My barber is a twenty-something Jersey girl from “down the shore.” A conversation:
Her: So you doin’ anything fun this weekend?
Me: Well, I’m finishing up a presentation I’m giving this week.
Her (pause): Oh. (pause). That should be fun. (pause). What’s it about?
Me: Machiavelli.
Her: What’s that?
Policy of Truth 
From the name MacHiavelli, I’m guessing it’s a Scottish fellow.
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You should have recited this:
I am Machiavel
And weigh not men, and therefore not men’s words.
Admir’d I am of those that hate me most:
Though some speak openly against my books,
Yet will they read me, and thereby attain
To Peter’s chair; and, when they cast me off,
Are poison’d by my climbing followers.
I count religion but a childish toy,
And hold there is no sin but ignorance.
Birds of the air will tell of murders past?
I am asham’d to hear such fooleries!
Many will talk of title to a crown:
What right had Caesar to the empery?
Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure
When, like the Draco’s, they were writ in blood.
Burma-Shave.
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I was about to tell her that Machiavelli was one of the “unacknowledged legislators of the world,” but didn’t. I ended up telling her he was an “Italian writer,” and leaving it at that. She said, “Oh,” and asked me if I wanted hair gell.
I sat there for awhile trying to imagine the state of innocence that might have prompted her question, but found that I couldn’t. So I just gave her a big tip and left it at that.
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What a different world we would have had, if Machiavelli had had access to hair gel. Instead of The Prince, maybe we would have had a children’s book “Fun high jinks with Mach.” Now THAT would have led to better leaders.
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I’m not sure. We might just have gotten well-coiffed imperialists.
I’m glad to see that you’ve gotten past WordPress’s checkpoints this time. I get stuck in them, too, and it’s my site. WordPress is a glitchy mess. And worst of all, I pay for it.
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