So, many people have been asking me, "Is it REALLY true that you can't swim?!" I felt I needed to address this looming issue before it got so big, there'd be no stopping it. I've had this happen to me before, so I know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, this all began when I hijacked Watkins' blog when he was on vacation during Christmas. I was complaining about something or other and somehow veered off into a story about how I was forced to pass a WRITTEN swimming test in order to graduate from college. A well-respected center of learning, but really hardcore about their long-established rules! Katharine Hepburn went there (long before me) and I was told she got kicked out after she was caught swimming in the nude in the library cloisters pond. I love this story. If it's apocryphal, I don't want to know.

Again, I digress. In answer to those of you whose jaws hit the floor when you found out there are grown people, like me, who never mastered the art of swimming, let me try to explain. I blame my parents. That's always a good place to start. It's all my parents' fault that I am afraid of the water.

Yes, I know. Sounds like the title of an Italian porn movie. But let me explain.

The news has been so depressing lately. Everyone in the newsroom was feeling low today, especially after hearing that our Washington DC bureau is closing. The toll of a crummy economy AND bankruptcy.