A nice email from reader MR, who knows which side her pencil’s sharpened on:

I have this wretched plastic pencil sharpener that does such a bad job. In the middle of my efforts to sharpen my pencil … I instead broke off the entire tip due to shoddy sharpener-manufacture, and a thought, unbidden, floated into my mind: “damn these mass-produced faceless corporate pencil sharpeners! If only I had ordered artisanal pencil sharpening from David Rees, Inc.!”

Don’t worry … soon all your pencil-related prayers will be answered!

“It takes a craftsman to truly sharpen a pencil.”

“Measure twice, sharpen once.”