Charles Apple

In my post last night, I made a reference to nearly losing my voice Wednesday. I woke up this morning, showered, dressed and packed my suitcase. Then I walked downstairs to inquire about a ride to the airport.

I walked up to the desk, opened my mouth… and nothing came out but a strained squeak. Overnight at some point, sure enough, I lost my voice.

My only regret was that Sharon wasn’t here to see it. In nearly 23 years of marriage, I don’t think she’s ever seen me totally speechless.

After a nice breakfast under the golden arches and an early-morning visit to Dealey Plaza — and a big bunch of Chloroseptic lozenges — I can talk again. Not like normal. But at least enough to be understood here in the Republic of Texas.

Heh. I’m just glad I’m not teaching another session today.

This picture shows just how well-situated the Hotel Lawrence has been for me:

Towering over the left is the Belo building. The traveling classroom sessions were held on the third floor. And just peeking over the trees on the right is the Dallas Morning News building, where I spoke Tuesday.

I didn’t mention this earlier, but here’s a photo of this wonderful old red-brick building a block or so to the north, between my hotel and Dealey Plaza.

It’s the old Dallas City Hall building. I’m told it’s recently been restored and turned into a nice museum for local history.

This morning was muggy and cloudy. I wore my sport coat and wound up sweating profusely when I ventured out around 7 a.m. So the lighting for today’s photos won’t match, at all, those I shot Tuesday.

With that in mind, I started out my quick tour of Dealey Plaza with another shot of the old School Book Depository building. Again, Lee Harvey Oswald’s window is the second down from the top, on the left face of the building.

Here’s a close-up of the window. You can tell the museum folks have kept a different style of pane of glass in that particular window:

I walked down the gentle sloping sidewalk. They’ve helpfully marked the pavement at the precise spot where President John F. Kennedy was stuck by Oswald’s bullet:

From this spot, I turn to my left to look back at the old Depository building:

In order to see the precise angle from the back of Kennedy’s head, I would have to take about four steps to my right. Not wanting to get run down in a Dallas street a 7:45 in the morning, I figured this would be close enough.

Now, I pivot all the way around to the opposite direction:

This is the famous “grassy knoll,” from where several witnesses said they thought the shots had come. There are even photos from the event that show police officers rushing up the hill to chase what they presume is a sniper hidden in the shrubs that stood about where you see that fence.

I should take this opportunity to say I’ve never really believed the conspiracy-themed “multiple shooter” theories. I believe Oswald did it and I believe he acted alone. I think a lot of Americans don’t want to believe that a single douchebag with a gun can bring an entire nation — and entire generation — to its knees with three twitches of a finger. Hell, and the first shot even missed.

But that’s what happened. Oswald missed, hit Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connelly with his second shot and then nailed the president square in the head with his third. And then he killed a Dallas cop a short time later for good measure.

If I had any doubt in my mind, it was removed when I visited the Sixth Floor Museum on Tuesday and looked out a window just a few feet away from Oswald’s “sniper’s nest.” I could see the mark in the road. And I was thunderstruck by how damn close it was.

I’ve always heard that it was supposed to be “an impossible shot.” Now, granted, Kennedy’s limo was a moving target. But the distance was so close. I don’t even own a gun and I’ve not fired one since I was in high school. But I believe I could have had a decent chance of hitting someone from that range.

Having read about this place my entire life; having compiled a whole shelf of books about Kennedy and his legacy — I really enjoyed visiting Dealey Plaza and seeing for myself the scene of one of the 20th Century’s pivotal moments.

Just outstanding stuff.

At some point last night, the mail server for my ISP — Cox Communications — pooped out. Even the Cox web mail server is down. So I’ve not received any e-mail for more than 12 hours. If you’ve contacted me and wondered why I’ve not responded — well, that’s why.

So please bear with me. I’ll get back to you soon.

I’m writing this sitting in DFW airport, waiting for my delayed flight to Charlotte. Because I couldn’t log on here — and because I’ll have a compressed layover in Charlotte — I expect I won’t be able to post this until tonight — Thursday night — when I get home.

—

UPDATE

My flight out of Charlotte was delayed just a tad. Which gave me just long enough to a) choke down a hot dog, and b) make this post and add the photos.

I love the Charlotte airport. Not only does it have a great selection of restaurants, it also has free wifi. Ya gotta love free wifi.

Note to my wife, Sharon: I had time to eat. So I’ll be fine. See you in a couple of hours.

Note to everyone else: This is what life has come to. Adding a note to my wife in my blog is the fastest and easiest way to get a message to her.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Amusing stuff, Charles Apple, VizEds Blog, Workshops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.