Contentment
I wait all day for 9 p.m. It used to be that 9 p.m. saw me tidying up after one day and getting ready for the next. Now 9 p.m. finds me donning shoes and a jacket for a short hike down the hill and out to the point. Once [...]
The Gold Lawler
I’m in a big band. Debut performance, for the band and for me. We’re playing for 400 or more ballroom dancers on the shores of Waikiki. Used to do the same thing with the Bath Municipal Band, in Maine, for 16 people. Welcome to Paradise. And the guy sitting next [...]
A Booming Tradition
It is 6 AM on the 4th of July, 1975. On the 48th parallel, North latitude, the sun has been up for nearly an hour, but in the San Juan Island town of Friday Harbor, Washington, there are few signs of human activity. The streets are deserted, no ferry will [...]
Washing Paper Plates
Life in a second language learner’s classroom:  We are having a fund raiser spaghetti dinner at the school tonight. The teachers are to be the wait-staff. One of my students asked, “What’s wait-staff?” I said, “You know, cooks, waiters, dishwashers — the folks that do the work so all [...]