By popular demand, we'll ring out the year with one final game on New Year's Eve. Usual time and place.

Who's bringing the Wiccan chants?

Before you head out the door for your 8th holiday party of the week, please RSVP for our next 2 games, Dec. 22 and 29. I'll let you know by noon on Friday of each week whether we've got enough to play.

*(c) Mike Garland, 2001.

Saturday is the 210th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Come celebrate the right of the people peaceably to play frisbee! (But hurry--before John Ashcroft takes that one away, too.)

Also, Jeff invites everyone to "The Best Damn Hanukkah Party in Washington." Details in the e-mail.

Who's bringing the latkes?

Unfortunately, we weren't able to schedule the hoped-for scrimmage with a "real" team. But intra-family competition and conflict is really the finest harbinger of the December holidays, don't you think?

Don't forget Dave & Amy's housewarming/birthday party Saturday night!

Also, Rowan sends his Thanksgiving greetings from S. Africa.

It's a timeless story: A small but hardy band of religious refugees cross an ocean and bravely struggle against overwhelming odds for their right to play the frisbee game of their choosing. Will it have a happy ending? Will Squanto and the rest of the Wampanoag tribe show up for the game? Can I use any other inappropriate and anachronistic images? Can we get some of those buckled hats?

There are 6 players who've RSVP'ed for Saturday. Any other takers? You 6 up for a mini-game? The list so far:

Jill & Keith
Manny
Lizzie
Neil
Nancy

Last Saturday we had another huge turnout on a perfect fall day. This weekend promises to be as nice. C'mon out!

Thanksgiving weekend - Do we have enough people in town for a game? Please RSVP if you plan to play on Sat., Nov. 24.

Dec. 1 - Linda knows some league players who'd like to scrimmage against us. (Don't worry; they're from the least hardcore of the leagues.) She's negotiating the terms, and we'll put it to a vote once we have more details. Stay tuned.

After a troubling slowdown in frisbee-related parties, the recovery has begun with two invitations for Saturday night. Lane, who moves into her new house on Saturday, invites everyone to a CD release party in Takoma Park. And Jeff is throwing a birthday/housewarming party in Mt. Pleasant. All the details are in the e-mail.

Also, Manny's got a new baby girl! Julia (her tentative name at press time) was born Nov. 5, and everyone is doing well.

See you on the frisbee field!

Last week marked both the return of the thrills of winter frisbee (you know, alternately sweating and freezing under many layers, feeling like those little bones in your fingers just might crack in the cold, knowing you're so much tougher than those league wimps who stop playing in October), and the ass-kicking post-maternity return of Jill. (Hey, here's a vision: The Mothers' All-Star Frisbee Squad. We've got 3 recruits so far...just a few more and they'll be a force to be reckoned with.)

For those of you who need a little more time to acclimate to cold-weather Frisbee, Saturday's supposed to be a balmy 60+. C'mon out!

Okay, so the Ellipse didn't work out so well. Parking around it is closed off, most of the field is fenced off for reseeding, and what's left is hard and uneven (Sunday's game had a record 3 injuries).

It's been suggested we play near the Washington Monument. Meet on the west side (toward the Lincoln Memorial). Closest Metro stop is Smithsonian.

It's official. Mark Green will be the next mayor of New York and we'll be playing on the Ellipse. Imagine the White House as 12 o'clock; we'll be somewhere around 9, a.k.a. the 17th St. side. (In the event that our game is found to be a breach of national security, we may be forced to migrate toward the Washington Monument. Your best bet is to show up on time.)

Also, I've been reminded that I've been negligent in providing a post-marathon report. Thanks to the Ann Kammerer/Hal Higdon training regimen, Jim ran an impressive 4:39. And thanks to the quick replenishment of essential bodily fluids via the toxic-sludge green margaritas at El Chino (not to mention that bag of White Castle sliders), he recovered in record time.

