Turns out there are bald eagles in this area. And I thought these creatures I was seeing were vultures. 

In the closing weeks of 2017, I conducted a mental experiment. I imagined I was working for a less obscure college somewhere on the coasts. And the result was that I couldn’t write anything at all on the blog. I’m sure everybody here noticed. There’s nothing I want to say that can survive the censorship that exists in those places. 

If I hadn’t come to work here, in the deep Midwest, 9 years ago, I would have thought that this kind of area is where fanaticism and intolerance live. But now I know different.