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A PERSONAL FAVOR

A number of years ago I discovered that my wife has a memory like an audio visual recording Rolodex. She remembers conversations we had the first week we met. My memory is not nearly that good. In fact relative to my wife’s my memory is horrible.

Here in this community, it is challenging remembering who said what, especially without a feature that allows us to search by name for peoples past comments.

My memory works by geography. That’s my filing system.

If you would be willing, when we are conversing, I would love it if you tell me what state you live in or what city. I’ll remember you better. I know TPJ is in Boston, Marcy Meldahl is in Tennessee, I think Nancy Bailey just told us she lives in Georgia. Marlene in the Bay Area. I should know where Lynell is but I can’t think of it. Bruce Carpenter and Denise Huddle in Texas, I remember that from the ice storm. Anyway it’s just a tool that would help me a lot. From now on I’m going to write them down.

Thank you!

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Happy Daylight Savings Time, Roland! I always enjoy reading your perspectives and the banter among the group. I try to bring a positive note to these conversations from Cape Cod...where the tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay stretch out seemingly forever. Tide pools will soon be filled with hermit crabs, snails, and tiny fish as the days begin to warm. It’s just after 6 AM and the sky is beginning to brighten ahead of the sunrise. 🌅 Good Morning!

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Fond memories of renting a house in harwich for part of the summer and eating all that the sea can provide while feeding the ducks that would constantly waddle by.

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Sorry Hyannis not Harwich

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Hi Kari! Everything between Hyannis and Provincetown. Mashpee is in there somewhere. See I dug all that out of the dusty files. Memory isn’t completely useless. Unless I double check on the Internet right now and find out I totally screwed it up.

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😂 Our little strip of sand can be very confusing. I’m sending a link to a recent article, “Cape Cod: Where Going North is Really East and the Lower is Above the Upper”.

https://www.capecod.com/lifestyle/cape-cod-where-going-north-is-really-east-and-the-lower-is-above-the-upper/

And this map attempts to provide a visual to track a trip down (up) Route 6.

https://capecodstar.com/cape-cod-regions-upper-mid-lower-outer-cape/

And to make things worse, our federal government has changed the exit numbers all along Route 6 from a numerical progression (exits 1, 2, 3... to exit numbers based on distance from who knows where! So, old exit 2 is now exit 59 and old exit 8 is now exit 75! Go figure. You think you screwed up...I don’t even know how to find my way home anymore 😉

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Oh that was so stupid I can’t believe they did that. I know exactly what they did. They turned your main drag into another federal highway. So that means Mile Zero is at the very beginning of that numbered route where it crosses the state line. Since Route 6 technically starts in Providence, as soon as it crosses the state line into Massachusetts, that’s Mile Marker zero. What a bunch of dummies. The way they used to have it is so much more sensible, they had to monkey with it and try to “standardize” it instead of just leaving it the way it was. This is why citizens have to be involved in government. Government doesn’t always make the best decisions.

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Part of that change is the ability to document exact locations on the public highway. In your description, an incident (crash, rescue, medical emergency, etc.) would be "3.2 miles north of southbound exit 8 on the west road shoulder" rather than "mile marker 71.5, southbound"

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The renumbering must have started before GPS.

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They’re in the process of doing the same thing where I am in WMass. Now I don’t know where I live anymore! 😂

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My personal conspiracy theory is that whoever was behind renumbering the highway exits owns the sign company. The new numbers finally hit rte 128; just where does the mileage counting start from??? Not Boston, not the state line. my new exit number is 44, miles from where?

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Normally west to east freeways are numbered starting at the state line low (mile marker 0) to high, and south to north freeways are numbered 0 to high at the next state line. At least California doesn’t get convoluted and bizarre and unfathomable. With a few short exceptions, like 580 in the SF Bay Area, most of it makes sense.

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What a mess. I looked it up on Wikipedia, there is a chart under the chapter “Exit List” that gives you the old exit numbers and new exit numbers. Good luck.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Route_128

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All the exit numbers on the Maine Turnpike were changed several years ago, after I moved from Maine to Colorado. Even though I spend every summer in Maine, I can never remember the “new” exit numbers, so I resort to referring to the towns associated with the exits, such as: “Get off at the first South Portland exit you see, which used to be Exit 7.”

