As a copy editor, I’m here to state that, in that case, “were” is actually correct. It is the subjunctive case — a future “if” case. Many people don’t use the subjunctive anymore, but it is still grammatically correct and more specific than using “was” in this instance.

The founder is a friend, so this is biased but also well-earned, over years: T.J. Robinson and his Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club provide hands-down the finest olive oils I’ve ever tasted. The oils’ flavors and aromas are superior to anything you’ll find in US stores, even fine imported brands. T.J. and his team import…

The founder is a friend, so this is biased but also well-earned, over years: T.J. Robinson and his Fresh-Pressed…

Probably a lot of people. Here in NYC, many people commute to Manhattan from outer parts of Queens, the Bronx, and Yonkers to work food service and cashier jobs.

Please don’t insult Off-Broadway — you have to be a very good actor even to get an audition for a bonafide Off-Broadway contract show. If you mean “Off-off-Broadway,” indiscriminate stuff in storefront theaters, then maybe. But a lot of good actors work there, too. DJTJ resembles way too many talentless guys who take…

None of the women mentioned in the article had a DUI. Your comment is needlessly judgmental and not relevant to the issues under discussion, and your lack of sympathy (let alone empathy) is disheartening. Apparently you have never received a speeding ticket or a parking ticket, which I find difficult to believe.

Please read Michael Jeter’s comment below for specifics on Ailes’s awfulness. It goes way beyond harassing a few women. That’s simply what finally got him ousted at Fox.

Bassey, thank you for this thoughtful and painfully insightful piece. I just wanted to add, “once a poet, always a poet.” It’s a state of mind/being as well as an avocation, if that resonates with you. (I sometimes call myself a “have-writt’ner,” when people inquire if I’m a writer. Not right now, no, but I have…

Thank you for that beautiful coinage!

Thanks for this excellent piece, Hamilton. Just wanted to point interested readers/viewers (if this makes it out of the greys) toward John Sayles’s brilliant 1987 film about the Matewan Massacre, Matewan. (Among the very fine cast are James Earl Jones and Chris Cooper.)

As a commenter suggested in an earlier article about this book, her editors must hate her — or they were forbidden to do anything beyond fixing typos. Any editor ought to have flagged this as offensive.

Congratulations, Al! — and kudos to North Central for showing that Indiana is not defined by Mike Pence. For context, North Central is/was one of the largest public schools in the state — back in 1985, our graduating class was 807. (I am disturbed by the level of comments here; I expected more intelligent and…

Most vaccines are not under patent protection and thus make pharma manufacturers relatively little money, compared to branded drugs. Your point is spot-on, and also explains why there is not big money to push back against anti-vaxxers.

Oh, Jerry, I am really hoping you intended that comment to be sung to the tune of Julie Brown’s “I Like ‘Em Big and Stupid.” (I am a decade-long lurker and admirer of your posts, and this comment will likely never even make it to the point you can read it.)

It was posted on this site as well, but here’s a link to Slate:

I attended public schools in Indianapolis from 3rd through 12th grades in the 1970s and 80s. One of the benefits, I realize, was that I grew up thinking of public school as the norm — which it is, and ought to be, but so much of the political discourse on education makes it sound as though “public schools” are alien…

And Muhammad Ali...

Bukowski is paraphrasing Yeats, in “The Second Coming”:

Under Trump funding for the arts will be cut even further. The notion that protest art will thrive is wishful thinking. Institutions will be even more desperate to pander to their big donors, some of whom no doubt voted for Trump, and are not going to rock the boat. Individual artists already struggle to find and keep…

Thanks for this, Dave. You’ve come as close as you could in this kind of forum to doing her justice.

As I understand, they are often responsible for cleaning and maintenance, even construction at times. (Lawrence Wright’s book describes how the Sea Org had to build special bridges for Tom and Nicole to walk across as they approached one of the Scientology buildings.) So, physical labor as well as work like food prep.