For Jenny from Matt

Jenny -
Great to read this fun little piece. What's been said before all rings true, but could your essay lie in your final paragraph? Maybe I've been way too politically tuned these last few weeks, but perhaps you could follow the thread of the "strained mix of liberal and conservative political sentiments gleaned from the western and eastern halves" of Washington. This concept could be a book, but left as it is, this sentiment becomes an elephant of an idea reduced to just being mentioned in passing.

Remember, a gun in the room means someone ought to be shot.

I'll be sending an annotated copy of your piece, Jenny, in the mail soon. I've been out on the Kaibab Plateau with my students for the past week, and I might have found an essay out there, but it has put me a bit behind.

-Matt