"The Great Redoubt" Issue #2

The Official Journal of Borodino 2002

Editor: Charley Elsden

Send Us Your Bios, Your Ideas; Your Huddled Wargame Stories Yearning to Breathe Free!

We're always glad to receive articles about yourself, your wargaming career, your Napoleonic interests, past JodieCon experiences, Borodino insights, etc. Let us know if you are running any Napoleonic events at upcoming HMGS Cons.

First time JodieConners can ask questions. Veterans can send "official" greeting to their pals.

Getting to meet other players is part of the fun, and we can start that process on the pages of the newsletter. So feel free to comment, discuss, criticize etc. by emailing to me celsden@aol.com! Those of you who remember past JodieCon newsletters like The Northern Virginia Newshawk, The London Napoleonic Times, and The Ptolemaic Ptimes, know how much fun we can have. [From Jodie: You can see the past issues on file at GI Newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GI_Newsletter/files/ - you'll need to join the group if you are not already a member.]

Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed thoughts to me; I lift our lamp beside the golden door of JodieCon communication.

Charley

JodieCon Player Tips: Preconvention Planning

Last installment we talked about a few initial steps players can take to prepare for the convention:

     1. Research the personality of the officer character you will be playing, so you can have fun role playing historically--as long as it doesn't actually cramp your playing style.

     2. Check out the Carnage & Glory computer moderated system we'll be using, which was previously used at JodieCon Austerlitz.

     3. Consider campaign factors that affected the armies before the battle of Borodino.

     4. And don't forget to monitor the site jodiecon.org for new features and tips!

Once you have looked at these to your own satisfaction, you may want to move on to the next group of things to examine. They include:

     5. History and Tactics: You should read up on the battle of Borodino itself, and especially the part your own game command played. Know how infantry, cavalry, and artillery were used in the period. Learn their strengths and weaknesses, focusing on how these worked against each other.

If you have a command that does not include all three branches, where is the nearest type you lack going to be located in our version of the battle, for your support?

Each branch of service in the Napoleonic army had its own subtypes. Are you familiar with them?

INFANTRY: Light companies for skirmishing. Regular Line troops. Grenadier companies in reserve for crucial moments. Converged light/grenadier battalions or larger formations for special missions. Brittle militia units. National 'minorities' serving in the French or Russian forces, with their own unique characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. Engineers for construction or demolition.

CAVALRY: Light cavalry for scouting, outpost raiding, and picket duty. Medium and heavy cavalry for shock action.

ARTILLERY: Light calibers for close in work. Medium for general-purpose duty. Heavy goes for serious stuff. Mortars and howitzers for indirect, plunging fire. Horse artillery for supporting the cavalry. How's your ammunition supply?

     6. Netting In With Your Side Team: As time goes by, player slots will fill, and the two command net groups will be activated. Prior planning will take place between the army and corps commanders first, and then between the corps and division commanders. Players will begin to check in and introduce themselves. Some may already know each other, or even come from the same geographic area or local gaming club. USE THE INTERNET GROUPS to get to know your teammates. You'll want to particularly "meet" your direct commander and any direct subordinates. Don't be shy. As a professional group facilitator, I can tell you for sure that it's the person who asks questions, makes suggestions, and participates who becomes memorable to the team members and leaders. When you need help on the battlefield, you will probably want people to know who you are. Unless your name is Custer... Besides, it's part of the fun!

     7. Face to Face: Since most of us regularly attend the HMGS conventions, we may schedule a side team conference, practice game, Carnage & Glory event, or other activity at one or more of them. Information about these conventions is available at www.hmgs.org. Stay tuned to our sites and watch for announcements.

     8. At JodieCon2002 Borodino: If possible, schedule yourself to arrive on time to attend the official initial staff conference. You will be mailed a schedule of events for the convention. Sides sometimes meet informally before that time, if players are available early! Although part of the side strategy will be planned by then, there are always last minute revisions. This may even be the only time when we are allowed to get the entire team together, since once we begin and deploy, only limited communication will be allowed.

These tips are not meant to make the whole thing into a chore--some folks always jump in at the last minute and do fine. In terms of recruiting, we just want everyone to know you don't have to be an expert up front to participate! So if you have pals who are still on the fence about attendance, feel free to send them a copy of this issue!

