What I learned this week: Smooth coins and student protests

Plus a mysterious thing hanging from a tree in the park

Welcome back to the third edition of my new little series where I share some random things I learned over the past week (or past couple weeks). Previously I've covered the only escalator in Wyoming and farmed deer antlers, among other topics.

Lowball coins

We all know about coins that are collected for their rarity, like a mint condition quarter from a certain year. This week I learned about the opposite of a mint condition coin which is called a lowball coin. These are coins that are so used and worn down that the coin is nearly smooth. According to this coin website, "a good lowball coin will be almost completely flat, weathered down over decades of use and changing hands."

If I look in the jar of coins in my living room, there are quarters from 1985 and pennies from 1950, none of which are even close to being smoothed down like a lowball coin, so these coins would have to be used more frequently than the average coin, which I guess just comes down to luck. I think it's lucky for any coin from the last century to exist because so many get lost or thrown out or thrown in a fountain. What do you mean this useless penny is still going after all this time?

Deaf President Now! protests

In 1988, there was an eight-day protest at Gallaudet University after the school appointed a new president who not only wasn't deaf, but didn't know any sign language. The students were expressing their obvious anger and frustration that the only deaf university in the world had never had a deaf leader for its students. I'd never heard of these protests at all until I watched the documentary Deaf President Now! (Apple TV, if you're interested), which interviews the former student leaders of the protests. The documentary is co-directed by Nyle DiMarco, iconically the first deaf contestant and winner of America’s Next Top Model 10 years ago.

A few weeks ago I watched Frederick Wiseman's film Deaf (on Kanopy!), a 1986 documentary about students at the The School for the Deaf at the Alabama Institute. It's a good companion piece to Deaf President Now! because it shows antiquated teaching methods, like trying to teach completely deaf students to enunciate their words better. In the 2025 documentary, the student protesters talk of growing up in a similar environment, and of being forced to struggle in a hearing world instead of being allowed to thrive in a deaf one.

This is a kite stuck in a tree and not a dead bird caught in the branches

I was walking through a park near my house the other day and saw the thing pictured above in the tree. Immediately I was confused, worried even. From afar I truly thought it was a dead bird that had been strung up or caught in a tree somehow. Another man in the park was approaching it with his dog, equally confused. We couldn't walk away until we had answers. As I got closer I realized that actually it was just a kite designed to look like a bird. The other guy said "Whew! Now I can sleep at night!"