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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

As an Army Officer the eat last was also practical as I'd watch the soldiers line up for chow and talk to them, often getting a great sense of their angst and sometimes finding out about personal issues. More than once I saw them hiding injuries (it's nothing sir!) that I sent them to sick call for to avoid making it worse.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Nice. People are more vulnerable and have more of a sense of community at chowtime. That's a great place for deeper, more meaningful conversation.

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Bill Hiatt's avatar

As always, a very well-thought-out and interesting piece.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Thanks, Bill!

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Frank Mariani's avatar

Today, I’ll make sure all of my guests get a good seat, fill their plates with their share of turkey and side dishes, and lead a simple prayer of thanks for having them in my life and for dining together. Eating last is a pleasure!

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I think it's half obligation, half pleasure for me. It really does genuinely fill me with a sense of knowing satisfaction if I eat last, no matter where we are. This can create some potential issues if I'm in a bigger group and didn't explicitly provide the meal, but I feel the same sense of happiness and warmth that you feel! It's great to see everyone fed.

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Rudy Fischmann's avatar

Back when I was working in tv, I always participated in clean up work with the crews I was supervising and almost always left last with the location supervisor.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

I believe it. We both have this... trait? I was gonna say curse, but I'm not sure it's really a curse.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

Oh man, just when you got to the parks, I immediately had Robert Moses's name on the tip of my tongue. I've just listened to the "99% Invisible" breakdown of The Power Broker (one last episode to go) and he's on my mind a lot.

Also, Sour Milk and Barley Bread were incidentally also the rejected names of B-Tier TMNT henchmen.

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Andrew Smith's avatar

Great book! I think it might be the longest audiobook I've ever listened to, and I doubt I ever read anything longer cover-to-cover. I feel like I got schooled in both urban planning and in power dynamics.

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Daniel Nest's avatar

I mean, it took Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan about twelve 2-3-hour episodes just to go through the *breakdown* of the book, leaning on summaries of events, etc. I can't imagine how long the entire book must take to read/listen to. Not to mention the colossal effort it took to research, synthesize, and write it for Robert Caro. That guy is insane. (In a good sort of way.)

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Andrew Smith's avatar

IF you're interested in talking about any takeaways, I'm down! I loved the read, but it was a long time ago.

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