Still Life with Robin: And Now....The Winners of the 2019 CP Listies (part 3)

Photo by Bill Adler

by Peggy Robin

Drumroll, please! It’s time to announce the winners of the 2018 Cleveland Park “Listies” – the outstanding posts on the Cleveland Park Listserv in 2018, in each of four categories: Best Query; Most Helpful Advice; Best For-Sale or Giveaway; Best Long-Running Discussion Thread – followed by the overall BEST POST OF 2018. If you missed last week's nominations, you can find them on our sister blog, All Life Is Local here: http://bit.ly/2AnaCSK.

In the category of Best Query, the winner is “ISO Metal Detector.” Gail’s November 10th post seeking a metal detector to help find her husband’s wedding ring, which disappeared while he was cleaning up after their dog, had everything you could possibly want in a query – romance, animals, mystery, human yearning for a lost key to the past…..and best of all, it was followed up by the perfect happy ending. All in just two brief listserv posts!

In the category of Most Helpful (or Most Creative) Advice, Chuck wins for his real-time account of life on the Hamilton tickets online queue, beginning at 10am when he was number 50,657 in line and detailing the countdown clock, then running at 20 sales per minute, going on to 11am when he’s moved up to number 47,812. His initial post sparked nine messages in the thread, all informative and useful to others trying to navigate the tricky online process that would ultimately result in a phenomenal night of theater. (Stay tuned, as we'll have a bit more to say about Chuck later on in this column.)

When it comes to Best For -Sale or Giveaway, the winner is not the one who listed the strangest item (that would be Vicki’s Antique Sawmill Blade for sale on May 26) but the one who wrote the most poetic reason for taking the offered-up objects – and that would be Randy, who, on July 17, described a typewriter and some old-fashioned (that is, non-digital) cameras and lenses this way: “Free 20th Century Stuff. Tired of the 21st Century? Email and selfies! Type a love letter, send an analog photo of a sunset! I am passing on a portable typewriter (Smith Corona), and cameras and lenses (Konica and Minolta).” This kind and charming offer was swiftly followed by the heartwarming proof that there were plenty of people who still like to do things the old-school way: all items were gone in a flash!

Now for the hardest category to decide – Best Long-Running Discussion Thread. We almost threw our hands up and declared a tie, torn as we were between two very different kinds of discussions: the serious, well-reasoned subject matter of “Why Vote?” (producing 9 excellent on-list arguments) and the 15-message string of posts about our playful little friend, the “Red Fox.” Well, our furry friend has squeaked out a win over our hard-won right to vote. Maybe it's just that the foxes’ survival in our urban world is a joy to see, and voting rights, while more important to the fair functioning of society, is just not as much fun to see in action.

Before going on to reveal the winner of Post of the Year 2018, we’re going to slip in a whole new award, not previously announced. It’s Poster of the Year. We realized we needed this category after seeing one poster’s name appear THREE times – twice nominated for Most Helpful (or Creative) Advice – and once for Post of the Year for his Marcia Van Ness post, part of his series of Springland Farm History Notes. Indeed, any one of this poster’s Springland History series could have taken a nomination. So for poster of the year, by acclamation, the award goes to the the Memory Keeper of Springland Lane: Chuck Ludlam.

And now…..for the Cleveland Park Listserv Post of the Year 2018, the winner is:

“Summoned by a Snow in Spring” by Tim Phelps, posted on March 21. Here’s a short clip:

“Slipping into the park itself, I was greeted by a cheerful snowperson, also smiling, on the Western Ridge Trail. Birds, a dove, a tree sparrow, a bright red cardinal, flew about, apparently confused by the disappearance of their habitat. But the slate grey and white juncos, the birds of winter, hopped about confidently in the snow.” You can find the post in its entirety here:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/cleveland-park/conversations/messages/134681

And as we say goodbye to 2018 we thank EVERYONE who contributed to making the Cleveland Park Listserv a helpful, sharing, often funny, and occasionally poetic virtual community. And wishing you all even more in 2019!

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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.