24 March—I arrived at the historically appropriate Litchfield Borough Hall on historically significant Russell Street (a popular tourist destination) a little early last night, hoping to avoid parking in the mud. I was the first to arrive, so I was able to park on solid ground. I killed time by photographing the beautiful building and the hastily concocted warning in the window.

Shortly after I got back in my car, the acting warden arrived, dutifully carrying three take-out pizzas (in boxes, of course). I’m sure she would have greeted me had she been able to see me through the purdah glass of my old car’s windows.

Just as the acting warden unlocked the historically inappropriate door and entered the makeshift classroom, the hordes of BOLBOWAB and HDC volunteer members and lone paid employee began arriving, followed by The Uninvited, the instructor from the “FOIA Commission,” and the press. The press? At a training session? Absolutely not. Jesus, The Monitor is in the Blue Book and I carry a press card, but I was uninvited.

I introduced myself to Tom Hennick, the FOI Commission’s Public Education Officer, whom I had spoken with many times but never actually met. He recognized my voice; that’s how many times. And—mirabile dictu!—Tom immediately volunteered that he had prevailed upon the acting warden to permit The Uninvited to audit the FOI workshop. Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The Uninvited of both sexes would have kissed Tom right then and there had it not been unseemly in the circumstance.

(I knew a classics instructor who actually wrote a lengthy—and highly praised—paper on the derivation, pronunciation, and meaning of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense phrase “Callooh! Callay!” Any wonder why I forsook academics?)

I must note that Tom Hennick has always been a fantastic conciliator.

Getting on, then, as we Uninvited entered the restricted workshop, the acting warden made it clear that we were there only to listen and not ask questions; and if we tried to ask questions we’d be booted. And when asked by one of The Uninvited if they—we—could partake of the pizza, you can guess the answer. No problem with that. Especially as there wasn’t any diet soda to wash the pizza down.

The FOI workshop itself was—predictably—informative, stimulating, and well worth attending. As it happened, Tom covered everything I had wanted to learn, so I didn’t need to ask any questions. But I would have asked questions had the need arisen. In that case, I expect I’d have been shouted down by The Invited.

That may well be because last night I didn’t notice any of the casual, civil, even quasi-friendly interplay between The Invited and The Uninvited that I had always encountered at BOLBOWAB and HDC meetings even when I, the biggest pain in the ass both boards have ever known (outside of the Chabad shysters and their shysters), was in attendance. I got the feeling that it had become an us vs. them situation, much as we’re seeing in Washington. That’s unfortunate there and here.

But at least The Uninvited were able to refrain from peeing on the floor . . .