July 2012 New Yorker
Talk Magazines!!!!! New Yorker, Science, Atlantic, Mad......
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2qebo
July 2
* Patricia Marx re U of Chicago scavenger hunt: Fun.
* John McPhee re New Yorker Editors and Publisher: Behind the scenes.
* William Finnegan re Guadalajara: Spot-read.
* Calvin Tomkins re Tate Gallery: Skipped.
* Louis Menand re James Joyce: Skipped.
* Elizabeth Kolbert re books about parenting: Or over-, under-, defective parenting and the resulting spoiled kids.
Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, theater, music, cinema.
Too hot to think. Moving on.
* Patricia Marx re U of Chicago scavenger hunt: Fun.
* John McPhee re New Yorker Editors and Publisher: Behind the scenes.
* William Finnegan re Guadalajara: Spot-read.
* Calvin Tomkins re Tate Gallery: Skipped.
* Louis Menand re James Joyce: Skipped.
* Elizabeth Kolbert re books about parenting: Or over-, under-, defective parenting and the resulting spoiled kids.
Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, theater, music, cinema.
Too hot to think. Moving on.
3rebeccanyc
I enjoyed the John McPhee, skipped the Marx and the Tomkins, skimmed the Guadalajara and Joyce articles, and was amused by Kolbert's article.
4sibylline
Thanks Katherine for starting this -- I'll confine my June issue comments to June, since it really is more orderly!
5ffortsa
I actually read the Kolbert article in this issue. OMG, how will I ever get back in order??
6rebeccanyc
I just read the excerpts from Mavis Gallant's diary in the current July 9 & 16 issue and, being a Mavis Gallant fan, of course I loved them. Skimming the TED talks article, and was too creeped out by the mosquito one. I know I should read the Afghanistan article but not sure I will!
7qebo
I've read July 9 & 16, and July 23, but not July 30, so for the first time this year I'm not finishing within the designated month. Hoping to catch up over the weekend, with this and a number of other things, so we'll see how the priorities arrange themselves...
8sibylline
I'm very proud of you! I've completely fallen off the rails. I hope to start up again in September...
10qebo
July 9&16
* Michael Specter re mosquitoes: OX513A is a genetically engineered mosquito from Oxford Insect Technologies, created for the purpose of wiping out dengue, a disease for which there is no cure. Male OX513A mosquitoes are released into the wild and mate with normal females, and the fertilized eggs hatch, but an inserted gene manufactures a lethal dose of a protein and the offspring die before reaching maturity. In the laboratory, the mosquitoes are fed tetracycline, which acts as a switch to turn off the gene and keeps them alive to breed. Another inserted gene is a fluorescent marker to distinguish normal from modified larvae. The males are fed sugar. The females are fed goat blood. The laboratory is in Juazeiro, Brazil, collaborating with the University of Sao Paulo in a field trial.
* Mavis Gallant re writing: Skipped.
* Dexter Filkins re Afghanistan: Read with despair.
* Nathan Heller re TED Talks: Months of preparation for a 15 minute presentation.
* Louis Menand re Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley: Read.
* Briefly Noted: Dickens and the Workhouse by Ruth Richardson and China Airborne by James Fallows would be of interest if I had infinite time.
Skipped fiction, TV, cinema.
* Michael Specter re mosquitoes: OX513A is a genetically engineered mosquito from Oxford Insect Technologies, created for the purpose of wiping out dengue, a disease for which there is no cure. Male OX513A mosquitoes are released into the wild and mate with normal females, and the fertilized eggs hatch, but an inserted gene manufactures a lethal dose of a protein and the offspring die before reaching maturity. In the laboratory, the mosquitoes are fed tetracycline, which acts as a switch to turn off the gene and keeps them alive to breed. Another inserted gene is a fluorescent marker to distinguish normal from modified larvae. The males are fed sugar. The females are fed goat blood. The laboratory is in Juazeiro, Brazil, collaborating with the University of Sao Paulo in a field trial.
