...our daughter Claire being one of the honorees.
However last year Megabus left Columbus, leaving Tom and I to seek out a new mode of transport to Chicago for visits with our daughter and son-in-law. Last summer we drove the trip, during which our car was totaled by a disembodied rogue tire randomly bouncing down the highway right into our car (see post from 6/18/2018). And then there was the issue of trying to find parking on the Chicago streets once we arrived in our rented car. We decided that in the future we'd prefer not to drive the trip. Thus we decided to try the Greyhound Bus. The cost of the tickets was less than what we'd typically pay for the Megabus: we'd typically pay around $75 - $80 each for a Chicago round-trip Megabus ticket; the Greyhound round-trip tickets were $63 each.
We learned that Greyhound no longer necessarily runs their own buses, but contracts out to other bus companies to provide their transport. For example, to Chicago we rode a Barons Bus,
Our return trip from Chicago to Columbus, however, was on a bus from the Miller Transportation Line, and had to be one of the vilest vehicles on the road. The interior of the bus smelled like a latrine the moment one stepped on board, and the sorry - make that disgusting - state of the bus restroom - stench, sticky floor, empty hand sanitizer container, jammed toilet paper role that refused to dispense and an indescribable toilet seat - suggested that this facility had not been cleaned or maintained any time in the recent past. The seats on the window side of the bus were not comfortable because the seat leg was so located that it left insufficient room on either side to place one's feet. There was a passenger a few seats behind us who smoked during the trip and who appeared to be suffering some mental distress, which may be why the driver ignored the smoking. It was a 9-hour ride. But that unsavory trip home on Saturday on the Miller Transportation Line bus was in the future and thankfully unbeknownst to us on Wednesday as we set out for Chicago. Our Greyhound - Barons - bus left Columbus at 7:30 am. I had assumed there would be a lunch/rest stop along the way where we could get something to eat, but our one "rest stop" was a 15-minute lay-over at 9:00 am in the Trotwood, Ohio Greyhound station where the only food and drink was to be found in vending machines. So I purchased our lunch provisions - bags of pretzels and cheese crackers and bottles of water - from the vending machines. Most likely because our bus to Chicago stopped at 12 cities and towns along the way to drop off and pick up passengers, we traveled not along the highway but through the streets of small towns in Ohio and Indiana.
...from whence we walked to the Clinton Metro station,
We then walked from the subway to the hostel where we were staying, the Holiday Jones.
...and a nice common area in the basement with a well-stocked kitchen area where the guests may cook and eat and where a complimentary breakfast is served,
...and a bay window with a great city view.
The place was spotlessly clean and the staff as helpful and accommodating as last time we'd stayed there last summer (see posts from 6/20/2017). After we'd settled into our room we headed back out and walked along Division Street in search of some food,
Burgers being the house specialty, we ordered burgers. Now, mayhaps it was from hunger, or from my last meal having been a lunch of pretzels and cheese crackers, but I swore that the burger I ordered, the 'Shroomin, a rare, juicy, tasty patty topped with creamy Gorgonzola and a pile of mushrooms, was the best burger I'd ever had. And the hot, crispy skinny fires were likewise awesome. Tom also sung the praises of his burger, which he ordered straight-up with an equally praise-worthy salad on the side.
...until we happened upon a Dunkin' Donuts, where we decided to stop, sample the wares, and watch the world go by for a while.
...until we felt like returning to the Holiday Jones, and our nice room with a view.
1 Comment
Bruce and his wife, Elaine Head, travel frequently to Vietnam and in their work and research have come to know well "the structure of the trafficking and slavery network,"(1) and have met, interviewed, and come to know victims of child sex trafficking in that part of the world.
It is the experience and knowledge gained from his life's mission and his two tours of duty in Vietnam along with "data gleaned from academic literature and journalism, careful investigation on the Internet, interviews and field visits to both Vietnam and Cambodia." (2) that R. Bruce Logan used to craft his remarkable first novel, "Finding Lien." ...the story line of which is summarized here on the book's back cover: "Finding Lien" is such a good book. Not only is it deeply affecting, thought-provoking and informative, but it is fast-paced and a page-turner from the beginning as it opens with a sudden, shocking revelation that compels a retired U.S. Army officer to return to Vietnam to deal with the consequences of a brief, long-forgotten liaison with a young Vietnamese woman back when he was a young soldier during the war over forty years ago. The story then takes the reader down into the dark world of the Southeast Asian child sex-trafficking trade and is full of twists, turns, heart-gripping and heart-stopping moments and vibrant, realistic characters and settings. It is a realistic story that juxtaposes human evil, depravity and corruption with human goodness, courage and love. Don't forego reading "Finding Lien" because of the subject; read it because of the subject, and because the author is donating any profits from the book to the following organizations working to end child trafficking and slavery: Blue Dragon: Hanoi https//www.bluedragon.org Ethos: Northern Vietnam http://www.ethosspirit.com/ethosgiving.html Go Philanthropic: Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal http://gophilanthropic.org/gophil-expands-trafficking-work-vietnam/ Children's Education Foundation, Vietnam http://www.childrenseducationfoundation.org.au/programs.html Vietnam Education Society: http://vietnameducation.ca/about-ves/
References (1) Logan, R. Bruce. Finding Lien (p. 226). Black Rose Writing. Kindle Edition. (2) Logan, R. Bruce. Finding Lien (p. 227). Black Rose Writing. Kindle Edition.
