From the Pew Research Center:
Thinking about the news, what journalist or news person do you admire the most?
Aug. 1985
- Dan Rather
- Walter Cronkite
March 2007
- Katie Couric
- Bill O'Reilly
Journalism: My work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Globe & Mail (Canada), The Times- Picayune (New Orleans), The Oregonian, and Willamette Week, as well as in magazines including Details, Vogue, Publishers Weekly, and Portland Monthly.
Publishing: Tight Shot, my first novel, was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Its sequel, Hot Shot, was roundly ignored by everyone, but was a far better book. I'm also a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
Stage: I was a member of the Groundlings and Circle Repertory West in Los Angeles, and am a playwright (see "Stage" in the right-hand rail).
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Patty Friedmann: A Little Bit Ruined
One of the first post-Katrina novels, and probably destined to be one of the best. Friedmann's sequel to Eleanor Rushing finds her crazy heroine still holding everything together after the storm (after a fashion), until she has to leave New Orleans and she falls apart physically as well as mentally. Mordantly, morbidly funny.
Tom Piazza: Why New Orleans Matters
The best post-Katrina book I've read. In 150 small pages, Piazza explicates the New Orleans experience simply and beautifully. I'll be passing this one on to anyone who wonders "But why would anyone want to live there?".
I was in Arizona on Tuesday, watching the local news station. Big controversy coming up after the break! they said breathlessly. The new Grand Canyon observation platform has opened in the wake of controversy!
So my interest was piqued, to say the least.
Back from the break, they showed their news reporter standing beside the new platform. It opens to the public today, he said, but it has also generated a huge controversy. The native tribe -- who apparently stands to benefit from it, although their business interest in the matter was never mentioned -- is very poor. I found this out because he interviewed several people who said how poor they were, and how the tribe has 50% unemployment and has to drive 50 miles to a grocery store.
Then they interviewed a man who said, "Why are people picking on us? The Canadians built that thing over Niagara Falls and no one said anything. Why are they picking on us?"
And then they went back to the reporter, who said, "The tribe is hoping that every person who pays to get on the observation deck is one step closer to solving their problems."
Which, of course, left me sitting open-jawed, and ready to shout at the TV, "What tribe? If they're so poor, how did they build this thing? What thing over Niagara Falls? If he means the observation deck there, it's half a mile down the river and it's on the American side of the Falls! AND WHAT CONTROVERSY DO YOU MEAN?!"
Of course, I never got answers to any of those, since the three-minute piece on the observation deck was followed up by ten minutes of what movies are now out on DVD (the reporter gave away the surprise ending of one!), and numerous shots from Dancing With The Stars. Which is naturally far more important.
I give up. I just absolutely give up.
Posted by: Rabbit | March 21, 2007 at 02:56 PM