregnancies carrying disabled fetuses. She wrote and lectured extensively on the topic. In an article in The American Journal of Public Health in 1999, Asch discussed the topic of prenatal testing for disabilities: "If public health espouses goals of social justice and equality for people with disabilities — as it has worked to improve the status of women, gays and lesbians, and members of racial and ethnic minorities — it should reconsider whether it wishes to continue the technology of prenatal diagnosis. My moral opposition to prenatal testing and selective abortion flows from the conviction that life with disability is worthwhile and the belief that a just society must appreciate and nurture the lives of all people, whatever the endowments they receive in the natural lottery." Asch helped to develop guidelines for end-of-life care with the Hastings Center, and was a strong voice for the inclusion of people with disabilities in conversations about bioethics. Asch also worked with assistive technology designers, advising on how to make devices more suited for academic needs.

Adrienne Asch (1946-2013)**************************************************** Tomorrow I get my COVID booster shot (or whatever you call it!) and we also have a Hallowell sing at Bradley House (a local nursing home).

Our final story session

Tonight is the eighth and final session in our Swarthmore Short Story class. We will miss it, and we aleady have decided that we should continue to resd short stories aloud after the course is over. But it won't be the same with no Peter Schmidt and no class members, with their insightful questions and comments. We are reading three stories for tonight: Joy Williams, The Visiting Privilege; George Saunders Ghoul; and Yxta Maya Murray, Zero Tolerance, from The World Doesn't Work That Way, But it Could. So far I have read the Williams story and about 2/3 of the Saunders story aloud to Ellen while she has been making pie crusts for a pie sale this weekend at the Guilford Church (she is right now delivering those crusts to the church, so I am on a little break from reading aloud). This is a very efficient use of time. We also have four papers written by students in Peter's course on this same subject taught earlier this year. They are analysing the stories by Williams and Saunders and Peter got the students' permissiom to share them with us. I read one of those papers aloud earlier, and it was good. ******************************************************** I found these photos of the three authors online:

Joy Williams

George Saunders

Yxta Murray************************************************* These are all contemporary authors, and these stories are all recently published: Williams in 2015; Saunders in 2019 and Murray in 2020. ********************************************************* LATER I was able to read aloud all three stories and three of the students' papers before the class began. It was a good class session but I felt the class was not as engaged as other sessions. I wonder if older people don't connect with these contemporary storiess as much. Peter said his young undergrads really connected with these stories. The three stories each created a world in which horrors occured: Williams' story was in the world of a mental health facility, Pond House, where a middle-aged woman was being treated for depression; Saunders story was set in a dystopian future where an underground community existed in a Disney-world kind of amusement park with severe rules and where an image of "Above" was like a hoped-for Heaven; Murray's story takes place in a contemporary immigrant detention facility. In all of these worlds, the line between our reality and the fictional fantasy was more than blurred. In fact, I went so far as to say that these stories, and the course in general, had led me to feel not only that "truth is stranger than fiction," but that "the real world is more horrible than fiction." Each of these stories made us powerfullly aware of horrors in our world that we would like to deny or ignore. No more! The Saunders story had a glimmer of hope (I thought) that recognizing and speaking the truth might just make a difference. Thank you, Peter Schmidt, for a great course!

Peter Schmidt, Prof. of English at Swarthmore College

Good reports!

I have had two appointments in the past two days - with an opthamologist yesterday and a dentist today. I saw Dr. David Terrell yesterday - at Brattleboro Opthamology. I had never seen him before. My opthamologist for the past several decades has been Dr. Dana McGinn, but he retired before the pandemic, and I had not seen an opthamologist since January 2019. Since I have had lens implants in both eyes (decades ago) i need to see an opthamologist regularly as a check-up; also, since I have diabetes, I need to have my eyes checked regularly for possible diabetic damage to the blood vessals in the retina. So I went yesterday and got a good report: no trace of diabetic damage, no trace of macular degeneration, no trace of glaucoma, and my vision is essentially 20-20 with both eyes. My right eye is weaker, but the left makes up for it. So that was good news!

Dr. Dana McGinn, my opthamologist for decades, now retired.

Dr. David Terrell, my new opthamologist. **************************** Today I went to Estey Dental for a cleaning and a brief exam by the dentist. The cleaning went welll and the dentist said everything looks good - no cavities! I think I am a lucky guy!

The Estey Dental Center is so-called because it is housed in the old Estey Organ Factory Building No.1. Estey Organ made parlor reed organs and some pipe organs in the 19th and early 20th century. It is a huge complex that has been re-purposed as offices and various other things. It is famous because all the buildings were slate-covered as a form of fire protection.

Happy Birthday, Ellen!

