At work today I was told it is Talk Like a Pirate Day, so we were all to set our Facebook language to English (pirate) and go to http://www.piratequiz.com/ to generate our pirate names. I work in public radio, where the definition of “cutthroat” is a justifiably peeved email if you accidentally throw out somebody else’s food when it’s your month to clean the refrigerator (Aar!), and I’m not sure I’ll be able to work productively in this raucous atmosphere. Occasionally someone in their cubicle will chuckle. What next – maniacal laughter?

At any rate, here is my new identity for the day:

I am supposed to be finishing up a draft for a proposal on coverage of the conflict in the South Sudan today, but it’s a landlocked country, and my eyes keep straying over the map to Somalia. Focus, Black Mary. Focus.