Hope you don't mind, but today's letter is to the Vice President.
Dear Joe Biden,
You could have pushed me over with a feather when Bill, a chef from Texas, told me you were in the neighborhood today. I knew something was up when I leaned out the apartment window to eyeball that helicopter that kept hovering about a quarter mile or so overhead. Probably just keeping an eye on a march, or something like that, like they do in Seattle, I thought.
I had no idea that you would be visiting Campo de' Fiori, the square with the "green" market of fresh produce that is practically outside our door. Ann Anagnost, who is my hostess while I'm in Rome, is teaching a Culture and Politics of Food class and lives one floor up from the University of Washington Rome Center, and we and her UW students had been spending the morning preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, to be held there. We were already sitting down for dinner when Bill, who has lived in Rome for 40 years, disclosed that he had been told why there was so much security in the campo today -- that you were not only in town, but you had walked right through the campo!
Well, I wasn't even aware of the security on the ground, but I'll take that as gospel, because the New York Times said you were going to pass through Rome on your way to Coatia. Now it's not unusual to be in the same town that POTUS passes through, but to have a VPOTUS walk almost to our front door is a horse of a different color.
If we had only known, we might have at least hung out a flag. Sorry we missed you. Drop by any time and we'll treat you to some of the really good pasta, bread, cheese or gelato that the students have learned to make. Getting together with you would be the frosting on the cake to what has been a really great experience for them.
At the end of this letter, I'm adding a post-Thanksgiving meal photo of the group.
Love,
Robert
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UW Anthropology students and instructors at the University of Washington's Rome Center, Campo de' Fiori, Rome. |
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