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Annual newsletter for 2021

Time for the annual review and once again I was surprised at how much I did during Year Two of the Covid pandemic.

In January we got an inch of snow, the most in Austin since 1985 when we got a four-inch snowfall. This was topped in February when we got a FIVE-inch snowfall (the most since a six-inch day in 1949). We also got 144 CONSECUTIVE HOURS OF FREEZING temperatures (the most ever; in 1983 we went 140 hours). With millions in the state losing power, I was lucky enough to ONLY lose it one day for eighteen hours. Luckily, I have gas heating, not electric, so that was not a problem. The temperature that week dropped to 11 degrees with a wind chill of -3; very, very rare for Austin.

Once again, I was unable to see any concerts in person, but there some great ones online. Chorus Austin had a wonderful one (). I saw Freebo perform twenty years ago. This year he had a gig with David Amram (who I got to see twice in the 1970s). Amram composed for the New York Philharmonic and is a jazz French hornist, and is still strong at age 90. Conspirare had a wonderful and unique madrigal concert with self-accompanied singers . I also added five wonderful King's Singers albums to my music collection.

In October I saw my first in-person play since the lockdown began in March 2020 ("Wonder of the World" - very enjoyable). And in December I saw my first in-person event (Luci Baines Johnson and Stewart McLaurin at the LBJ Library - ). Sadly, due to the pandemic, there were no "Overheard with Evan Smith" tapings. They might have resumed near the end of the year, however, PBS Austin is in the middle of moving to new studios which will be at ACC Highland and reportedly won't resume before late Spring.

Luckily, I was able to see several lectures online. One was with Ben Barnes (Lieutenant Governor 50 years ago.) In March I saw Walter Isaacson () and in May I saw a great talk by Carol Leonnig, whose new book on the secret service ("Zero Fail") made my best of list
. In September I saw the LBJ's fantastic interview with Chris Wallace. ().

In May I was part of a zoom meeting for Pem Day, the Kansas City boys prep school I attended for three years. The headmaster and three staff members talked about the school and showed the massive modifications to the campus in progress. Two of the twelve who took part recognized me: one man from the class of '62 (I was '64) and one woman from Sunset Hill, though I have no idea if I knew her back then. I can't remember knowing many from Sunset at all. The two schools merged years after I left.

In May my block had its water and sewer lines replaced; it only took one week. It's part of a fourteen-month project and some blocks were tied up for two weeks. The busiest street, 51st Street will be replaced in January, 2022, and will likely take three to four weeks.

In July I saw Bita Ghassemi at a gathering for her studio. She was named the top RTF student when she graduated two years ago. She planned to use me in a music video she was preparing, but so far it has not moved beyond planning. In May I saw Nevena Bentz at an exhibit of her art.

For several years I've been trying to find more Dobie Middle School yearbooks to post on the Facebook page I created. Just before shutdown, after four visits to the school, I was promised three books to borrow and scan. AISD shut down on the day I planned to pick them up. The books' conservator delayed pickup until April this year. I hoped to get more after summer vacation, but was only able to get the next three by getting former Dobie students to email the principal. Near the end of the year about a dozen books were reported to be "missing" limiting me to only two books. I suspect I will recruit more former Dobie students to send emails in 2022 to try to help find the "missing" books. I now have posted 26 books, just over half of the total.

As always, I saw a few of my former students: Camille Rey, Bryan Williams, Theron Cook, Mike Robichaux, Rich Tyler, Skye Kopff, and Ana Sanchez. Two of them spotted me as I was walking back from campus. One was helping clean a friend's yard. I had a nice long visit with Camille, who at that time was leading opposition to the legislature's anti-trans bills, which sadly were eventually passed in special sessions. Camille moved to Maryland in order to protect her trans child.

