A reminder from Laura Erickson and Joseph J. Hickey:
The beauty of birding is that there is no right way. Hickey wrote in that inviting first chapter of A Guide to Bird Watching [1943] that birding is “anything you care to make it.”
Author: David Gorsline
Free File
It’s income tax season again, and the likes of Turbo Tax and H&R Block are likely to steer consumers into paying for filing their returns when they don’t have to. Here’s an update from Sylvia Kovatch and ProPublica.
Taxpayers can go directly to the IRS to find out what their options are.
I’m going to make this a thing, too
Teachers understand that errors in their learners’ output are normal and complex. They can be… a misapplication of an analogy (e.g., if “let’s do lunch” is correct, then “let’s do sandwich” should be fine also).
—Andrea B. Hellman et al., The 6 Principles for Exemplary Teaching of English Learners: Adult Education and Workforce Development (2019), p. 63
In other news
Yesterday I retired, after eight great years at NPR. Some looks from last walks around the building (sorry, no pix from the newsroom).
New buildings have gone up; you can no longer see the top of the Washington Monument from the 4th floor terrace.
Elissa Nadworny slays again
Oh, the weather outside is frightful
Be advised that I will do what I can to make “colder than Harry’s todger” a thing.
740 calories
Ginia Bellafante is no slouch, either. From the Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Dept., Must We Gentrify the Rest Stop?
Five years ago, the New York State Thruway Authority conducted a survey of more than 2,600 drivers to take measure of the customer experience at the service areas lining the 570 miles of road that make up one of the largest toll highways in the country, stretching from the edge of the Bronx up past Buffalo. Whether participants were traveling for work or for pleasure, they had needs that apparently were going unfulfilled.
Among those who identified as occasional users of the Thruway, more than half said they would like food halls with “local artisan” offerings. Some commuters wanted Blue Apron meal kits. The resulting report listed as chief takeaways that leisure travelers complained about unappealing interiors and the lack of “Instagrammable moments.”
gulzez
John Kelly has the best job in the world. A short history of the Surrender Dorothy vista, followed by chasing the apostrophe in Bojangles (f/k/a Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits).
…on some [signs] the apostrophe seemed to float above the S, like the tongue of flame you see on a Renaissance painting of an apostle being visited by the Holy Spirit.
Giving voice to the voiceless
I am mortified that no one else stepped in to do this job, but gratified that Devon Henry was there to do it. White contractors wouldn’t remove Confederate statues. So a Black man did it., by Gregory S. Schneider.
Henry’s mission as the man who finally drove the Confederates out of Richmond was nearly complete. He had a brief, blunt message that morning for the chilly workers as they prepared to do the unusual work that has become so familiar.
“It’s the last one,” he told them. “Let’s do it right and get out of here.”
State it bravely and then act boldly
Goats and Soda, NPR’s plucky little blog that rarely has an audio component and hence can’t be monetized, remembers five inspiring women who went on ahead in 2022.
This is the sort of pure digital work that I fear we (NPR) won’t be able to afford in the current economic situation.
My year in books, 2022
I didn’t make much time to write commentary on newer books this year. Faves:
- Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen
- Life between the Tides, by Adam Nicolson
- Impossible Views of the World, by Lucy Ives sat on a wishlist for months and months
Sea change
Farmers and town-dwellers cope with the collapse of California’s water supply in the Westlands Water District. Great longer form reporting by Dan Charles.
More pix
- The last time with horses: backstage photos by Sinna Nasseri at the Metropolitan Opera. Joshua Barone reports on his experience as a supernumerary in Aida.
- Post-bougie: six decades of Barbie’s Dreamhouses. Analysis by Julie Lasky, photos by Evelyn Pustka.
People’s
I love everything about this image from Shorpy (save one): the motion blur of the waitresses and ceiling fan, obscure prepackaged food, checkerboarded mini tile floor, shiny Coca-Cola fountain—and above all, the patrons ranked behind the diners, waiting their turn. The blot: as commenters have noted, this image is from 1942, when Washington was segregated. The photo is by Marjory Collins for the Farm Security Administration.
My year in cities, 2022
Birthday road trip and Virginia Master Naturalists conference.
Overnight stays in 2022:
- Abingdon, Washington County, Va. (and) (and)
- Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va.
- Virginia Beach, Va.