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R.I.P. Dr. Billy Taylor

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I think of Jazz players as royalty in the world of musicians. They are a breed apart – not the best known and far from being the wealthiest, but there is an openness and a level of competence that is developed through playing jazz that doesn’t automatically come with your mastery of a different style of music. In other words, you can be a great rock and roll musician and still be kind of a dope. No news there.
To play well, jazz musicians have to be able to listen well. That discipline may be the thing that makes them, universally, the most pleasant and interesting people I’ve met in various radio studios through the years.

We lost one of our most scholarly jazzmen this week with the death of Dr. Billy Taylor. He embraced all those things that make the music great – knowledge, freedom and a love of collaboration. He also wore very large eyeglasses – possibly the biggest spectacles to be seen anywhere in public since the end of the 1970’s. But that’s another thing you automatically get when you become a jazz player – a level of comfort with the idea of being out of the mainstream.

Billy Taylor was a broadcaster too, and he was one of the rare ones who actually knew something. It case you haven’t figured it out yet, it is quite possible for a person to be on radio and/or TV a lot, like every day, without possessing any substantial knowledge or marketable talent. Dr. Taylor was an exception. He knew what he was talking about, and he had a passion for sharing it.

If you just want to her him play, here’s a short clip:

If you’d like to hear him discuss the music he loved, this is worth the time.

If you were going to be a Billy Taylor-like presence, introducing lay people to important concepts that guide something you love on an educational TV show, what would the show be about?

129 thoughts on “R.I.P. Dr. Billy Taylor”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons:

    If I could just blab for hours about what I know, the topic would be Homemaking. I learned all kinds of stuff from 4-H, my mother ( who learned from her mother-in-law) and my Grandma. It’s the kind of little factoids that you now see people teaching for money because nobody knows it anymore. Wash your windows with a mix of a gallon of water, a cup of vinegar, and 1/4 c. ammonia. Shine with newspapers.

    Yesterday’s trip through old cookbooks taught me even more:

    “If you have a cold, boil onions in milk and drink it.” (Not me)
    “Put a slice of raw onion on an itchy mosquito bite.” (The smell would distract from
    the itch).

    There is somebody with an on-line business that teaches people how to keep house, budget, and cook because nobody teaches their kids this stuff anymore. A friend once asked me, “How do you keep your house picked up?” Um, well, you pick up the stuff and put it away. Every night before bed do that, and you wake up to a neat house. Who knew?

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      1. When I was in inside sales, I called one of my customers once and asked her what she was up to. She said, “I’m cleaning my desk and my spiritual clutter at the same time.” Turns out she was Eckankar and one of the practices they (apparently) espouse is to mirror what you do physically with what you do spiritually. So, as she was cleaning her desk, finding places to put things, dealing with ‘stuff,’ she was also mentally working through problems that were bothering her. She was using her physical activity as inspiration to work through emotional stuff she was dealing with. I always thought that was kind of a nice idea.

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  2. I’ll definitely be watching your show, Jacque. I know how to clean and all of that, it is the how to stay awake and on my feet long enough to pick up that is killing me in the housekeeping department.

    I would have the show about everyday thrift and economics. Nearly every show I’ve seen about money wanders over into “investments” pretty quickly, which is fine if you have something to invest, but a lot of people don’t.

    One of the books I got shortly after I bought my house is The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyzyn-written I think in the 80s-90s about being a black belt tightwad (very different from being cheap, mind you). I’d make that into a show.

    With all the math they are emphasizing in school these days, you’d think they could spare a moment for compound interest and what refinancing a mortgage is all about, but it would seem not-had a total stranger come up to us while we were having breakfast out one morning to tell me how wonderful it was that I was explaining debt and compound interest to my the 9-year-old.

    Gee, I don’t want him to learn that stuff in the streets, do I?

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    1. I would SO watch your show!!! I first got interested in thrift from research on the Great Depression. Like you, I get very frustrated with personal finance shows that assume everyone has enough steady income to buy a house and start a 401K, and I’m also bothered by voluntary simplicity authors who assume you’re downshifting from middle-class overconsumption rather than trying to enrich your life from a more marginal starting point (and Real Simple magazine? Don’t get me started…)

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  3. Oh, man, I need both of you over here! If you love cleaning homes, Jacque, I have a home that loves being cleaned. It is, for the most part, unrequited love. And while you spiffed the place up I could sit with MIG and take some lessons in making money stretch.

