My Black Ash in the Sun Is Not a Phoenix The orthopedic surgeon tells me after the surgery, after seven stitches, after three nights in the hospital, after the IV drip in the vein, after several treatments of antibiotics, after the prescribed capsules, after ten days in a soft cast, after having my stitches removed, I am more likely to have scar tissue because I am African American. And I wonder if he wonders this beyond clinical fact, if, somehow, he’s been following the new