December 2019

Dear Friends and Family,

                Season's greetings from the nation's capital, home of the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals. This year, the Jost families are celebrating in particular the arrival of Eli Samuel Jost, born November 25, 2019, to Andrew and Robbie Rogart Jost in Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia.

                In brief summary, Ken is in his 27th term of writing Supreme Court Yearbook for CQ Press and the 16th year of his legal affairs blog Jost on Justice. Ken and James are in their 15th year together; they live together apart in Washington and Alexandria. James continues as data-integration specialist with the IT-consulting company Total Resource Management. Nicole and her wife Lily Rea are well ensconced in San Francisco; AJ and Robbie will be taking parental leave from their jobs at Clark Enterprises and the Big Law law firm Crowell & Moring to care for Eli in their child-proofed Arlington home.

                Robbie was managing her pregnancy and full-time work schedule without undue complications until her water broke on the afternoon of November 25 while at the office. AJ got the news by text as he was en route to pick Robbie up for the customary drive home. Once he got Robbie to the car, he turned instead toward the hospital, where Eli was born less than three hours later at 8:23 PM ET. Eli weighed five pounds, fifteen ounces at birth and measured 18.5 inches. He was pronounced healthy and mother and child were discharged three days later. The bris was held on the eighth day, December 3, with all four grandparents and other family and friends in attendance.

                Nicole, playwright and director, launched a theater company in 2019: Queer Cat Productions. She co-authored the company's first production, The Gay Divorce Play, an interactive and immersive work with eight performances in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, including several sold-out shows. Nicole continues to teach playwriting to young people and is working with 4th and 5th graders for the first time in several years after having left Young Playwrights Theater in Washington five years ago. Lily continues to enjoy her work as production and technology manager at the Jewish Community Center and, in her free time, is teaching herself to play the ukulele. Their cat Molly reached age 16 in August, about 80 in human years.

                Ken traveled on his own to Harvard for his 50th college reunion and later to Nashville as "distinguished alumnus" at the University School of Nashville for the senior class convocation. Ken also found time in August after finishing the Supreme Court book for a week in Thailand on his own and then joined the gay journalists' convention in New Orleans in early September. James spent some time in Taiwan to help care for his mother, now in her late 80s and mostly on her own after James' father's death last year.

                Together, Ken and James are scheduled for an African safari in February 2020. Ken and AJ visited Marlins Stadium in Miami as their 29th major league ballpark and plan to finish the list this spring with a trip to Rangers Stadium in Texas. Ken will also continue on his plan to tour all 50 state Capitols: 10 so far, 40 to go.

                For now, all of us wish for you and yours a happy holiday and good health and good spirits in 2020.

               

               

December 2018

Dear Friends and Family,

            Greetings from the nation's capital, home of the defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals and the sometime-in-the-future champion Washington Nationals. We join with other Americans in longing for the time when America is truly great again: John Winthrop's "city upon a hill;" Frederic Bartholdi's "liberty enlightening the world."

            Our holiday season is clouded by the death of James's father, at age 90 in Taipei, after a long battle with COPD, lucid and mostly comfortable almost to the end. James was grateful for a final Facetime visit a few days before. His mother, age 88, is in relatively good health for her age and has two of James's older siblings in Taipei to help her transition. James plans to travel after Christmas for the funeral and other family business. Ken posted a longer tribute on his Facebook page, along with a link to the video tribute that James made a few years ago.

            Ken and James celebrated their fifteenth year together with a much-needed weeklong vacation to the trending destination of Portugal. James continues as an IT consultant with Total Resource Management in Alexandria; Ken is in his 25th term of writing Supreme Court Yearbook (CQ Press) and the tenth year of his blog Jost on Justice. He posts breaking news on Twitter (@jostonjustice) and on Facebook; he also continues to do occasional radio hits and to write occasional reviews for the online Washington Independent Review of Books. Ken's other major trip was with AJ to Houston, our 28th MLB ballpark, for the Astros' home opener, complete with the presentation of the World Series trophy and the raising of their 2017 pennant.

           

            Andrew (AJ) and Robbie continue to be happy, healthy, and productive living in their Arlington home with their two-year-old golden retriever Henry. AJ entered his fourth year at Clark Enterprises helping to manage the investment portfolio that will eventually be given away to charitable organizations and universities throughout the Washington, D.C., area. Robbie completed her fifth year at Crowell & Moring and her first full year as counsel at the firm. She continues to represent clients in the medical device and health insurance industries and has assumed more responsibilities within the firm. AJ and Robbie took vacations to Bermuda, Santa Barbara, and Hilton Head.

