David Soubly

When I was a kid, the world didn’t seem dangerous. It was just out there. Whether backyard or neighborhood park, it was a place to explore. I didn’t realize my parents and other adults were watching out for me.

I went to kindergarten when I was five. The school was several blocks away, across a somewhat busy street that had adult crossing guards. But there were still side streets to cross on our own.

My very first day, Mom walked me to school, and a genial old man, the school principal,...

Maybe you’ve had “Jim”s in your life, maybe not.

There are two Jims I remember from my days in the Ford Parts and Service IT organization. I’ll start with the first Jim.

The first Jim really defined “rough around the edges.” He was an old-school COBOL programmer working with IBM’s IMS (Information Management Systems) databases. He was also a man with few, if any, social graces. Not that it mattered to him. He was a stocky Black guy, craggy face set in perpetual scowl — or, at least in a...