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Put Up the Barn!

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A message from our favorite public servant.

Greetings Constituents!

Election day is two weeks from today! Regardless of your political tendencies I hope you’ll get out and vote, especially if you live in my district and are inclined to vote for ME!

I still don’t have an “official” opponent in Minnesota’s 9th (all the water surface area in the state), but I know that a submerged wave of support for a write-in candidate can easily tip over an electoral kayak if the guy with the paddle is not paying attention. That’s why I thought I’d better hurry up and make some last-minute promises.

I promise to hate the government as much as anyone.

Anti-incumbent cynicism is high this year, but that shouldn’t be a problem for a rougish outsider like me. But some casual observers have been known to mistake me for an establishment politician just because I’ve been around a long, long while. That’s totally unfair. Believe me, nobody is more opposed to the government than I am!

Our government is too invasive, too intrusive, too insular, and a lot of other in- words I don’t have the space to write down here, including inward. I want to keep government from interfering in your life when the reason for doing so doesn’t interest me. And if I we don’t get enough government haters in the government to accomplish that in this election cycle, I promise that at least I’ll continue my already successful efforts to keep the government inept at everything it does.

I also promise to change the tone.

Yesterday, an unnamed group of online conversationalists offered up as a joke that our current congressional leaders would be unable to complete an old-fashioned Amish barn raising because our political culture is too toxic to permit cooperation. That may be true but there’s no way we can know for sure until we try.

That’s why, as soon as I get back to Washington, I plan to introduce the National Political Reconciliation Amish Barn Construction Fellowship Bill of 2010! Under the provisions of the bill, Republicans and Democrats in Congress will be required to start the 2011 session by building a big red barn on the national mall at the foot of the Washington monument, using only horse power, hand tools and brute strength.

I know we can do it, but to make sure, one of the requirements is that both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate will have to move their offices into the hayloft. Trust me, it will be a very nice barn, and it will set the stage for another initiative I have in mind – the Washington Monument Green Energy Generator Bill of 2012.
Think GIANT WINDMILL!

I know what you’re wondering – “Why would any one of the Congressional Fat Cats will vote for this?” Well, I’m certain that in the weeks following this election everyone who remains in Congress will be eager to bolster their wholesome, hardworking Common American Person credentials. How can any Common American Person say “No” to building a barn? It speaks to our values and shared aspirations, even though most Common American People have no idea how to build a barn.

Plus, it will provide great, positive publicity for our political leaders. I expect my bi-partisan barn raising to get 24/7 coverage from CNN, and I’m sure my colleagues will be out there working hard, maybe even shirtless, because the only kind of bad exposure in Washington, D.C. is the kind that’s not enough. And that’s true even when the exposure looks flabby and old and horrible.

Do us all a favor and return me to Congress so I can get down to business, force this community-building bill down the throats of my fellow public servants, and then take my shirt off in the January sunshine to show the world how very much of an American I am!

Sincerely your very best friend in our nation’s capitol,

Congressman Loomis Beechly

Have you ever organized a large group to accomplish something together?

98 thoughts on “Put Up the Barn!”

  1. Funny, Dale, but how do you pronounce NPRABCFB? In our world of acronyms, it has to be pronounceable!

    I’m an organizer at heart, so have done lots of things over the years bringing folks together for a big project, but one of my fondest was in the 6th grade. I wrote an article about the Red Cross for my school paper and after that organized a “shoebox” collection. Kids brought in soap, washclothes, tissues and other toiletries and we put them in shoe boxes and took them to the Red Cross to be given to people who had been through a disaster. It was a lot of fun.

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    1. Sherrilee,
      I have only seen this in print, but I believe it would be pronounced “nip-RAB-cee-fib.”
      Although I’m sure Congressman Beechly is open to suggestions, and even alternate acronyms if it will gain a vote or two.

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  2. Rise and Shine Babooners:

    I have organized quite a few groups of people for social occasions. Email and Email address groups help a lot. In July 2008 my sibs and I were in charge of the yearly family reunion. That is like herding cats, but 100 cousins, aunts, and uncles showed up for it in Pipestone, MN. Then there is the Annual Family Christmas. That has only been 12 people for a long time, but now all the kids are dating or getting married, so that is getting bigger. This year has become the controversy of How Much To Spend on the gift exchange. Email then becomes a liability as people let loose with tirades uncensored by good sense. Fortunately, email can send apologies, as well as uncensored thoughts.

