I find that ridiculousness human and likable,” she added. “My mood is solidarity in the face of adversity. You share this observation that something is absurd and then it’s comforting — it makes you feel less alone.

Note: they fixed the error in the text. My wife likely through away the clip.

b/w

somehow the internet led me from weird Elif Batuman item to Jenny Blake, whose father Jim Blake I used to chat with at Printer’s Ink, and her brother Tom Blake played football for UCLA. Jenny is also an author and a business consultant.

and1: I had a weird email exchange that went from George Shultz’ tattoo to Clay Carson to Al Young and MLK.

but before all that, back at the ranch, the Post had something about a book called Dead Souls. Elif’s books are also named after Russian novels, The Idiot, The Possessed. Get it? Gogol!

moremoremore how do you like it how do you like it

“We have new optimism based on new circumstances, including vigorous and broad-based philanthropic interest in Stanford Athletics on the part of our alumni, which have convinced us that raising the increased funds necessary to support all 36 of our varsity teams is an approach that can succeed,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Thirty-seven if you count The People Who Read team.