"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away." So wrote Emily Dickinson, and if the poet was describing a book that one is reading, I can attest that her words also ring true in the case of a book that one has written. The publication of my own book has unexpectedly opened new worlds to me: the world of book marketing, for example, ...nonexistent on my mental map or my cerebral encyclopedia a year ago,
Ditto the interviews,
...but now receive via telephone from other authors from around the country and the world - I interviewed one author from India - on the subject of their books for the book podcast yourbookmybook.com Indian author Sonnal Pardiwala, whom I interviewed on her book, "Fan for the First Time." But best of all has been the world of new people, especially fellow authors I've met, and some of their wonderful books that have taken me lands away: I recently made the acquaintance via the Black Rose Writing Authors Facebook page, managed by my publisher, Black Rose Writing,
...and his superb book, "Finding Lien." ...that took me to a land so far away and yet that felt so real and close and so gripped my heart and my mind that I still haven't returned. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. To be continued...
…Continued from yesterday: When I arrived in Portland on Thursday, April 26, the city was misty and overcast, but scenic all the same. …and my sister Romaine’s neighborhood was in full spring bloom,
...and, as always, the interior of her house. My first request upon arriving in Portland was to have dinner at one of my favorite Portland eateries, a little diner around the corner from Romaine’s house called Dick’s Kitchen, …Dick's being the source of one of my perennial cravings, the Kale Caesar Burger Bowl, which is a burger atop a bed of chopped kale with shaved Parmesan and Caesar dressing. Soooo tasty!
…at a neighborhood restaurant called Skcavone’s,
After breakfast I spent much of the day snapping the spring flora and fauna around Romaine's neighborhood.
...and on Saturday afternoon we took a trip to Bend. Oregon. 163 miles southeast of Portland, Bend is a small charming city located at the foot of the Cascade mountains in the sunny, piney central Oregon high desert region on the beautiful Deschutes River. Romaine and I stayed in the part of Bend known as the Old Mill District at the Hampton Inn. After we'd settled in we ventured out from our hotel on foot to explore the Old Mill District a bit.
...which we decided to try.
...while I had the ahi tuna salad, which I thought was outstanding.
...before returning to the hotel to snag some dessert from the Suite Shop in the hotel lobby. The following morning we went to services at the Bend Unity church, located in a beautiful pastoral setting, ...where the small congregation was very friendly and welcoming After church we returned to downtown Bend for lunch at a spot that had been recommended to us by the server at Greg's Grill, a cute spot called The Deschutes Brewery, ...where the Greg's Grill server had recommended that we try the Brewery's famous Pub Pretzel, which we did. In truth, Romaine and were of the shared opinion that this pretzel was too much on the bready side; a really great soft pretzel would have been more on the chewy side. However the pretzel was greatly improved by the dipping sauce, a combo of a delicious cheese sauce ringed with stone ground mustard.
...which, of course, also has its charm. Randy Rainbow Live. Sort Of. Several months ago I Facebooked my sister Romaine, ...that Randy Rainbow's live stage show was coming on April 27 to a theater near her neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.
...ever since Donald Trump became president. Randy Rainbow's medium is the Youtube video, and he makes the most brilliantly hilarious videos, usually with himself starring as a newscaster who breaks into song - in the clearest, smoothest, most golden-voiced tenor - while covering the Trump White House. As anyone who knows me well knows, I am a Randy Rainbow super-fan (See post from 9/15/2017). So when my sister messaged me back telling me that she in fact had two tickets to Randy Rainbow Live and asking me if I'd like to come out to Portland to see his show, of course that was an offer I couldn't refuse.
…and soon afterwards on my to Portland to see Randy Rainbow Live and, of course, my sister. And so on Friday evening Romaine and I set out for the Aladdin Theater, stopping along the way for dinner at a cute little pub called Mcmenamins Barley Mill, …where we had yummy turkey sandwiches with a garlic aioli. After dinner we headed to The Aladdin, ...a smallish, pretty, vintage theater,
…that would be packed by the time the show started.