    The most un-organizable and un-governable group, though, appears to be my workplace, which is indeed my own business. I am presently thinking of hiring a Brutal Dictator. I’ve never been much of a control freak, and I am probably not up to the task myself, so I may need to import some talent. Any suggestions for that one?

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    1. Jacque — If you would like to hire a no-nonsense executive who doesn’t hesitate to make unpleasant decisions, especially the firing of loyal but under-perfoming employees, I have just the person you need: my former wife.

      You might think I’m kidding. Nooooooooo! She got a reputation in management circles in the Twin Cities business community as someone who wasn’t hampered by sentimentality. She was once hired specifically to fire a bunch of longtime employees who were nice folks but not exciting performers and the CEO was too soft to cut their heads off. They were dead wood and my ex was hired to come in the front door swinging an axe. Alas, executioners don’t come cheap!

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      2. My son just got promoted to Producer and his first job was to fire exactly those people. Still suffering from it.

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      3. But it is cool, Jacque. If your spouse has created a career based on the notches on her gun handle, it cuts down on the silly begging part of divorce. When she says the marriage is over, the only appropriate reply is “I want to keep the sculptured wood spoon rest and I sure hope you take that godawful portrait of your parents.” Decisive people can bring off divorce with panache.

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      4. Steve, I’ve never had to go through a divorce of my own, but you give me a standard to shoot for if I do. And I mean that with all sincerity.

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      5. Thanks, Ben. Since I over-think most stuff, I have a lot (too much) to say on this general topic. We have done really well at being friendly. When she travels in the Midwest, she stays here and I cook for her as I used to do. I get along well with her Belgian boyfriend (there seems to be no better term for him!!). This civility is so much easier on our daughter than the usual kind of divorce would be. Kids are usually the collateral damage of a failed marriage.

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    2. Here here, Steve. My ex and I are on good terms also. But I draw the line at having him cook for me. Scrambled eggs with wienies was his spesheeality. Question – do Belgians make good boyfriends?

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  3. I’m not sure I can be accused of ever having organized anything. I headed up the College of Liberal Arts element of the Martin Luther King Program. But I hardly organized that. There were people above me telling me what I had to do.

    During the years when I edited an outdoors magazine I was leading a creative enterprise involving maybe 30 people. But it wasn’t really like organizing anything. For one thing, we were such an amateurish operation that we were chronically disorganized. A few times our company truck–a VW microbus–bumped down the road to the printing plant while people sat in the back of the van madly gluing down strips of copy, and nobody ever had time to check for errors. Older editions of my magazine were good therapy for terminally ill cancer patients because we had so many big, fat typos that each issue of the magazine was a comic masterpiece.

    I sometimes think the world is divided between creative people and organizing people. The organizers actually enjoy telling other people what they should do. But me–if I’m your boss, I’ll give you a little hug and express the hope you have a good day. And we’ll muddle through jus’ fine.

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    1. That muddle through jus’ fine approach probably works well in some cases. That is mostly the way I have managed my own life and it is okay except for all the messes that are laying around which I am trying to clean up. What I really don’t like is when too much muddling is done by people who have agreed to to do important things that are needed to keep an organization going.

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      1. Jim Muddling isn’t very efficient, but it was my not very clear way of describing a style of leading that is long on human contact and trust but short on threats and fear. It is possible to lead by leading and asking others to share the burden, and if you are out ahead actually doing the work I’ve had good luck getting others to follow. I could never lead from behind with a pitchfork like so many folks do.

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  4. Good morning to all including the organizers and the disorganized,

    I have lots of trouble organizinging a very small group of one, me, myself, and I. I did start my own crop consulting business which never had more than one or two very part time employees. I have done a lot of organizing as part of a job and as a volunteer in a few organizations. I was paid to organize educational meeting on sustainable agriculture and have also been the lead organizer of many such meetings as a member of the Sustainable Farming Association.

    I was little suprised that I was able to start and lead the first fundraising drive for SFA. I didn’t expect that I would have any talent as a fundraiser. Once I got started on fundraising, I found out that it isn’t hard to do if you see it as a necessary part of keeping a worthwhile organization going. The big problem is getting others within the organization to help. Apparently almost everybody thinks fundraising is something someone else should do.

