Wes addresses the Oxonian Society in midtown Manhattan

Well, Wes addressed members of the Oxonian Society in NYC this evening. It was a wonderfully intimate affair, with seats for only about 100. The room was full, with a number of folks standing when all of the seats were taken. Among the audience were three new Oxonians -- me, Gordon and Perry Barber (a fascinating woman who umpires Major League Baseball games and makes great T-shirts). We’d all joined after we’d seen Wes was scheduled to speak.

Wes last spoke to the Oxonian Society in NY in September of 2003, right before he announced he was running for President. That night I participated in my first Draft Clark activity, passing out literature to passersby in Washington Square Park, outside of NYU where the General was speaking. And now, on the anniversary of his announcement that he was getting into the race last time, he was addressing them again and I would be there.

He was quite late. The event was scheduled to start at 6:15 but it was almost 7 before Wes got there...I think the delay was because of the O’Reilly Show. He looked good and sounded good as well. We were a little worried after the reports about how he sounded this AM on MSNBC.

They had two seats up front (where an interviewer and Wes would sit as the guy interviewed him) and then rows of chairs to the back of the room. Although I was sitting in the aisle seat of the second row, this big man came and sat in the reserved seat in front of me right before Wes showed up. Wes sat in one of the chairs as the interviewer introduced Wes....and I could not see Wes at all...only the man’s head in front of me. Then Wes did this wonderful thing after the introduction. He said that they were going to do this informally, standing up. He wanted to stand up because he wanted to see the people in the audience and he couldn’t see them while he was sitting down...bless his heart.

And he was wonderful, relaxed, funny, charming as all hell....He told a few stories I hadn’t heard before....

The first question was how he made the decision to run....He said, and this is a quote (I made a not so great recording of the interview on my iPod): “Ultimately it came down to when somebody offers you the chance to have your voice heard and you think you can save a lot of lives and make a difference in the country, even if the odds aren’t great that you’ll succeed, I think you have an obligation to do it.”

He spoke of going to see Jimmy Carter in February of 2002 and Jimmy telling him he should run. He told Carter he didn’t know if he was really qualified to be President and Carter responded “You’re as qualified as anybody.” which he said he guessed was true as he thinks nobody can really be qualified for that job without having held it, it’s so overwhelming.

He told of how the Times of London asked him to write an Op-Ed on Iraq in August of ‘02 and Gert pleaded with him not to because she knew he’d be at odds with the Administration and she feared he’d get sucked into the whole political thing. He said he had to do it and that Gert was right...Before he knew it, Ted Kennedy was quoting his “force as a last resort” on the Senate floor and he was testifying, etc etc.....

He was still thinking about running but Gert told him, with Wes Jr’s wedding coming up, she didn’t want to talk about it until after the wedding...and then she didn’t want to talk about it because she was tired from the wedding...

Then the online draft kicked into gear...Then he got the calls from Rangel, Carter, Sandy Berger. He said he called Biden who told him that he thought Wes would beat Bush if he got the nomination but would only have about a 30% chance of getting the nomination. He thought Wes should go for it.

Finally Gert gave him the ultimatum when she went out for a hour walk....He read his Bible and prayed but God wasn’t giving him any help. He only had 15 minutes left before Gert would return and had no idea what to do. This was a big decision. He had no money, no staff, no strategy, no political experience....The phone rang and a deep, male voice said “Wes you must run.” Who is this?, he said. It wasn’t God, it was Tom Johnson from CNN, who he’d known for a long time and respected. Then he got an AOL email urging him to run...Then Gert came home and he told her he was running.

And then he strongly, and sort of defensively, defended his campaign. He said there was no polling, no focus groups, it was truly a draft. He said they say he had such a bad opening but he was leading in the polls until the professional advisors got involved.

“I was the only guy in Iowa who got three standing ovations! I was the only guy in Iowa who Tom Harkin’s wife watched the whole time!” he said vigorously...and it broke my heart to hear him have to defend his campaign that way.....He said the advisors told him he couldn’t compete in Iowa because he didn’t have enough money and he didn’t have enough time. He said of the campaign, “It was a wonderful honor. I loved it. I wanted to do it again but I didn’t.” And my heart broke again a little bit more.

The interviewer mentioned Clark Bars (I remember one of us drafters had given Wes one when he came out to see us after that Oxonian address in ‘03) and Wes said they’re owned by a Republican who wouldn’t give us a discount when we asked. :)

He was asked if he’d accept a position like SOD and said he endorsed Hillary because he wants to help the country make the right decision on who should be the next President. It was not about a political position but about a chance to have a voice.

