Just a point regarding the author’s presentation: the use of “we” instead of just plain old “I” throughout the article was extremely annoying.
Made a very long read even less readable.
It’s the “ironic editorial we”. Taranto actually has a small staff that does a lot of research for him and uses it all the time. You have to recognize it. This entry of BotW was unusual in that he spent a lot of time on a single topic and it was autobiographical. A typical column touches on about a dozen topics, lightheartedly for the most part, with few personal references.