My iMac died and I had to buy a new Mac. I had all my files backed up (twice), so I don't think I lost any files. The new operating system is incompatible with some of my software, a major hassle which required me to update some software and replace others. The data base and one graphics program I'd been using since the 1980s were casualties and are greatly missed. I also bought a new scanner and DVD player (upgrading to blu-ray).

For the second straight year, there was no in-person SXSW film festival. In 2020 it was totally canceled, scheduled just after the shutdown started (the first major "casualty" in Austin of the pandemic). This year there was an online version. All of the best films I saw were documentaries: "Lily Topples the World", "Introducing, Selma Blair" (revealing her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in 2018), "Without Getting Killed or Caught" (on the wonderful singer Guy Clark), "Little Girl", "Clerk" (on Kevin Smith), and "In the Same Breath" (on covid, with much footage from Wuhan).

Sadly, I was only able to work on three films this year, in each as an extra. In April it was "Pro Bono Watchman" which was filmed at the zoo near Bastrop. () My dear friend Sheila was the First AD on the project (I lunched with her in February). My scene is at and pictures are at . In October I worked on the mini-series "Love and Death." (about the 1980 Candy Montgomery murder case, ). For that project I had to drive to Kyle for a covid test, there again for a costume fitting and there a third time for a covid test before filming. And in December I was in an RTF project, "The Exhibit." (). I also helped Melanie Hinostroza, a Peruvian singer, prepare a music video that I'll be in early in 2022 ().

On my birthday (July 10) I visited with my brother Ed and his wife, Sandy via Google video for about two hours. I hadn't seen either in several years and it was a great visit. Nice to be able to connect in this way, especially since they have moved to Maine.

In July AFS Cinema re-opened after fifteen months of being closed. I saw sixty-three films there this year, far fewer than in a normal year, but it's great to have this treasured resource available and nearby. In October, they had a Doc Days festival. "The Conductor" is absolutely wonderful (on Marin Alsop, the first woman to conduct a major symphony orchestra). "Writing with Fire" is about a group of a Dalit women who started a newspaper in India. "The Rescue" is about the 13 children saved from a cave in 2018. I knew the author of "All Thirteen" (a wonderful book on the subject) lives in Austin, and I was able to contact her and get her to the screening to introduce the film.

More of the best documentaries I saw this year: "Paper and Glue" (on the French artist, JR), "Final Account" (interviews with people alive during Hitler's Third Reich), "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It", "My Name is Pauli Murray" (a black gay woman who influenced history in many ways - she became close friends with Eleanor Roosevelt; a paper she wrote was used by Thurgood Marshall in the Brown vs Board of Education case; she co-founded the National Organization of Women; a college at Yale is named for her. I loved her autobiography and a book on her friendship with Eleanor. I suspect her biography will be on next year's list.)

Among the best movies I saw were two great films from India "Maanaadu" ("Groundhog Day" on steroids) and "Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui" (a surprising pro-trans feature). I picked up the book that "12 Mighty Orphans" was based on a few weeks before seeing the movie. Both were great. I discovered that two friends are IN the film and the editor is a former student. "Hourglass Sanatorium" is a unique wild delightful Polish film. ()

In October I was able to attend the Austin Film Festival in person. I've been to every one of this festival since it opened twenty-seven years ago (except 2012, unable to attend because I was recovering from being hit by a car while walking across the street). The best films I saw were two documentaries. "Imad's Childhood" and "The Automat." I remember going to an automat in New York City with my mom when I was a kid.

A short film ("Pleasure") I was in just the week before shutdown is at
. And two related shorts I starred in back in 2010 for a contest are at and . I'm visible in a trailer for "Evinced", a film I was in just two months before shutdown (). When I shared my reality show video (Eye for an Eye) with a friend I was delighted to see it has more than 10,000 views ().

