Monday, July 12, 2004

A surprise encounter Saturday morning, I was sitting in the shade of our little EZ-UP at the Port Washington Farmers' Market, when a familiar-looking gentleman walked up and asked, "Are you Dan?" "I am," I replied. "I'm Michael Frome," he said. You could have knocked me over with a feather.  I said something dumb, like, "You look like Michael Frome," which he did.  I had not seen Michael in probably 20 years.  We may have run into each other at an OWAA conference, but the last time I can say we spoke for sure was at Northland College umpteen years ago, when he was Outdoor Writer in Residence. There is no one in the conservation field more respected by his peers.  Frome wrote the conservation column for Field & Stream back in the 60s and 70s, but was fired when execs from CBS, which then owned the mag, were unhappy that he had told the truth about some political matter.  He has a habit of telling the truth, and of getting fired because of it.  In fact, he's probably been fired from more prestigious writing positions than anyone else in the business. If you want to learn more about Frome and his impact, do a Google search.  You'll find Ted Williams' marvelous piece for Outdoors Unlimited's "Legends" column.  O just click here and you'll go there. When I asked what in the world he was doing at the Port Washington Farmers' Market, he said "I moved here a year and a half ago."  His wife, June Eastvold, has family in the area, so they moved here from Bellingham, Washington.  He had just returned from a trip to Guatemala.  Still had the airline baggage tag on his backpack, in fact. We chatted briefly and promised to stay in touch.  I asked what he is writing these days.  "My memoirs," he said.  That should make interesting reading! I suspect we'll have a chance to visit again this summer, since we live about 15 minutes apart.  Frome has been an ispiration to many conservationists and conservation writers.  He's certainly a living legend.  He and I have at least one thing in common.  I held the Outdoor Writer in Residence position at Northland after he did.  I even got fired from it, but not for being unspoken the way Frome might have.  The dean thought I was costing too much money.  That's another story for another time. Later 11:07:26 PM    comment []