Evening Dispatch from Washington, DC

Harrowings, the Publishing Arm of the Harold B Gill Foundation, LLC, provides another angle on the Nation's Capitol.

Early today, I was delighted to meet Frederick M. Lawrence and get into a bit of a conversation about his work at the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in Williamsburg, Virginia at the College of William and Mary in 1776, 250 years ago. He was wearing a cap attesting to this fact which led to the conversation as he arrived at Daily Provisions where I was manning the host stand. This is one of the real boons of having a position as a member of the Front of the House team there.

Our stations in the world could not be further apart, from an objective perspective, but we met on an equal footing, being part of something much bigger than ourselves, preserving the legacy of those who laid the foundations for this country and all the good it can do in the world.

Here in Washington, DC, we are currently witnessing many farcical emanations from the self-same government that so many worked so tirelessly over generations to establish. I don’t really know what to make of it half the time. So I film the Passing Show as I walk to and from work. I sometimes go wide…and I try to keep my perspective at a 50000 mile elevation. Big picture thinking can transform this world for the better. Longtermism helps too. Think in 700 year increments.

Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, monitoring the past 700 years of history on the monitors in the Bunker.

It will take all of us working together to make something of this world which we will gratefully entrust to the next generation. If not us, who? If not now, when? These are not rhetorical questions when I put them out there for all of us to reflect upon. Will we?

To be awake and aware as much as possible of the way in which we shrink from our responsibility for shaping the future is one thing. To actually do something about it is another. I don’t know much more to do myself than to tap out these messages into cyberspace and figure out who might be picking up what I’m laying down. For the solstice, I found a bit of arcana after being prompted to think about this by Jesse Paris Smith:

A few people picked up on this along with Jesse Paris Smith, herself. These interactions make my life feel so much more connected with not only the makers of the Nebra Sky Disc but all the generations that have followed and those of us who are still here, breathing in and out, to be astonished by the artistry from so long ago.

Similarly, my friendship kindled through the Harrowings Podcast effort with people like Everyday Junglist led me to dropping a few nominations for Stackies. One was for Holly whose ongoing work here stimulates my own. Another was for ROBERT FRIPP who has contributed so much to music as well as disciplined practice - helping me attune myself ever more to being awake and present to life in th emoment. A third was to Michael Chabon whose passage through Pittsburgh preceded mine by a few years and in whose wake I found myself caught during the spring semester of 1999.

Substack has provided this kind of immediacy of connection with people with whom I’d have never crossed paths ordinarily. I sit in “The Bunker” as I call this room in the condo I share with my dear wife, Lynn. I step outside and take in “The Passing Show” and I know that whatever we are all doing is weaving something greater than the sum of our parts.

This is the feeling I am carrying into the evening as I prepare to sleep and dream into another reality. These dreams are journeys where I encounter both those living and those who have passed on - aka died - but who have been a part of my life at sometime in the past. In this way, I feel that the dead are never truly departed.

As noted, Harrowings is the publishing arm of the Harold B Gill Foundation, LLC and I’d like to leave you all with a look at one of my late father’s publications:

Dad literally gave most of his life to the preservation of my hometown’s history and died with work in progress at his computer:

It would mean the world to me if those of you who read what I write there would become members of the Board of Directors of the Foundation. It’s easily done just by becoming a paid subscriber of Harrowings:

Alternatively, you can share this article so others might have the chance to do so:

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