Sister in Texas

“I don’t know Jean, I don’t think I could vote for anyone with the middle name Hussein” Laura said to her sister.

“Laura, you’re nephew just changed his middle name to Hussein” Jean said, patiently.

"WHAT!"

“Do you think Dennis is a terrorist?”

“No, but, um, really Jean? You let him?”

“He’s 39 years old – he can do what he wants” Jean replied to her sister, rather smugly

Sticks and Stones

In 1934, 14-year old Henry Roy had already spent a couple years cutting rock at quarries around New England. Two years earlier, he had left Mendon, MA in a hurry, with $.34 in his pocket and the clothes on his back.

His father, once called the “strongest man in Mendon” tyrannically ruled his wife and sons. Annabelle, his wife, 15-years his younger, continually ran interference between her husband and her boys. After her son had thrown his father into another of his blind rages, she gave Henry the $18.54 and told him to leave. While Henry did write to his mother and brothers, he didn’t return to Mendon for almost two years – after his older brother traveled to Connecticut to bring Henry home.

Armed with an entrepreneurial spirit, a photographic memory, a strong work ethic and incredible hand-eye coordination, Henry excelled in cutting lime rock and granite. On payday, in the quarry’s offices, Henry would not only collect his pay envelope; he also would see the prices charged to the cities and towns of New England for paving stones, curbing and more.

Henry’s father, happy at his son’s return and guilty for the hardships Henry encountered, was looking for ways to bridge the divide. Years earlier, while building his farm, Henry’s father had used granite to set foundation of the barn, the house, out buildings and more. Large remnants of granite were strewn around the property years later. When Henry asked for the stones, his father happily gave them to his son.

Henry traveled to Boston soon after and placed a bid on curbing stones. Knowing what large quarries charged, Henry priced his curbstones ten percent lower. He quickly was contacted by Revere and Franklin and Henry began cutting stones.

Henry worked for about a year cutting stones and providing them to the two towns. He helped his parents with household expenses, but still was able to save enough to purchase a saw mill from a man who had recently gone bankrupt. While the building was near collapse, the steel works were in perfect condition; all Henry needed was an engine.

At first, Henry and his brother used their father’s old single-piston engine to power the mill. The engine was unreliable – and after selling his first lot of lumber, Henry used the proceeds to purchase a better high-power engine.

Henry employed three of his friends and a couple of his brothers at the saw mill. His oldest brother was a consummate salesman, and, in later years, found buyers for much of the mill’s output. The saw mill’s biggest sale came from Henry, however, and would be responsible for him, his family and friends staying employed throughout the rest of the Depression.

One day, after a delivery, Henry was driving back to the mill, through Hopedale, MA, home of the Draper Corporation. As Henry approached Draper’s factories and offices, he decided to stop in and try to get a quick order.

Dressed in work clothes or as Henry would say, rags, he approached the receiving dock. He asked around, trying to find out who was responsible for purchasing lumber. “Not here” they said, and Henry headed over to the Draper office building.

Approaching the receptionist, Henry asked where he needed to go to sell some lumber. The woman sent him to a corner office near the back of the building. Henry knocked and asked the secretary who he should speak with. At this moment, the inner office door opened and out walked Mr. Draper.

Having come this far, Henry, embarrassed by his slovenly appearance, pitched his lumber to the small-town CEO. Always needing lumber for the thousands of textile looms it built each year, Mr. Draper handed Henry an order so large, the former pre-teen rock cutter was speechless.

“I’ll need a month to prepare this sir,” Henry said.

“Sure, said Mr. Draper, “bring this order in on time and we can negotiate a long term contract.”

I went to the Inauguration, and seeing my campaign co-workers was absolutely awesome. Lotsa beers, lotsa laughs. Most of them are less than 25 years old, so they take great pleasure teasing me about being an old man.

Since I took the bus, I left on Sunday and stayed overnight in Jersey with my cousin. My bus left at about 10.30 in the morning, but there was a raging driving snowstorm (as usual – I feel like I am living on the ice-planet Hoth). To save $$$ on parking, my parents drove me to Boston – what should have been a 1 hour ride, turned into a 2 and a half hour trek.

My cousin has 3 little kids - A 5 year old girl (Hayden) and 2 boys (1 [Charlie] and 3[Henry]). I hadn’t seen Henry in years, but Hayden came running, jumping into my arms as I walked into the house. I wrestled on the floor with the 3 of them for a couple hours while my cuz and his wife made a great dinner.

I got to DC Monday night and met my campaign co-workers for beers. It was a great time, lotsa love all around.

