Semicolon spotted in the Subway ;-)

I'm not entirely sure what it means when The New York Times finds itself reporting on punctuation. Maybe the fall of civilization is imminent?

All I can say is that I sure as heck didn't learn how to use the semicolon in third grade. Neither did either of my brothers, and all three of us went to public elementary and middle school in the city. I suppose that the difference between "supposed to be" and "is".