What I like about Ward Connerly is that he's a mixed-bag and all American, like me.
Like a lot of us.
Only he's smart enough to have figured out what's right and has run with it, attracting a lot of support, and a lot of heat, in the process.
I enjoyed reading his autobiography. Turns out I read that he's a friend of Tony Miller, a friend of mine. Tony and his partner, Don Disler, shared space with me 'n' Dwyer in San Francisco.
One day Miller and Dwyer were talking as I entered Tony's office. Dwig was wearing jeans with some fancy stitching on the rear pocket.
"Where dja get the fruit pants?" I innocently asked.
Dwig and I are from StatNisland, and that's about what you'd expect from someone growing up in that time and place.
Tony stifled something he decided not to say and Dwig appeared embarrassed by what I'd said.
Later Dwig told me that Tony and Don were a couple.
I hadn't known.
How would I know?
I didn't know any gay people that I knew of.
Now I was embarrassed.
We were all at Don's funeral, years later. AIDS.
We live and learn.
There's another example like that.
When I was growing up, WWII was the big nightmare, literally. You heard stories about the Germans and the Japanese, who were never the Japanese, but the Japs. "Japs Surrender," read the headline of the N.Y. Daily News. They were the enemy, and the enemy got no respect when I was growing up.
It wasn't until I came to California after law school that I learned to say Japanese, not Japs
We had an expression that we used all the time as a kid. "Japped." It meant, if you got Japped, that someone screwed you out of something. You got a surprise.
My first job as a lawyer was in the District Attorneys Office in Contra Costa. There I had a friend I worked with, John Oda. Japanese-American.
One day I came back to the office, and John asked how things went. Not so hot, I replied, I got Japped on a case where the judge ruled such-and-such.
Suddenly John gives me the queerest sort of look and suddenly I realized I must've said something wrong. Japped. That must be it. Oops. John, I am so sorry for this. Until this moment I'd never connected...etc., etc. John had a big heart. He knew ignorance when he saw it. Came to my wedding later. Very nice.
I learned something again.
There's a lot of that stuff we grow up with.
Have you ever been gypped?
Tell it to my Gypsy client.
Have you ever welshed on a bet?
Said "Eeny meanie, miney Mo?"
Good. Who'd you catch by the toe?
I learned there, too. Changed it to "tiger." As a kid. Thought I'd done something.
Here's an article on Ward Connerly. He knows what I'm talking about. Knew it before I did. I was a little slow.
We learn.