In Wisconsin

I was in Wisconsin, in the town of Da Vinci (so spelled), watching a protest at a Vietnamese restaurant. About what or whom, I didn’t know. Someone threw a brick through the window. Instead of shattering the window, it made a large, perfectly cut circle.

My dreams during the Great Pause have veered from the mundane (buying groceries) to the bizarre (a talking squirrel). This dream seems too much drawn from waking life.

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“This is not normal”

Amy Siskind’s select list of norms Donald Trump* and his administration have violated, week by week by week: “This is not normal” (The Washington Post).

A message to Senator Doodyhead

I left a message for David Perdue (R-GA), who was in the news this week. Here’s what I left on the senator’s contact page:

Dear Senator Perdue:

I was appalled by your recent mockery of Kamala Harris's first name. It smacked of junior-high immaturity and cruelty. The racism implicit in your mockery of an unfamiliar name was unmistakable. And yet how unfamiliar to you is Senator Harris's name anyway? You have served with her in the Senate for several years.

As someone whose name so readily lends itself to mockery — David Perdoodoo, David Doody, perhaps even David Doodyhead — you should be aware of how inappropriate such mockery is, especially when one moves beyond junior high.

Be best, &c.

[My name too. My dad and I, across the generations, both endured Ledhead. Or was it Leadhead? I never asked about the spelling.]

Nancy and Japan

In today’s Nancy, Olivia Jaimes offers a performative commentary on Japanese comics.

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Ed Benguiat (1927–2020)

The graphic designer Ed Benguiat has died at the age of ninety-two. From the New York Times obituary:

“Music is placing sounds, to me, in their proper order so they’re pleasing to the ear. What is graphic design? Placing things in their proper order so they’re pleasing to the eye.”

Benguiat’s Interlock has made several appearances in these pages.

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper is by “Anna Stiga,” or Stan Again, Stanley Newman, the puzzle’s editor. It looks intimidating, with stacks of fourteen-, fifteen-, and fifteen-letter answers top and bottom. But look, there’s an opening: 18-A, three letters, “Lentil cousin.” And another: 22-A, four letters, “Internal motivation.” And things began to fall into place. I found some moments of difficulty in the southeast quarter. For instance, 44-D, three letters, “Restraining order”? That’s tricky, especially if you’re uncertain how to spell 51-A, five letters, “Asia’s highest major city.”

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:

7-D, six letters, “Cause precipitation.” Nice misdirection, Ms. Stiga.

33-A, eight letters, “OK to drive.” Is it clever, really? I think it’s clever.

50-D, six letters, “Put to the test.” Aah, put. Present tense, or past? And what kind of test?

55-A, four letters, “Up.” AWAK —? No.

58-A, three letters, “Get close to, in quantity.” I think that should be in number, but I still like the twist.

The funnest fifteen-letter clue in today’s puzzle: 61-A, “Secret thing since the ’50s.” But my favorite clue in today’s puzzle is 54-D, five letters, “Late spring/early summer tag phrase.” So simple once you see it, though it may take a while to see it.

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

Biden–Simone

Vote for America.https://t.co/eoxT07uII9 pic.twitter.com/sBd51fgmln

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 14, 2020

The song is “New World Coming” (Barry Mann–Cynthia Weil). My guess is that too many people won’t know the singer. She is Nina Simone.

Sally Foster Wallace (1938–2020)

This news appears to have gone unremarked beyond a local obituary: Sally Foster Wallace, teacher and writer, has died at the age of eighty-two. Her husband, the philosopher James Wallace, died in 2019. David Foster Wallace was their son.

Sally Foster Wallace’s Practically Painless English (1980) is a textbook noteworthy for the loopy humor of its sample sentences. Three random samples:

George is upset because his father thinks he lied about the cherry tree.

Rats! My wig has burst into flames again! Help!

The big fish kept out of trouble because he shut his mouth and stayed in school.

And from an exercise in commas:

You set fire to the pizza[,] didn’t you?

“End Our National Crisis”

“Donald Trump’s re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II”: The New York Times today has published a special Opinion section, “End Our National Crisis: The Case Against Donald Trump.”

Naked City playground

[From the Naked City episode “Saw My Baby There,” June 9, 1959. Click any image for a larger view. And to the girl in the first picture: stop looking at the camera!]

Swings, seesaws, slide — the only thing missing is the monkey bars.

That playground could be anywhere in mid-century New York. Those swings, like the sinks and toilets in prisons, are made to resist damage. A thoughtful parent might lay down a diaper or towel before seating a child on the metal surface. I speak from experience.

[Me, in a playground at 43rd Street and New Utrecht Avenue, Brooklyn, 1957.]

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