Long time no see, Sam. I’m so happy to see you weighing in with your unique voice. I treasure every story you write.

You know, as an aside, I live in northern Michigan and I’m seeing the Confederate flag flying from the back of trucks more and more often as they whiz by on the highway.

Those trucks have Michigan plates, and there’s no pretending what those flags mean. Michigan fought against the Confederacy and isn’t anywhere close to the South.

Those flags are about explicit racism, and people are not shy or apologetic about it.

Things are uglier and more out in the open than I’ve ever seen them before.