Brian Jay Jones's Blog, page 31
March 10, 2010
Sleep, Pretty Darling, Do Not Cry
Back in late January, Barb and I took our dog Abbey to a specialist to see if they could determine what was causing the rapid deterioration of her back legs. Initially, we thought she had developed hip dysplasia — a bane to large dog owners everywhere — but Abbey seemed to be getting more and more hobbled as the weeks went on. She went from dragging her left leg last June, to teetering on her feet by Thanksgiving, to barely walking by Christmas. Clearly, something else was going on.
Back...
March 8, 2010
The Next Voice You Hear Will Be Your Own
I'm in the process of getting the interview I conducted the last week in February transcribed — or, rather, I'm in the process of trying to get it transcribed. I've got four hours of conversation to convert, and initially, I was planning on doing it myself. I've transcribed interviews before, but nothing quite this long – and after taking 20 minutes or so to transcribe about five minutes of conversation . . . well, that's an unimpressive effort-to-product ratio. Clearly, I need another...
February 25, 2010
The Devil You Say!
Washington Irving — and "The Devil and Tom Walker" — causes heartburn in an Illinois classroom.
(For your reference, here's Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," which first appeared in his 1824 book Tales of a Traveller. Go get it.)
February 22, 2010
Tomorrow Never Knows
I'm heading back to New York tomorrow — armed with my laptop, notes, and tape recorder — to have a chat with Someone Wonderful related to Project Blue Harvest. It'll be a quick day — up on the train in the morning, interviewing in the afternoon, then back that evening — but I'm so excited about it that the day will probably seem to go by even faster. I even made sure to book myself a reserved seat on the train on the way home so I'm certain of a spot where I can plug in the computer, plunk o...
A Dose of Reality in High School Reading
Over in The Washington Post, crack education writer Jay Mathews laments the absence of non-fiction on high school "required reading" lists. "I am not dismissing the delights of Twain, Crane, Buck, Saroyan and Wilder," Mathews writes. "But I think I would also have enjoyed Theodore H. White, John Hersey, Barbara Tuchman and Bruce Catton if they had been assigned."
He's right. I can't remember ever being assigned any non-fiction in high school, apart from in a journalism class where a wise...
February 17, 2010
Pulitzer Priceless
Joseph Pulitzer
Last night, I had the great pleasure of attending a reception and book talk for James McGrath Morris's Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power
down at American University (which, as it turns out, is also McGrath's alma mater).
If you have the opportunity to see Jamie talk about Pulitzer, jump at it. Last night, he gave a presentation that encompassed his research (which included the kind of tale biographers love — that of finding The Source That No One Else Has)...
February 16, 2010
(Snow)Driftin'
The gynormous Blizzard of 2010 has officially been clear of the region for a little less than a week — gone, but not by a long shot forgotten. Roads are relatively clear — unless you live in the District of Columbia or an isolated cul-de-sac — grocery stores are restocked, and mail delivery has resumed (an overnight mail package I took the Post Office on Tuesday the 9th finally made it to its destination on Friday the 12th — it was stuck on the East Coast for two days while mail delivery...
February 12, 2010
Trip Report, Part 2: Hi, Society!
When I last left you — at least for the purposes of this particular narrative — I was in the lobby of the Roosevelt hotel, monitoring text messages from Barb and Madi as they made their way up from Maryland on the train. They were running only slightly behind schedule (as I said earlier, "on time" for the Northeast Regional seems to mean about ten minutes late), so I arrived in plenty of time to meet them, even after walking the mile or so to Penn Station. A short cab ride back to the...
Trip Report, Part 2: Liquid. Medal.
When I last left you — at least for the purposes of this particular narrative — I was in the lobby of the Roosevelt hotel, monitoring text messages from Barb and Madi as they made their way up from Maryland on the train. They were running only slightly behind schedule (as I said earlier, "on time" for the Northeast Regional seems to mean about ten minutes late), so I arrived in plenty of time to meet them, even after walking the mile or so to Penn Station. A short cab ride back to the...
February 10, 2010
Happy Launch Day! (One Day Late, But What Can You Do…)
In all the fuss over the major snowstorm here, I nearly forgot to wish a Happy Launch Day to my colleague James McGrath Morris, whose biography of Pulitzer hit bookstores on February 9.
Know Pulitzer only because of the name of the prize? Well, then, this book's for you. McGrath's Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print and Power
traces the epic story of this Jewish Hungarian immigrant's rise through American politics and into journalism where he accumulated immense power and wealth, only to...
