\u201cMatt, I wanted to tell you something,\u201d said a man with long hair tied back in a ponytail. He was holding a paper plate of deviled eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had just finished my early December presentation of The Old Crow Book Club<\/em> to a cadre of Leftists in a Presbyterian church in Northeast Portland. I had given away the book for free and announced it as an early Christmas present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was my first gig in almost a decade after a thousand such literary\/historical presentations around Oregon the previous two decades. A reader of the newsletter had reached out and asked me if I was interested in talking to his group of senior citizen Democrats. I had considered myself retired from gigging, but I changed my mind because the story of Oregon’s crisis of homelessness mattered greatly to me and I wanted to engage others with my thoughts and ideas on the subject. I’m no certified expert or uncritical advocate but I do have an interesting personal history connected to the homeless men and women in my neighborhood and other places around rural Oregon and I believe that gives me some credibility to opine. I also belong to no one’s agenda and never tow the party line on the issue of homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had eaten two of the deviled eggs before the show, a first for me in the gigging life, and they were out of this world although they did leave me a bit sluggish, but in a pleasurable sort of way. Good deviled eggs can do that to a person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, the deviled eggs were so delicious and unexpected that I hailed them during the presentation and the very man now standing in front of me was the man who made them. A Leftist who makes deviled eggs to share with his comrades!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I read that the subject of the talk was homelessness,\u201d the man said, \u201cI wasn’t going to come. I am so glad I did. Thanks for coming and giving me something to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I thanked him for coming and making the deviled eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In making the man think, I had made myself rethink certain contours of the homeless issue. I had also refired my engine to gig and push the story of the book club to reach more people. I have come to believe in the 18 months since it was published that it still has appeal, perhaps even more so now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then extended the tray of deviled eggs toward me. He told me to take them! Deviled eggs as payment for a gig! What a spectacular barter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course I accepted. Unfortunately, the plate looked a little unwieldy to convey deviled eggs via vehicular transportation so I found a plastic bag, rigged them up and left the church in near state of giddiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Readers: I hope you will consider purchasing a Nestucca Spit Press Book this holiday season through the web site and support an independent publisher now going into its 21st<\/sup> year of operation. Every purchase goes a long way helping NSP stay in business.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cMatt, I wanted to tell you something,\u201d said a man with long hair tied back in a ponytail. He was holding a paper plate of deviled eggs. I had just finished my early December presentation of The Old Crow Book Club to a cadre of Leftists in a Presbyterian church in Northeast Portland. 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