Today is Ellen's birthday! She went with some of her pals to the King Arthur Baking Store up in Norwich - one of her favorite places - and had a good time there. John and Cynthia will arrive soon with supper. A low-key but nice day. She had a birthday weekend with Julie in Ogunquit and had a really good time - she felt she had a chance to talk in a way she doesn't usually have. I am one lucky guy to be her husband! Later: John and Cynthia brought burrito bowls from a local Mexican restaurant - they were good and they were filling. We talked, inter alia about Covid, the pros and cons of their new kitchen range, and the implications of Patrick Leahy's decision not to run for another term as senator from Vermont. He is 84. We're hoping a woman will run, though Peter Welsh, our Congressman, would be good too.

Ellen with her goddaughter, Ruthie *************************************************** I like to give Ellen a birthday card that I have made. This is what i made this year. It's probably the most quirkey one I've done, but she liked it.

My card to Ellen this year

Problem solved, I guess

The chandelier over the dining table is no longer a problem. That's because it's gone. Fixing it seemed highly unlikely, but even more importantly, Ellen has never liked it. I liked it a lot when it worked properly, i.e., when you could use the downward-facing bulbs; but not so much since they quit working. We need more light, so we'll need to get something to replace it.

Gone!!!

Work accomplished! Ellen is meeting Julie later this morning and the two of them are going to spend the weekend in Ogunquit, ME - something they have never done together. That should be nice. Harry will be here with me, so I don't have to go somewhere.

Story night

Thursday night was our Swarthmore Class on Zoom - two new short stories: Nafissa Thompson-Spires, "Heads of the Colored People: Four Fancy Sketches, Two Chalk Outlines, and No Apologies, and Kiley Reid, "George Washington's Teeth." Both of these stories were written by African-American authors. Nafissa Thompson-Spires was born in San Diego, California, in 1983. She earned a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University and an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Illinois and Vanderbilt University. Her first book, Heads of the Colored People, won the Los Angeles Times Art Sidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the PEN Open Book Award, and a Hurston/Wright Award for fiction, among other prizes. Heads of the Colored People has been translated into Italian, Turkish, and Portuguese. She also won a 2019 Whiting Award. She was long-listed for the 2018 National Book Award. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in New York Magazine's “The Cut,” “The Root,” “The Paris Review. “The White Review,” “Ploughshares,” and many other places. She currently teaches at Cornell University as the Richards Family Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, where she teaches fiction and television studies.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires***************************************** Kiley Reid was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1987 and raised in Tucson, Arizona, from the age of seven to 20. She graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School and studied theater at the University of Arizona for two years before transferring to Marymount Manhattan College. She later graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her recent novel, Such a Fun Age was longlisted for the Booker Prize in July 2020 and won the International Book of the Year at the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards. The novel, which explores the relationship between a young black babysitter and her well-intentioned white employer, was ranked No. 3 on the New York Times hardcover fiction list within two weeks of its U.S. release. It received generally positive reviews in numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR and The Atlantic magazine. It was the first selection of 2020 for Reese Witherspoon's book club. The Washington Post's review said that "Reid constructs a plot so beautifully intricate and real and fascinating that readers will forget it’s also full of tough questions about race, class and identity." The Atlantic described the book as "a funny, fast-paced, empathetic examination of privilege in America." A review in The New York Times noted the book's "resonant insights into the casual racism in everyday life, especially in the America of the liberal elite."

Kiley Reid*************************************************** Heads of the Colored People brought home to us the fact that we are pretty much out of touch with black culture. There were numerous references to people, songs and writings that were unknown to us. Our teacher, Peter Schmidt, anticipated this and provided us with the supplementary material but also encouraged us to use "Google" to look things up, which we did, to some extent. We are now a bit more "with it." But who knows how long it will last! George Washington's Teeth raised a lot of interesting and provocative questions. It was about a young African-American fifth-grade teacher, Claire, who has been nominated for Teacher of the Year in a nation-wide competition. As she waits to find out if she wins that honor, she gives her class a creative assignment - she has prepared s series of "mis-conceptions of American History" and put them on slips of paper and put them in a hat - the students draw out a slip and are asked to research the issue and make a presentation to the class. But this proves to raise a dilemma for Claire. Heather, the mother of a student, Anna, comes in to ask Claire to change Anna's assignment because the one she drew is causing Anna a lot of distress. The slip Anna drew - her "misconception" - is "George Washington's teeth were made out of wood." Behind this statement lies the reality that George Washington did actually buy and wear teeth that had been extracted from the mouths of slaves. Anna has imagined the teeth being taken from live slaves and is so disturbed by that image that she is crying at night. She wants Claire to give her a less vivid "misconception," like, "Albert Einstein failed math." The problem for Claire is that there is a back story here. Twenty years earlier, Claire and Heather were at an almost all-white girls camp in Vermont, and an incident occured there in which Claire was falsely accused of stealing a cake from the kitchen, an accusation which clearly has a racial dimension. Heather knows Claire is innocent, but remains silent when she could have spoken up and cleared her from suspicion. Claire learns that Anna is the daughter of Heather when she sees her name and does a little research, but when Heather comes in, this fact is not acknowledged. They have not seen each or been in touch since it happened. Claire is actually waiting for Heather to say something about it - maybe even apologize all these years later. But that doesn't happen, and Claire is not disposed to grant the request - she feels that assignment is actually having its desired effect! This dilemma gets resolved in a very interesting and provocative way, and it made for good discussion. *********************************** The Heads of Black People is much darker. It features a black man named Riley who is a fan of what is called "cosplay" - elaborately dressing up and impersonating a character famous in pop culture. Riley's character is based on Tamaki Suoh, a main character in a Japanese manga (comic strip) and anime (hand-drawn computer animation) called Ouran High School Host Club. These are all names and terms Ellen and I were totally unfamiliar with but most 20-somethings would recognize immediately. I did not realize that many black young people are big fans of Japanese manga.

