Connections

Last week, at a local restaurant in Portland, I had dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in 20 years.

We found each other on Facebook some months back. Through posts & notes, we learned that each of us has taken some twists and turns since high school. (He, wounded veteran of Gulf War I, far more than I.) And we discovered that both of us had been bitten by the environmental bug.

My friend, whom I'll call "Rick" (largely because his name is Rick), is an acclaimed reporter and journalist out on the West Coast. When he discovered the Flotsam Diaries, an article started taking shape in his head. And when timing worked, he found his way out to the Northeast. We had a wonderful al fresco dinner and three hours of catching up. (Which wasn't nearly enough.) The next morning Rick met me at Bay View, and interviewed me while I did my weekly cleanup on the beach.

I've never been interviewed for an article before. I have no idea if I said anything helpful, interesting, or important. But I've read Rick's writing. And if I gave him anything to work with, he's going to make it shine. Plus, the beach did its part, having dumped another "Wild Canada" lobster claw band in the sand, as well as a bit of plastic trawler net reeking of half-rotted bait still stuck to it.

This was unpleasant to pick up

My report of the week's cleanup is forthcoming. (I'm out of town again -- busy month!) But for the moment, I wanted to say here a big "Thanks!" to Rick for taking his time to come out and talk with me about what I'm doing, and why.