The Napoleonic Period: Myths and Generalities Explored and Exploded

As an old gamer who is no expert in the Napoleonic period, I've discovered since doing preparation for JodieCon Waterloo and now Borodino, that many of the myths of this period have been exploded since the last time I took history in school, or played the old Avalon Hill boardgame Waterloo. I've also discovered, in talking to serious Napoleonic players, that the reality of the Napoleonic battle experience has been and continues to be up for grabs; a subject of controversy and consistent revision in both history and gaming. So here is an introduction for fellow newbies, and a reminder of what the rest of us don't know to you experts out there. You may wish to enlighten us further, either in the pages of this newsletter or at the JodieCon itself.

THE MYTH: The French always attacked in long columns, because their unskilled conscripts, drafted quickly during the Revolution and after, couldn't be trusted to fight in line.
THE REALITY: This was not true even during the Revolution. Before the Revolution, officers during the Ancient Regime were experimenting with columns, and the subsequent tactics were and evolutionary development which was not suddenly born during Revolutionary crisis. At its height, the Napoleonic army was superior to its foes precisely because it could change quickly from one formation to another, depending on changing circumstances.

That army used "l'ordre mixte," a combination of line and column most easily used as a base formation from which to form into full column or line, or any combination that was needed.

THE MYTH: The British won almost every battle on The Peninsula because line always beats column, and because of their superior musketry.
THE REALITY: The British solution of a "hidden line versus column" worked so well because the French did not get the time they needed in this situation to change to line, as they would have done, and were caught still in column, or while changing formation. This was partly due to the excellence of British skirmishing, and due to their main line being hidden on the reverse slope. While the initial British volley was destructive, the British needed to follow up with a bayonet charge or advance in order to move the enemy back.

THE MYTH: The huge "Grande Armee" which invaded Russia was the best force Napoleon ever commanded.
THE REALITY: It was the largest. But it was made up of a dozen nationalities besides French. While the Poles were rabidly anti-Russian, other contingents varied in their loyalty and morale. In addition, the invasion force was faced with severe supply difficulties from the outset of the campaign.

THE MYTH: The fancy Napoleonic uniforms made it easy to tell the units of one side from the other during battle.
THE REALITY: Wellington said that you identified a man by the cut and style of the uniform, rather than by its color at all! He then went on to complain of British tailors' copying of French styles. While each nation did have a base color (dark blue for French, dark green for Russian), there were many variations--for example, French dragoons wore dark green, and one regiment of French lancers wore red. In an earlier part of the period, one poor French cavalry outfit wore light blue and took many casualties by "friendly fire" when mistaken for Austrians. In the next battle they switched to gray, and were devastated again by their own troops, being mistaken this time for Prussian uhlans! Add to this the nondescript look of any worn uniform and the clouds of smoke on a black powder battlefield, and you have the same muddled situation as in any other period.

THE MYTH: Napoleonic cavalry was so powerful that it could just cut through infantry, and was the dominant arm on the battlefield.
THE REALITY: Cavalry was part of a complex rock-paper-scissors equation between the three arms of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. While there were often plenty of cavalry on the Napoleonic battlefield, it was only useful in certain circumstances. However, as a threat, its presence forced the other arms to modify their maneuvers to take it into consideration. (Light cavalry could never perform such a function, nor was it asked to do so).

THE MYTH: Napoleon was originally an artillery officer, and emphasized the use of artillery.
THE REALITY: True! He often concentrated his artillery into a "Grand Battery," to produce unheard of intense barrages. (Lee was attempting to do this when supporting Pickett's Charge. Note that in the movie "Gettysburg," he orders the placing of a "point of fire"--using the French term--on the Copse of Trees). During the Russian campaign, however, the Russians had more numerous and heavier artillery present--although their ammunition supply was another story.

THE MYTH: Napoleon's command system was superior because he centralized all decisions in himself--his marshals only had to follow his orders.
THE REALITY: Napoleon certainly had the 'mystique of victory," as did Hitler in early WW II. But his marshals often disagreed with him, and with each other. Since the execution was up to them, there could and were many changes to any plan. Due to the low communications technology of the period, Napoleon could not be at every crucial point. In my personal opinion, he would have been better off giving some of his better commanders, like Davout, more discretionary authority.

THE MYTH: Napoleon's army was always a superior fighting force.
THE REALITY: The quality of Napoleon's army, its leaders, units, etc., fluctuated during the long period of his wars. French logistical arrangements were often inadequate, and medical services always corrupt and terrible. His army was usually somewhat superior to those of his enemies in general (except the less numerous British), but battle was often "a near ruin thing." At Borodino, he was unable to fight to a conclusion. At Waterloo, on the other hand, even with an inferior and hastily scraped together army, many of whose commanders no longer wished to fight, he still almost got away with it. What a guy!

