Today, I attended a downhome urban tent revival - complete with a drenching downpour! The Baltimore Book Festival took place in Mt. Vernon and was small enough to be manageable. I continue to find reasons why Baltimore is the place to be for me. The best part is always that it is bikable!
Amidst drenching downpours, I eschew umbrellas by subscribing to the belief of "the space in between." After an entire night and morning of solid rainfall, I left my house at 11:42 am and biked the 20 minutes from Fells Point to Mt. Vernon mostly dry. While finding a nice lamp post to tether my bike, the drizzle began again. Navigating my way to the literary salon, it began to do some real rain, but now I'm under the tent! It works every time: "The space in between."
I've been "gettin' my education" with Ron Suskind, so had to check him out when he came downhome local. He was invited through the One Maryland, One Book Council on Humanities to talk about A Hope in the Unseen. He gave a stirring account of his personal journey learning what it means to be human. Followed immediately by Amy Goodman who was down from New York to talk about the right to a free press. Using her past news reports, experience at the DNC and RNC (getting arrested!), and stories from her book "Standing Up to the Madness," Ms. Goodman organized her presentation like a well-crafted news report.
What was impressive and inspiring is the crowd of people who jammed the tent for these two documentarians imploring us with stories of crossing divides and creating social change by standing up in dissent. It did feel like an urban tent revival with audience callouts and response to impassioned pleas by the presenters. And like a true revival, everyone was drawn to their feet by the end. These are folks who knew what (who) they came out for. Dare I call us, "groupies?!" During the sessions, Mother Nature chose the moment to release her deluges, creating a sense of otherwordliness under that tent...
Being a book festival, the authors were very accessible, hanging around for a few hours afterwards, shooting the breeze with all of us groupies. Incognito, I think Cedric Jennings was hanging out next to Ron Suskind... No one acknowledged this, but I'm guessing this was so. I was not going to be the one to cry wolf. Let it not be ME to be the one to blow his cover. I'm excited my new bookmark for my book "One Percent Doctrine" has Ron Suskind's email written on it (by his (left) hand) with the promise of further correspondence! I'm going to draw him a map for his book! Amy Goodman is left handed too! Coincidence.
Asking for another "space in between" I made it back home only slightly damp. Another great day biking around my city.
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