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    2. Jim, you are not alone, re: “I have lots of trouble organizinging a very small group of one, me, myself, and I.” I had a little organizing business in the early aughts, people who thought they were ready to downsize and de-clutter. And I am finding that, even being mostly retired, I still don’t get to the things I say I most want to do. Hmmm…

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  5. In 1984 Two Harbors did a major 2-week long celebration of the centennial of the first shipment of iron ore. I was chair for the first year of planning and co-chair for the second year of planning nthank you, Lora, for joining me). It came off quite well, but I learned 1) that no good deed goes unpunished, and I mean each and every day of the two weeks of celebrations ( two women met me every morning at the flag-raising ceremony and told me in detail everything that went wrong the day before and told me it eas my fault) and 2) I am not an organizer of people–information, instruction, curriculum, my projects, but not people. Maybe that’s how our company went under, hmm, well, yes I guess. That and “W”.

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  6. This is on the topic of political cynicism: I am eliminating many things so my limb does not break, such as books. I would like to offer two for my “Read-it-Forward” program, both on the topic of political cynicism. One is the classic “Watership Down,” which I suspect many of you have not read since you do not get my Efrafa references. The other is pure cynicsim, since it is a Calvin Trillin book, my favorite of his “Tepper Isn’t Going Out.” It is a quick family and went through my family in record time. Let me know if you want either.

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    2. Clyde, I remember silflay, hruduru, but can’t remember what Efrafa refers to – I think you’ve even told us…

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      1. Efrafa is the Nazi-like warren from which they get does. I was referring to the association in which I live–a bunch of old people with nothing to do but pry and write rules they do not think apply to themselves.

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  7. st sentence above should read : It is a quick read and it went through my family in record time. Let me know if you want either. (ARRRGGHH)

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    1. Clyde, I got it the first time – and I liked it that way! All babooners enjoy a good puzzle, doncha know?

      If anyone wants my hardcover hardporn, “The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex,” speak soon. Otherwise I’ll probably use it for a white elephant at the staff Christmas party.

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      1. I just read the reviews, Donna, and I’m interested. Whew! I almost used a phrase that would have been misunderstood. Apparently the book is terribly funny. I always love that. When I’m done, I’ll pass it along to anyone bold enough to admit being interested!

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      3. Okay Guys – it’s yours for the reading. I’ll need your addresses, phone numbers, horoscopes, picture ID’s, and something for collateral. Money would work.

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  8. I am not an organizer, either. My mother says that when I was quite small my favorite phrase was “Do it myself!” which led me to do things like undress myself after she had dressed me, and do it again without her assistance. I continue to want to do things myself, my way, which doesn’t really lend itself to group participation. It also means I often take on much more than I can reasonably accomplish and leaves me peevish and resentful of others for not helping me. (Of course, if they try to help me, they better do it just the way I want them to. Grrr!)

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  9. I think I can only organize people when I am the designated organizer by a higher power. I would never volunteer to be the organizer, but if I am helping out at an event at school and my assignment is to direct traffic or work, I find I really enjoy it, just don’t put me in charge of finding the recruits in the first place.

    My costuming work had me getting never more than 20 people to get a show out the door, and I guess in some cases, those were big projects, but not with a massive amount of people to command. Give me the list of what has to get done and who I have to get it done, let me sit quietly for a bit with a pen and paper, and I can usually figure something out. I’m not so good with the rhetoric, so my way of inspiring the troops onward has always been to lead the charge. Taking a little break from that for awhile.

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  10. Where did I come up with the phrase, “Slip the clutch and engage the cerebrum”? Organizing projects and managing people.

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  11. Combining organizing with barn-raising: I did particpate in a couple of barn-raisings as a child. Not Amish but just like that.

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    1. We should all enjoy those wonderful big barns. The time is coming when our farmlands will no longer have them, and someday not too far in the future people will look at photos of our huge double-gabled barns and sigh at their charm and stature. Everything is going the way of small sheds with distinct uses now.

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      2. Thanks for the reminder, gentlemen. We are heading out for a last trip to “our” orchard, which has been sold and after this season will be no more. We are going to take pictures and then, if it is still standing, go out to take pictures of the barn on the ancestral family farm.

