I also got melancholic, which I knew. Second place to sanguine.

Not especially sorry about or around Scalia's death. Except for RBG. Sad she lost a friend, even if he was evil. Great Greenwald article on the misplaced etiquette of respecting the dead. [link] My favorite part:

This demand for respectful silence in the wake of a public figure's death is not just misguided but dangerous. That one should not speak ill of the dead is arguably appropriate when a private person dies, but it is wildly inappropriate for the death of a controversial public figure, particularly one who wielded significant influence and political power....

But the key point is this: those who admire the deceased public figure (and their politics) aren't silent at all. They are aggressively exploiting the emotions generated by the person's death to create hagiography...Those gushing depictions can be quite consequential, as it was for the week-long tidal wave of unbroken reverence that was heaped on Ronald Reagan upon his death, an episode that to this day shapes how Americans view him and the political ideas he symbolized. Demanding that no criticisms be voiced to counter that hagiography is to enable false history and a propagandistic whitewashing of bad acts, distortions that become quickly ossified and then endure by virtue of no opposition and the powerful emotions created by death. When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms.

Also, question: are there black people in Seattle? Or Cincinnati? I would like to live somewhere that doesn't have a decidedly monochromatic pale color in its citizens.

When my sister visited, she said that she was surprised at the diversity -- she'd expected black people and white people, and was surprised that there were lots of other groups, too.

Awesome.

My neighborhood is very white, which sometimes feels kind of weird, but I'm not really out that much in my neighborhood. (Actually, I haven't really been going out that much at all. I should probably try to change that. Getting too hermitty is a bad thing for me.)

Also, question: are there black people in Seattle?

Varies a lot by neighborhood, which I suppose is the case anywhere. Annabel's school is quite diverse--majority white, but significant numbers of Asian and black students (both African-American and African immigrants). In general, I expect to see diversity as I go about my day-to-day life, though the city certainly has it share of lily-white pockets.

I admit my first thought about Scalia, after surprise, was to be happy he wouldn't be on the Supreme Court anymore.

Thanks to Theo, I have successfully showered Valerie and Stitch! sj and Emily and do you people know Sandra? were all there and it was good times.

This, on the other hand, makes me so very happy! Yay for buffista babies and buffista baby showers!

Coming from DC, I suspect you'd have the same reaction coming from New Orleans: Seattle is SUPER FUCKING WHITE.

That's pretty much my only complaint about it. Though house has gotten mad expensive--you'd certainly be better off in Cincy there.

Seattle is SUPER FUCKING WHITE.

So true. Portland too.

Coming from New Orleans, would any place other than Memphis and Detroit NOT be super fucking white by comparison?