Saturday May 7, 2016 Roz, Paul, and Rosetta

Late afternoon was upon us as we headed back to the hotel in order to primp for the highlight of the weekend - dinner with Rosalyn Wilcots Coates and Paul Coates at Acadiana.

Jerry Crawford (Stephen's lover [1968-1990]), Rosalyn, and Rosetta Hillary worked as attorneys in the federal Office for Civil Rights in Chicago.  After Jerry's death in 1990, Roz became counsel for the Library of Congress, and Rosetta transferred to the OCR in D.C.  I had heard about this tireless threesome who worked as hard as they partied.  Stephen lost touch with Roz and Rosetta, but recently found Roz on Facebook and ended up seeing her for the first time in 20 years during his last philosophy conference in the nation's capital.

I was excited to finally meet Roz, and her famous husband, Paul Coates.  Paul founded Black Classic Press in 1978 in his Baltimore basement with a mission to reprint out-of-print classic works of African-American history and scholarship.  It is the oldest, and seemingly only, company exclusively devoted to publishing books and manuscripts by and about people of African descent.  Yes, in case you are wondering, Ta-Nehisi Coates, award winning author of Between the World and Me, is Paul's son.

It was a beautiful early evening and we decided to stroll down K Street to the restaurant.  Much to our surprise, and my delight, many women were wearing hats...and I mean serious hats.  I was sorely tempted to tell each hatted woman how fabulous she looked, but I held my tongue since I know Stephen would be embarrassed.  Besides, given the number of hats, we would never make it to the restaurant.  We arrived a bit early, and were seated while we waited for Roz and Paul.  Even the restaurant was filled with women in fantastic hats!  I commented to the waitress about the hats, and she reminded me it was Kentucky Derby day which in D.C. is known as Hat Day.  I ordered a mint julep, and yes, it was served in a pewter cup.

Paul and Roz arrived, introductions were made, and both were ready for a cocktail after a traffic jammed, parking nightmare trip.  To have finally met Roz, and to be introduced and having dinner with the famous Paul Coates, was beyond expectation.  Soon after the food arrived,  Stephen let out a yelp.  Standing at the head of our table was Rosetta Hillary who Stephen had not seen in decades.  Roz had set up this surprise for Stephen - and it sure did work!  The unflappable Stephen Boydstun actually can yelp and jump in public! Introductions were made all around again, and years of information were exchanged by Roz, Rosetta, and Stephen.  It was a wonderful evening of renewing and making new friends.