Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, January 30, 2013, 11:40 AM. Driving down the street in bright sunshine under a tropical sky, the mailwoman made her delivery. Temperature on the thermometer on my front porch: 75 F (24 C). I walked down the stairs to the street, opened the mailbox, and read:

 

And ah, the verb “escape” on its diagonal brought back memories. In memory I was once again back in the midwest, where the standard witticism from people who learned that my wife is from Korea was, “Does it slant? Har har!”

It’s physically cold in the midwest too, and dark.