At the French bakery, Lake Oswego, Oregon

Coffee and a croissant at St. Honore Boulangerie in Lake Oswego, Oregon, sitting, waiting for the first person of color to arrive.

No person of color arrives so I order another coffee.

Sitting I hum silently to myself, All around the mulberry bush/the monkey chased the weasel...

I can't decide whether I am liberal or conservative.

I believe in civil rights and climate change and a government's responsibility in taking care of its less fortunate citizens, especially if that government is collecting taxes from its more fortunate citizens. Therefore I am a liberal though I don't like the sound of the word, liberal.

I don't believe in military incursions in foreign lands. If I had to choose one over the over I'd choose states' rights over an imperious federal government. If there's a flag I could live under with a reasonably clear conscience it's the flag that reads, Don't Tread on Me. Therefore I suppose you could call me conservative, though the sound of that word is chilling and brings up an images of the nine members of the Supreme Court posing naked on the bench without their robes.

More coffee please, so I can truly enjoy the privilege of the crystal clarity of my profound moral befuddlement.

(Caption) iPhone photo from a passage in the book The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne, concerning The Last Supper.