A Fall Watch Nighthawk

The Show Starts, gradually

Vol. 117, September 10th, 2024 Published a day early online

The Fall Watch

If only I had a knife...oh wait. Rummaging around under the stage lighting bar wedged in the passenger seat, and moving the vintage telescope, I found the tray of cutlery from dad. A weekend of road work means weird stuff winds up in the car.

Don’t knock over the Venus Fly Trap.

I sliced a chunk of cheddar (sharp, of course), crunched a rye cracker sandwich, and gained the open road.

The way wound through the dense forests of the east, past the battlefields, and climbed towards the mountains.

I’ve been running down the miles lately, setting off on bright mornings, chasing the sun as it glints off the rails east to Richmond where the track follows the road; hurtling west into an orange and blue distance while the day sinks beyond the mountains, or wandering into another gas station as the trucks rumble by.

All around, the seasons are in the Pause, that time of late summer when everything is ripe and hushed. There’s a wavering, a sadness that things can’t stay warm and easy forever, and a brisk gladness, a tingle of change in the air. Even the stars are different. You’d think I’m some John Muir, wandering the hills for days, but I see most of it through my windshield.

Take a glance out your own window. The Fall Watch begins.

Sunshine by the Wayside

The Tickseed Sunflower blooms in the ditches and fields by the road, a brilliant last hurrah of Summer, and a welcoming of Autumn.

Record of the Week

The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)

Frankie Valli is never out of style, but Antonio Vivaldi was first with his timeless tone poems in the form of violin concertos. Give it a spin!

Happy Birthday, TV Dinner!

Swanson’s revolutionary “TV dinner” hits the shelves today in 1953.

Quote of the Week

“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason”

–Novalis

Carol’s Appalachian Word of the Week

“Percy” (for Pleurisy). Bill’s got a right bad case of Percy. (“I reckon”.)

Write to Us!

The Nighthawk is a new old-fashioned way to connect, published weekly. You’re invited to write back, or just enjoy reading. Let’s have some fun! It’s a social paper! Send stories, etc to: PO Box 783, Rustburg, VA 24588 or Joshurban@protonmail.com

Letters from Josh

(A weekly update from Josh Urban’s adventures on the farm and in the city. #202)

Appearing in the Altavista Journal, etc: Patriot Day

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to the show! Today is 9/11, but the calendar says it better: Patriot Day. I like that.

If Christmas and Easter are good times to think about God, Patriot Day is for wrestling with the Devil. (And another good time to think about God.)

The sky was strange that night of the terrible day. I crept outside to do some stargazing, numb. The night seemed the same, eerie with no planes rumbling across it. Twenty three years later, I’m looking up again, remembering, and wondering what to do.

Maybe it’s a weird question, “what to do”, but that’s how I’m wired. And the name–Patriot Day. It calls me to action.

It rolls around with vivid reminders of evil, bravery, the heroism of ordinary Americans, loss, and how things change in an instant.

You might have heard me mention an American revival. Tired of talking about how things are falling apart, I’m wondering how might we put them together. I don’t have an answer for everyone, but I’m starting small with the things right in front of me–and asking people for their ideas. Specifics can be tricky, but there are a few things that jump out.

During my DJ shows at retirement homes, after the Elvis records are played and we all get down to James Brown, right at the end, I cue up the Star-Spangled Banner. The idea hit me one day when reading about the decline of patriotism: Why not work in our anthem?

Buddy, let me tell you: to see people struggle up out of their wheelchairs to stand at attention for a few moments, well, it does a heart good.

This small act of respect and appreciation creates something bigger. I’m not sure how to explain it, but now I play it at every show. Don’t know what took me so long.

Another thing I’ve been working on is appreciating the everyday. Summer is ripening into autumn. The sunlight is as golden as the flowers growing along the wayside. School is back in session, the students have returned to the city, and vacation is over. The land settles back to work, ready for the corn harvest. The shops crank up the pumpkin spice, and the round bales dot the fields, a miracle from the burnt toast of June. I drive along the country roads on the way to spin more records, and stand at attention again as our national anthem plays, proudly, remembering the Lost.

We’ve got something special. They tried to take it away on Patriot Day. We almost forgot about it during COVID. What can we do to protect it, continue it, grow it, let it shine?

Today, I’m remembering the fallen. And thinking hard.

With the deepest respect,

Josh

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