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Where the Elite Meet to Bleat

By Rick Horowitz

Dear Special Ones: It's that time again! The calendar is preparing to turn a page, and we're preparing to welcome you back to that annual New Year's rite of celebration and conversation known as Renaissance Weekend. Hilton Head awaits, and so, of course, does a carefully selected group of America's most stimulating people -- people, that is, every bit as fascinating as you are!

Get ready to relax, to recharge your batteries, to reconnect with the things in your life that really matter. How important is our Renaissance tradition of self-fulfillment through nonstop networking? Let's put it this way: Despite all the buffeting they've had to endure during the past 12 months, a certain Very Prominent Washington Couple plans to see in the new year the same way they've done practically forever -- with us!

Now, we know that many of you are dying to find out just how our longtime friends have been holding up under that enormous pressure. We'll admit it: So are we! And while direct questioning on such personal subjects is a Renaissance no-no, you can be sure that the congenial setting we've worked so hard to create will lead to those special Renaissance moments of perfectly calibrated candor. And if that doesn't work, there's our full schedule of Renaissance workshops and chat sessions, just guaranteed to get the dialogue flowing. Among this year's exciting offerings:

"Three Things I Wish I'd Known About Depositions."We all think of ourselves as Masters of Process -- but what happens when the process is turned against us? Are there ways to emerge from an interrogation situation a better, and less prosecutable, person?

"I'm No Luddite, But Really Now..." As if all the latest technologies weren't enough! The world is too much with us, the poet said; how does one find a properly centered existence when even the lowly answering machine can be used for nefarious purposes?

"If I Had It All to Do Over Again, I'd..." Life wouldn't be life without temptation, and no matter how high we climb on our own special ladders, we find our darkest impulses are right there with us. Can we handle the consequences of our choices without a top-notch legal team?

"Tammy Wynette Wasn't Just Whistling `Dixie.'" (For the Ladies.) Sure, he wears the pants in the family -- but can't he keep them zipped? As high-impact women consider forging their own high-profile lives, let's revisit the competing tugs of loyalty, love and thong underwear.

"I Could Tell Andrew Johnson a Few Things!" There's nothing like a little perspective to shed new light on old problems. History is a demanding mistress. (So to speak.)

"Didn't I Say `I'm Sorry'?" (Or, "When Bad Things Happen to Insatiable People.") Despite our best efforts to live a stain-free life, sometimes things spin out of control. So how do we put things right with the ones we most care about? Is contrition the win-win strategy for the new millennium?

"There's a Tiny Special Prosecutor Inside All of Us." Life's a fishbowl -- and there are sharks in the water! Swimming away from danger these days requires high speed and constant vigilance; maybe it's time to shelve the breast stroke.

And finally:

"When I Look in My Mirror, I Still See a Good Person." Old dreams die hard, even for Renaissance regulars. When people whose respect you've always craved start to look at you with a jaundiced eye, what does that do to your self-esteem? You won't always live up to your ideals -- but can't you always find someone else to blame?

Posted 12/25/98. Fresh stuff right here twice weekly!

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