What does it feel like?

NBC News has a story on Herman Wallace's release from prison yesterday. Mr. Wallace's story is notable because he spent 41 years in solitary confinement in the Louisiana State Penitentiary.  Mr. Wallace was released because women were excluded from the grand jury that indicted Mr. Wallace more than 40 years ago. It is not clear to me how the issue of the exclusion of women from the grand jury did not come up before now. But this post is not about that possible oversight.

Mr. Wallace has terminal liver cancer. Prison doctors stopped treating his illness on August 31, 2013, and told Mr. Wallace he has two months to live. Presumably that figure is now down to one month. I can't imagine what it is like to be free from prison after 41 years, let alone being free from solitary confinement after that long. But imagine trying to adjust to being around people, being free, and the idea of dying within a couple of weeks all at the same time. Calling the feelings involved in such an adjustment overwhelming is probably a disservice to the situation.

UPDATE:  Nola.com reports that Mr. Wallace has died.

Things you know exist but do not actually know.

From time to time a person makes the news for holding some kind of record that I did not realize existed.  However, if I think about the particular record, I realize that there has to be someone who is the record holder.  After all, someone was the tallest person.