For Alan

Abstract:For decades—half a lifetime, really—you write to Alan, sharing an idea, a thought, an essay, and eagerly await his response. Always gracious, generous, even when he (oh-so-politely) takes issue with this or that claim. Then, suddenly, you are writing about Alan, hoping that something of his mind and spirit will be conveyed through your words. As present tense becomes past tense in your rhetoric, the presentness of his voice and his soul must somehow flow through you …