Asked if he thought terrorism could be defeated, he said yes...but you have to do it from the outside in and the bottom up....get rid of the conditions that enable the terrorists to get recruits. He talked about the wonderful people in the Middle East and how we need to respect them. If we treat people with respect, we’ll get respect back.

He talked about growing up in Little Rock and how much he enjoyed it although he had a bit of a hard time when he first got there. Then he told a story that was taken out of the book, he said, because they didn’t want people to think he was too much of a brat...It was a great story that involved a young Wes, two nasty little girls, a pea shooter, a large woman chasing after him with a belt and his 5’1” grandmother out on his front porch defending him...

He was asked how often President Clinton called him during Kosovo and he said “Oh, almost never.” He said he got two calls from Bill and told of one on Easter morning that consisted mostly of Bill saying “Wes?”, “Can you hear me?”, “Wes?” and Wes saying “Yes, sir.” Very funny, especially the way Wes told it...I’m sure all of you who’ve seen Wes tell stories can imagine it.

He also said very pointedly that Bill knew it was his (Bill’s) war and he would never try to hide behind Wes, his General....We all knew what that was in reference to.

Once he started to say someone did a “damn good job” and then, immediately after he said “damn”, he said “sorry” and changed it to “very good job”. I thought that was cute.

They spoke of Iraq and he said a lot of the things we’ve heard him saying so many times...If only more people would listen. He said that Iran is involved heavily in the conflict in Iraq and “Why not? They got invaded by Iraq! They lost a million people! They’re not going to sit by and say hands off. No way! That’s their national security at stake.”

He stressed, as always, the need for diplomacy with Iran and Syria both. And he said it doesn’t mean we go over there and ask what will it take for you to go along with us. He likened it to how Americans would feel if the Chinese came over here and said, We’re a powerful nation. If you upstarts will play along with us, we’ll give you some money. He said we’d be outraged so why do we think the people in Iran would be any different? “You can’t buy your way....You have to win respect. To win respect, you have to give respect.”

There was a Q&A after the interview...and maybe some of what I wrote above was part of the Q&A.....but someone asked what about the possibility that diplomacy won’t work. Wes said that was certainly a possibility but the thing to remember was the trouble with using force is that you can’t predict its outcome. “It’s always better if you can not kill people....better personally, morally...”

He spoke of the incident in Kosovo where they thought they’d found a Serbian police headquarters and bombed it one night only to find that it was a prison for Albanian refugees. The police were there guarding the prisoners. They killed, I think, 80 Albanian men that night. “How do you think we felt about it? Pretty sick.” Things like that happen daily in war and that’s why you must avoid it if you in any way can.

He said Holbrooke told him during the Bosnian war “Let’s get the killing stopped.” Let the diplomats argue. It’s what they get paid for. If you can keep people from killing each other, that’s the accomplishment.

He said he’s talking to people in the most sincere way he can when he says use force only as a last resort. It’s blood on your hands, it’s blood on future generations. People never forgive you when you kill their relatives.

An Albanian American woman was the last to ask a question. She first thanked him “for saving my people” and then asked him about the use of ground forces in Kosovo. He talked of how air power is limited and you don’t want to kill innocent people, that it is, in fact, illegal to do so, that what we did in WWII, ‘terror bombing’ he called it, is illegal now.

The woman then asked about the WWIII comment and he said that was true, “the British officer” did say that but he was hysterical, exhausted and not rational. They were nowhere near starting WWIII.

And then it was over...Out to the lobby for the book signing....

As I walked out, I heard a couple of women talking...He wasn’t what they expected him to be...He was funny and very charming. :)

When I went to get my book signed, Wes greeted me like he knew who I was but I’m never sure he really does. He may have just figured he knew me because Gordon was there too and he certainly knows Gordon. I gave him the book to sign, he thanked me for coming or something and I said “It’s been rough couple of days.” He looked at me with such empathy and said “I know.” Then he said something about it not being over or something like that and I said, putting my hand on his arm, “I know but it feels like the end of a dream.” He grabbed my arm and said, “it’s not the end of the dream” and asked me if I’d read what he wrote on he blog...I said yes, I did and it had many people in tears. He said he knew but that it really wasn’t the end and then I said “Oh, now I’m gonna start crying.” I let him go and moved away so that Gordon and Perry could talk to him...I see Gordon’s done a blog about him and Stan’s letter and the shirts. I’ll let him tell you about Perry getting her shirt signed while she was wearing it, if he chooses to do so.

