23 FEB 2022 · Eric Randall tells several stories about grappling with discrimination. Update 4/8/22: A couple of notes, based on feedback from listeners. One, early on in the podcast, I recount a conversation in which I stated that Donald Trump had bragged about sexually assaulting women, then refused to apologize when the tapes of his bragging went public. I did make that statement, and I believed it at the time, but a listener pointed out that the statement was not true, and the listener is correct. What had stood out in my mind at the time was that during one of his debates with Hillary Clinton, Trump characterized the comments as locker room talk. However, Trump had issued an apology that aired on Fox News (which I had not seen), and he made reference to the apology during the debate with Clinton. You can see the apology here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA597Kn5iPk), and read the Wikipedia article on the subject here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_Access_Hollywood_tape#Trump's_responses). I regret the error. Two, another listener, who grew up with me in Cheltenham, told me that I had missed the opportunity to point out that Cheltenham was precisely the kind of conservative, white, suburban township where a sitting Republican president would come to give the high school commencement address – as President George H. W. Bush did in 1989. I was in high school that year, but not a senior; I likely did participate in the graduation ceremony, but only as a member of the orchestra, which would have played Pomp and Circumstance for the graduates (according to the yearbook, we played Hail to the Chief that year, too). My memories of the whole event are very vague – way too many people packed into a huge gymnasium on a hot June evening, and the effort required to haul my string bass all the way from the orchestra room, which was in a whole different section of the building, to the gym. At the time, the idea that the President would come to our school was neither exciting to me, nor a big deal. I think it felt like more of a hassle than anything else. I probably would have felt differently if it had been my graduation. But I pretty much forgot about it until my friend reminded me.