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Boston has similar problems. None of the "compass" neighborhoods -- West End, East Boston, North End, South End, South Boston -- is west/east/north/south of the center of town. The West End doesn't even exist anymore: it's now Mass General Hospital.

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Wendy Raksin here from Granada Hills, California which is a small suburb of Los Angeles, located in "the valley." I am mostly a lurker on this page with only and occasional comment. I learn a lot from all of you. This is a very intelligent group of people. Many moons ago I visited Boston and got terribly lost. It was at night and I finally burst into tears. I used to visit San Diego regularly when I was a kid. (Children of divorced parents get taken on short trips every weekend.) My favorite place in the US is Vermont. I briefly considered living there but I don't think I could take all the snow. When I was a teenager, I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentine. It is true. Living in different areas and countries gives one a different view of the world and as does living and visiting other areas of the country.

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I'm in your general neighborhood every week. Thanks for the mention of Buenos Aires, now I will always remember that about you. Living somewhere else in your teens gives you an international view of the world that is indelible. My teenage friends were from every country imaginable. You get to see what makes the rest of the world tick, and you get to see how your home country is just a small part of the vast sea of nations. It's hard to be an arrogant nationalist (or culturally illiterate) when your classmates are from Germany, Israel, Finland, France, Poland, Britain, and yes Canada (Alfred E. was his name) and when your sister's best friend is the daughter of a diplomat from Thailand. I once wrote a greeting card for a secret Santa designee, and I was able to accumulate "I Love You" in over 3 dozen languages. Before the internet, not an easy task, except that I just had to buttonhole students, easy. I still remember some of the more obscure ones: Finnish "ma rakastan sua."

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Chuckled at you getting lost in Boston - we lived there for a brief period - I swear they went out at night and turned the one way signs around on purpose to confuse everyone not born there!

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Nice to be considered part of a "very intelligent" group of people. I am probably the exception that proves the rule, but don't tell anyone!

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Wendy Raksin: I was born in VT (lived in only 2 towns) and lived there till I was 17 years old. I moved to Keene NH to attend nursing school 1n 1969 and have stayed in the area since then.

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Born and raised I Brooklyn.

Have lived in Lowell,MA for many moons now!😊

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Thoroughly entertained by this article, Kari. Should I be concerned, because I think I followed the north is east and down is up view of your world. The map, however, well, that just adds to the confusion!

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Canadian ex-pat in Ukraine. I only remember stuff that never happened

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😂. I only remember stuff that nobody else knows happened.

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I remember dreams and things that happened. And I mix them up in my mind.

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NY state. I sometimes mix fictional characters with people I’ve met.

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When I lived in California, once I actually voted for Donald Duck for governor. It was a protest led by the Black Panthers against Ronald Reagan.

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Sufferin' succotash! (Daffy, not Donald, but I couldn't resist.)

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That's very praiseworthy, Joan, but the question here is did you mix up Donald Duck with the recent Donald?

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Uh oh. This could be trouble 🤭

😉

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Sometimes a little vacation from reality can be a good thing. I think we embellish our memories more than we admit.

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The former Soviet Union has a lot of stuff that never happened. It's all not there in the history books.

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When I was in China a few years ago, our guide regularly referred to “Tien-an-min Square, where nothing happened in 1989.”

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"It was a long time ago, and it never happened anyway". David Satter

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"History is bunk." -- Henry Ford

"Henry Ford is bunk" -- TPJ

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As with many US history books. Some should be re-labeled into the fiction section by the libraries. We can, and will, do better.

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We'd better!

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Lurker and occasional commenter here.

Minneapolis, MN suburb.

My hometown, Minneapolis, has been in the national news for nearly a year, ever since the cold-blooded murder of George Floyd. We made an early morning pilgrimage to the site several days after the murder. When all the flowers were fresh and hearts were newly bleeding. A few COVID-masked white and black people meandered around the intersection, trying to grasp what the hell had happened there. Because of COVID, we didn't stay long, but for whatever is left of my life, I will never forget the sight and feeling of that place.