Perry was wonderful, BTW, even giving me a Time To Lead T-shirt.

I hadn’t cried about this whole thing yet. There was just so much to digest and think about so quickly that I didn’t go into he deep depression I immediately went into the last time when Wes dropped out....but tonight, after seeing him, after being reminded again of just how special he is and how much we will miss out on, after seeing how it pained him too, to have to give up the possibilty of running, tonight I can’t help but cry....

(Oh, and they videotaped the interview so if I screwed up in relating anything, there will be proof about how wrong I was eventually......Last interview showed up on ForaTV so I imagine this one will as well.)

Superb reporting, Carol. I hope we get to see the event. I want more details on the stories he told that aren't in the book.

Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark -- Don't settle for less.
Make America All It Can Be!

you wrote it wonderfully; felt like I was there - - great writing;

You can have your "Under God" back when I get my "Liberty and Justice For All" back. synthetic environment

Your report blew me away. Thank you. Bless you. Really.

"Some of them put on their cowboy boots and put their feet up on the desk." -Wes Clark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Johnson_(journalist)

he was leading in the polls until the professional advisors got involved

Thank you so much for this!

"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers

This is a beautiful labor of love you've given us. Now you've got me in tears...

I have to remind myself that I'm a firm believer in things happening as they're meant to be. Oh, but I can't help but be crushed by what might have been... I'll get better.

I'm very happy for General Clark and his family. I imagine Gert would have been fit to be tied if Wes had run again! LOL!! I'm very thankful he can do exactly what he wants now and is FREE!! And I hope he makes millions and millions of dollars doing what he loves.

Thank you so much.

Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

Four Stars for President 2008

...Carol, and thank you also for sharing your deep feelings with us. I could feel my heart breaking all over again, right along with you there.

On Saturday, I cried on my husband's shoulder. And believe it or not, our dog started crying, too. It's got to be sad when your dog feels your pain.

I have to disagree with Wes about one thing. I understand and appreciate what he wrote about the dream. But a big part of the dream is gone, at least for now. It's not the same. It's not because of him personally - it's about those qualities that only he brought --the qualities that I see and love in my husband and my children, my Dad, my extended family, and my close friends. I would love to see those qualities in someone else who is running for President right now. But I can't find them.

I know what you mean...I do know what Wes is trying to say and God bless him for it but I can't help but feel that we've lost something...something precious. A snippet of a song by a band called The Cure has been floating around in my head since last night..."the dream had to end, the wish never came true...." I'm sure I will pick myself up, dust myself off and move on OK. If I was able to eventually do it in '04 I can do it now...but I will always mourn for what we've lost, the opportunity that my country passed on. But, boy, aren't we fortunate to have been a part of it!

"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark

I can't even see what I'm reading.

---------------------
A Wes Clark Democrat
America Needs Wes Clark
Blogging Wes Clark for President 2008

My thoughts have already been expresses--and better--by others

I'll see him tomorrow [tonight] and worry about emotions, too. I'll tell him, I think, what a lift it gives us to see and hear him.

'He said there was no polling, no focus groups, it was truly a draft. He said they say he had such a bad opening but he was leading in the polls until the professional advisors got involved.

'[L]eading in the polls until the professional advisors got involved.'

I write extensively about those advisors, with first-hand accounts from New Hampshire.

One chapter is entitled. "The Week from Hell in New Hampshire." It covers October 20-26, 2003.

It literally started me on Bombay Gins and Tonic (with two slices of lime).

Gordon, when is your book coming out? I am reading Wes's book now, and love his personal anecdotes about his & Gert's experiences. I'm sure he or you or someone could write volumes about his personal events with world characters and others.

The World Needs Wes

... is scheduled for shortly after it is determined what, if any, role WKC will have in a Hillary administration.

So, here we go again with those damn preconditions.

It covers the evening (made special by witnessing it together) with complete accuracy, expresses the atmosphere at the Oxonian Society, and is a tribute to Wes.

My special thanks for the comforting words you said to him at a time Wes is undergoing extraordinary stress. My heart went out to both of you when he grabbed your arm and encouraged you to stay with him and continue the mission.

NO, I will NOT write about the episode that might be called, "The General, The Umpire, and The T-shirt." I will, however, share it with anyone who calls 347 416-3054.

