The Little Words Mean the Most

What you say in your head

"Why, through all the craziness?" Because you, John, were kind to me when I was fired two decades long gone, and I had to reinvent my life. An act of kindness like that makes a lifetime of obligation IMHO.

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Book synopsis, The Fountainhead: "I can do whatever I want because I'm a genius."

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- I've gotten to the point where I can browbeat the weak.
- You should [my interlocutor, halfway up his high horse, says] lead the weak.
- Browbeating works better, I birdsong back at 'im. Having too much respect too early on is a mistake, some deep inner Darwin replies.

My new book arrives

What a pleasure to say those words, for the fourth time in four years.

The beret reinvented by VA's Ignatius Hats

Ignatius Hats (Iggy and Rod, Petersburg, VA) has a new beret in its line. Simone wore hers for the first time this frozen day.

Visual Arts Center of Richmond

The Visual Arts Center of Richmond has been around for a couple of generations. It converted a former dairy plant into classrooms, artists' studios for rent, and a gallery; with a lot of help from donors.

Petersburg transformation

Alain and Aimee bought their pre-Civil War store and warehouse online for around $30,000 from the city of Petersburg, VA. Pretty much by himself, over four years Alain transformed it into a home for them and studio for Aimee. Job #1: removing tons of pigeon guano from the attic. In 2008, they moved in. L-r: the street entrance isn't much to look at (Alain's drug of choice: the Diet Coke he guzzles every woken minute); but inside, ranks of museum-quality French armoires (Alain restores them) hint at what's upstairs. On the second floor old factory dollies serve as mobile coffee tables, the kitchen has cement counters (Alain's still working on the cherry cabinet doors; the vanity is an example), and the uncovered brick walls in the living room show patterns from when they were plastered. The third floor houses the guest bedroom and Aimee's studio. In the basement Alain stores his surplus metal parts and battleship tiles, and dries rare woods he'll use for shelves.

Snow vs. sparks

Forecast accurate: snow arrives the late afternoon. I cashed in a few of the carbon credits I hope I earned when I spent thousands extra to buy a hybrid, and with those credits burned my buddies, brush. In February the sap starts to rise in the sugar maples and is it the last burning day of the season? 

The glory of thumbnails

This is what a $5 million case looks like in its early days: all thumbnails. Writing the case for a capital campaign isn't the hard part; I can write 1,000-2,000 of finished text a day easily. The real craft is distilling the ideas and organizing them into a dramatic sequence that will delight and inform a skimming reader. If you can reduce your story to a series of thumbnails, then you firmly grasp your story. I think of a case as a series of ads that together comprise the entire campaign message. The 11x17 Notationery pad from Levenger has plenty of room for a stumbling pen to roam.

Petersburg, VA

Where Alain and Aimee made their new home four years ago, moving from Muncie, IN, to renovate a pre-Civil War warehouse and store with more than 11,000 square feet of living and working space. Spike's is the restaurant right next door, Alain's 2nd office.

Aimee art

Aimee has her new studio and four years of pent-up creativity is surging from her like a cut artery.

The Rubyade

Pronounced Roo-bill-i-yade. The rescue hound, with a nose sensitive as a radio telescope, and a charming neurosis: Ruby caches bread crusts around the house, just in case a next meal doesn't appear? Anyway, unless you're a squirrel (the enemy!), Ruby is super sweet and Aimee and Alain's crown princess.