JodieCon verses the Usual Wargame Convention Format

I attended my first JodieCon after hearing the enthusiastic "After Action Report" of a fellow member of my local club, Metropolitan Wargamers of Brooklyn, New York. He had attended JodieCon Monmouth and enjoyed it quite a lot. I had spent years solo miniatures gaming after my regular boardgaming group broke up, and after my parents moved out of their house, forcing me to retrieve and triage my miniatures collections. A year before my pal told me his story, I had first joined the club. That year I was also drawn into a round of local conventions, climaxing in the HMGS Cons of Cold Wars and Historicon, down in Lancaster, PA.

This was quite a lot to take in for a short time: going to the club on weekends to play with a bunch of new acquaintances, hosting my own 54mm games at my apartment for up to ten players, having other gamers look over my own rules for the first time. I was also busy drawing up more rules for new periods, writing for the club website, and for hobby magazines, such as MWAN (Midwest Wargamers Association Newsletter). I was also expanding my collection; organizing entire new armies. Wow! So with all this, why would I want to add yet another event to my very full schedule of hobby madness?

Professional military wargaming in this country started out in the US Navy at the end of the 19th Century (for a history of this plus board wargaming see The Art of Wargaming by Peter Perla). Although a few clubs have been organized enough to run either one long battle game or extended campaign, the length of time, organizational skill, and amount of resources required for this have usually been beyond the ability which one local club could provide. You could always join the Armed Forces to get into a good war game of course, but some of us would consider that a pretty radical move (sorry, Major Panzeri).

At one time or another, most of us have dreamed of playing in a game that lasted a few days, with fair and knowledgeable umpires, and all the toy soldiers needed to fairly represent the whole historical battle. Not to mention having the space to utilize separate rooms for different sectors of the battlefield, in order to realistically simulate the problems of communication and command control over a huge area. Imagine only having to run a comfortable part of a sector, but know that the entire event was coming off, based partially on what you and your side team were deciding. This meant executing your maneuvers based on earlier planning sessions and subsequent messages back and forth! Of course this would require two complete teams of good game players, who know the history and the rules being used, willing to compete against each other. Pinch me; I'm dreaming big! Not bloody likely, mate--without a millionaire backer or corporate sponsorship!!!

Yet JodieCon provides all this, and more. Pete and Jodie Panzeri, with the help of the legions of hobbyists in the JodieCon "network," add to this almost unprecedented game both historical lectures which are intellectually sound but friendly enough so you can actually ask questions, with reenactor demonstrations of relevant period clothing, weapons, and equipment up close and personal for you to see and touch. There are always great stories to hear. For example, at JodieCon Arnhem after a reenactor demonstration, we held a discussion on the pathetic WW II British PIAT anti-tank weapon. Born in the desperate days when anticipating a German invasion of Britain, it was wildly inaccurate, being powered by a huge spring--which is really hard to compress (load), as I found out first hand be being allowed to handle it myself. One "soldier" related that during the filming of A BRIDGE TOO FAR, the inaccuracy of the weapon gave the film crews much aggravation. They were firing live ammunition over and over and finally, after take after take, got the shots that they needed. Then they were told by the armorer: "Good thing you finally got it that time, blokes. That was the last of the ammunition left over from the war for the damn things--they'll never be fired again!"

A regular wargame convention gives you the chance to see a lot of different games very quickly. You come back with a lot of new products and ideas to test out with your own friends back home, to the degree they are willing. And they can do that with you. As Donald Featherstone once told me at one Con, when I asked the Grand Old Man of the hobby how he usually decided what to play: "Well, it depends mostly on your mates, doesn't it?"

No one would deny the joy of a "normal" convention. Staying up all night. Jumping from one game to another. Checking out the dealer exhibits and flea market. For those that like connected events, there are occasional tournaments, or game series offered. But there are limitations. Those of us who run 'con games' know you can't do anything very sophisticated in a "demonstration game." You have once again limited time, players who don't know you and each other, and only the equipment you could bring down in the car with you. The hopes of playing in a "giant" Megagame are no more realizable at such a 'conventional' convention.

But the JodieCon experience is a whole different animal. It's the chance to try out a sustained immersion in one game as discussed above. The amount you can learn in this environment about the period and battle is truly amazing.