    I would love to do two educational shows. The first would present what I know about the art of telling stories to children at bedtime. My reasons for doing the show are that I think it is one of the most joyful and constructive ways to use precious moments with a kid and because I think I have original things to say there.

    My second show would be an affectionate trip through the history of the family resort culture of northern Minnesota (and maybe Wisconsin). This, too, is an area where I believe I have original ideas and stories to pass along. There was a special moment in history when ma and pa resorts thrived, when families with modest resources could vacation on our splendid lakes, and when unusual characters conducted business in original ways. There are some great stories to be told about funny things that happened in northwoods resorts, but mostly we would linger lovingly on how a few ordinary days in a resort could create memories to last a lifetime.

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    1. Steve, I could add some NS names to the ones you know. Around 1990 we used to do Sunday school on Wed. evening because so many of the parents had to work in the resort/vacation industry on the weekends. Many of the resorts were family resorts then; I know of one that has now passed onto the children who were attending those evenings.

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      1. I should add that not a few have been sold to become time shares. The Superior lake front is becoming state parks scattered between time shares.

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    3. I have found a few of those family-owned resorts still extant, but they are few and far between. What seems more common now is folks owning a lake home that they rent out when they’re not there…close, but not quite the same.

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  4. Nice, Steve…both ideas. The second idea could also be a book, yes? And I concur with you and MIG on the housekeeping — know it, don’t follow it.

    I can’t think of anything I am expert enough at to share on a tv program…but have lots of stories from years of observing and hanging out with various animals and love telling them. Probably along the lines of what not to do raising them, tales of mishaps and luck over expertise.

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    1. Cynthia — thanks for the reply. A book of this sort exists. For better or worse, it is almost entirely a graphical presentation of the topic, with little text. But gorgeous. The book is Minnesota Vacation Daysby Linda and Kathryn Koutsky.

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      2. Cynthia — not really. I contacted the Koutskys once to suggest we work together on a project for public TV. I gave that idea up when their response was cold and suspicious. Their book isn’t much for heart, but it sure looks good!

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  6. Good morning to all,

    It is interesting that we already have several interesting shows that the first Babooners to comment this morning would do. Apparently Babooners tend to be people who can easily see themselves hosting a show.

    I think when Dale says that people can be boardcasters without knowing very much, he shouldn’t include himself. I think, Dale, that you acquired a lot of general information about many things, especially music and humerous topics and writing, without being a specialist. I am kind of a generalist myself.

    I would do a show that covered a fairly wide range of things. I would some how include ecology, gardening, and music as the main topics. Kind of a nature and horticulture show with music thrown in. The show would probably have various segments on nature and gardening with musical breaks including some live music.

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    1. You are correct, Jim. But in some ways a good host is not one who knows so much about the topic. In the classroom teachers are better discussion leaders when they are not being experts, often the best discussion questions are ones to which the teacher does not have an answer.

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      3. It was hard for me to teach Huck Finn because I love it so and then knew so much about it. I believe I was a better teacher of poetry than most because I found so much classic poetry tedious, understood the average kid’s point of view. I used poetry focused on daily life, like Garrison’s Almanac show. Wish I had had his book then.

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      4. If any of you who love Almanac can find it, out of print, look for “Reflections on a Gift of A Watermelon Pickle and Other Modern Verse.”
        “During that summer when unicorns were still possible . . .”

        “A silver-scaled dragon with jaws flaming red, sits at my elbow and toasts my bread . . .”

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  7. Something about education would be the obvious for me. Current educational policy would be too contentious. I wish to forever be out of contention on that topic, if not all. May wish it; but doubt I will. So maybe in education it would just be talk about the parent’s role in their children’s learning.
    A second choice might be about what are often called “crossroad churches.” Could talk about their slow death, the survival of some–the whys and hows of both sorts. Histories of some are very interesting, if not most. People stories, traditions, how many more exist than even church leaders recognize, how they are so different from larger churches, how much more ecumenical they usually, but not always, are.

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    1. I would watch that show. Churches, whether or not you buy into any particular theology, are such a strong force in community in so many different ways. Got to visit the crossroads/country church in Norway that my grandfather’s family had been members of for generations. Fabulous history in a little tiny building and its land.

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      1. I love to take pictures of churches. (That sounds better than, “I love to shoot churches,” doesn’t it?) Especially in black/white. The architecture is really great to work with in black/white.