My health has been good. I got the Moderna vaccine shots in April and May and the booster in November. The only side-effect was shoulder pain. I saw my doctor in March, glad to be able to still do so since my health insurance changed carriers (Michelle Markley has been my doctor since 2002). I also had a home checkup in November, which came with a $50 cash card bonus. I walked 6,179 miles, the third year in a row with over 6,000 miles (down 17 miles from last year - but that WAS a leap year). In February I walked 27 miles in one day, a new record. Twelve times I walked at least 20 miles, and never walked less than 11.5 miles. I only drove 39 days, mostly walking or taking the bus. With higher gas prices I was glad I only had to fill the tank twice. My average was 16.93 miles a day

In May the public library allowed us inside, and curbside pickup was no longer needed. Once a week I continued to pick up the New York Times from my friend Shana and books (and sometimes music and/or videos) at the library.

I continued to periodically check Little Free Libraries and twenty-six of the books I read this year were from them, including some in my best of list. I also read forty-two ebooks.

I continued the book-a-day completion pattern again. My best book list this year is longer than usual.

Nonfiction: "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators" (Ronan Farrow), "Strange Bedfellows: Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs" (Ina Park), "150 Glimpses of the Beatles" (Craig Brown), "Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods" (Amelia Pang), "Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused" (Melissa Maerz), "Why We Sleep" (Matthew Walker).

Autobiographies: "A Mind Unraveled" (Kurt Eichenwald), "Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage" (Pauli Murray), "Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward" (Valerie Jarrett), "I Married the World" (Elsa Maxwell), "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" (William Kamkwanda), "The Plague and I" and "Anybody Can Do Anything" (Betty Macdonald), "Accused: My Story of Injustice" (Adama Bah)

Biographies: "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend" (Stephen Davis), "Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy" (Ben Macintyre), "Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon" (Charles Casillo)

Historical: "500 Days: Decisions and Deceptions in the Shadow of 9/11" (Kurt Eichenwald), "Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World" (Matthew Goodman), "Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football" (Jim Dent), "Undocumented Americans" (Carla Villavicencio), "The Spymaster of Baghdad: A True Story of Bravery, Family, and Patriotism in the Battle against ISIS" (Margaret Coker), "A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves: One Family and Migration in the 21st Century" (Jason DeParle), "Revolution Song: The Story of America's Founding in Six Remarkable Lives" and " Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America" (Russell Shorto), "Burned: A Story of a Murder and the Crime that Wasn't" and "Murderer with a Badge" (Edward Humes), "Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs" (John Bloom - the story of the Candy Montgomery killing - which "Love and Death" is based on), "Race of the Century: The Heroic True Story of the 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race" (Julie Fenster), "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" (Daniel Brown), "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" (Heather Morris), "Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notorious Nazi" (Neal Bascomb)

Politics: "Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy" (David Daley), "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service" and "I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year" (Carol Leonnig), "Mitch, Please!: How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America, Too)" (Matt Jones), "King Richard: Nixon and Watergate - An American Tragedy" (Michael Dobbs)

It's always a delight to find new authors and I found six this year that made this list, the most ever. I read seven books by Torey Hayden, who was an amazing special ed teacher: "One Child", "Ghost Girl" "Somebody Else's Kids", "Just Another Kid", "Beautiful Child", "The Tiger's Child: What Ever Happened to Sheila?" "Twilight Children: Three Voices No One Heard Until a Therapist Listened".

Fiction. I'd read fifty books by Orson Scott Card, but discovered fifteen more that I hadn't yet read. The best of these: "Children of the Fleet", the Pathfinder trilogy ("Pathfinder", "Ruins", "Visitors"), "Lost and Found", and "Stonefather".

The first five books by Matthew Fitzsimmons (his Gibson Vaughn series) "Debris Line", "Origami Man", "The Short Drop", "Poisonfeather", and "Cold Harbor". He has a new series out in 2021 that I'm looking forward to.

I loved John Flanagan Ranger's Apprentice series and have read the first ten and plan to read the next six in 2022. I also loved all eight books of his related Brotherband series.