That's why it would be a shame for someone to stay away because they were not an "expert" on the period in question. If you want to take the "Brain Boost" of gaming, try the patented Panzeri Method. You'll talk, walk, brainstorm and discuss the battle until you're almost there! It's something of a shock afterwards to "time travel" back to the real world.

Personally, there is a part of me that will always be:
Confederate General Robert E. Rodes ("General Lee, we are prepared to die in our current positions.")
Napoleonic GM Intelligence HQ (The Prussians are WHERE?)
King Ptolemy of Egypt ("King Ptol! Chariots in motion! King Ptol! Go get the suntan lotion!)
and the bridge blowing Dutch partisans of WW II ("Young umpires just want to have fun.")

JodieCon2002 Borodino is kicking the entire concept up to a higher level; adding new features to the focus period mix. Besides the usual movies and music, dealers in and designers of Napoleonic gaming products will be on hand to demonstrate, sell, and gab. Guests will be invited to circulate, observe, interact, and learn. A more comfortable hotel setting will be provided. Hmmm...wonder if they'll be serving Beef Wellington, or Beef Stroganoff, or for the Frenchers--Beef Bourguignon?

One thing similar to both types of hobby event is the high level of sociability that prevails. From game analysis with your teammates to solve new battlefield situations, to hanging out and meals and visiting in general, there are folks to meet from all up and down the East Coast. Some will agree with your opinions, and you'll have great discussions. Some will disagree with your opinions, and you'll have great discussions. Some will help you make fun of old movies, and you'll have...well, you get the idea.

I'll be there too. Feel free to come up and let me know how you are doing--any time the umpires will allow it!

Russia Invaded--Again!

Those familiar with the large and threatening Russia/USSR of modern history usually also know about the two dramatic modern invasions of Russia; those of Napoleon of 1812 and Hitler in 1941. Yet the fact is, Russia is a flat country, which, like Belgium on a titanic scale, has constantly been the route of invasion for many thousands of years from both East and West. Safe here in the US, with the Atlantic and Pacific oceans safe around us, it is hard for us to understand what that was like. And while I certainly don't condone various Russian imperialisms, including Stalin's grab of Eastern Europe after WW II; one is reminded of the saying: "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean somebody isn't after you!"

Back in the dawn of time, the original Indo-European charioteers (it's a linguistic group today, not a master race, but yes--the "Aryans") thundered out from southern Russia/Asia somewhere to replace the worship of mostly matriarchal goddesses with that of patriarchal gods in Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, India--practically anywhere they could find flat ground to run their two wheeled vehicles, over thousands of years. We don't know who the original inhabitants of the steppes were before that, but it's a fair bet that they were overrun, subjugated, or assimilated like everyone else. The closest thing to written records of that time is hidden in Indian religious classics like The Bhagavad-Gita. Later, Greek mythology records many fierce peoples living in the Balkans/southern Russia such as the gold rich Thracians, Scythians, Amazons (?), etc. Hercules and some buddies dropped by Colchis (East Coast of the Black Sea) to raid. You may have heard of this little band--Jason and the Argonauts!

It is said that Lenin himself had the epicanthic fold. This is an extra layer of skin on the upper eyelid near the corner of the eye; a genetic trait of Mongolian people. In other words, the invasions from the East had long lasting effects! Like the Huns (originally Persian) and many other Easterners who created the stress of the European Age of Migrations in the Early Middle Ages, the Mongols of the 13th Century looked upon Russia only as another land of disorganized duchies to conquer. The European forces of the time were so helpless against them that if a certain Khan hadn't died, we'd all be speaking Asiatic today. Later, the Russians were able to hold off their Turco-Mongol descendents at Kulikovo in 1380.

But trouble was brewing in the West, as well. Following the Age of Migration but before those Mongols, Swedish Vikings created a path of fortified trading posts on rivers on through to Byzantium. Today Scandanavian and Russian scholars argue over the identity of the "Rus" people, but it is clear that the Vikings established a noble class over the indigenous Slavic settlements, and this combination became the city state Duchies such as Great Novgorod and Muscovy. When the Mongols were quiet, the Prussian Teutonic Knights decided to create a march land settlement. They were defeated by Alexander Nevsky at "The Battle On The Ice" (Lake Peipas) in 1242.