There's been an uptick in the Minneapolis news, ever since the government center was gift-wrapped in multiple layers of barbed wire, and surrounded by concrete blockades in anticipation of violence during and after the trial of the murderous perp, Derek Chauvin. Jury selection has begun for his trial. Chauvin was a bully-boy scofflaw long before he became a murderer. Had I been called for this jury duty, I'm reasonably certain I'd have been dismissed.

Footnote: Minneapolis is a beautiful city, with lakes and streams and creeks and the Mississippi River, for starters. Also, its government center that was a handsome building until it became a reluctant fortress.

And there you have it.

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Despite Eugene Goodman's heroic actions on Jan 6, Derek Chauvin is still the face of American policing. Will he be convicted on any count of murder? Reinstating 3rd-degree murder charges looks like a bad sign, possibly indicating a flawed case from the prosecution. Another concern is the GQP tendency to lie. It's easy to imagine one or more stealth jurors who will produce a hung jury or mistrial. I don't even want to think about an acquittal.

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Chauvin's murder doesn't qualify for a 1st degree murder charge in Minneapolis. Worthwhile to read the state's charging guidelines.

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My understanding is that 3rd-degree murder charges in MN are routinely dismissed, as indeed Chauvin's was previously. Hoping for a 2nd-degree conviction with maximum sentence. Not just for the sake of justice, but to forestall dangerous protests in case of lesser conviction or (gasp) acquittal. The 3rd degree charge is BS; it may have applied at the start, but after 8:46 it could only be 2nd-degree murder. Monstrous.

The Nation magazine has a current article titled "The Acquittal of Derek Chauvin has Already Begun." Monstrous.

https://www.thenation.com/

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Thank you for the link, TPJ. I’ll read it later.

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Not favorably impressed by the article. There is nothing about the defense lawyer, prosecutor or judge to provide a sense of their backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing about nature of charges or questions by prosecutors to potential jurors. This type of reporting is too personal, opinionated and info lite.

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Hey, Barbara. Good on you for taking those pilgrimages. I have been following the news about the upcoming trial. They would have dismissed me, too, if I were called to be a juror.

Alas, it's been years and years since visiting Minneapolis. About all I remember is how friendly/approachable the people were. Also got a thrill seeing where the Mississippi River was born!

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Itasca State Park! In the beautiful northern part of "my" state. Where the north shore of Lake Superior competes with the oceans, minus salt. : >)

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Yes! I love hearing about everybody's environs. I know we are vested in the politics, but it would be fun to do a little bit of "Discovery Channel" on this page. I, for one, enjoy the digression.

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Mornin' Roland! Home is St. Augustine, FL. I'm the "recovering racist" born and raised in Alabama. FL is a tough place to live these days politically speaking. While I don't comment often, it is great to be a part of this community. ❤

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Quality over quantity.

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I have family in St. Augustine and visit frequently. Cracker-town for sure, but I love it anyway.

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Good Morning Kelly!

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Never been to the Gulf Coast. A few trips to Miami Beach and the Keys when I was living in Boston. Huge Florida Art Deco fan.

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I love your posts!

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My SIL used to live in Palm Coast and we went to St Augustine whenever we visited. Loved it. She’s now near Jacksonville.

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Hail, Roland, from the Formerly Confederate, now Great Blue State of Virginia, Loudoun County! (Call Washington, D.C. my hometown)

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Morning Lynell!! Another good reason to call it Virginia's BLUE Ridge! (Even though most of the blue voters live elsewhere.) The turnaround became clear in 2006 when Jim Webb defeated George "Macaca" Allen. It's so good to have VA back in the Union, and now Georgia too. You're next, Lone Stars and Tarheels. Resistance Is Futile.

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And please don't forget about my plight here in Floriduhhhhh! Been here "preDisney". Lots of pavement on paradise, not to mention good old boy local politics, but, change is in the wind!

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From your lips Lynn. Florida here too, St Petersburg in barely blue Pinellas County. Grew up on the barrier islands when our beach towns were still mostly shacks & fishing piers on the Gulfside and mangroves bayside. The smell of orange blossoms in spring waifed in from the mainland. It was full of natural wonders. Also lived in WA, TN & NJ, but, always come back to FL.

