Hi there, readers.

Something a little scary happened today: Remember my Pickle Patch post from this past weekend, “An Open Letter to the Citizens of Berkeley”? Well, it quickly became my most-read post in history. Apparently it touched a nerve, mostly in a good way: In the two days after it was published people I didn’t know — people who live in Berkeley — were commenting on Facebook with lots of “Me, too!” And today, it’s been published in the opinion section of Berkeleyside, Berkeley’s online independent newspaper. 

This is not a total surprise to me: I knew that Berkeleyside was considering publishing the piece. I’d even gotten a kind email from one of their editors, Tracey (clearly not one of the Berkeleyites I’m writing about), who concluded with: “One thing: are you ready for the comments people might leave on this if we publish it? I hope I’m proved wrong, but some of those same people may well choose to share their views with you in the comments section.”  

I read Tracey’s email, and I responded that I’d be okay with that. Then I closed my computer and the next thing I did — truly — was to pray. It was the same prayer I’ve prayed lots of times now (most recently when we bought our new house in Vermont) and it went like this: “If this is supposed to happen, help me get through it. And if it isn’t supposed to happen, then that’s totally fine by me!”

It’s been several days since Tracey’s email, so I just assumed that it wasn’t happening. And that was fine by me. I had mixed feelings about this being my most popular piece, anyway: It’s a little angrier than the things I usually like to put out into the world.

Then, this afternoon, a friend alerted me that my piece was up on Berkeleyside.

So, I’m sitting here trying very hard not to read the comments section. But I’m also inviting you to go on over there and check it out, even if you’ve read it before. I made some changes to it that I think will make it stronger (not hard, since I cranked out and posted the first version in one hour!) And, you know, you’re also welcome to post a nice comment 😉

As we say around here, “Peace.”