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Public reason requires that the moral or political rules that regulate our common life be, in some sense, justifiable or acceptable to all those persons over whom the rules purport to have authority. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 24, 2017 

True story: I’ve been throwing a lot of birdseed on the ground lately. One of the nasty side effects of any drought is that less foliage, especially grasses, means less seed. With less seed available in the wild, more birds come to our yard looking for food. The birds are going through the seed in the birdfeeder more quickly and, as soon as I toss a large tumbler of birdseed on the ground, all kinds of ground feeders show up; their hunger making them braver. The Juncos are always the first to show up and then the local Steller’s Jays. Recently, they have been joined by several gentle Mourning Doves, and, then tentatively, a couple of families of quail, the little downy puffballs of spring now as big as their parents.

But the biggest eaters, by far, are two squirrels – neither Michele nor I are any good at identifying squirrels so there may be more than two but there are only two at a time, and they are slightly different – who Michele has named Hoover and Lux. A couple of days ago I threw some seeds out, and Michele laughed at Hoover who was immediately there, sucking up seed. She said something like, “Hoover, you are a pig, hoovering everything up.” Michele’s phone said, “Why isn’t the narcissist hoovering me?” We were both shocked, where did that come from? And what the hell is hoovering, anyway? If you’ll Google hoovering, it will tell you hoovering is a manipulation tactic that someone might use to suck you back into a potentially toxic relationship. Michele said, “Holy shit, that’s me and Veronica!” It was almost instantly obvious to both of us, it exactly describes what she had been talking about for the last two or three weeks.

Several years ago, Michele was asked over to a woman’s house in a nearby town and that evening, over dinner, she told me how isolated this unhappy woman was. Over the next couple of years, Michele visited the woman probably about once a month, even taking her to the hospital for a minor procedure when there was nobody else, but, increasingly, Michele has come home feeling used and slightly put down. Recently, Michele has drifted away because the relationship seemed increasingly toxic, and Veronica would call and ask Michele to come over for some reason, the last couple of times it was to get some vegetables which Veronica had a surplus of. Then Michele got mauled by a couple of dogs and, when she told Veronica she was hurt and couldn’t come over, the calls stopped. It was hurtful and Michele wondered out loud why Veronica didn’t call anymore. Now we know.

Another true story: a week or two ago, I got an email suggesting a book from a little-known – to me, at least – publisher, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics. My first reaction was, Yes! I want that book, right now and that sort of took me back. I rarely have that sort of reaction, that joyously extreme. I asked Michele if she could guess what the book was about and, and then realized that couldn’t have possibly guessed and either could I have. This book is so perfect and so far out of left field. I bought it immediately.

As an aside, my first thought was that this must be a scam and I didn’t want to answer an email I hadn’t solicited or know the sender, so I didn’t click through the email. I googled the publisher and bought the book that way. End aside.