487. Mr. Perelmuter Leaves Washington

From the Old Testament, Ecclesiates Chapter 3 Verse 1, is the very familiar refrain of "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." This verse and the seven which follow are used for a variety of reasons, often as an explanation for some change, whether that change be small or great, temporary or permanent, life-giving or life-ending. Change is, in fact, the only real constant in life.

Such it is that I use the phrase to note the next move of a dear friend, Stuart Perelmuter. Stuart has been mentioned in the entries of this blog many times - twelve if my count is correct - and almost from the beginning, first appearing in Entry #6 on January 9, 2007, five days after the blog's commencement. And, his picture has appeared in the right-side column for most of that time as well.

I first met Stuart at a local movie premiere, one he wrote, in the Kentucky Theater in 2003, and lost track of him shortly thereafter. He reentered my scene of interest as a volunteer in the first Yarmuth for Congress campaign in 2006. He quickly moved from volunteer to staffer, and ultimately from staffer to employee of Congressman Yarmuth, for whom he has served as spokesperson and protector since John's first day in the Congress. To my knowledge, only one other original campaign staffer remains on Congressman Yarmuth's official staff.

As there is a time for every activity under the sun, so the time has come for Stuart to move on - eventually "out West" - where his passion lay as his first avocation is writing - screenwriting, playwrighting, and the like.

In today's email came his letter informing the regular readers of his dispatches from Washington (of which I am one) of his departure from service in the Congress. I wish him well.

Below is the email he sent:

Dear Release Readers,

This will be my last week as Congressman Yarmuth's Communications Director. As some of you know, I write screenplays and now, with a couple scripts in development, it's time for me to devote my full attention to them in LA.

Trey Pollard is taking over and will be excellent in the role. He will be assuming my phone numbers and can be reached at trey.pollard@mail.house.gov. Unless you tell me otherwise, you will be automatically added to his release list.

My tenure with Congressman Yarmuth has been an amazing experience. He has set the bar for a leader extraordinarily high and shown me what it means to serve a community and country effectively and with integrity.

Thank you all. It's been an incredible 1,000 days.

Stuart

*****

The familiar Scripture from Ecclesiastes has been featured before as an entry, actually two entries, on the blog, once on Kentucky Oaks Day in 2007, and a second time on the Day Before Thanksgiving in 2008. Here is the wording from the New International Version of the Bible:

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.