About 2,000 tailgaters ago, I wrote a commentary about tailgating. I was open to thinking that tailgaters' ideas about tailgating could be something altogether different from mine. After all, they're looking at my rear end while I'm looking for their front end.
I likened tailgaters to flocks of birds dancing in three-dimensional high-speed harmony and warned that all it takes is one tailgater - bird or human, with a sprained wing or cardiac arrest - to throw an entire system of highway flyers or drivers out of whack.
And although I've never observed an undulating flock of birds spin out of control, I had seen tailgaters do so.
I used tailgating as a vehicle to caution readers that our incredible rate of unsustainable consumption will rear-end us over the edge of the very systems we depend on.
About 2,000 tailgaters ago, I wrote about tailgating [“Your driving evokes murmurations in nature. Now slow down and back off!,” Essay, April 13, 2022]. I was open to thinking that tailgaters' ideas about tailgating could be something altogether different than mine. After all, they're looking at my rear end...
I'm going 5 mph above the limit, and you're a car length behind. And, as if we're singing along to the same song on the radio, we both mouth, “WTF?” You, because you're in a rush. Me, because you appear to be in my back seat. I consider resorting...