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      2. I also like religious architecture – in fact took a class in it at Metro State years ago. It is always amazing to me how very different religions all seem to build with reverence. I’ve lit candles all over the world in various churches/temples during my travels and I never get tired of it.

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  8. Just noticed that when I put myself back on Efrafa WordPress ADDS an old gravatar I had pulled down. Sneaky WordPress.
    A show on partner care-givers has occurred to me as a good topic for me; but who would want to listen to it.? It’s a topic I care about but for which still have much to learn.

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    1. And with Baby Boomers coming “of age” so to speak, Clyde…a very timely topic…and essential…and as you wrote, you don’t need to be the expert, just the faciliatator. I have a friend who is professionally and actively advocating for caregivers and issues of aging, but there is always room for more.

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      1. I have a former student in TV production who wanted to do a show on the topic but could find little interest in the network, or recognition that it is a large segment of the population, nor could she find care-givers with time to spare to participate.

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      2. Clyde, there won’t be any interest in this topic as a TV show (or ANY topic, for that matter) until someone with courage, money and a little craziness has already proven it can succeed. Networks love to copy something that already works. Very few are interested in taking chances.
        The real question – how can you meld your idea with “Jersey Shore” or “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”?

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      3. The great race and survivor senior edition. Bedpans nostril hair and commercials for long term health care insurance sponsored by Viagra and bran flakes

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      7. Honestly tim!
        So evidently he’s been *reading* the blog while driving too! Hopefully son or wife was driving so tim could just read??

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  10. Greetings! Besides not teaching me to cook, my beloved mother did not teach me housekeeping, either — or I’m just too stubborn and dislike it so intensely I refuse to do it. We always had a messy house growing up and mine is beyond messy. I have no sense of how to organize or decorate and I just can’t decide where to put STUFF. And it’s hard to tell the kids to clean their rooms when mine is a disaster. I’ve gotten a little better, but I’m not consistent. Jacque, your help is desperately needed here, too!

    However, I do know nutrition and health and would love to do a show about that — and hopefully make it fun and interactive.

    I also believe schools should teach something about money sense, savings, credit and investments. Financial stuff can be quite complicated — just buying a car requires a high degree of savvy to make sure you’re not being ripped off. We’re not savvy at all, so I just assume I’ve been ripped off with each car we’ve bought. How sad is that?

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    1. When I failed as an educational advocate and change agent, my partner and I focused on making all learning more active/interactive and much more real-life based, including exactly what you just said. Not only $ issues but also health. I met a few math teachers who integrated real-life math issues into their lessons. But why does not every math-book do it? But then why do English teachers not teache real-life writing and reading, or PE teachers teach kids how to be healthy, the sports people do do ages 30-50 and beyond. A H.E. teacher friend was just here who used to teach “Independent Living,” which focused on some of those things.
      Down off my soap box for the rest of the day.

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      2. I feel one of the smartest things I did for my oldest son was to make him read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and buy the (very expensive) game Cash Flow. It gave him an excellent perspective and also helped me understand financial issues better in a fun way that’s easily applied to real life situations. Robert Kiyosaki has a great way of making difficult financial concepts understandable to dolts like me.

        Luckily, the Marines also drilled the recruits about saving and investing, which Nick has been doing faithfully since day one paycheck. We’ll probably be relying on him when we retire.

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      3. My son had friends from up and down the NS who in HS used to meet at our house to play “Life.” After 2-3 years in college they decided to do it again for memory’s sake. 20 minutes into the game they decided it was too close TO LIFE to be fun and quit.

        Joann, you did not say how you are feeling.

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      4. The teenager is having an “a-ha” moment this week. We started talking about saving for a car on Christmas (she will have licence in February [hopefully]) and when I told her how much she had earned in 2010 from her very part-time coaching job, she was seriously dismayed. When all she spent her money on was gum and teen magazines, it seemed like a lot. Now that she has the car goal in front of her, it seems pitiful. Suddenly she is talking about all the places near the house where she might get employment this summer!

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    2. How are you feeling today?
      I hate buying cars. We bought a Scion in April and were told we would get a coupon book for free service every 5000 miles for the first ten. Never got it; my wife was handling it, as she used to for most business things. So I took them on Monday when I brought it in for the 10,000 mile oil change. Backed them into a corner and I mean that literally. Salesperson was gone; business manager who promised it along with the sales agent, said it did not apply then but was offered three months later. I told them they were liars, which they sort of acknowledged.
      I hate to go through the few more years of my life trusting no one.

