William Taylor’s notebook
“Throughout his career, Taylor was rarely seen without a little green notebook, friends and colleagues recall. In it, he took meticulous notes of meetings, discussions, ideas.”
Orange Crate Art
The green chairs of Bryant Park
From Gothamist, the story of the green chairs of Bryant Park.
Ben Leddy hosts The Rewind
“John Heard and The Scarlet Letter.”
Fiona Hill’s accent
“I grew up poor with a very distinctive working-class accent. In England in the 1980s and 1990s, this would have impeded my professional advancement. “This background has never set me back in America.”
In Maniac Ridge
I was in Maniac Ridge, New Jersey, uncertain whether maniac was an adjective or a noun.
“A continuum of insidiousness”
I have to imagine this continuum as existing in both space and time, because Gordon Sondland was in way over his head as he traveled it.
The Musgrave Single Barrel 106
From the Musgrave Pencil Company: the Single Barrel 106, a pencil made from a cache of 1930s Tennessee Red Cedar found “in the wreckage of an ill-fated storage building.”
Telling the truth
ieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a few minutes ago, addressing his father: “Do not worry. I will be fine for telling the truth.”
WordPress 5.3: Kirk
The latest version of WordPress, 5.3, is named Kirk, for Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
At the movies
It’s still 1951, in some ways, and people still hate-watch the goddam movies. They really do.
Robert Walser on TAL
In Episode 687 of This American Life, “Small Things Considered,” Lilly Sullivan looks at the life and work of Robert Walser.
Word of the day: franistan
Franistan, kravistate, and Zippy.
Domestic comedy
It’s Hallmark season again.
What’s up with Trump?
It seems to me reasonable to suspect that something is wrong or that Trump and company have begun laying the groundwork for resignation.
Hi and Lois watch
Thirsty Thurston first appeared in Hi and Lois on June 9, 1961. He has now been smoking for more than fifty-eight years.
Today’s Saturday Stumper
“They’re not drips.”
NYT commentary
On today’s impeachment hearing.
Thuggery
Complete with witness intimidation in real time!
Toni Morrison’s pencils
Dixon Ticonderoga, Paper Mate SharpWriter.
Nancy’s blog
Click here to learn more!
Ben Leddy hosts The Rewind
The latest installment of WGBH’s The Rewind, “War Photography and Public Domain.”
Planet Madeleine
When we journeyed east a couple of weeks ago, our friends Jim and Luanne had madeleines for us. Homemade madeleines, Jim-made madeleines.
Two Frosts
The poet, in a documentary and a piece of Timmy and Lassie fan fiction.
Object vs. subject
I’m impressed by William Taylor’s distinction between Ukraine as object (a nation to be exploited, manipulated) and Ukraine as subject (a nation seeking to exercise agency, autonomy).
NYT commentary
The New York Times has a running commentary on today’s impeachment hearing, with eight reporters. Very helpful.
Gods and mud
A service activity.
From: Stephen Miller
No surprises.
Twelve movies
All the King’s Men and Others.
Words of the year
From the Collins Dictionary, climate strike .
Veterans Day
From The New York Times, November 12, 1919.