Happy birthday

We are a community; we few, we happy few, and we have a few rituals and traditions. Fiction and nonfiction, comment on each other’s stuff, weekly assignments. Honor Hemp.

It is this last point I am writing to today. It’s close enough to his birthday to matter, so I will start a WMW tradition, grab the microphone, and say a few words.

I first met Hemp when Aharon and I got together to check out “Alien v. Predator” in the theater. The movie was awful, but as we dissected the awfulness afterwards in the parking lot and then later at Denny’s, I knew that I’d found a kindred spirit.

Sharp, critical, and he made me laugh.

One of my memories of Hemp and I –
He and I drive downstate together to visit part of the tribe ( Hemp loves that word in this context, by the way ), and down there and back we invariably discuss everything, but a large part of the discussion always seems to be writing… stuff we’re doing sometimes, but more ideas that we both have. TV shows that need to be made, movies we could write.

Poetry that makes Hemp weep openly. He is very sensitive. : )

Anyway, these times down and back are some of my favorite memories of time with him... bouncing ideas off one another in this way, nothing is sacred, and it seems easy to criticize, to develop and get some really good stuff from our heads into some Word doc, for later use. It’s a kind of male bonding that I value lots and lots. It’s not always on the way up or downstate… sometimes it’s at Panera, sometimes it’s at a dimly lit table at this freakshow bar I drag him to now and again. But it’s amazing how we go from “Hi” to being off at the races, idea wise, so easily. Very very cool.

A very close second is the time he and I built a shed, at his parents place. This is a story best heard over alcohol.

My favorite bit of Hemp writing, from here –
Hands down, his Bio piece: “Hating people of the Mediterranean.” It’s something that I always put in a list of links if I’m telling someone about the blog, and in my own opinion so far it captures him the best, so far. He jokes ( or maybe he’s not joking ) about how he feels that no one would read it, for whatever reason. If you haven’t, I definitely recommend it.

Happy birthday, Hemp… Sorry if this embarrasses you.

Okay, no I’m not.

; )


Feel free to chime in, if you have a fav Hemp Memory or Hemp Writing. And if you've had a birthday so far and I've missed it, I won't do so again. So be watchful. And no, Hemp does not hate the people of the Med. He is both rational and grounded.