BY TRACY HOFFMAN
April 10, 2019
For this Washington Irving Wednesday, I want to mention some events sponsored by the City of Irving, Texas, which is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The city’s theme for April is: “Irving: The City and the Man.”
First off, if you’re anywhere near Irving, Texas, on Saturday, April 13, 2019, you must come out to one of John Dennis Anderson’s performances. At 10 a.m., Anderson will be performing at the Irving Arts Center on North MacArthur, and the Chautauqua performance will be at 2 p.m. in the South Library on Schulze.
http://irvingheritage.com/images/_Celebrating%20Irving/2019/2019Flyer_1pg.pdf
On Washington Irving’s birthday, April 3, I showed my American Lit classes the 20-minute YouTube clip from a few years back of the Google Hangout discussion between Anderson and Irving ISD students. You can check this out to get an idea of what to expect. My students have listened to me rattle off facts and stories about Washington Irving, so I’m sure they appreciated listening to an equally reliable, yet more creative source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTTmSk6gEo
But here’s something you may not pick up immediately from Anderson’s performance—he’s steeped in scholarship! He’s not just acting like Irving; he’s speaking the scholarship. He has Irving’s words memorized, and when asked questions, John often responds with what scholarship has to say about the matter.
John Dennis Anderson graduated with an undergrad and master’s from Baylor University and a Ph.D. in “Speech Communication/Performance of Literature” from the University of Texas. He retired from a professorship at Emerson College in 2016. Sic ’em Bears!
And if you’ve in or around Irving, Texas, on Saturday, April 27, you’ll also want to check out the Irving Trivia contest, which begins at 9:30 a.m. at 801 West Irving Blvd. The trivia teams take the contest seriously, often showing up in team uniforms, but they have a lot of fun with it, too. In years past, they split the contest into multiple days, but for 2019, it’s a one-day event.
I’ll be at the Anderson performances and at the trivia contest. I hope to see you there!
By the way, I love the coffee, the people, and sweet treats at Argentina Bakery in Irving. The City of Irving has many great restaurants to try, but this is my must-stop coffee shop when flying through town. Maybe I’ll bump into you there as well.
http://www.argentinabakery.com
Argentina Bakery reminds me of Washington Irving because I think about his interest in South America, his translation work on Chile, and how I need to get busy working on that. I’m also reminded of Pope Francis and Argentina. I may have been the only customer to have asked the fine folks at Argentina Bakery what they thought about the new pope when he was selected.
Until next week, please feel free to add to the conversation wherever you like: Twitter, Facebook, on this page. Comments are very much welcomed. Also feel free to message me at Tracy_Hoffman@baylor.edu. I try my best on Wednesdays to blog on the WIS website, to respond to all correspondence, and to update the WIS page.
Washington Irving Society 
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