Monday, January 12, 2009

Another booksigning


This one was last Friday at the Tyson's Corner Barnes & Noble store where a lot of folks - about 30 - sat and listened to my lecture. Got some good questions too. Not bad for a Friday night I only sold 12 books, tho, which surprised me a bit considering how many people were listening in. A number of people were personal friends I managed to coax to come out (on what was a lovely moonlit night here) and some of them brought their friends which was gratifying. So that is my 3rd booksigning to date. The 2nd one in Seattle sold more books but that was a Christian bookstore with an evangelical constituency.
Today's photo is Oma with the little moppet sitting by the window in their Seattle-area living room. Yes, that is a lake in the background. Veeka talks about flying back to Oma and Opa all the time. Hmmmm. She is doing well. All the Christmas decorations are down and we are steeling ourselves for the Invasion of the Body Snatchers that will begin this weekend when the mobs pour into town for the inauguration. We who actually live here wondering just how we are going to get to work now that the Secret Service is closing down every road they can get their hands on.
Those of us in Maryland have it better than those poor Virginians who (this is not a joke) are being told they must WALK across one of the bridges if they even hope to get into town Jan. 19-20. Because all of the bridges over the Potomac - except for those underneath the Beltway - will be closed. Of course there is nowhere for most of these Virginians to park before they can walk and the metro that is supposed to transport everyone will probably completely break down from the weight of all the crowds. I really wanted to be out of town this weekend but was told by the folks at work that they really want me around as back-up.
Plus I am covering the prayer service the day after the inauguration but again, I cannot fathom as to how I will actually get to the National Cathedral that day as the closest metro stop is a half-hour walk away. And lugging a laptop along- WHY did I volunteer to cover this, I ask myself.
So currently I am doing about one article a day on some aspect of religion-and-the-inauguration which is not hard, really. Like today when a gay Episcopal bishop got invited to give one of invocations at a razzle-dazzle opening ceremony on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. Why do I have a funny feeling that Obama would love to re-stage the "I have a dream" speech atmosphere from what happened on those Memorial steps 45 years ago? Well, let's hope he's got great speech writers.
So anyway, watch my "belief blog" on the TWT web site and do a byline search daily to find my stuff (just type in "julia duin" in the search box and voila).

1 comment:

kathy cordell said...

Hi Julia,
hoping this will reach you. Noticed Margaret Budd's obit in yesterday's Daily Times. Services are for today @ 2p.m. @ World Harvest on Butler. Condolences can be sent to www.danielsfuneral.com. Hope you and Veeka are doing well. Thinking of you. love, Kathy Cordell