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Orange groves, clear water, abundant recreational fishing and wildlife. If we could only turn back the clock on our precious environment...

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Wekiva Springs, used to outside Orlando, now swallowed up. Coldest damn water I ever swam in. Rock Springs, outside Apopka, when Apopka was a sleeply little nowhere, was the same. We had family picnics there after church in the summers, ride inner tubes down the river. Ah, yes. Florida used to be Paradise. If ever they should have closed a border...............harumph.

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Diane, my mother was born in Punta Rassa. My Florida Cracker roots, sans the racism, are on her side. The other half, Keys Conchs, via Harbour Island, Bahamas. My favorite family vacation was a week on Sanibel, before the causeway. Up before dawn to go shelling for the 'good stuff', with a local woman who was the only professional sheller I ever knew. Or am likely to. 😉

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We did that too, in the 60s. So empty, paradise.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. 🤞

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Ooh, I like what you did with your name! Because I'm not going to remember where everyone is from!

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Kelly inspired me. I'll probably change it again to just "Roland (CA)."

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Florida is especially endangered. If there is a place in North America where Mother Earth needs special care and doesn’t get it, it’s the limestone wonderland and the unique tropical jungle and at the southern end the sawgrass river that is FL. The Earth weeps.

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We haven't forgotten, Lynn. Floriblue doesn't look as likely for now but, yes, winds of change are blowing.

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We need candidates! With kkk, oath keepers and their cult leader here, it's a little hard to have faith. As developers pave over paradise.

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Whoop! Resistance IS futile, TPJ! Time for Texas to stop pretending to be independent and be assimilated (in the best possible way, of course).

Austin is in the midst of the process, BTW; now that Big Tech has discovered the city, they've moved in and flattened the culture here. 'Keep Austin Weird' is no longer the motto, sadly. Now we're flooded with Teslas, BMWs, Range Rovers, Lamborghinis, and other high end vehicles, (including high end, oversized pick ups) along with the snobbish rich looking down upon the rest of us from the ugly skyscrapers that clutter the once beautiful skyline of Austin.

The artists, musicians, and the long celebrated weird folk can no longer afford to live here and are leaving; prices have shot upwards, and the overall vibe has changed.

So, yeah... I'm thinking assimilation is well underway here. I can't speak for the rest of the Lone Star, though.

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"Bob Wills is still the king!"

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I was so.lucky to live in Austin during my first husbands law school years. A magical.place then. We moved to Houston when he graduated and my theatre, music and artist friends there are bluing Harris County which had only 1 voter drop box for an area bigger than the state of. Rhode Island

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I was infuriated when they removed all the voting boxes, Gailee, as were so many others. It's utterly appalling that they got away with it.

I'm sorry that I didn't know Austin when it was still a haven for musicians and artists; there are still some here, and there's always Antones and Austin City Limits, but that spirit is long gone now. I'm glad you had the opportunity to live here when you did!

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It was a wonderful time. I wish you could have. Is Gruene still a special place?

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Laureen, I'm going to read this book and thought of you after reading your comment:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/books/review-fulfillment-alec-macgillis.html

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Thanks, Fern. That book reinforces why I don't use Amazon unless I can't get what I'm looking for elsewhere, but it also makes me think about 'one-click' shopping in general. I've always preferred to shop in person, but this virus has put paid to that, although I do hope that we can get back to it (next year, maybe?) eventually.

Sadly, many people only see the convenience of online shopping and either overlook or are unaware of the real damage those corporations cause to communities, businesses, and people. It would be a good idea to make books like this one required reading, but I fear that most folk would just shrug it off.

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You spelled it out, Laureen. One of my concerns is that so many Main Streets have been decimated by the loss of industry. Many Main Streets have a church or two, a bar and coffee shop, period.

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Sure, invoke the Borg, see if anybody notices. Naturally I agree completely with the metaphor. It matches my growing conviction that the blue team is a monolith which will grind the red team in the dust. Over time.

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Someone noticed ....

