In the interests of honest disclosure, I should note that not everything around here is verdant and wild. That's the view out front.

Out back, of course . . .

Yin / yang of urban living. And, to be fair, the front at suppertime:

Tuesday was the day of obligations - looking over Joe to make sure it's okay, cleaning up the matchbook, revising and polishing the weekend NRO column (that's where the Screed went to live, BTW), the national radio show, then I'm done!

What? You want more Hiatal Woolworth Rejects? I can oblige.

It’s 1955, I think. The folder says 55-57, and these are the first few pages. The annual reports have proud pictures of the store interiors. Take a look at this one and brace yourself, because YES. You are expected to be able to name two of these.

The first one, in the middle, is easy. I had suspicions about this one, and blew it waaaaay up.

Got it now, don't you? Aren't we clever.

There’s no attempt to glamorize any of these store locations. Everyone looks frumpy by modern standards. Bulky housecoats. Well, they’re practical. It’s cold out there.

Those ghastly lights. I suppose for a while people thought they made the place look nice and bright, compared to the darker stores of yesteryear, I guess.

The amount of space devoted to window hardware was no doubt scientifically ascertained. You have to believe it was. Otherwise they’re just devoting huge amounts of real estate to categories people get once a year, maybe.

The home decor department. Here’s an end cap with the fake flowers everyone will know you got at Woolworths!

I love the script.

Sleepwear and undergarments. Foundation garments, maybe.

Oh, OKAY

We’ve had multiple shootings in Minneapolis and St. Paul. One took place outside a bar I used to frequent when I lived in Uptown. This led to the usual discourse on Reddit: root causes vs. culture. To be fair, one commenter said the state needed to beef up the safety net and fix the culture, so that’s progress. At some point someone always judges the entirety of the metropolitan area as off-limits, and you get this:

REPLY Actually being scared of traveling to Minneapolis as a grown ass man is fucking pathetic.

ORIGINAL POSTER: Right totally pathetic after I and other people I know have had knives or guns pulled on us despite us doing nothing and minding our own business. Last time I took the light rail a couple years ago I saw two different people with weapons and the entire time it smelled like drugs.

This aligns with common complains made in the subreddit about the state of the light rail. The reply moves the goalposts:

REPLY There's nothing wrong or illegal with carrying a weapon in the state of MN and what drugs did they smell like other than weed because that's legal here too. Thankfully in MN citizens have rights which trump your feelings.

See what he did there? You don't really think he is thankful for concealed carry, or for the right to bear arms in the first place. But that's not the important part.

ORIGINAL POSTER: Uhhh no way they were legally carrying one of them had a gun in his waistband with no holster I spotted when his shirt lifted up a bit. Zero chance someone carrying a gun in his waistband has a concealed carry license. I also am well aware of the difference between the smell of weed and other drugs.

You don't have a right to concealed carry without a license so yeah fuck your feelings too nice failed argument.

Assuming this happened, it seems reasonable to not want to repeat the experience. It’s hard for anyone to say it’s pathetic not to want to be around people doing crack or people with a gun in their waistband. So what’s the next response:

REPLY If you feel so strongly about those in your presence apparently breaking the law and you did what specifically about it?

Brilliant! Mind you, if someone started a post talking about calling the police on someone doing drugs on the light rail, they’d be excoriated for creating a situation that could be fatal to the marginalized and dispossessed.

Anyway it’s all the fault of Adam Smith and billionaires. It's too bad about that bar. I had some wonderful nights there. G&Ts for $1.25, and no one ever shot anyone.

It was a library, but not a Carnegie library.

It’s 1918.

The Semi-Weekly Light is not the most euphonious name, but I suppose it stands out.

		Battlefield stats. But . . . daily? Weekly? Monthly?

		The S-W Light was pro-war, and hammered the point on its editorial page again and again, as if Wilson himself was penning the page.

		Yes, this was surely a necessary thing to write

What?

What?

What?

What?

I presume some sort of livestock. A cow? A horse?

		Ladies, it's time for a BAPTISM OF BLOOD

Reads like an ad, doesn’t it?

And I wonder why they ran it, considering that right next to it on the page is . . .

What a brute and what a beaut.

That will do. Outtakes at the Substack today, for paying customers. Thank you, as ever, for your patronage.

Yes yes full details on Friday.