Upon recollection of 2019, what are considered “top-of-the-heap” memories depend on who is doing the recollecting. This has to be one of the most brain-scrambling beginnings ever unleashed during 17 years of column-writing. Completing what I thought to be an “okay” discourse to a convention audience long ago, I experienced a “bubble-bursting.” The “flat-as-a-pancake” deflation reduced me to a small size, maybe even “extra small.” An overheard whisper bears repeating, its admonition worth remembering: “He’s a guy with hundreds of well-chosen words, interspersed with thousands that aren’t.” This may be a “cheesy” way to look back, particularly when the intent is to extract ...