* Mavis Gallant re writing: Skipped.
* Dexter Filkins re Afghanistan: Read with despair.
* Nathan Heller re TED Talks: Months of preparation for a 15 minute presentation.
* Louis Menand re Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley: Read.
* Briefly Noted: Dickens and the Workhouse by Ruth Richardson and China Airborne by James Fallows would be of interest if I had infinite time.
Skipped fiction, TV, cinema.
11qebo
July 23
* Jack Hitt re forensic linguistics: Not an exact science.
* Jane Cramer re traveling as reporter and tourist: Skimmed.
* Burkhard Bilger re Brian Shaw: Strongman contests are not the Olympics.
* Jon Lee Anderson re South Sudan: An independent country doesn’t solve the problems.
* Joan Acocella re fairy tales: Grimm.
* Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, music. Read about Beasts of the Southern Wild.
* Jack Hitt re forensic linguistics: Not an exact science.
* Jane Cramer re traveling as reporter and tourist: Skimmed.
* Burkhard Bilger re Brian Shaw: Strongman contests are not the Olympics.
* Jon Lee Anderson re South Sudan: An independent country doesn’t solve the problems.
* Joan Acocella re fairy tales: Grimm.
* Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, music. Read about Beasts of the Southern Wild.
12qebo
July 30
* Malcolm Gladwell re Alberto Salazar: More persistent than most of us.
* Sarah Payne Stuart re New England real estate: At the root of the tangled New England neurosis is a deep respect fro the money it loathes.
* David Remnick re Bruce Springsteen: 62.
* Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, TV, cinema.
* Malcolm Gladwell re Alberto Salazar: More persistent than most of us.
* Sarah Payne Stuart re New England real estate: At the root of the tangled New England neurosis is a deep respect fro the money it loathes.
* David Remnick re Bruce Springsteen: 62.
* Briefly Noted: Nothing of interest.
Skipped fiction, TV, cinema.
14rebeccanyc
I'm embarrassed I've neglected both my New Yorkers and this group for so long. Maybe you will spur me to action. I've read as much as I'm going to in these issues.
15sibylline
I'm with you there Rebecca, took the whole summer off. Big trouble. But your thumbnail sketches are helpful and I am interested in several of the articles you mentioned, should help.
16tropics
July 9th & 16th:
THE TALK OF THE TOWN:
Jeffrey Toobin - COMMENT: To Your Health. On Chief Justice John Roberts' decision to affirm the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
Rebecca Mead - THE PICTURES: Housing Crisis. Lauren Greefield's new movie "The Queen Of Versailles" is about to be released, focusing on construction in Orlando of the largest family home in America - 99,000 square feet - dream home of David Siegel, a Florida time-share mogul and his wife, Jackie, mother of eight and a former Mrs. Florida.
David Remnick - POSTSCRIPT: Nora Ephron. "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim".
James Surowieki - THE FINANCIAL PAGE: Mind The Gap. Companies increasingly want to hire only people who already have jobs and who have done the exact job they're applying for. Companies are investing far less in training than they used to.
Michael Specter - ANNALS OF SCIENCE: THE MOSQUITO SOLUTION: Describes efforts to control the scourge of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, one of the deadliest creatures on earth. A vaccine against yellow fever was developed in the 1930s, but the mosquito also carries dengue, one of the most rapidly spreading viral diseases in the world. Dengue fever has increased 30-fold since 1965, due in part to the proliferation of discarded automobile tires, providing an ideal mosquito-breeding environment. There is no vaccine for dengue - or effective treatment. A British biotech company, Oxitec, has developed a method to modify the genetic structure of the male Aedes mosquito, rendering it capable of destroying its own species. Scientific trials are taking place in Brazil.
Aedes aegypti most likely arrived in the New World on slave boats from Africa in the 17th century, along with the yellow fever that it transmitted.
Dexter Filkins - A REPORTER AT LARGE: AFTER AMERICA: Will civil war hit Afghanistan when the U.S. leaves?
