Month: January 2022

Shortly after I arrived in Washington, my friend had a few people over; it was a party.  I was young and new to the team and most of my friends were a group of interns to whom I was closer in age to my full-time peers.  In this particular case, I brought a lot of Rolling Rock beer.  I drank it too quickly, and my body reacted accordingly.  I subsequently spent some time in the single bathroom in the apartment vomiting violently.  While my friends were sympathetic to my predicament, my friend eventually threatened to pee on my head.  I collected myself and cleared out of that single bathroom.

Continue reading “Racism and how do we know what is appropriate?” →

I drove a 1966 Mustang when I attended college.  Her name was Lisa, and she was two years older than I.  I loved that car, but she was an incredible nuisance.  I learned to service many elements of that car and shuttled back and forth between my school in Miami and my home in Fort Lauderdale with a trunk full of tools.  It was a love/hate relationship.  I could write an entire blog post reminiscing about Lisa, but I won’t do that today, besides…  I’ve already done that.

Instead, I’ll marvel about the safety features of that car, which is to say nearly none.  The car had a set of lap seatbelts, which didn’t retract.  A shoulder strap that extended from the roof of the car, and you could extend that and clip it on.  You had a choice strapping in across the belt or the shoulder, but not both.  That’s about the extent of the safety features of the car.

People often describe cars of that era as ‘tanks’, since they are much more likely to survive an accident.  The subtle subtext is that the car survives, but the passengers incur more injury.

Continue reading “What are the odds?” →