Tuesday, the 20th, was a fiasco. I got to the Ballston Metro stop at 7.15 (Northern Virginia, just outside DC). There was a line outside the station and I didn't enter until about 8am. However, when we got in, we quickly boarded an empty train. Earlier that morning, trains were arriving at the inner stops on the line completely full - so the authorities emptied the closer-to-dc stations and let people in as empty trains arrived. It was definitely safer than thousands of people jostling for space on the platform, with all the dangers a subway platform entails.

I didn't get off the Metro (at Metro Center - about 8 stops[!?!]) until 9.45. There were simply too many trains on the tracks which caused a system-wide backup. This was about 3 stops earlier than I had planned to get off, but at the pace we were going, I could have walked backwards and beaten the subway.

At 8.30, I was supposed to meet up with a former campaign co-worker who had the tickets. I got a sandwich at Quiznos and wandered around for 45 minutes trying to reach him via text, cell, and smoke signals. I eventually got in line for security at Indiana Avenue around 10.30.

I didn't get through security until 1.30. There was a block wide, 15' high, steel riot fence blocking the street. It had two revolving gates, which were opened to let in 100 people at a time. Then you got in line to go through the metal detectors. You’ve seen 28 Days Later and I am Legend – same thing that you see in those movies.

There had to be, I guess, about 3000 - 5000 people waiting to get thru security at Indiana Ave. There were no rope lines, instead there was a street-wide, block-long mass of humanity waiting to get through the gates. As I got closer to the front, people were pressed in closer and closer together. To scratch my nose or move my glasses, I would have to squirm my arm up to my face. While the mass of humanity kept me warmer than I would be for the rest of the day, it wasn't pleasant.

It was pretty bad when I got within 5 - 10 feet of the fence. There were kids and old ladies in the crowd, and I was worried most about them. When people who got to the fence, but not the gate, they were crushed by the sea of humanity – screaming at people to move back. I was lucky, lined up directly with an entrance, and I pretty much fell through.

The magnetometers were as well organized as the other side of security. People clumped up around the front of the line and again, I had to elbow my way to the front. None of the Secret Service Uniformed Division officers and the National Guard troops had bullhorns, so rumors would fly through the crowd that you had to show ID, take off your shoes, etc. etc. All you had to do was make sure your phone/camera etc was turned on.

As I got to the front of the line, the lady in front of me had all the cameras and cellphones for her 10-person family. At this point I was pretty exhausted and irritated - it was all I could do to not bark at the woman.

There were 4 magnetometers set up - only 2 were in use. Not sure if this was a staffing issue, the extras were back-ups or simply weren't working.

I went and stood on the steps across from the National Archives and waited an hour and a half for the inaugural parade to pass by. By this point, I was cold, tired and pretty bummed out. After the new President and First Lady went by, I left, and took the Metro back to Arlington.

I never met up with my campaign co-worker on Tuesday and he was flying out on Wednesday. He had my ticket to the staff ball, which was to be held @ the DC Armory on Wednesday night. Tuesday night, when I got back, I texted, called and emailed again and again to get the ticket, but got no answer. I did this all morning on Wednesday as well, but, according to him, he had no t-mobile coverage. I then emailed, texted and called all my other campaign co-workers for an extra ticket. I finally got my hands on one at 4p.

If it hadn't been for the staff ball, the trip to DC would have been a complete and unmitigated fiasco. The free food and open bar went a long way to salvaging my mood; however, the whole trip and my psyche were saved as the evening's entertainment wore on. Arcade Fire played. Kal Penn (Kumar) spoke. VPOTUS' sister spoke. Vice-President Joe Biden spoke, and introduced David Plouff. At the end of Plouff's speech, he introduced the 44th President of the United States of America. President Barack Hussein Obama gave a rousing speech, and then introduced Jay-Z.

Hova was awesome. He changed the words to one of his songs (99 Problems but a Bush aint one) and then put 43 on one of the jumbotrons. He got the crowd to give him a fitting send off to “NA NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE!”

I’m standing with 2 campaign co-workers having a beer and talking, R and J. R looks up and says “I think I went to college with the blond over there in the short, tight red dress. I really didn’t like her, so I’m not going to go over and say hi.”

John said, “You should introduce her to Bored Doofus”

Simultaneously I said, “Can you introduce me?”

Ok, maybe you had to be there…

I took the bus back North the next day, again stopping in Jersey to see my cousin and his kids. I had dinner with my cousin and then we both took a "dance class" at one of Jersey's seedier establishments. I slept on the couch and Steve's 5-year old & 3-year old leapt on me to wake me up at about 6.30 in the morning.

That morning, I met one of the women I was in Leningrad with for breakfast in NYC. She invited me to move into the guest room at her and her husband's place uptown with their 3-year old. I politely declined.

All in all, a pretty good week. I got to see old friends and new. I can’t believe I was that close to the President of the United States.