Thanks again, Carol. You are the best.

It was so great to share the evening with you....You are wonderful! And thanks for introducing me to Perry. She is wonderful too.

"The General, The Umpire and the T-shirt"...hehe...Are you sure you're not going to a chapter on it in your book? :)

You're phone will be ringing off the hook.....but I'll wait until a more respectable hour ;)

People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"

tears again.

Carol, this fha is a gift. Will be bookmarked. Thanks so much.

Now where's that kleenex

People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"

I think part of the reason I didn't want to start crying is because I knew it would be hard to stop...I REALLY don't want to be sitting on the train to work all weepy with everyone looking at me wondering if someone died or something.

I think the whole circularity (if that's a word) of it....the Oxonian Society, the anniversary....made the night all the more poignant.

That first night in Sept '03 was so full of hope. As I watched Wes and some guy from NYU or the O. Society walk down a rainy street in the Village after the event that night, I thought "Wow! That man could end up being President...and I just stood 'this close' to him!" Little did I know how many encounters the next few years would bring....and how many ups and downs....

End of hope for many of us. "The president we were promised as kids"

sniff

People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"

I had a quite crazy moment last night. I saw this guy sitting on the train weeping loudly and I wondered if I should go and ask him if he was OK. Then, for one really crazy moment, in the Wes-centric state I was in, I thought, maybe he's a Clarkie who's really upset that Wes isn't running! Then I realized how unlikely that was.

Luckily I didn't go to talk to him because soon he started getting violently wacky, banging his head against the wall, throwing things at the wall, calling people "b*tch!" I don't know what he would have done to me if I'd approached him.

Thank-you so much for sharing. You describe so well my emotions. Started my morning in tears. . .

And, yes, I do think there was a very special dream that only Wes could fulfill. But he can't see himself as we do, and I doubt he knows himself what a treasure he really is.

The difference now, perhaps, from 4 years ago is that we've had 4 years as a community to bond and get to know Wes and one another better. Now, we know from experience that we can continue to work with him, to the extent each of us can, even though it's not in the role we've all dreamed for him.

carol4clark

General Wes Clark * * * * 4 Stars Over Texas

Yep...and that's just one thing among many that makes him so darn special, eh?

My sentiments exactly. I'm into the heart of his book, and am learning in depth of his remarkable career and experience - more about his deep intelligence and caring and humility of his character. Truly a remarkable leader and human being. I'll never be as excited about any other candidate for anything again, but will follow his path wherever it may lead, and send my wholehearted best wishes along the way.

The World STILL Needs Wes

bars again!!

hahaha.

Well Wes is a dynamo, always filled with surprises. I think there may be a few more along the way.

Thanks for a sensitive & perceptive first hand account. I truly felt as if I were seated there along with you- but thanks for saving me from the ordeal of navigating to & from NYC to do so!

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." - George W. Bush on Kosovo, Houston Chronicle, 04/09/99

Here's a photo of Wes with his new T-shirt...the only one I took. I was too wrapped up in the evening to view too much of it through a camera lens.

...is my friend, the certified major league baseball umpire, inveterate Clark supporter, and creator of the TIME TO LEAD shirts. As one can glean from Wes' face...he was having a good evening.

Wow. Is she also a freelance Pantene model? (Shallow of me to comment on it... but it's gorgeous!)

Read your FHA last night Carol, and was unable to reply. Read it again this morning. Maddy's right, your sharing the evening is a gift. One fact remains... Wesley Clark is in the world. We will all sleep better tonight.

Once again Carol, your admirable spirit shows thru in your writing. You never disappoint.

...and congratulations on your Oxonian membership.

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Bears repeating.

Thanks, Syb.

People want leadership......and in the absence of leadership, they will listen to anyone who walks up to the microphone.
Lewis Rothschild, in "American President"

"Wesley Clark is in the world. We will all sleep better tonight." That is beautiful...and bears repeating again and again....

I actually do feel a sense of calm and security whenever I know he's in my city, even if I don't see him. Just knowing he's here makes me feel better. I don't know why. It's not like he's Superman or anything. who will be able to stop all bad things from happening in the city if he's here. But I like to know he's here somewhere....And he'll be back tomorrow....

It was my sig line for a very long time, Carol

I just think the world is a better place with this man in it...integrity, intellect, patriotism, authenticiy - all too rare of qualities these days

no, not superman :)

What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Thank you so so so much for this. Wonderful account. Just what I needed.

know why?

