Scattergram Logic

When in doubt, graph it out.

—My Calculus Professor 

Many of the clues in these puzzles are subtle, a fleeting glance, a whisper in the wind. In the face of such rampant vagary, how can we possibly draw firm conclusions? We can do so, conceptually, with a scattergram, which is really just a graph with a bunch of data points on it. The idea is that if we collect enough data points, we can look for patterns and, maybe, draw conclusions. 

A classic example of the use of scattergrams is in the characterization of the life stages of stars. We can’t watch a star go through all of its life stages. It could take billions of years to do so. However, if we collect enough data points for enough stars, then we can look for patterns and draw conclusions. As it turns out, the life stages of stars, evident in their color and luminosity, vary dramatically in predictable ways depending on their mass. Though we are only looking at a snapshot in time, we can, with complete certainty and in great detail, describe all of the life stages of stars of any mass, all because of many detailed observations and the use of scattergrams. 

Let’s see if we have enough data points to apply scattergram logic to the Chicago puzzle. The individuals we’ve identified include Mozart, Beethoven, FDR, and Lincoln. Do you see any pattern among these men? Is there something that ties them all together? Something they all have in common? If you don’t see it but would like to figure it out yourself, take a break and do a little research on these four men. See if you can find the pattern. 

To say that Byron Preiss was a genius is an understatement. How he came up with these puzzles in just three years is baffling. Let’s start with Beethoven and FDR. Besides excelling in their respective fields, these two possessed what most would consider to be a disability. Beethoven lost his hearing and Roosevelt lost the normal use of his legs. Beethoven began to lose his hearing around age 28 and lost it completely by age 45. Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio at age 39. His long term symptoms included lower body and facial paralysis, bowel and bladder dysfunction, and numbness. He spent years in various therapies so as to regain some of the function he had lost. 

Amadeus Mozart would, in our modern era, most likely be diagnosed with one or more of the following: dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Tourette syndrome. Here’s a firsthand account by Karoline von Greiner Pichler, an Austrian novelist and former student of Mozart, describing her teacher in her 1843 memoirs:

One day when I was sitting at the pianoforte [piano] playing the ‘Non più andrai’ from [The Marriage of] Figaro, Mozart, who was paying a visit to us, came up behind me.

I must have been playing it to his satisfaction, for he hummed the melody as I played and beat the time on my shoulders; but then he suddenly moved a chair up, sat down, told me to carry on playing the bass, and began to improvise such wonderfully beautiful variations that everyone listened to the tones of the German Orpheus with bated breath.

But then he suddenly tired of it, jumped up, and, in the mad mood which so often came over him, he began to leap over tables and chairs, miaow like a cat, and turn somersaults like an unruly boy.

Lincoln too was different. Ever since the syndrome was first described in 1955, many have speculated that Lincoln had a rare and debilitating genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome. A 2009 DNA test along with other evidence suggest that Abraham Lincoln actually had a disorder similar to Marfan Syndrome, most likely Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia, Type 2B (MEN 2B). This was likely responsible for his mother’s early death (cancer is common with this disorder). This explains why he was unusually tall and lanky, had very long feet and hands, had an unusual facial structure, and suffered from chronic headaches. 

All four of these famous individuals (including two presidents) had disabilities. I was shocked to learn that many US Presidents are thought to have had disabilities:

• George Washington (dyslexia)

• Thomas Jefferson (stuttering and dyslexia)

• James Madison (epilepsy)

• Abraham Lincoln (MEN 2B)

• Woodrow Wilson (dyslexia)

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (paralysis)

• Dwight D. Eisenhower (learning disability)

• John F. Kennedy (learning disability, chronic back pain)

• Joe Biden (stuttering)

I actually found these Presidential limitations personally inspiring. I am a horrible speller and have never been a strong reader. I suspect that I too have some flavor of dyslexia. It is important to keep in mind when we are in the role of parent, teacher, supervisor, or mentor that having a disability does not preclude a person from greatness. 

When I was a junior in high school I had an English teacher that didn’t think much of me. My first paper came back with red ink all over it, primarily due to spelling errors. It was an analysis of an obscure short story by Mark Twain satirizing the Christian religion. There were two consecutive words circled together that I knew were spelled correctly because I’d looked them up. They were, “obvious dilemma.” I went up to the teacher after class for an explanation, and the exchange went something like this:

“Hi. I understand the rest, but why are these two words circled?”

“I don’t think you wrote them.”

[Uncomfortable pause as I came to realize she was accusing me of plagiarism and why.]

“Do you think I don’t know what they mean?”

“Yes.”

[Another uncomfortable pause.] 

“Do you want me to define them for you?”

“Yes.”

“Obvious: blatant, self-evident. Dilemma: conundrum, predicament.”

She never accused me of plagiarism again. However, I got the sense that she still thought me stupid and that I must have just gotten lucky. Clearly this encounter made a lasting impression on me, and if I had let it, a very negative one. 

I’ve found that there are those in life who will like you and dislike you for poor reasons—your height, age, race, gender, attire, accent, ability to spell, etc. These are people to avoid. The folks you want in your life are those who like you (and dislike you) for good reasons—character, attitude, generosity, perseverance, etc. I transferred to another English class mid-year and ended up with one of the best teachers of my life, Mr. Milo. We studied Shakespeare, poetry, and did loads of creative writing on topics that we got to choose. The type of writing was the only limitation. For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed English. But now I’m way off topic. 

OK. All four characters from the puzzle had disabilities—so what? How does the city of Chicago relate? Well, in 1977 Chicago was one of ten cities that participated in the 504 Sit-in, the historic national protest for the rights of the disabled, the longest sit-in of a federal building in US history. In 1973 the first federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Nixon. Now that we have a theory, let’s see if it’s consistent with the poem and the image. 

And to Congress, R is known 

R = Rehabilitation Act passed by Congress

This is consistent with the Japanese Version Hint that “Congress” refers to the US Congress. Section 504 stipulated that “no otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States shall solely on the basis of his handicap, be excluded from the participation, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Essentially it said no program receiving federal funds could discriminate against a person with a disability.

It was up to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), to sign and implement guidelines specific to Section 504, which would further inform other agencies including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the specifics of the law. After the regulations were drawn up and presented to David Mathews, Nixon’s Secretary of HEW, he refused to sign. Instead he sent the regulation to Congress asking if this was what they had intended. They refused to answer as implementation was not their role. During this lengthy delay Dr. Frank Bowe, the founding director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD), lobbied and then sued to have the regulation signed as written. This stalemate continued for two and half years.

Where M and B are set in stone 

M = Mathews 

B = Bowe

Byron could have said etched in stone, or cut, or scrawled, or scratched, or written, or chiseled. But he didn’t. He used the one word that could also refer to these two men being set in their ways, set in their conflicting positions, set in stone. Through the remainder of his tenure, Mathews refused to sign. I think this reference to Frank Bowe is why Byron chose to include The Bowman in the image. 

When the Carter Administration took over and a new HEW Secretary was named, the hope was that the Section 504 regulation would be signed into law promptly as written. But the new Secretary, Joseph Califano, did not, instead forming a committee to review the regulation, imposing further delays. Fearing that the committee would water down the regulation, Bowe organized a nationwide sit-in of HEW offices to force the new Secretary to sign the regulation as is.