My Father and I Agree by Hannah Jones

My Father and I Agree

Hannah Jones

About the Writer

Hannah Elizabeth Jones is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been previously published in Cellar Door, Campus Blueprint, Sketchbook, and apt. She was a finalist in the 2016 Livershot Memoir competition.

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On Mexican food
On Ocean’s 11 and the West Wing
On government
- We hate rhetoric short enough to fit on a sign
  - It doesn’t tell the full story
    - We admit everything is complicated
- We do not respect the law
  - We both go twelve over on Purdue St
  - We both go a little over on every street no matter what
  - Most people do that
- We both have an instinct to steal
  - He doesn’t call his stealing, he calls it cunning
- We both don’t trust authority
  - I get that from him
  - In both senses
- We suspect
  - I am unsure whether he commits tax fraud because I do not know tax law well enough
  - He is unsure whether I drink in college because he does not know me well enough
  - I think he smoked a lot of weed before he met my mother just because all of his brothers did and he never said why he wouldn’t
  - I think his habit of stretching the realm of “only tipsy” might coincide with a habit of driving home drunk
  - I don’t think he deserved to be sued for copyright infringement
  - I don’t have much evidence for any of it
    - Just all of this thinking
- We don’t ask
On federal culpability in the 2007 housing crisis
On Apple vs PC
On lifestyle
- We ran
  - He runs
    - I don’t run anymore because of my knee
- Our knees are both fucked up
  - His from jumping out of planes
    - He doesn’t see his injury as a reason to stop running.
    - I see a rainy day as a reason to stop running
We are early risers
- He wakes early
  - Eats breakfast at the same restaurant, same order, 7am.
  - He organizes his trash cans.
  - He has an alphabetized collection of over 700 DVDs.
  - He has his car washed exactly once a week. He buys the washes in bulk, gets a discount.
  - He would have written a more well-organized outline.
  - But he wouldn’t have known what to fill it with.
- I stumble into work at 5am
  - And don’t enjoy it.
    - But I know he would admire me for it.
    - Sometimes my room gets so messy I can’t clean it.
      - He would not understand this phenomenon.
On megachurches
On pain
- Having a high pain tolerance is important
  - I admire all his broken ribs from racing mountains bikes.
    - He never goes to the doctor.
- He used to poke me in the ribs when he was teasing.
  - It hurt quite a bit.
- I have a very low pain tolerance.
  - Sometimes when I stub my toe very hard I bang my head into the wall until it stops hurting
    - The toe, that is
    - I think he would be proud.
On Five Guys seasoned fries
On pleasure
- How it comes from the sun
- How it is found near pools and oceans
  - We both burn easily
    - He does not agree, thinks lobster red fading to sun spots is a tan.
    - We both burn frequently nonetheless.
- How it comes from music
  - The highest calling
  - He played it, and I love to listen.
  - He doesn’t play anymore.
    - (that I know of)
  - I still love to listen.
- How it does not always come from knowledge
  - For us it comes from uncertainty.
    - The period between seeing something and knowing what it is.
  - We would both rather get the other one’s voicemail
    - We would both rather suppose intentions
    - We would both rather stop before the complications
      - The further in we go the less we agree
        
        The more irreconcilable everything gets
On goddamn peace and quiet
On academia
On cities
On being scrappy, thrifty, independent.
- On feeling like we never got much help
  - We both baby our parents
  - We both don’t necessarily “get along” with our fathers
    - We both have fathers less crazy than their fathers
    - So we are getting somewhere
      - Albeit slowly

1. Assuming nothing has changed since the last time we spoke in person approximately 1 year and 9 months ago.