What's in Dave's Head

On Saturday, March 24, Donna and I met up with Monica at her house in Silver Spring and we, along with John, Susan and Beth, walked to the nearby Metro station to begin our journey to participate in the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C. We were in one of a thousand tributaries feeding people into a powerful river of humanity onto Pennsylvania Avenue, along which sit those two most important institutions, the White House and The U.S. Capitol, 1.6 miles apart. Time, Inc. and other news outlets estimated the crowd at 800,000. It was an amazing gathering of diversity – young, middle-aged, elderly, white, black, war veterans, hipsters, men, women. Many, many teachers. It brought to mind the antiwar protests I attended as a teenager – peace signs, posters with slogans from Crosby, Stills & Nash, and a vibe of togetherness and empowerment as we exercised our democratic right to peacefully congregate and advocate for change. Why did we come? To listen to the inspiring sp...

It was an Irish-like day in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore – cold and gray with the threat of rain. We arrived around 10:30 after a bountiful full Irish breakfast party hosted by Eileen and Andrew. Joining them and Corinne were Donna and me, Kate, Ryan and Eric, Pammy and Chris, and Mike and Rose who drove in from New Jersey. The Swanekamps had rented a van and we piled in. Andrew drove to the appointed destination, from whence we walked to our customary first stop, Cardinal, where the bloody Marys flowed. Cardinal changes ownership seemingly with every season, but it remains a welcoming, handsome corner bar in the Baltimore tradition – a long, narrow bar set in a long, narrow rowhouse, with exposed timber rafters and exposed brick walls adorned with pictures of old-time local athletes and a few random rock stars. We played Semi Charmed Live on the jukebox in honor Jack, who couldn’t join us this year. Barb was absent as well, and we missed them both. From Cardinal...