First off, thanks everyone for your suggestions of love poems. I’m still combing through possibilities — the best-sounding for my writer purposes are, alas, still under copyright; the easiest to use legally don’t quite fit the tone I’m striving for. Oh well. A day spent reading poetry isn’t a total loss 
And I’ve been doing more than reading poetry.
Last night, we headed down to the Newseum for “A Conversation with Bob Woodward.” In recognition of the 40th anniversary of Watergate, Woodward was talking about journalism, investigative reporting, his career, etc. He was a *wonderful* speaker, with many entertaining stories to tell. My favorite, I think, was about how he came to be hired by the Washington Post, as an almost thirty-year-old Navy lieutenant with no journalism experience. (He walked in to the Metro Desk, asked for a job, survived the outraged laughter of the editor, worked a two-week unpaid internship where he proved he knew nothing about journalism, accepted a low-paying job at a local-interest newspaper, and pestered the Post’s Metro editor on a regular basis, until he was hired solely for his persistence.)
As always, the Newseum did a nice job with its presentation. This was a sold-out crowd in their largest auditorium. In recognition of the somewhat-challenging time-slot (7:00 p.m. — too early for a lot of office folks to have time to grab dinner, too late for people to wait and eat after), they sold salads and sandwiches, along with wine, beer, and soda, all of which were allowed into the theater. The interviewer was well-prepared and managed the Q&A well.
The only fly in the ointment was the sound system. It cut out a few times during the evening, apparently overloaded when new devices were added (a video of Katherine Graham that aired partway through the show, and the audience mike for questions.) Both the host and Woodward rallied well, though, doing their best — and mostly succeeding — to project to the back row (where we were sitting.)
I’m too young to remember Watergate clearly, although I definitely remember my parents calling in my brother and me, and having us watch Nixon’s resignation speech on T.V. Listening to Woodward talk about Deep Throat, the legendary Post editors, and the politics of the time made me feel like a true Washingtonian.
(Incidentally, this event was the start of an event-heavy couple of weeks. It’s like summer vacation in my own home – I’ll post more about classes, etc., after they happen!)
Mindy, feeling there are lots of stories to be written here…
Mirrored from Mindy Klasky, Author.