>Sunday Miscellany

>Fawn. I didn’t see any wildlife when I mowed yesterday afternoon, unless you count the trespassing cat. But after I’d come in and showered, and Bhikku and I were relaxing on the porch, it happened. A deer came crashing out of the woods and ran down toward my creek followed by a little deer—a fawn. The mother dashed on, but the fawn stopped to look at us, which was safe, although she didn’t know that, because the porch is elevated and we can’t get to the yard from there. Bhikku thought this was fascinating—a deer not much taller than him! Meanwhile, the mother was gone and the fawn was confused. She started mewling—I’d never heard a deer make any sound before, so this was interesting, a cross between a bleating goat and a cat’s meow. She wandered around looking for Mom, who finally came back to pick up the straggler.

Scary. If you haven’t seen last week’s New Yorker, you must read this frightening article by Jane Mayer about David Addington, Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff. See: The Hidden Power. Addington is pushing the Bush regime closer and closer to fascism and we may be powerless to stop him.

Sad. I didn’t mention it last Sunday, even though it was on my mind, but just over a week ago Randy Walker, Northwestern University’s young (52) head football coach, died of what is still being called an “apparent” heart attack. This past Thursday was a memorial service for Walker, attended by nearly 1,000 people. He had clearly earned the respect of a lot of folks and at Northwestern that’s more important than winning, although he did well enough in that department, too. With the season fast approaching, the university no doubt felt pressure to name a replacement, but they waited until the day after the service—which I think was exactly the right thing to do—to elevate Pat Fitzgerald to the job. Fitzgerald served as one of Walker’s assistants and was also an All American at NU. Although he is only 31, and we might have wished him to be more seasoned before taking over, this too seems like the right thing to do, not only for the program but also to honor Randy Walker.