Czeslaw Milosz wrote this poem of death or perhaps the end of an experience:
“The white whale of the world
Hauled me down to its pit.”
All posts by philwade
How Many Bureaucrats Does It Take to Save a Newspaper?
Zero. They can’t.
The Federal Trade Commission is talking about using the iron boot of government to “to support the reinvention of journalism,” whatever the fruit that means. Jeff Jarvis writes, “Most dangerous of all, the FTC considers a doctrine of “proprietary facts,” as if anyone should gain the right to restrict the flow of information just as the information is opening it up. Copyright law protects the presentation of news but no one owns facts — and if anyone did, you could be forbidden from sharing them. How does that serve free speech?”
But don’t worry much. They barely recommend anything, and I don’t think they can write any laws. (via Books, Inq.)
"Relearning how to concentrate"
Here an Englishman talks about distraction. Alain de Botton writes, “The past decade has seen an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything. To sit still and think, without succumbing to an anxious reach for a machine, has become almost impossible.”
He is the author of many books, including The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
Stuff from FakeAPStylebook
This kind of thing abounds, and some of it, like the stuff at The Bureau Chiefs Store, is pretty good.
“Remember, brevity is.”
Criticizing Keillor's Op-Ed
I linked to Garrison Keillor’s Death of Publishing article a while back and feel compelled to link to this collection of criticism. For example, Jason Boog of MediaBistro.com observes:
“‘In the New Era, writers will be self-anointed,’ [Keillor] writes in his op-ed, which is nonsense. In this new world, many more writers will self-publish, it’s true. But every one of them will have to build an audience just like he did. These new writers will use Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, blogs, book clubs, and all the 21st Century community-building tools at an author’s disposal, just like he used the radio.”
Maud Newton also notes, “Writers of books will always need good editors. Self-publishing is not a new phenomenon. Cf. Benjamin Franklin. Yes, publishing will change, but it will also continue to exist. And so, unfortunately, will ill-informed kids-these-days rants like this one.”
It's June, Sweetheart
To My Dear and Loving Husband
by Anne Bradstreet
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.
Is Black Achievement in School "Acting White"?
You might think any kid who can excel in school would have a few fans cheering him on, but for many black students across the country, academic achievement is equivalent to community betrayal. “[Other students] feel they’re supposed to be cool, and cool is not supposed to be making good grades in school,” reports a Norfolk, Virginia newspaper article from 2006, quoting Courtney Smith, who became a journalism major at Norfolk State. She didn’t care that the other students said she thought she was white and better than them. She just wanted to excel, but what does “acting white” have to do with that?
This idea, that some black students believe they have better things to do than to study hard, is the subject of Stuart Buck’s book, Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation
Buck’s presentation of the groupthink dynamic makes the book for me. It’s fascinating to read how group psychology can emerge wherever young people can be divided, regardless the meaning of the groups. Instinctively, people will favor their group over other groups, even when there’s no intrinsic strength in their group. It’s us vs. them, whoever they are. That’s the dynamic at play when black students accuse other black students of “acting white.” Humans are tribal, Buck observes, and homophily or friendship with those like you is strong within races and ethnicity groups. I think it’s fairly strong among political parties too. Continue reading Is Black Achievement in School "Acting White"?
Paul Tripp on Marriage Now
Paul Tripp has written a good book on marriage, which we pointed out a while back. Desiring God has a live discussion right here, right now.
"When everyone's a writer, no one is"
Garrison Keillor writes about the days when being a tortured literary soul, wrestling for your livelihood with the printed word over a typewriter, was worth something. Money, to be specific.
Twain on Twain After a Long Silence
Mark Twain’s autobiography, which he forbid to be published for 100 years after his death, will be released in three books UC-Berkley. The first will come in November.