"Do hawks and falcons look so fantastic rising and falling because they have the sky as background or would they look equally good flying through mud or a piece of corduroy."

Writes Anne Carson — who just won the Nobel Prize for Literature — in "Lecture on the History of Skywriting" (a chapter of the collection called "Wrong Norma" (commission earned)).

A Paris Review interviewer asked her, "Tell me about the 'wrongness' in the title of Wrong Norma." She answered: 

"It’s directional more than wearable."

Says NYT fashion reporter, Jacob Gallagher, quoting himself, in this article he writes: "Is Anyone Really Wearing a Bra as a Shirt? A trend that points nowhere" (NYT).

If it "points nowhere," how is it directional?

I think it's funny to talk of bras as pointing somewhere, given that some, but not all, bras are pointy.

Gallagher explains his position: "It expresses something, primarily, about how thin the models are. You look at these outfits and your only real takeaway is 'Well, gee, she’s skinny.' It’s doing that thing fashion often does — making us think about our own bodies and how they differ by comparison...."

So fashion is speaking to you, and what it's saying is you can't wear this. It's like a shopkeeper telling you you can't buy this mechanical bird. It's aggravating. 

"The subject of her citizenship became part of a larger cultural conversation in April this year..."

"...when The New York Times created a list of 'the 30 greatest living American songwriters.' Ms. Mitchell was not included. 'We elected not to steal that honor from Canada,' The Times wrote in an article about its selection process. (Just a month before, the Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent to the Grammys, had honored Ms. Mitchell in Ontario with a lifetime achievement award.) The Times’s reasoning did not sit well with fans and cultural commentators who felt that she... should nevertheless have been included."

Says the New York Times, in "Joni Mitchell Is Now an American, After 60 Years of Living in the U.S./On Tuesday, she announced the news of her U.S. citizenship on social media with a video and a photo of herself at the ceremony."

The coots are back and the ducks will have to deal with it.

Video by me.

Which side were you on?

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ADDED:

“Kelly Clarkson has put us all in danger” might be the most unintentionally funny sentence in the history of mankind.

— smootoshi (@adamsmoot) October 13, 2026

AND: Here's the bird that started it all:

 

I’ve been to Art of Play many times for magic shows, and Molly the purely mechanical bird is really cool. Here’s a video I shot last year. I can see why Kelly Clarkson would want to buy it. But also, Kelly Clarkson + Art of Play’s Molly is so random a collision that I’m upgrading my belief in the simulation hypothesis

— Eugene Wei (@eugenewei) October 12, 2026

"She spent... eight minutes reading nervously from a script, looking up at the cameras every couple of lines."

"Then she said she was ready to take some questions. She called on only three reporters, dropped one wild piece of news, made a slip mixing up her husband and her president, then darted out of there after just five and a half minutes, leaving the White House press corps to scratch its collective head."

Writes Shawn McCreesh, in "Katie Zacharia Stepped to the Lectern for the First Time. It Was a Bumpy Ride/Ms. Zacharia spent eight minutes reading from a script, called on only three reporters and made an awkward slip-up" (NYT).

This doesn't seem likely to go well. Hard to brush it aside as beginner's nerves. There was also this:

President Trump on White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia: "I thought she was very good."

Q: "You said she's an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state?"

Zacharia: "When I moved to China."

Q: "Where did you pass the bar exam?" pic.twitter.com/5xiwyEsVSs

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 13, 2026

"She wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago."

Said Trump, about Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was engaged to Don Jr. from 2020 to 2024. 

Trump's cold distancing is quoted in "'Honey Please’: The Steep Rise and Sudden Fall of Kimberly Guilfoyle. President Trump cut her loose after damaging news reports about her tenure as ambassador to Greece. Once a prominent Trump insider, she suggested she will now fight to defend her reputation" (NYT).

Ms. Guilfoyle was a Trump insider with a prominent role in the family and its political operation. The president’s swiftness in firing her showed his willingness to cut off anyone who becomes a liability and an embarrassment. But it also left her with little reason to remain loyal to the president and his family at a time when Mr. Trump’s political authority is ebbing....

Her stint in Greece is over. It served its purpose: 

"'That's really chill,' is saved for something really good, like new suede sneakers with a double set of laces..."

"... or some sharp clothing, known as 'gear.' But that's only if the shoes or 'kicks' are Pumas or Adidas. For teen-age boys, this summer's sharpest 'gear' is matching nylon BVD T-shirts and shorts, with the elastic waistband showing out of the top of Lee jeans. A 'chill' outfit for a girl is tight Sergio Valente or Tale Lord jeans, black loafers and anklets."

That's from an August 1983 NYT article, "City Teenagers Talking Up a 'Say When' Storm."

I'm reading that article this morning because I got a bit annoyed by the use of "chill" in this NYT headline: "Austin Abrams Is Pretty Chill, Actually." Ugh. When did we start talking like that and why haven't we stopped?

I'm talking about "chill" as an adjective meaning "Free from anxiety or stress; relaxed, calm; easy-going, laid-back" — to quote the definition in the OED.

The OED calls it "North American slang," and, tracing its appearance in print back to 1983, quotes that NYT article and a slightly earlier writing, the March 1983 UNC-CH typescript "Campus Slang": "Try to be chill when the cops ask you why you ran the red light doing 75 mph."

