I first met Bob Day in Miss D’s coffee shop beneath the dining hall on the Washington College campus. It was 1970 and the 60s weren’t over. The war in Vietnam spread to Cambodia, and the Beatles broke up.

Bob was slouched in a booth with a few students and wore his famous cowboy boots. I believe it was just before he began his official role as creative writing professor in the English Department, maybe even the day of his interview with Dr. Norman James, Chair of the English Department. I don’t recall the conversation, but I’d bet by the end of it we knew more about Lawrence and Hays, Kansas than we did about Annapolis and more about Vladimir Nabokov and poet William Stafford than we ever would about John Milton and Chaucer. And that was just over cokes.

Suddenly, our literary landscape had been altered. Contemporary literature came teeming across our transom like the cattle drives Bob wrote about. Toto was wrong. Knowing Bob Day was to be forever in Kansas, although a meta-Kansas he inhabited and brought to us in his writing, that intersection of place and imagination.

Poet Richard Hugo wrote about the importance of “place” as he argued against the creative writing workshop bylaw that writers should only “write what you know.” Hugo believed that writers should use towns as points of entry into the realm of the imagination and should take emotional ownership of an imagined town rather than the actual place where “the imagination cannot free itself to seek the unknowns.” Bob’s Kansas, from his The Last Cattle Drive to his last Collected Works, is more akin to a state dreamed by Voltaire’s Candide, sometimes edited by David Sedaris, other times by Raymond Carver. He was wry without being cynical, alternately rhapsodic and terse, and a storyteller of the first order in print and in life.

Anthony Burgess said about The Last Cattle Drive, “…his novel is like the man himself—ebullient, precise, Rabelaisian, witty.” True enough.

I knew Bob as my writing teacher for the last two years of my college life. It didn’t take long to be caught up in the physics of his momentum and mission to make Washington College a kind of mothership for writers, to both instruct young writers and to bring published authors to read on campus.

He was as instructive outside the classroom as well, which led to many animated evenings at The Tavern and countless anecdotes about the literati. Somewhere between Faulkner and Joyce, he would tell a story about a cat-lady in Ludell, Kansas. I can’t remember if that was instructive or not, or even if she was real. He had an encyclopedic memory of literature and biography, along with a childlike glee telling his many ribald shaggy-dog stories, the ones he didn’t write. In fact, for twenty years, his phone calls to me would begin with “A nun and a porcupine walked into a bar…” I would often wince but knew it was a prologue to greater things.  

Bob was a connector, a conductor of literary events, and a master of introductions. When he brought the poet David Ray to the campus, there wasn’t even an available space for the reading—it was held in a biology classroom. Then came Diane Wakoski and William Stafford, and dozens of some of the finest writers in the world who took the time to engage with writing students. For a long time, the walls of the Rose O’Neill Literary House were covered with broadsides announcing those events.

And then there were the literary sojourns. “Mr. Dissette, send three poems to Miller Williams c/o the University of Richmond. We’re going down there in 8 days.” He was always formal when he gave us instructions, less so at The Tavern. So, of course, I did and went and ended up drinking a bottle of wine with Anthony Burgess on a screened summer porch where we talked about Dylan Thomas and his struggle writing Enderby.

Each of Bob’s students has stories of this sort. Those kinds of spontaneous and cryptic inclusions continued throughout his life. Just six years ago, he called. “Mr. Dissette, pack a change of clothes, coat, and tie. We’re going to Kansas City to honor Bob Stewart’s PEN Nomination for Editing. Stewart was the longtime editor of the prestigious New Letters and BkMk Press. Decades later, I’d learned not to decline these bizarre orders. So, his wife, Kathy Day, and I flew to Kansas City, Missouri—Bob drove, and I never asked why—for the dinner honoring Robert Stewart. Once again, I made good friends, which led to introductions to other writers and even connected long-lost associations: David Ray had been editor of New Letters before Stewart. With Bob Day one thing always led to another.

I lost track of Bob during my life on the west coast, although I remember a directive that came to me via postcard in 1979. “Write to Miller Williams (again!) at Arkansas. Go there as soon as you can.” I did consider his ‘advice’ and looked into it. The writing program at U of Arkansas at that time was on fire, but classes were filled for the year. Plan B was studying with Cherokee poet Ralph Salisbury at the U of Oregon in Eugene.

Of course, it was during the twenty-something years I was away that Bob Day gave one of his greatest gifts to Washington College: the Rose O’Neill Literary House and Press on Washington Avenue. One of Bob’s cardinal traits was as a deal-maker. He was a natural-born horse-trader, and if you were ever engaged in one of his conspiratorial transactions you walked away wondering what repercussions might be in the offing. He was constantly pushing beyond the academic comfort zone to further the cause.

