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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">When You Look into the
Holiday, the Holiday Looks into You</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">(St. Entropy Goes for the
Poe-s)<span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">December 2024―Number XXXV</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">‘Twas the night before Christmas, a midnight most dreary;<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Not a creature was stirring—they all were weak and weary.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The museum lights were out save for one upper story,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Just like a scene drawn by good old Edward Gorey.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The stockings were hung by the fume hood, of course,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And I sipped a warm whisky because I was hoarse.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The party was over, law enforcement was gone,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And most of the staff had passed out on the lawn.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The curators were nestled all snug in their beds<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">While revision visions danced in their heads,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And happily snored as they dreamed of the day<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">When Reviewer #2 would be carried away.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I was nearly napping when hark! What a rapping!<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">As if someone stood at the front door, just rapping.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I sprang from my desk (that much I remember)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And looked out the window at the distinct bleak December.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">What was it, I wondered (but could not be certain)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Just past the silken, sad, rustling curtain?<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">It was a miniature sleigh, and so badly flown<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I thought for a minute it must be a drone.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Faster than updates to Windows it flew<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But just what it was I had nary a clue.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And then, stray thoughts meeting, as my heart was fast
beating,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I thought, “’Tis some visitor, entrance entreating.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I dashed to the lobby, and tore open the door,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">When my wondering eyes saw a great Raven of yore.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The bird was all black, a color most morbid,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">A menacing presence and a commanding corvid.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But he was perched on the shoulder of That Man dressed in
red,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Which soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">St. Entropy stood there with boxes and bags,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But the fur on his shoulder as ripped into rags.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">His eyes, how they shifted; his face was so bleak<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">As he tried hard to avoid the Raven’s sharp beak.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">“What’s with the bird?” I asked, “…seems a bit odd.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And the Saint, looking wearier, started to nod.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">“This bird most beguiling is not at all craven<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But new to the team—it’s a real talking raven.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">By the grave, stern decorum of the countenance it wore,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The Raven, sotto voce, croaked out “Nevermore.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">They spoke no more words, but went straight to their work,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And tried to fill stockings (though the bird was a jerk:<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Flying off with the shiny things to hide in collections,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And making a nuisance and mess in odd sections).<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Once the gifts were in place, though with much melodrama,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And the Raven retrieved from an old diorama,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The Saint laid a finger aside of his nose<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">(To staunch the blood from the peck of the beak, I
suppose).<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And, as I marvelled at the fowl on his shoulder,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I was somewhat distracted to see his beard smolder.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">It seems that the Saint, when he laughed ho ho ho,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Forgot that his pipe was fully aglow.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The embers had kindled and were beginning to smoke<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But the Raven uttered only one word when he spoke.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">“Nevermore!” the bird screamed as poor Santa froze<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But, quick as I could, I pulled out the fire hose.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">I sprayed down poor Santa, and the Raven as well,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Just as the smoke was beginning to swell.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The presents were soaked, the boxes destroyed,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">The Saint was still smoldering, and the Raven, annoyed.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Overall, the museum looked as if we’d had a bomb.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Then St. Entropy squelched to his sleigh with aplomb,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Shaking off water and glaring around,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And holding the Raven as the sleigh cleared the ground.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">And, as they arose, I could not hear a word,<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">But I’m certain the Saint had just flipped us the Bird.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black"> <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0in 0in 8pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">(Sally Shelton and John Simmons wish you a holiday that is anything but
dark and dreary.)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
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