Race is a social construct, as are rivers and mountains. There is the actual thing—there are the borders dividing that thing from other things—and then there are ideas about the thing and its proper borders. The river stops here, the sea begins there. The foothills end here, the mountain begins there. It’s important to have honest conversations about race. But probably not too honest, or else the people who feed on lies will have something nasty to say about you. In any case, this is a preliminary meditation on race that I will continue to its final conclusion next week. I hope you enjoy it, and if you are offended—well, you obviously don’t get out much. One World. One Tribe. One Love. One Blood. Mostly.