Bob conceived the idea of having a “literary house” two years before I left in 1973 with a ramshackle old building next to the WC Maintenance building. It should have been demolished—a bathtub even fell through the floor—but instead became home to the newly formed Writers Union, Associated Writing Program (AWP) and to wayward writing students embracing the dry rot and springless couches as a creative sanctuary and bell jar hermetically sealed with the spit of William Carlos Williams, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.

After a second incarnation—Dorchester House—another literary enclave, Bob in 1985 orchestrated the purchase of the house on Washington Ave. and became its founding director. Soon, he would add a press, another stroke of his genius, that continues to operate today as a teaching press and sometimes publisher of limited-edition books.

One story exemplifies Bob’s eternal quest to make Washington College the home of a creative writing center of the highest order:

. . .

Bob wrote, “The students wanted Toni Morrison. I doubted we could afford her but didn’t say so. I told them I’d check it out, which I did through a contact I had at her publishing house: her fee was beyond our reach. Enter President Douglass Cater who, full disclosure, was always something of an unindicted co-conspirator to my Literary House schemes. When I told him the problem, he suggested we not offer her money, but an award.

“What award?” I asked.
“The Washington College Literary Award,” he said.
“We don’t have a Washington College Literary Award.”
“Then we’ll make it,” he said.

And he did. We offered the first Washington College Literary Award to Toni Morrison and—again, at President Cater’s suggestion—created a scholarship in her honor. She dropped her fee, came to campus, met the student who would get the scholarship, gave a reading, had lunch with students, and accepted the award, which was a letterpress broadside excerpt from her novel Beloved. Students of literary history will discover Toni Morrison’s vita lists The Washington College Literary Award along with the Nobel Prize she got the following year.”

. . .

Toni Morrison was in good company. Dozens of writers answered Bob’s invitations: James Dickey, Allen Ginsberg, Anthony Burgess, Edward Albee, Richard Wilbur, Gwendolyn Brooks, and a list too long to appear here.

When I returned to Chestertown in 2002, Bob and I picked up our old friendship, but with new roles. I was to design his books, an effort that brought us together frequently in town or at dinner with his wife Kathy on their porch overlooking Still Pond Creek.

Looking back on it, I’m convinced that Bob thought I was eternally near starvation or without funds enough for rent, an assessment occasionally not without merit. He provided me with countless book design jobs, his own and others. His last large endeavors were Let Us Imagine Lost Love, For Not Finding You, and Collected Works. With each project, he rounded up previous students of his who had become editors and writers to help with edits: Kathleen Jones, Katherine Streckfus, Meredith Davies Hadaway, and Diane Landskroener were often roped into these projects, sometimes kicking and screaming but relenting and finally embracing the quest.

I recently looked at some of the more than 1800 emails between Bob and myself and wondered how I would ever write about him or describe him to a casual reader. His legacy at Washington College speaks for itself and the characters in his books are available to all, but what I will miss is his life-long contagious celebration of the arts, how they are meaningful to us and how void our lives would be without the telling of stories in word, music, or painting.

At the end of his short story, The Four-Wheel Drive Quartet, Bob writes, “We glow like algae split and rearranged by a great sailboat chased by the fall. We are components of music. We see ourselves in the maps we have made, and we draw lines with our movements. We are the paintings of flowers and windows. We are the electric soup. Nothing is mundane…”

The last line of both The Last Cattle Drive and its 2021 sequel For Not Finding You is “There is nothing more to write.” I understand.

For more about Bob Day and the founding of the Rose O’Neill Literary House, a ‘zine of recollections may be found here.

In the Spring of 2020, Steve and Rosalind “Roz” Lotharius were packed—two suitcases and a puppy—and ready to move to Europe. They’d sold their house and car in Wisconsin, and already leased a home in Portugal and were ready to start a new chapter.

And then, Covid hit, Portugal shut down, and. Like so many, the Lothariuses were left facing an uncertain future. A move to Europe wasn’t possible so the couple decided on a nomadic exploration of the Eastern Shore hopping from one Airbnb to another until they landed in Chestertown. It wasn’t a blind leap. Steve spent much of his professional career as a marketing executive for McCormick Spice and before leading the European marketing team out of London, knew Maryland from his stint in domestic sales in the old Baltimore office.

Lucky for us, the couple found Chestertown to be the perfect place to call home and start a business and they quickly geared up to open Bespoke Chocolate at 207 S. Cross Street.

Opening in early December, the couple was quickly overwhelmed during Charles Dickens Weekend with lines down the block.

“I tremendously underestimated the market. Everything I made initially has long since sold out. We ran out of almost everything that weekend,” Lotharius says.

Undaunted, and with great appreciation for the community’s support and patience, Lotharius will market outside sources while he creates signature chocolates for individual organizations like River Arts, Washington College, and Downtown Chestertown. For him, the challenge is in the creative and learning stage of making specialty items.

And Chestertown is all in as Steve and “Roz” build their business and offer us truffles, ganache, bon bons, fudge and seasonal items.

All in all, a sweet addition to the community and downtown businesses.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more about Bespoke Chocolate, open hours, go here.

