Hey, J. Crew! It's me, Liel. And this week, well, I'm all alone. Stephanie still hanging

out with her adorable baby, and Mark had a book come out this week about the tree of

life-shooting, so he's out there in his fancy book tour, and me, well, I'm in my library,

drinking Jamaican rum, and feeling unloved. So, rather than just mope around the house

and bring you down with me, I want to tell you a story. It's not too long, but I promise

it will blow your mind. It's a story about how a shaggy haired, food-obsessed, draft dodging

son of a Brooklyn appetizing shop owner came to inspire one of the most beloved characters

in popular culture. A character so iconic that you wouldn't think it was based on anything

anywhere near real, especially not on a Jewish guy, and Mark Oppenheimer's beloved neighbor

named Arnold.

I am Arnold Gourlic. I was born December 15, 1946 in Brooklyn. My father owned the best

appetizing store in Brooklyn, kind of the Russian daughters of Brooklyn, famous appetizers.

The academic year 1969 and 70, I had been in my sixth year as an undergraduate because

I was evading the draft in the Vietnam War. I had a scheme to stay in school and evade

the draft board for as long as it took until I got out of the draft or the war was over.

So I pursued this course of borderline failure where I would fail a course that was absolutely

essential to graduate, so I majored in philosophy and minor in music in the classical guitar,

and I would fail aesthetics all the time, which I needed for both my minor and my major

and I would have to go back to school.

While Arnold was in school, he needed a place to live. Now, you haven't known Arnold

for very long, but it won't surprise you to learn that a kid who kept flunking classes

in evading the draft wasn't exactly swimming in cash, but Arnold was nothing if not

...