Very depressing historical overview of events leading to U.S. military involvement, now in its eleventh year, with nearly 2,000 Americans killed, 16,000 wounded, and nearly $400 billion spent. The Taliban (most of whom are Pashtun) continue to launch their acts of intimidation from bases in Pakistan.
Approximately 80% of Afghan army recruits are illiterate. They are being taught to read at the first grade level. The Afghan state cannot pay for the army on its own. There is concern that civil war will re-emerge and that the Army will fracture along ethnic lines when most American and NATO troops leave, as scheduled, in 2014.
Thousands of American trainers, pilots and intelligence officers are expected to remain.
Nathan Heller - AMERICAN CHRONICLES: LISTEN AND LEARN: TED Talks.
Internet lecture videos, now sub-titled in 88 languages. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Famous for making speakers famous. (I recently watched TED lectures by the authors Alain de Botton and Jon Ronson; also underwater photographer Brian Skerry).
Louis Menard - THE CRITICS: A CRITIC AT LARGE: Seeing It Now: Walter Cronkite And The Legend Of CBS News.
Walter Cronkite became the "gold standard" of TV newsmen - "the most trusted man in America"?
CBS nightly news anchor for 19 years. Voluntarily stepped down at age 65. He chose Dan Rather to replace him.
THE TALK OF THE TOWN:
Jeffrey Toobin - COMMENT: To Your Health. On Chief Justice John Roberts' decision to affirm the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
Rebecca Mead - THE PICTURES: Housing Crisis. Lauren Greefield's new movie "The Queen Of Versailles" is about to be released, focusing on construction in Orlando of the largest family home in America - 99,000 square feet - dream home of David Siegel, a Florida time-share mogul and his wife, Jackie, mother of eight and a former Mrs. Florida.
David Remnick - POSTSCRIPT: Nora Ephron. "Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim".
James Surowieki - THE FINANCIAL PAGE: Mind The Gap. Companies increasingly want to hire only people who already have jobs and who have done the exact job they're applying for. Companies are investing far less in training than they used to.
Michael Specter - ANNALS OF SCIENCE: THE MOSQUITO SOLUTION: Describes efforts to control the scourge of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, one of the deadliest creatures on earth. A vaccine against yellow fever was developed in the 1930s, but the mosquito also carries dengue, one of the most rapidly spreading viral diseases in the world. Dengue fever has increased 30-fold since 1965, due in part to the proliferation of discarded automobile tires, providing an ideal mosquito-breeding environment. There is no vaccine for dengue - or effective treatment. A British biotech company, Oxitec, has developed a method to modify the genetic structure of the male Aedes mosquito, rendering it capable of destroying its own species. Scientific trials are taking place in Brazil.
Aedes aegypti most likely arrived in the New World on slave boats from Africa in the 17th century, along with the yellow fever that it transmitted.
Dexter Filkins - A REPORTER AT LARGE: AFTER AMERICA: Will civil war hit Afghanistan when the U.S. leaves?
Very depressing historical overview of events leading to U.S. military involvement, now in its eleventh year, with nearly 2,000 Americans killed, 16,000 wounded, and nearly $400 billion spent. The Taliban (most of whom are Pashtun) continue to launch their acts of intimidation from bases in Pakistan.
Approximately 80% of Afghan army recruits are illiterate. They are being taught to read at the first grade level. The Afghan state cannot pay for the army on its own. There is concern that civil war will re-emerge and that the Army will fracture along ethnic lines when most American and NATO troops leave, as scheduled, in 2014.
Thousands of American trainers, pilots and intelligence officers are expected to remain.
Nathan Heller - AMERICAN CHRONICLES: LISTEN AND LEARN: TED Talks.
Internet lecture videos, now sub-titled in 88 languages. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Famous for making speakers famous. (I recently watched TED lectures by the authors Alain de Botton and Jon Ronson; also underwater photographer Brian Skerry).
