I just got back from DC. It was good to get away for the week. The weather was glorious. We went to the Frederick Douglass house on Friday, which was something special. I intend to blog about it later in the week. Right now I am winding down with a cup of coffee and the Red Sox-Dodgers on the radio.

Going through the pile that is my in-box, the one thing that leaped out at me was the death last Sunday of the great Albert Murray. I intend to write more about Murray too, but am too exhausted at the moment to do so. I first heard of him when working on a project in library school about his great friend Duke Ellington. Coincidentally an article about Murray appeared in the September 1996 issue of American Heritage, a magazine I read avidly at the time and eventually outgrew. If nothing else it gave me an introduction to Murray and his ideas. It’s funny how things work that way sometimes. I once saw him in the Strand bookstore and he looked up at me with the mischievous smile. I did not say anything to him, but it was obvious that he knew I was aware of who he was. I will never forget it. I could go on but think I will save it. Obituaries here and here.