In My Own Backyard

For the past few days, I've been agreeable, patient, and fairly well-mannered, speaking only when spoken to, refrained from any excessive use of my computer or the internet, and been in bed before ten o’clock.

Obviously, I've been sick.

On New Year's Eve, I could detect a cold draft through a pinhole-sized leak from a hundred feet. S. stood in the middle of the open doorway a couple of times to let the dog go out and it felt like someone had rubbed snow all over my body while I was still in my clothes.

Needless to say, the bottles of champagne S. laid away for New Year's Eve night that we normally popped at midnight are still lying in the refrigerator. I guess we can open them in a couple of weeks after Mr. Obama lays his hands across that Bible on January 20th and takes his oath of office.

The most intriguing thing I've seen on the web this morning is a quiz, courtesy of the much maligned New York Times, entitled Paving the Way to the Inaugural Ball, a quiz that reflects on the progress of African Americans within the electoral system since the civil war.

I am always curious to see how much I think I know compares to how much I actually know about topics like black history that are in my own backyard. I also figured it would be a good way to see if the gears of my thinking machinery were fully engaged.

I only got 16 of the 21 questions right, a lackluster percentage of only 76% that in my mind would put me perilously close to the imaginary "No Adult Left Behind" cutoff scores.

The good thing about getting an answer wrong on this kind of test is the amount of information the test makers supply to teach you the right answer. Because after I thought about it for a minute, I realized that the larger point of this quiz wasn't to see how much I know about black history, but to expand how much the world knows about black history.

I guess I'm at that point now where someone who has been sick feels like they can do anything they want, but probably shouldn't, so I'm saving the rest of my energy for the Atlanta Falcons playoff game later today – as stress inducing as they can be, I might have an early bedtime again tonight.

Take a few minutes to click this link to the New York Times and take that test – you may know more than you think, even if black history is a topic that isn't in your backyard.