I rolled the coin of comedy-tragedy right down the donation table

Missed clues and misinterpretations - Privilege has its place in American private education, but you pay for it with real money, be it hard-earned or inherited. I completely comprehend the network of private schools from Washington to New England and have always found the people gracious and the student-athletes likable and tough. On April 27, I was at Archmere Academy for a boys’ lacrosse game. Joe Biden graduated from Archmere in 1961, lives in Rehoboth Beach in 2019 and is a candidate for president, so that’s a cool connection. I walked up to the turf field and there was a table with women and flowers and lanyards and a plastic cube marked donations. I misread all the cues, thinking I was on Broad Street rolling past Temple University. I asked “How much are the flowers?” as if families who send kids to a Catholic school that cost $25,000 a year are selling plastic flowers on a Saturday afternoon. There was a photo on the table of Anthony Penna, a gifted student of the arts who played soccer and lacrosse who died in October 2017 from injuries sustained in a car accident. Tragedy and comedy are opposite sides of the same coin, and I rolled it right down the table, the only one realizing that Tom Frederick, 40, died six days after Anthony Penna, 16. I just shook my head like a dog with ear mites, made a donation and refocused my camera on the game. Someone asked me, “How come Archmere is wearing red and white? I thought their colors were green and white.” I said, “Perhaps they borrowed them from Saint Andrew’s.” Penna Strong was written across the back of each jersey. A foundation in Anthony’s name has raised $100,000. The day was a coming together of good people from Cape to Claymont.

Running community - Seaside Delaware is Sesame Street by the Sea, where everyone has multiple muppet disorder. Diversity can be a loaded word in these turbulent times where people are quick to pigeonhole one’s politics based on a position on a single subject. I have earned my bones inside the running community without running a single step. I just show up and take photos, write stories and stay until the last runners cross the finish line. I literally have friends with slow paces spanning all age groups, religions and lifestyles. April 28 was the seventh running of the Oy Vey 5K. The race departs from the Seaside Jewish Community Center on Holland Glade Road and returns for a quick picnic of kugel and cookies, or for the dietary restrained, a banana nub. Just 76 runners completed the race and there were another 25 walkers. The whole ongoing running scene is a community-connecting experience.

NFL Draft - the shilling was chilling - The televised extravaganza of the NFL Draft is all about buying people and trading them for other people, talk about human trafficking. Where else can Mel Kiper, who is a first cousin to Quentin Tarantino, get near a microphone in prime time. Mel is “touched,” a statistical savant, and there are younger versions of him. None of these jokers have a real feel for the game, but they can talk the talk all day long.

Super Tuesday - Students are back in school, but more importantly back playing games after school. This Tuesday at Cape, the track teams host Lake Forest and Smyrna, while baseball and softball host Caesar Rodney. Girls’ soccer hosts Seaford at 7 p.m on Senior Night and girls’ lacrosse hosts Parkside at 6:15. Girls’ tennis hosts Smyrna at 4 p.m. The boys’ lacrosse team plays Polytech at DE Turf at 6 p.m. Not sure where I’ll be, but there will be more places where I won’t show up.

Snippets - College commitments and staged signings are running out of control like Antiques Roadshow without the dollar designations. And students applying to double-digit colleges then bragging they got accepted into all 15 of their top choices. And college visits with mom and dad are the best way to stay clueless except for architecture and atmosphere. The hangar at Hudson Fields will open as a Revelation Beer Garden in June advertised as kid- and pet-friendly. It will open Friday to Sunday, closing at 9. Looks like I picked the wrong millennium to quit drinking. Go on now, git!