The media have been reporting a boat load of horrific stories lately, and with the apprehension of alleged multiple kidnapper, rapist and dungeon keeper Ariel Castro in Cleveland, it all got to be a bit too much for my girlfriend Cerise. “I’m going to the zoo this weekend, Tom,” she announced to me on Thursday, “and afterward, I’m going to see a musical comedy. And you’re coming with me.” Cerise is very strongly convinced as to the capability of both cute, furry wildlife and musical comedies to create an uplifting, cheerful and positive mental state, whatever else might be happening in the world. And I believe in doing whatever my girlfriend tells me, within reason. I don’t mind the zoo [...]
Thursday afternoon, I welcomed Duki Bongo MBozo, who is First Under Assistant Delegation Secretary for Tourism Development at the South African Embassy here in Washington DC. His consultation appointment was of an emergency nature, and he had been attempting to make one with me since early Wednesday. “That woman,” he fumed, as he sat down primly on the couch by the picture window overlooking the White House, all the while shaking his finger in the direction of Gretchen – whose desk is outside the heavy oak double doors leading into my office from the reception area, “ought to be disciplined!” “For what?” I inquired. “For… for… for lack of respect!” MBozo asserted. “How, exactly?” I pressed. “Ah…” he fumbled, “Uh… [...]
Yesterday afternoon at three o’clock, I welcomed Bishop Skatasta Moutrasou, Legate Extraordinary to the United States of America at Washington DC for his Holiness Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem to my office. While Bishop Moutrasou did not come arrayed in ecclesiastical garb, wearing instead a bespoke Savile Row suit, his long, flowing beard readily identified him as a Eastern prelate. An extremely proper and well-mannered fellow, he solemnly approached me, shook my hand, and then instinctively chose the chair located directly in front of my desk. After slowly seating himself with an air of undiluted dignity, he spoke gravely, in a low and sonorous baritone. “Mr. Tom Collins, I presume?” “Indeed I am, Your Excellency,” I replied. “How may [...]
Oct 142012
Hard at work in my home office today, around two o’clock, I kept the HDTV on the wall tuned to coverage of Felix Baumgartner’s 24 mile high sky dive attempt. He was just going through the pre-jump check list when my land line telephone rang. Caller ID revealed that it was my dear sister Rose’s oldest son, Henry Palikowski Jr., calling me from Rhode Island. Tom: Hank Junior? Hank Jr.: Hi, Tom. Tom: How you doing? Hank Jr.: Not bad. Tom: How are things going at Brown? Hank Jr.: At Brown? Just fine – I’m learning a lot about art. Tom: Good. What can I do for you? Hank Jr.: Well, I have… an issue… I guess you’d call it, [...]
When Boy Scouts Go Gay, God’s Scouts Go High Tech
Tomorrow being Memorial Day, Cerise and I were busy at my home in Great Falls, Virginia, preparing for the cook out – as frequent readers of this Web log know, it’s a fairly big deal. That’s because when the family rotation of venues for holiday feasts falls to my place, all my relatives in the Washington DC metro area – and I have plenty of them – arrive famished. And this year, with my brother-in-law Hank, and his brother’s wife, Shannon, still running around West Virginia playing Great White Survivalist in reaction the re-election of Barack Obama, and the money being short between my sister Rose and Hank’s brother Arthur lately, I’m sure both huge gaggles of their offspring will be [...]