110 posts tagged “vox hunt”

Show us your favorite landmark in your current hometown.

I wouldn't choose what I am going to choose were it not for this:

I grew up in Marin County, California.  The photo above is of Muir Woods, a redwood forest in a canyon on the road to Stinson Beach.  I went there many times as a kid, for hikes, school trips and so on.  Very pretty, awesome in its stillness and majesty.  But I never thought twice about it.  It was just Muir Woods.  That is until the day I went there with my girlfriend Mary.

Mary was from Shrewsbury, MA, not too far from Boston.  One year while we were together, my parents invited her out to California with me for a holiday.  (Her family hosted me a number of times for Christmas).  Mary had never been to California, so I borrowed the car for some sightseeing.  Naturally, when visitors came to Marin, one would take them to various places, like Sausalito, Stinson Beach, and of course a quick stop at Muir Woods.  We had already gone to Stinson, had stopped at the Pelican Inn for lunch, and I figured a quick stroll in Muir Woods was in order.

So, we parked, walked to the entrance, and started walking through the grove closest to to entrance, down the path you see in the photo above.  I was chatting along, when I noticed that Mary was not replying, which was unusual.  I glanced over; there were tears streaming silently down her face.  I asked What's wrong Mary?  She looked at me, and replied I've dreamed of seeing this my whole life.  It was only at that point that I truly understood how special Muir Woods was.

So, in that vein, instead of choosing a landmark which I personally find special for me, allow me to show you the landmark that people dream of seeing their whole life:

Independence Hall

This is a photo of Independence Hall, here in Philadelphia.  On the left side of the doorway is the room in which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were hammered out.  On the right side of the doorway is the room which was home to the United States Supreme Court from 1791 to 1800.

Philadelphians have the same kind of relationship with Independence Hall as I used to have with Muir Woods.  It's a big deal, but most haven't been there since a school trip as kids, or only go there with visitors from out of town.  I have seen the same type of reaction from visitors that I saw from Mary at Muir Woods.  Awestruck reverence.  There is a park square behind the Hall, where I sometimes go to sit with my boy.  Based on the number of Chinese tourists I see taking photos of each other outside the Hall, I believe that it is only a matter of time before that country shifts its style of governing.  (I suspect some will consider me naive for that view.)

I took my son in his stroller the first day it was open after September 11th.  The crowd was hushed as the ranger told the story of the history of the hall.  I got a bit annoyed as he paused pointedly whenever my son, in his two-year-old (shortly to be diagnosed autistic) exhuberance would cry out.  And as they restricted access and armed rangers, I got more annoyed.  As with most other things, the US government as it has been constituted in recent years cares more about ephemeral security than it does about actual independence.  In the words of Philadelphia's founding father:  Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.

  It was in this building that modern liberty was born.  Stunted, distorted, not yet fully formed.  Not even yet.  But within these walls resides the historical promise of liberty for all.  Of the people, by the people, for the people.

In honor of tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast, show us a turkey.

Show us your Thanksgiving grocery list.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Yep, That's it.  Nada.  My sister is going to West Virginia, so I told my flatmate that I'm not cooking this year.  A local AA group is doing meetings all day.  They'll serve breakfast at 10, and dinner at 4.  I'm there.

Show us a food you love, but rarely eat anymore.

Pizza.  Made in a brick oven.  With pepperoni and hot peppers.  Damn You, South Beach!

Show us your favorite YouTube video.

It's been three years since I saw this, and I still haven't figured out what this tells me about me.

I suspect it's not good.

By the way, I wonder how CBB #1 got the cast.

Show us a book you started reading, but never finished.

I started reading it, was enjoying myself for quite a while.  And then, at some point, I just got bored.  I'm not certain if it's because the writing was not good enough to maintain my interest, or if the story longer than it needed to be.  This is often a problem I run across in the fantasy field.  Few writers have either the chops for the former or the skill to edit for the latter.  Gene Wolfe comes to mind as an exception.

Show us a picture of your all time favorite President.

Show us your favorite park.

Yosemite.  Heaven on earth.

Show us a picture of someone you will never forget.

The woman sitting in the theater seat is my friend Marybeth.  This photo was taken in June of 2005.  That's her husband Joe, and her daughter.  She had just watched her daughter perform in a recital, and everyone was happy.  Four months later, MB was gone.  Dead from breast cancer at the age of 42.  Her daughter Laura would now be 15, her son Joseph 13, and her youngest Katherine 10. 

MB was first diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2002.  She fought it like a berserker.  There was no give-up in her ever.

