In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

Now I'm reading the March 17 article about snus, which, apparently has become something of a big deal among some populations here in the U.S. since it was imported from Sweden.

I haven't finished the article yet, so I don't know what more the author may have to say, but from what I've read so far, it pretty much sounds to me like up-scale chewing tobacco (you just don't chew it).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_tobacco

[Jeff Wrangler]

"In the end, it always came back to cow shit." 



That sentence is classic Jill Lepore.

Today I finished her article in the March 24 issue about Ruth Stout. When I read that sentence I laughed so much I nearly choked.

I almost did so again, just now. 

[serious crayons]

I haven't finished the article yet, so I don't know what more the author may have to say, but from what I've read so far, it pretty much sounds to me like up-scale chewing tobacco (you just don't chew it)

My editor at my first newspaper job chewed something that led him to periodically spit in a can. A coworker called it snus. I thought maybe that was a slang word for chewing tobacco, and sounds like I wasn't far off.

[Jeff Wrangler]

My editor at my first newspaper job chewed something that led him to periodically spit in a can. A coworker called it snus. I thought maybe that was a slang word for chewing tobacco, and sounds like I wasn't far off.

The Zyn brand is mentioned in Andrew Marantz's March 24 article about young men turning to Trump.

[Jeff Wrangler]

On page 17 of the March 24 issue there is a cartoon panel by Emily Flake titled "Democratic Resistance Strategies."

One of the "strategies" is:

"Dropping sick burns in the private slack."

I have no idea what that means. 

(In the comic all the words are in capital letters.)

I wonder if Emily Flake is the cartoonists real name. If it is, I bet she got teased a lot in school.

[Front-Ranger]

Slack is a team communications app, and sick burns, I'm guessing, are witty put-downs.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Slack is a team communications app, and sick burns, I'm guessing, are witty put-downs.

Thanks.

[Front-Ranger]

I read the article on the dire wolf unextinction in the latest issue. Aside from the last page, there is very little about the dire wolf. I recca-mend skipping over the first few pages.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I read an article online about the dire wolf.

Anyway, by cover date I'm now a month behind in my magazines, and I guess I will just keep falling farther and farther behind. I can't read an issue fast enough, plus lately there are many articles that caught my interest and insisted to me on being read. Nevertheless, when a new issue arrives in my mailbox, I still check the TOC, even if it may be weeks until I get to that particular issue. I check out the contributors page, too.

I was scanning the contributors page of the April 14 issue, which arrived yesterday. I don't know why, but my eye was caught by the paragraph about Nikil Saval, who is described as having written for the magazine since 2016 "on topics including cities, architecture, and design." He's also described as "a Pennsylvania state senator."

I'll say. He's my Pennsylvania state senator--I mean, he represents my district in the state senate.

I wonder if I've seen his bylines and/or read any of his articles over the years, and just never made the connection? 

[Front-Ranger]

Your elected officials have been much in the news lately! It was terrible about the violence against the governor.

I started reading the April 21 issue. (I like to read the latest issue when it arrives so I'll have something timely to talk about with my friends.) Don't read if you are a David Byrne fan, but it struck me how often he says, "I thought..." The magazine seems to cover his every move.

Not a whole lot of relevant content in this issue. I get the impression that the press is overwhelmed. Plus, there is so much whipsawing in the economy, it's not worth getting all riled up when you know tomorrow will bring a whole different situation. That's probably the strategy. I loved the "Adult Roller Coaster" cartoon on page 49.