Regular followers of Owl Chatter know that we are fans of the Metropolitan Diary column in the Sunday NYT. It often has pieces where nothing happens. I sent in a parody piece once that was something like this:
In 1984, I had just moved to New York City and I had to travel uptown from my apartment to a doctor’s appointment. I hailed a cab on East 15th Street and Third Avenue, and when one pulled over, I settled comfortably into the back seat.
“Where to?,” the driver asked.
I gave him the address in the West 80’s, and off we sped northward!
To no surprise, it wasn’t accepted. By way of contrast, here’s a piece by Kathy Kumar from tomorrow’s MD that is just about perfect:
Dear Diary:
It was a warm sunny afternoon. I was walking on East 4th Street in Manhattan when something fell from above and almost hit me. Looking down, I was surprised to see a denture.
Just then, I heard a woman shout from an upper story window.
“Is it okay?” she said.
I shouted back that it looked fine, and waited until she came down to retrieve it. When she did, she said it had shot out of her mouth when she sneezed while standing at the window.
Today’s puzzle was by a very well-liked constructor, Robyn Weintraub. She lives in Rye Brook, NY, and her first puzzle was a NYT Monday puzzle back in March of 2011. An interviewer once asked her “Why do you do this to yourself?” She said: “Can’t help it. When I’m constructing a puzzle I enter that state of ‘flow’ where time just stops. I can work on a puzzle from morning until night, and only barely register the fact that I haven’t eaten or gone to the bathroom the entire day.”
Her cluing is fresh and creative. For example, today, an answer was CUBA, and this was her clue: Home to the world’s smallest bird, the bee hummingbird, which measures just 2.25″.
The “world’s smallest bird” — how wonderful.
Her long answers are often conversational. Two today were: “Common request at a bar.” Ans: CAN I SEE SOME ID? And “Response to a wild story.” Ans: YOU DID WHAT?
It’s Gloria Steinem’s birthday today, she is 89, kinahora, and was born in Toledo, Ohio. She was married to David Bale from 2000 until his death in 2003. He was the father of actor Christian Bale. The marriage ceremony took place in the home of Steinem’s friend Wilma Mankiller, the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
She once said: “So whatever you want to do, just do it…Making a damn fool of yourself is absolutely essential.” Amen to that, Steinem! Not a day goes by . . . .
It’s also the birthday of Flannery O’Connor, who changed her name from Mary O’Connor which she thought was too plain for a writer trying to sell books. She was born in Savannah, GA, in 1925 and died of lupus when she was just 39.
When she was six, she was filmed by a British news service while a chicken that she’d personally trained walked backward. The newsreel was shown around the world, calling her “Little Mary O’Connor.” She said, “Everything since has been an anticlimax.”
Hurrah for the Iowa women, who dispatched the Colorado Buffaloes last night in a tight, intense battle. Clark scored 31. Couldn’t relax till the last minute or so. It’s on to play Louisville next, and then, God willing, the Final Four.
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 