Alas, the winter reseeding of our field has begun, and we have to move our game. Would people rather play on the Ellipse or our winter field from last year (west of the polo grounds)? Cast your vote ASAP and I'll send out the results by noon tomorrow.

But the news isn't all bad -- Lori & John are throwing a surprise party for Rowan on Saturday night.

For reasons obscure to everyone, including himself, Jim is running the Chicago marathon this weekend. So who's up for a 4-hour frisbee game? Solidarity demands no less.

All the way from S. Africa, Rowan's back! (Special limited return engagement only.) If you think your memories of just how high he jumps or how fast he runs may have become exaggerated with time, come on down and see it for yourself -- he's as amazing as ever.

That's right, it's a whole new year -- 5762 to be exact. See you on the frisbee field.

Saturday - 4 pm - FDR Memorial. See you there.

Summer's over and school's in, so shine up your Buster Browns and cross your fingers that you'll get the cool teacher, for once. See you Saturday!

Several folks are going out of town for Labor Day weekend, so please rsvp if you're planning to play on Saturday. Assume the game is on unless you hear otherwise from me by noon on Friday.

Saturday -- 4 p.m. -- FDR Memorial

(And if you're looking for mid-week frisbee excitement, come join the regular game we've horned our way into. 6:30 on the Mall. Only a few more weeks of daylight savings time left!)

See you Saturday at 4 at the FDR Memorial.

And here's word of a Friday night dance party. It's been vetted for lefty credentials...one of the hosts is from the National Organizers Alliance and La Raza.

Need a break from shoveling mud out of your flooded basement? Come play frisbee! Saturday at 4 at the FDR Memorial. See you there!

(Alas, no exciting social, housing, baby, or other announcements. Welcome to the dog days.)

We interrupt our regularly scheduled frisbee reminder to announce the birth of Jill & Keith's baby girl. After a heroic 24 hours in labor, Jill delivered by c-section yesterday (at 5:48 pm for those of you who were in the pool). Everybody's doing fine. Audrey is 10 lb., 8 oz., 22.5" We take that -- as well as Audrey's abundant hair -- to be Keith's influence.

And what better way to celebrate the birth than by playing frisbee? Saturday at 4 at the FDR Memorial. (And no "it's too hot" excuses--it's supposed to cool off this weekend.)

And here's an invitation to the next progressive women's potluck.

Oy--one week into my new frisbee coordinator position and I'm already falling down on the job.... Here, at the 11th hour, is your reminder. See you Saturday at 4 p.m. at the FDR Memorial.

===Housing available===
Now that Liz has her own swingin' pad, her old spot is available.

While Jill's busy thinking of ways to induce labor, I'm stepping in as frisbee coordinator pro tem. Please send your announcements & etc. for the frisbee list to me until further notice.

We had a good turnout last week. Let's keep it up! Saturday at 4 at the FDR Memorial.

Don't miss the exciting mid-week frisbee game tonight! Please RSVP to derosad@seiu.org so we'll know if we have enough players. 6:30 p.m. on the Mall at the Smithsonian Metro stop (walk toward the Washington Monument until you see us).

And, finally, if you want to play in a real frisbee game -- with rules & everything -- Tom's looking for players for a frisbee tournament:

The Left Wing Frisbee group has commissioned the polling firm of Cashen-Ashdown Research Inc. to conduct a demographic analysis of the frisbee turnout in 2001. The preliminary research shows:

• Male players are 95% less likely to show up if the temperature is above 80 degrees or below 50 degrees.
• Female players are 80% more apt to play frisbee if they are in town on a Saturday.
• 75% of male players have slept through the Saturday game at least once due to a hangover.
• Adverse weather conditions increase turnout among female players by a ratio of 4-to-1.

~~~~~~~~~~
There is no Wednesday game this week due to the holiday.

Saturday - 4 p.m. at the FDR Memorial.

Have a Happy 4th!

The Saturday game is set for the FDR Memorial at 4 p.m.

Since no one is spearheading the Wednesday game on the Mall, the best I can tell folks is to show up if you want to play at 6:30 and hope that others will too. The meeting spot is at the Smithsonian Metro stop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm forwarding a message I got from a very precocious toddler - who apparently knows how to use a computer already. Baby genius for sure!

My Weekend in the Woods
by Nathan Weiner

My Mom and Dad took me to the woods this weekend to camp with a bunch of their friends. We rode in the car over really curvy roads. It was fun.

I got to see our cabin and it was full of neat stuff to look at and play with. Some nice people cooked a big pot of pasta that made everyone happy. The really tall guy who has less hair than I do ate a lot of it, more bowls than I know the numbers for and then he fell asleep even before I did. I'm only one year old, and I stayed up longer than him.

When we woke up in the morning, I got to ride in this cool new backpack while we hiked in the woods. All the other people went hiking in the woods, but no one else got to ride in a backpack like me.

Later in the day, I saw the same guy who made all the pasta with lots and lots of chicken. He said he was smoking it for dinner. I sure looked like a lot of food.

I also got to watch Mom & Dad play that funny game with the toy they call a frisbee. Dad is really good and Mom can run really fast. More and more people came to play so I had lots of people to play with when they were resting and drinking water.

Dad got very sweaty playing that game, and so did all the other people. That's when we got to get into the biggest bathtub I've ever seen. It was so much bigger than my bathtub at home. Man, was it fun to splash in the water.

Later, my Daddy took me back to our cabin. I saw the chicken guy making even more food and it looked like it was on fire.

At dinner time, there was lots of food and people. A whole bunch of them sang a song with my name in it and then I played the hands-in-the-air game with them and it made them laugh.

The guy with not much hair ate lots of chicken and so did the loud guy with a big head. They both looked funny.

I saw my daddy go inside the cabin with one of his toys and he didn't come back to our cabin for a really long time. When he came back, he said, "I'm King of the World!" I don't know what that means, but Daddy seemed really happy and that is all that matters. The next morning, someone called him the Master of Global Domination. I'll stick with Daddy for now.

It was well past by bedtime, but I heard that one of the guys who is almost as short as me got lost on the way back to where he was sleeping. Mommy said the water he was drinking kind of made him goofy that is why he fell in the ditch.

It was so much fun to watch and laugh all these great people. Everyone seemed to have a swell time. I can't wait until Daddy and Mommy take me camping again.

For anyone interested in playing ultimate after work on Wednesday, the game will be at 6:30 p.m. on the Mall at the Smithsonian Metro.

Questions? Email Linda the Coordinator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Here's another social annoucement...

Hi all - so some folks from the frisbee list have told me they would be into going salsa dancing from time to time. Havana Village does lessons on Fridays (and wed and thurs, I think, but I've always gone on Fri) from 7:30-9:30 pm for $10. They have beginner, intermediate and advanced all at the same time, and the club opens afterwards. You can always escape downstairs for a drink or food too! Its really fun, friendly, good teachers, and totally non-intimidating for

There's an excellent forecast for Saturday - sunny and high of 70 degrees.
Perfect frisbee weather!

Hope to see you on Saturday - at 4 p.m. - at the FDR Memorial for Left Wing
Frisbee.

For the newer folks who've never been there, we play in the grassy field
behind FDR's Fourth Term. The field is nice and open and close to the
facilities (ie, bathrooms & parking).

If non-players want to join me for a long walk, I'll be there.

Saturday Game postponed until Sunday

Due to the fact that many frisbee players will be otherwise occupied this Saturday and it will be nearly impossible to walk, bike, or drive from the north side of the mall to the FDR Memorial...let's try to play this Sunday instead.

Frisbee - Sunday, 3:00 p.m.
Same location - field between FDR and Independence Ave.

Please RSVP to me, if possible, so we can be sure of a decent turnout.

Hope to see you there.