Dak has a strong, Eastern Massachusetts accent. Sort of like Boston+. I only mention that because it adds a bit of flavor to some of her funnier remarks.

We’ve been talking a little, here and there, about some of my obsessions, and she asks questions about Massachusetts’ place in American slavery. This morning we were laughing a bit about O.J. Simpson in “Roots” and I told her that it was a Massachusetts ship that brought the first slaves from Africa. She sounded so wounded over the news – “Oh, that’s awful!” – that I quickly reminded her of Massachusetts’ role in abolitionism and leadership in New England’s emancipation.

It did not have the desired effect.

“See, we shouldn’t have started something we didn’t want to finish.”

She amuses me.

• Massachusetts built the 1st American slave ship in 1636, largely controlling the slave trade in New England.