I am always impressed with the HBO TV show Deadwood. The dialog and acting is always well done. But the thing I love the most is the refusal to make history pretty.

I watched the first episode of season 3 last night and during the school house scene, they had the best example of the moral thoughts of the time. The school teacher was reciting things for the kids to write down on the chalkboard.

Her quotes started innocently enough, but then moved into racism, sexism, and even manifest destiny. It was classic. I hope as a writer I always cover topics as well as the writer in this scene did. I tried to do that with “Mathematics of the Chosen,” but I don’t know how successful I was.