Of course Randela! (I saw your post about adding -ela to a name as a term of affection.)

Did you know that the entire Spy archive is available for free on Google Books? Just pick an issue and click on “search inside” and you won’t be searching, the contents of every issue will come up.

And let us not forget Shirley Lord, always described by Spy Magazine as a “bosomy dirty book writer.” She married A. M. Rosenthal, the New York Times’s Executive Editor and the man who single-handedly kept any positive mention of gay people or substantive news about the AIDS crisis out of the paper for many years.

The bio I read was called Destiny of the Republic. It also talked about all kinds of other people and events from the era. It wasn’t written by Erik Larson but it was like one of his books and similarly excellent.

Could have been worse. You could have been reading the New York Post post-9/11. (Sorry the image is so huge! Don’t know how to make smaller.)

No, that would actually be James Garfield, who showed up at the Republican convention in 1880 as the campaign manager for Sherman, gave the nominating speech for him, and then wound up being nominated himself! And Garfield won the election, he became President, but was assassinated shortly thereafter. It’s a really…

I just checked. Judith Krantz is still alive! She’s 87.

You won’t regret it. The whole book is great.

If you liked the Pamela Harriman bio, try to get your hands on David Grafton’s The Sisters. I think it’s out of print. There were three of them, maiden name Cushing. Here’s how they ended up: Babe Mortimer Paley, Betsy Roosevelt Whitney, and Minnie Astor Fosburgh.

God I hope my sister is not on Jezebel because my cover will be blown by this little anecdote. (And this is veering off topic.)

I am a consultant/freelancer and I got into a heated debate with the head of the division I am in contract with. She saw nothing wrong with what they did to that boy in Texas. It is her feeling that any Muslim can be radicalized at any moment so better safe than sorry. Something about little girls being strapped with…

I love the fact that your dog’s bed is visible in the background of the picture. Like she was just lying on the couch watching an Animal Planet marathon and dozed off for a few minutes…

Your Scrabble cat is just waiting to plant an X on the triple score square, right?

Dr. Ian Malcolm looks like he is a model in a high-end cologne ad!

You don’t think Donald Trump’s ascendancy is a sign of the end times? You better get started on that doily making. Hop to it!

My personal hell/way I make a living is I sometimes do final review of print and web products and I have to look out for design, spelling, and grammar issues, all at once. The lack of the apostrophe, the upside down S, the kerning, the use of the ampersand (avoid at all costs unless you are a law firm), it’s all too…

I guess you’re not a fan of the “Real Housewives” franchise?

Redacted. A stupid question I answered myself.

I don’t $400 a night is that bad at all. It’s a house with a garage. You’d be hard-pressed to rent a 2-bedroom (or 3-bedroom) hotel suite with a separate sitting area and a kitchen with parking thrown in for $400 a night in San Francisco.