This book is my Memoir: Not long ago I returned from a summer of research in Germany. After I took the shuttle from the airport in Oklahoma City to Norman and settled back into my house, I realized we needed an item that required a trip to a department store. Standing in line at the cash register I spoke to the cashier, when the woman behind me said: "You're not from around here, are you?" "No," I answered. It was a question I had heard many times...