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In the May 28 issue of The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead writes a brief piece in the spirit of Tom Wolfe’s “Radical Chic,” in which the theme of a social gathering feels at odds with the upscale surroundings. Here the gathering’s theme is spiritual enlightenment, featuring the actress and recently published author Ellen Burstyn (Lessons in Becoming Myself) and Marianne Williamson (A Return to Love).
This one comes to you from deep inside tmatt’s GetReligion guilt file, so please hang in there with me for a moment.
In recent weeks we’ve seen a couple of really good articles about the ethics and values of abortion supporters. Liza Mundy, a staff writer for The Washington Post Magazine, had another excellent entry that relates to the topic with her Sunday piece on women pregnant with more than one fetus who wish they had fewer.
One of the things I wish more reporters had the opportunity to do is be interviewed by other reporters. I’ve had my share of experiences being on the other end of the pad and pen. In some cases, the reporter is thorough and takes the time to really understand what you are saying. I’ve also been misquoted, which is an absolutely horrifying experience. In one case, I was misquoted to say the opposite of what I was actually saying. I called the reporter to complain and she yelled at me. I mean, really!
Anthony Gottlieb’s New Yorker essay on contemporary atheists came to my attention earlier this week through that magazine’s much-improved website. I did not want to write about Gottlieb’s essay before receiving the issue in the mail, largely because I wanted to be sure of his current connections. Internet searches turned up articles that placed him with The Economist, but those were all a few years old.
Newsweek‘s Lisa Miller wrote an article for the May 21 issue that looks at the new book on Jesus by Pope Benedict XVI. Newsweek apparently had an exclusive excerpt of the book and Miller did an article about the book’s meaning, a portion of which dealt with Jesus’ baptism:
A very strange thing happens when journalists write books — they find themselves (hopefully) being interviewed by other journalists, often before speeches and other (hopefully) book-promoting events. Soon thereafter, they often read articles based on these interviews and find themselves exclaiming, “Wait just a (provide colorful descriptive words here) minute, I didn’t say that!”
There are GetReligion readers who believe that we praise the Los Angeles Times too much. So let’s poke the left coast giant just a bit this morning (as I sit here in a hotel lobby in Southern California).
While interviewing Walter Isaacson on Wednesday’s Fresh Air, guest host Dave Davies raised the point that Albert Einstein has become an icon of unattainable genius. True, but he’s arguably the one scientist who most strongly attracted the affection of Americans. Whether because of his wonderfully untamed hair, his doleful eyes or that photo in which he sticks out his tongue, Einstein also became an icon of the scientist as approachable, and maybe even humble, human being. What other acclaimed scientist could have inspired Walter Matthau’s oddball role in the film I.Q.?