Louis Menard - THE CRITICS: A CRITIC AT LARGE: Seeing It Now: Walter Cronkite And The Legend Of CBS News.
Walter Cronkite became the "gold standard" of TV newsmen - "the most trusted man in America"?
CBS nightly news anchor for 19 years. Voluntarily stepped down at age 65. He chose Dan Rather to replace him.
18tropics
July 23, 2012
Elizabeth Kolbert - COMMENT: THE BIG HEAT - Due to severe heat and drought the U.S.D.A. has declared more than a thousand counties in twenty-six states to be natural disaster areas (by far the largest designation ever made). Corn prices have risen by more than forty per cent.
Global warming operates on a time delay. This summer's intense heat is related to greenhouse gases emitted decades ago.
During the ongoing campaign, both President Obama and Mitt Romney have remained largely silent re the issue of "climate change".
Ian Frazier - WALKABOUT: LOST AND FOUND Two years ago conceptual landscape artist and photographer, Matthew Jensen, found a cache of dozens of tiny multicolored glass beads entwined around the roots of an elm tree that had toppled over in uptown Manhattan. These items probably date from Manhattan's fur-trade era, two hundred and fifty or three hundred years ago. He speculates about the moment when the Indians suddenly realized that beads were basically worthless - and that items of actual value had been traded for them.
Jack Hitt - DEPT. OF LINGUISTICS: WORDS ON TRIAL: Can Linguists solve crimes that stump the police?
In some cases, yes. In others, the conclusions drawn have been flawed.
Several schools now offer Masters degrees in Forensic Linguistics.
Jane Kramer - PERSONAL HISTORY: A REPORTER AT ODDS: Trading The Notebook For A Guidebook - Prompted by the realization that her frequent-flyer miles were about to expire, the author, accompanied by her husband, decided to travel as tourists to South-East Asia. This involved ten plane trips, four countries, over a period of twenty days. They flew first to Bangkok, then continued on to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos.
International tourists are out in force. Two million a year visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Jon Lee Anderson - A REPORTER AT LARGE: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Heartbreaking descriptions of the ongoing wars on multiple fronts taking place in Sudan.
The Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956. The country consists of mismatched parts - Arabs in the north, blacks in the south. The British administered the two halves separately.
In 1989 General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir seized power in a military coup.
Decades of fighting have led to the death and displacement of millions of people. There has been widespread starvation. The Satellite Sentinel Project (supported by John Prendergast, George Clooney and others) documents war crimes.
In the south, the main rebel group is the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. There are many rebel groups. Throughout Sudan the real source of conflict is racial and tribal identity.
A ceasefire was declared in 2005. South Sudan seceded and became a newly created state in July 2011. It is the size of Texas and has approximately eight million citizens, comprised of at least forty tribes (the Dinka are the majority). Its first president is Salva Kiir. The country has the world's highest rate of maternal death; seven out of ten people are illiterate. It contains about two-thirds of the region's working oil fields. South Sudan has shut off the oil supply, resulting in no income for either the north or the south.
Joan Acocella - BOOKS: ONCE UPON A TIME: The Lure Of The Fairy Tale.
"Grimms Fairy Tales", assembled by folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s, feature mutiliation, dismemberment, cannibalism, and homicide.
Why? The psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim and others have offered explanations.
David Denby - THE CURRENT CINEMA: GOING SOUTH: "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and "Savages".
I'm drawn to the plot of "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and its young heroine, Hushpuppy.
As for Oliver Stone's "Savages" - no thanks.
Elizabeth Kolbert - COMMENT: THE BIG HEAT - Due to severe heat and drought the U.S.D.A. has declared more than a thousand counties in twenty-six states to be natural disaster areas (by far the largest designation ever made). Corn prices have risen by more than forty per cent.
Global warming operates on a time delay. This summer's intense heat is related to greenhouse gases emitted decades ago.
During the ongoing campaign, both President Obama and Mitt Romney have remained largely silent re the issue of "climate change".
