Writing and thinking

I wish I had missed this one. In The New York Times (gift link), Joe Cruz, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science, opines: “I’m a College Professor. Writing Isn’t as Important as We Think.” See? He’s a professor. So he must know stuff.

And he begins by fabricating straw people, with the assertion that “Most college professors I know believe that students learn to think — critically, creatively, reflectively, tenaciously — only by writing.” Only by writing? I don’t think so. I don‘t know anyone who thinks so. Why discount the value of writing by leading with a false premise? As you might suspect, AI soon enters the argument.

Natalie Wexler offers a carefully reasoned response: ”Yes, Writing Does Advance Thinking.” As someone who has again and again not figured something out before sitting down to write, I must agree.

I like the Leuchtturm motto Denken mit der Hand: think with the hand. Or in a formulation that Wittgenstein approved, “I think with my pen.” The pencil is also a means to advancement.

Jeff Tweedy annotates Woody Guthrie

In The New York Times (gift link), Jeff Tweedy annotates Woody Guthrie’s “America Singing,” a prose piece published in the Times on April 4, 1943. An excerpt:

I think we need to get better at defining the stakes we face today. Because, while the people who are systematically dismantling our institutions and violating Americans’ rights don’t wear the uniforms of the Fascist Party, the consequences of their actions are similar to the ones Guthrie feared.

Guthrie’s piece, which I can see in its original form in ProQuest but not via the Times itself, appeared on a page titled “Music of the Times,” otherwise devoted to classical music. That might explain Guthrie’s seemingly out of the blue reference to “real honest classical music.”

The condescending subhead the Times added to Guthrie’s piece: “Author of ‘Bound for Glory’ Recalls What The Plain People Sing.”

Related reading
A handful of OCA Woody Guthrie posts (Pinboard)

Morning becomes Ernie Bushmiller

A Morning with Ernie Bushmiller, a play about the celebrated cartoonist, soon begins a six-performance run in Brooklyn. More information at BroadwayWorld.

Related reading
All OCA Nancy posts (Pinboard)

”Dine at the Ritz”

[27 Union Square West, Manhattan, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

I like the cheeky sign: “Dine at the Ritz.” Yes, let us dine at the Ritz, after which we can have our press conference at the Four Seasons. Just don’t bring along any gangsters.

Here’s another view of this Ritz, with the candy store and a shoeshine parlor to the side. A five-story building owns this corner today. A later Ritz Diner at 1133 1st Avenue appears to have recently closed. That restaurant’s website gives the address as 1079 1st Avenue, which is the address of another diner under the same ownership, the Tramway. Mixing up those two establishments would be considerably less embarrassing than mixing up one Ritz or Four Seasons with another.

Related posts
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)

”Are we having beer yet?“

[Zippy , October 4, 2026. Click for a larger view.]

On Friday, Zippy became Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon . Yesterday he turned into Lee Marvin, and he continues in that role today (in Point Blank ?).

When I read the dozen comics I read daily, I close read. So I embiggened to see what’s on Zippy Lee’s bottle: Google Zippy Lemon Ale . Yes, it was real, 7.2 ABV (strong), available in Idaho and Washington. What did Bill Griffith ask for as compensation for the use of Zippy’s likeness? Two six-packs. The story is behind the link just above.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)

[The post title is part of the beer’s logo.]

Belated birthday

I missed the date: Orange Crate Art turned twenty-two on September 15. Twenty-two!

Elaine says that it’s okay to have missed the date. After twenty-one, she says, it’s all just adulthood.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Joel Fagliano of NYT Games. It’s the first time I’ve seen his name on a Stumper, and it’s a terrific one — tricky, amusing, with enough toeholds to get started and keep going. For instance, 29-A, four letters, “‘He was       , take him for all in all’: Hamlet.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

1-D, nine letters, “Tangentially.” I’m given to tangentiality.

2-D, nine letters, “What children make a stand for.” I was a little uncertain about filling in what seemed like the obvious answer. How could it be nine letters?

6-D, eight letters, “Leaves home.” Lovely.

12-D, five letters, “Friday the 3rd?” Groan.

20-D, eight letters, “Deal with your in-box.” See 2-D: how could the answer be eight letters? Perhaps (to my mind) the extra letters are to make the puzzle a bit trickier.

23-A, ten letters, “Short-term lab job.” Cute.

27-A, six letters, “Subject to slamming.” NOGOOD? A nice bit of trickery.

36-A, four letters, “Soul’s foregoer.” I tried to think of other Kia models.

39-A, five letters, “Edges of some calendar line lists.” I think I get it.

46-A, ten letters, “City near Manhattan not related to a sand bag brand.” I love it.

46-D, five letters, “Half a bubble gum brand.” Remarkable the way such stuff just sticks in my head.

57-A, six letters, “Loud buzzer.” I have lived it.

49-D, five letters, “Informal term of endearment.” I use this word often and typed it just yesterday.

My favorite in this puzzle: 61-A, six letters, “Layers of floors.” Just because.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

The folk process

Three wonderful granddaughters have each altered the venerable “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” substituting the fifth note of the scale (sol) for the second (re) in the song’s final line: “How I wonder what YOU are.”

One kiddo explained: “I like a little burst of excitement at the end.”

Yodeling

A great episode of 99% Invisible : “Tootle of a Devilish Song,” all about yodeling.

Two musicians missing from the episode who deserve mentioning: Emmett Miller, the minstrel show (blackface) performer whose “Lovesick Blues” (with yodeling) was taken up by Hank Williams, and Tommy Johnson, the Mississippi blues singer and guitarist with a signature understated yodel. As on, for instance, “Canned Heat Blues.”

[“Canned heat”: Sterno, an extremely dangerous subsitute for alcohol beverages. Johnson’s song is the source for the name of the blues-rock band Canned Heat.]

“Lightly edited,” but still wildly incoherent

Have you read the transcript of the current occupant’s September 28 interview with Time ? The transcript has been “lightly edited,” Time says, but it’s still wildly incoherent. With lots of lies. I wonder what it was like before editing. A sample:

Do you trust Sam Altman?

I like him. Do I trust him? Who do I trust? I like Sam Altman. Smart. Dario’s smart. They’re all smart. We’re dealing with a very high level of IQ. Very very high level. That’s a good thing. I like that. I like it. Did you see the story about my uncle?

The one who taught at MIT?

I have the highest of IQs. I have the highest. I’m fine, and I understand that stuff. You know, my uncle was at MIT for 41 years, and you know, I’m a — I believe in genetics, frankly, and I understand. I understand it much more than I think any president would, because I do have an ability on this. I have an ability on those things that were the new frontiers.

What I’ve done is I’ve created, for instance, these massive plants have no — We have no electricity in our grid. These massive plants now are allowed to make their own electric —

Are you worried you can’t bring the American people along with you on that?

I might not be able to. I don’t know.

The child-like appraisal of a person (“I like Sam Altman”), the obsession with IQ, the uncle story, the bragging, the weird JFK touch (“the new frontiers”), the preposterous claim to have created “massive plants,” the struggle to say something clearly (“We have no electricity in our grid”), the surprising moment of self-doubt. What a long strange trip.

For me, the biggest tell comes in two words: “I’m fine.” No, he’s not.