New York Times Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Reply to My Texts?

can I FIND my cellphone?

In the Social Q’s column of the New York Times for March 18 was a piece titled My Relative Takes Forever to Reply to My Texts. What Can I Do? The subhead: Stung by a family member’s laggardly response times, a reader considers confronting the issue head-on: “Do you make all your friends wait like this?”

I thought it was an absurd question. The response, in part: “Here’s my view, along with a suggestion: Sending texts to people does not obligate them to respond on our timetable. Still, I know that mismatched feelings of closeness can be hurtful in relationships. If that’s your concern here, stop sending idle texts and suggest an activity in real life: a dinner date or a walk in the park. Because it’s shared experiences that make us closer — not keystrokes.”

This reader response, I thought, was the usual rule of thumb: Not all texts are the same. Some require an immediate answer: “Where are you? We were supposed to meet here 10 minutes ago.” Some do not: ” I am having a wonderful day gardening – it’s gorgeous out. (and so on for a full paragraph).” The whole point of texting is that a reply can be quick or not, depending on the circumstances. Let it go.

Another reader comment: My cellphone is for my convenience, not anybody else’s. I’ll get around to texting you back when I deem it sufficiently important. Plus, the older I get, the harder it is to text on that tiny little screen without a zillion typos. Which, again, because I am old, I am compelled to correct before sending. This is definitely true. I hate the physical act of texting, as I tend to hit two keys at once. At least, I’ve (mostly) figured out the jargon.

Generational

This reader comment is dead on: Believe it or not, there are those of us who came of age in the pre-cellphone age for whom texting is not a primary form of communication. We get around to reading and responding to texts when we get to them. I’m 75; I have a landline, and sometimes I don’t check my cellphone (when I can find it) for texts for days on end, which I admit can be a problem at times, but that’s simply the way it is.

Even in my generation, I was not an “early adopter.” We too have a landline, in part so that I can call and FIND my cellphone. I DON’T go days on end, but it might be for hours.

I’ve chosen to treat my cellphone like a regular phone. If I’m involved with something else, including downtime, I don’t answer or respond. I’m in full resistance to the distraction economy.

One of the things I used to do was look at my phone as soon as I got up in the morning in my office upstairs. Then my wife’s charger went on the fritz. So now my wife and I both charge our phones on a device with multiple charger ports that I bought for our 2023 trip to France. It’s downstairs. This is SO much better for my mental health.

There were hundreds more comments, but these hit the spot.

In the comic strip ZITS, there was a two-day stretch on March 25 and 26 about Jeremy, the 15-year-old protagonist, getting upset that his friend Hector wasn’t replying to his texts. It felt about right.

I see my cellphone as a tool, not an extension of myself, to be used at my discretion. But you may have a different relationship with your cellphone.

The broader issue

In the New York Times essay, No Wonder You Can’t Concentrate, Cal Newport addresses my broader concerns. Here’s just one paragraph:

Many of these declines in cognitive skills became notable starting in the mid-2010s, exactly the period when smartphones became ubiquitous and the digital attention economy exploded in size. An increasing amount of research implies that this timing is no coincidence. A meta-analysis released last fall showed that consuming short-form video content, as delivered by apps like TikTok and Instagram, is associated with poorer cognition and reduced attention, and the results of a clever experiment from 2023 found that the mere presence of participants’ smartphones in a room significantly reduced their ability to concentrate.

I find that my phone being off, downstairs, or, recently, “accidentally” left at home has created a level of relaxation I had not experienced in a while.

So I WILL text you back eventually. Probably, assuming you are not spam, which you often are tracked as being.

“Quote a song lyric that sums up your year”

You know that end-of-the-year quiz I do? This one question is taking up too much space.

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

It would be easy to stick previous years’ songs on the list.

Logical Song by Supertramp

I said, Now, watch what you say, they’ll be calling you a radicalA liberal, oh, fanatical, criminalOh, won’t you sign up your name? We’d like to feel you’re acceptableRespectable, oh, presentable, a vegetable

Monster by Steppenwolf

America, where are you now
Don’t you care about your sons and daughters
Don’t you know we need you now
We can’t fight alone against the monster

Virtually all of Elephant Talk by King Crimson

And especially The Trouble With Normal by Bruce Coburn

The trouble with normal is that it always gets worse

Resistance?

Then I saw a HeatherCox Richardson video from August 7 titled Forms of Resistance and Reasons to Believe It’s Working. From about three minutes in, she said:

Those sorts of ways of recognizing quietly, of making a statement quietly, matter because people hear them and recognize that they are not alone.

Do you hear the people sing?Singing a song of angry men?It is the music of a peopleWho will not be slaves again

When the beating of your heartEchoes the beating of the drumsThere is a life about to startWhen tomorrow comes

Will you join in our crusade?

