Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

I was in a combine south of Hays, Kan., cutting wheat for an area farmer. Every hour on the hour, the local station gave an update. Then it was more breaking news. Got home at midnight, took a shower, then watched the highlights of the day on TV until 2 a.m. because I was enthralled.

Then I got up at 6 a.m. to begin the next day. By the end of the next day, the hourly reports were growing tiresome, and I wanted to sleep. Fortunately we got rained out at abot 6 p.m. I still stayed up watching TV reports, but went to bed much earlier.

Then I dreamed about combining wheat all night long.
 

I don't remember where I was...probably because I was pregnant, sick as hell, and very tired.

I think it matters because the combination of wealth, race and celebrity in the case is very illustrative of the state of justice in our country. (let me take a minute to recomment eht book "The Lost German Slave Girl" as another great ilustration of such things in pre-civil-war Louisian.

I learned that pretty murdered blond women make very profitable news stories...

That rich people can hire lawyers who can argue even the most lame cases, and whose skill at defending the indefensible demands a sick sort of admiration.

That evidence handeling in the US us often suspiciously incompetent, to put it generously.

I learned that cops will tamper with evidence if they are sure they got the right guy, but don't think they have enough for it to be a slam-dunk...and that it will back-fire.

I learned that many black people have reason to believe that the system is stacked against them, and it causes many to think that there can BE no justice for them in this country...

I learned how close our society is to the breaking point at any given time, and just how valuable that makes the concept of justice...and just how much we've neglected it.

I also learned that I really, really, really, don't enjoy courtroom dramas (haven't watched one since...real or fictional)
 

It was a Friday, and Lisa and I were in the midst of packing, getting ready to move to her very first appointment as an ordained deacon (old rule) in the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Our neighbor in the apartments on the Wesley campus came and got us; I remember watching and thinking it was something surreal.

So much of more importance has happened in the interim, I cannot begin to tell you how irrelevant it feels now. I think the entire country lost its mind a bit at the time.
 

I was at the annual beginning of the year Fireworks Party. (I used to work as a professional pyrotechnician shooting professional displays for city and town celebrations in MI, OH, & IL). We had a party every year at the beginning of the season to talk about the schedule, new regulations, making sure the drivers were certified, etc. We finished up the meeting and my sister-in-law had the TV on. It was all very surreal.
 

I had watched this all day at work, and knowing it would be on TV all night, I went out and rented Schindler's List. Cried my eyes out.
 

Re, "I used to work as a professional pyrotechnician shooting professional displays for city and town celebrations"

Cool. I think that probably wins the Coolest Former Job Award for the ER regulars. :-) Any challengers?
 

Re, "I was in a combine south of Hays, Kan."

I swear, I thought that said "commune." LOLOL.
 

I used to be a stripper. How's that?

OK, OK, so I didn't get butt nekked. I was the tiger mascot at my alma mater, and during the second half of every home game, I would put a button shirt and shorts over the mascot outfit. Then the pep band would play the strippers' theme, and I'd do a "sexy" (can you call a tiger mascot sexy?) strip dance before the sold-out crowds.
 

I learned anew what I already knew.
Race trumps.