The Art of Airline Safety

I am a white-knuckler when it comes to flying.
Always have been and I suspect I always will be.

Because of that, I am the one on the plane who listens to and watches the safety demonstration . . . even though I’ve got it memorized and I could give the safety demonstration. 

I am so bad, I reach under the seat to see if the life jacket the flight attendants says is there, really is. In fact, I really fight the urge to rip it out of its storage bag and blow in those little pipes to see if it really does inflate but suspect that would terminate my flight before it began.  So after the demonstration, I read the safety card. . .

And I read it over. . and over . . . and over . . . again.  

Other than the tips it offers to keep me believing I could save myself  - and others - in the event of a disaster, I’d never really thought much about that card or its history until I read a fabulous  article, “The Unlikely Event” by Avi Steinberg  in The Paris Review blog, Nov. 28, 2011.

Whether you are a traveler, an art fancier or a history buff, I guarantee, you’ll love this cleverly written piece. It was so good, that now I think I must buy a copy of his book, “Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian” which was published in October.