connecting*the*dots

I should have never put up that picture in that recent post.

Traffic was flying until I hit Quantico, VA… and then it stopped. Dead. So I pulled off the road to gas up — figuring that my quarter tank wasn’t going to get me through the stop and go — when I figured that I might as well have dinner as well and pray for the traffic to recede.

I looked for a restaurant that might have an available outlet for recharging my phone, and pulled into the Padrino’s II parking lot. After finding a table with an outlet, I plugged in, ordered dinner and digged in to get through another chapter of Hegemony or Survival.

In front of my table sat a woman in her late thirties with her two very young daughters. As I read, I couldn’t but help overhear her conversation with her eight year-old, as she described — very accurately and simply — how the internet was a bunch of decentralized networks, some open, some closed. As her daughter dug into her spaghetti and meatballs, she asked her Mom something (I couldn’t hear) to which her Mom responded, “you can’t believe everything you read in books.”

I looked up from my read and grinned, saying “I know what you mean… I mean, I’m reading Chomsky” (showing her the book cover)

Funny moment.

With that, our conversation for the next few minutes went something along the lines of this:

Her: Oh, wow. So what do you think of the book?
Me: I don’t know yet…(pausing carefully) How much background do you have with Chomsky?
Her: Oh, I’ve read… enough (pausing carefully). Many people have a hard time with his ideas. I liked the book enough.
Me: Yeah, this is my fourth book of his so far.
Her: It’s amazing how accurate the man is with how little information he has access to.
Me: Well, the man has a ridiculous grasp on history from numerous POV’s and is a master linguist. With that combonation, I guess semantic-deductive reasoning can fill in the gaps.
Her: Well, I can’t say where I work, but he does know an awful lot more than seems possible.
Me: (uncomfortable pause)
Daughter: (says something I couldn’t hear)
Her: (Laughing) She asked me if you were a Democrat. (smiling) I said either that or unafilliated.
Me: The latter.
Her: (Smiling) We talk a lot of politics over the dinner table.
Me: (remembering the podcast I just listened to driving down and the message I left on my friend’s phone) You know, you just might be interested in the Echo Chamber Project.
Her: Yeah? I heard you talking about that a minute ago. Thanks.

No, thank you. And if you’ve found this blog, good luck with your daughters. They’re going to change the world.