Mug shots
March 31, 2023
Design © Janet Stevenson
If you’re a zealous coffee drinker, you probably have a favorite mug like my new one above, made of ceramic and memories. The image shows a sunset reflected in the waters of Eastern Lake, one of the rare and beautiful coastal dune lakes in and around South Walton County on the Florida panhandle. My very talented wife took the photo when we owned a home there.
With this, my morning java not only gives me a jolt of caffeine but reminds me of the beach and brightens my mood for the coming day. But since the designated mug space in our kitchen is pretty full, it might be time to clear out a few others, all of which have stories of their own.
The big blue and gold one on the left is a souvenir of the 1996 Democratic presidential convention in Chicago, which I reported on for the Voice of America. I did a live shot from the floor of the arena after President Clinton’s speech, shouting to be heard over the delirious crowd and picking confetti out of my suit for days afterward. “Lipstick on a pig,” a classic image, was made by a colleague on a different job. I don’t think it was aimed at anything in particular, just a comment on our general situation.
The Black Walnut Point Inn is on Tilghman Island in the Chesapeake Bay, which my wife and I visited early in our relationship. I went to the Delta Blues Museum in Mississippi on a trip that also took me to the Civil War battlefield at Vicksburg, searching for the grave of a Union relative. WCBN is the University of Michigan radio station where I first got behind the mic, reported news, and spun stacks of wax (for the young and digitized, that’s vinyl LPs and 45s).
Honestly, I’m not overly sentimental about “stuff.” I hope I don’t sound like Leonid Andreieveitch Gayev, the character in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard who delivers an impassioned speech to a bookcase. (“My dear and honored case! I congratulate you on your existence,” etc.) However, as my journey grows longer, it’s comforting to have little signposts from my many stops along the way. I’ll let y’all know if I ever have a yard sale.
Originally published at http://davesswan.wordpress.com on March 31, 2023.
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