Who will be strong and stand with me?Beyond the barricadeIs there a world you long to see?Then join in the fightThat will give you the right to be free

That was set in France in the first third of the 19th century. Here’s a song set in France, slightly earlier. Marat-Sade as sung by Judy Collins:

Marat, we’re poor and the poor stay poor

Marat, don’t make us wait any more

We want our rights, and we don’t care how
We want a revolution
Now

That brought to mind another tune sung by Judy Collins, Democracy, written by Leonard Cohen. The penultimate verse:

It’s coming to America first
The cradle of the best and of the worst
It’s here they got the range
And the machinery for change
And it’s here they got the spiritual thirst
It’s here – the family’s broken
And it’s here the lonely say
That the heart has got to open
In a fundamental way
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A

Another song I thought of was (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing by Heaven 17. As I recall, someone with the band or the label thought it was a bit overboard to say about Ronald Reagan. I’m not litigating that, but in a 2025 performance, the band said the song was more relevant now than then. And it has a great beat.

Have you heard it on the news about this fascist groove thang

Evil men with racist views spreading all across the land

Don’t just sit there on your ass, unlock that funky chain dance

Brothers, sisters, shoot your best. We don’t need this fascist groove thang

NYT

On July 1, Jon Pareles put together a list for the New York Times

Tracy Chapman, Talkin’ ‘Bout A Revolution
The Isley Brothers, Fight the Power, Pts. 1 and 2
Public Enemy, Fight the Power
Michael Franti & Spearhead, Yell Fire!
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Get Up, Stand Up
Mavis Staples, Eyes On The Prize
Patti Smith, People Have the Power
Björk, Declare Independence
Rage Against the Machine, Know Your Enemy
Antibalas, Uprising

I know I own the ones I linked to. That Isley Brothers couplet has been running through my head even before the list was published:

When I rolled with the punches

I got knocked on the groundWith all this bullsh#t going down

I can’t forget American Idiot by Green Day, which came out in 2004 in response to the knee-jerk reaction to the stupidity of that time.

Don’t wanna be an American idiotOne nation controlled by the mediaInformation age of hysteriaIt’s calling out to idiot America

Welcome to a new kind of tensionAll across the alienationWhere everything isn’t meant to be okayIn television dreams of tomorrowWe’re not the ones who’re meant to followFor that’s enough to argue

The chorus of Tubthumping by Chumbawamba runs through my head a LOT, over and over:

I get knocked down

But I get up againYou’re never gonna keep me down

But the winner

I just saw the 2025 video for the Dropkick Murphys’ Who Will Stand For Us? I’m not a “you must watch” guy, but please watch. Lyrics

Who’ll stand with us?Don’t tell us everything is fineWho’ll stand with us?Because this treatment is a crimeThe working people fuel the engineWhile you yank the chainWe fight the wars and build the buildingsFor someone else’s gain

So, tell me, who will stand with us?

And as time rolls on, not a single thing has changedAnd the wealth gap’s only grown as we all point to blameWe’re at the throats of one another, though we share a single fateAnd the golden few laugh on and on as we all take the bait

U.S. Bishops’ “Special Message” on Immigration

The priority of the Lord is for those who are most vulnerable: the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the stranger (Zechariah 7:10).

I noticed that “as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, the bishops issued a Special Message addressing their concern for the evolving situation impacting immigrants in the United States. It marked the first time in twelve years that the USCCB invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops.”

I understand that this is a very big deal. “The last one issued in 2013 was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.| Specifically, their position was that the Obama Administration mandate violated the First Amendment freedoms of religious organizations and others. While I disagreed, I would have to acknowledge that their position was consistent with their stated theology.

So is their immigration position, which passed 216 to 5 with three abstentions. This was covered in the New York Times.

The statement

In part:

“As pastors, we, the bishops of the United States, are bound to our people by ties of communion and compassion in Our Lord Jesus Christ. We are

-disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement

– saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants

-concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.

-troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools.

– grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school, and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones.

“Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We as Catholic bishops love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled, in this environment, to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

It’s followed by Biblical citations supporting their view.

Moral counterweight

From Axios in October: A diverse coalition of moderate and progressive Christians has opted to jump off the pulpit and challenge the regime around immigration, civil rights, and poverty.

The big picture: Moderate faith leaders are escorting immigrants to court hearings, blasting “rapid response” text alerts on sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and leading vigils to try to prevent protest clashes.

They pray with ICE agents and National Guard troops to try to ease tension while also giving “know your rights” workshops to immigrants.

The intrigue: From the pulpit, they frame their actions as a moral stand outlined by Jesus in the Gospels to help “the stranger” and “the least of these,” as they call on their members to speak out.

