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Callahan's October 2001 Bar Rag!"To Callahan's Warmth
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Then a lady, who must have been nearby and heard what happened came
to me. She asked, "Are you OK?" And a little bit of my faith in humanity was restored. I don't know the lady's name, but I owe her. To the kindness of strangers! ************SMASH*************** - Parrish Hi all.. We had a wonderful Gathering 2001 in Boston over the U.S. Labor Day weekend! Peter and Sandra, among others, worked very hard (in different ways) to prepare for the event and it showed. We met many new friends, toured Boston and its suburbs, had dinner in many wonderful restaurants, and spent many happy hours chatting in hotel lobby/bar. And we took a gazillion photos. Then on September 4th and 5th most of us said goodbye to each other and flew out of Boston to our various destinations.. While there we met Shane, a longtime Callahanian who resides in the Boston area. In fact, he took some Gatherers for a 'red light' tour, if rumors have anything to them, and it wasn't to a traffic light factory! And as I said, it was a wonderful Gathering. Our message board and conferences reflected our shared happiness, too - for a few days..:) But as you know, September 11, 2001 was a day that changed the world. The horrible events of that day and their aftermath effectively put an end to our joy sharing - as we stopped.. to share grief.. Grief and anger is expressed in many ways and our board seemed almost immediately to become.. tense. I posted Our Collective Response asking that we all be more tolerant with each other in the wake of the attacks.. but it wasn't long before we were expressing anger.. and frustration.. Aside from our Gathering glow being dimmed, our board, especially the R.I.P. folder became more than tense.. it became contentious. So much so that Cstar, our Message Board Manager, posted Two Edged Sword in an effort to calm things down. By the end of the month, most of us had come to terms with the tragedies and I hope that some of us became more tolerant of others as a result of the tumult. Still - please forgive us if this edition is a bit.. subdued. From Carol: The victims of the Sept. 11th tragedy will forever be remembered in our hearts. As I write this the thoughts and fears of our loved ones come rushing back as if it were yesterday. On the morning of September 11th many Callahanians watched with the world as the second plane hit the World Trade Center. As the news traveled the denizens of Callahans joined together and waited for others to check in with word they were okay. Our conference rooms were opened within minutes of the first crash and remained open for several days. Many of our friends old and new alike, from other forums and from around the world came together and waited for friends like Walt, Brigitte and others who might have been directly affected to check in. We shared our fears and grief for the thousands lost in the tragedy. At times the silence in chat was deafening as we listened to one news story after another. As the days passed we began to find different people needing different things from Callahan’s Saloon. For some Callahan’s Saloon is a safe haven, a place to play, a place to avoid the realities of the real world. For those we continued to have chat room doors of Callahans Saloon open. However, a new room, "Lantern is Lit in Callahans," was formed from the tragedy with thoughts of needing a quieter room to find comfort and talk of the tragedy with friends, to share the pain, anger, and confusion about the future. The "Lantern is Lit in Callahan’s" room will remain for as long as someone out there needs a quieter talk, a room to share, and a room to be heard. That is - it has become a permanent room at Callahans. As Mike Callahan would say. "you only find Callahans when you need to." Early in September the number of Callahan’s denizens about doubled. Several of the new denizen had read of Spider Robinson’s Callahans Chronicals over the years. Liking them so much they passed them on. Thermopolis led the group in. Tad (Tad1956,) Dixie (DixieGa,) and a whole cast and crew of others found Callahan’s Saloon by word of mouth after Xoom Chat went down and left them in the desert to find their way home. We’re very pleased to have been able to help them regroup, and several have already become Callahanians, too! We’re looking forward to hearing the story of their 40 years in the desert..:) On September 11, 2001, four civilian passenger jets were hijacked in the U.S. Two were crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, apparently missing its target because of the bravery of its passengers who prevented another building from being destroyed with additional loss of innocent life. Callahans would like to honor those innocents on Flights 93, 77, 175 and 11, as well as all the victims that died that day, in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on the four airplanes. The end of August/beginning of September was Gathering time. Thirty of us gathered in Boston this year for our annual Gathering. Some of the same folks that had made it to St. Louis last year, and some new friends, too. Peter snuck off (OK, he simply went home at night) and posted some of our adventures on the board. Who cares if the descriptions weren't exactly accurate? ::grin:: Lou kissing a donkey, and paying homage to local Democrats? No kidding! There are *pictures*... somewhere. Read all about it! In Lou Endorses Socialism Cstar began a thread called, Honey, I'm home.. after she returned, giving everyone who couldn't make it a glimpse of the fun we'd had. Friday night's dinner was a surprise... at least for David and Elizabeth Kate.. Though *we* all knew about it, they were unaware that this dinner was a surprise wedding reception for them. Complete with cake... and yes, we have pictures! Birthday Greetings were heartily extended to:
Calliversaries Last Month Chad (SHEAR2) continues to Calliversaries! If you'd like to find out the date you first came to Callahan's, just post here, and we'll be wishing you a "Happy Calliversary" some time in the next year!
A note from Chad: *Most* of the Calliversary dates appear to be correct, but if you see one that isn't, please let us know. A young man who was also an avid golfer, found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home. Just as he was about to tee off an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he allowed the old gent to join him. To his surprise the old man played fairly quickly. He didn't hit the ball far, but plodded along consistently and didn't waste much time. Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball - and directly between his ball and the green. After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man finally said, "You know, when I was your age I'd hit the ball right over that tree." With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack into the top of the tree trunk and it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally lay. The old man offered one more comment, "Of course, when I was your age that pine tree was only 3 feet tall." - Unknown Poem of the Month - "422 North Cherry, Tucson"
catty-cornered across the street
We’d sit inside and pass a bowl
An hour after every show was done couples
I found a perfectly good pair of red pumps - Shann (SHANNPALMER) September 11, 2001 "Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over." - Octavia Butler Please send us a note if you wish to receive the Bar Rag each month via email. Your email address will not be made visible to others who receive the Bar Rag. We will, of course, continue to post the Rag on our Web site..:) We hope you find the Bar Rag entertaining and informative. We can always use good pieces and writers here. If you have something you would like to submit, or have a comment, good or bad, about the newsletter, or if you wish to be added to or removed from our Bar Rag mailing list, simply send us a note. |