The Little Words Mean the Most

I bet you don't have what I have this Thursday, New Year's Eve night outside my window, besides the resident coyotes' a capella chorus and prayer session for food tomorrow

 

you hear that?

Military-grade weapons firing

 

in country hills and dales just as English Romantics would wish.

but hide a racist secret

 

Newcomers might mistake the sharp rattle for fireworks but crap

there are a half-dozen gun clubs in town popping off any weekend

Families move here to set up private outdoor firing ranges

A mile away lives an Iraqi vet who likes to bang away on his automatic

every shot shakes the neighboring house

Dear Gutbustas: Great BBQ can always wait.

BBQ: it's slow food not fast; that thing. Authentic, not corporate.

¶ Just told two cities in Michigan (Ann Arbor and Lansing) that the best BBQ I know in the US comes out of a trailer window in Danielson, CT.

¶ Take that, Texas! How many BBQs HAVE I eaten in? Well, I did 4 BBQ spots in Memphis, TN inside 24 hours a couple of years ago. Included on that 24-hour tour.: a Great Depression legend of dry-rubbed, with a classic basement bar ~ §§ ~ a converted garage that now did award-winning BBQ (converted garages are a good sign) ~ §§ ~ a shop in a no-account strip mall, next to the state probation office (another good sign; that the food is worth the money; taken there by Virginia Stallworth, the flat-out amazing ED of the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, a national model for child recovery from abuse), which served BBQ'd quail one day a week ~ §§ ~ and then that franchise place at the Memphis airport.

¶ If a passenger had evil in his heart, he could stink up that entire aluminum tube from an economy-class seat over a wing (steadiest place to be in case of turbulence).

on Facebook

I spied a blind man

cross an airport boarding area. Toward another man yapping loudly on his phone: a lawyer discussing a slam dunk case with an underling.

The blind man lifted his iPhone and pointed it toward the noise. In his outstretched hand he held a letterpress printed card. I saw the message:

I am blind. You sound like someone talking too loudly on your mobile device. Please do not be alarmed. I am taking a video. I am making a documentary of people who do what you're doing, in public. Bless you for appearing in my movie. Thank you truly.

My new favorite bookstore: Literati, Ann Arbor, MI

LONG notes from staff readers about favorite books.

Bone-gnawing, a book is born, QUOTES painted on the exterior walls.

Typewriter keys SIGN: in tribute.

Signs of Ann Arbor ~ CLICK a shot to smell the details

 

Ann Arbor, MI: "The town that great customer service built."

Juliette, my 12-year-old niece, asked me to paint two big blue dots on her chin & then she did this

travel books

I have a new show: The Donor Journey

 

Subtitle:

 

[1st principle of campaigning]

Forget what you've done so far.

 

What are you doing next?

Dare we presume? "Agents of Best"

I've known -- KNOW -- quite a few

Agents of Better

You know who you are.