I had a great Thanksgiving in Bluemont, Va. My friends Wes and Erin have a great family. I ate at the Underwood's house; they operate the beautiful, hilltop Rockwood Ridge Farm. The man of the house, Lester Underwood tends to the farm's sheep and cattle everyday. One of the penned ewes stomped her foot at me when I got too close to her lambs. "They won't hurt you," Lester assured me. I hopped in the truck after Blaze, one of the farm's herding dogs. When we got to the pasture we made a wide circle around the flock and drove them to the barn. The dog rides in the backseat of the truck and, of course, the sheep have to walk.
[Another regularly scheduled Thanksgiving ... eat turkey and count sheep.]
I'm somewhere around the Virginia-West Virginia border tonight. My friend Wes, who recently started his own family, has family there. If you live in D.C. you go elsewhere for the holidays. But if you're visiting anywhere in the vacinity, this is the place to get some Turkey Day tourism. I asked a Secret Service officer standing in front of the White House what he thought. "I might notice a little jump in tourism around the holidays," he said.
[I also talked to some tourists in front of the White House. Some of them are "in town" from as far away as Richmond, Va. I hope everybody has a Happy Thanksgiving and does some real reflecting ... (reflect)
The Guardian Angels, a group of public saftey activists, patrol around Mt Pleasant. "As a rule we don't go into an area that we're not invited to," said Mark "Bishop" Saunders, the Guardian's D.C. chapter leader (foreground). A recent invitation from the District's city council also encouraged some visitors from the New York City chapter. "If it's a verbal dispute, we break it up. If it is more serious than that we may physically detain an attacker until the police arrive," said visiting NYC chapter leader Matthew McCoy (left). Saunders added that the group's relationship with local law enforcement authorities is outstanding.
[Their motto -- "Dare to Care." It feels good to see the Guardian Angels on the streets. Bishop told me the group was started in 1979 by Curtis Sliwa, the manager of a McDonald's in the Bronx. Who said nothing good ever came outta McDonald's? McCoy will soon be leaving for Parris Island, S.C. Semper Fidelis]
Around 10am I started a paper on the several levels of irony surrounding Aphra Behn's 17th Century novel Oroonoko. I ate a leftover slice of chicken and pepperoni pizza. A friend stopped by to pick up a disk of photos I took of his art work. I completed one of hopfully two interviews for an assignment to interview a photo agency, or news wire photo editor. My neighbor stuck my credit card bill in my storm door. I saw a kiwi outside previously dropped from my garbage. I placed my camera on a tripod focused out the door to the sidewalk. I took this picture about 10 minutes after I set up. I kept the camera there for about 8 hours, but was too busy at my laptop to catch anything else.
[Speaking of kiwis, my friend Jesse an American-New Zealander* came over from McLean, Va. He was going to give me a ride to my class tonight. When Jesse pulled up I was already a half-hour late for class and still working on my paper. When I finished it, I realized I didn't have any printer paper. I emailed the paper to my professor. Jesse took off. For the first time in almost a year I didn't leave the house all day.]
*Kiwi is an affectionate term for a New Zealander.
Chewing sticks, that's what our toothbrushes originated from. They had chewing sticks in Mesopotamia around 3500 B.C. In the 1700s they started using neck hair from swine as bristles. It wasn't til the 1930s we had nylon bristles.
[Today I was at 7-11 talking to Lee, a Somali guy that works there. We both agreed that people would have more respect for each other if religion had more to do with our ancestors. People today are the products of hundreds-of-thousands of years of genetic mixing and are the material products of their ancestors. That makes everyone interesting.
My friend Chef Ryan called me and said he had a couple tickets to a hockey game this afternoon but couldn't go because he was working. So me and my friend Jesse ended up going to the game. The introductory price of free included two executive suite tickets, parking pass, beer and food! We didn't know the people in the suite but they were hospitable. Do hockey player go back to the Seventies to get their mullets groomed?
[Florida beat the Capitols 3-2, in overtime. This was a great game. Fighting, aggression, and dramatic goals. This is one of the Florida players picking up his stick after a brawl.]
The word pool means a collective bet and became a term for the game when it began to be played in 19th century pool rooms which were then places for betting on horseraces. Went out with some friends and played pool in DuPont. Then we made our way over to the Hill to play darts. You'll have to come up with your own interesting darts fact.
[I looked online to see if I was eligable for any education grants. I found out that I am just in time to apply for next year. I was actually looking for money for next semester.]
There was a small fire in the building adjoining Corcoran College's H St NW campus. I was sitting in class. We were just getting into this video about Buddhist dance from India. It appeared it might have been a very interesting video. The fire alarm rang. We all gathered our stuff and walked out to the sidewalk. After about five minutes we were back in class watching the video. A couple minutes later, after seven fire trucks pulled up and blocked the street off, we were all back on the sidewalk. I guess they were responding to a minor fire in the connecting building bacause we could smell smoke but afternoon classes resumed. We never got to watch that video. We had to leave class early.
[I made it to the darkroom for the first time in almost two years today. Made some negatives from my Argus Model A. The lens is more badly scratched than I guessed. It is also uncoated and seventy-five years old.]
Mike Wilson, known as Army Mike, grabs some cash from the belongings he sleeps on to make a last minute beer run. I met up with him on the way home from my digital darkroom class tonight. "The liquor store is going to close in 15 minutes," said Army Mike. I walked part of the way to the liquor store with him til I got to my bus stop. He always likes to make a dramatic exit. He took-off running backward down the sidewalk yelling good-byes and see-you-laters. When he swung around to start his full trot, I had to yell "Look out," as he almost ran into a street sign.
[Army Mike enlisted in 1976 with no diploma. Not long after his enlistment as a radioman he returned to his hometown of Danville, Va. He had a job washing dishes at a Holiday Inn. Some people there didn't like him. They poured bleach in the dish water. This irritated Mike's hands to the point of infection. When he asked for workmen's compensation he said they told him, "Prove it happened at work." His sister, Gwen kicked him out of their house in late 2001. Mike has been living on the streets of D.C. since.]
