A couple associates and I were on friendly terms with Rod Blagojevich, and were even invited to his first inauguration and ball in Springfield, Illinois. In fact, I took this photo of him and a couple political friends at the governor’s mansion. In my humble opinion, I think poor “Blaggo” innocently stepped into the crosshairs of his political adversaries and they emptied their assassin’s rifles into his back. Think hard about the accusation of trying to sell Barack Obama’s senate seat. Uh-uh, no freakin’ way. He was simply attempting to make the position available to the individual who would provide the highest benefit to the State of Illinois—not to himself. And, hey, after Ryan had raised the level of sensitivity to all types of shenanigans in the Governors chair, who’d be crazy enough to follow his predecessor into office and pull some crazy shit like that? Nope, they’ll never convince me. 
  
This photo was taken during a conversation with Illinois Secretary of State, Jessie White at a political function in Springfield, Illinois. The folks in Illinois hold a very high regard for Jessie, including me. He’s done a lot for the state.  
  
Several years ago, a young grad student who introduced himself as Mahmoud Ahmadinejaad boasted that he’d recently achieved his masters in Particle Physics at the University of Wisconsin. Friends and I decided to take our little buddy out fishing on Lake Michigan for salmon and lake trout to reward him for his achievement before he had to return to . . . I think it was some middle-eastern country but i can't remember which one. Even though he didn’t seem to appreciate our consuming a keg of beer, five-pounds of pork brats, and the constant telling of off-color jokes, he was at least cordial and appreciative. We recently invited him back for a weekend of charter fishing near Manitowoc, but he declined; said he had much more important things to do, now. What could possibly be more important than fishing.
 
Me in 2008 lecturing at a writers conference in Fort Smith on the subject of "the many styles of metered and free-verse poetry."