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      3. i have long been interested in saving the barns by provideing free paint and a sprayer. if anyone is interested in helping me get it underway let me know

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      5. We have two large old barns; the oldest, is what we call the ‘Grainary’ or ‘calf barn’. Then we have the ‘dairy barn’. The slightly gabled Grainary was built by my Great Grandfather in 1899; beams with the wooden pegs. My Grandpa added to it; My Dad tore the addition off.
        Being empty is hard on buildings too… I think it’s got something to do with moisture from the animals that keeps it from drying out too much and rotting away? (I could be making that up but it seems I’ve heard that somewhere…)
        The roof is bad, the floor is rotting away, the siding is starting to go… and really; I can’t justify saving it.
        The Dairy Barn has a steel roof. First part was built in 1924. My dad put additions on in the 40’s and again in the 50’s.
        I did interior remodeling and the steel roof. It’s in good shape.

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    2. I love photos and drawings of barns. I keep saying I’m going to stop and photograph my favorite barns on the back roads in Iowa, going to my mom’s. Have you seen Eric Sloane’s “An Abe of Barns”?

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  12. I’ve organized parents to help out in kindergarten rooms, our staff for a massive office reorganization when they decided to swap offices, a small group of friends for college reunion, lots of little things like that. But none of them were very large, and I’ve never had to do a fundraiser. Sometimes the smallest groups are the most enlightening — I once organized a breakfast with 3 other moms when our 13-year-olds were each telling us, “But all the other guys get to go to First Ave” (a downtown Mpls. rock music venue that frequently turned into a mosh pit).

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  13. Morning–
    There used to be a Mayor on the old TB, right? What became of ______? Dale, can we track him down through the power of reverse internet?

    The larger the political body gets, the more cumbersome it becomes… look at the mayors of Zumbro Falls and Hammond; the two towns that were flooded last month. You cruise along dealing with snow removal and pot holes until your town is swept away and now you’re in meetings with FEMA and multiple copies of 89 page reports that need to be signed and collated. And hazardous debris removal and septic issues and just trying to keep the town alive. And more meetings with FEMA. ( A big hand to the FEMA people that travel to these areas– there’s an example of a responsible person representing the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT!)

    If we go down to the township level, it’s all about collecting stray dogs and putting more gravel on the roads. Road maintenance is a big part of their life. But when the resident wants to comment, be it complaint or compliment, they call the board member at home and it’s fixed.

    Another of my favorite quotes: ‘Any idiot can handle a crisis. It’s this day to day living that wears you out.’

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    1. Ben – when my parents retired, they worked for FEMA for several years until health issues intervened. They both enjoyed it. My mom would do intake on the phone or issue per diems to the employees who traveled. My dad would travel to the disaster sites, do damage assessments and repair estimates — similar to jobs they had. Dad hated to “miss out on a good disaster” as he said, and would follow the news for weather events. Mom used to work for the WI Unemployment office, so she knew how to file for unemployment, get Social Security and her pension at same time (totally legal) when they weren’t working for FEMA. They enjoyed the traveling and meeting other folks, as well as helping out others and making a difference. I miss them both.

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      2. Thanks, Steve. New job update – I’m still in training and waiting for results of background checks and clearances. Very intense stuff as the Xcel plant is a nuclear facility. Once I pass these initial hurdles I would start Nov. 1 I think.

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      3. Yes, I just googled it, too. It said he resigned in September after the August death of his wife. She was 48 and died of cancer. My deepest sympathy, Mike, if you still lurk.

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      5. Mike’s wife was well know in Albert Lea for the writing and editing she did for the Albert Lea Tribune. Her death was a big loss for Mike and the community.

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      6. wow. thanks for the updates Renee and Jim. To repeat what Renee said, my deepest sympathy if you are lurking, Mike.

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      7. news article from mnpost

        Albert Lea mayor resigns after death of his wife
        By Joe Kimball | Published Fri, Sep 17 2010 12:08 am
        Mike Murtaugh, mayor of Albert Lea, will resign effective this weekend, less than two months after his wife died of cancer. He’d previously said he was withdrawing from a re-election bid and urged residents not to vote for him, even though his name will remain on the ballot.
        The Albert Lea Tribune reports that he wants to focus on being a father to his two daughters, Erin and Tierney, after the August death of his wife, Geri, following her battle with cancer. She was 48 and had been an assistant editor and writer at the Albert Lea newspaper.

