Death of a Newsman

Denver loses an institution as the nearly 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News publishes its final edition today.

There is so much speculating, rumor, and innuedo in the publishing business these days that it's a shock to the system to read the straightforward account of how quickly and abruptedly the RMN staff received the news.

On a meta-level, the dissemination of this news in blog form is a poignant post script.
The spare account read like nothing so much as a script for a play. Which, given the emotion of the actors, is fitting and incredibly moving:

"Q: Reporters said they’ve been working hard all week on Saturday stories: Can we have one more day?

A: No."

Yisrael Beiteinu, but their home, too

An excellent Richard Cohen column on the recent success of Yisrael Beiteinu as it relates to the meaning of Israel: A Question of Values.

I don't actually know any American Jews who support Avigdor Lieberman, the "Israeli Le Pen," as he's been so brilliantly tagged elsewhere, at least not on the issue of Israeli Arabs (on the issue of civil marriages and divorce reform, yes, wholeheartedly, but politics always makes for strange bedfellows), but Cohen makes the fair point that the obligation exists to condemn rather than ignore.

His words also sound an echo, I think, for America in general:

"The issue of Israel's Arabs is complicated. They are not Jews, yet they are expected to be loyal to a Jewish state. They are Arabs, yet they are expected to stand by while their fellow Arabs are pounded -- as in Gaza -- by Israeli guns.

Yet, in an odd way, Israel's Arabs ought to represent the best of Israel. They can vote. They hold seats in parliament. They have more civil rights in Israel than they would in any Arab nation. They ought to be a point of pride. Their civil liberties, their standard of living, their political participation ought to show the world what sort of country Israel is."

The high art of reality television

My lack of familiarity with the terms of art in fashion means I have little capacity for trenchant analysis on the subject beyond "wow, pretty."

But images from Leanne Marshall's Fall 2009 showing last week at NY Fashion Week keep popping up on the internets and.... wow. so pretty.

I adore how accessible her design is, and how her rise seems to point to a streak of meritocracy in the fashion community that I wouldn't have believed existed - her garments that are so stunning not because of some esoteric "genius," but because they seem to reflect countless hours of study and work on shape and structure.

Perhaps I'm so enamored of her gowns (and coats! oh, the coat!) because it's a gorgeous celebration of detail and hard work, because it gives such a lovely form to wonkery.

Or maybe it's just that her collection is... wow. so pretty.

Also, three cheers for beautiful models who don't look like they need to be force-fed sandwiches!

More Fall 2009 collection here. More Leanne (including the final collection that won her the Project Runway title, with that gasp-inducing bridal gown) here.

Well, that's a relief

The 2012 or 2016 challenge that wasn't...

Or maybe just isn't yet, since far be it from me to dismiss a capable technocrat (which Jindal has proven to be in Baton Rouge) based on poor presentation skills. But for now, I'm firmly with Karen Dalton-Beninato at HuffPost - Tim Calhoun called, and he'd like his stilted, rigid gesticulations back.

Ms. GMU and the Real Virginia

In case the McAuliffe/Moran gubernatorial primary doesn't speak loudly enough about recent cultural and political shifts in the Old Dominion, might I offer Ms. George Mason 2009: "Reann Ballslee," alter ego Ryan Allen, 22 year old senior from Goochland.

The Post has more on this great story and how it reflects on the changing Mason community - which, as my friend Emily in their admissions department notes, "has a great Pride Alliance- tons of straight people join and are very active."

Ryan's experiences also remind me a lot of my time at UVA, and the phenomenon where kids who came from small or rural towns across Virginia (like Goochland, or Lebanon, from where one of the students quoted in the story hails, or Emporia, or Roanoke) ended up being the most vocal advocates of queer acceptance, or sexual assault survivor rights, or other progressive issues.

It's an interesting wrinkle to the conversation about where Virginia is heading politically... we so often discuss shifts in terms of geography and population (NoVA vs. RoVA), but there's also a significant element of generational change at play when it comes to the politics of "the real Virginia."

Sugar fix

I'm basically just running an Atlantic.com fanblog around here, but write what you know, eh?

And if there's anything else I know, it's the DC cupcake scene, which is why I'm over the moon about the inimitable Corby Kummer's column in this month's issue about cupcakes, in which he gives highest marks to my personal favorite Beltway treat.

