I majored in classics and history and I like those ancient mosaics, so at Peter’s request for an intro/bio, here’s a bunch of how-I-got-here tiles on the wall …

In kindergarten, I won a “draw a picture about reading” contest to pick a free book at the book fair. The caption for my drawing was something like “Sometimes I have to wear high heels so I can reach the book on the top shelf.” It’s easy to imagine the ladies in the teacher’s lounge circa 1974 getting a good laugh out of little Crayon Robert wearing platforms. Back then, that flight of fancy won me a book about astronauts. Now, it would probably get somebody fired and the book fair defunded.

Growing up in Richmond, I remember looking out the car window as my dad explained what those huge statues were as we drove down Monument Avenue. I had a Civil War board game and never dreamed of playing anyone other than the Confederate side. Kids don’t know what they don’t know.

Here’s a telling slice of Virginia in the late ‘70s onward: You could go to an above-average public middle school named for a renowned segregationist, followed by a really good brand-new high school named for a governor who had advocated for Massive Resistance as a younger man – and never get the scoop on that much about either man before you graduated.

I was a sports kid, then a theater kid.

My parents were a social worker and a social work professor who would later found a successful home health care business. It was good to see adults navigate the tensions of operating a significantly regulated business without letting those pressures dilute their principles.

I was a Cowboy fan deep in Redskins country and a Jimmy Carter fan at the dawn of the Reagan hype. I enjoyed (no, really) four years at a conservative, small, rural, all-male liberal arts college in Virginia. It’s also good to learn how to live with your minority viewpoints (it surely helps when you look like the majority).

Next life, though, I might go to NYU.

The Red Sox remain my lone pro sports affiliation. After nearly 50 years, it’s probably too late to stop now.

I spent several years as editor for local arts/entertainment magazines, then about 20 more as the editor of a trade publication for HVAC design engineers.

When the Nazis came to Charlottesville, that one guy on TV got beaten in the deck where I would park to go to the dentist. Surreal. Evil isn’t something that necessarily happens somewhere else.

We eventually moved back to Richmond, and down came the statues. Being on social media with old friends, that was an illuminating next chapter in how people’s outlooks either grow over time or get grown-over. Once it gets a foothold, kudzu is a real bitch.

I play piano, often alone and sometimes filling in with a friend’s cover band.

Pivotal last straw in my adult political life: The roadblock of Merrick Garland’s nomination. No other way to interpret what McConnell and cohorts did there other than pissing in the Rubicon on their way across it. It’s sad. But whatever.

I made a sporadic FB page for venting during DJT’s first term, and I’m on Bluesky in case anyone wants to chat about politics, music, fantasy baseball, or bourbon.

Finally, why Parenthetical as a user name here and there? Because while a parenthetical remark is inessential by definition, in my experience it’s where you usually find the most interesting or truth-telling bit. I’ll try to live up to it.

The last word goes to the Wallflowers, sitting at the top of the short list of songs I could hear every day without getting burned out.