I knew MB originally from a forum on About.com on US Politics.  After the 2000 election, the atmosphere got very toxic over there.  MB decided to set up her own forum, so that folks she liked could talk and debate without rancor.  I can't tell you exactly when I was invited to join her (invitation only) forum. But I do remember when MB became more than simply an on-line friend. 

It was fall of 2003, and my wife and I were scheduled to travel to California, in order to help my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  As you might imagine, it was a pretty big deal.  My wife started complaining that she didn't want to go.  This was pretty much a non-starter in my mind.  But I knew how negatively disruptive she could be when she was unhappy, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime event.  So I told her I really wanted her to go, that it was very important to me.  But I also told her that if she couldn't commit to going, and having a good time, rather than being a wet blanket, our son and I would go without her.  She relented.  We all went, and even though she wasn't perfect, my wife acted reasonably well, and I had a good time.

We were scheduled to spend the next week after the party.  The next morning, my wife came to me, and said she wanted to leave.  Immediately.  I was crushed.  I arranged a flight for her, and took her to the airport.  I knew then that our marriage was over. 

I had nobody to talk to outside my family.  In despair, I went on the forum, and spilled my guts.  MB was there for me, as were others, immediately.  She railed against my wife, when I was too despairing to think that way.  She told me how special I was, and how badly I was being treated.  For months afterward, until that day in March when my wife finally moved out, she was there every step of the way for me.  If I didn't post, she wrote me.

Marybeth and I planned to meet several times.  She lived in Northern New Jersey, and I live in Philadelphia.  But her cancer kept getting in the way.  She would be in remission, and then would suffer a setback.  Her last visit to her own forum was three weeks before her passing.  Finally, it was too much for her.

  When we finally got word that she had passed, I was logged in from home.  I turned off the computer, and went outside.  It was drizzling lightly.  As I walked, the rain became more steady.  I'm not sure how long I walked, or how far.  But I know that I wept.

The forum she started, which she called The Front Stoop, still exists.  There are not many of us left; indeed it was always a small outpost of sanity:

Welcome

Welcome to the Front Stoop! We're a band of friends that have known each other for YEARS! Please join us......we may not always agree, but we do have some fun. Post a message in the "Introduction" folder, and we'll open up the other folders to you. This is to keep spammers out (hopefully). Marybeth originated this forum as a place where we friends could excape the insanity of some political forums (although we do get pretty political here, too, lol). She is no longer with us, and we do miss her. We will carry on this forum as long as we can as a way of keeping ourselves together, and also to preserve MB's ideas and thoughts. ------- MARYBETH , 42, died Monday, Oct. 10, at home, after bravely fighting metastatic breast cancer since April 2002. She was raised in Jersey City, but spent every summer in Sea Bright, where she embedded in herself her love of the ocean and of Bruce Springsteen, a devotion she maintained for her entire life. In Jersey City, she attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel Elementary School and St. Dominic Academy, a wonderful high school that empowered young girls by making them smart. She attended St. Michael's College, Colchester, Vt., and Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark. She practiced law briefly at the firm of Wolf and Samson and later at Bumgardner, Hardin & Ellis. She, however, chose to leave the practice of law after the birth of her second child and devoted her life to raising her three small children and spending time with her wonderful husband who stood by her side as she fought off cancer. Her interests were diverse. Favorite books: "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "The Great Gatsby." Her favorite songs: "Thunder Road" and "Rhapsody in Blue." Her favorite movies: "Field of Dreams" and "Out of Africa." Her favorite interests: Broadway theater, Sea Bright and the New York Yankees. She was predeceased by her mother, Barbara; her sister, Patricia; her maternal grandparents, John and Eleanor; her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Julia and Pedro; and her cousin, Kerry. She missed them all deeply. Surviving are her husband, Joe; her daughter, Laura, 12; her son, Joseph, 10; her daughter, Katherine, 7; her father, Thomas ; her brothers, Thomas and Robert, their children and their spouses; a host of aunts and uncles, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law and their children; and too many friends to list.

Show us your favorite person in uniform.

Ryan Howard.  2005 NL Rookie of the year.  2006 MVP.  Quickest Ever to 100 home runs (60 games faster than the anyone in history).  Quickest Ever to 150 home runs (74 games faster than anyone in history).  9th highest slugging percentage in history. 

Not to mention that he reminds me of my childhood hero: 

Willie "Stretch" McCovey. 

Both left-handed hitters, both with majestic power, and graceful demeanors.