Like many of you, I suppose, many of us at Sojourners gathered around the television for the last episode of M*A*S*H. Some had been faithful M*A*S*H watchers for years; others had seen it only occasionally. But I think it's safe to say that M*A*S*H is the only TV series that any of us watched with any regularity. (Though there is a new group gathering on Thursday nights to watch Hill Street Blues.)
The special two-and-a-half-hour farewell to MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) 4077 was a big night. (Once in a while at Sojourners we enjoy doing something that the rest of America is also doing.) Danny Collum pitched a large, green tent in the dining room of one of our households, complete with cots and a cardboard sign that read "Welcome to the Swamp: MASH 4077."
A few of us dressed up in hospital pants and army jackets. Seven-year-old Nathan Tamialis was a convincing Radar O'Reilly. Joyce Hollyday, clad in a beach towel and shower cap, was, of course, Margaret Hoolihan. And our publisher, the lovely Joe Roos, was the hit of the evening as Klinger. After buying a flowered hat earlier in the evening at Value Village, our local thrift store, it took only earrings, a string of pearls, someone's grandmother's black eyelet dress, and combat boots to make his outfit complete.
The highest drama of the night was making our way through our neighborhood to the house where we gathered to watch the show. Considering the way we looked, we were probably safer that night than any other: who would dare to bother such an unusual-looking group?
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