Electric Josh

Saturday, April 27, 2002

So we're headed over to the Adams mansion today. We had spent a good six months living here, drove past the damn thing every day, before we finally realized that there was a major historical site right there, just down the street. K grew up right near the thing and never really noticed.

Last summer we trucked ourselves several hours across the Catskills to see the Roosevelt mansion and library, and it was really interesting. I never much liked history in school; lots of memorization, very little context, drastic oversimplification, almost no connection to the present. But at the Roosevelt library we got to pretend to be mildly intellectual, learned a bunch of historical context around Roosevelt's political career, spent the day talking about history and politics and large houses, hung out with friends, ate a mostly edible lunch overlooking the Hudson, and generally had a good time. Being able to leave the moment we got bored might have had something to do with it. #

...

Back of hand to forehead as though about to faint... My youngest sister decided to go on vacation with one of her friends, whom she sees almost every day, instead of coming down to visit me as had been planned. O, the anguish. Unfeeling imp. And the other, who'd prefer driving around aimlessly in central Vermont to visiting her brother. Hi, girls. Sniffle... See you soon. #