I would write more about the riff-raff I know and meet except that I believe, in my heart, that I *am* riff-raff, often enough, anyway, and: “I won’t write about you if you don’t write about me.” (Same goes for photographs.)

I dream about etymologies, and woke up last night because I couldn’t suss out the etymology for “riff-raff.” I was so glad I got out of bed, because the etymology is perfect, coming from the French, meaning several things at once: “one and everybody” as well as “people regarded as disreputable or worthless.” Made sense to this lapsed Catholic: catholic and Catholic.