Even better is the video of Corby and Jennie Rothenberg-Gritz taste testing frostings here at the Watergate. I'm linking, not embedding, so you'll visit TheAtlantic.com's Podcast site, which is as dense with rich, premium content as the frosting on a Baked and Wired cupcake.

I'm okay, you're okay - to a point.

In the penultimate post of a fascinating back-and-forth between Ross Douthat and Ta-Nehisi Coates on marriage and the traditional family, Ta-Nehisi summons a strikingly succinct and compelling defense of a liberal attitude towards nontraditional families:

"Social conservatives are interested in encouraging one model, and stigmatizing all others. I'm interested in encouraging practices and stigmatizing others. I'm interested in encouraging active involvement in your child's school, and stigmatizing ignoring the teacher's phone calls. I'm interested in encouraging fathers to put in as much manpower as they can summon, and stigmatizing those who walk out. "

This is truly a brilliant framing, and I find it very useful. Despite my progressive and feminist politics, I do have enough of a conservative streak to get uncomfortable that acceptance of nontraditional families might be misconstrued as support for irresponsible choices. As a great example, this op-ed by an Alexandria teacher about teen pregnancy, published in the Post in December, is the kind of thing that should haunt anyone interested in gender and family policy. I think the "stigmatize the behavior, not the model" might be the rallying cry for progressivism without relativism, as it relates to the American family and far beyond.

Relatedly, my appreciation for all musings Ta-Nehisi are well-established, and Ross' moderation of thought, if not ideology, continue to make him the mostly eminently readable social conservative in the blogosphere, in my opinion. The entire back and forth, back and forth, and forth, is really a terrific conversation. The sight of two writers climbing out of their respective echo chambers to engage in a tough conversation is a rare and beautiful thing.

Be mine, be mine

An oh-so-sweet, (and highly recession-appropriate), V-Day feature from New York Magazine:

Joan and Carlo here are my favorite.

Also at New York Mag, chocolate covered bacon and Demetri Martin round out a 2/16 issue that totally hits the sweet spot.

I prescribe a conversation with a medical professional

Maybe if he had gone with another whipping boy (Restless Leg Syndrome is a popular one) I wouldn't find this quote from Sec.HHR-aspirant Phil Breseden so irksome:

"Over the years, we've bought into an assumption that everything that can be called "health care" is somehow on an equal footing with everything else. But that's not common sense.

If you need an appendectomy, it is vital and life saving. Most people would agree that if you are pregnant, you should have a doctor making sure the mother and child are as healthy as possible. But if you have a cold, there is not the same moral imperative that the public sector provide the latest decongestant to clear your head.

... we have in America a very efficient and flexible economy, and business has of course found ways to capture as much of this new money as possible. What my mother called heartburn and took Pepto-Bismol for is now acid reflux disease, and the little purple pill is a multi-billion dollar product. "

But he did, and because I recently underwent anesthesia and swallowed a garden hose for what his "mother called heartburn" (and spent, despite my amazing employee health plan, a Benjamin out of my own pocket for the privilege), I'm going to call bullshit.

I have no problem with tough talk, or with an approach to health care reform that asks recipients of government money to "get a little skin in the game," as he puts it. What I do have a problem with is ignorance, particularly the assumption that patients seek care for treatable conditions because they're wimps. Especially when most medical experts, and an increasing number of companies, know that getting treatable conditions treated early is one of the best ways to bring down sky-rocketing costs.

In other words, you leave acid reflux untreated - call it a "tummy ache," say, and do a shot of Pepto every now and then - for enough years, you end up with Barrett's Esophagus and adenocarcinoma. And you know what's a real expensive bill for Medicare to foot, Phil? Cancer.

The rap on Breseden is that he's an industry insider. I don't object to that out of hand, especially if giving the industry a seat at the table means avoiding Hillarycare 2.0. But it's not out of line to demand a Health and Human Resources Secretary that understands more about health care than cost-cutting and one-liners.

Masters of the craft

Holy mackeral!

I just saw an internet ad for this film "Coraline" today - apparently a stop motion animated picture featuring the voice of Dakota Fanning (aww, Dakota Fanning) - but hadn't heard anything about it otherwise...

But, wow, if you want to be inspired that magic is still being made in Hollywood, check out this incredible behind-the-scenes slideshow at Wired.com. The sheer amount of imagination, creativity, and painstaking work that went into creating a visual wonderland out of objects like popcorn, puffs of cotton, and kitty litter is just breathtaking.

