Clarence "Pa" Fisher

My grandpa, Clarence Fisher, 90, goes under the knife today at 1:30 central, same time as I go into the dentist chair in VT.

They had him open once before but closed him back up, saying it was too risky. So that means I guess that it's crossed a line.

Pa Fisher taught me to work hard and taught me to storytell. He taught me that the sweatiest old dirtfarmer or carpenter-man could be a Mensa in the rough. I've learned that poverty doesn't mean you are good or smart, but that if the poverty is regionalized (everyone in that country is poor) that statistically the chances are good that you will find a bargain smart person there.

Women's issues is like a region, in that way, and the 98 Economics Prize guy (?Amartya Sen?) demonstrated how much you sacrifice in your economy if you sideline the women.

American knows not to sideline guys like Pa.

That's where democracy works, quite simply, by increasing the number of people with a statistical chance to show their worth. My admiration for Pa went from ignorance to romaniticizing the poverty to just simply recognizing a poor man's capacity to be smarter than me.

good luck, grandma and pa.

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