Irving Berlin was born on this date in Russia in 1888. Well, not really. Israel Baline was. When his first song was published a printer’s error called him Irving Berlin and he liked it. Go with the flow. He said, “The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success.” Amen to that, Irv. That’s why we’re so careful to avoid any hope of success here at Owl Chatter. Happy Birthday!
This story, called “Initiation,” is by Gary Clinton and is from today’s Met Diary in the NY Times.
Dear Diary:
It was the early 2000s. I had been resisting my friends’ invitations to join them in a night of dancing at one of those only-in-New-York, late-night parties held in the kind of dark, crowded clubs that were tucked into quiet streets along the Hudson River at the time.
Intense, sweat-soaked, group experiences like that didn’t appeal to me.
At some point, I gave in and spent six hours one night dancing as hard as I possibly could. It was magic. I had found my tribe.
As the early spring morning broke over Manhattan, seven of us left the club together, footsore, sweaty, exhilarated and exhausted, and then settled in for breakfast at a nearby diner.
I felt like I had been initiated, let into the heavy rites of a secret fraternity. I was now one of those guys.
A world-wise waitress came to the table and scoped out the group.
“Oh, puppy!” she said. “Puppy! What happened to you? Did you get off the porch and play with the big dogs?”
I nodded.
“Don’t say a word,” she said. “I know just what you need.”
She took the other six orders and went to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later, bringing me a mound of scrambled eggs, several strips of bacon, a toasted bagel and a big glass of cranberry juice.
It was best breakfast of my life.
Today’s puzzle defeated me way down in the bottom left corner. At 83A I didn’t know the “1999 Maeve Binchy novel” was TARA ROAD. And two of the crosses lost me: At 83D I thought “Body building?” was womb — clever, right? But it was TOMB. And 84D stumped me too: “___ Crown Theater (downtown Chicago landmark).” It was ARIE. D’oh!
I learned the term MIDINETTE. The clue was “Shopgirl in a Paris boutique.” Can’t get more exciting than that. It comes from “midi” (noon) and “dinette” (light meal), i.e. a shopgirl only has time for a light lunch.
Here’s one! Bonjour!
At 50A the clue was “Fish that passes the ‘mirror test’ of self-recognition,” and the answer was MANTA RAY. The mirror test—sometimes called the mark test, mirror self-recognition (MSR) test, red spot technique, or rouge test—is a behavioral technique developed in 1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. to determine whether an animal can recognize itself. My cousin Lou has a hell of a time with it — he’s come pretty damn close the last few times. Keep at it, Louie!
An animal is anesthetized and then marked (e.g. paint or sticker) on an area of the body it normally cannot see (e.g. forehead). When it recovers, it is given access to a mirror. If it touches or investigates the mark on itself, it is taken as an indication that it perceives the reflected image as an image of itself, rather than of another animal. The findings are considered stronger if the animal also says something like “Hey, what’s this shit on my forehead?”
The only fish that pass the test are the manta ray and the bluestreak cleaner wrasse. Here’s a real cool ray:
At 59A, for the answer SWANN, constructor Brendan Emmett Quigley (highly respected) could have gone either of two ways: literature (Proust’s Swann’s Way), or football — great Steeler receiver Lynn Swann. Good to see you Lynnie!
Happy Mother’s Day from Welly and Wilma, everybody! Hope you had a blast!
The Wellington Files 