Ian Frazier - WALKABOUT: LOST AND FOUND Two years ago conceptual landscape artist and photographer, Matthew Jensen, found a cache of dozens of tiny multicolored glass beads entwined around the roots of an elm tree that had toppled over in uptown Manhattan. These items probably date from Manhattan's fur-trade era, two hundred and fifty or three hundred years ago. He speculates about the moment when the Indians suddenly realized that beads were basically worthless - and that items of actual value had been traded for them.
Jack Hitt - DEPT. OF LINGUISTICS: WORDS ON TRIAL: Can Linguists solve crimes that stump the police?
In some cases, yes. In others, the conclusions drawn have been flawed.
Several schools now offer Masters degrees in Forensic Linguistics.
Jane Kramer - PERSONAL HISTORY: A REPORTER AT ODDS: Trading The Notebook For A Guidebook - Prompted by the realization that her frequent-flyer miles were about to expire, the author, accompanied by her husband, decided to travel as tourists to South-East Asia. This involved ten plane trips, four countries, over a period of twenty days. They flew first to Bangkok, then continued on to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos.
International tourists are out in force. Two million a year visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Jon Lee Anderson - A REPORTER AT LARGE: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Heartbreaking descriptions of the ongoing wars on multiple fronts taking place in Sudan.
The Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956. The country consists of mismatched parts - Arabs in the north, blacks in the south. The British administered the two halves separately.
In 1989 General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir seized power in a military coup.
Decades of fighting have led to the death and displacement of millions of people. There has been widespread starvation. The Satellite Sentinel Project (supported by John Prendergast, George Clooney and others) documents war crimes.
In the south, the main rebel group is the Sudanese People's Liberation Army. There are many rebel groups. Throughout Sudan the real source of conflict is racial and tribal identity.
A ceasefire was declared in 2005. South Sudan seceded and became a newly created state in July 2011. It is the size of Texas and has approximately eight million citizens, comprised of at least forty tribes (the Dinka are the majority). Its first president is Salva Kiir. The country has the world's highest rate of maternal death; seven out of ten people are illiterate. It contains about two-thirds of the region's working oil fields. South Sudan has shut off the oil supply, resulting in no income for either the north or the south.
Joan Acocella - BOOKS: ONCE UPON A TIME: The Lure Of The Fairy Tale.
"Grimms Fairy Tales", assembled by folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 1800s, feature mutiliation, dismemberment, cannibalism, and homicide.
Why? The psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim and others have offered explanations.
David Denby - THE CURRENT CINEMA: GOING SOUTH: "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and "Savages".
I'm drawn to the plot of "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" and its young heroine, Hushpuppy.
As for Oliver Stone's "Savages" - no thanks.
19sibylline
I remember reading Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment (or I think that's close to the title?) years and years ago and being intrigued. His idea I think was that it brings fears out into the open and makes them less frightening. However, there are those, I believe who think, in a tougher world, where these stories developed, there was more reality to them than we realize. Big debate, as I recall, probably still raging???? It is indeed a fascinating subject in any event.
20sibylline
July 2
- U of C nerd scavenger hunt.
-shouts and murmurs was actually FUNNY - 'the Madison tapes'
-John McPhee on his relationships with various editors at the NYer and elsewhere. - this was nice: Young writers find out what knds of writers they are by experiment. If they choose from the outset to practice exclusively a form of writing because it is prized in the classroom or otherwise carries appealing prestige, they are vastly increasing the risk inherent in taking up writing in the first place. It is so easy to misjudge yourself and get stuck in the wrong genre. You avoid that, early on, by writing in every genre. That is a brilliant and useful insight.
-couldn't focus on the mexico kingpin piece
-tried hard to read seriously about the man who revived the Tate (modern)
-read the short story 'Another Life' but it's already fallen out of my head and I threw out the mag in one of the airports..... if it comes back to me I'll write it up.
-read a bit about Joyce - the main point being the Ellman's bio reigns supreme.
