I know I'm late; I've been in meetings this morning, and am shortly off to another one. This morning I stood at the trolley stop for a long time and then got shuffled around by SEPTA so it took an extra long time to get to work. As I was waiting I was making small talk with two women, and I referred to someone as looking "like a stripper." I was immediately embarrassed. Isn't that sort of retrograde, to refer to someone that way? I imagined that these two women—probably cool feminists—were offended by that characterization. I wanted to say, "Some of my best friends are strippers!" But I didn't think that would go over well. Maybe one day I can have a conversation that isn't marred by insistent thoughts like, "Was that a dumb thing to say? Am I an idiot?"

This photo is from a series called Imitation of Life, in which I take pictures of dead things or stuffed things in a way that makes them look alive. Jeez, how brilliant. This is a striped bass, which was very dead during this picture, I assure you, and very delicious once eaten. The photo has nothing to do with anything. My apologies.