Clippings

“Hon”

Garrison Keillor shared this story at his Substack podcast. I can’t pretend to have GK’s credentials, but I sure recognize the feeling.

The woman came by a little later and said, “How’s your breakfast, dear?” I said, “It’s wonderful,” though actually it was rather mediocre, but I didn’t want to cause her anxiety because — this is going to sound pathetic but forgive me — her “hon” had given me a very warm feeling deep inside. Me, a published author who once got a terrific review in the Times and who’s attended luncheons at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but neither the Times nor the Academicians ever called me “hon” and she did and it means something to me.

Wise Words from Mandy Brown

Mandy Brown: “Are you a writer or a talker? That is, when you need to think about something, do you generally reach for something to write with, or look for someone to talk to?” I am an extreme writer — but I recognize the wisdom in this advice:

Talkers need to recognize that not everyone loves to think out loud, and that giving space for writing is part of what it means to make use of the best brains around you. Writers need to remember that writing isn‘t some perfected ideal of thinking and that making space for the messy, chaotic, and improvisational work of talking things out is often exactly what a team needs to create change. Whichever mode you prefer, it’s not feasible to abstain from the other; doing good, collaborative work requires that you practice both modes.

Shared by Alan Jacobs

A new name for the Commanders

John Feinstein has a suggestion for the soon-to-be new owner of the Washington Commanders—

But there is one decision Harris can make the day he takes over, amid the celebratory fanfare of his “I’m not Dan Snyder” introductory news conference.

Change the team’s name. Yes, again.

I was partial to naming the team Pigskins, but I think John has a better suggestion—

How about “Washington Monuments?” Other than the White House, that monument is easily the most recognized landmark in a city full of them. Everyone knows exactly what it is, and it literally towers over the D.C. landscape. It is completely apolitical, the backdrop for so many civic events.

Tough times for English majors

“For decades, the average proportion of humanities students in every class hovered around fifteen per cent nationally, following the American economy up in boom times and down in bearish periods. (If you major in a field like business for the purpose of getting rich, it doesn’t follow—but can be mistaken to—that majoring in English will make you poor.) Enrollment numbers of the past decade defy these trends, however. When the economy has looked up, humanities enrollments have continued falling. When the markets have wobbled, enrollments have tumbled even more. Today, the roller coaster is in free fall.” Nathan Heller in The New Yorker: The End of the English Major.


via NextDraft