            Nicole and Lily have moved into a bigger apartment in San Francisco's Outer Sunset neighborhood after significant milestones: Nicole completed her three-year program for a master's degree in creative writing at San Francisco State University, with graduation exercises in May at AT&T Park (!). Lily has been promoted to production and technology manager at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, with the benefit of additional vacation time. Nicole continues to teach playwriting to young people in several different settings. Her play, Sucia, a modern Cinderella story, was produced at SF State in March; another of her plays, Intimates, was shown as a staged reading at Custom Made Theater in November.

            In these difficult times, we gain strength and comfort from our many friends: near and distant, virtual and actual. Please know that we wish for you and yours much joy during this holiday season and health and happiness in the coming year.

                                                                                                December 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

            From our family to you and yours, we wish you a happy holiday season, whatever your faith, whatever your traditions, whatever your politics. But it cannot be denied that this is not a happy time for many of us here in Washington and not a happy time for our great country or for millions of people in many other troubled countries around the world.

            In brief, the adult Jost-White children are both happily married, and they and their spouses are all advancing in their careers. Ken continues to write Supreme Court Yearbook (CQ Press), now in his 26th term, and to write weekly columns for his blog, Jost on Justice, about to start its tenth year. James marked his 20th year in the world of IT consulting at Total Resource Management.

            Nicole and her wife Lily Rea are in the third year of Nicole's three-year master's program in playwriting at San Francisco State. Nicole's play The Terror Fantastic, in development for several years now, was produced in a two-week run at Minneapolis's 20% Theater: Ken was there for opening night; Katie and the rest of the White family attended the next night. In San Francisco, Lily continues to gather experience as a theater techie, helping produce audio and video for the Jewish Community Center. They live in Hayes Valley, with their cat Molly.

            Andrew (AJ) and Robbie Rogart Jost celebrated their first anniversary in September, five months after taking on a mortgage for a three-level home in the close-in DC suburb of Arlington, Va. AJ continues as an investment analyst with Clark Enterprises, with increased responsibilities in his second year in that position. Robbie was just promoted to counsel in her sixth year with the Washington office of Crowell & Moring. And they have a new puppy: a golden retriever they named Henry and dressed in Washington Nationals gear as the baseball season came to a disappointing end.

           

            Ken wrapped up Supreme Court Yearbook for the mostly boring 2016 term with Justice Gorsuch's confirmation and the end-of-term challenge to President Trump's Muslim travel ban. The 2017 term opened with a goodly number of high-profile cases. On Jost for Justice, Ken has criticized several Trump administration policies, such as his judicial appointments, and laid out the case for impeachment in a pair of columns in November. He also contributed a review of two recent impeachment books for the online Washington Independent Review of Books.

            Ken and James traveled to San Francisco in September for a sad occasion: services for Ken's former reporter, Philip Carrizosa, who died from complications following a long-awaited liver transplant.. Ken traveled to Italy and Sweden on his own in August; James went to Taiwan on his own in November to spend time with his aging parents. His father, now housebound, is weaker but in good spirits; both parents were glad to have James there for two weeks. James also uses various modern technologies to talk or "visit" on a weekly basis. On tap for us, an African safari in February.

            We closed a year ago with wishes for greater tolerance and compassion; those hopes have not been realized. Americans are more divided than perhaps at any time in our history. But to you and yours best wishes at this season and for health, success, and happiness throughout 2018.

Ken & James, Nicole & Lily, AJ and Robbie (and Henry!)

Christmas Dinner

4101 Albermarle St., N.W., #303

City of Washington, District of Columbia

December 25, 2016

Whiskey apple cider cocktail

served with mixed nuts

Italian wedding soup

(vegetarian)

served with Ruffino Pinot Grigio 2015

Beef rib roast with Yorkshire pudding

Mashed potatoes

Roasted root vegetables

Cranberry sauce

served with SoMek Adom 2010 Shomron

Orange and fennel salad

served with anchovies on the side

Iced desserts: pistachio gelato, cashew milk vanilla

served with assorted cookies

Coffee, tea

Limoncello

December 2016

Dear Friends, Family, and Followers,

            Greetings from the nation’s capital, home of the Washington Nationals, 2016 champions of the National League’s East division, and future workweek home of President Donald Trump. In the spirit of the season, we’ll make no further comment on that subject.

