Take hope when you can - when you can see tulips and other brave floral shoots pushing upwards against the tide of change. Pre-spring signs like these give hope but certainly not without some reservations. We are stuck in a middle world.
Look for signs of eccentricity among your fellow travelers. Individuality prevailing over the norm. Speaking out as opposed to hiding out. With fair weather it's possible to take some pleasure in the public life of strangers. The sight of a tall thin man roughly dressed and seemingly unconcerned: worn black jeans low on his hips - not his waist - while he strolls along a downtown street. How does he maneuver with this attire? He has underwear that may have duct tape hidden in the side? What is the purpose of the pose? Likely it is to provoke, like tulips do on a wet cold day.
Washington DC isn't often thought to be a place of surprises in the public sphere: But surely - like New York City and especially Manhattan - there are surprises galore if you look around often enough. Mostly from the ground rather than from a car.
And so today, the 19th, looking at spring's official beginning on the 20th, I was watching out and ready to take any opportunity to interact with strangers. No better place than a Metro car wherre I was seated alone in a two-seat place and soon joined by a woman carrying what appeared to be a fresh bunch of roses. Each one of them so perfect; all different colors. I thought they might be fake. But seeing my interest, she passed them my way - was she even offering me to take them, I wondered at first. I leaned down to have a smell, and then carefully feel them. They seemed unreal. "Mother doesn't know what to do with them," I think I heard her say - supposing these were a gift. They were properly wrapped in plastic, and I never thought I would be the recipient and so thanked her for letting me have a sniff. We shared that moment: that was enough. Not a great word exchange but an understanding of some kind. It was mid-afternoon but the car was crowded. Maybe this was the famous federal afternoon shift for workers who come in early and so leave around 2 or 3. Traffic patterns have changed under the new regime; no telling the sense of change in people's minds and habits because of the great DOGE deluge.
Onward, to whatever may happen but stay in touch...
And this word looking forward: The Folger Library has decided to go all-out for a renewed Shakespeaare Birthday celebration for the first time in years, during which renovation curtailed most public events No one is certain of his exact birth date so it made sense for this august scholarly institution to schedule it on a Saturday, April 19 ane turn it into a grand free family affairs (registration required), with the new director taking the podium to pronounce on the familiar subject of the relevance of the Grand Old Man in today's world.