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      1. My wife keeps shaking her head at my naiviety when it comes to trusting peoples souls. I get whacked every time. Maybe instead of networking groups I should pursue an integrity based organazation all members need to prove and maintain integrity or you Are out follow Ssn so they don’t resurface 3 months later kind of like click and clacks mechanics by region

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      2. Thanks for asking, Clyde. I’m feeling better — just a little residual headache, tiredness and swollen glands. But definitely much better so I’m able to be up and around doing stuff.

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  11. Honestly, I’d love to do a show like Ira Flatow did with Newton’s Apple only focused on psychology and human behavior.

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    1. Cool, indeed. Newton’s Apple was great. They almost did a question of mine; I think they did not get to it before it was dropped. Your spin would be wonderful.

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    2. I also loved Newton’s Apple… science is fascinating to me, although I only know a little bit about a lot of science. Actually that’s true about my whole life… I know a little and lots and lots of things. Because of that I’m not sure what kind of show I would be good at. My few pockets of depth of knowledge are a little weird and despite my passion, I’m not sure anyone would be interested.

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  12. Morning–

    It’s interesting all the money comments… I’ve been fortunate to see many different examples of money management in family and relatives. And then discussion at home has, I hope, been useful to our son.
    Another money aspect that isn’t taught is how to place a monetary value on yourself for your time and talents… I’ve helped a few students with this as they venture out on their own and my first rule is, money is just another part of the deal and should be brought up plainly and simply. Just get it out there without humming and hawing so it can be discussed. Yes, sometimes it will get more complicated from there, but at least it’s out there for discussion…

    The director at the college that I work with introduces me to first classes by saying that I get more excited talking about lighting than anyone else he knows. (And I tease him– that he just doesn’t know that many people…) And it’s true; I have to remind myself to not talk so fast and to take a breath– not that I’m nervous, but that I get too excited and too far ahead of myself for this little ‘Intro to Lighting’ discussion.
    But TV? I don’t think so…

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  13. I’m not great at anything, but I’m adequate at lots of things. I consider myself as caulk; I can fill in almost anywhere but as a stop gap or temporary fix, not a craftsman-like solution. Not sure there’s a show in that.

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    2. Actually, Caroline, a show about workable temporary fixes to all sorts of problems would be interesting. The permanent fixes are so expensive and difficult, requiring a lot of knowledge and planning. I think most of us are inclined to throw a patch on the thing and keep on going, though we don’t admit it is a patch and are surprised when it breaks again in 6 weeks. “Temporary Fix” with Caroline would be very forthright about the nature of the solution. People could even wager on how long a particular fix might last and each show could include a segment showing the moment earlier solutions finally failed!
      The Metrodome would be good for at least half a dozen shows, all by itself.

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  14. I am thinking sex drugs and rock and roll
    All things I enjoy. Maybe shot in Amsterdam
    Or a hippy 50 yeRs later series, or travel, or arts in general blues folk sculpture dance poetry
    Wouldn’t life be grand I’ve always thought how wonderful it would be to do what you love without having to worry about financial payoff

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      3. I once had a parent come to his son’s conference wearing a t-shirt that said: I gave up sex, drugs and rock and roll … and it was the worst 15 minutes of my life.

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      8. One look at this guy and you knew he wasn’t serious about giving any of it up, but you also had to wonder how the hell he was getting any S!

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  15. Who mentioned toll booths recently? from Almanac today:
    and I’m driving home on the highway alone
    for hours in the narrating rain,
    with no exact change,
    the collector’s booth glowing ahead
    in the tumbling dark
    like a little lit temple

    I love “the narrating rain.”

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  16. I agree with Jacque that a background in 4-H does help a person to learn how to do lots of things. I think I would really enjoy informing people about classical music and the lives of the composers, or gardening, or how to sew, or cook, or child-rearing tips.

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    1. 4-H is one of my models for education. We tried to make education be much more about projects, performances, etc. related to real life.

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  17. Now that I think of it, I could make a contribution to society by teaching people to make pie crusts from scratch. Have any of you run into a problem recently with pie crusts using Crisco? I have found that since they removed the transfats from Crisco, my old pie crust recipes don’t work as well. Its as though the old amounts in the recipes are too large and the crusts are too soft. I’m glad the transfats are gone, but now I think I have to adjust the recipes.