It puts such a smile on my face to know that, recession or no, there's still a small corner of the universe where nothing (including knitting the wee mittens below on .02 inch needles) is too absurd in the pursuit of pure enchantment.

A VA Spot for Tammy Duckworth

I've been disappointed that this Tide of Talent that's swept into the Capitol with President Obama left behind Major Tammy Duckworth, whose compelling narrative - a double amputee veteran of the Iraq war - is rivaled only by her well-regarded work as director of Veterans Affairs in Illinois.

It's hard to deny that Gen. Shinseki was a better choice for VA Secretary, and the once-encouraging chatter about a possible appointment for her to Obama's vacated Senate seat didn't exactly... well, we all know how that one ended.

In any event, I'm thrilled to hear that she's been tapped for Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the VA. Her Congressional testimony during the Walter Reed hearings reveals an impressive command of the bureaucracy surrounding treatment for disabled veterans, I think - it's a great signal to our servicemembers and vets that they'll be in such capable hands.

"That's right, woodchuck chuckers..."

And sometimes the headlines just speak for themselves:
Groundhog Bites NYC Mayor

Although I might add that I love the vaguely threatening, mafioso-esque quote from Bloomberg: "If Chuck embarrasses us, this is going to be a very long winter for the Staten Island Zoo."

Damn straight. Don't think Mikey's shy about breaking some small mammal kneecaps.

But baby, it's cold outside

I'm a little delayed here, but since we're getting another dusting in Washington this morning, I'd just like to highlight Eugene Robinson's Defense of Snow Wimps from last week:

I, too, am happy to poke fun (or lean on my horn, should I happen to be behind the wheel) at my fellow Washingtonian when a few wayward flakes slow traffic to a crawl. But I very much appreciate Robinson's defense of our defensive winter impulses in the face of Midwestern/New England braggadocio, and his geography lessons for the Capitol's new Chicago transplants (ahem, dismissive Barack):

"Washington, unlike Chicago, is situated at a meteorological and geological borderline. The nation’s capital is where north meets south and piedmont meets coastal plain. Chicago is where north meets farther north and flat water meets flatter land. These distinctions have consequences. Chicago is far enough north that winter precipitation is likely to be pure snow, and if it’s snowing on the Northside, it’s almost surely snowing on the Southside as well. Washington’s winter storms tend to bring a bit of everything, depending on where you live -- snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain. And, yes, ice. The streets can be fine around the White House and utterly impassable just a few miles away... when the street is covered with a smooth, reflective sheet of ice, as it was this morning, I doubt that even Todd Palin could manage it in one of his “snow machines.

Merci, Eugene, for pointing that out in such a polite and edifying way.
Far more gracious than my usual "yeah, but one time they didn't close the schools and a girl fell on the ice and died!" argument.

The Doctor is in

There is nothing about this article in the LA Times today that I don't love -

Jill Biden is going back to work as a community college professor, now at Northern Virginia Community College, making her the first "Second Lady" to hold a paying job while her husband holds the office of the Vice Presidency. I really enjoyed a Washington Post feature shortly after the election that talked about Jill Biden's pursuit of her doctorate, and her use of her maiden name to avoid bias among the review committee. Apparently she's still using the "he's a relative" line to deflect questions from her students about her famous husband, but after recent moments in the spotlight, it might be a little harder to avoid the attention.

The article also delves into the issue of the doctor honorific for non-medical academics. I have to say, I'm entirely in agreement with the Time writer Amy Sullivan quoted in the story - while I generally find it grating to hear PhDs insist on a title reserved for physicians, hearing "Senator Joe Biden and Doctor Jill Biden" announced at the Inauguration was certainly among the most cheer-inspiring moments of the ceremonies.

Also, Lynne Cheney "earned a doctorate in English with a dissertation titled "Matthew Arnold's Possible Perfection: A Study of the Kantian Strain in Arnold's Poetry" ?! No kidding. That must have made it a little difficult to bear all the Rovian contempt for fancy-pants intellectuals.

Entertainment, convenience, and dim sum?

A star turn for my favorite metro-area Jewish institution! Wyatt Cenac recommends 6th & I to the Obama family:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Obama's New Church

Daily Show Full Episodes
Funny Political Videos

Important Things With Demetri Martin
More Funny Videos

They would have fit right in at my Rosh Hashanah multicultural service there, I'm just saying. Also, sometimes Steven Breyer drops by, so they could talk shop over lox.