The slang use of "chill" as a verb meaning to "calm down, relax, take it easy" — which I find less annoying — is a few years older. The OED finds it first in a 1979 song lyric (quoted in a 1992 book):

Sunrise.

"People are hungry for real conversation about what’s happening in our democracy and what it will mean for their families.... There will be some discussion, some debate, and hopefully a lot of laughter."

Said Hillary Clinton, quoted in "Hillary Clinton and Kara Swisher to release weekly midterms podcast/The weekly podcast, 'High Stakes,' will aim to dissect the election and its aftermath, Vox Media said" (WaPo).

Weekly... on the topic of the midterms. Starting Wednesday. There are 2 Wednesdays left before election day. But they're covering the "aftermath" too. 

I can't imagine looking to Hillary Clinton to satisfy a hunger for real conversation. I will give this post my "Hillary goes away" tag. Somewhat perversely, but you know what I mean. I am so tired of these midterms! I've never seen midterms get so much attention. But I know they are all that saves me from being plunged into the 2028 presidential race, and I don't know how I will take what will be the 7th presidential race in the history of this blog. 

"A donor, Eric Deters, first told The Wall Street Journal that Ms. Guilfoyle asked him to wire her $100,000 to pay off her American Express card..."

"... just before her Senate confirmation hearing in July 2025. According to messages Mr. Deters provided to The New York Times, Ms. Guilfoyle promised to serve as his 'ride or die in Trump world' if he sent her the money...."

From "Kimberly Guilfoyle Resigns as Ambassador to Greece/Ms. Guilfoyle was asked to quit by the White House after a string of damaging reports, including that she had asked a Republican donor to pay off a credit card" (NYT).

"Julia Warhola was born Julia Zavacky on November 17, 1892, in Mikova, in the former Czechoslovakia."

"Initially, she didn't want to marry Andy's father, the first Andy -- Andrej, born November 28, 1889, also in Mikova. Her father beat her into accepting the proposal; she was further persuaded by candy that Andrej offered. When interviewed by Esquire in the late 1960s, she said, 'My Daddy beat me, beat me to marry him.... I cry. I no know. Andy visit again. He brings me candy. I no have candy. He brings me candy, wonderful candy. And for this candy, I marry him.' Candy, trauma: these were the alpha of Julia's marriage and the omega of her son's art. Julia loved candy, and so did little Andy.... In his fanciful The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)... he recounts that his mother gave him candy bars as reward for every page completed in a coloring book.... Tom Wolfe reports Andy refusing food at society dinner parties and declaring, 'Oh, I only eat candy'...."

From "Andy Warhol" by Wayne Koestenbaum, a book excerpt published in the NYT on September 16, 2001. 

I ran across that this morning because, eating candy, I was researching the accuracy of a quote I'd long remembered, "I only eat candy."

The 911 calls in the aftermath of the failed execution of Christa Pike.

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See "Calls Show How Confusion Delayed Emergency Response for Christa Pike/The first 911 call from inside the prison was made at 8:40 p.m. It took about 30 minutes to verify its authenticity" (NYT).

"Confusion" is putting it euphemistically. How do I know the prison employees were not deliberately delaying in the hope that Pike would eventually expire?

"The initial 911 call did not come, as it might normally, from the central control at the Tennessee Department of Correction, and the caller did not have the right security verification." So who called? And why didn't someone with clear authority call? The NYT can't answer those questions because the state has secrecy laws that protect its employees who do the work of carrying out the death penalty. 

There was an execution protocol, it didn't kill Pike, and there was no protocol relating to what to do next. But that did not create the authority to kill her in some other — slower — way. 

No one should drink what they don't want to drink. It's not funny to watch someone — even a billionaire — enduring pressure to consume alcohol.

I’m not a huge fan of Guinness (basically liquified pumpernickel), so i get it. But I’d like to think one of the best parts of being worth a quarter trillion dollars is not having to drink stuff you don’t like to be accepted by the bros.

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) October 13, 2026

What was this coercive setup? It's this, the "Cheeky Pint" podcast:

The host of the podcast, John Collison, is Irish, and he seems to have arranged for his guests to join him in what the audience may enjoy believing is the Irishman's natural environment. 

In real life, does Zuckerberg drink at all? He seems like more of a health-focused guy. Look at this, fast year, on Theo Von's podcast:

"Down 0-2 in the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to consider the unfathomable... benching superstar Shohei Ohtani."

"'Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good,' manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic on Monday, after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2. 'He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us'..... Ohtani’s at-bats have been unrecognizable. Throughout October, a clearly compromised Ohtani has been getting beat on fastballs, and he’s rarely pulling the ball or hitting it hard.... He has attempted to shorten his swing and slap balls the other way.... In Game 2, Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.... A clear sign of how uncomfortable Ohtani is at the plate? Leading off the sixth against Brewers left-handed reliever JoJo Romero, Ohtani showed bunt...."

From "As Shohei Ohtani struggles, Dodgers will discuss benching superstar in Game 3" (NYT).

Top comment at the NYT: "Whole country rooting for the Brewers right now."

Sunrise.