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      2. products resulting from the demise of pigs are not allowed to cross our threshold, so no, I don’t have a source (although I bet I could find it at the St Paul Farmer’s Market-or ask for it specially)-I just know it is the best thing for pie pastry.

        I also think that if you can find a grocery store with a “real” butcher shop, they will have it to (St. Paulites, I’m thinking Widmer’s-they also have the aged beef mentioned here a while back)

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      4. Jacque – a good source for organic lard will be open again soon – the Traditional Foods Warehouse in Richfield. I’ll post a link when they’re up and running again.

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    1. surely not on the bike, Clyde.

      As I told the s&h this morning, it is not your ability to manage yourself in the muck I am worried about, it is all the other nut bunnies out there….

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      1. I’m ba–aack.
        No I never ride bike on slippery stuff. Do not really have a place right now to ride indoors, now that I do not go to work. I was lucky to be alone in my office and be able to do it there.

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  20. I don’t know that I have enough knowledge in any given topic to make a show out of it. What I’m better at is taking a pile of stuff and turning it into something. It would be fun to have a show where I always have some basics: glue, floral wire, screws and/or nails, brads, needle and thread, mebbe some tape – enough to hang whatever it is I’m making together. Maybe some things like crayons and paint to color things if I feel so moved…Then, each week I get a new pile of stuff to turn into something. I could do seasonal things like making Christmas wreaths, silly stuff like pirate ships from cardboard boxes, picture frames from whatever is handy, widgets just because, whatever the pile suggests that day. It would be like set construction and prop making on an entirely different scale. Plus, it’s fun. Daughter would have to help me with it – she’s especially good at OTIPing things (Other Than Intended Purpose).

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  21. About my favorite thing to do is match people up with the books they are seeking. My show would have to be “I’ll Get Back to You on That” — and would be a call-in show where people would tell what they’re looking for. If I don’t know the appropriate book, I ask for help from other listeners, or do some research before the next show and provide it then. Now that I’m saying this, I realize that this is what people are now able to find on Amazon books, but Hey – you didn’t say this had to be logical. It also sounds vaguely like something I’ve read in a Fannie Flagg novel…

    i.e. Yesterday Crow Girl mentioned looking for an Indian vegetarian cookbook – My neighbor cooks that way, so I emailed her and she came back with Lord Krishna’s Cuisine, the Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi. (And if you like supporting local bookstores, I happen to know they have this at Birchbark Books… or did a couple of weeks ago, anyway.)

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  22. we’re going out in this to a “driver’s improvement program” – so now i’ll know how to safely slide into the ditch on the way home after 5 tonight. i really don’t like these classes. maybe that’s something i could do – make these 4 hour sessions more fun. not so much with jokes – the first one is 8 hours required (this to reduce insurance cost – i’m sure you all know about these) and the instructor laughed thru the whole thing. at first i thought this might be fun, but after a half hour, i and most of rest spent the next 7.5 hours staring at our desks thinking hateful things.
    a gracious good afternoon to You All
    my fave for the day is Clyde’s “wow, tim went upper case there for just a second”

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  24. I’d like to help develop a program that teaches people how to write a Christmas newsletter that doesn’t make the reader gag. Every year my cousin sends one out that begins: “We hope this season finds you thankful for your many blessings, as it does us, and here are some of ours from the past year:” Then she proceeds to detail the many amazing accomplishments of her lovely family and the many lovely travels and cultural experiences that have graced their table because BEING RICH is one of their many lovely blessings. Blechh!

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    2. Boy, do I know what you are talking about. I read some people’s bragging Christmas letters and I’m thinking what I should have sent them for Xmas is a pipe bomb because I’d love to see how they would write that up the next year. “We began 2011 with a bang!” or whatever.

      My former wife used to crank out Christmas letters like that until she went too far, telling the world that I had begun a freelance writing career. “Kathe, you can’t SAY that! I was FIRED!” So I began insisting on equal time on the Christmas letter, and believe me the tone changed. “This year was notable mostly for me losing the Pepsi Challenge, plus I went to the wine store and got bit by an arctic fox.”

      We soon had families clamoring to be put on our Christmas letter list.

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      1. I have friends who swap the writing back and forth…you can tell who wrote the letter by its contents. When she writes it’s a lot more “braggy,” when he writes, it’s more entertaining. They may even write the same sorts of things, but the editorial voice is quite different.

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      3. People tell me they like my newsletter. It’s written in newspaper layout (Dasher Dispatch) with different stories and pictures. Written in third person, as all good news stories are. And there is always the “Pig Racing News” section as well.

