(Frances Freed’s Office Window Today)   The rains have been persistent this week, the skies a uniform gray that periodically open up in a drench. I parked the Bluesmobile in front of Big Pink and fumbled around in my leather mail-pouch for the Totes-brand umbrella.   Handy little device, those things, though not sturdy enough […]

(Remaining revetments on 17th Road)   Sorry for veering off into 1971 yesterday. It was a formative moment in a young life, that riot here in Washington, and it is entirely possible that in the process of fleeing the national capital with the Regular Army on my heels, I might have passed the Touchdown Jesus who […]

   (May Day Poster, 19781)   The classic May Day was last week, but it was on this date thirty-eight years ago that I first came to Washington on my own.   I had been there before, born by the family Rambler station-wagon. We visited the Smithsonian, I remember that, and the orange sleek shape […]

(Formal Entrance to Buckingham today) “Your only passport to this community of mansionette homes is your desire to live fully, completely and happily.” – Sign on the wall of the Buckingham Rental Office, July, 1966   It is a rainy Sunday, and visions of thundering horses on green grass and on a muddy track flickered […]

    The Government of Hong Kong is taking no crap off the New Flu. Masked constabulary surrounded the Metropark Hotel yesterday imposed a strict quarantine on the three hundred guests and workers who were within the high-rise hotel.   The authorities had been tipped off that a young Mexican man had been in the […]

(Texas Public Health Card)   I am civil libertarian, no surprise, and that is at the heart of the debate on the matter of the Q-Word: forced Quarantine.   I don’t like being told what to do, and bristle at the signs of imposed authority. I respect the President for telling us to wash our […]

(Claude Provost)   I remain concerned about harsh treatment of prisoners, really. I am just confused about who we are at war with: is it the people who are supposed to protect us, or the guys who are sworn to kill us? Maybe it should be the New York Times, those schmucks.   I had […]

(Medical Mask) One of the advantages of a Gypsy life is that you get to see a lot of things would normally observe if you actually worked for a living. There is a downside, of course, in that you never get particularly good at any one thing. But you are forced to develop a sort […]

(Night Train Hog) They don’t call Harley-Davison motorcycles Hogs for nothing. They are big and noisy and as efficient as a Zippo Lighter. My pal road his over to Big Pink on Saturday, and we compared the matchless classic lines of this unique American breed of swine.   My pal looks positively regal on his […]

(“SERE-Trained” Patch Available for purchase in the Coffee Mess, on completion) Seven-six-eleven-five-nine-an’-twenty mile to-day – Four-eleven-seventeen-thirty-two the day before – (Boots-boots-boots-boots-movin’ up an’ down again!) There’s no discharge in the war!                                     – “Boots,” by Rudyard Kipling   It is a long time ago now, and a lot of water over the board since. It is still […]