Avenues Street Fair

Avenues Street Fair

On Saturday I helped staff our booth at the Avenues Street Fair. I've attended many fairs, in many places, and this is the zenith of street fairs. The booths are filled with creativity and they're visited by crowds that are a delight to watch. 

Of course, one of those booths contained orange t-shirts announcing that Ben McAdams is different. (Odd, whenever that's said about me it's never a complement.)

Most of my time I sat in the company of Ryan Curtis. He's a young bear of a fellow who gives more time to the campaign than I give to day dreaming about my next meal - and that's a lot of time. He has a reputation as king of the telephone and routinely squares a call objective the rest of us struggle to meet. 

However, he is unassuming and McAdamsville is filled with highly verbal and animated people. Therefore, Ryan is easy to ignore and under-estimate. I'm not sure which of those is the bigger error. Ryan's brain is a full-time fact checker. 

Ryan Curtis (center)

Making conversation with Ryan I shared my hope that Hillary would one day run for President. Then I tossed off a guess as if it were gospel. "At the end of Obama's second term," I decreed, "she'll be a lot younger than Reagan when he became President."

Ryan's head turned and he gave a quizzical look. "Not really, Reagan was seventy when he took office, and Hillary would be seventy if she's inaugurated in 2017."

I let a beat or two pass while I descended from Mount Olympus, "Are you sure?" I said, never guessing my factoid would be challenged. 

"Do the math," he replied, "Reagan was born in 1911, and Hillary in 1947."

"They'd be the same age?" I inquired, weakly. 

"Yes," he replied, as if reporting that Columbus sailed in 1492. 

Then he noticed an expression on my face half-way between embarrassment and humility. "Give or take a few months," he said reassuringly, "she might be a little younger." 

His consolation only had the effect of making me feel older than the Gipper - the day he left office.