 

 

What better way to greet a new year than to know The Mainstay performing arts center in Rock Hall will be under the seasoned hand of newly hired Executive Director Matt Mielnik.

Mielnik, a Utica, New York native with an extensive background in professional performing arts presenting, looks forward to continuing The Mainstay’s three-decade tradition of showcasing top-notch musical talent.

“I’ve spent most of my adult working life in the presenting business, whether for profit or the non-profit sector,” he says.

Fresh out of college with a liberal arts degree, Mielnik opened a bar in upstate New York, where for six years, he experienced the power of live entertainment. The venue soon became a hotspot for musicians traveling from New York to Chicago.

From there, Mielnik took a job as a technical director with a museum offering classical ensembles, national touring companies, dance ensembles, and traveling children’s performers. Five years later, he found himself in another multi-performance venue in a nearby community and was tasked with developing their signature brand. This was an opportunity to express some of his tastes in music. An acoustic guitarist himself, Mielnik brought in musicians like Tom Rush and David Bromburg and at the same time promoted local arts, a combination he also sees as a key to The Mainstay’s longevity.

Mielnick is excited about The Mainstay’s future and says the outdoor pavilion will be an additional draw but wants to make sure everyone knows that it will not replace the intimacy of the indoor stage that has been the venue’s hallmark.

The new director is amazed at the quality of the local talent and cites pianist Joe Holt and his invitational ensembles as an example of the kind of performance he’s like to present. Mielnik says he is acutely aware of the great singers and musicians who reside in local communities.

“The plan for February is to have something every weekend with Joe Holt on Friday evenings and even some classical presentations throughout the year,” he says,

Mielnik wants The Mainstay to be known for its wide range of music rather than one particular genre like jazz or bluegrass. He wants to share that exploration with us. 

Tom McHugh founded the Mainstay as a single concert that grew into a series in a rented space and then a year-round non-profit venue in its own building on Main Street in Rock Hall.

BTW, get tickets for The Mainstay’s New Year’s Eve Potluck with Joe Holt on December 31 at 5 pm soon!

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more information about The Mainstay, go here.

 

Fresh from its ribbon-cutting in November and on the heels of a gala Victorian Dining Experience during Chestertown’s Charles Dickens Christmas Weekend, Modern Stone Age Kitchen and Eastern Shore Food Lab has arrived in town as a new fooderie with a 3-million-year-old pedigree.

Anthropologist Dr. Bill Schindler and his family are on a mission to offer a different approach to food. By that, Schindler means that his years of field research led him to a crossroad: how to approach the human relationship to food, not as “what we eat, but how should we eat,” the cultural context of our consumption. And to do this, Schindler dedicates his life to understanding the origins of the human diet.

No longer affiliated with Washington College’s academic program, the Eastern Shore Food Lab continues its mission with Modern Stone Age Kitchen and Rise by Brianna Bakery in a combined effort to conduct research and to provide delicious and healthy food to the community.

“I’m convinced that the answer to modern dietary issues can be found through a comprehensive understanding of our deep dietary past and our diverse dietary present. My goal is to use an ancient approach to food using modern technology.”

If you caught Schindler’s 2016 National Geographic series “The Great Human Race,” you would have followed the anthropologist’s year-long stone-age field trip across the globe as he and survivalist Cat Bigney learned how to survive only using the same techniques as early mankind.

That experience, along with his family’s globals research to learn about still existent traditions in communities and families—and how they nourished themselves—led Schindler to reframe his thinking about food through the lens of ancestral diets.

“What we forget in the modern mass industrial food processing machine that we have today that’s processing most of the food most of us consume is that we’re skipping a lot of the traditional steps,” Schindler says.

Schindler believes that many of the health problems humans are experiencing today.

“Today’s health problems are not just a product of food choices. Our relationship with food does not exist in a vacuum. That is why diets don’t work – they are always out of context because they do not consider all of the other aspects of “life” important to us. How we acquire, process, store, share and consume food is uniquely human and embedded in practically all aspects of our lives. Learning to eat like a human again is really about learning to live like humans again,” he writes on his Eat Like A Human website.

For Schindler, this means that we must find food as nutrient-dense as possible and prepare it using methods that release those nutrients and make them bioavailable to our bodies.

For those who want to know more about Dr. Schindler’s message, his in-depth explanation—and recipes!—may be found in his newly published book, “Eat Like a Human: Nourishing Foods and Ancient Ways of Cooking to Revolutionize Your Health.”

The Modern Stone Age Kitchen, Eastern Shore Food Lab, and Rise by Brianna Bakery are located at 236 Cannon St. in Chestertown

The Spy caught up with Dr. Schindler to talk about his philosophy of food, Modern Stone Age Kitchen, and home of Rise by Brianna Bakery, as they open their doors to Chestertown.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. To see what they have to offer, go here. And go quickly, their pizzas sell out fast.