...and an even longer line at the bar. This was a crowd of happy, excited, fellow die-hard Randy Rainbow fans, thrilled and stoked to be seeing him perform live. I over-heard one woman say that she’d already seen Randy Rainbow Live in San Francisco and she’d flown in from San Francisco to Portland to see the show again. That’s one hard-core Randy Rainbow fan. I can’t say what I expected the Randy Rainbow Live show to be. I knew that his medium is first and foremost video and that he creates ― prolifically ― his razor-witted videos in his apartment in Queens, New York using a camera and a green screen; so I assumed the show would include video, and the small band on stage was a clue that there’d be live singing. What the show turned out to be was a little over an hour of Randy Rainbow dashing on and off stage. While on stage he mostly sang along to his videos, which played on the screen behind him. His fine tenor voice sounded as clear, strong and wide-ranged on stage as it did on his videos; except that Randy Rainbow’s live singing so closely matched his singing on the videos playing behind him that one couldn’t tell whether he was singing or lip-syncing to the videos. Sometimes he turned and just watched a video along with us; other times he ducked off stage and let us watch one of his videos without him. While the rest of the audience appeared to be loving every minute of the show, I found myself wondering what the point was of watching the same videos on stage that I’d already watched dozens of times on Youtube. But then mayhaps the rest of the audience wasn’t as steeped in the Randy Rainbow repertory as I was, as the audience was lively and reactive and laughed at the videos as if this were the first time they’d ever seen them. Or maybe the adoring audience just didn’t care whether they’d already seen the videos and knew them all by heart. Maybe they were just so thrilled to see our idol in person that it didn’t matter what his show was. On the other hand, Randy Rainbow did have wonderful stage presence, and when he did tell a few smart, witty jokes between the videos his comic timing was spot-on. He seemed comfortable with the crowd, he was friendly and had good audience rapport and good audience engagement. There just wasn’t enough of it, thought I. At one point Randy Rainbow invited the audience to ask him questions. Most of the questions people asked were jokey or silly, such as “What does your mother think of your videos?” or “When are you gonna get that a***ole kicked out of the White House?” One woman asked if she could give him her son’s phone number. Randy Rainbow riposted with clever one-liners while the audience roared. I asked him the only serious question: Would he tell us a little about his musical education and background? A little is what he told us. He said that he went to college very briefly before dropping out, that he learned most of what he knew from his family, and that he’d been doing musical theater most of his life. It was after his quick, abbreviated answer to my question that the thought popped into my head: Randy Rainbow doesn’t relish doing these live shows. He’d rather be back in his apartment making his videos. He did in fact mention later that making videos was what he did all day long. So making videos must be what Randy Rainbow really loves doing. And indeed, he does that well. At the end of the show the audience gave him a rousing standing ovation, which I joined in, deciding that Randy Rainbow’s body of musical political satire as a whole deserved an ovation and that perhaps these live shows help finance his true art, his videos, which I've been watching for free for well over a year and which, I swear, are the only thing that have been getting me through the Trump Presidency. And so after the show I bought a tee shirt.
Michelle Wolff, Potty-Mouthed Patriot
...and there appears to be exactly two on the subject: that Michelle Wolff’s coarse jokes, especially her Donald Trump jokes and her lampooning of Sarah Sanders and Ivanka Trump, ...were either mean-spirited affronts to decency or a dishing out of deliciously just ― and truth-flavored ― desserts. I suppose that Ms. Wolff’s White House comedy routine was actually both. Now, I am as a rule of the persuasion that it is beneath one’s dignity and more often than not counter-productive to repay gross nastiness with more gross nastiness; rather I am disciple of Michelle’s Obama’s philosophy of “When they go low, we go high.” But in truth I’m not so sure that what Michelle Wolff was doing at the Correspondent's Dinner was going low. Well, all right, yes, she was going low. But I don't think that skewering the Trump administration was really the point of Michelle Wolf’s off-color comic diatribe. I believe what Ms. Wolff was really doing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was making sure that freedom of speech is still alive in this country.
On more than one occasion he's made threatening statements against a free press and coined the term "fake news" to describe any piece of journalism that is not complimentary to him - as few outside of Fox News are these days. Donald Trump has praised murderous dictators such as Philippine President Rodrigo Duerte, Vladimir Putin, and even Kim Jong Un for their ability to control their people. Can there really be any doubt that, given leave to do so, Donald Trump would also crack down on freedom of speech and expression in our country? It may well be that under Under Donald Trump’s administration it’s important for citizens to occasionally publicly say the sort of things that Michelle Wolff did just to make sure that we’re still allowed to. And just to remind Donald Trump that, unhappy as he might be about being on the receiving end of the sort of mockery that he relishes slinging at others, he may in no way abridge the freedom of speech of any citizen. I believe that what Michelle Wolf was really doing in publicly pushing the envelope far past the point of civility was testing the waters for all of us, asking the question, “Am I still free to speak out? Are we all?” As of today yes, we still are. References
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/30/17301436/michelle-wolf-speech-transcript-white-house-correspondents-dinner-sarah-huckabee-sanders om/2016/08/14/trump-threatens-freedom-press-elected-president.html |
"Tropical Depression"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
by Patti Liszkay Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa or from The Book Loft of German Village, Columbus, Ohio Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
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April 2024
I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
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