I was absolutely intrigued, and really moved, by a recent broadcast of This American Life that told the story of the physicist Ron Mallett, and how the death of his father and reading this comic book changed his life. The whole show is good, but if you want to hear just the part about his life, it starts at around 34 minutes in. It is so fascinating, you really should listen to it.

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I found this picture on Stik Mann’s Other Spokane, a rather whacked-out anti-conformist blog made by residents of my own hometown. Spokane is the home of much wierdness, which can be a good thing or a bad thing.

I remember seeing this picture when I was a kid there, but I don’t remember where. The thrift store? History class? Handed to me by a wobbly? Spokane is a conservative-majority town, but there’s a strong sense of history among the leftists there. I heard lots of people tell stories of the early days of the labor movement, and Utah Phillips lived and performed there, telling funny and inspiring stories about the Wobblies and the Spokane Free Speech fight of 1910. Maybe when you’re in the minority, you treasure your history more.

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