Doones

We were in the cookie aisle, where the Nabisco man was bent down stocking the shelves. “Oh, you’re right where we’re need to be,” one of us said — something like that. And the Nabisco man reached up and handed us two boxes of Lorna Doones.

“That’s exactly what we need,” said I.

“Really?” he asked. “Two?”

“Yes,” said I. And I added that while Lorna Doones seem to get little attention, they are excellent cookies. He agreed, and he added that Lorna Doones are the cookies he has on the shelf at home.

It’s four little Lorna Doones a day for me. “I’ll fly to the moon for a Lorna Doone.”

An EXchange name sighting

[From Murder Most Foul (dir. George Pollock, 1964).]

Milchester is a place name in the Miss Marple world. MIlchester is therefore a real exchange name in a fictional world.

Related reading
All OCA EXchange name posts (Pinboard)

Never underestimate

“So there I was, a forty-something high-school teacher, with little kids, zero political experience, and no money, running in a deep red district. But you know what? Never underestimate a public-school teacher. Never”: Tim Walz, just now.

Brooklyn in the house

“Bro, we broke up with you for a reason”: Hakeem Jeffries, just now, speaking to Donald Trump.

And now I know what spin the block means.

NYT fact-check

[The New York Times, August 20, 2024.]

John Gruber nails it (Peter Baker)

The language of the barroom, pool hall, and street corner makes only infrequent appearances in these pages, almost always in something I’ve quoted. As will be the case here, as John Gruber comments on a passage in a New York Times article by Peter Baker.

Here’s Baker:

It is hard to think of a more bittersweet moment for a president who spent more than a half-century on the stage only now to be involuntarily shown the exit. The warm bath of affection in Chicago, real as it may have been, could go just so far to salve the wounds of the past few weeks.

Here’s Gruber:

Fuck Peter Baker. What utter bullshit the word “involuntar[il]y” plays in that lede. Of course it was voluntary. Joe Biden is the President of the United States and is comfortable with the power that title affords. He was, even after his disastrous debate performance, only a few points behind in the polls. It was his call and his call alone to step aside — for the sake of his party, and more importantly, for the sake of the country he so obviously loves. And it’s now obvious he made the right call.

Very few presidents have ever been faced with such a clear decision between the good of the nation and the drive of their personal ambition. Biden’s ambition is legendary. Biden’s response to this moment was heroic.

The Times can give Peter Baker as much ink as they want as a columnist. But they should stop calling him a “reporter”. He’s nothing of the sort, and hasn’t been for a long time.

I began reading that Baker story and gave up — I never made it to the paragraph quoted above. But I can add to what Gruber has to say. Look at Baker’s first paragraphs (which Gruber quotes but doesn’t comment on):

When the crowd members in the United Center first chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” on Monday night, President Biden looked down, fought back tears and soaked in the admiration.

But he knew. He might not have wanted to admit it. But he knew. They were thanking him, yes, for what he accomplished during a lifetime in public service. But they were also thanking him, let’s be honest, for not running again.

How does Baker know that’s what the crowd meant? And how does he know what Biden was thinking? The ease with which Baker penetrates mental states here contrasts with his careful hesitation about hearing contempt in Donald Trump’s remarks about military service:

“Yeah, I mean, look, you know, he has continually and repeatedly said things that seem to denigrate military service” [my emphasis].

I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad about reading what John Gruber wrote. At any rate, it finally moved me to unsubscribe from The New York Times. I can read for free via my university, and in desperate circumstances, I can read via archive.today. I assume that my three-digit Wordle streak will vanish. But enough is enough.

Related posts
Paul Harvey redux : Seeming and appearing

[I can’t believe I misspelled John Gruber’s first name. Angry typing!]

A telegram, an actual telegram

[Click for a much larger view.]

Thinking about telegrams made me remember that I have one. It appears in Ted Berrigan’s “C” magazine, vol. 1, no. 10 (1965), pasted inside a telegram-sized outline with the words “When the mercenaries ran away ...” typed along one side. I wonder what made it onto other copies of this mimeographed page.

The telegram, from Galeria Bonino, a Manhattan gallery, was sent to the artist and writer Joe Brainard. From Brazilian Bulletin, January 1, 1964:

Those who are acquainted with the Galeria Bonino in Rio de Janeiro will be pleased to know that Alfredo Bonino and Emilio del Junco have opened a new art gallery in New York City, at 7 West 57th Street. Other Bonino galleries are in Buenos Aires, Rome and Toronto.

Did Joe Brainard ever have a show at Galeria Bonino? There’s nothing listed in the exhibition history in Joe Brainard: A Retrospective (2001).

Pop quiz: Why would a Manhattan gallery be sending a telegram to a Manhattan resident?

Related reading
All OCA Joe Brainard posts : telegram posts (Pinboard)

“Letters! Actual Letters!”

The latest episode of This American Life is all about real mail: “Letters! Actual Letters!” With enough human interest to fill a relay box.

Related reading
All OCA letters posts (Pinboard)

Feeling seen

Jonathan Capehart, as PBS closed its coverage of the Democratic National Convention tonight. For context: he was holding a handkerchief that was a present from PBS NewsHour co-anchor Amna Nawaz:

“Yesterday I said, in politics people want to be seen. They want to be seen in the way their politicans talk to them and talk about them. And when I pulled out my Amna hankie, it was when Michelle Obama said that Kamala Harris — we never have the grace of failing forward; we never have the benefit of generational wealth; if things don’t go our way, we don’t get to complain. That’s how Michelle Obama lived her life — lives her life; that’s how Barack Obama lives [his] life. That’s how I live my life. And to hear that, coming from the former First Lady, is just too — and I’m sorry, but I feel seen. And I think people in this hall feel seen. And I’m certain that millions of Americans feel seen. I’ll leave it there.”

*

Wednesday morning: You can watch and listen here.

Oof!

Michelle Obama, just now: “Who’s gonna tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?”