Fifty-eight years ago (1967), yesterday, the race riots that took Detroit down started. I forgot, or never knew, how bad they were. It started when a squad of white cops broke up a party in a Black neighborhood celebrating the return of two soldiers from Vietnam. 85 Black men were rounded up and arrested and all hell broke loose. Five days of rioting brought out the National Guard with tanks. They fired over 150,000 bullets, 43 people were killed, and entire blocks burned down. “White flight” ensued and the city collapsed — by 1990 one in three Detroiters was in poverty. It’s doing much better today, kinahora. If you visit, which we do often because Sam et al live in nearby Bloomfield Hills, try to catch the African-American Bead Museum. It takes over a city block or two with wild outdoor art.
Report in The Onion: 80% Of Women Currently Wearing Wrong Size Bra, Shirt, Shoes, Pants, Hat
Today’s a big day here. I picked up a case (24 cans) of a beer that’s new to me and am trying it later. It’s Yuengling Premium. It’s light and crisp, a Pilsner, as opposed to Yuengling’s regular lager which is closer to an amber. I like the latter, but couldn’t resist the price of the Premium — only $15.99 for 24. Wow. Love the retro look too. Will report later (down below).
Here’s an eggserpt from a poem we have opted not to share:
Easy as an exquisite corpse paraphrased
as dictionaried as a pontificator
raised by the thump of the 146 bus—
these 16 are for you.
[Oh no they’re not.]
Today’s puzzle is by Ginny Too. Not Ginny also — Too is her last name. Imagine all the bad jokes.
Commenter Lewis reminded us of a great clue she used in a previous puzzle: “Caaaaaaar, you might say” was the clue for LIMO. (Get it?)
Today’s puzzle was wordplay related to birds. But there were no owls, boo! Each theme answer was a BIRD CALL that was a phrase using a bird in a punny way. E.g., “Hey, England, happy Fourth of July!” was the clue for AMERICAN CROW. Also, “Bottom-of-the-barrel barrel prices! Buy today!” was the “bird call” for COOPER’S HAWK.
Here’s a song by Waxahatchee called Crowbar:
I learned two new words, which is my way of saying I couldn’t finish the damn thing. Did you know “† symbols, on manuscripts,” which you might call “daggers,” are actually OBELI. Had no idea. Also, the “Vocal flourish used by Lady Gaga in Shallow and Bad Romance” is called a MELISMA. It’s when you sing multiple notes on the same syllable.
We’re far from the shallow now. . . .
From The Onion:
Rabid RFK Jr. Bites Foreign Dignitary
WASHINGTON—In what may be their first apology issued for the behavior of a Cabinet member, White House officials reportedly apologized to a foreign dignitary Tuesday after the man was bitten by a rabid Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Sorry, sorry, that’s just our health secretary—I don’t know what’s gotten into him!” senior aide Tasha Sturbridge said as Kennedy snarled and sank his teeth deep into the leg of Japanese envoy Haruto Tanaka, with eyewitnesses reporting a mixture of blood and frothed saliva ringing the secretary’s mouth as his eyes rolled back in his head. “Bobby, let go. Let go! Mr. Tanaka, my apologies, but you should probably get that looked at. The secretary definitely isn’t up to date on his shots.” At press time, reports con- firmed rabies cases were sky-rocketing in the D.C. area after Kennedy bolted out an open door of the White House.
You art folks familiar with the work of Joseph Cornell? At 5D the clue was “Many a Joseph Cornell artwork,” and the answer was DIORAMA.
Commenter Les S. More shared the following: As an undergrad art student, 50 or so years ago, I became interested in the work of Joseph Cornell. So I hit the art history lab to find out more about him. His quirky, somewhat surreal work was most often described as assemblage or bricolage. I don’t remember his constructions ever being called DIORAMAs. They were collections of small, real objects mounted in boxes, often with glass fronts. In his mind there was a connection between these quirky bits of reality. These objects did not illustrate a narrative. They were meant to be associative, often inscrutable. Calling them dioramas makes them seem like grade school projects mounted in shoe boxes. Or the giant ones in a natural history museum. I could well be wrong; I haven’t done a lot of reading about him in many decades and, you know, memory.
The Yuengling (see discussion, above), was okay — not horrible not great. Will be able to get through the 24, but may not rush to resupply.
At 54A the clue was “Attire for an acrobat” and the answer was UNITARD. Here’s a nice shot we picked out from the Epstein files.
In the face of all the calamities arising around us, let’s end tonight on a lovely note. At 13D the clue for SERA was “Will be, in Spanish.” If you’re in my age bracket, you’ll remember this.
The Michigan contingent arrives tomorrow. Haven’t seen Sam, Sarah, and the boys in months. Hope they like the new mattress! Posting may be spotty for a while — we’ll do our best. We know how important this nonsense is to the readership. Both of you. Thanks for popping in!
The Wellington Files 