And then I remembered other tears, other times, and another big dreamer who dared everything to seek a better world.

Perhaps it really is better this way.

As Sybil said, "Wesley Clark is in the world, and we'll all sleep better tonight."

I know I will.

He was my first political hero....But he was gone by the time I even heard of him and I'd always felt cheated that I would never get to see him or experience what it was like to support him when he was alive...Then I found Wes and now I think I know at least a little what it must have been like....

I have no doubt that if Bobby were alive today, he and Wes would be the best of political friends.

The political world has a bad habit of accepting progressive change only in small increments. Unfortunately, as these past few years have illustrated, that is not always the case when it comes to regressive change.

Our world sometimes has even put to death those leaders who are on the verge of having a real chance of bringing the most radical progressive change (e.g. the rebel Jesus, Thomas Moore, Joan d'Arc, Patrick Henry, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy).

It may be difficult for some to understand, but I think Wes would have been in very real danger if he were seen as having a good chance to head the ticket. On the other hand, my guess is that he will now be in far less danger in any other position.

I've already lost one personal progressive hero to the assassins. I am relieved that I am now much less likely to lose another.

Why did I post this seemingly downbeat note here, in response to your wonderful and uplifting report? It was the tears I felt coming on. They were tears of relief, rather than the ones I have for so long feared might come later, if Wes had entered the race in some small part because of my urging, and....

Wes is still in the world, and I now expect him to be here helping us for many long years to come, and that is the first solace I have taken from his decision. The second is that he does indeed seem happy. Thanks again for helping us to see that today, Carol.

Nick Kelly

Wes Clark still could be the national security candidate.

I remember it was with exactly the same thought that I consoled myself when Wes pulled out of the 2004 race.

I actually posted on the old Clark blog that at least his campaign hadn't ended in the same way as the only other US presidential campaign I had felt emotionally invested in had ended.

And although I suspected some months ago that Wes wouldn't run this time, the announcement has come at exactly the same time as this documentary has been running on Australian TV. So it's all been freshened up in my mind again.

I think I'll order A Time to Lead and the PBS DVD from the US at the same time. Don't seem to be able to find either of them locally.

_{You'd be taking them to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing machine the way we went into the war in Iraq. Wes Clark, CNN Aug 17 2003}

No doubt the thought has crossed the mind of more than one Clark supporter in the last few years. Now, perhaps, he is safer...and that's certainly a good thing.

Just after Tom Clancy on their web site's home page video. Also great moments from Jon Stewart and Conan OBrien in that thread.

Jason

http://www.oxoniansociety.com/

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." -- James Madison

Actually that whole interview is up on ForaTV, as well as Wes addressing the Dayton Peace Gala in November 2005...and looking pretty sharp doing it....

The videos are the first two on this list.

I imagine last night's interview will end up there eventually.

I felt like I was with you.
Wes will not be forgotten by anyone who has had the honor to sit in his audience to hear him speak, or anyone who has had the pleasure of a face-to-face encounter with him after these events.

I remember when he was in Santa Fe, many who came out of curiosity, who had already jumped on board with a couple of other '04 candidates, walked away saying they thought he was wonderful and would have to think again who they were going to support. Many of them did end up voting for him, by the way, and after he stepped out, they were as let down as the old Wes Clark supporters were.

But... he isn't gone. He's always with us and I hold on to that thought.

Many thanks for your wonderful report! Now I feel happy/sad again. Hard to hold two emotions at the same time, eh?

Oh! And I love the little pea-shooter story. bwahaha!

If only everyone got a chance to see him like that.

You have to see him tell that pea shooter story when the video is up. I'm sure you can imagine it.

I can't wait to hear it! Thanks!

How I wish he had been able to have that one hour a day with everyone on some cable network... where he would talk to special guests about the issues. He would have had a HUGE following.

Thank you so much! That was clearly a labor of love... you wrote it so well it's as if we were there with you.

I am always extra proud, when I read things like this, to have been a Wes Clark supporter since Day One.

Running out-

But I had to acknowledge your amazing account of your evening Carol!

Thanks so much for your excellent and heartfelt reporting. You can't know how much it means to us all. It's a real fuzzy comfort in the middle of a pin cushion-y week! : )

wonderfull to hear more about the events that led to his 04 run. In the politics and prejudices that we all have over the HRC endorsement ( both for or against ), I sometimes forget the lessons learned from watching and listening to probably one of the greatest minds of our time.
Keep those reports coming!!!

