Ain’t That America?

I think there is a nation-wide conspiracy that at some point in elementary school you have to learn all the states and capitals and thrilling details like who is the biggest potato producer and where is the highest mountain. I can still—thirty years later—recite the states and capitals in alphabetical order. Other than winning a few bar games and rounds of Trivial Pursuit, this knowledge has not helped me in any way. It does however send me back to the fifth grade every single time I think about