Allentown favorites

Favorite customers: Most favorite was the young girl, maybe 11 or 12, reed thin with silky long hair, wearing an oversized t- shirt that read "If I were 18 I'd vote for Obama". A huge Obama button was pinned to the hem of the shirt which came to her knees. She selected a journal and told me she always bought my books and was glad to find me. Then she informed me, with a serious expression, that she went to a lot of these shows and I was almost her favorite artist. "Definitely in the top 3", she declared. Loved her. Another sweet pre-teen girl who buys my books "all the time" told me I should make them fatter because she fills them up right away.

We should be able to adopt our customers.

Favorite colleague moment: We were set up next to a couple that we have come to know over the years from doing a lot of the same shows. Early on the second day I was taking pictures of my booth before the show started. She came and stood beside me, chatting and joking. And then she told me that she had watched my work evolve over the years and she was really impressed by how far I had come. She went into detail about color and composition. It was praise from a peer and you can't overstate how much that means. I gave her a big hug and told her so. Made my day. Heck, it made my year!

Favorite legal argument: A woman who set up on the steps of a house across from us to play her drum and chant and sell meditation DVD's was being shagged away because she didn't have a permit to sing and sell. I'm usually in favor of letting people express themselves as long as they aren't offensive, but you know, the Hare Krishna chant only has about 3 variations, none of them particularly distinguishable from another, so by the time the cops came to silence her bongos, I was rather ready for her to gather her robes and go. We had already dealt with a building alarm that rang nonstop for hours in the morning, but that at least was on key. She lost her serenity after debating her rights with the police for quite a while, finally shouting "Every time you've told us to move today, we moved!" I sensed an inability to comprehend.

Favorite lunch: Chicken salad and dressed field greens from Cafe 59.

Sometimes it's the little things.