Why is it that those most worthy to lead hardly ever seem to be the ones chosen to lead?

Carol, when Gordon introduced us yesterday at the Yale Club I had no idea you would write about the evening's events in such fluid, graceful prose, or that you would make me the subject of such lovely and hilarious commentary. You're kind to boast of my major league "credentials," but I do want to make clear that I'm not a major league umpire, meaning I'm not on the ML staff (no woman has cracked that lineup yet); the major league games I work are all in Florida during spring training, where I umpire and assign intrasquads and split-squad (or "B") games, the ones that don't get televised, for several teams in the Grapefruit League including the Mets, Red Sox, Phillies, and Yankees. The rest of the year I umpire college, high school, adult leagues, youth leagues, the Cape Cod League, fantasy camps, and international baseball - I'm trying to get to the Olympics in Beijing next summer, possibly the last year that baseball will be an Olympic sport unless the IOC relents and reinstates it in time for London 2012. Which, the way overseas perception of any and all things American is going right now (and for the last seven years) doesn't seem too likely to happen.

You also took a great photo of the general's genial face and my hair, which I've been growing for two years now in order to donate it to someone who doesn't have any. Most of the time it's all shoved up under my umpire's cap, so thanks for capturing it, and the entire evening, in such a glowing light. My flowing tresses will be gone soon enough, but the poignancy of spending the anniversary of General Clark's '04 announcement with you and Gordon, set against the backdrop, and the promise, of a renewed commitment on all our parts to continue making our voices heard and our actions count no matter which way the road leads us, or him, was unforgettable and very bittersweet. Many of us share your pain about the general's decision not to run again, and thank you for expressing your thoughts about it in such poetic and honest terms.

As for the T-shirt thing: it's my latest artsy craftsy obsession. It started just this past weekend when I was seized by an irresistible impulse to make up a t-shirt (using a transfer form I bought at Staples and an enlarged photocopied image of a 1954 Topps baseball card) in honor of Monte Irvin, legendary New York Giants infielder and Hall of Famer, whom I met at the Yogi Berra Museum out in Montclair, New Jersey last Saturday. Monte, like General Clark a true gentleman as well as a soldier who has served his country with distinction, was kind enough to autograph it for me when he saw that underneath his likeness I had cleverly affixed the words: Monte Irvin, Negro Leagues 1937-'41, 1946-'48; Served His Country 1942-'45; Major Leagues 1949-'56; Elected to the Hall of Fame, 1973; Signed This T-shirt 9/15/2007. Right then and there I decided that my Monte Irvin t-shirt would be the first item in the world's most extensive collection of wearable autographed memorabilia. General Clark's is the second, so my extensive collection right now consists of exactly two tank tops, but I treasure them both and will figure out a way to keep the signatures from bleeding when I wash them... (How's that for a metaphor?) The general was adorable when he signed his for me - I think my face was redder than his, and believe me, after twenty-seven years of umpiring there's not much that makes me blush! - and you captured the moment on film perfectly. It was definitely a night to remember, from start to... last call, shall we say?, and I'm fortunate to have been initiated into the inner sanctum of Clark devotees by you and Gordon in such a warm and welcoming way.

I take comfort in the words of T.S. Eliot: We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
Perry

Its a delight to 'meet' you, hear of your adventures, and learn that you're a Clarkie, too!

Keep in touch, and let us know your schedule, please.

Ellen

You're in the Hall of Fame, for goodness sake! :) And those are Major League players you're calling 'out!".

Anyway, thanks for checking in. It was really great to meet you and her T-shirts really are nice. And I agree, your hair is magnificent. It will make someone very happy, I'm sure.

I'm glad that photo came out well...It was the only one I took. And that shirt signing moment was too sweet...

You write very well yourself...I'm beginning to think there is nothing you can't do.

Hope to see you again soon....And welcome to CCN!

Carol, your first hand account is wonderful and it makes me, like many others here have mentioned, feel like I was there listening to Clark tell his wonderful stories. Between taking notes, I hope that you had a chance to enjoy the event.

The picture of Clark is really good too - do you have any others that you can post?

You really did a great job writing this... I got upset as well even thought I wasn't part of the draft movement in 2003.

And that must have been very funny to hear how he was a little brat...lol

Putting in a good word for the Society. Membership is really quite reasonable and once you're a member, prices for the events are really good. They have a nice schedule of events too.

Here's the direct link to the 2003 interview.

And here's the direct link to the Dayton address.

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