Instead, we’ll turn to the year’s happy news that son Andrew (AJ) is now the much blessed husband of Robbie Rogart Jost, married on Sept. 24 in Virginia’s wine country. The wedding weekend, cohosted by parents Katie White and Ken Jost and Rick and Shelley Rogart, was a joyous celebration of ritual, food, drink, music, and dance.

            AJ and Robbie took a two-week honeymoon to Hawaii, which included sightseeing on land in Kauai and Maui, parasailing over the Pacific, and helicoptering over Maui and Malakai. They returned to their apartment in Arlington and to their respective jobs: Robbie, now a fifth-year associate at the Washington office of Crowell & Moring; and AJ, investment analyst with Clark Enterprises. Before the wedding, Andrew also learned he had passed the CFA Level III exam: so he is now a “chartered financial analyst.”

            Nicole and her wife Lily Rea are resident in San Francisco’s Mission District. Nicole is a teaching artist for Performing Arts Workshop and a graduate teaching associate in theater and playwriting at San Francisco State University; Lily does audio and video for events for  the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Nicole’s playwriting continues apace. Two of her plays were produced this year. Slut was presented by Minneapolis’ Gadfly Theater as part of its festival of short plays in June; Monarchs in Space was presented in October in Berkeley by PlayGround as par of its new play festival..

            Ken continues in his 24th term of writing the annual series Supreme Court Yearbook for CQ Press and now occasional reports for CQ Researcher, including a comprehensive pre-election overview of President Obama’s eight years in office (“The Obama Legacy,” Nov. 4). Ken devotes more time to his blog, Jost on Justice, and writes occasional reviews for the on-line Washington Independent Review of Books. James continues as senior systems analyst for the IT consulting firm Total Resource Management. After 11 years, they still live together apart: Ken in Cleveland Park, subway close to the Supreme Court; James just outside the Alexandria city limits, a short drive from his Old Town office.

            This is written as Ken and James are set to take a pre-Christmas trip to Malta and Sicily. Ken’s other travels included a week on his own to Berlin, Germany; a baseball road trip with AJ to Atlanta (three ballparks to go); and a trip to Miami for the LGBT journalists’ convention. Ken also tailed along with James on a work trip to Westchester County, New York, where Ken visited the homestead of the first chief justice, John Jay, and  had a good reunion with cousin Jerry Reilly. James visited his parents in Taiwan. His father, now in his late 80s, is doing fairly well after the emergency hospitalization a year ago.

            Every year, it seems, the seasonal wishes for peace on earth and good will toward all collide with harsh reality here in the United States and abroad. And this year as well. We hope for a resurgence in 2017 of tolerance for all and compassion for those most in need. And for you and those close to you we wish a new year of health and happiness. L’chaim!

                                                                                                                December 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

                Greetings of the season from the nation’s capital after a year of transitions. Nicole and Lily are now in San Francisco, where Nicole is pursuing a master’s degree in playwriting at San Francisco State. Andrew (AJ) has a new job and a new relationship status: engaged to be married to Robbie. Ken and James marked their 10-year anniversary and for the first time had an extended visit together to James’ native Taiwan. Yes, we know that the country is preparing to transition to a new president, but the less said about the political campaign, the better, at least for now.

                Nicole, age 29, gave her notice at Young Playwrights Theater, ending her seven years as artistic director, so that she could polish her writing in a master’s program. By picking S.F. State, she returns to her birth state and to Lily’s. They have a room in a house in Mission District. Nicole has a part-time administrative job with a nonprofit organization involved in public education; Lily has a tech job at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. They celebrated Thanksgiving in Chico with Lily’s folks, but they’ll be in Washington for Christmas.

                AJ, age 27, has just started a new job as investment analyst with Clark Enterprises, the investment arm of the big Washington-based company Clark Construction. After two years together, he popped the question to Robbie on a walk along the Georgetown waterfront. Robbie’s folks helped him buy the ring, wholesale; a friend was tasked to emerge from the bushes to shoot the engagement photograph. Robbie marked her fourth year as an associate at a big D.C. law firm; she works longish hours at the kinds of things that young associates do.

                Ken marked his 23^rd year of writing Supreme Court Yearbook with a memorable term highlighted by the court’s ruling for marriage equality for same-sex couples nationwide. He continued to write for CQ Researcher, now as a contributor instead of full-time employee, with reports on patents and fair housing and updates on the Arab Spring and gay marriage. He also published a collection of Jost on Justice columns under the title Trending Toward #Justice. Inscribed copies are available to special friends at no extra charge on request (kennethjost@gmail.com).

