"The Piece of the WEB That's Fit to Spin"--May 25, 1998--VOL 3, Number 21
Circulation Last Week: 50
Year-to-Date: 924
"The Piece of the WEB That's Fit to Spin"--May 25, 1998--VOL 3, Number 21
Circulation Last Week: 50
Year-to-Date: 924
Remember  Memorial Day? |
Once or twice a year, the White Memorial Presbyterian Church (USA) choir gets together for a fling. Last Thursday, that fling was a backyard picnic. Hidden from public view, and without benefit of clergy or choir directors, more than forty members of the choir gathered behind Dale Hollar's extensive estate. By posing as a non-singing spousal equivalent, our reporter was able to attend this event and put together a portfolio of prohibited photos. We reveal them for the first time on this page! 
Every arriving female guest was immediately accosted by the official "greeter"---Marvin
Speck. This harmless activity seemed to be appreciated by most of the ladies, with little or no
reaction from their accompanying husbands. 
Just prior to the expensively catered dinner, a pause fell over the crowd,. There wasn't a
single qualified minister present to administer "grace." Realizing this, Alan Donaldson,
(who had already grabbed a snack from the groaning board) offered a brief old Scottish
prayer that included a lot of "hae"s and "gie"s. The crowd loved it.
And then they ate! Before a beautifully stocked table full of gourmet delights from the finest
kitchens in Raleigh, guests lined up to select from among 8 salads, 5 meats, 2 breads,
6 vegetables, 3 desserts, and 15 gallons of iced tea. Most participants found it difficult to refuse any of these
tasty offerings.
Dinner was followed by animated conversation: choir anecdotes, grandchildren stories, travel plans...a few religious references. Liz Dean, soprano, even tried to raise her voice in song. 
It was finally over. In twos and threes, the crowd paid their respects to host Dale Hollar
(right) and drifted off into the night, -returning to the workaday world of Raleigh's churched
and unchurched--without a song.
This week we're offering another challenge, at a similar degree of difficulty: On the table in front of you you can see ten bags filled with ten coins each, but the coins in one of the bags are all fakes. The only thing known about a fake coin is the fact that its weight differs by exactly one gram from the weight of a valid coin (which is an integer number greater than 0), but not whether it is heavier or not. As soon as you have the answer, click here to send it our way. Winner will be determined by earliest date of receipt and all entrants will receive a note of congratulations from our staff. Go for it. Now! Article You Can't Kill the Rooster by David Sedaris (From Esquire, June 1998, p. 92)  David Sedaris, Raleigh writer and friend of Poland Place, has scored again with this compassionate and uninhibited portrait of his little brother, Paul. 
David takes us back to his North Hills Drive roots to demonstrate the relationship between
his totally irreverent brother and his adoring father--our friend Lou Sedaris. We
even get an Esquire picture of Paul and Lou.David wrote a "serious" piece about morgues in a previous Esquire. In this one he reverts to form and some of us like it a whole lot better.  If your internet browsing keeps you inside at night, check out: 
Paul Dean is visiting Poland Place this week, arriving for brief Mother's Day festivities on Friday evening, attending a Saturday wedding (below), and visiting Oriental for two days at mid-week. Paul brought us this picture of his newly-painted Baton Rouge home. He asked us to mention that it's best if seen "in person"---the green is greener and the silver porch and steps provide a nice "mothership" touch. Editor Bob Dean and Proofreader Liz Dean spent the Memorial Day weekend at Oriental, North Carolina. On Sunday they were joined by Inspector Bob Armstrong and The Reverend Bobbie Armstrong. Every one of these titled persons had a very nice time. 
Dale and Michelle Flattum were married Saturday, at Vollis Simpson's Whirley Gig estate in Wilson, North Carolina. Paul Dean and several other guests attended. 
Nicole Brodeur, our N&O Correspondent, reported a rumor this week: Mayor Tommy
Fetzer may be getting married!When Nicole asked two of his intimates what kind of person Mayor Fetzer would marry, Erla Creech said "A very unusual person," while Kieran Shanahan responded that "It's just not true." "I am still puzzling over the puzzle. But, I always thought it was apples and oranges that went together. You're adding the lemons has really confused me." --kittypick@aol.com   © Bob Dean, 1998 |
In the garage behind his house, Bill keeps three big boxes. One of the
boxes is labeled "Apples", another one "Lemons" and the last one "Apples
and Lemons". The only thing Bill knows is that none of the labels is
correct! How could Bill correctly re-label all the boxes, if he is only
allowed to take out ONE object from ONE of the boxes and look at it?