Tamaki Suoh**************************************** Impersonating Tamaki Suoh requires Riley to bleach his hair and use blue contact lenses to make his eyes blue, as well as dressing appropriately. This might appear to white people to be a kind of self-hatred and denial of his blackness, but that is not the case at all. It is a highly sophisticated form of play. There is another character, Bruh Man (Brother Man) who is also an unusual character and without going too deeply into details, the two have a confrontation which is innocent but which the police (white, of course, and totally oblivious) interpret as dangerous, and they shoot both men dead. So the story becomes a kind of parable of our current society.

A work in progress

Harry has been doing a number of chores around the house. He's been helping stack wood, he's been cutting up old lumber for kindling, he got an old lawnmower running that hasn't been running for two-three years, he cut down a sapling that had grown up in the midst of the rhododendron bushes, he banged in the awning windows so that they're tight for the winter, and he put away all the deck furniture into the shed. What a great help! Now he has taken on a much bigger project. The chandelier over the dining table has a problem. There seems to be a short in one of the sockets. The chandelier actually has two systems: one of upper bulbs in globes, and one of down-facing bulbs. Down-facing bulbs have seemed to have a short somewhere so we haven't used them for several years. Harry has tackled this problem. He's taken the chandelier apart, and has taken out the three-way switch that controls the different bulb systems. He thinks this switch might be the problem. I am not sure but it's worth a try. He and Ellen have just gone off to an electric supply store to see if they can get a new switch. The chandelier is now resting precariously on a jerry-rigged table system so that it won't be hanging just by its wires. Fingers crossed!

The mower Harry got going again

The woodpile being stacked

Kindling being cut up

This is an awning window - it is hinged at the top and opens out from the bottom using a crank inside. There are 18 windows like this in this house, and eight of them are on the upper level, reachable only by ladder. It is impossible to close the window tightly using only the crank. You have to put a board over the frame of the window from the outside and hammer the window in until it is tight. This is necessary during the winter months so that cold air does not leak in. Next spring, I'll have to push them out from the inside so that they can be cranked out and in again.

Tackling the chandelier

Steady as she goes!

Is this going to work? LATER Ellen and Harry came back from the electric supply store empty handed. They said that we would have to identify the manufacturer and contact their parts department. That seems very unlikely to be possible. The chandelier is almost fifty years old. So I guess Harry will just try to put it back together and make it workable to some degree, but it won't "fix" the problem.

Lunch with Mary Andersen

Today we picked up Anne Janeway at her home in Marlboro and drove to Bennington to have lunch with Mary. We were able to drive over the lawn up to the back door to make it easier for Anne: she didn't have to climb 14 steps! Ellen made squash soup and Mary contributed quiche, salad and pumpkin cheese cake! Good lunch! We talked and talked and suddenly it was after 4pm and getting dark. We said our goodbyes with the promise to come again and took Anne home. It was dark by then. We got home after 6pm. We had some supper and watched the news and then it was time for short stories! More on that later!

