Inside the
Fall Issue:

Home Page

All Because
of Harry...

Harry Chapin
Run Against Hunger

Be Not Afraid

An Extraordinary
Friendship

Larry Austin Helps Keep
Harry’s Long Island
Dreams Alive

Fighting AIDS
in Ethiopia:
One Person
Making a Difference

Bonnie Raitt
Honored With
Chapin Humanitarian
Award

Readers Help
Those Affected by
Hurricane Katrina

Chapin Family
& Friends Plan
Concert in NYC
To Benefit WHY’s
30th Anniversary

Goat Tales

Doing Something

Letter to the Editor

WHY Hosts Free
Anti-Hunger Forum
October 18th

Country Store
Owner Celebrates
“Harry Chapin Weekend”

Circle! Calendar

Goat Tales

by Bill Hornung

The Curse of the Purse

Men, let’s face it. We stand little chance against women’s purses. Handbags are the albatross that eventually will be our undoing.

So, with all compliments to Henny Youngman… take my wife’s purse. Please.

Of course, Gena would just whip out another one from her closet. Her closet could second as a feeding stall for horses. Just fill up the bags hanging from hooks and bring in the ponies.

But even with her bountiful bag collection, my wife is forever in search of the one she’s currently using. Of course, I’m responsible as to its whereabouts. Like clockwork, my cell phone rings after I start running errands in the car… “Hey, you have my purse in the car!”

“Oh, really?” I respond. “Did you see me take it?”

“No, I left it in the car and now you’re driving around with it. Hurry home, I need it right away because there’s important stuff in there.”

OK, I admit that I look inside her purse quite often. All I ever find are store receipts from 1997, what appears to be a mouse skeleton, ticket stubs from an Abba concert and some cash that she apparently took from my wallet a few hours earlier (I mark the bills so I can track where my money goes).

My daughter, Madeline, has taken the Curse of the Purse to a whole new level. She actually convinced me to buy Gena a new bag for Mother’s Day. Two days later, I see Madeline walking around with the pouch.

“I’m just borrowing it. Besides, you really gave her some perfume. The bag was a freebie that came as part of that special Mother’s Day package you bought.”

Weird, nowhere on my credit card statement do I find the word “freebie.”

Madeline’s purse collection is growing faster than Democrats declaring their presidential candidacies. She has purses that resemble lunch boxes (note to self: add a strap to the old toolbox and auction it off as a new fashion accessory). Several purses are barely large enough to hold a toothpick. Another one should be a bowling ball bag…. except she paid twice as much for it.

A business associate of mine has one bag so large that she reserves its own table when we go to a restaurant. All the women stop to gawk at this Italian job…. “what a gorgeous handbag, is that a [fill in your favorite Italian designer because I can never remember their names]?”

“Oh, yes, and I got it for half off,” Elaine replies. “Half off” are code words for only having to sell one body part to pay for it.

None of these purses have the function (nor, do I dare say, fashion) than the whopper that Steve Vaught carries. His bag could be measured in square feet.

Steve left San Diego in April on a mission to walk across the country to New York. The 2,700-mile stroll would be too daunting for most human beings to even consider. For Steve, it’s a life-and-death matter.

As he left, Steve weighed 400+ pounds. Convinced he wouldn’t live to see his two children grow to adulthood, Steve devised the walk as his radical weight-loss program.

So, he started walking – a self-proclaimed “Forrest Lump.” He’s completed about a third of his journey. It’s been an adventure that has often been stalled as his 80-pound pack has punished his overweight body – particularly as he trekked through the desert heat of California and Arizona.

And he’s already lost 50 pounds.

He’s become an unwitting hero for people all over the world. His website www.thefatmanwalking.com is a rallying point for thousands of people who respect his courage and determination to fix his own problems.

Steve has had an unfair share of tragedy that precipitated his decline from a peak-conditioned Marine to an admittedly direction-less man. But from his first step, Steve said he has no excuses. It’s up to him to change his life.

Steve has a renewed purpose. A self-drive that leaves no room to be a victim of circumstance. An example for which his kids and wife can be proud – all the while transforming himself into a dad and husband who will be around long after the hike is over.

Sometimes it takes large organizations and programs to make a difference in the world. Other times it just takes one large person…. like Steve.

So, Steve, keep on rambling through the countryside. Let me know if you need an extra bag or two to carry your stuff… I know where there’s a plentiful supply.

Watch for the Next Issue of Circle! on December 7