Mark Small

Western High School in 1970 was not what we, today, would call “progressive.” It had not progressed, one reasonably may infer, by 1984 when a junior high student, Ryan White, was diagnosed with HIV. 2/16

I developed a theory of personality, sometime between undergrad and law school, based on experiences from early years through the end of high school in the 1960s going into the 1970s, and from college years. 3/16

38% of people are ... anal orifices. Each of us has tendencies to be AO’s. After all, we R human. Bad moods, bad days, or encounters with people from the 38% can make us vindictive. Most of us usually overcome the tendencies. 4/16

People of the 38% are not simply jerks. They are damn mean - joyful, in 1970, when students who protested an idiotic war were shot and killed; self-righteous when they drove a nice kid away from their school system. 5/16

The 2016 election for President illustrated how the 38% can assert itself. Those people turned out, voted, and got the GOP ticket for Prez/VP close enough that, with some well-placed hacks, the dictators of all the Russias got to pick that ticket as the winner. 6/16

At other times the 38% was with us. Gun nuts who showed how brave they are by walking into Starbucks locations, handguns on hips, daring anyone to question their Second Amendment right. (Hint: The Second Amendment should not be put on display for its own sake.) 7/16

In undergrad, during the summers, I worked construction. One guy, at a job site in Indy, was defiant when he said no one ever would take away his eight-cylinder Ford LTD and 8/18

sneered that for every person who tried to reduce pollution through conservation, he would just drive more miles. He had little concern for the environment or anyone other than himself. 9/16