When I was a kid, and beyond, I always thought of those time-honored promotional shorts as “previews.” It wasn’t until the advent of Turner Classic Movies that I learned they are called “trailers” in the film industry. I still don’t understand, though, why they’re called that. They are commercials for movies, shown months before a film’s actual release to pull moviegoers into the theatre. Why “trailers?”

I couldn’t think of anything to say yesterday. The nature of the dialog within your comments made anything I might add superfluous. Along with millions of others, I began to dabble in the “online community” about 15 years ago, and in that time I’ve thought a lot about the nature of it. I don’t think anything—television, the Internet, stamp-collecting—should supplant corporeal community, the one we walk around in. However, one of the first things I realized about online activities, to my credit, was that they involved not just screen names but real people. People with joys, sorrows, histories and feelings, people with corporeal lives. We’ve seen a moving example of that here this week. I’m proud of you.