When I get things settled down at ibiblio and I sneak off to write, I go to Peter Kramer and Susan Gladen’s farm and sit in the middle of their chicken yard. Peter, who cannot stop building small outbuildings, lets writers set up shop there.

Now Peter is recognized for his promotion of music with the Kathryn Wallace Award for Artists in Community Service from the Triangle Community Foundation.

I’ll let him explain, in his own modest way, further:

The judges were impressed by “Mr. Kramer’s ability to go on and on about musical esoterica, e.g., early 60’s soul music lyrics, well past the point where anyone is listening.” They also apparently took note of my musical skills: “Mr. Kramer never met a jazz chord he could play. He hasn’t listened to any new music since 1972, which he blames on hanging out with the same people he knew in 1972…”

Seriously, though…..I really won the thing, which comes with a small cash award that will be thrown back to some favorite groups like Lynden Harris’ Hidden Voices theater project at the ArtsCenter, Jude Reitman’s Women’s Prison Writing and Performance Project, the Education Foundation for the Orange County Schools, the Hillsborough Arts Council, and Tribes Magazine. All of you have been partners with Susan and me in a variety of ventures, which should continue until we’re dragged kicking and screaming off stage and the written page