COVER -> MY GLASS HOUSE
19 April, 2001 - Despite the fact that we've had an unseasonal chill, as in freezing temperatures the last two nights, here in Baltimore, this afternoon it was quite nice outside. I walked around the neighborhood during my daily constitutional and admired the tulips that so many people seem to cultivate in their yards around here. The bright bursts of red and yellow and lavender give me a sense of comfort. Spring is my favorite time of year.
I did this to take a break from finishing this issue and working on an assignment for my client in California. He thinks I'm too focused on the bad circumstances in my life right now, rather than the Main Chance this assignment promises me. Ah yes, promises, promises...
There's a bunch of good stuff here to close out this edition. I'm especially charmed by RON DIENER's long reminiscence in AMERICAN DREAMS, Parts 1 and 2 of which you can read right now. The conclusion comes out in next week's edition. It's good to see THOMAS HART back on deck, too -- even if he seems to be becoming more deeply mired in Pop Culture every day. I take it as part and parcel of participating in this "community" to ..ehm... appreciate his perspective. And I always enjoy the e-mails from you in VOX POPULI.
I only lament that there are not more of them, so the writers have more than me to take it from that they are actually being read...
IN THE WIND
I used to have this conceit that God moved in the wind. Perhaps that's because I've always been romantic about the wind. I love kites, especially box kites, and the joy of flying them. I even enjoy watching other people fly kites, something easily done when one lives in San Francisco at this time of year and in the autumn. All you have to do is go down to the Marina district on a nice day and there will invariably be couples or children flying kites."Puttin' it in the wind," is a Black expression which means to take off, move on, get out of here. That's on my mind a lot these days, as you know.
There's also, when I think of wind, our myth about "The Hawk," that cold and forceful wind that rakes the streets of cities like Chicago and Detroit during the winter months. I can remember brothers in college first enlightening me about the nature of the Hawk and how he would bend you over forward as you tried to make your way up the street. We laughed and laughed at those stories.
I have had better days than these.
I've been touched during the last few weeks by e-mails from a few of you Loyal Readers sincerely asking me, "Rod, how can I help?" My answers have been less than satisfactory, I know. But that is because I have no suitable answer to such a question. The best I can say is try to make us viral. Use our URL at the end of your e-mails instead of Yahoo!'s or HotMails. Tell every single one of your friends, and even your enemies, about this little Web festival. Visit us often to keep abreast of new features. That means more impressions for the advertisers that Bla-bla.com puts on these pages and, thus, some semblance of an income for this effort.
And pray.
As BOB POWERS will attest, prayers do help.
If you feel you'd like to do something more personal, then visualize me happy and living in a place that suits my clothes...
I have this one pal, Mike, who keeps going out of his way to exhort me about all the golden opportunities that lie ahead for me just around the corner. Some days it gets old very quickly. After all, it's very easy from a distance to decide that someone you know is "just in a funk" and failing to see The Big Picture. But the Hard Facts are not easy to see from a distance. Nobody, not even Bill Clinton, can really feel your pain the way you do. Nobody.
That's it for me this week, I think.
THINGS ON MY AGENDA THIS WEEK
1. Getting boxes and beginning to pack.2. Continuing to show my apartment on the off chance I can get out of here early.
3. Getting my publisher to pay me what's owed.
Thanks for coming back this week.
"Work like you don't need the money,
"Love like you've never been hurt,
"Dance like no one is watching..."
Rod
Our Editor does listen!