ABSTRACT
The temperature this morning was –32˚C, which is more than 20 degrees below the average low temperature for this time of year. My initial response to reading the thermometer was, “It’s supposed to be –10!”—an assertion which reveals, despite my best efforts, that aspects of metaphysical belief (e.g., the way the universe is supposed to be) and mathematized notions of normality (e.g., that an average temperature is somehow an ideal temperature) continue to frame my unguarded habits of interpretation.
