Oakland

We had the privilege of interviewing a man called Henry Gardner last week for the earthquake film (at this point I am glad of the inaccessibility of this blog). It is such a pleasure to meet a man of his calibre. His voice fascinated me and I asked him about his accent when we finished. He was taken aback at first, them warmed to talking about Jackson, Florida, where he was born, New York for school, and his mother, who was a stickler for clear and precise speech. I have the feeling he is asked few personal questions. I could hear the South in his voice, a comfortable pace and cadence, with quite open endings - ovah, moneh. Black baritone resonance.

We lamented the speech of the young in fogeyish fashion, spoke of our mothers' influence and the pleasure of words. I have deep respect for him, he has breadth of understanding, heart and strategy, and I took pleasure in his delivery. Reassuring to know that there are such men in government.

As I was packing up there were two noticable tremors. Ah, life on the fault lines!

sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/20/BAEBDIGEST3.DTL