Mary, Ellen and Anne

Larry Gordon

I have known Larry Gordon for close to forty years. I first met him when the Blanche Moyse Chorale participated in The Vermont Choral Festival at St. Monica's Church on March 13, 1982 in Barre, Vermont - an event which Larry had organized. Some years later = about 1989-90 - Larry created "Village Harmony," an organization which sponsored summer music camps for teen-agers in Vermont. These camps had a unique repertoire of American shape-note hymns and gospel songs and folk music from e.g., England, the Balkans, Africa and the Republic of Georgia, for starters. That grew quickly to include camps not only in Vermont but in other states and in England and other countries of the world. Larry was usually a leader in these camps but he also invited others to lead, including Mary Cay Brass, who brought her expertise in Balkan music. By 1999, it had expanded to include singing camps for adults. and I participated in the first of those adult camps at the Burke Mountain Academy near St. Johnsbury, VT. I went on to attend two VH Camps in 2000, and then in 2001, Larry invited me to tour with Northern Harmony, an elite choral group made up primarily of young people who were alumni of Village Harmony camps but made room for this, then, 68-year-old bass. We toured Germany and England, culminating in the Lufthansa Early Music Festival with a concert at St. James Church, Picadilly, in London, which was broadcast by the BBC. In 2003 I went to a VH adult camp in Colrain, MA, and there I met Ellen. If Larry Gordon had not created Village Harmony, Ellen and I would not be a couple. Needless to say, Larry Gordon has had a large influence in my life, and I have admired him and his musicianship all these many years. There is so much in my life for which I feel gratitude toward him. ***************************************************** It therefore came as a shock to learn a few days ago that Larry had had a serious bike accident and had sustained profound head trauma and was in a coma at the UVM hosptal in Burlington. No one knows exactly what happened, but it was eventually learned that Larry had had a stroke that irreversibly damaged his brain and that even if he came out of the coma, he would be unable to speak or to understand the speech of others. It was known that he did not want to live under those conditions, so yesterday morning he was detached from life support and he died last evening at 8:53p.m. Hundreds - perhaps thousands - are mourning his death. He touched so many lives with music. Many of the teen-agers who came to VH music camps were sort of troubled, lonely. non-conformist kids who found acceptance, love, joy and more at those camps and many were "saved" by their experience with Village Harmony. Yesterday, Ellen and I went to a shape-note sing for Larry on the lawn of Tony and Margaret Dale Barrand in Brattleboro. We took Calvin with us and Harry came along too. About 40 people came, and we sang lustily in honor of Larry, led by Peter and Stefan Amidon and a few others.

Matt Wojcik leading a hymn. ************ ******************* Almost every shape-note hymn is about death and going on to the next world, the next life, so it was deeply satisfying and apppropriate to sing those hymns. Then, in the evening, we went to River Singers, and it was in essence a memorial to Larry. We sang special songs in his honor and many shared their memories of him. River Singers itself would probably not exist if there had been no Larry Gordon because Mary Cay herself owes a great deal to his influence. It is so important to know how one person's life can affect so many other lives. If you want to see Larry in action, just go to Facebook and search his name, or go to YouTube and enter "Northern Harmony" as a search term. There are scores of videos there, most of them with Larry prominently singing or speaking. Great singing too! Here are some pictures of Larry:

I think this last picture is in Larry's home in Marshfield, VT.

Beautiful cards

Ellen has received an amazing birthday gift from Bonnie Hull: a box full of postcards, much to Ellen's delight. Her favorite thing! We were going through them tonight and marveling at them. They are old but in beautiful condition. Ellen handed me one of a painting, and said, "Can you identify these figures?" I couldn't, so I turned to my new toy: Google Chrome. Here is the card:

I put the card out into the ether and it proved to be one panel of a triptych, specifically "The Portinari Altarpiece or Portinari Triptych (c. 1475), an oil on wood triptych painting by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, representing the Adoration of the Shepherds. It is in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy. This altarpiece is filled with figures and religious symbols. Of all the late fifteenth century Flemish artworks, this painting is said to be the most studied." It is, in fact, a beautiful work of art. I was unfamiliar with it until now. So I thought I would share it. Here is the full work:

The figures in the left panel are St. Anthony (in black) and St. Thomas (in red). The small figure in the lower right is the patron, and the even smaller figures on the lower left are his children. Here is a clearer picture of the left panel:

Left panel with St, Anthony, St. Thomas, and patron, Tommaso Portinari and his sons, Antonio and Pigello. In the background, above St. Anthony's head, one can see Mary and Joseph and a donkey, making their way to Bethlehem. It was common in triptychs such as this to create a kind of narrative by depicting characters in more than one place. So Mary and Joseph are on their way in the left panel, and in the central panel they are watcching over the newborn baby Jesus. The shepherds are adoring the child in the foreground, but in the background, in an earlier scene, the angels appear to them in the fields announcing Jesus' birth. Here are some close-ups, which make details clearer:

Left panel details

Central panel details ***************************************************************** The right panel shows Tomasso's wife Maria di Francesco Baroncelli, with their daughter Margarita, with Mary Magdalen (with the pot of ointment) and Saint Margaret (with the book and the dragon):

Thank you, Bonnie, for the cards and for this one in particular!