THE BLOG AND DINNERTABLE CONVERSATION.

THE BLOG AND DINNERTABLE CONVERSATION. One of my first posts on this blog was about how the blog reminded me of my father’s references at dinnertime to THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE. I can see how THE AUTOCRAT represented an example for him of conversation around a table. The Autocrat’s breakfast table is in a boarding house, an early twentieth century American institution that was familiar to my father. My father would refer to a “boarding house reach” (a stretching for food instead of asking for it to be passed). My parents were very good about giving their children equal opportunities to converse at the table. I can now see that my father may have made reference to the Autocrat sometimes when he was feeling a little guilty about dominating the dinner table conversation. I am very grateful for the comments and the guest posts I’ve received, which make the blog more like a conversation.