-spoiled kids. Well. Hmm. Articles like this one simply annoy me. My own teen gets up at 6 and is generally at school until 5:30. She has two or three hours of homework most nights. She tries valiantly to get it done so she has a half hour to socialize with her friends before lights out aroudn 10:30. You tell me when she's supposed to do any serious sorts of chores? As it is on the weekends she does her own laundry, keeps bathrooms reasonably clean and does the dishes once or twice. - When she's in a play she has rehearsals that fill up a lot of Saturday and - lately - she sometimes has a job here and there, like this weekend she's helping out at the pre-wedding barbecue and washing dishes at a low-budget wedding both tonight and tomorrow night along w/ homework and rehearsal....... this is how most of the kids I know live. They are really really busy. End of rant.
- U of C nerd scavenger hunt.
-shouts and murmurs was actually FUNNY - 'the Madison tapes'
-John McPhee on his relationships with various editors at the NYer and elsewhere. - this was nice: Young writers find out what knds of writers they are by experiment. If they choose from the outset to practice exclusively a form of writing because it is prized in the classroom or otherwise carries appealing prestige, they are vastly increasing the risk inherent in taking up writing in the first place. It is so easy to misjudge yourself and get stuck in the wrong genre. You avoid that, early on, by writing in every genre. That is a brilliant and useful insight.
-couldn't focus on the mexico kingpin piece
-tried hard to read seriously about the man who revived the Tate (modern)
-read the short story 'Another Life' but it's already fallen out of my head and I threw out the mag in one of the airports..... if it comes back to me I'll write it up.
-read a bit about Joyce - the main point being the Ellman's bio reigns supreme.
-spoiled kids. Well. Hmm. Articles like this one simply annoy me. My own teen gets up at 6 and is generally at school until 5:30. She has two or three hours of homework most nights. She tries valiantly to get it done so she has a half hour to socialize with her friends before lights out aroudn 10:30. You tell me when she's supposed to do any serious sorts of chores? As it is on the weekends she does her own laundry, keeps bathrooms reasonably clean and does the dishes once or twice. - When she's in a play she has rehearsals that fill up a lot of Saturday and - lately - she sometimes has a job here and there, like this weekend she's helping out at the pre-wedding barbecue and washing dishes at a low-budget wedding both tonight and tomorrow night along w/ homework and rehearsal....... this is how most of the kids I know live. They are really really busy. End of rant.
21qebo
20: shouts and murmurs was actually FUNNY
You do keep trying... Nice that you are occasionally rewarded.
You do keep trying... Nice that you are occasionally rewarded.
22sibylline
Thanks Q.
Back to the July round up so far -- I somehow didn't bring the double issue 9 & 16, but I did read the July 23
-forensic linguistics -cool! But clearly has some limitations that have to be carefully explored.
-Jane Kramer on holiday. Something about this piece annoyed me. But it was interesting in that the travel book I just read recently, also mentions the required sunrise (or was it set?) at Angkor Wat and also a similar response to this floating slum village that for some reason is on the 'picturesque' tourist route -- horrified both Kramer and the other writer (I'll fetch his name in a minute and come back). Ah yes, Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It - by Geoff Dyer. Irritating thing #1. Why does being a tourist mean she can't bring her notebook? I had an immediate 'Hunh?' reaction. #2 - the one thing I found disingenuous in the Dyer I find here also - a real discomfort, in fact, with being an 'ordinary' person, a real need to be 'special'. Would the word I'm searching for be condescension?? It could.
-Was a bit riveted by the Strongest Man in the World piece. Years ago someone explained to me what an mental art weight-lifting is, and so I've had a vague interest ever since and usually watch a lot of it during the Olympics. Too bad that so many of these guys (and some gals) use steroids though.
-South Sudan - read a good bit of it. So much waste. There is an heroic doctor from Amsterdam, NY singlehandedly running a hospital in the Nuba mountains. People like that awe me.
-Junot Diaz. Why did I read this? Just stubborn I guess. It didn't take me anywhere.
