After two whirlwind weeks, I'm back in Montana, exhausted and more than a bit bummed to be back to the daily grind of deadline pressures at work and gray skies outside.
But I come home with plenty of grist for the mill, plenty to think about, and no small amount of video that shall, soon, be shared here. The first weekend of this long trip was spent at Donald Trump's private club in West Palm Beach, FL. No sign of the Donald there, but plenty of evidence of the wretched excess that he and those of his social class enjoy. Day and I attended a wedding there, one which was also attended by several folks from ROX episodes past: Tall Steve, Jeff Mease, members of Salaam, and others. Plenty of the resulting shenanigans were captured on video, to surprise and embarrass those who don't quite remember what happened over that wild weekend. I'll be preparing some snippets very soon to be posted here.
The remainder of my time away from Missoula was taken up as a participant in the NEA / National Arts Journalism Program Institute on Classical Music and Opera Journalism, which took place in New York. There, I caught up with Phil and Aeric, two old friends from Bloomington, with whom I relived the story of the Communist Who Wouldn't Share. I'll share that, too, soon.
After all that fun and inspiration, coming back to Missoula — to cold weather, to a job that sometimes feels more stunting than stimulating, and of course to this devastating election — has been pretty tough on the spirit. Anybody feel like mixing me a drink?
— posted by J on November 3rd, 2004
