In act three of Something For Nothing, the August 29 episode of This American Life, Dirk Jamison tells us about his father, who gave up the confining lifestyle of a 9-5 construction worker for the less traditional world of dumpster diving. There is a particularly beautiful moment in the story when a dirty, toothless old man generously offers up part of a huge bounty of food he has just found in a local dumpster before bringing it back to his girlfriend.

I was reminded of the lesson taken from The Gift, a fantastic book by Lewis Hyde, about the sharing and the eventual wealth that it brings about. Dirk’s entire story reminded me of The Gleaners and I, a film by Agnès Varda that Jacqueline and I recently saw at MoMA (at the suggestion of Tim), that deals with modern-day gleaners, trash pickers and dumpster divers.

All three are worth checking out.

Back in April, on the New York Times Campaign Stops blog, Steven Heller asked designers and typographers to discuss John McCain’s choice to use Optima for his logotype. Michael Bierut and Ellen Lupton pointed out that the most reasonable association is the reference to its use on Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial. Seymour Chwast pointed out that since Optima “is one of the worst pre-computer typefaces ever designed” it was “not an inappropriate” choice, and Matthew Carter brings up the potential problems of extending its use once he chooses a running mate:

The moment of typographic truth will come when Senator McCain picks a vice presidential running mate and two names have to be combined on banners and bumper stickers. By choosing Optima, a rather distinctive typeface, he may have seriously limited his options.

I set the possible names in a bold weight of Optima caps and certain things became clear. HUCKABEE looks awkward in Optima, and ROMNEY is afflicted with the same difficult ‘EY’ combination that has plagued the current vice presidency. Perhaps because Optima is a German typeface, the word SCHWARZENEGGER looks predictably good.

Although it’s German, Optima took its inspiration from Quattrocento inscriptional lettering in the cathedrals of Florence and Siena, which may explain why GIULIANI looks so simpatico. In the end, however, my research suggests that the optimal running mate — so long as you don’t have to typeset her first name — is RICE.

I’m pretty sure a McCain-Palin ticket isn’t going to look good no matter what type it’s set in, but in my opinion, Optima definitely isn’t helping.