DFL Runner: Blog

The next chapter is in the queue. Since I have a busy weekend ahead, it will be posted tonight.

I said in an earlier blog post that, at times while writing this story, I felt Harry Chapin crawl up my nose and plant some new ideas on the paper.

The character of Rabbi Isaac Mendel is one of those ideas.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not Jewish. Nonetheless, I wanted to be as true as I could be to the character and his faith. To that end, I did a LOT of research as I was writing. But researching it and living it are two different things. As such, for any of my readers who are Jewish, I am begging you: if I have misrepresented anything about the Jewish faith or its practice, please let me know so that I can fix it.

The second of Harry Chapin’s three heroes, Pete Seeger, gets his shout-out in this chapter.

Also, a surprising influence in this chapter, the reference to a suitor being ushered out the door by the toe of Kenneth Burke’s boot: it comes from (the novel) Les Misérables, when Thenardier is trying to figure out how to approach Marius with his knowledge of Valjean’s true identity and true history. The English translation I read talks about Thenardier knowing that to try and approach Marius by bluntly saying “your wife is a bastard” would get him "ejected on the toe of Marius’s boot."

Mea culpa! I forgot to add Chapter 6 to the queue last night.

There actually is a Harry Chapin song that could serve as a soundtrack for this chapter, called "Mercenaries."

I think, however, "The Mayor of Candor Lied," about a small-town leader who uses his power to not only get what he wants, but to make sure others don't get what he doesn't want them to have, may be a better fit.

The good news is, while Annie is in a dark, bewildering, even repulsive tunnel, she is about to see a light at the end of it.

Incidentally, I would love to get feedback. I see the statistics, so I know there are people out there following along. But on a site like this, feedback is the only currency an author earns.

Have a good first full week of 2026, everyone.

Chapter 5 has been added to the queue for posting.

The events of the second half of the chapter are a fictionalized version of something that happened to a female acquaintance when she was fifteen years old... and it is not as fictionalized as I wish it were.

It is for this reason that the chapter opens with a trigger warning: the awareness that her experience was not as unique as people might like to believe it is.

Please take care of yourself. If you are not in a safe place mentally and emotionally, you can skip this chapter. You'll probably be able to infer the details from the first part of Chapter 6.

If you have never read the Declaration of Sentiments, here you go...

https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm

Information about what religious beliefs Harry Chapin may have had are a bit nebulous. Of course, Harry's life and work may well have been as good a representation as you will ever see of what Matthew 25:40 ("whatever you did to the least of these my brethren, you did unto me") is supposed to look like, but beyond that, it gets a bit murky. He was raised in the church - in fact, he and his brothers performed in the choir at Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, NY, which is where he met Big John Wallace.

A paraphrase of something his brother said at his funeral: "Harry said that God looks at us, with all our faults, with all our failings... and hugs us."

Other sources suggest that by the time of his death, he was more or less an atheist.

But whatever the case may be in that regard... so many of the resources out there about the life and work of Harry Chapin overlook "Cotton Patch Gospel." Harry wrote all the songs for this musical, which is based on a reimagining of the life and ministry of Jesus, as delineated in Matthew's Gospel, if Jesus lived in Georgia in the early 20th century.

"Are We Ready?" is a song from the musical, sung during a scene that serves as a mirror of the final journey into Jerusalem, with the Twelve reflecting on everything their lives have been about for the previous three years, realizing that it has led to this moment, and each of them asking themselves if they are ready to seize that moment.

Although this is largely a transitional chapter, it begins with Annie asking herself that very question, and seeking an answer from her own personal spiritual vantage point. If you are reading this on Friday evening, the chapter itself will be available tomorrow morning. Enjoy.