There Are No Accidents

What did you learn on Sunday, February 26, 2006?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/an-american-secret.html

A few days ago, I was searching for a lyric to a song I was pretty sure I wrote in 2006. There in my writing folder was a copy of Cynthia Carr's NY Times essay entitled "An American Secret". I clearly recall how Carr's piece landed with me on that Sunday over eleven years ago. I also remember what I did the next day at work. 

I made a few dozen copies of the essay and sent them, via US mail, - remember, this was 2006 - to every kindred spirit in my address book. My memory of the subsequent emotional conversation I had with the one person who responded to my mail is also quite clear. Thank you, Ruth.

At a Sally Hemings Memorial Dinner a few weeks ago, I listened to a white colleague describe how unsettled she'd become after uncovering some family history on Ancestry.com. As my colleague spoke, I thought of Carr's brave essay, made a mental note to find it, forgot. Then ... a search for that lyric.

I implore you. Read this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/an-american-secret.html