MR WRONG: “I’m in control here”
Indignity Vol. 5, No. 196
COLUMN DEP’T.
MR WRONG: This Is Your Captain Speaking
GOOD MORNING! THIS is the latest iteration of the MR WRONG column, but also, this is Joe MacLeod, and I am the new editor of INDIGNITY. Wha? How did this happen? Is it April 1st? No! As we learned yesterday during Indignity Vol. 5, No. 195, the now-former editor of INDIGNITY got a Day Job, and one of the requirements was no more writing all that good stuff for INDIGNITY! And no more INDIGNITY Morning Podcast! Over!
Tom Scocca
I guess it’s a ‘non-compete” situation? I don’t know. Furthermore, I am not interested in things that don’t concern me, and my working relationship with the previous editor of INDIGNITY is when they want to tell me stuff, they tell me, but also, when they tell me the stuff, I don’t always understand, but I pretend I to, so that they won’t ask me any questions!
Ever forward! If you want to look back, there’s a whole archive of Indignity, and Hmm Weekly, and Hmm Daily writings, and there’s over 500 podcasts to listen to and re-live how screwed up the New York Times was! Is!
Also, and this is important Business, so let’s interrupt today’s MR WRONG column for:
BUSINESS DEP’T.
INDIGNITY IS NOW not exactly what you signed up for. If you're a Free Subscriber, you can stay subscribed; if you have been a Paid Subscriber, your payments are paused, and you can stay subscribed for free; you can unsubscribe completely and not get emails anymore. If you already paid for the year, you can get a refund for your unused portion of Indignity, or you can collect the rest of your year in the future if a paid-subscription version of Indignity returns. Send an email if you are totally confused! indignity@indignity.net
Alright, we’re back to the MR WRONG column! Could you tell the difference? As the new editor aboard what is kind of a ghost ship, I will reel around the poop deck grasping for purpose, but also, between grasps, look, I know MR WRONG is not all-y’alls cuppa tea, so Thursday will be MR WRONG and whatever else might make sense that day, and then Fridays will be weekly installments of TOM SCOCCA’S [NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST] PROJECT, which will be every Friday! You might wanna hang around for that. Pretty sure the previous editor of INDIGNITY said yesterday it would be one post a week, the MR. WRONG column, and the serialization, and some sandwiches, but I’m the Captain now!
CORRESPONDENCE DEP’T.
Here are some notes from folks in reaction to the recent big INDIGNITY newsletter news!
Subject: congrats & can i get my $$ back?
Congratulations!! I will terribly miss your writing, but hope to see it on CNN. But the weather reports??? And please send me a prorated refund from my annual renewal on July 26?
Best,
Carolyn
Subject: congrats on your new role
Mr Scocca, how did reading your newsletter for years benefit me
I didn't make any of the sandwiches
but I can say whenever possible
I use Scocca Blue
the color which I sampled
from one of your weather reports
Good luck with the new job and potentially making CNN relevant.
Maybe they could start playing music videos. Good ones, like "In the End by" Linkin Park.
Think about it.
I wish you every success.
Aaron
Subject: Dear The Sophist
I wrote this before reading the Newsletter News so fully understand if this letter cannot be attended to! Thanks both for all the Hmm/Indignity over the years. I will certainly continue subscribing.
Dear The Sophist,
An older friend of mine who lives in another country had a stroke recently. This was particularly distressing to me because it was unexpected and because I had been out of touch with them for several months prior. It was a lingering guilt at the time but I justified it to myself because I had just moved, I was (temporarily) working two jobs, and I didn't always find the long-distance communication between us easy even in the best of circumstances. I was very worried they would die and our relationship would come to a close with me being neglectful and selfish.
Well, they lived, which is wonderful in theory but things are very difficult for them and I would like your expertise on how to proceed. Understandably they are despondent at how their life has changed and while I try to make up for my previous lack of communication by checking in or initiating conversation, even I'm beginning to feel like it's a little fatuous to ask how they are or remind them that I'm thinking of them.
Is there anything else I should be doing to support them? Am I inappropriately turning this into a problem for me when it really doesn't have anything to do with me?
Subject: Re: Newsletter news
As a fan from back in the Hmm Daily era, I am feeling a bit of loss with all of this. You two have produced my favorite writing over the past few years, and I am sad to see the newsletter change. I am excited to see what Tom can do to CNN, and still getting MR WRONG means that some Thursday-adjacent day will still be great.
Wanting to write in also reminded me that I made the cherry sandwiches recipe from 12/4/24 (Vol. 4, No. 213) last year. It was really good as a nice holiday snack. It's sweet, but the boiling mellowed everything out. It was best on toast, and the cress improved it a lot. So, thanks to Riley M. Fletcher Berry by way of Indignity.
ONE MORE THING DEP’T.
Just this once, we’re gonna let non-paying subscribers into the comments, in this space only, but you have to be a subscriber, doesn’t matter if you are paid or free, you gotta be a subscriber, can’t just be some rando reading this on the vast scuzzy internet, unless you send in a tip, and add your comment when you tip! Be somebody!
The MR. WRONG COLUMN is a general-interest column appearing weekly. No refunds. Write Wrong: wrongcolumn@gmail.com.
WEATHER REVIEWS
New York City, November 5, 2025
★★★ Filtered sun came in and out through glary, complicated clouds that looked through tinted car windows like a gelatin silver print. Mellow-colored foliage stretched along under the line of the Triboro Bridge. The light grew clearer out the windows as the hours dragged through midday and beyond. Outside again, at last, the eastern sky was blue with festive white wisps on it; the west was dull gray and white. At the end of the bus ride back to the West Side, the blue was reduced to a few fragments off through the trees. Still, it was worth staying aboveground to take the last leg of the trip on foot. Gold seemed to have gained the upper hand over green and the other colors in the Park. People who were in a position to see the sunset reported it was spectacular.
EASY LISTENING DEP'T.
Here is the Indignity Morning Podcast archive!
TOM SCOCCA
SANDWICH RECIPES DEP'T.
WE PRESENT INSTRUCTIONS in aid of the assembly of a sandwich selected from C.L.C. Tombola Cook Book, by the Ladies of Cornwall and Friends of the Cornwall Lacrosse Club, published in 1909 and available at archive.org for the delectation of all.
CHOCOLATE SANDWICHES.
Two teaspoonfuls of powdered chocolate are added to two of boiling water and five of powdered sugar. If one likes a little vanilla, it is added. This is stirred over the fire until it is smooth and thick. It is taken off the stove to cool, and before it is cold it is spread between extra thin slices of buttered bread.
If you decide to prepare and attempt to enjoy a sandwich inspired by this offering, be sure to send a picture to indignity@indignity.net .
SELF-SERVING SELF-PROMOTION DEP'T.
Indignity is presented on Ghost. Indignity recommends Ghost for your Modern Publishing needs. Indignity gets a slice if you do this successfully!
