Jeff Likes to Tell Stories

She's dead. You killed her. Hail to Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead. Chorus: Hail to Dorothy. The Wicked Witch is dead. The Wizard of Oz It wasn't exactly like that. In J.R.R. Tolkien's third book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the King Sam awakens from what he thinks has been merely a long bad dream to discover that Gandalf has returned from Death and that he, himself, thought he was dead. "What's happened to the world?" Sam asks. Gandalf replies "A great evil has departed from the world" and laughs. And Sam bursts into tears, because he had not heard...

Since the sniper attacks began, there have been 18 "traditional homicides" in the area. They included a congressional intern who was also a poet. A mother found stabbed in her apartment. A young man who called his mother every day to tell her he loved her. The Washington Post Add to that list Irina Hans who was an intern at our museum. I read the article that appeared on her homicide in Monday morning's paper. But, like most murder stories, I glossed over it. Violence and breakfast do not sit well together. It wasn't until I got to work that I made...

I feel a little foolish. I find myself unable to stand still or walk in a straight line these days. With the sniper still at large, I am zig zagging in suburbia. I don't seem to feel this compulsion when I am working downtown. Jason Kottke reports seeing this walking phenomena in it's "natural" state on a wind-swept, rough crossing on the Nantucket ferry. There is nothing natural about the way I am walking. I have become ultra aware of my surroundings. My head quickly scans right and left as I walk down the street: not the smooth head rotation of...

What does a terrorist look like? After five days of living amongst someone who gets his kicks from killing and scaring people, I am trying to visualize him: to think about what he really looks like. To see a face when a faceless creature seems so much more powerful. What does he look like naked, without his high power rifle? What does he see in his mirror? I am looking closely at him, observing every inch from head to feet. And I see him. From farther away than his 600 meter bullets can go. It's hard, but I see him. What do...

A coworker just came to my cube to ask me if I knew about a murder spree in my part of the Maryland suburbs. I didn't but work to hear the details she imparts while deciding whether I should call my wife or my youngest daughter's daycare first. I am listening to our news radio station via the Web and reloading the Washington Post site for the latest updates. It began last night at a large grocery store nearby and continued throughout this morning. A man loading groceries into his car. A man mowing his lawn. A woman vacuuming her...

Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were having lunch at The Castle, the main building of the Smithsonian. All of a sudden, we heard fighter jets fly low and fast over the National Mall. We looked at each other and and communally thought "this does not bode well." While we in DC may appear to be normal these days, our radar remains perpetually in the "on" state. Washington has truly become an international city: a logical target for any number of political or economic protests, peaceful or not. For the last week we had been warned, via newspapers and internal Smithsonian...

Overshadowed by 9/11 was the primary election held the day before. There were a number of hotly contested races and agendas taking place in our local campaigns. And this year, my wife and I were interested in a number of important issues. Campaign signs on suburban lawns festooned our tree-lined streets. In the weeks leading up to the election, the amount of "paper" we received from those hoping to win our votes began to arrive in the mail. The closer election day came, the more brochures we received. This is nothing new. Direct mail campaigns are a tried-and-true method for informing...