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      9. Hi everyone,
        tim looked me up via Facebook, thank you all for the condolences. I see the last time I posted here was July 5 and my wife, Geri, had started getting sick that week from metastatic breast cancer (she had gone through the first round of breast cancer two years ago, and as recently as May 27 this year, had a good checkup), although we didn’t know the real reason until she was admitted to St. Mary’s hospital on July 22 . Unfortunately complications became too severe and we lost her on Aug. 7. I resigned as mayor mid-September as my priority now are our daughters Erin and Tierney, ages 15 and 8.
        I have been lurking a bit from time to time and like most miss Dale’s show on RH. I’ve since enjoyed listening to John Birge on the Classical station in the morning. But, I’m glad the blog community has continued and I’ll try to check in.

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      10. Welcome back Mike, and best wishes to you and your daughters as you find a way forward after tragedy. You’ll always be part of our core group, whether you have time to comment or not.

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  14. I have found that I wind up organizing people and events, even when I haven’t intended to do just that. I have organized volunteers to build a variety of stage sets, science fiction fans to create programming for a 3-day convention, a summer program for high school students (that one was an actual paying, full-time job…didn’t last – I didn’t like being responsible for hundreds high school students – liked the planning, but not the “school principal” part), and most recently herded the Baboons into a book club. A few other things here an there, mostly with me winding up to say, “how did I wind up organizing this? I’m *not* an organized person.” I did resist when called upon to run for president of my old neighborhood association in S. Mpls – said, no, I would participate on the committee, but would not run the thing – someone else could herd those cats.

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  15. Just had a client No Show, So I Am Lurking on the site. I notice that Blevin’s is giving us his rear end today. Honorable Mr. Beechley, I am wondering if this is an example of how you might change the tone?

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  16. Greetings! I’m rather terrible at organizing my house and family, but at work I’ve organized large events, banquets, parties, off-site meetings — and my crowning achievement — working on the Pillsbury Bake-Off three times. My boss put it all together, but I was her right hand for a lot of it.

    I have to get back to training for my new job! Later y’all …

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  17. It was fun to see the old barns around Kitchener and Waterloo in southwest Ontario this summer. Many of them looked like they had once been tobacco drying sheds, as they do grow that there. They were weathered and grey but well preserved. My husband tells me that many of the people who settled there in the 1800’s were Germans from Pennsylvania and Ohio, and we saw quite a few of Old Order Mennonites while we were there.

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      1. Oh yes! There are so many little Mennonite towns in southern Manitoba. Steinbach seemed to be the heart of the Mennonite communities. Well known for their car dealerships, as I recall. Did you ever read The Salvation of Yasch Siemens?

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      2. No I did not.
        Steinbach is the international headquarters of the Mennonites. Was accidentally at the museum for their annual festival. Very fun. Shook hands with the PM of Canada, but did not know who it was until after.

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      3. There’s also a recent book, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, that is quite funny. The Salvation of Yasch Siemens is written by a Manitoba author and is a loving criticism of Canadian Prairie Mennonite culture. My father’s family were Mennonites in that they came from Menno Simons home town (Emden Germany) and were anabaptists and Simon’s followers, but unlike most of the Mennonites in Canada and Kansas and Mexico, immigrated directly to the US in the 1850’s instead of going to the Ukraine and Black Sea region first. I also believe that Mountain Lake, MN has a large Mennonite population, but that’s about all I know about them.

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  18. I admire much of the Mennonite religion and way of life–and that they religion defines a way of life. The greatest human being I have ever known–I have spoken of him before on here–was a Mennonite from Mountain Lake (last name Penner, as the auto dealership in Steinbach I believe, or was years ago) who was a charter member of the church I served as a pastor, but a Mennonite ot the day he died.

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  19. I’ll try to be more positive today. I’m sorry if I offended anyone with my grouchy mood yesterday.

    I’m not a good organizer of other people. I have enough trouble organizing myself to get out the door every morning. I like to work with others in an egalitarian and cooperative way. That’s why Rock Bend works so well for those of us involved. We just do our own thing and every year we pull off a great festival! So, I guess I’m a collaborator or cooperator but not much of a leader.

    In 1990, I was on the steering committee and became a founding board member of the Cannon River Watershed Partnership. That was (is) the most organized organization I ever helped to create. I went on to serve on the board of directors, the executive committee, and as Secretary for seven years. The key word in the name of the organization is really Partnership.

    I’m still a little grumpy today – hoping for a better tomorrow.

    Clyde, why are you out on a limb? Please don’t fall. Please come down from there! I’ll read Watership Down again, I promise! Weren’t cars called “hrududus” or something like that?

