I was 8 or 9 years old when I fell in love with Hoagy Charmichael. I saw him in the movie To Have and to Hold, on a 10-inch TV screen in a console as big as a refrigerator. Since then I have remained constant in my love--for both the man and his music, including the song he sang in that movie, Hong Kong Blues. It was about the first thing I learned to play when I got a guitar 10 years later. As to the star of that old movie, Bogie, I never understood the draw, altho Robert Mitchum put a twist in my knickers, on occasion.

In the 70's I read The Anarchists' Convention, a short story by John Sayles, and promptly fell in love with him as well. Such a witty and inventive writer, articulate speaker and film maker of towering skill and integrity, I'm amazed that he is not celebrated more--he is a national treasure.   ( I don't fall often, but I do fall hard!)