If you were a kid of this century you’d understand but you’re not, you’re old. Thus ends any disagreement between me and the ten year old. Her logic intact. Filling out the application for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau foundation where one can earn 40k a year while working on the PhD business. That would be sweeter than what it is now, yet the queries asking how I could get along with different types of views or what my thesis is based upon or examples of my work history or what I imagine to be good about their scholarly assistance, pretty sure they too will bring rejection because of my birth date. I’ll apply anyway and assume the world is fair. It is sometimes. We all know Van Gogh doesn’t always die having never sold a painting. Mendelson Joe once told me he knew immediately what to do if he had a lot of money, “I’d hire old people.” He meant that they were experienced and under appreciated, and likely be better representing his art and music interests. It was twenty years ago and I understood his thinking. When I moved to the country he became super concerned about country life and car accidents. It’s nice to have a friend who sends you reflective decals for the rear bumpers and a sticky note for the steering column with the capital word C-O-N-C-E-N-T-R-A-T-E. I saw Lightnin’ Hopkins at the Playhouse and he was very old. He played the blues sitting in a chair on stage. I wonder now if it was enough money to make his life easier. It was spellbinding. I bet if you are very old, but able to perform your music, and do that before a silent audience of a few hundred people, that it does something incredible for your health, especially your mental health, which otherwise adjusts to feeling invisible.