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Good luck trying to slip that by me without me noticing

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Live long and prosper \.\\ //

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I suspect the percentage of Trek fans over Wars fans on this forum is hefty. Just a guess. (from WA - the state)

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Don't be so sure. And then there are the dual-passport fans, the double agents under deep cover. (blowing my cover)

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Formerly of CA currently in SC hating Lindsey the Graham Cracker, loving the Trek Wars.

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Ahem, Marvel fans, too! 🙋🏼‍♀️

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Morning, TPJ!! VA, NC and GA counties have many more red than blue. TX, too, obviously. Scary to look at their political maps!

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Writing from NC, we are a very rural, VERY gerrymandered state with a backward legislature controlled by Republicans.

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Hi Jennifer, Roland and the rest of y'all. I'm in Chatham County, NC the exact center of the state. My rural county has consistently the highest voter turnout in the state and consistently votes Blue!

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Well, hey, neighbor! Are you on the poor, Republican side of the county, or the granola-eating, well-informed side of the county? Heh.

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Yikes, how'd that happen? But good on you!

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Sounds just like Wisconsin. :)

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A fair characterization, unfortunately. Hello from Boone.

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Don't know where you are, Jennifer, but I feel your pain. I'm in Randolph.

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When Washington, D.C. becomes a state, it will be known as “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.”

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Didn’t L’Enfant do a rather nice job with DC? Although I admit I am also a big fan of Olmsted.

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An excellent job as did Lafayette and several other French military figures helping Washington in another theater of the operation.

I'm currently still down in Provence but don't tell my GPS.

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Mais c’est beau la bas

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I hope some day to visit Provence when the lavender is blooming.

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All around the village but to see it best come in June as they are cutting earlier and earlier...and when they do the "smell" is amazing between the wagon loads trundling down the lanes and the distillaries working 24/7.

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Thank you! It will be a while before I am able to visit, both because of covid and also due to personal reasons. But it is on my “bucket list”! So are many other places, both in France and in the rest of Europe and also the U.K.

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Provence! My husband and I are headed there as soon as the Pandemic allows us to travel.

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Anywhere in particular?

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We are focusing on Cotes du Rone, Avignon and Arles, trying to avoid cities. We loved the hill towns we visited in Tuscany and Greek villages in the Peloponneses. That's the vibe we're looking for. We are novices but trying to see as much as we can before we age out.

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Given the rise of mutant COVID beware of a third wave coming to a super sreader event on the East coast.

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You so lucky!!

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City planning in the US is inextricably linked to de jure racial segregation (vid. Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law) and I have a hard time admiring anything so redolent of wrongs consistently committed across this country to keep white people's lives (particularly middle class and wealthy white people) "safe" from having to live in proximity to those who did so much of the building of this nation and those from whom so much has been and continues to be stolen. City planners such as Olmsted were fully cognizant that they were creating white environments to sustain white power.

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I read Rothstein's book. I had no idea only 4% of black veterans were able to access the GI education benefits upon their return to civilian life. I have been reading many books on anti-racism since George Floyd's murder. l am planning an extended visit to Ecudaor later this year and contemplate providing access to my home during that time by a black family. My all-white neighborhood will clutch their proverbial pearls. I have a black SIL and they go bonkers when he visits. Having a black family occupy the premises while I'm away will be an interesting experiment!

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Hi Lynell‼️ Very brief resident of Alexandria, six months when my dad was taking a course at the state department before we drove back to California in our VW Square back.

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Alexandria is a lovely town, especially Old Town near the Potomac River. A few weeks ago I watched the "Potomac By Air" documentary. The river gets it start in West Virginia and winds it's way down to Washington, DC and beyond to meet the Chesapeake Bay. As I was watching, it struck me that I have lived close to the Potomac all of my life. Here is a link that hopefully you will be able to access: https://vimeo.com/118233315

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I spent a wonderful afternoon in Alexandria, protesting against Brute Kavanaugh's nomination. Connecting with VA union sisters and brothers was a delight -- numerous moments of "That is SO true!," "I know JUST what you mean!," and "Those BASTARDS!" I wish I'd gone for a drink with them rather than to another dreary family lunch.

PS, apologies for not blocking Kavanaugh for y'all. We tried, but the fix was in.

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