During the Thirty Years War era of the 17th Century, the big player in Eastern Europe was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a huge empire which beat back the Turks. Unfortunately for them, the Cossacks in their Eastern lands were restless (see the Polish national epic novel With Fire And Sword by Henry Sienkiewicz (1883) and the Gogol novel/Yul Brynner film Taras Bulba ("Put your faith in your sword--and your sword in the Poles!"). Their revolts so weakened the Commonwealth that the Duchy of Muscovy was able to grow to predominate the area instead. (Here are some interesting words from WFAS: "Sietch"--a Cossack encampment; "Padishah" a Tartar principal underlord; see Dune, "Kosh"--a Tartar encampment; see Babylon 5).

Remember Gustavus Adolphus, who helped create the modern army? In the 18th Century the Swedes were still powerful, and fought wars with Russia over such "provinces" as Finland, threatening St. Petersburg. Crimean Tartars made trouble as well for Peter the Great. You can see Bette Davis briefly as Catherine the Great in the movie John Paul Jones with Robert Stack. These early Czars might have said, along with Kermit the Frog: "Its not easy being green!" Not to mention Frederick the Great. Sheesh!

We're not going to discuss the Russo-Japanese War, which didn't threaten Russian territory. But ah, those Austrians. When Conrad von Hotzendorf, the Austro-Hungarian commander sent his armies ahead in a campaign against Russia in 1914, he knew that the Kaiser was behind him. And 'Willi' Hohenzollern had it in for 'Nicki' Romanoff all the way to Brest-Litovsk!

Better Red than dead? During the Russian Civil War, Allied units including British Czechs, French, Italian, Japanese, and US forces entered Russia as allies of the Whites. In 1920 after the Civil War, the Poles drove deep into the Ukraine.

So who were invaders of Russia? The Aryans, Amazons, Argonauts, Huns, Vikings, Mongols, Turco-Mongols, Turks, Tartars, Medieval Germans, Swedes, Napoleonic French, WW I Germans, British, French, Czechs, Italians, Americans, Japanese, Poles, and WW II Germans. So I hope you Russian players now fully accept your duty to defend the Motherland! Yikes!!!

Ramblings in the Tavern:
On Beer and Musick of Olden Times

BONEY WAS A WARRIOR

Boney was a warrior, a-way-hay-yah!
A warrior, a tarrier. John Francois.

Boney fought the Proo-shy-ans, a-way-hay-yah!
Boney fought the Roo-shy-ans. John Francois.

Boney went to Moscow, a-way-hay-yah!
Across the alps, across the snow. John Francois.

Moscow was a blazing, a-way-hay-yah!
And Boney was a-raging. John Francois.

Boney went to Elba, a-way-hay-yah!
And Boney, he came back again. John Francois.

Boney went to Waterloo, a-way-hey-yah!
And there he got his overthrew. John Francois.

They took Boney off again, a-way-hay-yah!
Aboard the Billy Ruffian. John Francois.

Boney, he got sent away, a-way-hay-yah!
Away to St. Helena. John Francois.

Boney broke his heart and died, a-way-hey-yah!
Away in St. Helena. John Francois.

Welcome back to the tavern! We're always glad to see you. So take a chair by the fire, put up your feet, and have a mug of your favorite, even if that's just root beer. The serving girls are friendly, and the fiddler strikes up a lively tune when he's of a mind to. As for your troubles, hang them up on the coat peg by the door for a while, eh?

I did a favor for some friends of a friend not long ago, and they brought me some unusual ales as a gift in return. My favorite was a bottle of Burton's Empire India Pale Ale, which has a colorful label on the front. It depicts a red-coated British general in full regalia including a feathered fore-and-aft hat, seated sipping his mug at a small cafe table. Nearby stands a cricketeer with his bat, raising a stein of his own. In the back is a huge British flag, and down at their feet crates of the product. It's made in Burton Upon Trent, Staffordshire. "Bottling The Beer After Six Months In The Cask: Wherever Victorian men served in the Empire, the pale ales of Burton were alongside them. Light in color, strong and heavily hopped to survive long journeys over the sea and land. The beers helped to preserve social life after sunset. This brew is a re-creation of those famous ales that should equally sooth and sustain you after a hard day in the urban jungle." It goes down very nicely. Cheers, old boy!

Have I mentioned that I'm from New York City in the last few paragraphs? Someone wrote lately, in The New Yorker magazine of course, that we New Yorkers are proud of all the things we can do here, even though we're much too busy making enough money to afford to live here to every get around to actually doing them! So it was with some determination, a few years ago, that I finally visited one of the most famous taverns in the world--Frances' Tavern in downtown Manhattan (what we Brooklynites call "the City"). The food was only okay, served in the woody taproom, but the main reason I'd come was for the historical trip upstairs.