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      5. I did one for years that people loved. It was called the Cat’s Meow. The theme was gossip, as told by that Catty Family Member, our cat, who loved my husband and disliked me. The entire letter reviewed his virtues and my flaws. We learned that some friends collected them and showed these to their friends! The cat began getting sympathy letters from “friends” about all she had to put up with between me and our dog. Then the cat disappeared one day–actually election day 2002 when Pawlenty was elected–and that ended the letter. Now I do one called “Squirreled Away iin Eden Prairie,”based on my husband’s squirrel elimination campaigns and the squirrels’ attempts at revenge. However, this year I did not get it done, then my husband lost our Christmas data base in a computer crash. So maybe next year.

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    4. I could write a truthful Christmas letter for this past year that would make everybody ELSE feel like they were rich and doing well. An oh-woe-is-me letter that no one really wants to hear anyway … hmmm, let’s see …. bankruptcy, job loss, foreclosure, etc. Well, at least it would have a good ending at this time. Plus, thank god and the Democrats for social services. There you go — ba da boom! Nice, tidy letter with a happy ending and god bless us, everyone.

      {Guess I’m still a tad grumpy from being sick 🙂 }

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      1. I resorted to poetry to smooth over some of the more difficult bits of the year…hard to say “my dad died this year, but it was a good death” without sounding maudlin or at least weird. (I instead chose to go with a trying to capture one a moment in his last week with this, “Grace passed between granddaughter and grandfather with a song.” Thems who knew what happened could fill in the blanks, and the rest didn’t get the “downer” about death…)

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      2. You have every right to be grumpy. 2011 will surely be better!

        Some of the best advice ever given to me was by my daughter the Christmas before last that I admittedly ruined because I didn’t get the Stouffer’s frozen lasagna in the oven on time and held up dinner at my daughter’s husband’s side, waiting for the entree to get done, forcing our hosts to keep their beautiful beef tenderloin warm which eventually overcooked and finally when it was served was not very beautiful. (The lasagna looked great, though!) Needless to say, I felt like a jerk and rightly so, but my kids grew weary hearing me condemn myself, and my middle daughter who is most like me (scattered and sensitive) finally said, “Mom – just put it in the f **k-it bucket.”

        Words to live by, Baboons!

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      3. Anna, I like how you handled that. And Donna, can I use your daughters phrase? I know a few people who could use a ‘F**k-it Bucket’!

        We haven’t got our cards or letters done this year yet… absolutely right on different styles. We get one letter written from the Family Dog’s POV.

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  26. I like explaining complex medical and scientific terms as analogies. I could call my show, “It’s Kind of Like This.” or “Medical Berlitz”

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    1. We could probably set up a “sister” show for technical and computer explanations (I have been known to explain content management systems for web sites in terms of Legos being used by a *really* OCD kid…).

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  28. I love getting Christmas letters, even the syrupy ones…anything is better than a card with just a signature from someone with whom I haven’t had contact for a year. My own letters are mostly stories of the aforementioned animal mishaps and updates. It’s been a rough year around here and I am having trouble getting started on my “annual report” (renamed since I never make the Christmas deadline).

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    1. When I was a kid, my mom never started writing her Christmas cards (or letter) until Christmas day. She was a church musician, so there was no time until the last postlude was played on Christmas day. Her rationale was that there were 12 days in Christmas and they didn’t start until 12/25, so she had until 1/6 to get cards written and sent. Feel free to borrow her juicy rationalization. 🙂

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      1. the pastor’s family (the one I grew up in) has been known to send a Vaentine’s or Easter letter for the same reason.

        I never get the one my parents send out, so I always have to ask someone else, so how did I do this year?

        People must read them and keep track, as one year, my parents were extremely late, and got letters from people asking, are you folks ok????

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  29. Guilty!
    If I get them out a week after Xmas I’m doing good. This year the cards been done for 2 months but I am scrambling on the family picture ( Brady bunch this year)
    I get good feedback so I continue

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  30. Back when Kathe wrote our Christmas letter, she felt having Final Exams was reason enough to be late. We began to get positive feedback on our late letter, and that set it drifting toward Easter. Long after we no longer were grad students we wrote our Christmas letter in February, sometimes getting it out in April. And what people said was that a card or letter received in December was lost in the jumble. They liked the letter that came when there was no competition for their attention.

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