Side Bar

You stuff enough MFA's in a room, the level of poop will drown you. Theory follows theory unto nothingness. I can argue almost anything, rhetoric is my field, I spend hours a day talking to myself. And I don't mince words. But I do occasionally tear up, remembering something. The crows are pairing in even numbers, 2's and 4's, and I don't know what to make of it, I'm so used to three crows that it's a shock to my system. My system, we could laugh about that, I merely limp along. How many crows? What were we talking about? I went to town early to miss the rain. Read some in Mary's diaries, a beer at the pub for lunch; about 1 o'clock Sara and I moved Carters around, got some things out of the vault, and made a map of how she wants me to re-hang everything. Great fun. Then I had to restore to the old order. TR and I will install the new order next week. Lost track of time, and suddenly it was D's opening. D and Carma were late, everyone asking for them. Introduced several people to M and C, chit-chatted until it looked like it was going to rain again, TR agreed to lock up and I scooted for home. Scott couldn't do the driveway today because of the rain and I had to come up in 4-wheel low, first gear. No AC, the windows open, and I can just hear a train across the river in Kentucky. A lovely sound. It was fun, doing the Carters with Sara, then walking M and C through and checking my map. My entire Carter lecture will have to be altered, which is cool, new material is always good. M and C understand that Sara and I are the Carter Trust; it becomes very obvious when she and I are discussing a fine point of Carter scholarship and no one else has a clue what we're talking about. I could do a series of lectures on Carter, and we could tape those; I'll never get around to writing about him, I have too many projects of my own. I'm working on the libretto for an opera right now, editing a book, and keeping you informed , I don't have time for nonfeasance. simony, any of that. You in your basket, hanging in the square, Piazza Del San Marco. Or me. Conservative white guys are always chipping away at our rights. It's the nature of things. There's always going go be some asshole from Kansas or Nebraska that thinks he knows better. I don't feel like protesting anymore, though I occasionally do go out on the back deck, late at night, and pontificate, just for the hell of it. It never did rain again. I didn't think it would, but I needed an excuse to leave the festivities. I needed time alone. Funny, just before I left, TR and I were comparing ankles, it's a silly game we play, and I dared him to go lift Fatima's pant's leg, he didn't, of course, and we were left, wondering. Not, necessarily, a bad place to be. Sometimes not knowing is better.