                James continued his IT work with Total Resource Management, with completion of a big project for Los Angeles’s Department of Water and Power. In family news, James helped his aging parents close the Alabama house and move back to Taiwan, no longer able to manage the long flight back and forth. The move became more emotionally wrenching when James’s dad was hospitalized in Taipei in late October. James flew to Taiwan fearing the worst, but his father pulled through.

                Ken found time to join James in Taiwan for a week-long visit that gave James his first opportunity to show Ken where he grew up. Among other trips, Ken and A.J. added two more ballparks to their list: Comerica Park, Detroit, and Target Field, Minneapolis. Four more to go! Ken went to Nashville for his 50^th high school reunion, to San Francisco for the gay journalists’ convention, and to Cambridge for a reunion of the Harvard college radio station WHRB. It was great fun to see long-time friends at all three and to do book events in Nashville and San Francisco.

                The world’s troubles weigh mightily on us this holiday season, with too many Americans in an unwelcoming mood. But we are grateful for our many blessings and hope that this season finds you and yours in good health and good spirits as a new year beckons.

Ken Jost & James Chang  

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                            December 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

            Greetings from Washington, D.C., where two of the home teams faltered as their seasons ended. The Washington Nationals, with the best record in the National League, didn’t make it past the first round of the October playoffs. And Team Democrats were beaten worse than expected in November by Team Republicans. With that said, the Jost Family also won’t list 2014 as our favorite year ever. But we’re all in good health and reasonably good spirits in this holiday season.

            Ken continues to write The Supreme Court Yearbook and occasional reports for CQ Researcher as a contributor after his full-time position was terminated in summer 2013; the severance pay ran out this summer, so some belt-tightening is in order. But, along with Ken’s blog Jost on Justice, there’s still enough work to keep busy and enough money to pay the mortgage. James continues at Total Resource Management, the IT consulting company he’s been with now for nearly 20 years. But James was put into service this fall as caregiver to his elderly father after serious but non-life threatening surgery in November. James was in Alabama for more than a month helping his father get better; his family duties forced the postponement of the customary exotic vacation in November. We are making up for it by taking a post-Christmas Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona, embarking on what the Brits call Boxing Day. We’ll celebrate the New Year at sea.

            The 20-something kids, Nicole and Andrew (AJ), are both working and in good health, as are their significant others: Nicole’s wife Lily Rea and AJ’s girlfriend Robbie Rogart. AJ and Robbie moved in together in late September in an apartment in the Clarendon neighborhood across the river in Northern Virginia. Nicole and Lily continue to live in their second-floor condo in DC’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood, with their adopted cat Molly.

            Nicole continues as artistic director at Young Playwrights Theater; Lily, the theater techie in the family, has been promoted to associate director of technical services at George Washington University. Nicole has continued to work on her coming out-themed play The Terror Fantastic and wrote another, The Creature, as part of a Halloween-themed festival performed at an up-and-coming venue in DC’s H Street Corridor.

            AJ continues at Guggenheim Investments in its Rockville, Md., office, now as senior client representative. He and Robbie have been together for a little over a year. Robbie is a third-year associate at a Washington, D.C., law firm. AJ had a minor setback this summer when he failed to pass Level 2 of the Chartered Financial Analyst in June; he’s studying to take it again next June. AJ also does some investing and trading on his own, along with Fantasy Football and Baseball.

            Despite the aborted November vacation, Ken and James had separate family trips this summer with the so-called kids. Ken and James traveled separately from Nicole and Lily to California to celebrate a milestone birthday for Lily’s father over the Fourth of July weekend. The party was a great success; Ken and James left Chico by way of a one-day tour of Napa Valley wineries. Ken and AJ continued their baseball road trips with visits to Coors Field, home of the Denver Rockies, and Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. We have now visited 24 of the 30 Major League ball parks. James joined in Arizona for three days at the Grand Canyon.

            As so often happens, the holiday season arrives against the backdrop of disheartening events, in this country and abroad. We regret the continuing racial divide in this country, especially as seen in the criminal justice system, and the casualties from conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere. But we are thankful for our blessings, and we wish for you and yours a new year of health, happiness, and success wherever it may take you.

Ken & James, Nicole & Lily, AJ & Robbie