Our greatest fear when we arrived was nuclear war with North Korea.
Our greatest fear when we left was civil war with Nazis.
My favorite part this year was helping Neeta, peregrine kate and annrose welcome and hand out name tags to kossacks attending the Cheers and Jeers dinner. What a great way to put names to faces! As an introvert I was happy to have dozens of one-on-one conversations without getting crushed by the crowd. I call dibs for the same job next year. The room was large and surrounded by windows which also made it less claustrophobic. pNut delivered us a steady stream of little plates of food (those fried green tomatoes!) and drinks while we greeted folks. Thank you, baby!
I brought ten orange boas and distributed them to anyone who asked, inaugurating each person into the Benevolent Order of the Orange Boa and granting them honorary BOOB status.
Thursday we met at Grigsby’s Pub for an impromptu CUA lunch. The fish and chips and Shepherd’s pie both rocked but the company was even better.
This was the first year pNut and I both had smart phones, and it was as fun as having walkie-talkies. Twice pNut ran downstairs while I was still prying my eyelids open and snagged a big table for all of us right near the stage to see Elizabeth Warren or Al Gore, and then we texted others to let them know their seats were saved. Thank you, baby!
The Town Square is always a fun place to hang out, pick up free swag, and encounter unusual threesomes.
Caption This Pic:
Thursday night was the Partners & Mentors dinner. Group pictures have already been posted, but this moment embodied the heartfelt love of meeting old friends again.
On Friday paradise50 was interviewed for one of Egberto’s podcasts on his favorite topic of, well, you know.
Elizabeth Warren, who is much more petite than you would expect in person, tore it up.
Best Visual Aid:
Best Overheard Conversation:
After the last plenary with Al Gore we eavesdropped on a conversation about the events in Charlottesville between a mom and her young teenaged son in the elevator. “Don’t call them neo-nazis or white supremecists,” she said, “Call them what they are: Nazis.”
“But they’re not actual Nazis,” he insisted in that literal-minded way of the young.
“They were chanting ‘blood and soil’ as they marched,” I remarked. “That’s Nazi enough for me.” He looked confused, and said half to himself, “Ok, if they were like, Nazis who survived World War II that actually came over from Germany I could see calling them that….” His mom and I exchanged a sympathetic glance over his head. The kid had a point, and he was learning to question authority.
Later on pNut said, “What did you think about Darcy Burner?” I asked where he’d seen her, and he explained, “That was Darcy talking to her son in the elevator— didn’t you see her name tag?”
Thank you, baby, for often noticing the things I don’t see.
Best Swag: Trump’s Biggest Losers Playing Cards
What Do YOU Want to Talk About Today?
VIRGINIA KOSSACKS!