I never thought much about Don Quixote until my husband acquired a used sailboat with the name of Rocinante. We had no idea what the name meant until we googled it. After reading about the Spanish hero's trusty, if broken-down, steed, we decided to keep the name for the boat.
I had liked the metaphor since 1976, when I observed a statue in front of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and snapped a photo, long since lost, of Quixote in mid-joust with the Watergate in the background of his lance.
In those days of post-Watergate confusion, liberals like me had no idea what was behind the Nixon coup. I was enamored of the idea of journalists telling the truth and advancing democracy. Not unlike Don Quixote thinking he could make a difference as he set out on Rocinante, accompanied by his friend Sancho Panza.
