BREATHING DEMOCRACY
LIVING A REPUBLIC
One of the great joys, and thus a reason for
gratitude in this season of thanks, is the
vitality of conversation and political engagement
at Lilly's, one of the world's most unique coffee shops.
On any day you will see animated cliques of
conversation as various knots of people gather on the deck.
Actually it is a kind of porch, partially under roof, set
amidst a trellis and arbor like construct that works
only in our mediterranean style climate.
The charm of the place is not the story.
It is the people and the earnestness of
the conversations. There are conservatives, liberals, libertarians and critics. Musicians,
artists, writers, free thinkers, business people
and educators also abound and everyone
comes with a life of experience. So,
as you might imagine, the conversations
are vivid, eclectic, sometimes loud,
and always completely switched on.
I love it. By nature, and training,
I want to hear all sides, so just listening is a joy.
It reminds me of an assignment in Brazil years ago.
It was just after the military dictatorship ceded control
to the first elected government in 20 some years.
The place was intoxicated with ideas of democracy
and republic. Newspapers and radio stations that had
been shut down and boarded by the dictatorship
were opening again. The cafes and bars were alive
with conversation. Brazilians were quoting
Jefferson, Madison and American principals. It
was a heady time.
We are lucky to have a little of that every day at Lilly's.
Thanks.
UPDATE FROM BOB
Here's the latest from my friend and former colleague
Bob Foster.
It's all good. My prayer has been that God would show the doctors what He wanted them to do. He has. Loudly. Clearly.
One of the Mayo doctors consulting on my case recently attended an international symposium on CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia). Research conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA, proved that CLL patients, meeting certain criteria, do not need to have their bone marrow below 50% involvement to successfully transplant.
I meet that criteria. Further heavy chemotherapy only increases the risk of an infection closing this window of opportunity. We will maintain my relatively good health with weekly, low toxicity chemo treatments until transplanting in late January 2012. We are again moving forward.
Transplant is a 50/50 proposition. There is a highly promising, post-transplant clinical trial underway at MD Anderson. That is our back-up plan. Failure is not something I dwell on, but at least we know there is a "plan B." Anyone who worked radio field production with me knows that I lived for plan B. In this case, plan A would be just fine.
Foster
Transplant is a 50/50 proposition. There is a highly promising, post-transplant clinical trial underway at MD Anderson. That is our back-up plan. Failure is not something I dwell on, but at least we know there is a "plan B." Anyone who worked radio field production with me knows that I lived for plan B. In this case, plan A would be just fine.
Foster
DAY BOOK
AT THE MARKET
CHEERS!
SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.
Lilly's sounds like the typical roundtable type of place where the old and older men gather to figure out why their town is being run like it is!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to Bob. His prognosis sounds good.
And damn you for that beautiful farmers' market. Your photos of the strawberries and the flowers were especially enticing.
Bruce-
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of women at Lilly;s as well. In fact, somedays the women are in the majority. but the interests, of all the groups is quite wide and beyond the village politics. One day one of the cliques was discussing
a particular division of American artists and writers in the Spanish Civil War. Another day one of the ladies was talking about what Joel and Ethan Cohen were like as children. So I would say while there is the typical
political bull, there is also input that ranges pretty far from typical.It is an eclectic gathering. You'd be right at home!