And that's a wrap.
I am almost finished with the July 30 issue, but not quite.
Back to the July round up so far -- I somehow didn't bring the double issue 9 & 16, but I did read the July 23
-forensic linguistics -cool! But clearly has some limitations that have to be carefully explored.
-Jane Kramer on holiday. Something about this piece annoyed me. But it was interesting in that the travel book I just read recently, also mentions the required sunrise (or was it set?) at Angkor Wat and also a similar response to this floating slum village that for some reason is on the 'picturesque' tourist route -- horrified both Kramer and the other writer (I'll fetch his name in a minute and come back). Ah yes, Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It - by Geoff Dyer. Irritating thing #1. Why does being a tourist mean she can't bring her notebook? I had an immediate 'Hunh?' reaction. #2 - the one thing I found disingenuous in the Dyer I find here also - a real discomfort, in fact, with being an 'ordinary' person, a real need to be 'special'. Would the word I'm searching for be condescension?? It could.
-Was a bit riveted by the Strongest Man in the World piece. Years ago someone explained to me what an mental art weight-lifting is, and so I've had a vague interest ever since and usually watch a lot of it during the Olympics. Too bad that so many of these guys (and some gals) use steroids though.
-South Sudan - read a good bit of it. So much waste. There is an heroic doctor from Amsterdam, NY singlehandedly running a hospital in the Nuba mountains. People like that awe me.
-Junot Diaz. Why did I read this? Just stubborn I guess. It didn't take me anywhere.
And that's a wrap.
I am almost finished with the July 30 issue, but not quite.
23sibylline
July 30
-Slackers, I couldn't face another piece on athletes so soon after the Big strong Guys even though I like Gladwell. Anyhow, I skimmed and get it - all about limits and endurance.
- S&M (so aptly named as it is so rarely funny). The history of a condom. You decide.
- Sarah Payne Stewart - oh ho hum, I get so bored with pieces like this. Chirpy and predictible somehow, even though at the same time, being a New Englander I've watched the destruction of quirky and charming old WASP habitat, houses and surround, be bulldozed for McHouses with grief. Really, more of those spaces and more of those people and that way of life, should be put on some endangered list. The best part of that article is the description of her parents. It is a dying breed, and I miss them all terribly. They were of the old yankee school that saved a box of string 'too short to save' in the attic. (That from the New Hamphire poet, oh gosh, I have to go find his name..... I'll add it later.)
-ENDLESS piece on Bruce Springsteen. Do I care? I never caught the Springsteen bug - I stuck with the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Allman Bros et al and then slithered right on to the Talking Heads, Blondie and the like. The article names him as a bit..... wholesome..... I think I sensed that and veered away? I'm only familiar with his biggest hits that were everywhere on the radio. So anyway, I read the piece to see if I could figure out why. Can't say that I got anywhere with it but, like Richards, you do see the backbone - the toughness and determination - that makes him go and that is interesting.
-Zadie Smith is one of the NYers 'safe' writers, someone they trust. I would say this was a so-so production.
-we do seem to have a built-in love of delayed gratification that makes us like the cliffhanger even when it drives us half-mad.
-As for Witold Gombrowicx - years ago a friend raved about him, so I found Cosmos and Pornografia and sat down and read those two novellas. He is, as advertised, utterly and starkly haunting and original. But definitely not for anyone who is looking for a story .... he's indescribably disturbing and strange. I loved this one quote from his journals - on how to respond to what you read, it's truly brilliant and wise and helpful (and hard to do!): Literary criticism is not the judging of one man by another (who gave you this right?) but the meeting of two personalities on absolutely equal terms. (new Paragraph) Therefore: do not judge. Simply describe your reactions. Never write about the author or the work, only about yourself in confrontation with the work or the author. You are allowed to write about yourself. YES!
I'm reading my last July issue back to front, just to keep things llively. I hope to get it done today!
