Southern Home and Book

Rod: I just want to be a regular guest and write. I have no dreams of working that hard on hospitality and upkeep. I could exchange writing and hanging out time for a few meals. I like to cook. Deal?

This house: http://www.harmonhomes.com/real-estate/homes-for-sale/Ohio/Springfield/detail/27201838 filled with friends I know and friends I don't who are there for good food, good wine, good talk.

Think of this blog, and others I read (and one on which contribute) come alive.

That's what I would do...

I think Garvey's got it right. Except I'd rather be in the bleachers. I'd also buy my wife an old Victorian house like she's always wanted with a big enough yard for her to keep a vast menagerie- rats, mice, chickens, and many more cats (she's a regular Ellie Mae Clampett). A dog for me. Also a room for me to play my guitars as loud as I want without the missus complaining. And Leo Kottke or John Renbourn to give me lessons. And finally, a big Winnebago for baseball trips with my buddies.

I've been to Square Books, once late at night when visiting Oxford. Lots of atmosphere, although I didn't buy anything. Those pictures of the owners' house are so typically Southern -- all those antiques ... there really is no place like that in the world.

MJ

I'd fund a charity like Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard -- getting kids involved in agriculture and producing their own school lunches. I intend to homeschool my own, but if they've got to be in school they can at least be eating something decent and learning about work.

I got to do a book signing at Square Books. In spite of my nobody status, they provided wine and cheese and a fine little audience. They're the best.

Since we are dreaming I will disregard the geographic logistic problems. I would like to have my hobby farm, consisting of an orchard of heritage apple trees, paw-paw trees, and a huge garden of heritage breeds. Probably a small amount of livestock but not enough to make it impossible to find someone to farmsit for us occasionally. I would also like to buy a lodge in Alaska that I could market (easy since in dream scenarios it doesn't have to make money) to people who share some of my interests, such as people who play Dungeons&Dragons but want to experience some outdoor fun in the great white north. Lastly, close to wherever I would actually be living most of the time I would open the coolest comic book,game and gun store w/ an attached bookstore for my wife.

We would purchase a small farm near an Orthodox monastery and set up a hostel for pilgrims. Husband and I would also learn a trade/art together to keep us honestly employed, something to pass along to our progeny. Maybe set up a small Orthodox-themed religious school for neighborhood kids and adults.

I'd buy a vacant strip mall and make it into a small, unaccredited liberal arts college. The only admission qualification would be the personal interest and desire of the student to learn. The tuition would be five bucks per class. I'd set up an endowment to pay the faculty and staff--they'd never get rich from it, but they'd be able to live. We'd spend our mornings studying the Great Books and polishing up our Latin and Greek. The afternoons would be spent making music and practicing other fine and applied arts.

First of all, I am assuming that the payout would be somewhere in the vicinity of $100 million to $200 million after taxes.

I would buy a farm and do something similar to what both Steph and Susan D wrote. I would start a Christian school for very bright kids. They would study the classics and Great Books; my goal would be that the freshmen were at the level of college freshmen (not saying much these days, I know). By the time they graduated at age 18 or so, the students would be almost ready to do graduate level work. Hopefully, they would also be fluent in French and/or Mandarin. It would be open to all social classes and races; in fact I would make a special point to include--indeed to recruit--minorities. What I would NOT allow would be mollycoddling and political correctitude. The whole point of this school would be to give them an education of profound depth and breadth.

I would use my remaining money to start an endowment for scholarships, and for a building fund. (I have the sad feeling that I would still have to shake the money tree, but the $100 million would give me some serious credibility money and hopefully some philanthropists would help out.)

As a treat, I would buy a villa in either Tuscany, or the Vendee in western France. Assuming I got married and had kids I would hire two governesses (note I did not say “nannies,” but “governesses”—I have been reading too much Austen); one governess would be French or preferably Swiss, the other from Mainland China. They would speak to our children in French on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and in Mandarin on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, or vice-versa. Sundays we would all speak in English.

I would build a huge house (10 to 12 bedrooms), but would drive a Saturn or a Volvo station wagon.

When I had spare time from my job as headmaster/benevolent dictator, I would write, as well as reading 30-40 books a year, minimum.

There is probably something I left out, but that’s good for starters.