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  20. I love the rabbit vocabulary in Watership.
    We can take grouchy–Steve just got grouchy back. All fair play. I have not been posting much because I am way beyond grouchy. Is there a rabbit word for that? Hrupmh hrumph
    Speaking of limbs, I have a nephew whose wife ended up in the hosiptal
    dropping a limb on her head when she was trimming a tree in the back yard. About two hours ago she posted on facebook that she was going to do some electrical work . . .

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    2. …this is where I meant to post this:
      Clyde, I remember silflay, hruduru, but can’t remember what Efrafa refers to – and I think you’ve even told us…

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  21. i love the idea of getting the candidates to build a barn together . like team building exercises in a corporation. i think we could start the new senate/congress to positive photo op with this one. like mickey rooney used to say”cmon gang lets put on a show!”
    i heard thweat the blogger who started the commotion over the masque near ground zero has a new focus.(didn’t hear what it ws sorry) maybe we could introduce good news blog items and get the world to smile instead of hate.

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    2. She’s upset about the relgious orgainization that is checking to make sure that Campbell’s soups in Canada meet the criteria to be considered Halal. I guess she considers the organization to have too close ties to objectionable Islamic groups in the Middle East. She is encouraging a boycott of Campbell’s Soup.

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      1. what a hateful blogger. that was it renee. how can we spread our good vibes as effectively as those folks send out their hateful ones?

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      2. Tim, I don’t know if this is very well thought out, but it seems to me that we on this blog have an appreciation of how harmful it is to one’s soul (or what ever you believe makes us more than we are) to really hate. Over the past 5 years I have had to try really hard to not engage in revenge fantasies or actual retaliation that involves a co-worker, someone who has done the utmost to harm me and mine. This person always flies under the radar just low enough so that there is never enough to bring action against them so that they could be fired or even reprimanded. It’s so tempting for me to wish the worst for this person, but I truly believe it is damaging for me to do so, not because it’s wrong in some ethical or religious sense, but because it harms me. I don’t think the people who foment hateful diatribe really have figured this out, and they need to for their own sake.

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  22. i tried with this second family (the two older kids were caught in an ugly divorce and me heading off to china and elsewhere all the time) to get involved in their stuff but my wife has pointed out that i truly do dislike committees and those who bulldoze the folks in their way to get their agenda looked after and everyone else’s thrown in the trash. i was the art parent for the mia deal as others have talked about. it turned ugly and was discontinued form the school with cutbacks. i was nominated and in line to be the head of the pto in the girls school and the others in the pto started a payton place deal to get me out. bye, i was commisioner and coach for the girls city basketball involvement and got left out the next year by being excluded form the email list until posts were filled by cronies. got on the basketball board of directors only to have my daughter cut because the agenda of the other who silently make huge changes the rest don’t understand the ramifications of until after it is too late really frustrates me. started a political outreach group that had nice people who got strange and ugly when they put on their 3 dollar badges. i am just not worth a damn at working with others i have decided. i know what i want and have an idea of how to get there. its frustrating because there are not enough hours in the day but it really does make me shake my head over the best intentions running amuck.
    a barn i could do a barn for 2 days with others.short term focus to create something nice.

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    1. I’m trying to understand the history you describe, tim. It seems so at odds with the person I met at Sherrilee’s. I just don’t get it. But I get that you have been terribly frustrated, and that’s a damn shame. Sorry.

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      1. steve, there were no bulldozers at sherrilees with their own agenda to push. that is never the case in committees. i love people. its folks pickin your pocket that i like to keep away from

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      1. welcome back mike. its tough when a politician doesn’t enjoy commitees i would imagine. thanks for taking us up on the invite to stick your head in. cmon back anytime

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  23. When I saw “Watership Down” on the high school recommended reading list, I immediately thought of shipwrecks and deserted islands and all that sort of thing. Then I picked up the book and it had a giant rabbit on the cover.

    Would love to re-read it… except that it is in my family’s collection on the other side of the world.

    Steve – “Efrafra” sounded familiar on your previous mentions, but having recently watched “Wicked”, I had the wire crossed with “Elphaba”.

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    1. i have one if clydes is gone, sudbury. let me know.
      maybe we put that on the extended book club list. did you hear hemmingways for whom the bell tolls is up next for the book club on dec 11?

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