In a grating public embarrassment, the statue outside the institute was defaced in April: Someone spray-painted the word "thief" on the figure of Scrushy.

FORBES: Collateral Damage

What we can't figure out is how the word "Shasta" fits into all this so lay it on us Cyberpunks if you know.

ENGADGET: Slim Amazon Kindle 'Shasta' to be first with WiFi?

When word of the 3.8% growth figure hit two weeks ago, I expected 128-point newspaper headlines blasting the joyous news.

FORBES: American Hissy Fit

He recently eliminated the job of marketing director, a role with a six-figure salary, and plans to double ad-word spending this year.

FORBES: Magazine Article

As I kept seeing the word Williamsburg pop up, it took me a few minutes to figure out where this actually was.

CNN: Apparently This Matters: A $98 stump of wood, for hipsters

As I reflect on this, I see how the American story is in many ways my story -- a country still trying to negotiate its own identity, caught between the paradise of its founding ideals and the realities of its history, trying to figure it out, trying to "become" even today -- the word hope as fresh on our tongues as it ever was.

CNN: Inaugural poet: My story is America's