“We don’t just pray for peace. We bring peace,” the Rev. Brendan Busse, pastor of Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Los Angeles, tells Axios.

Evangelicals

While many evangelicals are taking an opposing view, lots of them also support the immigrant. In June, “on World Refugee Day, scores of evangelical pastors and ministry leaders from across the State of California are speaking up on the contentious topic of immigration. After weeks of unrest over increased immigration enforcement in the state that is home to more immigrants than any other, evangelical leaders are affirming a ‘California Evangelical Statement on Refugees & Immigration.’

“As evangelical Christians in California, our perspective on immigration is grounded in the authority of Scripture. While immigration is a political issue, we see it first as a biblical one—deeply connected to the mission of the Church both locally and globally. We affirm the need to clearly express the biblical principles that guide our views, so that immigrants—many of whom are fellow members of the same Body of Christ and all of whom are our neighbors (Luke 10:27)—know we stand with them.”

News

11/7: USCIS announced that it is complying with the district court order in ASAP v. USCIS on 10/30/25 and has paused the issuance of Annual Asylum Fee (AAF) notices. Applicants may disregard previously issued AAF notices while the stay is in place. USCIS will not refund previously paid AAFs.

Racial Profiling Is ICE’s New Norm. Activists Are Mobilizing in Response.

Hamilton: “We get the job done.”

Immigration Man – Graham Nash

Best Movies of the Century (NYT)

Man of Constant Sorrow

Dan at Now I Know pointed to The Best Movies of the Century, According to the New York Times, and even provided a gift link.

“Between streaming services and superhero blockbusters, the way we watch and think about movies has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. But through that period of upheaval, which films have truly stood the test of time?

“To find out, we embarked on an ambitious new project, polling more than 500 filmmakers, stars, and influential film fans to vote for the 10 best movies (however they chose to define that) released since Jan. 1, 2000. In collaboration with The Upshot, we compiled their responses to create a list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century.”

First off, I did a list like this from a BBC list in 2016, and while there are some similarities, there were significant divergences as well.

Second, I’m not litigating the fact that 2000 is in the 20th century, not the 21st. The BBC used the same criterion.

If I saw it and wrote about it, I will link to that post.

I will note movies I have NOT seen this way:

DK—I don’t know this film and have never heard of it before, except if it was listed in previous lists.

WS- I’m familiar with the film and would have seen it, but it fell through the cracks, usually during the Oscar rush to see movies in December through February.

FF – There was a fear factor that it would be too violent or otherwise upsetting to watch.

We begin

100 Superbad, Greg Mottola, 2007. WS – maybe it was the marketing that made it feel too frivolous

99 Memories of Murder, Bong Joon Ho, 2005. DK

98 Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog, 2005. WS

97 Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón, 2013. I liked it.

96 Black Panther, Ryan Coogler, 2018. Not only did I love it when I saw it, but I adored it even more when I learned about Afrofuturism

95 The Worst Person In The World, Joachim Trier, 2021. I liked. And she isn’t.

94 Minority Report, Steven Spielberg, 2002. WS

93 Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy, 2007. WS

92 Gladiator, Ridley Scott, 2000. I just wasn’t that interested.

91 Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold, 2010. DK

90 Frances Ha, Noah Baumbach, 2013. WS

89 Interstellar, Christopher Nolan, 2014. I wrote: ” I thought the third hour was better paced and more interesting than the second, which could have used a 10-minute edit. Bottom line: I’m glad I saw it, I wouldn’t watch it again, and I’m unsure whether to recommend it.”

88 The Gleaners & I, Agnès Varda, 2001. DK. BTW, #99 on the BBC list

Tolkien

87 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson, 2001. I wrote, “I’ve watched…only the first Lord of the Rings movie, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie; call me an incompletist.” They were fine, but not enough to see the sequels. At the time (2012), I had only seen one Harry Potter movie, but since then, I’d seen them all.

86 Past Lives, Celine Song, 2023. I liked it

85 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Adam McKay, 2004. WS. I think at the time, I wrote it off as silly, based on the trailers.

84 Melancholia, Lars von Trier, 2011. WS. I was disappointed to miss the story about a rogue planet about to collide with Earth, and how that affects people

83 Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2013. I got the soundtrack before I saw the movie, which I liked in part.

82 The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer and Anonymous, 2013. WS/FF. It is fascinating and scary to see the “incredible capacity of the human mind to compartmentalize and rationalize monstrous acts of cruelty toward other people.”

81 Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky, 2010. WS – Given my wife’s interest in dance, I don’t know how we missed this.