-Slackers, I couldn't face another piece on athletes so soon after the Big strong Guys even though I like Gladwell. Anyhow, I skimmed and get it - all about limits and endurance.
- S&M (so aptly named as it is so rarely funny). The history of a condom. You decide.
- Sarah Payne Stewart - oh ho hum, I get so bored with pieces like this. Chirpy and predictible somehow, even though at the same time, being a New Englander I've watched the destruction of quirky and charming old WASP habitat, houses and surround, be bulldozed for McHouses with grief. Really, more of those spaces and more of those people and that way of life, should be put on some endangered list. The best part of that article is the description of her parents. It is a dying breed, and I miss them all terribly. They were of the old yankee school that saved a box of string 'too short to save' in the attic. (That from the New Hamphire poet, oh gosh, I have to go find his name..... I'll add it later.)
-ENDLESS piece on Bruce Springsteen. Do I care? I never caught the Springsteen bug - I stuck with the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Allman Bros et al and then slithered right on to the Talking Heads, Blondie and the like. The article names him as a bit..... wholesome..... I think I sensed that and veered away? I'm only familiar with his biggest hits that were everywhere on the radio. So anyway, I read the piece to see if I could figure out why. Can't say that I got anywhere with it but, like Richards, you do see the backbone - the toughness and determination - that makes him go and that is interesting.
-Zadie Smith is one of the NYers 'safe' writers, someone they trust. I would say this was a so-so production.
-we do seem to have a built-in love of delayed gratification that makes us like the cliffhanger even when it drives us half-mad.
-As for Witold Gombrowicx - years ago a friend raved about him, so I found Cosmos and Pornografia and sat down and read those two novellas. He is, as advertised, utterly and starkly haunting and original. But definitely not for anyone who is looking for a story .... he's indescribably disturbing and strange. I loved this one quote from his journals - on how to respond to what you read, it's truly brilliant and wise and helpful (and hard to do!): Literary criticism is not the judging of one man by another (who gave you this right?) but the meeting of two personalities on absolutely equal terms. (new Paragraph) Therefore: do not judge. Simply describe your reactions. Never write about the author or the work, only about yourself in confrontation with the work or the author. You are allowed to write about yourself. YES!
I'm reading my last July issue back to front, just to keep things llively. I hope to get it done today!
24sibylline
DONE! July 9-16
-science storygenetic mosquito to control dengue. There is a nightmarish 'feel' to the method, but I suspect that it is not only going to prove safe, but brilliant in the long run. It does feel scary though, I sympathize with those who fear it.
-S&M Didn't they do this already on Portlandia?
-writerly story Mavis Gallant. I love her! She did what I had planned to do ( bum around Europe, write.... work only so I could write.) But I choked. How brave! How courageous!
-disaster-in-the-making story Afghanistan. I could barely read this for flinching. It will be a bloodbath.
-the Hunh? dept. I gotta say the TED thing is just.....well..... Serving up ideas umami style??? I just can't care.
-fiction Tessa Hadley is a regular, but this was a fine story.
-review Cronkite. The grand-pa I never had.
-poetry The one about the bear - I just don't get why the guy had to scare it off. The poem should be about that.
-science storygenetic mosquito to control dengue. There is a nightmarish 'feel' to the method, but I suspect that it is not only going to prove safe, but brilliant in the long run. It does feel scary though, I sympathize with those who fear it.
-S&M Didn't they do this already on Portlandia?
-writerly story Mavis Gallant. I love her! She did what I had planned to do ( bum around Europe, write.... work only so I could write.) But I choked. How brave! How courageous!
-disaster-in-the-making story Afghanistan. I could barely read this for flinching. It will be a bloodbath.
-the Hunh? dept. I gotta say the TED thing is just.....well..... Serving up ideas umami style??? I just can't care.
-fiction Tessa Hadley is a regular, but this was a fine story.
-review Cronkite. The grand-pa I never had.
-poetry The one about the bear - I just don't get why the guy had to scare it off. The poem should be about that.
