8/11/2024

My Dear Friend, JRB,

The letter hiatus was due to the lack of internet in Dunbar. You really need to get on that.

I must say, I appreciate the serenity brought about from being unconnected for a week. You should invite the nation to try a WWW-free week, so everyone would be reminded of how we have been sucked in by technology.

Did I miss anything while I was away? The news about you hasn’t changed. Folks continue to write about your proposal to reform the SCOTUS & your choice to stop running. Surely something else is happening!

News from Burma indicates that EAOs & PDFs keep making inroads & the Rohingya continue to feel the brunt of the conflict. An authority at the US Institute of Peace says, “if the resistance succeeds in gaining ground in major cities such as Mandalay in the upcoming wave of operations, the regime will find it exceedingly difficult to maintain control in Naypyidaw & Yangon in 2025.” Please do more to promote peace there.

I am at an airport, again, MSP to be exact. A 3-hour break between flights gives me plenty of time to get the vibe of this place & I have traversed it in its entirety going from the end of Terminal A to gate G22.

I am sitting in the Panda Express eating area & a little girl is asking her mom math questions in English. Otherwise, the family is speaking Chinese. The girl is taking great delight in sharing her ideas, using gestures to show addition & subtraction. My heart is singing as I see proof of our rhetoric that kids can enjoy math, do it outside of school voluntarily & develop lots of ideas from this informal activity. I digress.

A prominent feature of MSP is its workers. Many wear hijab. Some speak Somali with one another. Thanks to the efforts of a few organizers, they now make $15 an hour & get days off for Eid & Fasika. Go Union

When I was in the bathroom, I heard symphonic music & I haven’t seen any flashing lights. A much calmer place than LAS. I suspect my next airport, SLT will be the same.

BYBS,

RCA