My Impromptus today has Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and other people we know. Also notes on language, music, etc. Here it is. Let’s have some mail.
In a column last Monday, I mentioned the “Wait until 8th” campaign. It has to do with smartphones: no smartphone until 8th grade. (I would push for later, but you take what you can get.)
A reader writes,
Hello, Mr. Nordlinger, good morning —
. . . I teach high school economics, and I’ve seen the phone issue evolve from a nuisance, to a problem, to an emergency, to a full-blown public health crisis, and I’m happy more people are finally talking about it. But I don’t think most people are aware of the scope of the problem, and my concern is that we’re too late. My students, seniors, don’t have the ability to leave their phones alone, and parents and administrative leadership lack the will to insist upon it. Most of our leaders are as addicted as the children, and fixing the problem — rebuilding on the ashes — will take firm, persuasive, creative leadership. Which is a dead letter, currently.
Sorry for the downer . . .
No worries.
In a post on Friday, I discussed John Williams, the movie composer. I said there are at least three John Williamses in our lives: the composer; the classical guitarist; and the novelist, the author of Stoner.
A reader writes,
I wanted to add one more John Williams to the list you provided. Raymond Scott (another remarkable figure in American music) relied on a jazz drummer who went by “Johnny Williams” for the Raymond Scott Quintet recordings of works such as “Powerhouse,” before that music became forever associated with Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes. Williams’s son also went by “Johnny” when he was a young session musician playing piano on such recordings as Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn soundtrack. Eventually the younger Johnny switched to “John” and went on to compose all those glorious movie scores.
Yes, indeed.
In my Friday Impromptus, I had some notes on Ithaca, N.Y., and pictures, too. Mr. R. Anthony Rupp III writes to say,
Dear Mr. Nordlinger:
Your column struck me on several different levels.
First, as a 1992 Cornell Law grad, I enjoyed your photos and description of Ithaca. I loved Ithaca for everything but its politics. . . .
Also, I live in a (very) bright yellow house. [I had shown a picture of such a house in my column, saying I liked them.] My wife likes the look.
We just had the bright yellow applied a second time. I live in East Aurora, N.Y., in the snowbelt south of Buffalo. We get pounded with snow. See the attached photo.
Here it is:
In my “Ithaca column,” I had discussed the First and Second amendments (for reasons we could get into). Tony Rupp continues,
Finally, of course, I am a firm supporter of the entire Bill of Rights. And I am now, somewhat unexpectedly, cast as a civil-rights lawyer — but I prefer to think of myself as a Bill of Rights lawyer, since I bring a strong conservative/libertarian bent to my litigation practice.
Mr. Rupp links to a report in the New York Times, dated March 3: “He Cursed at a Police Officer. Now He’s Caught in a Free Speech Fight.” Darned interesting.
My thanks to one and all readers and correspondents.