Everything to do with eating and drinking from the olden days of the late 18th/early 19th centuries tends to look a bit fancy and precious to me. But some details of the upstairs museum's centerpiece room, where Washington said farewell to his officers, are the little articles of drink and smoke, which remind one that this was a social place, not really a banquet room for princes. A bowl for rum punch, a clay pipe, and other original furnishings appear on side tables rather than the long main table set fully for eminent guests. Outside is Washington's own personal standard--a white circle of stars on a blue field. I saw a reproduction recently in action, carried by The Old Guard, a US Army ceremonial unit from Washington D. C., who reenact Washington's Bodyguard. They performed in Prospect Park for the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn (the entire battle was fought inside the Brooklyn township lines, so don't call it The Battle of Long Island, please). They went through tactical evolutions while a microphoned narrator explained their movements.

There is also a fine display of flags in the tavern's museum.

The food was much more memorable down in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia (not far from our planned JodieCon site). I still remember the name of the place there from when I visited as a teenager, so amazed by the food was I. Christiana Campbell's Tavern, it was, serving most excellent period Southern cooking. For a more northerly period repast, one can travel up to the northern island in Nova Scotia, once "Isle Royal," and the similarly recreated French town of Louisborg. Here in the "plain fare" tavern, as opposed to the fancy restaurant, all you get for eating is one huge pewter spoon. Of course you can wipe it off between courses, as well as your hands and face, on the oversize tablecloth! Those Canadians--what a sense of humor! Ho ho.

But back to New York, cultural center of the Western World. So many of you have written in asking about that song about the New York girls dancing the polka, that I'll have to sing it for you. Just remember, our girls can be too tough for even a rough sailor--so watch your purse! Hey, Fiddler--'New York Girls' for our guests, if you please...

NEW YORK GIRLS
As I walked out on Broadway
One morning in July,
I met a maid who asked my trade.
'A sailor man' says I.

(Chorus between each verse)
And away O Sante
My dear Annie
Ho, you New York girls
Can't you dance the polka?

To Tiffany's I took her,
I did not mind expense.
I bought her two gold earrings;
They cost me fifteen cents!

I wined her and I dined her
As round the town we went.
Until that every farthing
I had on me was spent.

She said 'You lively sailor,
Now take me home you may.'
But when we reached the cottage door
She did unto me say:

'My flashman is a Yankee;
His hair is cut behind.
He wears a tarry jumper;
He sails the Black Ball line.

He's homeward bound this evening,
And with me he will stay.
So get a move on, sailor boy--
Get cracking on your way!'

So I kissed her hard and proper
Before her flashman came.
So fare you well, you Bowery girl,
I know your little game!

I wrapped my glad rags round me,
And to the docks did steer.
I'll never court another maid.
I'll stick to wine and beer!

And away O Sante
My dear Annie.
Oh, you New York girls
Can't you dance the polka?

Of course when asked to commit ourselves on a controversial subject, we well bred New Yorkers are much too shy to give a strong opinion, as everybody knows! The lack of instructions to our delegates in the Continental Congress, for example, left them only to state, whenever a vote was called:
"Mr. Chairman, New York abstains...courteously."

Nor are we to be pinned down in writing, as Mr. John Adams discovered in the musical 1776.
"Mr. Livingston, you should write it,
You have many friends and you're a diplomat. (Oh, that WORD!)
Whereas if I am the one to do it, they'll run their quill pens through it.
I'm obnoxious and disliked--did you know that? (I hadn't heard.)
so I say you should write it, Robert; you. (Good Heavens, no!)
Yes you Robert Livingston, you (But...) you (But..) YOU! (But...)

Mr. Adams, dear Mr. Adams
I've been presented with a new son by the noble stork
So I am going home to celebrate and pop the cork
With all the Livingstons together back in old New York!"

As for me, if you're traveling to beautiful downtown Brooklyn on the weekend, drop by Eamon Doran's, the Irish pub on Montague and Clinton, close by the best skyline view of the City--the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Or perhaps I'll be in Cousin's, on Court and Atlantic, on the site of old Fort Cobble Hill, where Washington watched the Battle of Brooklyn back in 1776. Like as not you'll find me there having brunch...until next issue. Or, as the Scots toast:

Here tae us!
Wha's like us?
The de'il wi 'em!