Six books from The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer: ("Land of Stories", "Beyond the Kingdoms", "The Enchantress Returns", "Grimm Warning", "An Author's Odyssey", and "Worlds Collide")

Sixteen books by Brandon Mull: his Fablehaven series ("Fablehaven", "Rise of the Evening Star", "Grip of the Shadow Plague", "Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary", and "Keys to the Demon Prison"); his Beyonders series ("A World Without Heroes", "Seeds of Rebellion" and "Chasing the Prophecy."), his Candy Shop War series ("The Candy Shop War" and "Arcade Catastrophe"), and his Five Kingdoms series: ("Sky Raiders", "The Rogue Knight", Crystal Keepers", "Death Weavers", and "Time Jumpers").

Four books by Patrick Lee: "Signal", "Runner", "Deep Sky" "Dark Site"

And the rest: "Five Fakirs of Faizabad" (P B Kerr), "The Poppy War" (R F Kuang), "The Return of the Vinetropes" (Sherry Ross), "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" (Grace Lin), "The Constant Rabbit" (Jasper Fforde), "Dog Stories" (James Herriot), "Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life" (Wendy Mass), "The Power of One" (Bryce Courtenay), "The Other Boleyn Girl" (Philippa Gregory), "Catfishing on Catnet" and "Chaos on Catnet" (Naomi Kritzer), "The Cellist" (Daniel Silva), "Fair Warning" and "Law of Innocence" (Michael Connelly), and "The Whisper of the River" (Ferrol Sams)

And finally, one of the all-time best cartoon strips, Pogo (Walt Kelly), is in the process of publishing a complete collection in twelve volumes. I finished the first three and loved them "Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Vol. 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder", "Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Vol. 2: Bona Fide Balderdash", "Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Vol. 3: Evidence to the Contrary"

I added some new BBC shows to my collection (courtesy of John Lucas). I've greatly enjoyed listening to these shows and have many more hours of them to listen to. One new one is Nicholas Parsons' autobiography. Parsons was the chairman of "Just a Minute" from its start in 1967 until his death in late 2019 and hadn't missed a show until 2018 (when he missed four). There were no shows in 2020 due to Covid, but the show resumed in 2021 and had two series. I continued listening to "Quote Unquote", "I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue", "Just a Minute", Alistair Cooke's Letters from America" "The Now Show", and "Dead Ringers".
I discovered two great BBC programs on musicals. One was on Robert Russell Bennett, who I learned had composed the orchestral score for three hundred Broadway musicals by many of the greats. I only knew of him from his great score for the TV show "Victory at Sea." The second was on Yiddish versions of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I hope to get CDs of three of the musicals in 2022.

I met Gloria Brown at a teacher workshop in San Antonio on August 22, 1972. I sent many notes to her via campus mail that fall and invited her to join me for the October 13 Shawn Phillips concert. I learned later that she accepted only because she loved Shawn's music so much and her boyfriend did not. He had NOT taken her to see Shawn the previous February, so she had gone alone. The concert was wonderful and I was even able to introduce her to Shawn after the concert. In November she invited me to her apartment to show me her engagement ring, doing it in person, rather than with a note or phone call. I attended the marriage on January 20, but left as soon as the ceremony was over. She only realized that I was there when she saw the wedding pictures.

I had ended communication, but after a while I got a phone call from Gloria and we stayed good friends. She spent a few months overseas while her husband was doing business there and sent some letters. When I got a girlfriend I ended things for a while. I later learned Gloria had received some weird phone calls from her. I moved to Austin to follow that girlfriend and after we broke up, I renewed things with Gloria, who by that time was teaching again and feeling lonely since her husband was too often away. We saw each other a few times and grew very close.

Eventually Gloria got a divorce but after a while, she decided that there was no future in a relationship with me. After that I would mail her these annual newsletters and leave a voice mail on her birthdays. This time when I phoned, her husband returned the call letting me know that she had died May 8 of a heart problem.

Hoping that 2022 is a great one and will see an end to the pandemic.

All previous newsletters are at
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