“I’VE NEVER WISHED A MAN dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.” Whether or not Mr. Twain actually Why Clarence Darrow said these words I do not know. But for those having difficulty cheering one more death,…
Tag: News
How and why it goes from event to fishwrap.
Pithyism #-11
RUTHLESSNESS ONLY LOWERS THE CONVERSATION for everyone.
See Augie? It IS A City!
IN 2008, A LOCAL CITY councilmember proposed changing our urban appellation from “City of Sonoma” to “Town of Sonoma” — reflecting the bucolic values to which we cling with blue-jean-and-Stetson stubbornness. That task proved a quixotic one, but good for…
Sign In A Radio Newsroom, c. 1993
SAW THIS WHERE I FIRST interned as “Neal Ross.” I was naive enough then to think it merely humorous. Cub reporter: “If it’s news, I report it.” Old journalist: “If I report it, it’s news.” Newsman Emeritus: When I report…
When Tefilin Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Lay Tefilin
March 14, 2011 (JTA) — An Alaska Airlines flight crew issued a security alert after three Mexican Orthodox Jews began praying with tefillin. The flight attendants, who were concerned by the prayers being said aloud in Hebrew and the unfamiliar…
Words Mean Stuff
A SHORT LIST OF WORDS which, through overuse, have been consigned to the meaning-deficient self-parody heap: Blatant Flagrant Offen(sive/ded) Rabid Sexist Racist Controversy Security Freedom Democracy Republican Terrorism Diva (There are others, but these are what I found in this…
David Feldman, Post-Modern Comic Genius
PAY ATTENTION, CLASS: TODAY WE learn from David Feldman, American, how to correctly structure a portable visual joke (in this case, a bumpersticker) for maximum satiric and comic effect. First point: Understand the medium. The English-speaking American eye travels a…
Literal Legend
HE SAID HE WOULD FIGHT Wall Street, but it wasn’t long before he was brought down by a perplexed SWAT team.
Apropos Punditry
DOESN’T ALL THAT JERKING MAKE the knees hurt?
Something With Which All Pundits Seem To Agree, Post- “Arizona Tragedy”
“WE ALL NEED LESS VITRIOL from those other guys.”
Sorting Debbie
IN THE WAKE OF SINGER and prolific synagogue-music innovator Debbie Friedman, I find myself mourning her death but ambivalent about her legacy. The mourning: If you worship at most “progressive” (i.e., non-Orthodox) North American synagogues, you’re familiar with her work…
Word Of The Year, 2011
MMaXImize!