Cherry-Picking History
A few weeks ago, at the same time I was lamenting the sheer amount of trash we humans deposit on the side of the road (among other places), I was listening to Michael Jackson's pre- Thriller album, Off the Wall. Because I connect a lot of music to different times of my life, I quickly calculated that Off the Wall was a monster album throughout the entirety of my 7th grade year. Before he was ever called The King of Pop , a very young Michael Jackson churned out hits like Don't Stop 'Til You get Enough, Rock With You, Off the Wall, and She's Out of My Life . The songs were great then, they're great now. And regardless of the late singer's alleged (or confirmed) abhorrent, criminal behavior, I will continue to listen to his music. Is that wrong? Ken Burns seminal documentary on the American Civil War was broadcast on PBS in the fall of 1990. That nine-part series held me spellbound over the course of two weeks, launching me into a decade of intense read