80 Volver, Pedro Almodóvar, 2006. It was good; “Almodovar tends to luxuriate over certain parts of the female body on occasion…”

79 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick, 2011. WS, though I was grasping at what it was supposed to be: it “tries to wrap its arms around all of creation”?

78 Aftersun, Charlotte Wells, 2022. WS

Weird stuff

77 Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022. I’m convinced this is MUCH better in the cinema.

76 O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, 2000. WS. I have, and LOVE the soundtrack. I did see a chunk of this movie on broadcast television, but not enough to say I WATCHED it. The scene with Man Of Constant Sorrow is a hoot.

75 Amour, Michael Haneke, 2012. Excellent, but somewhat depressing look at aging.

74 The Florida Project, Sean Baker, 2017. Excellent. NOT Disney World.

73 Ratatouille, Brad Bird, 2007. Rodent making food should not work, yet it does.

72 Carol, Todd Haynes, 2015. A good girl-meets-girl in 1950s NYC film.

71 Ocean’s Eleven, Steven Soderbergh, 2001. It just didn’t catch my interest, although I eventually saw Ocean’s Eight and now want to know its origin.

70 Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson, 2008. DK

69 Under the Skin, Jonathan Glazer, 2014. DK and it’s a ScarJo film.

Why I go to the movies

68 The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, 2009. I wrote here about how I had the Netflix DVD for four months and never watched it.

67 Tár, Todd Field, 2022. Good, but very internal.

66 Spotlight, Tom McCarthy, 2015. Journalism! Those were the days.

65 Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan, 2023

64 Gone Girl, David Fincher, 2014. I DID see this on broadcast TV. It was pretty good.

63 Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006. I liked it a lot.

62 Memento, Christopher Nolan, 2001. WS

61 Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Quentin Tarantino, 2003. FF: ” Never before have shootings, stabbings, beatings, beheadings, disembowelings, amputations, mutilations, gougings, slicings, choppings, and bitings been so much campy fun.” Doesn’t sound like fun.

I’ve got blisters on my fingers!

60 Whiplash, Damien Chazelle, 2014. Good but exhausting.

59 Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, 2016. DK

58 Uncut Gems, Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie, 2019. WS

57 Best in Show, Christopher Guest, 2000. I love the Christopher Guest films.

56 Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002. I recall liking it. It’s shocking since it stars Adam Sandler.

55 Inception, Christopher Nolan, 2010. WS

54 Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, 2006. WS/FF – I was on the fence.

53 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Larry Charles, 2006. I just wasn’t into it. Yet I saw the sequel.

52 The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018. “My wife mused that it was a movie for which we were somehow not privy to the code. “

51 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, 2013. FF. Several people told me I should watch this movie. It was an important film, and Solomon Northup lived in my metro area. Nope.

Okay, this is long enough. I’ll finish it next week.

Stop Project 2025 comic!

It includes enabling the president to have much more power than the constitution allows.

Here’s your problem: trying to tell all your friends about Stop Project 2025 and why they should care. It’s difficult because the plan is dense, vaguely incomprehensible, and perhaps a little bit boring. I point to this great page, which is quite thorough.

It includes a 38-minute video, a quiz, and lots of words—important words, to be sure, but still. It does direct you to that four-and-a-half-minute song I’ve linked to before.

Several people created the Stop Project 2025 Comic, which you should share. Why did they make this?

“We’ve made comics to explain some of that agenda, and move you to vote against it.

“We did this because you shouldn’t have to read this monstrosity. After all, it’s more than fifty times as long as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution…combined.

“Our two founding documents are short because it doesn’t take a lot of words to say, ‘You matter, and you have a voice.’

“Project 2025 is longer because it’s a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

“Don’t let it do either.

“Read on, then vote.”

Project 2025 is a detailed plan to shut you up and shut you out.

You matter, and you have a voice.

Related – Election Subversion 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Is immigration something you do or something you are?

When Trump Rants, This Is What I Hear from Carlos Lozado, a NY Times writer who came to the United States at age three, is touching. The article is probably behind a firewall, but here are a few paragraphs.

djt’s “eating the dogs” rant prompted Lozado “to look back on his xenophobic cacophony, building so relentlessly over the past decade, in attacks that have narrowed the distance for me between immigration as a memory and being an immigrant as a present identity…

“When Trump told four Democratic women in Congress to ‘go back’ to their countries, he unknowingly trivialized how often I’ve gone back in my mind, wondering what that other life, that other person, might have been like.

“When he mocked immigrants for not speaking English, he ignored the interplay between native tongues and new ones and how demanding purity in language — and in people — is utterly self-defeating.

“How can immigrants ‘poison the blood’ of the nation when we have always been its lifeblood? With his accusations, Trump is administering his own brand of venom, one whose cumulative effect is to disfigure a nation, not exalt it.”